Straight Sets Simon

Or I am kidding myself and the team is doomed?

I thought he was fairly average today, but who wasn't? Backmen are unlucky in that any errors they make are magnified x100 because the consequences can be so much greater.

I couldn't make it to the game today (probably a good thing), so it meant I had to watch the game on TV, but more importantly I got to see Bailey interviewed at half time. Obviously Bailey hasn't been telling the players to over-use the ball, but sometimes it almost looked as if he did. However, in his interview today, possibly for the first time Bailey was speaking my language. He wanted the players to take risks and he wanted them to kick it into the forward line. Clearly the players didn't listen and from watching the game on TV it was hard to see if there was a forward line to kick it to, but hearing that made my day along with watching the smooth mover, Jack Grimes.

How about this: Melbourne keeps pick 1. Melbourne picks up Warnock in the PSD.

I'd happily have all five.

This is from caddypgt over at Demonology.

Well there's his new nickname.

They are talking about the Big Footy thing. P.S. What happened with that?

That stuck out to me too.

Well done Buckets. Often much maligned, but he is one of few players who could do his job at both ends of the ground.

I want Rich, so I want pick 1.

Probably something to do with the fact that Carroll has been reportedly playing well for Sandy and was unlucky to be dropped after the Geelong game.

Change the name of the thread.

As much as Melbourne lack a key forward, I think they need a top class midfielder even more. Players like McLean, Jones, Valenti and co. are not good enough to be damaging number one midfielders IMO. From what I have read, it would be Rich for me.

The tongue was slightly in the cheek and I'm sure that there is more to it, it's just that sometimes the "too many cooks" thought comes to mind.

The frustrating thing is how is the Essendon red lighter than the Melbourne red?

Instead of cutting the salary cap, the AFL should make Melbourne not waste their money on stuff like this. "Move your legs faster boy!"

It's certainly up there with "a Ryan O'Keefe type player" and "he bleeds red and blue". I see Valenti as an ideal replacement for McDonald when he hangs up the boots.

I understand what you're saying, but there is a big mistake that many people make here and that is that they assume we don't need player A, because we have player B. That is, instead of having three, tough strong inside midfielders (who may seem similar) I'd prefer to have four. 1) Injury problems (McLean, Moloney) 2) Creates competition within the side, Jones and co. won't be getting complacent if they know that they have to work for their spot week in week out - AKA depth. You could get rid of Valenti, but who would replace him? He came off the rookie list, so it's not as if he cost the club anything. Would people here prefer to get rid of him and take a punt on another unproven player?

By about a year.

You said he should get lots of contested possessions and use the ball well. I proved that he does get lots of contested possessions and according to the "efficiency" statistics (which I don't always rate but are better than nothing) he uses the ball better than most other senior midfielders. From a more subjective perspective, in every game I've seen Valenti play he has kicked and handpassed well (good technique, penetration etc), shown that he has a very good football brain (almost always puts the ball in a very good position) and most importantly this apparent lack of legs peed hasn't been an issue at all. Time will tell, I just bloody well hope that the club signs him on because as I have said before I think he will be (probably already is better than Jones and possibly Moloney).

It's been mentioned 1000 times already. No need for new thread.

Very happy with those changes. EDIT: Valenti should be in for Bartram.

Sometimes a my word versus your word argument doesn't get very far and the stats are the only thing there is. Unfortunately, efficiency doesn't stipulate if the ball lacks penetration, is a kick to someone standing still 30 metres backwards and so on. But, it's the best I could find. Valenti does have a penetrating kick and more often then not after he uses the ball it is in a better position than when it was in his hands.

He uses the ball extremely well, I honestly don't know where you have pulled that one from. He has a lovely penetrating kick and is a very good decision maker. I hate having to rely on stats, but let's just have a look at some of this year so far. Valenti: 9 games, 67% game time, 17 disposals per game, 76.01% efficiency, 5.2 contested possessions per game (30.5% of possessions are contested). Jones: 20 games, 80% game time, 20.65 disposals per games, 69.48% efficiency, 5.57 contested possessions per game (26.9% of possessions are contested). McDonald: 18 games, 79% game time, 20.22 disposals per game, 78.73 % efficiency, 6.05 contested possessions per game. McLean: 14 games, 80 % game time, 23.64 disposals per game, 74.19% efficiency, 7.2 contested possessions per game. Bruce: 21 games, 85% game time, 23.9 disposals per game, 75.41% efficiency, 6.4 contested possessions per game. Green: 19 games, 88% game time, 23 disposals per game, 73.28% efficiency, 5.4 contested possessions per game. I can't be bothered doing anymore, but you get the point. Valenti had had far less game time than these other players, yet his statistics more than stack up.