Jaded No More

The Good More consistent effort Won the possession count Jordie McKenzie Nathan Jones Tommy Mac Rohan Bail Grimesy finding touch Morton and Bate improving Actually won some clearances! The Bad Trengove struggling Tappy and Sylvia too unfit Subbing Dunn off The Ugly Umpiring. W T F?!?! Aaron Davey Losing. Again.

An improved effort. In the end we got done because St Kilda's older heads are far superior to ours. We worked really hard when we didn't have the ball and made better decisions when we did have the ball, which was nice. I still think we would have lost by a lot more had it not rained, because in the first quarter St Kilda were very much on top of us in disposals. They just failed to convert in front of goal. Jordie McKenzie, the love of my life, was sensational, as was Tommy Mac in his 6th match. Jones continued to work his arse off, and Bate and Morton keep improving which is great. Bail had his best game in ages too, and Grimes tore it apart in the third quarter when we needed to lift. Horrible move subbing Dunn, when Davey was again running around like a headless chicken giving us nothing. Petterd would have also been handy tonight in the rain. Unfortunately this was our best chance at a win for a while, but at least lets continue to see improved efforts over 4 quarters and we might control the damage.

Too late. I already lost the plot at round 1.

I'm going. Fuming already because Sylvia is the sub. WTF?! Either play him or let him gain fitness in the VFL. Complete sh!t. Already thinking of ways to drown my post match sorrows. But, Go Dees!

I want to see a win. Sorry for bringing the thread down with my unrealistic deluded expectations.

His knees are shot. Give him $6mil!

Kill me.

What happened to his "groin problems"? Can't we, I dunno, exaggerate the problem? Nobody wants a kid with OP.

I would love for nothing more than for GWS to screw themselves by picking up JV with pick 1, then watch him come home to us in 2014. Sweet delicious irony.

Totes predicted that one years ago.

Jeggings

Robbie Grey's injury makes me want to vomit. From someone who suffered a serious knee injury, that vision of his knee bending backwards makes me tear up. Poor guy! Clark is bloody lucky!

Jones will never be an elite AFL midfielder and we need to get to a stage where he isn't our best midfielder, which he currently is. Doesn't mean he isn't a very important part of the midfield group going forward. He has been our best and most consistent player all year and has been a true leader through the middle. Bagging him seems harsh, although I agree that he needs to be a smaller component in a better midfield.

Agreed. He's been so consistent, and by far our best 'senior' player this season. Tries his butt off, has adapted well to the game plan, and his disposal has improved out of sight. Clearly a sign of physical and mental maturity from a guy who is coming into his prime. Well done to him.

He is good when he is given a defensive job. If he just roams around as an attacking player, he's poor. He did very well to shut down Murphy in the second half, when moved onto him, because Murphy was ripping us a new one (as always). But if that is his only trick, he'll struggle to keep himself in the side. Can't have a forward who can't lead, refuses to play in front, and won't make any impact on the scoreboard. At least Sellar, who had like 2 disposals til 3/4 time was trying to bust packs open and bring the ball to ground. Dunn should have been all over those spilled balls, but wasn't.

This is clearly not going anywhere. I never once said that Morton was the reason we lost, or was to blame, I pointed him out because he stuck in my mind as somebody who truly frustrated me yesterday for undoing some of his good work with really silly disposals, and incorrect decision making. There were plenty of others who let us down yesterday, there is no denying that, but it's easier to cop missed shots on goal, than easy disposals being stuffed up under no pressure. It is for me anyway. I'm not exactly sure why everyone is allowed to get stuck into Watts, despite his continued improvement, but Morton is this week's love child for some? I wasn't the only one who found him frustrating either. Guess we all get annoyed by different things. Moloney not spreading doesn't annoy me anymore, because I've come to terms with it, just as I've come to terms with Macdonald turning it over. Maybe I need to modify my expectations of Morton, but it's games just like yesterday that prove to me that it was worth sticking with him through some poor form patches, because he is so capable. Doesn't mean he shouldn't improve, because it's only when guys like Morton, Trengove, Watts and so on take the next step and polish their game that we'll start to see some serious improvement. Jamar, Moloney, Dunn, Davey, Green, Macdonald... this is as good as we're going to get from them. We should demand more from Morton, and Trengove, and Watts, and Howe and so on, and I'm sure Neeld does.

