Jaded No More

How are they a class above when they both make basic mistakes, misuse the footy, drop marks and kick poorly? Every mistake a player makes in the VFL is magnified 10 times when they make it at AFL level. When I watch the composure of Cook to turn around and find a man in the forward 50 only for Newton to try and take on 6 players and get caught holding the ball, it makes me wonder how he'll ever make it back to the senior team? And until Bate learns to pick a ball up cleanly off the ground he has no room in our forward line. He is the most vertical player I've ever seen.

Petterd yes, Newton no. He works hard but he completely lacks polish even at this level. And it kind of hurts knowing that Martin is playing so well, that we chose to promote Juice ahead of someone like Nicholson or Evans. Bate had a good first quarter, so he might be in contention as well, but given how we played on Thursday I expected the Melbourne listed players to absolutely dominate. Sadly, Maric, Blease, Jetta, Newton and Bate have been just OK given how poor their opposition is. Joel McDonald and Matty Warnock are both doing their job but also lack polish. McDonald can't afford to make such dumb decisions with the footy when he's playing AFL. On a bright note, I know he made some mistakes but I'm super impressed with Tom McDonald. This is the first time I've seen him play since the NAB Cup, and he has a lot of Frawley in him. Looks the goods for the future. And Jeremy Howe's marking is awesome. Also WTF is with Lucas Cook being played down back? I know Casey's forwardline is full of talent (VFL- appropriate talent I should say), but he is our future and it should be a priority to give him game time at CHF.

Dear god. Suck it up. We expect our players to take the punches and bleed for the jumper and you've just packed it in because we lost a game? Come on now, best ever time for a Bex and a lie down son. The sun will come up tomorrow and somewhere in the world kids are dying from starvation and disease. Perspective is everything in life.

I hate reactionary garbage on Demonland but this game has really just done it for me. There are no valid excuses for losing a game mentally, physically and statistically in the first 5 minutes of a match, against last year's wooden spooners no less.

Really? Not even a dull headache?

Watts. Tapscott's hardness and desperation. Trengove's marking. Garland.

The body language of this team tonight is shocking. Suck it up princesses, and show us something. So much finger pointing, yelling, confusion... sort your sh*t out. FFS!

F'ing disgusting. This is like 2008/09 all over again, except with no reward at the end for losing. This club has a LOT to answer for. And I'm probably the most patient, least reactionary Melbourne supporter you'll ever find, but even I'm getting fed up.

Gysberts off... on this huge ground you take off a midfield runner and replace him with a forward when we've kicked 32 points in 3 quarters of football. WHAT THE F?! There is no excuse for being so lazy, so careless, so utterly limp. They have to make changes for the sake of showing these players that you have to earn games by trying. I don't care if they stuff up their kicks or decision making, but MAKE A GODDAMN EFFORT! Ugh, this week needs to end already.

Vomit. Worst game Frawley has played since his first season.

We are terribly out of form, and by that I mean that our best players from last year in Green, Frawley and Davey are in shizen form. Our captain has completely lost the plot as a player, we still can't clear the ball out of the back half and when we lose a clearance we nearly always concede a goal due to lack of pressure. The positive thing for me is that the hardest part, which is getting a talented list, is done. Game plans and coaches are much easier to change than a list. At least I don't have to watch us suck knowing that our list is made up of hacks and has-beens. There is a lot of talent and a lot of development to come. what I'd love to know is what we need to do in order to wake these players up, because we seem to sleep through many quarters this season.

And that's how angry I am despite being on super strong pain killers that mallow me out If I hear anyone at the club say after the game that it was a good effort for us to 'win' the 2nd quarter I will punch myself in the face. We are 36-13 for inside 50's. WTF IS THAT?!

This game is making me feel physically ill. I can't cope with it anymore. We are so bad, it's actually depressing. Bartram, Watts, Grimes and Garland are working hard. Everyone else is asleep. WTF is going on with my man Frawley?! It looks like such a lazy performance, and the joke is that WCE are actually pretty poor. We just keep gifting them goals.

Second worst quarter of the season. Could we be any lazier? Just blazing away, playing dumb football, turning it over, no tackling intensity, just amateur woeful garbage. FFS! At least Jack Watts is working hard and has taken some good marks, but I want to vomit when I look at our ball use and our inability to clear the ball out of the backline. Green, Sylvia and Davey should be disgusted with this quarter!

Hmmm what sort of run does Dunn give us? suspect sub use for me. Bennell would have been awesome to unleash in the last, with Dunn being subbed off.

For free, yes. But no. He was my favourite player for many years but I can't see what he has to offer right now with his body the way it is. He gave us $10k and Jordy Gysberts. He has done enough!

FUTURE CAPTAIN!!!!! OMFG!!!!11

Absolutely spot on. I said that yesterday in another thread. It's easy to say that Ricky is being left out of the team because Bailey is babysitting Watts, but they are NOT competing for the same position because they play different roles. Petterd needs to push ahead of Dunn, Aussie and to a lesser extent Maric, and Watts is competing with Bate and Newton. Now who here wants to see either of those players get a game ahead of Watts?

Thursday night is hard when the game is played here and you have to rush after work, but being interstate and starting later due to time difference, it's pretty non intrusive to life and it means you have a free weekend. It's going to be a nice way to end a first day back at work after a holiday and a knee procedure. Unless we lose!

I might be slightly high on lots of drugs (of the pain killer variety!), but even in this state I can understand why Petterd and Watts have nothing to do with each others' place in the side. They are not competing for the same position. Petterd is a third tall, he is not a CHF. If anything, Watts' competition is Bate, possibly Newton (yes that made me lol!). If you want Petterd in the team, you need to drop Dunn. He has been in average form, and only his defensive game is saving him for now. I'd suggest that another ordinary game from him and Petterd will be back in the team.

Gotta love players who persevere and don't just give up when things get too hard. Jamar was down and out for many seasons due to a variety of issues, but he stuck by the club the way the club stuck by him and it has paid off. He is now a star ruckman. I guess some things really are worth waiting for!

Goddamn it. LeCras always kills us. Stupid footballers and their quick healing bodies! Glad we've made no change. I think that short of Scully and McKenzie this is our best line up, so no need for too many tweaks. Very interested to see who the sub is this week, but I'm going to guess it's not going to be Watts. We'll definitely go with a runner to give us some fresh legs on that big ground.

If I were GWS I'd take Scully over Murphy. He'd cost less and he will be the superior player over time. Murphy is not a player to build a midfield around. Having said that I think GWS will want more immediate results than GC, and that Sheedy will be out to secure bigger bodied more mature players. Given the market they'll be operating in, I don't think they can afford to struggle for 3 or 4 seasons.

How so? GWS can easily afford to pay both.

care factor?