btdemon

I agree

He's a real "junkyard dog" too. Just hunts the ball. Jack Watts should watch the way he does it.

How Morton got a game over Petterd I'll never know. At one point he got the ball on the flank, Trengove was clear on his outside and calling for it, but he chose to turn inboard, fluffed it, turnover, and then Brisbane swept it away for a goal. This was at a critical stage in the last quarter when we could have finished them but instead it gave them a big sniff. I was furious. It reminded me so much of Bruce and his selfish shots on goal which wasted team opportunities. Let him find some touch at Casey. We were crying out for some of Petterd's creativity up forward today. LJ ouldn't do it all alone.

And they say that sarcasm is hard to spot when written in a text or blog post.

I can't agree with you. Apart from Jurrah, Petterd is our most potent forward at the moment. He works extremely hard in to keep the ball alive in the forward 50 once the ball is on the ground. He is also the best contested mark and along with Jurrah, the hardest to match up. Morton, in my opinion, is about as effective as Bruce. He is a good, free running link player with iffy disposal. Replacing Petterd with an underdone Morton (if that's what they've done), is crazy

He is also courageous and relentless. Forwards would hate playing on him.

ATM 1. Jurrah 2. Jamar 3. Frawley 4. Davey 5. Green 6. Sylvia. 7. Grimes 8. Petterd 9. Scully 10. Rivers

I would remind posters that Geelong's approach throughout the second half of the decade was to focus on "getting the processes right". This has become an awful cliche in modern footy but does point to the fact that recently successful teams, including Geelong, St.Kilda and Collingwood are very deliberate and methodical in the way they build their foundation. "Winning quarters", "getting structures right", "getting KPIs trending upwards" and all that stuff, seem to be the emphasis. As much as it may be annoying to hear this stuff when the team has lost, it doesn't worry us when they win, in fact it reassures us that the FD are in control and heading in the right direction. Bailey is a very cool operator. he seems in control 100% of the time. This is a good thing. If the team performance and game day tactics don't come up to expectations this year then I'll review my opinion.

As far as the top 50 is concerned, its not too difficult to project two years hence and realistically expect to see Davey, Frawley, Grimes, Scully, Trengove, Jurrah, maybe Petterd, .........and who knows, maybe Watts, Tapscott and others in the next couple after that. While I don't take much stock in Mike Sheahan's opinion, if we have those players demanding attention then it will indicate a level of team success.

Just because he's journo and supposedly has a soft spot for the Dees doesn't mean that he knows anything about footy. Most people who post on these sites (including me) have an unhealthy interest in everything about the Dees and spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about it (I need another life. Need to get out more). This also means that we are much more aware of the value of various Melbourne players than journos are. I am usually very underwhelmed by Mike Sheahan's insights.

Check injury list.

In a nutshell Nutbean. Spot on. Its like when deputy leaders are asked if they rule out challenging for the top job. Its what you don't say that's important.

Three or four years into his career he made a marked effort to add this to his game. It didn't always come naturally and only towards the end I think he began to slacken off and revert to his 'natural' game.

I don't know about anyone else but this really bugs me. I loved Robbo as a player but think that he sometimes put his own glory before the team. In his early days he was only interested in the speccy and goals. He then matured matured and put real effort into chasing and tackling and became a really good footballer. That's what makes this so disappointing. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/have-a-look-at-mick-malthouse/story-e6frf9jf-1226016759670 I may be wrong but this smacks of the churlishness of someone who was told by bailey that his time was up. I watched a replay of his last game recently and I agree with Bailey. This sort of thing is dog whistling and only seeks to destablise.

Aussie is quicker as well

Spot on! I do think Howe showed something special and can imagine him getting the odd game later this year. Cook also. Best game I have seen Jetta play. Still not convinced about Maric. So good to see Petterd back.

FFS!

Check out Mike Sheahan back-pedalling as hard as he can on the Herald-Sun website with Jon Anderson. A poster on here said they heard him say unequivocally at a golf tournament in front of a large group of people that Scully had already signed with GWS and that it was a done deal. I don't doubt that Mike did say this, I just think that maybe Mike was claiming to have knowledge when it was really only a journalist's whisper. He probably believed it himself but it just goes to show that during a time of such speculation that things reported as FACT 'aint necessarily so'. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/i-havent-spoken-to-gws-melbourne-star-tom-scully/story-e6frf9jf-1226015805893

It would be unwise of Scully to categorically commit to the Dees at this stage unless they were to offer a fantastic contract. His currency will build over the year. Think about it. He would be playing the biggest Joker in his pack. He's probably done the right thing for himself. This doesn't mean that he does't want to play for the Dees.

