Jaded No More

Newton is doing everything right, but Newton is not a replacement for Watts. If he was to come in it would have to be at the expense of Dunn or Martin, because that is the role he will be replacing. No chance he is getting a game ahead of Martin for the moment, and Dunn has been OK without setting the world on fire. IMO no matter how good Newton's performances in the VFL are, you don't drop a developing CHF who is meant to be a big part of our premiership push for a half forward/3rd tall who so far has proven to be terrible at AFL level. We have to bite our tongue and keep persisting with Watts. For mine he will and should continue to get a game for as long as he stands tall in contests and puts in the hard yards. If he fumbles than so be it, but as long as he isn't ducking his head or not trying, there is no point dropping him. He will learn nothing with Casey that he doesn't already know in terms of skills. He is leading hard and is very good in one on one contests right now for his size, but he isn't impacting games yet. We all knew that wasn't gonna happen any time soon, so I don't get why the suggestions to drop him keep coming up. Sorry, the rant is not related to anything you posted Nasher

I love strong courageous players. Campbell Brown is neither. He is a dirty sniper who regularly acts like a dog on the footy field out of sheer frustration. He is an ordinary player and an ordinary person who clearly goes in "hard" but doesn't have the balls to admit when he's crossed the line. Give me strong courageous players like Selwood any day of the week over cheap-shot wankers like Brown. Hope he cops plenty of weeks for what he did.

Whoever the dog was that put a knee into Grimes' head while Grimes was lying hurt on the ground, deserved to have his head ripped off by every Melbourne players in the area. Sadly I don't think the players noticed it. Hopefully the match review panel will and he'll cop weeks for that. Was a very low act!

No change. We won unconvincingly but I think we need to start to settle the team, and there are plenty of players who need to show more than they did today. Next week is the perfect opportunity to do that. Bartram did seem quite sore in the second half so he might be a sub.

St Kilda seem to be on their way to a third loss (well a second loss and a draw)... do you think their supporters are carrying on like pork chops as well?

Why are you a Melbourne supporter? This club clearly gives you nothing but pain and you clearly hate everything we do, so stop wasting your time and move on. God I HATE people who just complain about everything all the damn time... and WE WON! Absolute joke

Conditions suited him and he stepped up, as a good leader should. We need him to always perform at this level or he will quickly find himself at Casey. That is the harsh reality of being a top quality team, if you are not performing at a very high level you are in danger. He obviously got a big kick up the backside from Bailey last week and so was much better in the contests today.

Here is a big positive for all you negative cry babies.... WE ARE STILL STANDING. FFS 4 years ago we looked to be dead as a club. That we are still here, playing, developing, progressing, surviving... that is the biggest positive of them all and everyone needs to remember that every time they feel like having a whinge about things. We are thriving as a club, and to me that is the only thing that matters at this point in time.

It was a pretty miserable day, especially sitting in the rain watching that first quarter where the players really couldn't get out of first gear. The supporters were actually booing them, that's how badly we played. But at the end of the day we won plenty of those critical stats that we look to for improvement. Clearances, Inside 50s etc. Brisbane pressured us really well, and that is what poor teams do, they pressure the ball carrier to try and manufacture a turnover. The disappointing thing for me was how easily we let them switch play. They found the open side of the ground a lot better than we did. We also missed some very easy goals, which didn't flatter the overall result. But at the end of the day, winning ugly is better than losing pretty, isn't it? The expectations of some that we were going to win by 10+ goals were stupid to begin with, and if you go in with ridiculous expectations than prepare to be disappointed. The thing that keeps annoying me is that the players who get plenty of the ball, like Jones, are not very good players (although Jones was very good today, so not taking that away from him), but our better players just don't get enough of the ball. I want Davey, Bennell, Sylvia etc to dispose of the ball 20 times a game each, not half a dozen times, and that is the problem at the moment. And finally, Gysberts is a gun.

You can't make any conclusions from the 15 minute cameo performance today. He'll play a full game next week and then we can reassess. Bailey was giving him plenty of instructions though. Players take a few games to get their touch back. Chippa was pretty ordinary in the first quarter today but then found his gear and was brilliant to watch again.

I love the Gys!!!! Crap first quarter. Never heard the supporters boo the team before, but it was certainly deserved.

