Jaded No More

Just to add fuel to the fire, I hope we play well for say the first half but get blown out of the water in the second. We need a % decrease to ensure we finish below West Coast. Finishing on 4 wins above West Coast is almost as useless as finishing on 5 wins, because it means we lose pick 1 (and Scully). West Coast have already placed Kerr and Cox on ice with some mysterious injuries, so their chances of getting smashed have increased significantly.

The Freo-WC derby is the most important result for us, outside of our own games. We want West Coast to defeat Freo, putting them out of contention for a PP. That means that finishing bottom is no longer key, and that put simply all we have to do is not win more than 4 matches total, and pick 1 (and 2/3) is ours. It seems unlikely that West Coast can avoid winning at least 1 more given who they play, but even if they don't, the percentage gap between us, plus the fact that we still have to play Geelong and St.Kilda (potential thrashing and percentage decrease) means we are still likely to finish below them on the ladder, thus still maintaining pick 1.

It's strange to have another Wizard around the club again, particularly since the last one [censored] off and became a headcase. But no such worries with Jurrah, he is a dead-set champ and to have overcome all the obstacles, the cultural and emotional barriers and tear a game apart after just four senior outings, is outstanding. He is clearly focused and determined as well as naturally gifted, which experience tells us is very important in the long-term success of Indigenous players. I reckon he'll start to come out of his shell soon and you won't be able to shut him up! :D

No. I want priority picks and no amount of "miraculous" late-season wins will change my mind. Even if given the choice between winning every game from now till the end of the season and making up numbers in the finals, or finishing last and getting picks 1 & 2, I'd choose the picks. I'm sick of making up numbers and winning completely irrelevant games of football.

Brilliant. Well done Jurrahcane!

I admire you for having that point of view, but like Hannabal, if I was told that Melbourne will never win a flag, I wouldn't bother following the game. At 22 (nearly 23), I'm already bitter, anxious and annoyed that perhaps I'll never see Melbourne win a premiership in my lifetime, and that hurts. There is nothing I want to see more than a flag, and while I really love this process of rebuilding and watching a list develop together (the development of new kids is probably my favourite part of watching the game), if there is no premiership at the end of this journey I'd be [censored] off. Clubs exist for premierships, not for winning crap meaningless games against equally crap teams that are out to steal the picks that we rightfully deserve (bloody West Coast won a flag not long ago, North refuse to properly rebuild, as do Richmond, while Freo are a disgrace to footy and humanity at large). I want Scully and the second/third best young player that this year's draft pool has to offer. Not only because it will increase our chances of winning a flag, but because it will also ensure that our competitors don't earn that valuable advantage. Why the hell should we beat other teams when a win, is their ultimate victory? So put simply, all that the MFC should be after, is a premiership, and having the first two choices on draft day this year will go some way to helping us achieve that goal. (P.S.- this system sucks)

Criminally underrated is our Matty Warnock. Pick 26 in the Rookie draft of 2004, and amazingly has played just 35 games so far!

Ok so first of all, Belly got a standard two year contract at the end of last year, coming off a couple of good seasons. We delisted and cleared a big chunk of our list at the end of last season, and couldn't clear out anymore purely because we didn't have enough draft picks to fill in the gaps. No player in his early 20's accepts anything less than a 2 year contract these days. CJ didn't, and Belly who has been much better than CJ over the journey, wouldn't have as well. I have no doubt we would have accepted a trade for him if one was offered. We signed a number of players last year who perhaps we want to see delisted this year, such as Bell, Dunn and Newton, but when faced with a choice of delisting older players facing retirement, or younger players who can still make something of themselves, the choice was obvious.

How ridiculous! Does anyone compare Reiwoldt to Brown? Fevola to Brown? Franklin to Brown? Anyone who compares Jack Watts to Jonathan Brown is a moron, and deserves a punch to the head by Jonathan Brown

Have to agree with you Fan. For one, he is contracted so he can't go anywhere unless we trade him. That seems unlikely, but if he does go elsewhere I really hope he goes on to have a successful career! I was devastated for him yesterday, because this guy has consistently done the team thing and put his body on the line. He was seriously injured in 2007 when Ben Johnson took him out when he had his head over the ball, and IMO has never truly been able to regain that great form. Hope he makes a quick recovery!

Has always been underrated as a ruckman because of the doughnuts issue, but he was always a great tap ruckman. Now he is doing exactly what a big man should do, physically intimidating his opponent, taking contested marks and moving the ball quickly by hand. Since returning from injury he has been absolutely fantastic and credit to him for continuing to improve. As a side note, I think his development this year is right on track. He was picked up as a rookie in 2001, and now at 25 is starting to reach his peak. That is about average for really big ruckman.

Two extremely punchable heads. You can add Warren "look at me" Tredrea as well. A small comforting thought in what was potentially a disastrous result yesterday. At least we demolished those three!

Agreed. Thought today was one of his better games for the year, even more so after watching the replay. He used it well, ran extremely hard to the right spots, took one very good strong mark, and had a spoil today where he then pounced on the ball and delivered it forward to a goal, which was all class. Still has star written all over him for mine.

