Jaded No More

Brad Miller is never going to be a champion player. The reality is that for the moment, he is covering a hole down back because Rivers is injured. I'm a bit confused as to why people are picking on him for yesterday's results. He was one of 6 helpless defenders who received zero help from the midfield and had to deal with great delivery after great delivery. None of our backman disgraced themselves as far as I could see. At least Miller was kicking the ball every time he had possession. We have far far bigger problems than Brad Miller.

So we should keep them in the side and reward their attitude and ineptitude? Dropping the younger players is only going to slow our development further. Besides, if you make a scapegoat out of Weetra, Garland, Petterd, etc... you are never going to teach the players anything, you will only disappoint and alienate the young players who, may not be perfect, but who try as hard as they can.

If you jump off this early, you need to take a long hard look at yourself. Bring on the Dogs!

It's a tactic, for you see, he is so slow he needs to be half a second behind to make it to the contest on time <_< Seriously though, that's a coaching issue which can be fixed. I'm not advocating that Jamar should become our ruck saviour, but if you're going to play a second ruckman, you have to actually play them as a second ruckman. That was probably one of my biggest issues with Daniher. 10 years, 1 ruckman.

Actually, when it comes to rucking, I think Jamar is better than PJ. Jamar is stronger and gets his hands on the ball more. Around the ground PJ is better, but that's not hard given Jamar is practically a statue. He's there for decorative purposes only. That Meesen couldn't get a game ahead of our current plethora of brilliance is a real worry. P.S.- nobody is carrying an injury in Round 1. For god's sake, Bailey said nobody will play unless they are 100%. Injuries are not an excuse this early in the year. If we have players who are under-done and they are playing, than Dunn, Rivers, Bartram and Whelan should sue!

I just want to understand what the contingency plan here is. We have had ONE ruckman for as long as I can remember. White is done for, this year, next, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we don't have a second ruckman, because nobody has been given an opportunity to really learn the position. White is still rucking far too much, and doing far too little around the ground. Jamar, Meesen and PJ might be crap, but they are the ones waiting in the wings. So if they are crap, lets find out and get rid of them now.

Two examples: First example was in the second quarter I think. The ball just dribbled out of our forward line, and was there to be won. Bruce ran and stopped. He had the opportunity to throw himself in and get the ball, but he didn't. Another example, and I swear I nearly jumped the fence after that one, was when running out of the backline, Bruce decided to handball to McLean, who was surrounded by 3 Hawks, because he wanted to avoid physical contact. Never in my life have I been so ashamed of a Melbourne player. Sold his own team-mate into trouble, instead of taking a few extra steps and kicking the ball. Not every player needs to throw themselves at the contest with no regard for their own well being (i.e.- Jones), but every player has to go when required, especially a senior LEADER. I can forgive the terrible kicking, poor decision making and lack of leadership shown, but not the lack of effort and care. If he isn't fit, he shouldn't play. Bailey said only players who are 100% fit will play, so no excuses. Bruce had a few very good seasons, but has gone downhill since. Much like Yze, we cannot carry players based on what they have done in the past. Perhaps a permanent forward position is the solution, who knows. It's sad that someone with his ability is struggling to impact matches. I have no doubt that we've seen the best that Bruce has to offer. Maybe it's our fault for expecting too much of him.

I wouldn't blame him if he threw in the towel and told them all to stick it. The poor guy has been playing his heart out for years, carrying a pathetic team on his shoulders, being the only leader on and off the field. In this, his twilight years, it would be nice if the players he carried for years payed him some respect and actually played like they care. It is terrible that someone so talented, so honest, so passionate is going to leave this club without a flag, and through no fault of his own. That he was the first, and probably only player to run down a Hawks defender during the entire game, is a complete disgrace. He shouldn't be chasing the opponents of his 20 year old teammates ffs!

Welcome back Dunn, Rivers and Bartram. Can't wait for Rivers to bring some much needed calmness back into the train-wreck that is our backline at the moment. Did Frawley play?

Indeed. Cale showed composer in many contests, and it's a good start. I can't imagine how bad it must have been for him and Weetra, playing their first match, and having to deal with such crap all around them. Unfair assessment of Bell and Petterd. Bell shut down his opponent, and was then forced to play on Franklin, who he did reasonably well against (given the quality of delivery and lack of Melbourne pressure). His tackling is superb, and so is his ball use, but when you are left all on your own to stand against Franklin, you can't be rebounding the ball and creating play. As for Petterd, we should be thankful that he's alive, let alone playing with such courage.

Rubbish excuse. Being underdone is not a free pass to duck your head and avoid physical contact. We've been waiting for him to get better for 8 seasons. It's not happening. Time to let go. Bailey needs to make a statement by dropping a host of senior players, but at the same time there is a danger of over reacting. The worst thing we can do is dwell on this loss. We have to move on and focus on next week. However, on today's performance White, Yze, Bruce, Davey and Green all deserve to be dropped.

How can you justify dropping Weetra, Garland and Petterd, and keeping serial underperformers like Bruce and Wheatley in the team? How are we ever going to develop and move forward if we don't give these kids a chance to learn? Besides, Garland and Petterd were far from our worst players. I agree with the ins, but replace Holland with Frawley, and also Bate if fit has to play.

