Melbourne, underrated and coming fast...

[Hannabal]

The North game will tell us a fair bit.

For me, the most pleasing aspect of our season thus far is our accountability and defence. In all my time following Melb (1970's) we've generally had a very poor defence. There have been a couple of exceptions, such as 1994 and 2000, but even then I wouldn't have classified them as A grade.

Right now we've conceded the 4th least points against. It's early in the season, but if we can keep making it hard for the opposition to score we'll continue to play competitive football. We've conceded 52 goals, which sits just behind the 3 leaders - 44, 50, and 51.

By comparison, Essendon have conceded 79 goals, but Knights thinks their greater problem is their inability to spot up targets in the forward line and score. I hope he retains his position at Essendon.

 

[Brock Machine]

It looks fantastic but it does expose yourself to a lot of risk if the opposition can put pressure on and cause turnovers in the middle.

Great call, Hawks pressed right up on us in round 1 and we couldn't handle it.

North are a massive test this week, think we will be the hunted.

 

[omit]

I'll be happy if we don't finnish in the bottom 2

 

[NAUGHT5]

Agreed, great start to the year for the Dees.

Cant see them making the 8, but i couldnt see them being 3-2 after 5 rounds.

Still have Watts, Morton and Jurrah in the wings. Probably 3 of their top 7 players going forward.

Ricky Petterd has amazed me. Never stood out, obviously tough playing in a rubbish side. But he has been sensational.

There top players in Green, McDonald, Sylvia, Davey etc are a bit older and really leading the way well.

Must annoy Richmond fans.

 

[thedifference]

They are great to watch, they are great at opening the game up, running kicking and their forward line structure utilises every one which is great to watch. They are doing this with many good players out like Jurrah, Watts, Wonaeamirri, Tapscott and Gawn.

How can u call Watts Tapscott and Gawn good players??? 2 of them havent played and the other has hardly got a kick yet. They all might be good in the future but to say that melbourne is winning games without them is strange IMO

 

[}>-DEMON-<{]

North (60-40 win)
Dogs (will lose)
Eagles at MCG (win)
Port in Darwin (65-35 win)

Should be sitting on 6-3 inc. a 1 point dubious loss... however the rest of the fixture is harder, I think we'll end up on 10 or 11 wins, so 9th or 10th on the ladder, which I think everyone MFC supporter would have taken with glee at the start of the season.

I'm not looking any further than that

 

[}>-DEMON-<{]

How can u call Watts Tapscott and Gawn good players??? 2 of them havent played and the other has hardly got a kick yet. They all might be good in the future but to say that melbourne is winning games without them is strange IMO

I think what he meant is there is a good chance they will become good players over the upcoming years.. add gysberts, blease and strauss to the group also

 

[FuManchu]

North (60-40 win)
Dogs (will lose)
Eagles at MCG (win)
Port in Darwin (65-35 win)

Should be sitting on 6-3 inc. a 1 point dubious loss... however the rest of the fixture is harder, I think we'll end up on 10 or 11 wins, so 9th or 10th on the ladder, which I think everyone MFC supporter would have taken with glee at the start of the season.

I'm not looking any further than that

I am pretty sure you lost that game against Collingwood. You had your chances to WIN it, but you didnt grasp those. If you are referring to umpiring decisions, then I put it to you that you had 120 mins to negate any poor decisions and in the end, you were 2 goals up, had all the momentum and fluffed a gimme mark in the goal square. YOU LOST that game by not capitalising on all the good work you had done up until the 20 min mark of the last qtr.

In the end, history will show you lost, there wont be any asterisk saying that you should have won. Like some clown on another thread who says melb are really 4-0. If it wasnt so pathetic it would be hilarious.

 

[Demonheart]

How do you accurately rate a team that's been tanking for 2 seasons?? Good grief.

Not sure, having a look at Richmond would be a good start, they've been tanking for years

 

[Demonheart]

I am pretty sure you lost that game against Collingwood. You had your chances to WIN it, but you didnt grasp those. If you are referring to umpiring decisions, then I put it to you that you had 120 mins to negate any poor decisions and in the end, you were 2 goals up, had all the momentum and fluffed a gimme mark in the goal square. YOU LOST that game by not capitalising on all the good work you had done up until the 20 min mark of the last qtr.

