deesrule

Recruiting can be blamed but development is at least as important. Look at a comparison between Travis Johnston and Dale Thomas. Both were high draft picks both labelled lazy taking shortcuts both had sublime skills. Johnston never reached the heights he could have eventually being traded and then delisted. Thomas has developed into a gut running player still with great skills and more importantly with a team ethic I would put forward if Trapper had been at Collingwood he may have reached his potential and Thomas at Melbourne may not have. BTW our female cat ,named by my daughter, would now be called Daisy rather than Travis I think that the club is now putting a lot more into development of the individual and less emphasis on picking up a potential champion and hoping that he will develop . This direction pleases me more than the other.

I don't think thats there is anything wrong with the White strip but against StKilda its just wrong. Obvious on the TV that players were handballing and kicking to opposition players. In the first game of the year Brisbane and Melbourne players were confusing each other Brisbane wore the're normal colours at the MCG go figure.

He's a great talent and if we had drafted him we would still have Scully but not Watts . He would have fitted perfectly into GWS

Earliest memory 1960 Premiership Standouts in chornological order Beating Geelong three times in 1963 even though they won the cup listening to the 64 semi with Johnny Townsend kicking a bag Froggy Cromptons goal and Barry Bourkes saving mark 1964 I've still got the abc audio tape Norm Smith taking south Melbourne to the finals he was still a Melbourne man as is Barass Bit of a gap here The night premierships and Robbie Flower playing in a final The Hawthorn Melbourne merge match it was a loss but an awesome game of footy Stynes playing the week after breaking ribs Schwarz every time he played before the knees The draw with Collingwood 2010 The crushing of GWS by us in two weeks All collingwoods GF losses I'm still dirty on Milne for not kicking that goal

I'm hoping that Garland stays forward and Rivers swings back or forward (probably prefer him forward) The forward line pressure was terrific last week. Martin started as a full back . Watts has made the back line much more flexible but Someone needs to stop the big animals from other sides. Martin and Sellar could be competing for this spot leaving Frawley to play the Scarlett role? Neeld is all about tackling and pressure Stef needs to step up in this area.

I thought it was great to see him go forward last week and obviously improved us in that area unfortunately his influence was missed down back. He has too often been played against a guy six inches taller than him in our backline and will appreciate a run up forward. The weeks before he has been playing a Matthew Scarlett type role as a second backman to McDonald . I'm wondering if they are trying to find a place for Stef Martin down back with Sellar as back up ruckman.

Neeld should have time to work out who fits in with his attitude and game plan. Beamer may be struggling at this time but so is everyone. Cale Morton is showing the signs we want Nathan Jones is showing signs of an elite player after being a forum whipping boy for years. Who knows with Col he's been seriously injured for 6 weeks. Our team improvement from the horrible Brisbane game to the last few has been exponential. Remember the calls for blood when Geelong and Sydney were playing purely defensive footy and looking totally inept in the forward line. Also as an aside I think that if Neeld had been coach at the time Miller and Junior would still be at the club.

Watching games at the ground is the only way to get a handle on height match ups. In the Brisbane game we were obviously too short in one of the match ups at all times. Rivers just gets crucified by taking a player thats too big for him. Garland is starting to have the same problem. Either Martin or Sellar have to be trained to be a backman or permanent forward if they are to both have a future role. I would prefer Martin down back as he has a bit of speed to link up down the ground. I think that Neeld is still experimenting with all the talls and probably costing us games in the meantime. Gawn is hopefully going to be our main ruckman in time (fingers crossed) and Spencer is still in the mix. Its just going to take time to sort out who's going to make i and who isn't.

Maybe not run up sit on the shoulders hanger but he has taken some good high marks but has also made some bad decisions following it usually in the forward line. I hope we see more of him this year

Centre clearances if we win them all the other stuff falls into place Couch to come in Magner Couch Jones bulldozing the through theTigers midfield Morton and Rivers going forward

Interesting we have a lightly framed wing man/defender that plays for MFC /Casey now likes a hanger and gets maligned for being soft maybe the game has changed so much that this type of player is not as valued. These days though this type of player is also protected We also had a lightly framed wingman in the past who liked a hanger difference being that Flower had no regard for his own safety. How good would Flower be these days

Maybe we should invest in a tank we seem to need some protection from outside forces

I agree I would have been ashamed if they hadn't taken the action to dump the sponser.

Well done MFC

Sack the sponsor no good can come of remaining with them. I'd rather see MFC fold than be associated with this guy.

AT Subi we are going to need speed and height Sellar probably Petterd certainly .Blease maybe should get another crack. Maybe Morton for Rivers . The uipside is that Martin and Clark may have enough room to fit together. Green may be time for a rest. Davey should have a chance here. Moloney has to be fit and fired up if he's to play.

Green and Howe can't play together on the forward line Davey as mentioned above had 5 tackles 2 run downs in the first quarter. He needs another crumber in the front but someone to help also with forward pressure. Rivers seems to be always playing on someone half a head taller than him maybe he would be better forward or perhaps playing a sweeping role back like grimes. Maybe Grimes would be better forward. We need more pace in the midfield.

Someone asked what happened in the third quarter it was actually 20 minute mark of the second quarter a strong wind change blowing at 180 degrees to the original. MFC players seemed to ignore it and kept defending to the windward side allowing Brisbane to bang it back in . Our long kicking game was useless in the gusty wind and all day no one could hold a mark. Watts was great early on especially. Magner showed his class but our lack of height in the back line and inability to get clearances all day cost us. I don't think Green and Howe can play together in the forward line Tapscott and/or Petterd will provide more pressure. I thought we played OK first quarter and up to the wind change in the second. Last quarter we could have been OK but the umpires seemed to lose the plot and we got on the wrong side of some blatant frees. Clark was ordinary but hopefully will improve Pace seems to be a problem in the midfield (understatement???) Neeld will obviously give many players a try to find who fits into his plan

David Schwarz (before he was the Ox ) was the most exciting player I can remember in red and blue. Tassie Johnson just because every time he kicked out the centre circle was in danger. Jim Stynes because he played the game from a different perspective. I was too young to see Barassi at his best but there was still an aura around him every time he went out. Stan Alves evasive skills were something to watch. Davey at his peak and hopefully Jurrah

Forgetting about who we play. We will probably be a bit slow at the start with all the stuff going on (hopefully still beat Brisbane) but I would expect that in four or five rounds we will be up and firing with a steady improvement .Big game for us is Geelong at Geelong to prove that we are on the way. My prediction is 6th. If we beat collingwood in QB well and good but if we play to our potential in most games thats better.

RIP Jim a great Melbourne man and so much more Few people can unite the football and outside world as much as you have

How about no slaughters against us and a gradual improvement from round 1 onwards number of wins is not that important but how about showing the fans that we are developing as individuals and more improtantly as a group. ie no 186 point losses at either perth or Geelong

Has anyone noticed that we play Collingwood next game in the NAB cup Eddie is very good at drumming up interest (hatred etc) in the week before a game next week it will be someone else

Surely his worth is in clearances rather than possessions and thats more of a result of him and Jamar can you put up a spread of his clearances with Jamar in wins and losses and without Jamar in wins and losses

Watts Gawn Trengove Martin