If I get suspended for this, so be it... but would you please STFU about Grimes? You are dribbling complete and utter crap about him at every opportunity and it's boring. Move on, you have no idea what you are talking about! Nice to see Newton actually pressing his case for selection this year, especially by standing up when the team is down. I still think VFL is his right level, but no doubt we'll see him get his chance to prove me wrong at some point this year. And on that note, it's time for some drinks.

Exactly my thoughts. Petterd and Dunn give us enough flexibility up forward and Morton is the perfect player to come in on limited fitness and make a serious impact in the middle, up forward or off the half back line, so could easily replace Aussie (if he is struggling to run the game out), Dunn, Bennell, etc etc I feel that the two outs so far in Jetta and Maric are "easy" outs, and by dropping Jones Bailey is sending a serious message. Jones, love his heart, was deplorable with his contested work last week and as a leader he has to set a better example. I'd give him a week off, or at the very least make him a sub.

After spending 18 hours in an emergency room, this post has completely made my day. Solid 18 carat gold rpfc!

I think they promoted him as insurance policy for Martin, should he fail as a second ruck, so I agree on that. Would we have been better off promoting Evans? Perhaps (I would have preferred it, but we couldn't foresee injuries to Scully and McKenzie), although I would guess that the minute we rookied Newton he was always going to be first in line for a promotion. Why else would we have spent a spot on our list for him given his age and previous showing at AFL level? While I really don't want to see him in the side at the expense of any fit youngster, it feels like 2011 is basically the year for us to find out once and for all where he is going. We can't keep holding onto these players for 7 seasons, and the fact that we have held onto him despite his very poor record at the highest level suggests to me that we have a clear plan for him this year. He won't be our great CHF hope this year or ever, but perhaps he could be a useful second ruck who rests up forward, or as a sub. His biggest hurdle right now though is that Martin has played two excellent games, and for that I am mighty greatful.

I forgot that you are either winning premierships or you're dead as a football club Development is the ONLY way to win a flag. No club woke up one season and went "that's it, this year we are winning a flag". My god!

Definitley his worst game. Made me angry the way he went about it really. Yes we weren't getting a lot of forward action but other forwards found ways to get involved in the contest. Jurrah is SO good that he could have made a real difference if he actually worked hard instead of flying for unrealistic marks.

Wtf? He turned it over once! He won't win one until we do. End of story.

Bring in the Gys. We could use some killer clearance players right now!!! Aussie as a sub would be more useful than Maric as well.

Nope and don't recall ever being a big fan either. Jones had an impressive debut season back when the pace of the game wasn't as high as it is now. The skills Tapscott displays have always and will always be valuable in the modern game and if you choose to ignore his talents to try and protect yourself from disappointment, than that is your choice. But don't drag others down into your own misery hole.

And how on earth would you know whether Bailey is inspiring and WTF sort of garbage is that anyway? He is a football coach not a life coach. He is there to teach and guide the players, not to inspire them. If you are out on a field in a Melbourne jumper and you aren't inspired to succeed, than you are in the wrong business and you should [censored] off. It's all such nonsense really, and frankly embarrassing to see the level of wrist slashing that goes on here after every loss. Next we'll be blaming the runners for giving confusing messages to the players that don't inspire them to play well. I've been reading this forum for years and it never ceases to amaze me how hysterical our supporters can be.

And of course it's not possible that he is actually very good, because he plays for Melbourne and we lost last night and hence the world is ending and everybody sucks. ARGH!

If you can't get excited by young promising players you may as well give up following an AFL club right now. I've heard of bitter and jaded (no pun ), but that is just ridiculous. On Tapscott... would marry

Has anyone ever yelled at you? like really screamed at you? Were you inspired to do better for them, or did you just want to punch them in the face? Yelling is the worst way to educate/discipline. It fails on kids, dogs and on grown up men who play football.

No (Tapscott or Garland should be. Davey if we are struggling) Yes and yes. I've maintained all along that Grimes is a midfielder playing out of position because he is so good at reading the play and setting up the attack. Because we have no immediate replacement he is still there but had Strauss come on like we wanted he would be playing as a midfielder now. That IMO is where he ultimately belongs.