poita

I went down to Brindisi Street reserve to watch SBMT take on De La Salle on Saturday. DLS currently sit fourth in a very even top 8, SBMT remain winless and last. SBMT had their best game of the year and led for the most part, conceding the match winning goal in the last minute or so of play. Kyah had some good moments early in the ruck and around the ground against two much smaller, but stronger opponents, generally when he was able to jump at the footy. Once again he was pushed off the ball far too easily once his leap was taken away, and his second efforts were non existent. His best and worst moment happened mid way through the second quarter when he took an excellent contested mark on the wing. After going back over the mark he inexplicably tried to run round the man on the mark and appeared to hurt his lower leg in the resulting tackle. He was on and off the ground for the remainder of the quarter without impact. He played the entire second half taking the centre bounce then heading to the forward goal square. I doubt he had a clean hit out for the entire half and he certainly didn't have a possession that I saw. Even when SBMT was desperately trying to extend their lead in the last few minutes, he didn't leave the goal square to compete at ball ups or fill a gap in the field. It was a completely bizarre situation, but one that further indicated to me that he simply doesn't have the thirst for the contest, notwithstanding the leg issue. I am absolutely convinced that you can either teach a category B rookie the game or develop them physically, you can't do both as we have tried to do with Kyah and Austin Bradtke before him. The likes of Mason Cox and Mark Blicavz at least were physically ready when they were learning the game, so could step into the VFL and compete.

We knew in November 2023 that Brayshaw and Oliver were both in serious trouble and we did nothing about bolstering the midfield in the national draft, the pre season draft, the rookie draft and the supplementary list period. Taylor, Lamb and Goodwin should be shot for what they have done to this list. But, hey, at least we have Laurie, Spargo, Adams, Jefferson and McAdam locked away for next year and beyond.

My son's under 14 team lost by 118 points today and that still wasn't the worst performance I endured. Well done MFC. So how did we get here? 1. The coach is convinced he is the smartest person in the room and doesn't need to change anything at any time. And we reward him by extending his contract after consecutive straight sets finals exits. 2. We simply refuse to respect our opponents by attempting to counter their strengths, negate their key players or changing our tactics. 3. Jason Taylor has absolutely butchered three consecutive drafts. His obsession with drafting half forwards has left us with a list bereft of developing defenders and midfielders, let alone a genuine back up ruck. 4. We give multi year contracts to C graders like Spargo and Laurie, and resign players like Melksham who are neither part of the present or the future. 5. We play injured and unfit players every single week. 6. We pick sides on reputation - we don't reward good performances at Casey and we don't drop underperforming senior players (eg Sparrow and Petty). Hence we have a team of lazy, complacent footballers. 7. Speaking of Casey, we haven't genuinely supported the alliance over the past two years and it shows with the performances we are receiving. 8. Every single experienced player we have brought to the club since the grand final has made us worse. None of Hunter, Grundy, Billings, McAdam or Fullarton is/was a best 22 player. 9. We don't turn over the list enough to give us opportunities to draft young talent. Being out of the 2023 draft after the first round was a disgrace. We used to be the best in the business at finding talent with late draft picks. 10. We squander resources chasing 1 in a million prospects such as Farris-White and Bradtke who were never, ever going to make it. It was embarrassing watching KFW on Saturday. 11. We don't have a game plan that suits our playing list and we ask our players to do things that don't come naturally to them.

As I was saying ...

Well played AFL. The players want a longer season, but the AFL doesn't, so they tie expansion to crowds then schedule games featuring interstate teams at night in the middle of the week. It's pure genius. It's pretty tough on semi professional players to have 4 games in 16 days.

99.9% of Victorians wouldn't be able to name a single Rebels player, let alone be interested in attending games. The way that team has been promoted is abysmal. Hopefully it frees up sponsorship dollars for the MFC.

Another key forward who won't help the side push for and win finals in 2024. On that basis, regardless of what he does in future, this is a disappointing selection. We're only one injury to a starting midfielder away from a full blown crisis in that part of the field.

Just admit already that you have no idea what's wrong with Spargo and no idea how to fix it. Melksham seems to have drifted out a fair way from his KB target.

From what I saw yesterday, and let's not forget that the opposition was rubbish, the only strategy that McAdam has to win the football is to launch at a pack from 6 deep. If he refuses to stay on the ground, play in front and lead at the ball carrier, he should be dropped immediately. 6 tackles sounds good, but it was because he was led to the ball all day. The key stat is 1 kick on a day where we had 67 inside 50s. We're already carrying Petty, we can't afford two witches hats against decent teams.

Mitch Brown has kicked 44 goals in 6 games for the Parkdale Vultures this year. I'd almost rather bring him back then look at a 28 year old from the WAFL given that neither WA team is remotely interested in him.

Much like having Brown and Petty in the same forward line.

Can someone please explain the following that arrived in an email from the club earlier this evening? Clearly they are expecting a dismal crowd, but surely our game is on Sunday afternoon? Are all reserved seat members happy to have a bunch of freeloaders in their area? Saturday Night footy is best enjoyed with family and friends, that’s why you should bring them to round 11. Your complimentary guest pass sits in the MFC App alongside your ticket. All you have to do is open the app and scan your Guest Pass at the gate for your family or friend to enter the ‘G with you. PLUS, you will have access to LEVEL 1 seating with your General Admission membership and Guest Pass.*

Is there anyone on our list who isn't (a) carrying an injury that should have been rested earlier or (b) coming back from injury lacking form and match fitness? Our player management is leaving a lot to be desired.

