Jaded No More

If we beat Geelong next week I'll tattoo the Melbourne emblem on my forehead. No chance.

I have zero concerns with Cale Morton. The guy has class running through his veins, and has grown significantly over the last 2 years. I've heard that the coaches fight over him, because each one wants him in their area (forward, middle and defense), but I think long term he could be a great CHF for us. Some of his kicking into the 50 last night had Davey written all over them. You don't buy skills like that at the supermarket people. I know first hand what knee injuries are like, and I thought he made a successful return yesterday given the conditions.

My friend was at the G last night and said the result was well known for a while and they were so bored that whenever they showed our scores up on the big screen there was a huge cheer for Melbourne!

People want Bartram out, but think of who we are playing next week. You take out Bartram and who plays on Burns, Stokes and Varcoe? They have plenty of smalls who can hurt us... well they have 22 players who will hurt us, but Bartram is our best small defensive option right now. I'd have Garland on Pods, Warnock on Mooney and Frawley on Steve Johnson. Bartram takes Burns and you can have MacDonald on Varcoe and Grimes on Stokes. Rivers will have no match up next week as far as I can see, because all of Geelong's forward will kill him on the lead.

Rivers got carved up on the lead... by a ruckman... *sigh*, I love him, but he is making me shitty.

Without doubt we will need to rest a number of players, and I'm sure some of the boys will pull up better than others, so a lot of the decisions about Ins and Outs will no doubt be left till later in the week. Gysberts has to get a game soon, while Warnock and Bate are walk-up starts if fit. Spencer or Martin have to support Jamar, before he has a heart attack on the field. Geelong played at the G on Friday, so they have an extra day rest and they played in good conditions. Fit and fresh players will probably be more important next week than necessarily having the most potentially talented players out there. This is where guys like Bail, Strauss, Cheney, Maric and so forth might be in with a chance. We are better off giving them a run than play guys who will struggle to run out the second half of the game. Even just a 10 minute snooze from us next week will result in a 100 point thrashing.

So Warnock is better than MacDonald who you want to drop, but you won't bring Warnock back in? Warnock is easily in our best 18. He didn't play due to matchups this week and probably due to some soreness. Next week we'll have Mooney and Pods to worry about, and he will play if he's anywhere near full fitness. I'm actually a bit shocked that people don't think we will not bring him straight back in. He and Frawley are our best defenders.

Morton- lose some weight

Ummm Bruce is an automatic in but Warnock isn't? Warnock is playing next week. Full stop.

If you tried to go Frawley I reckon he'd just about kill you on the square up. Garland > Rivers

He should get a reprimand at best... so yeah, he'll probably get 8 weeks. It was a good bump, but they both slipped because of the conditions. The player on the other end was fine, so no damage was caused. What's going to be the excuse of the Port scum who punched Garland in the stomach? Or Chad "[censored]" Cornes for his hit on Watts? God I loath Port Adelaide. The victory is extra sweet because the massive amounts of tools in their team get to go home with a loss. Edit: Foxtel is a disgrace. We play a crapload of money just so we can watch Melbourne play each year, and they won't even stick around long enough to show us the song. WTF?! :mad:

Not if you're Naitanui. Apparently you can only be declared the winner of the award after round 22 as well

We did the right thing not playing another ruckman tonight (imagine Spencer and Aussie out there in the last quarter instead of Jetta), but we can't do it consistently. I think the footy department is well aware of that, and Spencer will play next week (or Martin if he's fit). Jamar relishes playing alone, but he probably doesn't enjoy feeling like he's going to drop dead afterwards. Still, he has to be given a lot of credit for the way he has played this year. He is comfortably in the top 3 or 4 ruckman in the competition.

But you can bet that Watts will never get a nomination for anything less than a 6 goal, 29 marks and 4 goal assists performance. If Naitanui farts tomorrow he'll get another nomination though. The ball was barely in our forwardline in the last quarter.

Jones is prone to brainfarts, we know that, but he shut down Danyle (rubbish spelling of a name) Pearce, which was enormous in the context of the game. Props to him for a great job. Garland is going to have some ups and downs, and will no doubt tire as the year goes on, given he didn't do a pre-season. Also, being punched in the stomach twice wouldn't have helped. FFS why was a free kick not awarded when he was punched right in front of the umpire?

He was enormous for us today, seriously brilliant. There is no spud left in him anymore, he is all beast. (But he should never kick the ball) B)

We had nothing left to give in the last. All our energy went into that third quarter and we just about ran out of petrol in the first minute of that last quarter. That Jamar couldn't ruck when the game was in the balance shows you why it is very important for us to find him some support. People will criticize Sylvia in the ruck, but I think he did OK and it didn't leave us short in the middle. Had Miller taken the ruck, he would probably lose and would be pretty useless as ground level, whereas at least Sylvia could back himself after the bounce. Jamar was so stuffed after the game he had to sit on the ground while he was being interviewed. Looked like he was about to throw up. On a side note, if the lowlife scumbags who hit Garland in the stomach don't get suspended, it is time to burn down the MRP offices. Seriously weak.

Hard one tonight because there were a lot of good players... 6. Bennell 5. Trengove 4. Frawley (Motlop did next to nothing) 3. Jamar (enormous effort from him) 2. Jetta 1. Miller

I really hope that after tonight's game everyone will just STFU about Jack Watts and let him be. Wait and let him develop in peace and quiet.

I know that last quarter was utter rubbish from us, but we were stuffed. Jamar could barely breath, we had Aussie, Morton and Watts who are lacking a bit of fitness, we haven't won an interstate game since 1973 and Port are a good team. We dominated for long periods of the game and deserved to win. This victory should not be underestimated. GO DEES!!!

I know I need to stop talking about Watts, but how was his quick handball to Aussie? AWESOME! Miller > Jonathan Brown B) We have to finish off this game now. GO DEES!

If Naitanui played the first half Jack Watts just played, the media would go into general meltdown.

He, Davey and Bennell are loving it out there, you can just tell. They are like kids in a candy shop. I've actually been impressed with our three big forwards tonight, for their ability to adapt to the conditions. Jack Watts is so ridiculously agile, which is why he went at pick 1. Does things that midfielders struggle to do, and is really really good at keeping his feet and bouncing straight back up. Sylvia has been good, thank god. I'm not so sure about him rucking, but it's entertaining to watch. At least they have given him so much responsibility today, he has no choice but to pull his head out of his behind and get going. He owes us one after 3 terrible weeks.

A quarter of two halves. We were great in the first half of that quarter, and rubbish in the second. I get the sentiments of playing Aussie, but gees if he isn't able to chase, he should have stayed home. Jack Watts has had a hand in every single goal tonight, or close to it. Standout forward on the ground IMO. McKenzie being done for holding the ball... OMFG. I nearly threw something at the TV. And if somebody doesn't smash Chad Cornes' head into the turf tonight, I'll be disappointed. The guy is a piece of shite.

Aussie is definitely not match fit. Needs to play in the square, because he is barely in first gear, which is understandable given he has missed so much footy.