He made one really bad error. So did Wheatley, Bruce, Green on numerous occasions, Moloney etc... etc... Bell didn't have a great first quarter but was really good in the second. I love his tackling and defensively he is good. A real shame about the injury, because put simply, nobody deserves to get injured while doing the team thing and putting on a block for a teammate, particularly someone who has been so injury prone over his career and yet has never pulled away from a contest. Don't think he has a long term future at Melbourne, but at least he won't bomb it 60m out of bounds on the full! :angry:

Ummm, you do realise that Jones was tagging him... Jones, who would struggle to beat a turtle in a foot race! That was one of the weirdest match-ups going around, and Pearce ended up having a dog of a day. Credit to Jones, but it wasn't the planned outcome IMO. If we really wanted to win, we would have tagged Cassisi, who was racking it up in the middle, or Rodan who broke the lines and gave them plenty of forward momentum. Edit: Grimes on Ebert?

Poor user of the ball, terrible decision maker, poor defensively. Just keep giving him a game and make sure he takes the kick-ins Bailey, please! :D

Quoted for truth and accuracy. These Watts discussions are becoming more and more ridiculous. He'll be a star, so let's move on and give him the time that he needs and deserves to develop.

Davey said that he and Matty Whelan nicknamed Jurrah "Warlpiri Wizard" and Aussie "Tiwi Turtle"! Jurrah was interviewed both on MMM and 3AW. For someone who speaks English well, I can barely bloody understand what Rex Hunt is crapping on about, so poor Jurrah really had no idea. He did say that he didn't like the cold ocean water, but that he loved being out there with the boys and flying for marks. Mentioned that he and Aussie will be moving in together soon. Davey said he was just so proud of him (and Aussie) and that he had spoken to Chris Connolly and the club about going to find some more talent up in the Territory because he thinks there is plenty of untapped potential up there that just needs to be mentored properly. What a remarkable young man Jurrah is. Barely speaks English, so would obviously find it hard to follow game-plan instructions at this stage (even harder if Chris Connolly is talking to him at 100 miles an hour :D), but just such a natural talent that loves the contest. We are incredibly lucky to have ended up with him. Edit: I love that his favourite player is Jonathan Brown. Mine too Jurrahcane, mine too!

They should have put The Chad in there. What a complete tool. Without a doubt the highlight of the game was when he gave us two 50m penalties. What a dooshbag!

Agreed. I want to lose, but we can't tank by way of dropping young kids, because that will harm us in the long term as well. Wouldn't you be furious if we had dropped Jurrah before the match? I would have been. That he pulled 4 goals and another 4 assists today, and that Ricky played the game of his life, is not something that we as a club can control on matchday. I think Bailey did everything he could to give us a losing chance, but in the end the players wanted it too much and played well. As much as I want picks 1 & 2, I don't want our players to ever tank or play uncommitted footy. Team selection for the rest of the year should slowly see some of our better players sent off to "surgery". Surely we can pretend that McLean's knee, which he hurt today is so bad that he needs the rest of the year off. Davey can do a "hamstring" at training. But on the other hand, I don't want Jurrah dropped, or Grimes dropped because they are playing well. That is just as harmful to our success as winning 5 games is! "List management" is a very fine art and one that should be heavily measured against player development.

The issue here is not whether Freo finish last, because they CANNOT get a priority pick before the first round. If they finish with less than 5 wins they will get pick 17 as a priority pick. The issue is that we need to win no more than 4 and finish below West Coast. Percentage wise, the gap between us and West Coast, plus the fact that we still play Geelong and the Saints, means we'll probably finish below them, but only if we don't win more than one game for the remainder of the year. Finishing 15th with 4 wins still gets us pick 1 plus 3. I'd be happy with that result. Just as long as we get pick 1. As we speak, the Saints lead West Coast by just 5 points in the third quarter. I will be crossing fingers and toes that perhaps they can pull the greatest upset ever. COME ON WEST COAST!!!

I think Bailey and Co did what they could to make sure we didn't give ourselves the best chance to win. For example Davey deep forward instead of setting up the play, Grimes deep in defence instead of setting up the play. Took Jurrah off at key moments, same with Jamar. At the end of the day, our bloody players decided to pull a victory out of their arse and Port were absolutely pathetic, particularly in the first quarter. They were unaccountable and loose and our players capitalised. I hate feeling annoyed when we've just won two games in a row, but seriously this is a very costly victory. I can't see us not winning another two when we still play Freo, Richmond and North. A big big tanking effort is required now, and I hope we've got the balls to do it. To miss out on PP and especially to miss out on Scully, will be a disaster!

He is contracted for next year, so no, not career ending. Terrible luck for Belly. He was poor to start with, but got into the game a little bit more before doing his shoulder.

Yeah the boys are certainly not on board the Scully tank, and unless we dish up our usual 3rd quarter rubbish, we are in real danger of winning this. We should be much further infront as well the way we are dominating. Jurrah is unbelievable, his vertical leap is phenomenal. Dunn has also been very good and seeing him suck Cornes in was awesome. Jamar, Morton and McLean very good as well. Hard to not barrack for a victory but...

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