Yeah you're right, I picked up one of the players who killed us with his turnovers, which was our biggest downfall yesterday. He got plenty of the ball, which was great, then he turned it over, which was not. When top talents can't hit a target, you are going to lose every single time. He wasn't alone, but he was a good representative of how our hard work for most of the game (except for the usual patches where we went to sleep again), amounted to very little in many cases. As Rivers said post game, we let them get easy goals, but we had to work really really hard to get ours. We missed easy opportunities, and you can't afford to do that. Next week I'll make sure I classify that if I get stuck into a player, that I am not therefore solely blaming him for the loss. Just to make things clear. By the way, I got stuck into Trengove about one second later for not going into that last marking contest in our back half. Not a word of dispute. I'm confused. I didn't think this week we weren't allowed to comment on Morton just because he had his first really positive showing in 2 seasons?

Harsh and untrue. Jordie knows his limitations. Joel Macdonald thinks he's Chris Judd and Superman's love child.

No love for Jordie Mac? Kid would sell his mother to win the ball. Was diving on the contest like a possessed man today.

He shits me to tears because I haven't given up on him, like I have on so many others. Sorry if we can't all be so emotionally disconnected like you. Footy may be just a game of stats and tactics to you, but it isn't to me. It hurts me to see us suck so badly and it annoys me when talented players make stupid mistakes under no pressure. My only default view is that we have too many talented players who have coasted by for too long without any accountability.

How is it mindless bashing? I've always been a Morton fan and said nothing about his performance last week because he did ok given it was his first game of the year. He is talented and his engine is exactly what we need to pull off this game plan. Doesn't mean that I don't want to bash my head against a wall when he consistently turns it over under no pressure. I expect it from Macdonald and Bartram but they bring something else completely to the table. Morton should be much better than that and he is, so he infuriates me. Doesn't mean I don't want him in the team or doesn't think he'll be a good player, but he deserves to cop it for his mindless turnovers just as he deserves praise for working hard. Supporters complain because Watts dropped a mark but it's mindless bashing if I call Morton out on some [censored] disposal? He isn't a kid anymore, he's been around long enough and should do better. I doubt he would disagree. It was the most frustrating thing today from us a whole, working hard to win the ball then turning it over. Morton was, along with some others, one of the worst offenders.

Sellar had 2 possessions at 3/4 time. Not good enough. Unless we have a specific defensive role for him next week, he shouldn't play. In: Grimes, Petterd, Martin, Sylvia Out: Dunn, Macdonald, Sellar, McDonald (even though I love him and think he'll be great) Not sure if that leaves us short on defenders. Depends if Tappy goes back next week.

Where did I blame Morton for the loss? You know the difference between Dunn, Macdonald and Morton? Morton is bloody talented and does so much right but he is so goddamn apathetic sometimes that he makes lazy mistakes and it ruins his game. Hooray to him, he worked hard. What a shocker for a Melbourne player. He is damn frustrating and he isn't alone, he is just much more talented than many of his teammates and he deserves some tough love. He's cruised along for too many years doing nothing. He is better than that.

We played a much poorer opponent. Richmond went down to Geelong and lost by 10 points. The last time we were there we lost by 186. It's sad that we have reached a point where we don't think losing a game to a sh!t team by 21 points is that bad. This was our only real chance at victory until round 13 and we screwed it up. Not because our opponent was good but because we were [censored] poor for too many patches during the game. Too many easy clearances, too many quick transitions. We spent far too long in our defensive half and when we finally got the ball forward we let the Dogs run it out with ease. It's not ok to play intense footy for 15 minutes then come out in the last quarter and concede two [censored] poor goals. And what the [censored] was Neeld thinking starting Jones, Beamer and Howe on the bench in the last quarter??? We had to get the first goal but we couldn't get near it in the centre. Beggars belief this coach. Seriously I am trying to support him, but he makes it damn difficult.

I cringed when he pulled out of that marking contest in the last. Sure if he got injured I'd have spewed, but really bad look for a captain. I was all for going with youth but I don't think Trengove is coping with the burden. Another disasterous aspect of this season.