Jaded No More

The best 30 minutes you'll ever spend on Youtube. Heartbreaking and very important.

I agree with that, but urgency can be drilled into you, talent can't. Some players are very laconic by nature. I think Garland is similar, but because he is a defender, he doesn't require the same sense of urgency to attack the contest, the contest comes to him. Watts has to develop the aggressive side of his game, he needs to go hunting for the ball and become more attacking. That sort of thing often comes with age, with realisation that your body is capable of handling your opponent and also with general maturity and confidence. Jamar and Frawley, who are both monsters and have always been fairly large, used to get lost in contests. Now they are both in the top bracket of their position amongst the competition. Not everyone is aggressive and intense from the moment they step on the field, some players need that side developed, and Watts is one of those players. I certainly don't see him as somebody who is scared of body contact, he hasn't consistently ducked out of contests or stayed away from the packs, but he also doesn't seem to have the inner belief to physically impose himself on matches. Being hammered in the media every week surely doesn't help either.

If anybody says that was the loss we had to have, I will hunt them down and karate chop their face off. That was the most destructive, humiliating, disgusting and downright disgraceful thing I have ever experienced as a supporter and paid up member of this club. I never in my life felt so much apathy towards Melbourne as I did in the days following that game, and I think if anything it made me a bit more numb to the emotions associated with being an MFC supporter. I still love this club, and will support it until the day that I die, but that day can never be undone, and for many of us, that pain will not disappear until we win a premiership. Everything that we have achieved during the pre-season could have been achieved without this loss, and without the ensuing humiliation.

Ummm because nobody gives a sh*t about GWS or their players?!

So you don't get personal leave and annual leave payments from your work place?!

Thanks Rudeboy. I'm glad the club are giving him the time he needs. When do you think he'll be back?

Grimes is now another 1-2 weeks away, same as last week. What's the bet he doesn't play next week? Bubblewrap alert!

Hmmm this doesn't sound good. I have a very uncomforable feeling about this. Hopefully it's my MFCSS playing up and nothing more.

The point is, that Carlton's top 5 players are great, the rest are damn mediocre, and it's only because we used to play such loose attacking footy that we'd get murdered, because head to head, their attacking players are well ahead of ours. A midfield of Jones, Magner and Couch managed to break even with a midfield of Swan, Pendelbury and Thomas on the weekend, despite the very very obvious disparity in class and talent. There is nothing to say we can't break even with Carlton's midfield if we play the same sort of defensive, contested footy we've played thus far, and I'm confident our backline can shut their forwards and our forwards can challenge their backs.

Carlton is not such a classy side. It is the same old pricks who kill us every time we play them. Judd, Murphy, Waite. Shut those 3 down and we can win. We have a far superior backline and our forward line is a lot less one dimensional. If we can keep playing the sort of contested footy we've been playing in the middle, there is no reason why we can't beat them. I am sick to death of losing to them. They are nowhere near as good as they believe. The proof lies in the fact that they have gone nowhere in finals, and can't beat the best sides. They crumble under defensive pressure, which is what our new game plan is about. It's about time we put them back in their arrogant box.

Joel McDonald gets a huge tick for hardness and willingness to succeed. Unfortunately he is prone to brain fades and his disposal is woeful. With so much quality competing for limited spots in the backline, I think he'll find it very hard to cement a spot in 2012. You just cannot afford to have guys turning it over, or doing dumb things in the backline.

Could be absolutely elite. Phenomenal ball control at full speed, great disposal, obviously a ridiculously good mark. Everytime he does something, it is just brilliant. I love underdogs, but I don't think we can let his path into the AFL fool us. He has everything required to be a top player.

Has the potential to be elite, but not if he continue to play like a scared little mouse. He is just skirting the packs, trying to avoid body contact. Good luck with that. He'd get his arse kicked by Neeld if he played like that for us right now. Pathetic.

Happy Saturday night. Party time! Go Dees!

About 58 points ahead of where I expected us to be, so I am not going to dare complain. Having said that, please give me bragging rights tonight Melbourne. For once let me have celebratory post footy drinks instead of misery drinks. Go Dees!

GAWN

Love it, except for the bit where it looks like a school blazer. A bit of redesigning, with a simple embroidered MFC intertwined logo, and a thinner contrast binding (Ralph Lauren style), and I'm buying one!

Your motto should be STFU

I was so traumatised watching Bambi as a child, I'm pretty certain I cried for a whole week about it. I guess it was good preparation for watching Melbourne.

Yeah, let's not pretend that there was a single person who read this thread and went "oh I'm sure it will all be just fine, who cares". If you didn't experience a little bit of vomit in the mouth, you are not human.

Can stop feeling sick and obsessively checking Twitter for updates now, like some nutter. Go Grimesy, live another day son!

GET F'ed! This is beyond a joke. FFS!!!!

In our wet dreams maybe. I'll be thankful to make the 8 this year. Top 5 is just wishful thinking.

I got 6, but only because I cannot bring myself to think that we will lose to the scum of the earth Carlton. Again. If we win one match the whole year, please please please let it be against those arrogant filth. I don't think St Kilda or the Dogs are in for a good season, so we're a good chance. Geelong, WCE, Collingwood and Hawthorn are almost guaranteed losses, and Sydney seem set for another good year, so that's a probable loss too. Hoping to best Richmond, Brisbane, Saints, Dogs and Essendon. Carlton the priority though.

You're lucky I'm no longer a mod, or that would get you a lifetime ban. Disgusting!