Jaded No More

In a draft already compromised by GC. The next few drafts are going to be worthless with GC and GWS getting first choice picks. I'd rather keep Morton who has phenomenal potential than get pick 18-30 for him and draft an unknown, who in any other draft may not have even made the first two rounds of picks. Unless Morton can be used as part of a deal that nets us a top 10 pick or allows us to get a young developing KPF, I really don't see the use in trading him.

I think we can and have done worse in terms of defensive depth. He is adequate replacement when our first choice defenders are out for various reasons, and IMO there are worse defenders than him getting regular games elsewhere in the competition. He's done well in his limited opportunities this year. I think defensively he's good, but he is not and should never been used to attack out of the backline. Interesting that the article on the MFC website mentions him going up forward. Would be a worthy experimentation.

I think I'll go to the game, get angry at the sh*t sitting and prices at Etihad, get angrier still when I watch us fall to pieces again, then proceed to go out and drink the pain away, only to wake up on Sunday morning feeling worse than I did before I saw us lose. Good times.

Idiotic call. 4 years is no time for a tall developing player. Morton missed half a season last year because of a knee injury and had his pre season interupted by a finger injury this year. You have no idea how bad or good his attitude is, or whether or not he gives a crap. It's a disgraceful comment to make unless you actually know what goes on inside the club or inside Cale's head. We've given far far less talented players than Morton more time to prove themselves. IMO Cale's value on the open market is a lot lower than the value he represents to us long term, combined with his uniqueness as a player, means there is no point trading him.

If we had a variety of tall, athletic, elite runners with good skills like Morton, who can play multiple roles, I'd consider trading him. You trade surplus, Morton is not surplus.

It would be a huge mistake to trade Morton now. He isn't going anywhere.

It's a good thing VFL coaches don't make the call on who plays senior footy, because unless McKenzie has pulled up sore, there is not a chance in the world he isn't getting a recall this week. Everyone has pretty much decided to go and break a leg, so to have a top quality, best -18 player available for selection must make Bailey very very happy.

HS has a pissy little snippet today about Morton being out of favour because shock horror he is a young player being made to work on his game, but he is out of contract so he's apparently gonna leave Maybe GWS were scouting Morton. Let the rumours and panic begin.

I think that I've rightly discussed Newton's shortfalls in past seasons, and I admit fully that I still don't really understand why he has survived this many seasons on our list. I hope I'm wrong, but to me the Bate, Dunn, Newton draft was our worst one this decade. I can't see any of those 3 boys being part of our premiership tilt.

Garland out for 6-8 Bail 4-6 Scully still stuck on 3 weeks Link I have to ask, WTF did they put Garland back on the ground? Seriously dumb risk!

OK how is anything you just said different to what I said? Newton is rucking out of necessity, we all know that, and that is not his fault. I said his pressure was excellent and he had a very good first quarter. I just find it funny that people get [censored] if we praise Watts for a good quarter, but if we don't fall over and praise Newton for a good quarter we're being critical and negative. He played well, but when he moved up the ground he made terrible decisions. Those are the facts, and maybe that is not his fault because he can't play anywhere but up forward, and maybe he needs more time to get back into the swing of things. I agree that he needs to keep playing and he will definitely get a game this week, which he has earnt, as opposed to some of his teammates who are getting games on the back of reputation and not form. Of course I would love to see him succeed, but after 7 season on the list and an inability to show any consistency, you'll excuse me if I'm putting money on him for the Bluey just yet.

You don't understand the nature of knee injuries. End discussion.

I didn't get stuck into him at all? What the hell? I think he was very good and I said elsewhere that his defensive pressure was absolutely excellent, but North were rubbish in the first quarter and we were up and about. Our midfield was giving the forwards excellent delivery which is why we managed to kick 7 goals in a quarter (is that some sort of record?! ) IMO we tend to overrate and go a bit weak at the knees at any semi large forward who manages to come into the side and take a couple of good marks and kick goals, because we are starved for a big forward who can do that consistently. But for me, consistency is the key, and I think Newton proved on Saturday that while he is capable of doing some excellent things, he is firstly no back up ruckman, and secondly, a terrible decision maker.

I think with Garland being out, Frawley will play on Reiwoldt, which will be great to watch, especially since Reiwoldt pushes up the ground, allowing Chip plenty of chances to run and carry the ball. For mine Bartram will most likely get Milne, and probably conceed 2-3 goals, as he does usually. If Tappy can get the job done though, that would be magnificant. Kosi- Warnock/Rivers Reiwoldt- Frawley Milne- Bartram Schineder- Tappy (a great match up IMO)

I was thinking that reading Demonland while I finally have my coffee after being at work since the crack of dawn is going to make me less stressed. I was right. Laughter is very good for the soul.

Excellent news if true. This season has flat-lined quite badly. Nothing like the drug of unknown youth to perk us all right up!

Ever ask yourself why someone who has been on our list for 7 seasons, and hasn't had any major injury concerns, has only played 20 something games? Hint, it's because he hasn't shown enough to warrant more games.

