Jaded No More

For one, his attempt at goal was shite. Kicked it out on the full, and for a minute there I thought I was watching Newton. When he panics under pressure he bombs it. It's great that he's getting his hands on the ball, but the ineffectiveness of his disposal is unacceptable for a player of his experience. He cost us goals today, and he cost us goals last week. Not good enough.

6- Miller 5- Martin 4- Garland 3- CJ 2- Davey 1- Jamar *encouragement award*

When will Paul Wheatley finally give up his futile attempts at bombing the ball to absolutely nobody? Honestly, it makes him look like a dumb, lazy footballer, which he is not.

Good summary, well done. Martin impressed me again, and I do feel for the backline. Very hard to defend when you have no midfield. Also thought Jamar had one of his better games around the ground. Took some strong marks, got involved in stoppages and kick a goal. Overall though, only Miller showed any sort of leadership out there. It's sad that without McLean and Green we only have one on-field leader left.

Well I never notice your posts, so I guess we're even Losing at this stage of the year is a positive, getting smashed by Freo after beating them in the first quarter, is not. I'm much more worried about the effort than the result. Edit: beat me to it by *this* much Rhino :D

I want draft picks, but the way we're playing today no amount of early picks is going to help us. Draft picks don't make you accountable for your man, don't enable you to hit targets, and sure as hell doesn't make you play with more desire. We only have 3 senior players out there today, and not one of them has stood up and done anything worth mentioning. Without McLean in the middle, Green down back and with Miller not getting any delivery up forward (having to run into the centre to try and provide an option), there's little wonder we're falling apart. And for the love of god, would someone PLEASE teach Bate to play below his knees!!!

This is only the third time this season that I feel utterly ashamed of our performance. Apart from Miller who is working his arse off, our players are lazy and generally just don't care. And how many goals can Wheatley cost us with his turnovers before somebody drags him off the ground?!!! Not winning is one thing, playing like we are at the moment is completely unacceptable. P.S.- awesome leadership from Bruce out there

Spoke too soon, we're the rabble now. Pathetic quarter!

If Sylvia turns out to be half as good as Robbo, I'd be happy. Robbo has kicked a ton of goals, won two B&Fs, represented Australia and has led our goal kicking more than once. There is little chance Sylvia will ever achieve any of that.

Thanks for posting that, really informative stuff. I think CJ has benefited from the coaching change more than anyone else, as finally he is getting some opportunities to develop his game at the highest level.

Yze_Magic knows very well what he can and can't do on his forum. He has been posting here long enough to know when he is pushing the boundaries too far, and yet he continues to do so. Over the past month alone he has created and posted some incredibly dumb, repetitive, abusive threads. He abused fellow Demonland members personally and he continues to attack our players, which is not acceptable (our trash can is full of his crap!). The thread in question is not the sole reason for his suspension, but rather a small part in a large chain of inappropriate behaviour. You play with fire long enough, you'll eventually get burnt (this is not the first time he's been suspended). But fear not, he'll be back and we'll have to do this all over again

Was doing some work and had the TV on in the background and all of a sudden I heard the words "ten thousand dollars" and "Melbourne" and I had to get up and watch. What a fantastic thing to do, donating a sizable amount of money to a club because you want to maintain the tradition and integrity of the competition and help Melbourne survive. This really should be a kick in the arse for those who can, but don't contribute financially to our football club. A sincere thank you to the guy!

Out: Green In: Davey I'd rest Junior for another week. You don't return from a groin injury and fly straight up to Perth to play at Subiaco.

Miller, Bate, Aussie, Davey, Maric and Other (Watts :D) That's a good balance of 3 talls and 3 smalls... if we don't get Watts I guess Green would be an option.

Given the severity of the injury he caused, he deserves the sentence. He used to be a physical player, now he is just a dog. What a pathetic tactic it was by Freo trying to play the man, FFS you are rubbish and trying to physically harm a team with a serious claim on the flag does nothing to improve your future. Ah Freo, lucky the new Gold Coast team is coming in, they might just take over from you as the most utterly embarrassing club in the AFL. I'd be almost tempted to play Carroll this week, give him license to smash the crap out of anyone in a Freo jumper and then send him on his way :D

Yeah, probably should have read the article

I actually think this might be true, because Green's influence was down this weekend, and he didn't play in the backline as per usual. Spent a fair bit of time up forward in a more stationary position.

I'm glad you're trying to convert those boys, because I sure as hell haven't had any success! :D At least I'm always telling them Collingwood suck (brain washing comes free of charge).

I was there, surrounded by Dogs fans. Telstra Dome is a horrid place, colder than a morgue and with about as much atmosphere too.

Yeah I read about it in a property magazine. It's definitely true (the house selling part, not sure about retirement)

Absolutely. White has been a fantastic servant of the MFC, and has had some truly hideous injuries in his time. Through it all he has been an elite ruckman for many years and deserves a lot of recognition for his efforts and bravery. Having said that, he should retire at the end of the year.

I never suggested Morton will be better than Palmer, but your suggestion that Morton's disposal is no good is completely false. By the way, it's laughable that you tell me to get my facts right when I said Morton's efficiency was the 4th highest instead of the 5th highest (massive difference ), while you have provided exactly zero facts until now to back up your hideously false assessments of our players. Still think Miller is a rubbish player who should never play again?

It's a lot harder finding talented KPPs later in the draft, than it is midfielders. Look at Franklin, Roughead, Reiwoldt etc.. they were all taken early. Hawkins was a F/S but would have been a top 10 pick otherwise. But there are so many elite midfielders who were not first or even second round picks, which is why IMO we have to try and finally grab a decent key forward with our first pick.

The game plan revolves around quick ball movement, usually through a chain of handballs. Bruce is obviously trying to stick to the game plan, but so far has shown he is incapable of doing so. His decision making by hand is terrible, as he often handballs teammates into trouble, which is incredibly poor... that's if his handballs even reach the target. His disposal really is just not good enough for a player of his experience, and this is made worse by the fact that he's our captain. A lot of the time he'll end up gathering a huge amount of possessions and it'll leave you wondering "when did he manage to get 32 disposals, and where did they all go"? He really doesn't hurt the opposition enough, and that's also why I think he's been left on his own a lot these days, being allowed to roam the wings and win so many uncontested possessions. In the past, this was never the case!

This weekend: Palmer: 22 disposals, 55% efficiency (4th worst in the team) Morton: 21 disposals, 86% efficiency (4th highest in the team) :D