Straight Sets Simon

Great point. I completely agree and voiced similar concerns in the Brock McLean thread.

See the team I chose to play the Cats. It's not just about who is playing, but where they are playing. I've always thought that Green is best played forward. Bruce is tough to match-up on when playing forward and should have stints int he midfield, not the other way around. Wheatley (if selected) is not a defender and should be used on a wing or even HFF. PJ should get number one ruck. Davey (when not injured) is a forward pocket specialist and not a midfielder.

Oh that's right. Getting an education. EDITED.

It's almost certain that Melbourne would have lost in the first two rounds even if the strongest possible teams were chosen. But they weren't. The game was over by 4pm Thursday afternoon. Before I completely and utterly lose all hope in the team, I want to see the BEST POSSIBLE team chosen. Not an average team littered with duds. If it was round 10 and Melbourne were winless, by all means play guys like Weetra and Garland to see what they can do. But it's only round 3.

It's only round 3 and as crap as the team is playing can we please wait until at least round 10 before we completely give up and "play the kids". By all means play them if they deserve to be there, but let's just hold off a couple more weeks.

This should be the team and the exact positions they should line up. FB: Whelan Carroll Bell HB: Petterd Rivers Frawley C: Moloney Jones Morton HF: Sylvia Newton Bruce FF: Green Neitz Wonaeamirri (if Davey's injury is long term) Foll: Johnson McLean McDonald Int: White Bartram Dunn Bate EDIT: I forgot about Morton. I don't want to see: Miller (I don't care if he was better against the Dogs), Robertson, Wheatley (unless used in a more attacking position as he is not a defender), Garland, Bode and Weetra.

I think the whole team should go back to basics. If the gameplan is so hard for players to learn and execute then they need to simplify it.

If Davey's injury is long term, bring in Aussie I say.

There are some players that you only need to see for a few minutes to know that they don't have "it". Garland is one of them. He and Petterd debuted on the same day. Petterd showed skill, poise, football smarts and courage. Garland looked unco.

Sorry, but Weetra, Bode and especially Garland are not part of the future.

McLean was good when he wasn't the main man in Melbourne's midfield.

I 100% agree. When I see players like Miller, Garland, Weetra, Morton (still very raw) and even Wheatley I don't get all that excited.

If Moloney was so bad against the Hawks that he had then be dropped then I'd love to know what the rest of the team did so well.

Plenty of room for Brock to do burnouts too...

I was thoroughly unimpressed with him against the Hawks.

Personally I'd prefer to see the likes of Robertson, Bruce, Green and Miller dropped for their lack of second and even first efforts.

If you're going to abuse the guy at least show some wit and call him a "Craig Smoker".

I'm not upset about Rivers because I'm fairly sure they are just taking their time with him.

The fact is he still has shown a lot more than Garland and Weetra.

I hope this isn't a sick joke. Petterd and Moloney dropped?

Phuket, I'm also going to pledge $20 to the 150 Club. Anyone else want to do anything extra, besides their memberships etc?

I am going to pledge $20.

That's the attitude... Don't bother actually reading the whole post next time where it says: I realise that most people who write on this forum are already giving up more than their fair share, while it is those supporters who do next to nothing that are the problem. I give up.

So what are you going to do about it?

My point is, in these "dark times" (media driven or otherwise) what little bit extra are you going to do? It could be as small as giving $5 to the 150 Club or going to one extra game for the year. In the scheme of things it might not be a lot, but as individuals each little bit extra we give/do does help, no matter how futile it may seem.