Straight Sets Simon

Did you read what I wrote?

I think quite a lot of Neeld's ideas were actually pretty good, he just in no way had the skillet to successfully implement them. The pre-game address is a classic example. If you read a transcript of it you would probably think it was reasonable, but when you see and hear the delivery it makes your skin crawl.

We are talking about a 4th round Rookie pick, very low risk if it doesn't pay off.

More than happy to give Jetta another chance.

Two classic examples from the Adelaide game: 1) Trengove has a free kick after Adelaide kick it out-on-the-full. Trengove doesn't get back behind the mark far enough and turns a free kick into a pressured kick, as a result he is forced to kick it high in the air and the ball is turned over. 2) Dunn has the ball at fullback, after taking a mark he drifts to his left (instead of going straight back on the line) which means it is now play-on and he is forced to kick on his left foot resulting in a turnover. These are what kill me becuase Melbourne players turn free kicks into pressured kicks! By simply getting back behind the mark quickly, sufficiently and without playing-on Melbourne players can avoid these situations so easily.

Can they not be traded under that contract?

I agree.

Why does Melbourne keeping taking risks with first round draft picks? We went for icing when most of us were crying out for a cake.

Grimes kicks into the man on the mark which results in a GWS goal. Turns a free kick into a kick under pressure.

Pedersen kicks into the man on the mark after taking a mark.

Toumpas is the Gibbs of the draft, Wines is the Selwood.

I've been banging on this for a while now, but Melbourne continually put themselves under unnecessary pressure when they take marks / receive free kicks by making the same mistakes over and over again. When Melbourne players take a mark (and there isn't an option to play-on) they often do one of three things: 1) They turn around (facing the backline), slowly jog and then turn back around (to face the forward line). This whole process takes up to three or four seconds which is far too slow, by which time the opposition is able to get back. 2) They immediately run off their line (without even looking straight ahead) which not only means they are now kicking under pressure, they now are running to the side and they can't even see what is down the line or off to the other side. This means they have reduced their options to kick to by 2/3. Not only that, they have eliminated the best option which is to kick straight down the line! 3) They turn around straight away but don't get back far enough behind the man on the mark and either kick into that player or are forced to kick the ball high in the air to clear him. What they need to do is immediately turn around to face the forward line, meaning they can see all options in all areas in front of them, including the best option down the line. The exception to this if a player who is running by can receive a handpass but both players need to be smart enough to know if he is or isn't clear. At the same time the player needs to sprint backwards (not walk, jog or run but sprint). This means there is now zero chance of the man on the mark coming into play as the Melbourne player is back far enough clear of him. Funnily enough, this also means the opposition don't have time to get back, as the Melbourne player with the ball can move the ball on quickly as he has moved quickly to be in a position the kick the ball without pressure. Crazy isn't it? NB: This thread was resurrected from 2013.

Gibbs was rated better than Selwood in junior football.

He has always looked slow and lacked explosiveness, even before 2011.

Gutted he didn't make 100, but still an amazing effort. The way he handled himself was brilliant.

Wines was sensational against Collingwood.

He doesn't excite me at all, I've made that clear. More than happy to be wrong about this one.

I don't want to lose Watts because he has talent, something that is all too rare at Melbourne. I agree that Neeld has done a poor job getting the best out of the players, but by God Watts has put in some insipid soft and weak efforts so far.

If we lost Gawn that would be a massive blow.

I agree. Again it was just rumours but I still don't even know if the kid can play.

Barrett just said rumours are that Caddy won't nominate a club because he is worried the fallout would leave him at Melbourne. Apparently just does not want to come to Melbourne.

Does Morton even have the potential to be any good?

Same as Jack Jack, wow. That was incredible.

What really annoys me about Haddin dropping that catch yesterday is that he was carrying on like an absolute [censored] after he took a couple of regulation catches in the first innings.

Does anyone else find T20 really boring?