None of those players listed are much good and none are physically ready, otherwise they would be playing already. The fact that Howes and Billings are regular selections despite being consistently ordinary proves this. I'm hopeful on Brown, not confident on Tholstrup and resigned to the rest not making it.

Ed has been largely phoning it in since mid 2022, and that decision proves it. Afl players get paid a fortune because they have to make sacrifices sometimes. Missing a wedding to do your job is one of those times.

There are too many players in this team who are too comfortable and too entitled, without performing to the required level. Clearly the likes of Viney, Oliver and Rivers have credits in the bank, but Goodwin has to take responsibility for the consistent mediocrity of Chandler, Salem, Sparrow, Bowey and Petty. We're looking a lot like Richmond grimly hanging on to the past, instead of trying to build for the future. McAdam, Billings, Hunter, Fullerton and Grundy are all wasted trades that could have been used on bringing in young talent.

It's absolutely laughable that some people think we have depth. We have maybe 18 decent players and the rest are very, very ordinary. The failure of Goodwin and Lamb to turn over our many C graders and try to find some diamonds in the rough over the past three years is a massive dereliction of duty.

This is what happens when you have no depth, a poxy VFL team and a coach that plays favourites with unfit and underdone players.

I watched the second half of the SBMT game against Old Camberwell. OC are a mid range Premier B side, and led 64-17 at one point before easing off in the last 1.5 quarters to win by 33 points. A couple of disclaimers - (1) SBMT have lost a lot of talent and experience and will likely be relegated at year end and (2) Kyah is the only player on the team with any height, so basically rucked the entire second half between the arcs against multiple opponents. He may have been one of the team's better players, but that is not really saying much. The SBMT players were very supportive of Kyah, encouraging him before every contest and urging him to keep working. He would benefit from some greater size and experience in the team to share the load and educate him, but he is certainly getting all the work and game time he needs. I was disappointed by Kyah's seeming lack of fitness. A player with multiple AFL pre seasons behind him should be able to run out a VAFA game comfortably against part timers. He doesn't provide second efforts after an initial contest and regularly was stationery after the ball moved on. He then had to sprint to get to the next ball up, and was probably lucky that the umpire waited for him on multiple occasions. Clearly he needs to spend more time watching Max's videos. When Kyah is given time and space to run and jump at the football, including in the ruck, you can see the raw talent. Unfortunately a decent ruck will take away that space and he doesn't have the strength or game understanding to adjust. One of the (very young) boundary umpires was really struggling with his throw ins and Kyah was repeatedly caught miles behind his opponent. He has just missed out on so much match day education over the past two years, and the move to give him regular game time should have happened at least 12 months ago. OC's main ruck (Milham) was taller and heavier, and did a great job of taking away Kyah's leap. Kyah looked quite likely when he could find some space, particularly when the game opened up in the last quarter. He is quite agile for his size and was able to get involved in a few attacking moves. He took one mark inside 50, and hit the behind post from about 35m on a reasonable angle. His kicking definitely needs work, as does his decision making with ball in hand. Again the lack of strength was hurting him in pack situations. All in all, this wasn't a great standard of football and, if I wasn't a Melbourne supporter, I wouldn't have given Kyah's game a second thought. He will improve by playing regularly, but I don't see anything resembling an AFL player at this time. Far better for us to focus on recruiting a seasoned backup to Max. As an aside, Jay Kennedy-Harris was playing for Old Camberwell. I only saw him get one touch in which he delivered a pin point kick across the half forward line while simultaneously seemingly pinging his hamstring.

I can't see the wisdom in playing McAdam underdone and off a long plane flight. Why not give him another week at Casey and an MFC debut at the MCG next week? At this point the smart money would have him getting injured some time in the third quarter. Surely Brown has to play, but our ruck stocks remain critically thin. Bad luck if Gawn falls apart under the strain of carrying this team every week. Salem should be sent to Casey for a couple of weeks before being considered at AFL level. The risk of playing both he and McAdam lacking in match fitness would be off the charts.

I was happy to have a reserved seat membership, then they doubled the price by forcing you to pay for the grand final guarantee as well. If this is the desired future, they need to let people build their own packages. Ultimately the club loses out, as evidenced by the sparsely populated reserved seat areas this season.

Chandler clearly needs a rest, and I'd be tempted to play Woewodin forward to get him in the team. Otherwise maybe McAdam if he makes it through at least 80% game time today. Billings had a very good second half and was important to our improved ball movement in that period. He stays. I'd like to have another look at Turner against lesser opposition, but he simply has to find a way to get involved in the play. At the very least he needs to be providing a contest and bringing the ball to ground. I think we need the three tall forwards, so he probably stays unless Brown kicks a bag in the VFL.

Certainly couldn't fault the effort after quarter time, but we lost for two reasons: 1. I'm okay with our forwards not taking marks, as long as they are making a contest and bringing the ball to ground. We were excellent in this respect against Geelong, but terrible last night. The ease with which Weitering and co took intercept marks in our forward 50 was astounding. 2. The inability of our onballers to nullify Walsh and Cripps in the first 3 quarters, and especially the first quarter. Viney and Oliver may well not have entered the centre square given how ineffective they were. Petracca was banished to the forward line at quarter time for this reason also. We looked much better when Sparrow and Neal-Bullen were heavily involved later. Ultimately those two reasons were why Carlton kicked the first six goals, and the game was effectively done at that point. Well done to our group for fighting on and preserving our percentage, but it was too little too late.

We crapped the bed in the first quarter and Carlton crapped the bed in the last. Otherwise nothing between the two sides. The misses by Fritsch, Chandler and Pickett were hugely costly. And especially Petty.

If Goodwin can't come up with a plan to negate the influence of Walsh and Cripps we have no chance.