In the end, history will show you lost, there wont be any asterisk saying that you should have won. Like some clown on another thread who says melb are really 4-0. If it wasnt so pathetic it would be hilarious.

I agree, the umpires were irrelevant in the final outcome. Melbourne lost the game and the Pies did enough to win, no argument there.

What the game did show though was that we were finally able to compete with a potential top 4 team (and yes, that's where I rate you guys). The 4 points would have been nice but the confidence we got out of that game is far more valuable than 4 points.

Yeah, so some say we were unlucky, but you good also make an argument that we were lucky against Adelaide. Pies were good enough to win, and I'm looking forward to the next game.

 

[Hannabal]

The 4 points would have been nice but the confidence we got out of that game is far more valuable than 4 points.

We may look back at that game as quite a pivotal one.

And who knows, we might not be where we are at the end of round 5 if we'd snuck across the line. The loss may have helped galvonise the group. Sliding doors.

 

[Redeye Rambler]

Whatever they achieve, they will always be tainted as a tanker like St Kilda and Hawthorn.

Some stains just dont wash off.

You could make a case for just about every premiership that they had an unfair advantage - "buying" players, salary cap concessions, the opposition was crap, luck with injuries, too many good draft picks, father-son picks etc......

Unless they cheated, they can't be accused of a "tainted" premiership.

 

[a_fighting_fury]

That is such a moronic statement. Yeah we threw a game or two last year to get the pick Carlton stole from us in 2007 when we were truly crap - so what?

.

It's called TANKING - you are allowed to say it, everyone knows about it.

"so what?" Well, it's illegal and unethical, and YES - you are now in the same rotten cheating league as Carltank. Congratulations!

 

[FuManchu]

I agree, the umpires were irrelevant in the final outcome. Melbourne lost the game and the Pies did enough to win, no argument there.

What the game did show though was that we were finally able to compete with a potential top 4 team (and yes, that's where I rate you guys). The 4 points would have been nice but the confidence we got out of that game is far more valuable than 4 points.

Yeah, so some say we were unlucky, but you good also make an argument that we were lucky against Adelaide. Pies were good enough to win, and I'm looking forward to the next game.

What I will say about Melbourne, is that last years QB game, I saw one aspect of your game we could not counter and that was movement of the ball thru the corridor with incredible pace. I saw it again the other week.

Davey is a joy to watch.

 

[THE D]

It's called TANKING - you are allowed to say it, everyone knows about it.

"so what?" Well, it's illegal and unethical, and YES - you are now in the same rotten cheating league as Carltank. Congratulations!

You idiot. Wallace admitted to tanking with fox sports. You idiot again. Jealous much?
Sometimes you need to stand in a room full of mirrors. Times is one of those time idiot.
Wallace says he didn't tank but just didn't do everything to win? He's an idiot too.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25818093-5018851,00.html

 

[Doctor Jolly]

You could make a case for just about every premiership that they had an unfair advantage - "buying" players, salary cap concessions, the opposition was crap, luck with injuries, too many good draft picks, father-son picks etc......

Unless they cheated, they can't be accused of a "tainted" premiership.

Throwing games is cheating.

 

[eskimo]

The stupid thing with the tanking argument (I'm obviously going to get shot down for this being a Melbourne supporter who's team "tanked") is that you are accusing players of not trying to win. Professional sports people by defination try everything they can to win. Coaches may have player players "out of position" but when you have nothing to get out of winning the game, why would you not try something different and see if it works out at all. One of the moves that I have heard questioned was Stefan Martin being put at full forward for a game. He played most of his games as a backman, but it was clear to see from the previous 3 years, and having Neitz retire, and Robbo injured, Melbourne really lacked forward options. So they tried something different in a game we "tanked" in, and since then Martin has played forward, or in the ruck, in every game he has played.


If you have nothing to gain from a win, you might as well try something new. What would Melbourne have gained from winning an extra game or two last year? Absolutely nothing. So they tried a few players in other positions, some worked, some didn't, but it was a worthwhile experiment.

You also forget, we were in front of Richmond when the final siren blew. It's not our fault the only thing Jordan McMahon has ever done in his career resulted in us getting a second pick at the top of the draft!

 

[bing181]

If you have nothing to gain from a win, you might as well try something new. What would Melbourne have gained from winning an extra game or two last year? Absolutely nothing.