I usually disagree with everything you say, and it does seem a bit early to be attacking players, but I can't help agreeing. He ducked his head consistently, and his kicking is deplorable. We're all aware that he has struggled with a knee injury lately, but that is no excuse for not going when it is your turn. Nor is it a reason to handball to Brock McLean who is surrounded by 3 Hawthorn players because you don't want to take the hit. Infuriating. Sadly, he is not the only senior player who has been going downhill for a few seasons now. It's time to face facts. These senior players, with the exception of Neitz, will never give us what we want. So either we completely let go of all expectations, or we simply stop rewarding them with games.

Always... 1. Garland, Morton and Weetra have (another) game under their belt. Thought Garland fought admirably given the circumstances. 2. Bell wasn't horribly bad. 3. Moloney played the best I have seen him play since before his injury. Moved freely at last. 4. We have Bate, Rivers, Bartram, Sylvia, Dunn and Whelan to come back and replace some of our pathetic senior players who don't deserve to wear red and blue 5. No injuries!!!! 6. It can't get much worse... please oh please tell me it can't get much worse!

For the first time in my life, I am speechless. Also for the first time in my life I left the ground at 3/4 time. Really couldn't take it anymore. Every Hawthorn goal was like a knife to the heart. Will be interesting to see what Bailey does next. If I was coach I'd seriously contemplate throwing footballs at the players' head repetitively.

I skipped all the negative [censored] and moved along to the articles that were actually interesting (laughed quite hard about the article on Dean Bailey). Like I said a few days ago, I am sick and tired of the moaning and bitching that goes on in the media, on here, wherever about this club. The same old stuff is brought up, we have no home, we have no money, we haven't won a premiership in over 40 years. Yawn! If we win today, all of a sudden we're a club going places. It's a media beat-up. At the end of the day any publicity is good publicity, and to open the paper and see 3 big articles about our club is fantastic. If all the negative words encourage some of our pathetic 'fans' to get on board and buy a membership, great. But for those of us who actually know what's going on at the club, and who support the organisation regardless of results, these articles are completely useless. In fact, if I hear one more 'journalist' harp on about us having no home, I will quite literally spew. We have a home, it is in the process of being built. Short of laying the foundation ourselves, there is nothing we can do to hurry the build along. Lets get a huge turnout to the match today, and get a win. Maybe tomorrow's headline will read "No money, no home, but one hell of a victory"

Congratulations to both the boys. I get the feeling, reading the article, that Weetra has been brought in to cover for Davey up forward, as he will now be mainly used in the midfield. If Weetra can bring the same forward pressure Davey does, he'll have a long career.

Edit: Just saw the article on the website. Here is a link for anyone who is interested. Surprised that both Frawley and Bode missed out. If Williams or Franklin run riot, we won't have many options to switch the backline around. Congratulations to both Morton and Weetra. Fantastic for both of them to be selected this early in the season.

Was barracking hard for Richmond last night. Filthy arrogant cheats deserve to lose, and lets just say Judd didn't seem too bothered. I'm sure he'll sleep well on his piles of money.

Well that's a letdown. No Bartram, Rivers or Whelan. Serves me right for taking note of the Footy Show! Bench should be: Frawley, PJ/Jamar, Moloney and Morton.

I like the commercial, but there is no mention of Melbourne and that really pisses me off. It's OUR 150th birthday, not the AFL's. The competition was not created 150 years ago, rather the MFC came into existence. But as usual, the AFL just take and take. If we had the money, I would love the MFC to run a TV ad with the message 'if you love your footy, you have the Melbourne Football Club to thank'.

Hooray for Rivers (stupid me didn't pick that up on The Footy Show. Glad not every Demonland member is blind ). Very strange that Bell has been named on the bench. He is the perfect match-up for Williams, so not sure what the deal is there. Bench would probably be Petterd, Bell, Dunn and PJ/Jamar. Mind you, Buckley deserves to play, so perhaps Dunn will miss out, or perhaps a late change with one of Whelan or Bartram not playing. Miller and Carroll to take on Buddy? And I would love to see Bartram play a run-with-role on Mitchell. If we shut him down, we are half way there given no Hodge and no Crawf. Interesting that Green has been named in the forward line and Davey in the midfield. BRING IT ON! :D

Yep just saw the other thread and apperantly he was. Please ignore everything I just said. Rivers was named on extended bench, and I must have missed it because I was jumping for joy when I saw Bartram's name up there.

Whelan and Bartram both named in the starting 18 for Round 1 (just shown on The Footy Show). Maric, Dunn and Petterd named on a VERY extended bench, but no Morton or Rivers. A bit of a worry that Bartram and Wheels both came up but Rivers is still with Sandy. Hopefully that is not a sign that he pulled up sore or anything. However, absolutely brilliant news for Wheels and Bartram. After the depressing reports we've been getting about their progress, it's great to have both named in the side. Unfortunately, because of the number of players they had up on the team sheet, I didn't catch who our second ruckman is going to be, or whether Bruce was named. CHF was Robbo, and CHB Miller. Not that it means much.

Cheers!