Jaded No More

Jones is a definite inclusion, and I doubt they'll drop Maric. Hopefully the bench is: Jones, Maric, Bennell and Grimes Please please please don't let Stef get injured in the ruck. Please!

Nobody is making you read or post here. So shut the door on your way out.

Dear god that is one horrible team. That back six would struggle to beat the Sunshine under 12's League. And I love that Godfrey got a game, but McLean was named as an emergency. What the hell? Were we tanking, and was this actually the best available team? :wacko:

The option of being able to elevate them, if nothing else, will put pressure on our other mids to perform, which can only be a good thing.

ARGH!!!!!!!!! Aussie Why football gods, why?!

Ignore function. Use it. If you choose not to use it, and read my posts, and you single me out again with personal attacks (or you attack Queen C, or any other poster for expressing their views in a non-aggressive manner), you will be suspended. It's great that you're a Bruce fan and you want to defend him, but that should not cause others to feel as though they are being attacked for having differing views. You've been flogging the same horse for years... it's dead now... move on. By the way, this is the last comment I will make to you publicly on this forum. If you want to continue this childish argument, you can PM me (but it's unlikely I'll reply).

While you'll be banned if this turns out to be false, I actually believe your story. We've had experiences in the past with posters making up injury stories about players, so we have trust issues Since he is contracted till the end of 2010, why would he assume this was the end of his career? If he's right to go for pre-season, then he'll have the opportunity to play senior footy next season and fight for a contract renewal. Or has he been told that if he doesn't perform this year he'll be delisted regardless of his contract situation? P.S.- I hope the club has learnt its lesson. Do not given unknowns 3 year deals!!!

Well I saw the game and I called for his inclusion, must have been the crystal meth talking To be honest I wanted Aussie in the team based on what he did last year, as opposed to how he played on Saturday (which I've admitted numerous times was badly).

In principle I agree, but does Spencer have the fitness and skills required to be a number one ruckman at the moment? He is 203cm of awkwardness, and he was dropped from the senior team for a reason. Let this take nothing away from the best 2nd ruckman in the AFL, who might well be the worst 1st ruckman

I hope like hell Martin doesn't go into the centre circle this year. While rucking around the ground is fine, you just know that with our luck, he'd jump too early, get kicked in the head and do a knee on his way down!

He is a beanpole with no experience. I think he has a huge amount of potential, but he needs a lot of time at VFL level before he is anywhere near ready for a serious rucking role. Very few can step into that role first year in. It is the most specialised position on the ground, which requires a lot of perfecting. You let someone ruck who hasn't had the previous experience (and I'm pretty sure Spencer is not from an AFL background) and you risk serious injury... not to mention a lot of frees being paid against you. If Meesen is indeed injured, then PJ goes into Number One Ruck mode until Jamar is fit, and Spencer becomes the backup. Bring on Scully and Butcher!

I would say that if it is, he was gone even before the injury. He is still very young for a ruckman, so if the club believes he is worth persisting with, they will keep him on. Stress fractures, while they take a while to heal, are not untreatable. Given that he is contracted until the end of 2010, I can't see the club paying out his contract and delisting him. For one, we can't afford to do that, and secondly the competition for his position is about as weak as it gets. Spencer is nowhere near ready, PJ is not a ruckman, and Jamar is... well... Jamar. We can delist him, and try to pluck another ruckman in the draft, but very few, if any, are ready to ruck at AFL level within a year of being drafted, so having Meesen there for another year as back-up at least, seems reasonable. The worst thing that could happen IMO, is if we run out of ruckmen, and end up having to play someone like Martin in that position, and he gets injured because he is inexperienced and doesn't know when/how to jump correctly. I'd be interested to know the contract status of PJ and Jamar. If either are out of contract, they may be gone before Meesen. Lets hope Spencer comes good, because our ruck stocks are horrendous.

Well this thread has turned out very well for me... I'm on drugs, I'm insane, I'm loved, I'm hated Note to self: stay away from team changes topics

Don't worry, he's bored because Yze_Magic isn't here to argue with him. I've already said that I will not be responding to him and feeding his need for an argument. We all have our opinions on players, good or bad, and we are all allowed to express them, as long as we do it in a respectful manner. I have never ever abused Bruce, called him weak, pathetic etc... etc... I have always fully acknowledged how hard he works on the field, but I am not blind to his downfalls, and neither are most posters here. As a senior player, and a leader, he is likely to attract more criticism than most... that's part of the pitfalls of being an AFL player.

I'm not saying we are the only club that suffers from injuries. I'm simply pointing out that we have an issue with players sustaining injuries that are not necessarily related to impact. Meesen, if indeed injured, is the 4th player this year to sustain "stress fractures", which are injuries related to the body breaking down, as opposed to getting broken, if that makes sense. We'll never know why this is happening, but it's a worry. We've had three years where half our list had OP, another stress-related injury, and now 'stress fractures' are all the rage. Maybe it's just rotten luck, as I've said, but maybe it's not?

