Dees2014

Bulldog circa 2016. Believe!

Try: FB: Jetta. T McDonald. Vince HB Hunt O McDonald Salem CC Viney Jones. Brayshaw. HF Harmes. Watts Petracca FF Garlett Weideman Smith FOLL Spencer Oliver Tyson INTER: Meltsham. Stretch Kent. Frost IN Spencer. Frost Brayshaw OUT: Gawn. Neale-Bullen. Hannah still not a bad side I think

I know bad kicking is bad football, but I think we should remember we were creaming the Cats before Max went down and it was only our bad kicking which prevented us from posting an unassailable score. Even after that when Watts was fresh we were still well in the game. Bad kicking has not generally been a problem for us and hopefully this was just an abberation. I don't think our form at the moment is at all bad, and we should turn at the bye well and truly in the eight, but we would not want too many more injuries to key players. One thing we can say is the competition appears to be turning itself on its head. It seems very few teams are powerhouses with the possible exception of Adelaide. Ones we thought would be powerful this year (Dogs, Hawks, Sydney, Eagles, Port, Dons) appear to have gone back to the pack. I think our form is better than all those. It is there for us if we chose to take it.

I would hope that when Max returns, we will accept the need to play both Gawn and Spencer at the same time. Imagine how we would view ourselves if what happened on Saturday, happened in the grand final? However good Max is - and he clearly is very very good, he will inevitably eventually get exhausted as the season goes on, and therefore become much less effective if he remains our single ruck option when he returns. I simply don't buy the argument that Spencer is not a forward therefore we should not play him. Gawn potentially could be our Paul Salmon, particularly if he puts more time into improving his forward skills, and could become a very powerful high marking forward, as well as great ruckman. I favour have max play ruck and forward, and Spencer ruck and bench. This means Spencer will ruck 60+ % of the time. It is not as though we are talking about a second rater with Spencer - he actually has played some very good games for us as first ruck. Still I guess over the next month or so he has the opportunity to prove his worth, and we could end up with both big ruckmen playing in the same side, which IMHO will greatly add potency to our side. In the long term this may prove a blessing in disguise, although I admit one hard to take.

Well you would hope we would do it with some intelligence, just the same as normal ruckwork. The variability is what should catch the opposition offside. The point is, if Geelong changes the ruck role, we certainly have options, many to our advantages. If you listen to much of the media they imply we would be cornered by it. We are not, and will not be.

If Geeling try that trick of not competing in the ruck this week then there is an easy solution - have Max thump the ball 40 meters down field and set our runners up for such an eventuality. After we kick three or four goals from their smartarse stupidity, they will soon change back, when Max can go back to dominating them. I hope Max is practising it! As well as our runners.

Brayshaw for Kent in my book.

This is definitely a "two edged sword". Yes, we will see fantastic improvement over the next year or so as we mould a flag winning team; yes we will lose a few we should Win along the way; and unfortunately yes we will tail off badly towards the end of the season as the young guns run out of puff. To avoid this I hope the club test our depth on an ongoing basis, and are prepared to rest the young ones periodically to allow them to freshen up, which means they don't play at Casey either. I think Brayshaw this week might be a good example, though with him it looks like being out of form so a stint in the twos might make sense (unless of course it is concussion related). Further as we get deeper into winter we should play a few older players like Pederson/Spencer/Hibberd/Trengove/Frost to rotate the roster to make sure the young stars are fresh for the home stretch and to make sure we have ready and rar'in replacements to cater for the inevitable injuries, suspensions, and loss of form. In a way it is a nice position to be in, certainly one we have seen for ten years or more.

Spencer and Gawn in the same side worked brilliantly against Geelong two seasons ago. Why not now, particularly in these circumstances. Max has also improved his marking considerably since then. I think it might be a handful for the Cats.

He is quicker than Williams which I admit is not saying much, and overall will be a cut above him in the future. He will be one for the ages I have no doubt. Our mid field in two or three years time will be unstoppable.

Yes, and hitting targets consistently is not his greatest strength. Frustratingly so actually. Having said that though he does provide invaluable on field leadership for such a young group, and I suspect has been very influential in the last two games in getting us across the lines, when in past years we may not have. it will be interesting to see how his role evolves over the next three years as our young guns mature...

The AFL stepped in to resuscitate the club after the Nield debacle because they could not allow the founding club in the AFL to fail. It necessitated certain support. First of all to get the management right, and to do this to attract the likes of Jackson, and eventually Roos required certain guarantees from them. Most of what then followed was initiated by Jackson. The MFC did after all have certain strengths: home ground at the MCG; a wealthy but largely untapped supporter base; and a high proportion of MCC members (still over 20%). The deal with the MCC was largely based around getting Melbourne supporting MCC members to sign up as MFC Associate members, and to get the MCC to adequately compensate the club no matter what the crowd, currently the guaranteed amount is I think $100,000 but obviously a lot more when we get very big crowds at home games like Richmond and the Woods. These arrangements were largely driven by Jackson. In other words the AFL set the environment by getting the right people, but largely then let them get on with it. We all should be immensely grateful that we were able to attract people of the calibre of Jackson and Roos, but the AFL set the scene, they made it happen, which is after all their primary role as good managers of the competition. We are by no means the first for this to happen and won't be the last. Neither should we be. it may even happen at Carlton, but somehow I doubt it: they are still as arrogant as ever and don't want anyone's help. If they continue to fail though, the AFL will step in. Their profile after all is very similar to ours, and the AFL will not let them fail completely.