Mike's question at the presser seemed a little strange. Journos often latch on to supposed facts. We've all been guilty of talking about hearsay comments as if they are facts. He and Eddie may look silly in the end. I hope so. Scully's answers did seem scripted but hopefully they are genuine. We are going to have be satisfied with this statement until the contract is finalised. The story won't go away but the boy is so mature and focused he should be able to play good footy this year.

Petterd along with Green were easily the most potent forwards before Jurrah returned last year. In no way is it a 'crunch' year for him unless he just goes backwards. Aussie is one of the best users of the ball in our forward line and also one of the few who provides genuine forward pressure. I'd take him before Maric any day. Dunne proved very useful last year and we would expect further improvement. We need Jones around the stoppages and he showed real improvement in his kicking last year. Warnock and Martin are the ones in the gun. I think Martin may yet be a useful player but Warnock's limitations are fairly obvious. Tommy Mac also. I suspect Jetta is one of those that coaches love because he is such a goer. If he continues to improve he should be OK. I don't know what to think about Bate. He just confuses me. A strange style of player. Feet anchored to the ground. Seemingly slow but deceptively quick when the goals are open. No overhead skills. An ugly but efective kick. The fact is, when we are up and going, he is usually there. I give up.

I hate it too and I wouldn't want Scully to go in three years. But, If I was Scully, driven by a desire to be the best footballer I could be and about to make a decision that gave me a great football career and financial security, I think it would be a wise choice, and still leaves the option of staying on at Melbourne beyond that time with a very healthy contract, or hawking yourself around to the highest bidder. Hopefully he would choose to stay, but if not, at least we would get another few years from him.

In relation to Jimmy's dealings with Tom Scully I suspect that while Jim will desperately want him to stay for the sake of the club, he would also be saying "do what is best for you". Jimmy's work with young people is all about kids reaching their potential and giving them the power to make good choices. I don't know Jimmy personally but have seen him work with kids and it seems that his connection with individuals is very important. I can't imagine him attempting to coerce Scully with pressure or blackmail. Hopefully an honourable approach from a very sincere man on behalf of a club with a great history and an exciting future will be enough. As an afterthought. Wouldn't it be a good idea for a young man with Scully's talent, to play on with the Dees for two or three more years (probably on a very healthy contract that Melbourne will offer), in the epicentre of the AFL, experience some success, build his reputation as a footballer and his currency as a football commodity, and then seek the big bikkies. Like Judd did. That way, he will still be a very rich young man but have a great playing experience to go with it.

Any criticism of us tanking is irrelevant to this situation. We tanked because we had to. It was the best thing for the club's survival and the obvious thing to do. Under the AFL's drafting rules we deserved the picks we got.

I read the Healy article and it was very interesting. I would seem we had real difficulty extricating ourselves out of the Essendon zone last Thursday. We often took the wrong option or were too slow to execute the right option. The long bomb to the centre was often the most effective tactic to break the zone but can't be used all the time or teams will "structure up" to counter it. I also think that our 'switching' was as bad as I had seen for a long time. This may indicate that the back-line players with the ball didn't have the confidence to pierce Essendon's zones with their kicking precision. I don't think we'll play as badly again but it certainly points to some chinks in our armour. Etihad is smaller and gives much less room for error. We need to have a tactic for playing this and other more confined grounds. Last year our defence looked good most of the time. Frawley's confident running through the lines is probably one reason as it immediately broke the zone and enabled us to transfer to the corridor. The other positive from last year is that our defence was very hard to score against. This was often commented on during telecasts. Even Collingwood's 'forward pressure' didn't worry us too much. We have a defence with fantastic desperation and great anticipation. Under most circumstances at the MCG they made good decisions and executed them reasonably well. Garland had a shocker with disposal the other night. He is not normally too bad. While Strauss's kicking is superb, he doesn't have the desperation and defensive judgement of the others. Neither does Bennell. He has the speed and class in picking up the ball, and is a great mark for his size but I would rather see him on the wing for the time being. Warnock will be back at Casey as soon as Frawley is ready, but we are lucky that we kept him as a stop gap. It was the tremendous pressure applied by the Essendon forwards and mids and the constant supply from the midfield that made our defence look silly. Scully and McKenzie were sorely missed. The thing that worried me the most, was our lack of forward pressure. It was better last year but nothing seemed to click against the bombers. Petterd's return we help. He is fantastic at keeping the ball alive in our fifty. I see this as one of his great strengths. Watts needs to lay the occasional tackle that sticks. His zonal pressure is OK but most of the time it's ineffective. Jurrah likewise. According to Petterd's account of training the other day following the loss, they spent some time reviewing the tapes. I hope they come up with something.