Jaded No More

- The hardwork that we became known for last year, gone - Cannot compete in the ruck - Too many senior players who cannot dispose of the ball, yes Bruce I'm looking at you! - The same passangers go missing when the heat is on. Typically TJ, Bruce, Green, Davey - Davey. Enough said. - Heavy reliance on two extermely inexperienced players in McLean and Jones to win the clearances. Jones' disposal under pressure is shakey at best, and with McLean out the entire midfield lacks direction. - Injuries to key players.... again. - Godfrey was our best midfielder. Hang your head in shame Melbourne midfielders! - DISPOSAL, DISPOSAL, DISPOSAL - Daniher Feel free to add to the list...

Neither age nor gender defines your knowledge or passion for the game or this club. BTW, I think I was 16 when I first started posting here

They may not post, but I assure you they read. Hopefully that makes people realise that while they can hide behind their screen name, they are still accountable for what they say and how they say it!

I hope you don't think I'm actually advocating Godfrey plays. It's not as if I'm jumping for joy that Bartram got injured. All I'm saying is that he is the most logical replacement because we've lost a tagger, not a defender. BTW, how do you think Brown, Bell, Whelan, Bizzell, Wheatley, Rivers, Carroll and Ward all play in the one backline? Assuming we play 7 defenders at most, at the one time, what happens to the extra player? Godfrey may not be much of a player, but at least he'll run all day and give our midfielders a break. We can't afford to have 2 players on the bench again with no fresh legs. I agree that he is a poor tagger, and an appalling user of the ball, but Ward is not far behind him. At least Ward runs fast when he makes mistakes. :D

Because Bartram would have tagged one of Crawford, Hodge or Mitchell. With Wheatley and Brown already in the side, we're left with too many one-dimensional defenders if we also include Bizzell. You could argue that yes, Bizzell is indeed a better footballer, but he won't be able to cover the role of Bartram. Besides, with McLean out, we're already down a midfielder. *Sigh* It's extremely depressing having to decide which D-grade footballer should be placed in the side to replace your A-grade players.

If we lose on Monday, Daniher. Watch all the previously keen 'drop Yze' supporters turn on their position and blame the loss on Daniher dropping Yze. If we win, probably Miller

Yep that's it, glad I make sense to someone

Really good news in what has been a pretty ordinary couple of weeks injury-wise (and form wise!). It's not really the type of injury you can re-injure if you come back too soon. He will either get the green light from the surgeon, or he won't. If he had a plate inserted in the area (not sure), it should now be stronger than before. Lets just hope nobody feels the need to elbow him in the face again!

Well Neale just confirmed on "Before the Game" that Bartram won't play on Monday, which means Godfrey is in. Luck is really on our side so far

Congrats to Greeny, who is one of the best transformed players in our side. He has really come on since his early days of being a soft-ish forward, and is now a very deserving senior leader. Hopefully the team can mark the occasion with a big win!

Anymore news? Poor kid!

And not a moment too soon!!! Wow, I don't ever remember seeing a Melbourne side without Yze.

Assuming that Daniher won't be our coach next year (and that's a pretty good bet), there really aren't a whole lot of options to replace him. I'm of the belief that it's better the devil you know, however we can't keep holding onto our coach because we're scared of what a change will bring. Being a great player does not automatically makes you a great coach. I would hate to appoint someone with no experience, especially given the current position we are in. If we were in a rebuilding mode, than maybe, but I would hope that we'll still be looking at winning a flag in the next 2 or 3 seasons, and with that in mind, appoint someone who has had success either as a senior coach, or as an assistant.

I really hope Rivers plays and Godfrey doesn't. The rest is just details. Feel sorry for Holland, but I can see why he was dropped. Don't want Neale to be making the excuse that we "ran out of legs" because Holland had no match-up and was therefore warming the bench for 3 quarters. He is just too one dimensional. Having said all that, he is very unlucky to be dropped! Yze will play. I just really hope that his continual inclusion doesn't come at the expense of someone like CJ, or later on Sylvia.

The game last night was the first bit of footy I've watched since last Friday's disgrace. It was great to see the Saints lose, but god it makes you wonder why Brisbane can get it right, and we can't. Btw, Brisbane's kids are looking great. They won't be on the bottom again for a while.

Very worried. Last Friday completely deflated me in every way. Thankfully there is not a whole lot of footy news up here in FNQ. I did manage to catch a bit of the Brisbane v. Saints game and it only highlighted how poorly we play the run and carry style, and how average St.Kilda are. My only hope is that we go back to our style, the one that suits us best and ditch the run and carry game plan, which leaves virtually half our side incapable of playing.

Ahhh.... Y_M, whatever would I do without your optimism?

I knew it was a bad idea to check the injury news while I'm on holidays.... It's a really massive blow for us. In fact, I think the importance of McLean will become clearer now that he's not available for a month and a half. Terrible way to start the season!

He has to stay up forward, especially if our midfield continues to kick over the head of our forwards. The ball came out of attack last night far too easily. The Saints had all the time in the world to switch and run off. I'm worried that Davey is thinking that he's too good for the forward line, and he wants to venture into the middle. I hope Daniher doesn't make that mistake though, because Davey is no midfielder.

I sit near the bench, and I too saw a lot of rotations last night, moreso than usual. Perhaps because it's Round 1, or because a few of our players were coming back from injury (like Beamer). Interesting thing I noticed, is that this year, as soon as a player comes off, they are measured for heart rate. Wonder what thats all about.

7 changes? Gees, when was the last time Neale made 7 changes in one week?! Besides, it's just one loss, lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Out: McLean (inj.), Whelan (if inj.) In: Rivers, Buckley/Pickett Again Miller is the scapegoat, which is completely unjustified. Our forwards got shocking delivery all night, and Daniher admitted that our midfield just refused to go through Milsy, despite him presenting all night. He won't get dropped. Yze buys himself another week because he didn't shirk any contests.

Disagree wholeheartedly! Ferguson doesn't have the speed or smarts to play CHF. Miller leads to the right spots, which is a good start. If they kicked the ball onto his chest, he might get more than 1 or 2 marks a game. I like Ferguson and I appriciate his courage, but he is no CHF.

Speaking of the reaction of ND.... someone explain this one to me.... "We played very dumb football in those second and third quarters." Demons must rebound, says Daniher If we were playing dumb football, why didn't you do something about it?! Why didn't you change the game plan, stock up the forward line, instruct our players to play their natural game where kicking is not punishable by death? You could have saved the game at half time, instead you let your side, the one you've been teaching for 10 years now, go out on the field and handball to stationary players. Well, at least we didn't "run out of legs" again!

I'm hoping for some sort of small miracle, and hoping it's only a sprain. Having sprained my hand quite badly on Wednesday, it certainly feels like a break and is just as painful. I didn't see the accident, but if his foot slipped as you say, he may not have had enough force there to actually break it. I'm not a doctor though, and knowing our luck, he's probably smashed it to bits and will be out for 3 months. Heaven help us if it's as bad as they think.

His kicking is what really gets me. Elite players just don't fluff kicks that often! Still, he might get the job given Brock finds new and exciting ways of hurting himself in the contest