Based on the first half, we would beat both of them comfortably. Very sub standard - mid list at best!

I'm surprised that you are surprised. Carlton have been blaming everyone else but themselves for almost 20 years. Who can forget John Elliott's infamous comments post the 2000 semifinal that eventually put us into the Gannie. I think his words were something to the effect that "melbourne are a nothing club and for the AFL to allow them to progress deep into the finals will be the death of the competition". They are arrogant, fat - and ultimately supremely unsuccessful. That quote by the way should be replayed to our players before every time we play them. It just illustrates what wankers they are.

Did you watch the same game?? Bernie was fantastic, as he almost always is. Good thing you have no influence in the MFC decision making, and simply winge for no reason from the sidelines. we are on the right path!

What a lot of nonsense. Omac was not the best defender, but he did a serviceable job. He is also still learning as his brother did. We will have a star in the future, but he does enough to close down key position forwards now and that is to our great advantage. our coaches know what they are doing....

Nonsense. Have a look at the replay...

Jetta - impressive and hard T.McDonald - A defensive rock Smith - Unfortunate his injury Melksham - Still not convinced O.McDonald - Unnecessary sloppy patches Hunt - An excitement machine Salem - a bit under-done Stretch - Reliable and skilful Jones - Our best player Lewis - valuable but erratic Oliver - A magnificent brute Gawn - Will be unstoppable Vince - one to remember Petracca - a premiership pivot Hogan - Game's best forward Weideman - Will be superb Neal- Bullen - A bit player Hannan - this year's surprise-packet Viney - not at best Brayshaw - Still very promising Garlett - Best to come Watts - An important player

This was just outstanding football. One of the many things I like about this is it seems the women's team is playing a similar style of play that the Demon men aspire to, and do it brilliantly. We have picked up some really classy footballers, and the improvement both in individual skill levels and team play over the six week season has been amazing. Women's football is really good to watch, something I don't think could have really been said six weeks ago. i have no doubt that if by chance we do scape into the Grannie next week, we would have an excellent chance of winning. Many pundits really do seem to believe we are the best team out there. The question is though how long can we keep it together. As I understand it, most of these women are only signed on for two seasons, which means all of them are open to offers from other clubs starting next year. MFCW will come out of this season the most watched of all the teams, much admired for their skill, and hopefully the most succcessful. You can imagine all the other teams drawing up their targets for the end of next year already, with most of our best players near the top of the list including the many surprise packets on our list. it may turn out to be a very very short dynasty!

These arguments and mock outrage are pretty meaningless at this stage. We are just over a week away from the results of the first game. We will all know soon enough....

I have thought for along time that the Casey deal does nothing to maximise our competitive position. Although we have made great progress in the last year or so in getting both the AFL men's side and the VFL side to play similar styles of football ( believe it or not it is only a matter of two or three years ago when the Casey coach used to knock the senior side's style of play at quarter and three quarter time), our actual results there for both men and women are frankly abysmal. This does not matter when we assentially play practise mstches there, but now that we play first grade women's matches there, and this week we are literally playing for the chance to progress to a premiership match with the girls, it is time to ask whether we should ever play competitive football there. Frankly I think we would be much better off to play at Gosches Paddock than at Casey (or even at the Junction Oval if it comes to that). We would get a better crowd and we would probably win! Something that is unlikely at Casey....

As much as I hate to admit it, the performance tonight was no better than 2015. Our preseason optimism has no basis. Prepare for Tigers mark 2

As much as

Yes interesting that. All seem to recognise a young emerging and extremely talented list (GWS), but not the Dees. A list I reckon is just as talented as GWS. I like it though these guys continue to underestimate us: a great advantage IMHO.

I think this really misreads Goodwin. He has clearly decided to put down standards, and if they are not met to his satisfaction, then you don't play. What a change this is! We as supporters would all agree that Jack Watts has not lived up to his number one draft billing, but we have seen signs of his sublime skills. The only conclusion is these inconsistencies are a result of attitude. Goodwin is now in the wonderful position to be able to insist on performance, just the same as Luke Beaveridge did in his early days at the dogs with several of his previous all Australian players. And look how that turned out? Mark my words this will be our making: JW will be a brute when he comes back as he realises that he is now not indispensable. And we can only be the better for it. We are in good hands...