Straight Sets Simon

Bartram - One of his best games Bate - Needs a run at Casey and needs to completely overhaul kicking action Bennell - Quiet, but classy Bruce - Little impact Davey - All-Australian form Dunn - Needs to find a position Frawley - Very good but needs to completely overhaul kicking action Johnson - Sloppy at times Jones - Lacked polish despite strong efforts Maric - A game to forget McDonald - Was good on Ablett Martin - Looked good when forward McLean - Still making dumb mistakes Meesen - Didn't stop trying Miller - See Meesen Moloney - Quiet for his standards Morton - Kicking is a concern and needs far more muscle Petterd - Looked much better down back Rivers - Killed on the lead Robertson - Too good for Scarlett Sylvia - Needs to do more Warnock - One of the best

6. Frawley 5. Davey 4. Robertson 3. Warnock 2. Martin 1. Bartram

I'd much rather Bailey be honest and answer the question. I don't find politicians funny when they evade questions, why is it funny when a man who has a much more important job does it?

I just finished watching the replay (Foxtel IQ is amazing). Valenti: Always finds space, even with ten players around him and generally uses the ball really well. Height is not an issue when you're on the bottom of every pack. Watts: Skinny, classy, skillful and exciting to watch. Wonaeamirri: Back on the turtle meat? Looked like the Austin of 2008 and not the the Austin of the NAB Cup. Struggled to have a big influence. Hughes: Very lively, provided some really good options up forward, but lacks polish. Newton: Much better, but still missing some easy shots for goal and needs more muscle as he never looks like taking a contested mark. Bail: Great speed and used the ball well. Will push for selection next week. Whelan: One of the most underrated footballers to ever play AFL. Classy performance yet again from a natural on field leader who always uses the ball well and creates. Cheney: Solid, used the ball well and will push to play for Melbourne next week. McNamara: I'd not seen this player much before, he looked lively down back, used the ball well and created good run. Grimes: Did not have a big influence, looked a little slow and his kicking action is still a concern. Bell: I expected a little more from Bell, however he still managed a good performance through the midfield.

I would like the team to line up like this: FB: Frawley Warnock Bartram HB: Petterd Rivers Martin C: Morton Moloney Davey HF: Bate Dunn Bruce FF: Miller Robertson Maric Foll: Johnson McLean McDonald Int: Meesen Jones Bennell Sylvia

Two choices. 1) Melbourne keeps playing all of its home games at the MCG where they continue to lose money playing in a stadium where the fixed costs are extremely high in an area where the supporter base is hardly growing. 2) Melbourne fully embrace the move to Casey (which to me is still part of the Melbourne area) and if there are developments there that allow for greater seating capacity, play one, two or three games at Casey Fields against low drawing opposition teams, in an area where the supporter base can be grown and losses can be turned into profits.

If Casey can have a larger seating capacity (greater than 10,000) then it would be the best option by far.

34,569.

Not kicking a goal until the second half of a game might have something to do with it. Also, allowing Crows players remain loose and receive easy uncontested possessions when the game was to be won is another.

I wrote this over at Demonology in response to Kennett's initial comments: "Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett claims AFL umpires should be rarely seen and not heard, and are hogging the limelight from star players." I 100% agree with Kennett on this one. My personal pet hates: 1)When umpires refer to players by their nicknames. I think they should go as far just referring to players by their numbers. It looks unprofessional IMO. 2) When umpires tell players what to do. For example, in a congested siutation you hear them say "get it out, get it out". If the player doesn't "get it out" then just call holding the ball or a ball-up depending on the situation. Umpires are there to make decisions on what HAS happened, not what WILL happen.

Word-for-word perfect. Great work WJ.

The good news is that Whelan played after it was reported that he was injured the week before.

Yes the crowd can help, but that wasn't Melbourne's problem yesterday. Like I said, unless the crowd jumped the fence and played one-on-one football it wouldn't have fixed Melbourne's problems.

I had to wait almost half an hour for a coffee and a bucket of chips and even that wasn't as bad as Melbourne yesterday.

At a guess (nothing more) I would have though that you scanning your membership ticket does nothing for the MFC directly in financial terms as you have already paid your membership. It's more to do with sponsors, catering and the chance of the MFC getting good times to play from the AFL in the future. One thing the game did highlight is the need for a "boutique" stadium (hopefully at Casey Fields) for low crowd games.

You can add to the fact that the players who are to come in for them (Maric and Grimes) have far more upside and natural ability, class and poise. Don't get me wrong, I like Jetta but I think a run down at Casey wouldn't hurt.

In a game like that, a packed stadium full of one-eyed Melbourne fans wouldn't have made one iota of difference. The only way that the fans could have helped is if they ran into the forward line to provide an option or man-up the loose Adelaide players.

Yes, the kicking skills are not good, but they are made much worse when the players have few options to kick it to. 1) They are often trying to hit targets up field who have multiple opponents on them. 2) If there are no options up field (literally no one there or players are outnumbered) the player with the ball has to stop and wait for an option to present itself, all the while the opposition teams have more time to flood back and apply pressure to the player with the ball. More pressure on the player with the ball means a greater chance of the kick being ineffective. It was excruciatingly painful to see Melbourne continually handpass the ball through the middle, but so often the players were forced to because they had no options ahead of them to kick it to. For the most part, the problem wasn't that the players weren't kicking it, they just had no one to kick it to. EDIT: There was at least one occasion when Bruce did have options ahead of him but still chose to handpass.

Agreed. They never got out of second gear because they didn't need to. It was still fairly painful for their supporters despite getting the four points.

Agreed.

Aaron Davey has had a very good season and his disposal is elite, however the predictability of handpassing it off to him on every occasion is becoming tiresome. There are two major problems with this strategy. 1) The player who handpasses it off (whose kicking skills are most likely not as good) does not get to work on his disposal in game pressure situations. It's all very well to practice their kicking at training, but for most players and teams the problem lies when they are put under pressure in a game day situation. 2) By passing it off to Davey (usually around the back) it means that there is one less player to kick it to up forward. That is, I would prefer to see Davey run forward to receive a kick or at least provide another target as opposed to having two players near where the ball is kicked. I understand the logic of giving the ball to the best kick, but I can't see other players who struggle with their kicking improving if they don't have the practice and in turn confidence to kick the ball themselves.

FB: Frawley Warnock Martin HB: Petterd Rivers Grimes C: Morton Moloney Davey HF: Dunn Miller Bruce FF: Wonaeamirri Robertson Maric Foll: Meesen McLean Sylvia Int: Johnson Jones McDonald Bennell

This says a lot about Melbourne supporters. The team puts up one of the most pathetic displays of football in recent years, managing just four goals for an entire game and still use defensive tactics and yet the supporters are more worried about the crowd numbers on a freezing cold Sunday afternoon/evening. FFS.

That's just crazy talk. Forwards? In a forward line? Providing options down field? Get out of here!

I can live with a low crowd on a freezing cold Sunday evening against an interstate team. I can't live with a team kicking one goal until three quarter time. Football is about entertainment, that was in no way entertaining.