Well someone had to say it But seriously, our injuries never stop. Is it crappy luck, is it having a young list that is being overworked, or is it simply having a whole bunch of injury-prone footballers? It's a massive worry. If we were playing for a final birth, these injuries would have a huge impact on our chances.

And that's the silver linning. [censored] news for Meesen if true, as he was finally starting to show something. On a separate note, are we just unlucky, or is our list injury prone?

Butcher looks awesome, so does Scully. I'd hate for us to have to pick one or the other. Both would help us greatly!

If she has your credit card details and that's all she's using your card for, you should be very very thankful. She can obviously control her shopping needs. Some of us aren't that lucky.

I think so too Just to clear things up, when I talk about someone being smart, talented and awesome, I am not talking about Newton

I won't judge McLean until he is fit. If he can't get fit, that's another issue. Until then, glasses or not, I will be sticking by him.

It's only bad when you have other options and choose to take a high-risk option for no reason. Jack, had no other option than to kick to the top of the square. It landed between the goal posts behind the white line, which was a bonus, but the idea itself was right. Same goes for Morton and Jones, who needed to take the punt because there were no realistic contests to kick it too. Kicking long goals is the best way to break a defensive zone. Jones nearly nailed that one too. Of course if you've got players constantly going for these goals and kicking them out of the full, that's just stupid. Everyone should know their limitations, and if they can't nail 60m goals consistently, they should look to dish it off to someone who can. I doubt Meesen will ever attempt those low-percentage kicks, but Sylvia for example can and should. As it stands, Jack's goal was a bit of a miracle, and he probably won't pull that off too regularly, however his ability to rove a pack is extraordinary for someone his size, and his lateral movement is what really stands out when you watch that goal.

He did know he was about to get run down. If we're talking about the same contest, it happened right in front of where I sit, and he was in two minds, because he had absolutely nobody to kick it to. His two options were to try and beat his opponent, or cause a certain turnover. In the end, he got rid of the ball as he was getting tackled, and the ball rolled, creating a 50/50 situation. That we lost the contest is another story. Look, he is definitely struggling for fitness at the moment, and his pace is affected by that, but he has never had awareness issues, so it seems unlikely that all of a sudden he's developed them. Pace is his issue, but in the past it never stopped him from impacting a contest, because his endurance won out. At the moment, he doesn't have that endurance to rely on, so instead of getting faster as the game goes on (as everyone else tires), he gets slower. He was furious when he came off the ground in the later stages of the game, so clearly there is something wrong. He is trying to play through it, and getting a bit better each week, but maybe he shouldn't. Maybe he needs to fix whatever it is that's wrong... given it is fixable.

How am I backpedaling? I have not changed my opinion on Brock for 5 years. You change your mind every 5 minutes. You really are very brave with your judgments aren't you, questioning someone who has been constantly injured since 2006. To say that injuries are not a factor is just stupid. That's like saying that Rivers hasn't been affected by injuries. I remember when Brock came back from his terrible ankle injury and dominated. He also placed very highly in the B&F having played just half a season. We know that when fit he is the best midfielder in the team, which is not to say he is the best midfielder in the competition, or that he does not need help. In fact, he would be a hell of a lot better when surrounded by a gun midfield, and if you think Judd didn't benefit from Kerr or Cousins, or that Ablett would perform as well in Melbourne's midfield, you're kidding yourself. As I said, I don't jump on and off bandwagons when it suits my argument. Try it sometimes, you might risk not always being right, but at least you'll gain some respect by putting your balls on the line. Brock McLean, when fit, is in the top 5 best and most important Melbourne players. Even when he isn't fit, like this year, he is still in the top 5 best performed players, which says a hell of a lot about him as a player. Now where's the excuse in that?

Is this "pick on Jaded" week or something? Do you have a quote of me saying "Brock McLean is the next Judd?" A couple of years ago, Brock was statistically up there with Judd in terms of possessions collected against time on ground. A couple of year ago, pre injuries, everyone here, including the esteemed Rhino, was on Brock's bandwagon. Brock still is one of the few players in the current team that I've seen stand up in a final and rip it apart. Injuries have absolutely ruined any fluency or continuity that he may have otherwise had, which is an absolute shame. But for the love of god, stop posting about Brock as if you never believed he could become an elite player. You were onto him just like we all were, the difference is, that you jump on and off bandwagons faster than Freo trade away first round draft picks. I stand by my opinion of Brock, and I still believe he can become an A grade footballer if his body lets him, because I don't have a short term memory and I know what he's capable of producing when fit (and pace, which is his only shortcoming, is not the be all and end all in football). When was the last time you actually stuck by your convictions, instead of just following the trends?! By the way, if you actually believe that Brock's form at the moment has to do with the fact that he bought into all the hype, then I really can't believe I just wasted 2 minutes replying to you. Go back and remind yourself when was the last time he has had an injury-free season, or pre-season for that matter. And we're not talking 2-3 week injuries, we're talking major season-ending injuries.