Jaded No More

GTFO with your logic, you are ruining Demonland!

IMO Sylvia is exactly the sort of player you don't allow to have long runs of poor form just because he has the talent to be a gamebreaker. History suggests to us that when Sylvia gets comfortable, laziness and poor attitude creeps in. Maybe he is a bit underdone, and that could excuse him for failing to make some contests, but he was selfish yesterday. He went for the glorified long bombs at goal, and was rarely seen chasing or tackling. That is inexcusable, especially when you have a long history of playing rubbish, selfish, hero football. He has really matured and improved in the last two years, no doubt. But in the last 3 weeks I've seen moments of the old Sylvia that really disappointed me. Maybe it's because he thinks his spot in the side is safe, when perhaps he is the sort of player who needs to constantly have failure pushed in his face in order to push himself to succeed. Either way, 3 terrible weeks have earnt him a run with Casey IMO, because he doesn't have enough runs on the board to let performances like yesterday slide... especially when you have Morton, Gysberts, Jetta, Aussie, Miller and so forth pushing their case in the VFL.

Put yourself in his shoes, and imagine the sort of external pressure he is feeling from the lunatics in the media and from his own supporters. He is a kid, a baby. At 19 I could barely tell my head from my arse, and this guy is meant to be the messiah. He will be a very very very good footballer, maybe elite, maybe a generational forward. The proof was out there for everyone with an ounce of football intelligence to see. So please, move on.

Two years ago we had no backline and Rivers was struggling to walk. You couldn't confidently make those calls, as clearly demonstrated by the fact that the club has kept him on our list. Just because you suspected it two years ago, doesn't mean it was viable to start making decisions about his future when Carroll was playing FB

6- Junior (freak!) 5- McKenzie 4- Grimes 3- Warnock 2- Frawley 1- Watts (simply because the pressure he must have felt going into the game didn't hinder his performance at all)

Le Cras is one quick guy. He beat both Garland and Frawley on the lead, which is very rare. The only way to stop him is to choke up the Eagles' midfield so to not allow them to kick it to him on the lead, because he isn't a great overhead mark. We were poo in the middle today and so West Coast was able to kick the ball to him with precision and he just ran straight at the ball and marked. That's like asking Garland to keep up with Jurrah on the lead when Davey is kicking it to him on the chest every time. And Garland had 100% disposal efficiency today and really helped to drive us forward. Hate? If I hated him I'd just simply say "he's crap, drop him". I wouldn't waste my time trying to work out how to ensure sustained longevity in our side, because let me tell you, he won't be part of our best 22 if he doesn't find another trick to live by.

After the game they confirmed that he pinged the hamstrings. Larkins said 2-3 week injury.

Yeah some of the match ups today left me scratching my head. Frawley on Kennedy was the most logical match up of all, followed by Warnock on Lynch and Bartram on Le Cras. Le Cras is the quickest little [censored] going around, he burnt both Garland and Frawley on the lead, and these boys are super quick. And the set ups around the contest were weird too. How many times did West Coast have free men standing around the back of the pack just waiting for the ball to come out. We had very little accountability which was so so disappointing. Coaching let us down, and so did our intensity. We were so flat today, and not just the kids who might be a bit sore and tired, but senior players. Bruce had a shocker with disposal again, Green was very very quiet, Sylvia was nowhere to be seen, Davey was off early, Bate struggled with the ankle, PJ was wasting his time and ours, and Rivers struggled. Then you had Moloney again resorting to his long, high, useless bombs into the 50m out of frustration, and Jonesy who struggled to get a clean touch. With the exception of Junior (the man is a warrior), our experienced players really did let us down.

Naitanui is breathtaking, and when he does something it's hard not to go "wow". Think Jurrah. But he might want to do something more often than once a quarter, before people start blowing their load over him (again). If he can manage to regularly get 20 clean disposals a game, he'll be a champion. That is why he was pick 2, because his potential is wonderfully tantalizing. Having said that, give me smart, strong, skillful players any day of the week, and leave the magic up to guys like Jurrah who has the football instincts to rely on his pure freakish athletic ability, which Naitanui can't actually do because he lacks basic clean skills. Watts has more of a chance to become the sort of player who will win you a flag on GF day, than Naitanui does.

He was definitely stuffed. He came on and off plenty of times and was sucking in the air big time. But given he has spent a lot of the pre season injured, he still had impressive pace and was able to keep up with his opponent. I was never worried about his skills, or his movement, but what I really wanted to see was whether he can take a contested mark, and he sure as hell can... and against Darren Glass no less, who is a monster and a very very good defender. If he can do that, everything else will fall into place because he can run, he can kick, and he has the sort of football brain that makes coaches drool. He would also be competing with Scully and Jordie for one-touch handball skills too.

