Jaded No More

I promise you that barring injury this weekend, Moloney will most certainly play Round 1. Pickett may not be 100% fit, but at least he is 100% committed, which is more than I can say for his likely forward flank replacement in Yze. It will take Pickett about 3 or 4 fair-dinkum AFL matches to get back to his ideal playing weight (or near enough). Playing him is the only way to get him match fit.

That's not bad, but you need to look at our opposition. For starters, Holland is a must. The Saints have 3 permanent talls, and will no doubt rest a ruckman up forward to stretch us. This is where Miller might have to be thrown down back. Yze does not make my team, and whether you choose Brown or Ward the result will be the same. Ward gets the nod for his superior speed. You also forgot Pickett and Moloney. My side: B: Whelan Carroll Holland HB: Bell Rivers C Johnson C: Johnstone Green Bate HF: Bruce Miller Pickett F: Robertson Neitz Davey Ruck: White McLean McDonald Int: Jamar Jones Moloney Ward

Always had a soft spot for Thommo, and I still watch him closely (I enjoy watching Adelaide regardless). Unlike a lot of Melbourne supporters, I don't begrudge him for going home. But yes, I will have a smile on my face if we beat Adelaide in a GF and Beamer wins the NSM Wish him all the best for the season and his new life as a dad.

I don't know why I'm bothering, but here goes... You say Neitz doesn't deserve to be our leading game player, but what does that even mean? He's played the most games for the MFC, hence he holds the record, hence he deserves it. You say he is vital to our team, thereby proving that he deserves to get a game each week. This is how he earnt himself the title you realise. It's a very straight forward thing. Everyone has their favourites and their least favourites, it's only natural, but your reasoning for not respecting Neitz doesn't make any sense.

Yes, but playing there means actually having to set foot in Geelong. That alone is grounds for disgust. I'll back us to beat them at the G', besides Skilled is a meaningless ground as you never play finals there. It's a waste of time playing there if you ask me. The only ones who benefit are Geelong, therefore they should only play interstate clubs there. To make Victorian fans have to travel to Geelong to watch a game of footy is idiotic, especially when the game is always a sell-out and we have two other perfectly good grounds available.

If I stick my fingers in my ears, close my eyes and say repeatedly "I see no evil, and hear no evil", will that help?

Very true. Just like his game against Freo at Subiaco. He suits big open spaces, the wider the better.

How can you 'hate' anyone who plays for you club? Hate is a very strong word, and to use it against our captain, and games/goals record holder, is really quite disrespectful. Also, I doubt Daniher really cares how you, or any of the supporters feel about Yze. If he did, Yze would have been dropped, maybe even traded, years ago. I really do not see a reason to play Yze in Round 1. St. Kilda is not a weak side, so there is no chance he'll rock up with a lazy 5 goal performance against an average team . There are plenty of young guys dying for a well-earned opportunity to play senior footy, and going on pre-season form, Yze hasn't earnt a spot. If we're going to be a strong, unrelenting side in 2007, we must start by being ruthless in our own backyard. Dropping Yze is my last hope of waking him up... nothing else has helped, and he is well and truly out of chances this time around. The most frustrating thing for me, is that the team has made a conscious effort to improve their mental strength, hunger and willingness to get the ball in 2006, and everyone but Yze changed their game even in the smallest of ways (you only need to look at Green for evidence). I don't get why Yze should have a different set of team rules to follow. He is not above the team, and for me, he doesn't make the team either.

Good point. Thankfully we don't have to play there this year though. That ground is evil! :angry:

Thank you everyone for the detailed reports. The most important thing is again, no injuries (that we know of). Really pleased to hear that my boys Belly and CJ are killing it. I love that Bell is slowing proving all of his critics wrong, that boy can seriously play! A question regarding Bruce, how was his kicking today?

Doesn't matter how long you've been around this site, this sort of irrational behaviour never ceases to surprise you. Success in the pre-season means nothing come round 1, in fact, minimum exersion can lead to positive outcomes at the end of the season. If it was up to me, our top 10 players wouldn't play until the very last week before the season proper, just to give them a bit of a run. I find it nerve-wrecking that so many of our star players might go out there, try too hard and suffer injuries as a consequence. Believe me, you'll remember a season-ending injury for longer than you'll remember the scoreline for these things.

Terribly sad news. My condolences to all of his loved ones.

