mrtwister

Poor bugger. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't

Great start!

FOX sports have just shown Garry Lyon sitting smack bang in the middle of the coaches box, overseeing the whole operation.

Yes it's me. And TS will be announcing his new contract straight after the game, the MFC will be announcing their new coach on Monday and the MFC will be playing all their home games in Darwin next year due to their good record there.

My theory is that whoever gets the first clearance today will win the game. Fingers crossed for Moloney. ps Green as sub Will the message get through?

It would not disappoint me in the slightest if Green was withdrawn again (with soreness or whatever) and Dunn took his place. Let Moloney captain again.

I think it will be interesting to see if he's played in a different position this week. Perhaps they are really trying to find where he fits to give him a real chance of proving his worth. To be fair to a lot of these guys, they have been shuffled around a lot over their careers. I don't know if they would even know what their strengths are or what their best position is. He's certainly not a physical, inside player so I'd certainly wing him or even put him at HFF and push him up the ground to look for some space. Could very well be the biggest month of the 21 year old's life (professionally anyway).

I agree. But also, I think the poll would be pretty bloody boring if Malthouse was an option.

As we all know, Malthouse, Roos and Lyon have all said they are not interested and/or available to coach MFC next year. Call me naive (or anything else you want I guess) but I will take them for their word. So, that pretty much leaves the options in the poll.

The poll has been adjusted due to recent events. Feel free to adjust your votes.

Demon Dog?

I'd love to see him waving across the ground at his old team.

6 Frawley (did not go off for the entire game btw) 5 Howe 4 Garland 3 Jones 2 Trengove 1 Jamar (beat Cox all day - not to be underestimated)

We need experienced players over youngsters at this point. Maybe he falls into this category, maybe he's a loose cannon that would do more harm than good. He's what a FF should be. Confident, a little selfish and draws attention (probably too much). I would, however, feel a little uncomfortable using him in a mentoring role. Do I have a preference? No. I don't think I do.

Probably didn't help his cause that Moloney was more of a captain in 1 game than Brad has been all year. btw - Please don't put him in the back lines, the guy goes to ground at EVERY contest. Backs need to keep their feet more than forwards do and he can't do it as one of those.

Of all out weaknesses that have been made very apparent in the last 4 weeks, I think our passive, reactionary attitude towards such a physical game is the most concerning. Now I know there are players out there who aren't well suited to a physical game, whether it be based on their build, weight or courage. And by a few I mean Morton, Davey and Scully to a certain extent. However, I don't have an issue with that, that's the way they are and at this point in there lives/careers it won't change. What does concern me is our lack of 'animal'. Who is there in our team that really goes after anyone, within the rules, but enough to have the opposition wary of who is around? Like those guys you see that give a nice bump after someone slowly follows the ball over the boundary line. Or that guy that pushes people out of the way to pick his team mate up at the bottom of the pack. Or the guy that is willing to maybe, possibly hit a little high or a little late when the game gets a little dreary and unemotional in an attempt to fire things up. We play well on emotion which is partly why we cannot string together 4 quarters (or even 1 or 2 sometimes). Emotion will never push you through a whole game, but how many times do we see teams respond to a little scuffle or something that spikes their motivation? I'm not talking about having a little brew-ha-ha on the way off at the end of the 2nd quarter because everyone simmers down over the break. I'm talking about someone that just LOVES the physicality of the game. Tapscott shows it but we need more. It's not in everyone, but it can be laying dormant in many players who just need an inspirational leader, whether it be player or coach, to bring it out of them. And it can be infectious too. When a team rolls through people as a group it can be very powerful but only if it isn't forced. It needs to be a team approach, because if it looks like someone is trying too hard to be physical it always turns out bad. I would love to be the team that everyone respects for their intimidation. From a performance perspective, the moment a player transfers their focus from their role in the team to looking for the perfect opportunity to 'payback' an opponent, or take their eye off the ball a little early to see who's closing in, then errors are generated and teams can capitalise on that. At this point, I think it needs to be instilled by our next coach. I think todays effort and attack on the footy (and the man) was good, but there was plenty of opportunities to really get under their skin that was never taken advantage of. We need to unsettle teams because we use the ball quite well on the rebound but we never cause enough turnovers for it to make a difference in our results. For next year, give us a coach that can unleash the animal in our players, that controlled aggression, that intimidating physicality that makes a team revered. We need it.

I wonder if any of the drama queens on here have any experience in competitive level sport. These guys have just played their 4th consecutive game against a top 5 team - all of which have separated themselves from the rest of the competition all year - and they act like the team have layed down and died from the first bounce. They weren't far off the pace today. 1. Take a way even half of our turn overs 2. An even free kick count 3. Play the game at our actual home ground If the above was done, West Coast would have been in a lot of trouble. Can't question the effort Lot of gutsy team play throughout the game Assuming Viney has made some alterations to Bailey's style of play, they have adjusted pretty well. Can be very disruptive. I cannot believe people consider this week's result to be further below the bottom of the barrel than the last couple.