I don't buy that anymore. In days gone by when our defense consisted of Carroll and a witches hat, he was the general. Today, when we have Chip, Warnock, Garland and Grimes defending and attacking with precision and guys like Cheney, McNamara, Bail, Strauss and so forth all able to fill Rivers' role as a loose man in defense, your statement just no longer holds true. 5 years ago loose man in defense were all the rage and Rivers was one of the best. Today, you can't afford to carry someone who defensively is going to be shown up for pace and offensively is not very creative. Rivers' biggest strength has always been his smarts in reading the play. There are few players who can read the ball as well as he can, and he can certainly take a mark. This makes me wonder whether it is worth giving him a go as a forward.

Should have come and seat next to me. Could have helped me take on the mole to my left who kept bitching that we shouldn't complain about our players making mistakes, even if those players have been around for 200 games. Oh the rage! We shouldn't ever be happy that one of our own is injured, but this is an exciting opportunity that we probably wouldn't have got to witness anytime soon since Bruce seems to be an untouchable.

Out: Bruce (hamstring), PJ, Rivers, Sylvia Sylvia has been a passenger 3 weeks in a row and he is the exact sort of player who needs a big kick up the arse to get going again. Has been deplorable. One game with Casey will do him some good. In: Gysberts, Miller/Martin (depending on fitness), Morton, Aussie I know Scullgove struggled a little today, but that is to be expected. They are the future and if their body feels good, they need to keep pushing through those mistakes.

He only recovered when he was left to play as a loose man in defense, which is the point I was trying to make. If he struggles one on one, he is basically nothing more than a third man up in every contest, and a rebounding defender, which would be fine if he was quicker and a better ball user. I just don't see what his role is going forward, when we have so many defenders pushing for selection. A guy his size should be able to play on big talls, but in the modern game talls also possess a lot of leg speed, which Rivers doesn't. So what do you do with someone who is big but slow? Can we try and move him up forward?

You'd think I would have remembered that when I went on about how Martin should be playing Clearly we had no choice but to scrape the bottom of the barrel, however as you said, Aussie would have been better than PJ out there today. PJ has to go, be it for Spencer, or another runner until Martin is fit to come back.

I have always been a big fan of Rivers, and anyone who has read this forum would attest to that. I've held high hopes that when he gets his body right he'll once again be the general down back. Sadly, I think my convictions were misguided by false hope. Rivers was given a hard task today to play purely a defensive role on a big guy. He completely and utterly lost that battle within the first few minutes of the game, losing Kennedy on the lead and in the contest. Kennedy then got smacked in the head and struggled to play out the game. When Rivers plays as a loose man in defense, he excels defensively which is great, but his disposal is not great and he lacks speed. I left the game today wondering whether we can afford to carry an attacking defender who struggles to defend one on one and has mediocre disposal and pace, when Grimes, Frawley and Garland are all better defensively and offensively. Are we carrying Rivers? And should we?

MMM said Gysberts had 30 possessions, Miller kicked 4 and was BOG and that Morton, Jetta and Aussie all got through. Surely Gysberts is getting a game next week. He has really pushes his case in the last month.

One of the biggest positives of the day. Was really happy with his strong marking and he showed us what a clean one-touch player he is. Very few players his size possess the sort of touch and smarts that he does. Baring injuries or horrendous form, I hope he plays out the rest of the season. And hopefully on days when we can actually use the ball, he might benefit from some decent delivery. P.S.- Watts > Mop Head

I know Martin hasn't set the world on fire, but I was really disappointed that they dropped him in favour of PJ. The reality is that no matter who we bring in to help Jamar, they won't be much good. The difference is that Martin and Spencer have the potential to become good solid players who give us something in the future, whereas we know that PJ is just not cut out to play footy at the highest level. Have you ever seen a player his size who is that bad above his shoulders? It is unbelievable how poor he is when the ball comes in high. He has to go and we have to persist with Martin for the short term at least, until Spencer and GAWN are ready. At least Martin can take a mark!

Bad luck for Bruce but a good opportunity for someone else to come in.

The hangover got worse and to top it off I had to sit next to one of those moles who thinks everyone is wonderful and should never be criticized. I wanted to deck her more than I wanted to deck the umpires. Crap day all round.

Inconsistencies are to be expected but today the inconsistency in intensity between Melbourne and WC was unacceptable. We didn't come out wanting the ball. Really disappointed particularly in some of the guys who have been around for a while. Sylvia was terrible, PJ is a poor poor footballer and as much as I've been a great fan of Rivers, he is really struggling. His lack of pace is so glaring and costly. Of the kids I thought McKenzie was brilliant and Grimes as always is superb. Junior as always was leading from the front. We played like crap and had little intensity at the ball. I know we had some injured players but our lack of run was obvious.

Everything starts and ends in the middle. Jamar is playing well but our mids are struggling to get clean use of the ball so they bomb it in long to nobody. Good to see Wattsy take two strong marks and his roving effort in the first was beautiful. I'm sure the commentators are only talking about the pineapple though. Did they all die after he took that screamer?

Me and my disgusting hangover (thank you to the kind people who bought us copious amounts of champagne last night, I loved you then but I hate you now) are very much looking forward to watching the glory that is the Melbourne Football Club.