Jaded No More

But of course not Two weeks in a row Godders is smacked behind play, and two weeks in a row his opponent gets away with it. I wonder if Kerr will be so lucky when he inevitably gives him one this weekend. As far as taggers go, Godfrey is a fair player. I have never seen him do anything illegal, in fact, has he ever been suspended? I don't know why he isn't getting umpire protection.

White's biggest problem?... He takes FOREVER to kick the damn thing. His decision making is incredibly slow, and he often misses a player who is wide open because he is not looking on the right side of the field, or because he is indecisive with which way he should kick the pill. He's been excellent the last two weeks, getting involved in the play and running his opponent around, but he has got to learn to make quick decisions.

Agree 1000%! Playing youngsters is great if: 1) They are replacing old heads who are not best 22 material anymore 2) They are ready to play, be it mentally or physically In my opinion, there are only 3 players left to debut this season, and all 3 will. The key though, is to debut them, and give them significant game time to prove themselves (like Petterd), not bring them in, play them for 10 minutes then dump them in favour of has-beens (like CJ). The other thing about our position at the moment, is that we can afford to experiment. So we can afford to play Sylvia and Bate at CHF, and we can play Dunn on the wing, and PJ can be given time to work on his slightly disturbing rucking technique. This probably won't win us as many games as playing the traditional Ward, Brown, Holland combo, with Ferguson and Bizzell as side-kicks. But what it will do, is set us up for the future, which is an absolute must. If we finish 9th or 10th, and end up with a middle of the road pick, we risk more than just not landing one of the best kids available, we also risk being less of a chance to land someone like Judd! This year, more than ever, having a top 3 pick up your sleeve is absolutely crucial.

Apperantly Dutchy and Johnson of the Bulldogs are both under investigation for their altercation yesterday. Brad Johnson is being investigated for head-butting (how the hell did he grow 10cm to actually reach Holland's head, I don't know ), and Dutchy for the very serious allegation of eye-gouging. The outcome will be known tomorrow. All I can say is, thank god Carroll kept his cool...

No he hasn't. Unsubstantiated rumours like this one belong on BigFooty, not here.

Agree completely. I expect fire works between those two as well. No doubt Kerr will have a crack at Godders, if far more composed players in West and Goodes have previously. Would love to see one of the young guys given the job on Judd. Regardless of who plays on him, he'll kill us, so why not give the experience to someone like Bate, or Petterd if he plays, or even Bell. I know it's a huge ask, but we have nothing to lose. Bruce on Embley for me.

Great research, well done! Stats are not the whole story, as you said Neita averages 10 disposals a game, but what he does with those is invaluable. Miller sometimes has plenty of stats that are actually handballs to stationary players, which is a worry. However, in terms of marking, he takes more than his fair share. On MMM last night they were talking about him, and they said that he is only taking chest marks because he has no confidence. To put it simply, we need to see him extending the 'dukes' more often. We also need him to kick goals. His field kicking has improved dramatically this year, and during the warm-up he barely misses a set-shot on goal. Again, it all comes down to confidence, or lack thereof. He is not a classy type forward, and he isn't damaging enough to be a CHF, but what he can be is a third tall, who brings plenty of aggression, and creates leads at every opportunity. IMO, the game is moving away from having two gorillas at CHF and FF respectively. We will do much better with a smaller, more mobile CHF, to balance the other talls we already have (and I would consider Robbo a tall).

Sylvia. He isn't your traditional CHF because he is only 186cm, but you will not find a better overhead marker for his size. He is aggressive, he can mark, he can kick, he can run deep into the forward line, or pull his weight in the midfield. We all want him to become a midfielder, but I don't think his body will ever allow for that to happen. At CHF, he still gets to be involved in the match, and he definitely has the hunger and competitiveness to give the position a crack. As a junior, the instruction was always 'kick it to Col', so he is familiar with what it takes to be a focal point. Miller just does not possess that level of confidence, and lacks the necessary presence. IMO, Matthew Bate is too much of a rare sort of talent to be played as a forward. He should be our next Cameron Bruce, or better, Adam Goodes. He is versatile and has the size to play forward, midfield, or back, which is a gift that should not be wasted.

Was definitely out of bounds on the full. I was sitting above the boundary line and it was as clear as the day. The goal umpire called it out, but his call was dismissed by the umpire who should have seen it in the first place... the boundary umpire. Even the Bulldog supporters around me found it completely pathetic that 3 men needed to have a discussion over the most basic, and simple decision. And don't get me started about Junior's tackle from behind that was deemed to be 'in the back'. I tell you what, the standard of umpiring is becoming more of a joke each week.

They were working on him furiously in the last quarter. The trainer was rubbing his hamstrings and his groins as if they were searching for gold down there. To his credit, he kept fighting and ran himself to the ground, which is a fantastic sign. I hope you're wrong about next week. The thing that has killed his career so far, is not having a fluid run of matches. He needs to get a good, long, uninterrupted block of games to feel like he belongs and to get truly comfortable in the side.