I think I read somewhere that when players' head shots are in the media, there is obviously a greater chance of the badges further down being cut out of the image.

As mentioned, I am assuming those that aren't available, really aren't available.ie Malthouse Matthews was being tossed around quite a bit and ther'e no contracts/agreements preventing him from doing the job.

Understood. But I think it would be a pretty boring poll if I included Malthouse.

So let's assume the people that say they are not interested or available are exactly that. Therefore eliminating the pipe dreams on the 'potential coaches' thread. If it came to these choices, what's your preference? Let the flood gates open!

Don't know if Martin has the physicality to compete with CoxNat. Warnock would be better suited to the job while it frees Martin up to do some damage around the ground. I also think we should send Warnock to the 50 on kick ins as an extra big to aim at. He could muscle up on their bigs to allow Martin/Jamar to contest the mark. We certainly need to be more attacking in our match ups. In almost every match-up there is an advantage for every disadvantage but I don't think we utilise them.

Bartram is my choice for LeCras Warnock on the resting ruck As for Green, I think he's escaped a game at VFL due to his captain role, but I still think we need to try and take a stand while also trying to find a way to get him more influential. Sorry for the already existing thread. Lazy on my behalf. Please merge.

I'd run with this group this week. Assuming: 1) Jurrah has done what he needed to do last week 2) Jamar is okay 3) Sylvia is not back yet. If he is, Bartram out, Tapscott to BP, Sylvia to HFF FB: Warnock Rivers Bartram HB: MacDonald Frawley Garland C: Trengove Jones Scully HF: Tapscott Watts Davey FF: Howe Dunn Jurrah Foll: Jamar Moloney McKenzie Int'change: Petterd Gysberts Martin Sub: Green Out: Strauss Bate Gawn In: Jurrah, Jamar, Warnock

Our midfield was exposed against Carlton. From my observations, they seem to be dictated to by the opposition. Not really one proactive player amongst them. But, then again, who is expected to play an attacking role in our midfield anyway? In all honesty, Moloney gets quite a few clearances on average, but how many of them are controlled deliveries to a team mate? Against Carlton, every clearance he got was a slam on the boot in the direction of our goals. He's great when he can get the ball at pace, avoid a tackler, get a step to compose himself onto his preferred foot and look upfield, but that never happens against quality opponents. Then there's McKenzie. I love his work by the way, and he's a great in and under type, but his disposals are from under the pack, on the ground or a free kick from his passion and endeavour. I certainly wouldn't consider him an attacking midfielder, he's not really a tagger either (although he probably could be great at it), he's more like the kind of player who stops the opposition from clearing the ball by diving on it and keeping it in dispute. Gysberts, although another fantastic ball getter at times, isn't really getting the numbers as far as clearances go either. He seems more like either an outside player caught inside or an inside player who can't get outside. I haven't seen him play as a tagger so he's another that seems rather neutral in our midfield. Trengove has had a few stints in the middle but to me, doesn't seem comfortable, or natural around the stoppages. He seems a lot more prolific in transition, field positioning and general 'round the ground' playmaking. I noticed Dunn in the middle for a bit as well, possibly following Judd. Don't get me started on my issues with that decision as I'm sure my opinions regarding Dunn's best value would certainly result in some jagged responses on Demonland. The reason Carlton made our midfield look extremely poor is that they had a plethora of players in there that do what none of ours seem to be able to do. That is attack the footy and keep their opponent honest by getting the footy and surging it forward. But it's not as easy as get, burst, kick. IMO, what makes Judd so good is his linking abilities. He's a fantastic inside player, he sees the ball, gets the ball, keeps his feet (unlike our current captain, but again, that's another rant I have up my sleeve), then provides a link from inside to outside. And most often, it's by hand. A 3-5 metre handpass to a player in space who then has time to measure up a kick, or run forward. If there's noone there, he digs in and either draws a player (or 3) and hands off to the tacklers' direct opponent OR he puts in a few hard strides and clears it (either foot mind you) himself. Who are our link players? Who are the people getting the ball from in the stoppage to out the stoppage with precision and purpose? Watch our games again if you have the chance and you will notice there are plenty of MFC players around the stoppages, but they are all within 2 metres of the ball. Even if they receive the footy, they still are not in a position to clear it effectively. Our opposition gain possession and pass through or over these players to outsiders in space who deliver upfield or simply run off. Our players are effectively in 'no man's land'. IMO, our most probable attacking midfielders are still unknown. It's easier to eliminate contenders than it is to select them but that unfortunately gives you a winner by default - which I hope isn't the kind of result we get from our search for a coach. Anywho, that's my 2c and as I indicated, I don't know if it's even worth that much. Let the angry replies begin.