You never stop building... teams like Sydney (or Brisbane of 01-03) who simply trade away their early picks for mature players, will spend a sustained period of time at the bottom when their current team retires. The idea is to constantly build, change, evolve and grow. That's the way the competition works, and our club just cannot afford to go through long periods at the bottom of the ladder. Even a big club like Carlton is suffering due to poor on-field performances. What Daniher is saying and doing is exactly right. We have a list that can challenge for the flag as early as this year, but that's not to say that in 2 or 3 years time we'll be struggling on the bottom of the ladder, because we haven't stopped recruiting well, and we haven't stopped changing our tactics. There are no guarantees in this game, but we can control our long term future with the way we manage our list. That way, if we don't win a flag in the next two years, at least we won't have to bottom out again to become contenders.

Thanks Fan, I'm so glad someone has time to go to training and fill us all in, it's much appriciated. Great news about Bartram. Hopefully he'll be right by Round 4 or so, after a couple of practice matches at Sandy. His injury has turned out much much worse than I think everyone expected.

If we see Sylvia playing seniors before Rd 10, I'd be very very surprised!

My guess would be Sylvia or Bartram.

Just like what I said to you the other night... it's better the devil you know. Unless there is an obvious better choice out there, I rather stick with Daniher, at least while we're still in the Neitz/White- era (or 11-12pm on the clock, whichever you choose). I'm not his biggest fan, but he knows how to build a list from scratch, and he's proven that. Whether he can coach us on the day to take the flag, is another story. I guess the proof can only be in the pudding. But one thing is certain... we could do worse, a lot worse!

And Junior, who had his best season when released from his tagging duties. Bartram makes my 22 when we have a full list to choose from. It's a real shame that he won't be available for the first month of the season (at the very least).

Would love to go, but there is a little issue called 'work' getting in my way <_< Whether you care about the results or not, it is still a good opportunity to go watch the team play, be it badly and without care, but they're still wearing red & blue!

Sure, but you're forgetting that we didn't have our two key forwards out there. And considering everyone on this site thinks Miller is useless, there would have been no point kicking it to him either. Given we had no key forwards out there, it seems logical that we moved the ball by hand. I didn't watch or hear the game, but it sounds to me like we basically got overrun by the Crows. This to me is more worrying than the over-use of handballs, because we are meant to be fit enough to run out a game in March... if we're not, than nothing has really changed. Still, it's a pre-season game, so there is really no need to make judgements.

Really? When did it cost us games? When we looked disinterested against Carlton? Or when the Bulldogs ran all over us? Or when Davey's kick for goal was ruled a point? It never cost us games, just like this handball-crazy tactic is not costing us games (because nobody cares about pre-season matches). Moving the ball quickly via long kicking is great in theory, but more often than not it results in the opposition's loose defender zoning off, and if your kicking is not 100% accurate, the ball will be rebounded just as quickly. How often did we see Melbourne bombing the ball long, only for it to fall into the wrong hands? It's just as frustrating, if not more frustrating, than having the players over-possess the footy but eventually land it into the hands of a forward.

Here's a thought, the coaching staff are trying to bring a new side to our game which involves a lot of handballs (this may prove to be a winning formula interstate). Since Melbourne is mainly a kicking team, a lot of practice is needed in order to prefect this tactic. So the brain trusts at Melbourne figured they'll give the whole senior list a go this pre-season, and encourage all the players to handball as much as possible to adjust to the difference in game style. So far, it's only been mildly successful, giving our coaching panel plenty of time to modify this tactic, so that hopefully by Round 1 the balance between kicking and handballing is as it should be. I rather we stuff up now, and learn from our mistakes when it doesn't cost us premiership points. Radical hey? By the way, weren't you the one who got all defensive about our 'keepings off' tactics early in 2006? And didn't that game plan win us a number of crucial games? And wouldn't it be nice if all this pre-season practice means we're fully prepared for Plans A, B & C in Round 1 (unlike last year perhaps)? Yeah, I'm sticking with our coaches on this one. Gees, I think I forgot after all this time just how much hysteria is bred on this site

For what it's worth, West Coast went down to Essendon by 58 points today (100-42). That's two pre-season games for two losses. I wonder if their supporters are slashing their wrists as well... they can come join the masses at Demonland P.S.- Adelaide > Essendon

Rivers? Still, that's our two main forwards, our FB and the 2 best midfielders we've got. If anyone is actually worried about the results, they need a quick reality check. These matches are played purely for the purpose of fitness and experimentation.

Rd 17- Port Adelaide. Not a bad draw that.... Then again, according to half the posts in this thread, by Round 17 we'll be hot favourites for the spoon, so it won't even matter