Pure and simple, if we don't get a top 4 draft pick out of this season, it will be a disaster.

Well, generally, when a player is not going to play, it means we won't be seeing him on the ground kicking the ball. They said McLean is at least a couple of weeks away, and considering Whelan's soft-tissue history, he won't be risked either.

No way is Dunn getting dropped. Our season is over, what is the point of dropping kids who are making their way in the seniors? Don't forget, Subiaco is a big ground, so Dunn will have a lot of space to work in, which will suit him. McLean and Whelan won't play. In: Rivers, CJ Out: Holland, Moloney (purely because I think he is really struggling with the OP now, and after running on the hard surface at TD, running around on a big ground like Subiaco is a huge ask). If Petterd is ok, bring him in and take one of Ward or Brown out.

Neitz, McLean, Rivers. Also, Travis Johnstone when on song is better skills-wise, and has more influence on the outcome of games. Please don't mistake my comments as "Bruce-bashing". He is a good player, but he isn't our best.

I'm sure many will disagree, but I think our forward line operates better with just Robbo as our main target, than just Neita. Of course, when they both play, it's even better, but it is harder to double-team Robbo because of his leap and size, and we did win a fair amount of games with Robbo at FF in 2005. Robbo, when on song, is an absolute nightmare for the typical monster FB. You need someone who is extremely good above his head, and who knows how to play from behind to try and stop him. Whereas you can have two guys on Neita, scrag him in the contest (since he never gets a free kick! ), and you'll just about have him covered. So no, our window is not shut if Neita doesn't go another year.... well, not if McLean is appointed captain and Robbo stays injury free.

Not true. He is neither our best player skills-wise, nor is he our most important player. He is a good footballer because he is so versatile, but his disposal is extremely questionable, and so are his leadership skills. I can name at least 3 players who are better or more important than Bruce. Bruce doesn't deserve some of the criticism that comes his way most of the time, but on the whole he is overrated by Melbourne supporters.

Since TJ loves to give directions so much, surely he could have screamed at one of his team-mates to go cover his man. We were doing well to man-up all game, but lost it in the crucial last few minutes. You would think we would have learnt something from last week. This never would have happened if Rodney Eade was coaching us. That's all I'm going to say.

I agree that Carroll was outclassed by Johnson, but why wasn't Bell given the job on him? Like I said pre- match, Belly has the speed, the size and the aggression to go with him. Carroll isn't quick or smart enough, but he did do well.... much better than Bruce who should never have played there to begin with. Belly has shut down every opponent he's had so far. I think he has earnt the right to play on the big guns.

One player who definitely needs a rest is Beamer. I feel sorry for him as he clearly just cannot run and compete at the level that he is used to. Season is gone, we might as well give him some time off to recover.

Holland Ward Brown Bizzell Wheatley Ferguson Neita (will retire next year) Junior (ditto) Yze Jamar CJ (not unless he is given some game time) Whitey will be touch and go And one of Bruce or Travis Johnstone. It won't be pretty, but someone needs to have the balls to do something drastic and either land us a huge name, or a brilliant draft selection. So that's 13 for you, and there are probably more.

He would have made the forward line even more crowded and I reckon we would have seen Neita implode and just belt the living crap out of anyone and everyone. If we want to play him, at least one tall has to go first. Rivers, McLean and Wheels would have made a huge difference today. Newton wouldn't have.

As I said, he has good pace and he is not too bad below the knees. He gets completely lost in the contest though, but so did Daniel Bell once upon a time. I'm happy to stick with him and see what he can do. Certainly he should play if Rivers if not right next week.

Ward and Brown are first to go. I know they both had reasonable games today, but we are going nowhere if those two, as well as Holland and Godders are all in the side. Holland was there to cover for Rivers. Hopefully Frawley is ready to debut soon, eliminating the horror show that is Holland going for a chase *shudder* Godfrey is there to do a job, and so far, he is doing it well. He is also the youngest of the 4, so he has quite a bit of life in him yet. His fitness and aerobic capacity are invaluable at the moment. If Petterd is ok for next week, we must dump one of Ward or Brown for him. It will be a good experience, although not a pleasant one, for him to play against the Eagles. I'd play Frawley ahead of Warnock too if he's ready, although I like Warnock's pace and desire to carry the ball a bit. At least the endeavor is there. Come the end of the season though, one big name will have to go. Not sure who yet, but we'll need to do something drastic to get this side delivering. Disclaimer: I actually enjoy Ben Holland down back, because he is a smart player, but watching him run is painful.

Come on, Neita has one bad game and all of a sudden he is a rubbish leader and not inspirational? Shame on anyone who calls themselves a Melbourne supporter, if they judge Neita on one poor performance. He has more runs on the board than our entire side put together. Go find someone else to take your frustrations out on. FFS!

West got frustrated, because Godders was being a pest and following him around like bad breath. I think he just gave him a little wack, Goodes style. Well done Godders, that's 3 out of 3... and dare I say it, his 9 disposals were probably all to advantage too!