Straight Sets Simon

Martin has always been of the strongest players at the club, however this year he came out of the preseason ripped and I remember hearing Sylvia in an interview say that he was expecting big things from Martin. He has been consistently one of Melbourne's best since Jamar has gone down and the second ruck option we have been crying out for.

Joel Macdonald gets whipped a lot, underrated immensely by peanut supporters. He is tough, courageous and doesn't take a backward step. Very good game last night.

Just watching the behind the scenes Channel Seven did last night on the MFC website. Dean Bailey: "If we have multiples ahead, we will be able to kick through it..." Good to hear.

Incorrect decision by the umpire. Essendon supporters are easily the most trigger happy when it comes to shouting "ball" (Melbourne supporters aren't far behind), but this time the umpire got caught up in it all and thought the crowd were there to see him.

That was a defining moment, he didn't squib.

After Melbourne's round 1 loss to St Kilda in 2007 I wrote: As good as the win was last night, the over-using of the ball, especially by hand early on was reminiscent of this dreadful night four years ago. Since this game all kinds of tactical fads have come and gone. Tempo football, run and carry (runs and curry), floods, rolling zones and now forward presses. But through it all, one thing has and always remains the same; players will over-use the ball if they are forced to. Not having players forward of the ball to provide an option leads to players losing and forward momentum they may have as they stop and look sideways and backwards for a clear option. In the second half Melbourne kept more players forward, they took the game on and they won. The great thing about structure is it requires no experience or skill, more often than not it is just about being in the right part of the ground at the right time. It is even as simple as standing in the goal square at a centre bounce instead 30 metres out. with no room to then lead into. Let this be a lesson Dean, you can tell the players all you want to take the game on, but if you don't provide them with the right structure it counts for nothing.

Everything Morton touched in the first quarter turned to rubbish but he improved a lot once he stopped trying his dinky little fluff kicks all the time. His lack of upper body strength is a massive liability, still a fringe player, needs to hit the gym hard if he is going to be part of the future of the MFC.

I would expect this criticism of Jurrah over the previous two weeks, but not last night. Pressure and tackling much better.

Watts was good early but needs to hold more of his marks.

Jurrah wasn't bad at all. Had a quiet first quarter but his tackling and pressure were 100 times better and as a result he got on the end of some important goals. Morton was a liability early but once he stopped trying to do his fancy little fluff kicks he played some career best football. I like Howe a lot, he has a football brain not just X-Factor.

Up until the Adelaide game our injury list was Scully, Mckenzie and Campbell. The smallest injury list that I can remember.

You're right, he's the defensive coach.

One of the big advantages for Melbourne that day was that Adelaide only kicked five behinds, therefore Melbourne only had to kick out five times that day. This is an area that Melbourne really struggles with and has done for over a decade.

I remember old55, Rhino Richards and alike arguing for this tactic a few years ago. They seem very quiet about it now.

No team ever has that with injuries and suspensions. Up until the Adelaide game Melbourne only had around three injuries (Scully, McKenzie and Campbell), the closest any team will come to full strength and Melbourne were not performing too well under Bailey.

"Forward Press" is just another flavour of the month term. Much of it is just teams flooding their defence and opposition defenders follow. Having players (multiple options) forward of the ball (yes, inside the forward fifty) is crucial. No team is going to leave Liam Jurrah on his own un-marked in the forward fifty. Have the right structure and the rest becomes much easier. More targets, less chance for skill errors. From the Melbourne website: The thing is, a lot of turnovers are caused by the plan. Even Judd would have had trouble picking put teammates if all he saw up ahead was Eddie Betts surrounded by three Melbourne defenders. Conversely even Morton and Warnock can hit targets if they have Watts, Jurrah, Petterd, Green, Newton, Bennell, Bate or Maric to kick forward to. Structure is the key and requires no skill from the players. The beauty is it can be rectified week to week, or even quarter to quarter, however since round 1, 2007 it has been a major issue for Melbourne. But only now are most people starting to pick up on it.

Any word on Robbie Campbell? Still injured?

Agreed. When Melbourne play well they keep players forward of the ball so there are options to kick it to at all times.

One skinny rake for another? No thanks.

That's assuming there are no more injuries between now and then. Melbourne had the best run of injuries I could remember up until the Adelaide game, then disaster.

Yet again The Oracle is spot on. Great piece, summed up the game perfectly.

No, to me it looked as though dandeeman was confusing Fergus Watts with Ferguson, but Nasher pointed out another Ferguson played for St Kilda so that's where the confusion may have come from.

Is this a joke?

I'm not arguing either way just stating the facts. The only point I will make is that any other coach would have made those changes. Possibly not the Johnstone one which was an inspired move, but certainly the rest.

Just going by Wikipedia.