I still don't understand why we are discussing this. Newton came into the side only because every other ruckman bar Martin has decided to lose a leg, or is an 18 year old child. He came into the side under the provision that he was going to help in the ruck. If we wanted another tall in the forwardline we would have kept Bate in the team. Newton did well in the first quarter when we were up and about and winning the ball in the middle and delivering the ball to him on a platter. He deserves another chance, especially with Dunn out of the side, but if he can't compete in the ruck he has no long term place in the side.

Agreed. Trengove so incredibly stiff it's not funny, Dunn lucky. 2 weeks is a light penalty for that dumb act.

Jamar and Martin played all but one game together this season, and I reckon the only reason they dropped Martin 2 weeks ago was because Bate had a great game in the VFL and they wanted to reward him for good form, which threw out the balance of the side. So I won't need to eat any hats, because both these guys can and will comfortably play in the same side. Martin is not and will never be a first ruck, and judge him as one is stupid. He did a good job under the circumstances and to get stuck into him because he didn't have enough taps to advantage is just pointless at this stage of his 7 game rucking career.

I don't like he being played as a loose man in defense either, but that is not his fault. He did well in the role he was given. I understand that some people will feel that not trying to go for the contested mark every time is a concession of failure and due to Watts lacking the desire to go for the contest, but a smart and good player knows their limitations. The bottom line is, he won't win about 90% of aerial contests he's involved in due to a combination of strength, and experience. So instead of getting outmarked and losing the contest, he tries to at least create a contest. I like that idea much better than seeing him get outmarked time and time again. For one, it will sap his confidence, and it will also hurt the team. I feel that his teammates are also not helping. Watts is better served having the ball come in high where he can use his leap and ball reading ability to his advantage, as opposed to having it kicked to his chest where his opponent can easily outmuscle him. Everybody is going to disagree on Watts until he puts in a very strong consistent season, but we know he is a couple of years away from that still. But in the meantime I hope people watch him closely and start to understand how smart he actually is and how talented he is, and accept that for now we need to appreciate him for what he can do and not what we want him to do. In my whole time as a Melbourne supporter I have never come across a player who is more harshly or unfairly criticised and it's really quite upsetting. I would hate to have to perform at my job under that much immense pressure and weight of expectations.

I hear you, but you have to think about team balance, and our opponent. Saints don't have a super strong ruckman, and are not very quick. You could argue that it is therefore a great opportunity for us to bring in Gawn who won't give us much pace and run but who could give us the upper hand in the ruck. On the other hand, if we are going to beat the Saints, it's going to be with pace. You bring Gawn in you have to take out a tall, say Newton, or forgo bringing in Bate. Would Bate and Newton give us more run? Probably not, but they would give us a better contest around the ground one would assume. I think we can try to go with an undermanned ruck division again as long as we have enough quality runners in the middle. McKenzie will help hugely, but losing Bail is going to really hurt. I would rather bring in Nicholson or Evans or Blease this week, who can give us some zip and some run. Saints are beatable on current form, but we have to be very strategic with our selection this week. Horses for courses, especially as this looks like our last winnable game for the next 3 weeks.

I also forgot to add that he would probably take more contested marks if his teammates stopped kicking the ball to him when he is outnumbered 2 to 1. Friggin frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It works with Jurrah sometimes because he is a freak who can leap tall buildings, but most normal human footballers can't compete against 2 opponents.

And that's despite training as a secondary ruck in the pre-season and playing there occasionally for Casey. Imagine how much worse the situation would have been with Dunn! Newton did not ruck before Garland got injured for more than about 2 minutes at a time while Martin was having a breather (hardly a game changer, and hardly an excuse for Newton to be put off his game at FF). And besides, if Newton is EVER going to make it, and let's be honest, he is odds on to fail, he has to be able to compete in ruck contests because with the current sub rule you cannot afford to have too many one dimensional talls in your side, especially up forward. Let's not all get excited by one good quarter by Juice. I thought he work off the ball was excellent and his pressure important, but he makes horrible decisions and is generally not a very smart footballer. He will get another chance this week, and it will be interesting to see how he goes.

Interesting. While I think it's reasonable for people to assume he doesn't want to participate in body contact, I think sometimes it's just Watts being very smart. For example, if he knows he isn't going to outmark his opponent in a contest, he'll try to tap the ball away, which is a basketball tactic. He is probably smart enough to know that he isn't always going to out-muscle his opponent, so he wants to at least neutralise the contest, where he has the upper hand in most cases due to his athleticism and ability to pick the ball up off the deck so cleanly. It's easy to get excites by man mountains who crash and bash their way through matches from their first season, like Tapscott, but reality is that most players, most great players, started out as being significantly smaller and weaker than their opponent. To me the pleasing thing is seeing Watts lose very few one on one contests, despite being so much less developed than many of his opponents. It means he isn't a liability and it allows him to work on his great agility. Very few players his height can do the work in close that he does every week. And when Bailey threw him down back we saw how good he is at reading the play.