Agree 100%. But the only game I saw where the coaches took their foot off the pedal was the last one, against St Kilda. All these people talking about "bringing shame to the club" and "tarnishing the heritage" etc. etc. Look at the support and presence around the club this year of people like Barass, Brian Dixon, Flower ... not to even start on Stynes. They're proud and pleased with developments - as they should be.

It's about creating the kind of team and culture that will win and go on winning for many years. And if we had to be ruthless, cynical and manipulative to get there, that's fine with me, especially as they're qualities that have been lacking at the MFC for many years.

Still, don't think we'll make the 8 this year, but enjoying the ride all the same.

 

[PIES 4 LIFE]

The stupid thing with the tanking argument (I'm obviously going to get shot down for this being a Melbourne supporter who's team "tanked") is that you are accusing players of not trying to win. Professional sports people by defination try everything they can to win. Coaches may have player players "out of position" but when you have nothing to get out of winning the game, why would you not try something different and see if it works out at all. One of the moves that I have heard questioned was Stefan Martin being put at full forward for a game. He played most of his games as a backman, but it was clear to see from the previous 3 years, and having Neitz retire, and Robbo injured, Melbourne really lacked forward options. So they tried something different in a game we "tanked" in, and since then Martin has played forward, or in the ruck, in every game he has played.


If you have nothing to gain from a win, you might as well try something new. What would Melbourne have gained from winning an extra game or two last year? Absolutely nothing. So they tried a few players in other positions, some worked, some didn't, but it was a worthwhile experiment.

You also forget, we were in front of Richmond when the final siren blew. It's not our fault the only thing Jordan McMahon has ever done in his career resulted in us getting a second pick at the top of the draft!

I agree with you eskimo, just because a team does something questionable like play a few players in different positions, its labelled as tanking, Carlton were the real tankers, Melbourne have been poor for years and are starting to reap the benefits of time at the bottom.

Good on the Dees, forget what all the others may say, you in your hearts know it wasn't the same as what Carltank did.

 

[Doctor Jolly]

Agree 100%. But the only game I saw where the coaches took their foot off the pedal was the last one, against St Kilda. All these people talking about "bringing shame to the club" and "tarnishing the heritage" etc. etc. Look at the support and presence around the club this year of people like Barass, Brian Dixon, Flower ... not to even start on Stynes. They're proud and pleased with developments - as they should be.

It's about creating the kind of team and culture that will win and go on winning for many years. And if we had to be ruthless, cynical and manipulative to get there, that's fine with me, especially as they're qualities that have been lacking at the MFC for many years.

Still, don't think we'll make the 8 this year, but enjoying the ride all the same.

The ends never justify the means

 

[On the bench]

Throwing games is cheating.

Now Dr Jolly & all those other supporters of clubs out there!
Can you ask yourself this question & please give an honest answer!
If your club was in Melbournes position of last season where you had the chance to secure the first two draft picks (knowing that the draft is compromised for the next few years) would you want your club to win an extra couple of meaningless games & miss out on potentially a player who is more than likely going to be a 200 game future star of your club?

 

[bing181]

The ends never justify the means

I'd be interested to know what it was that Melbourne did that was a) outside the rules and b) deliberate. Which games could we have won that we didn't ... St Kilda?

Try this: A few years back, Adelaide (I think it was) realised that they were on track for a serious tilt at a premiership. So mid-year, they put the players through a couple of weeks of extra training, to bring them to a peak during the finals. But in the short term, it left them sluggish, and they lost a game or two.

Same story. Long-term planning vs short-term (and short-lived) gains.

 

[demoniac]

The ends never justify the means

Matt Maguire says hello.

 

[}>-DEMON-<{]

It's called TANKING - you are allowed to say it, everyone knows about it.

"so what?" Well, it's illegal and unethical, and YES - you are now in the same rotten cheating league as Carltank. Congratulations!

someone's a touch jealous that we were able to pull ourselves off the bottom after 3 bad years, a feat which your mob still hasn't managed in 3 decades. Plenty more pain for you while we're winning flags too. If there's a comeback for that I'd love to hear it.

 

[fuego]

Massive test against North. Our first game away from the G this year. "Were just taking it one week at a time" as a couple of the players have been cluttering out this old cliche this week

Can you tell me why the game against North will be such a big test, aside from it not being played at the G? we will probabley field a younger side than yours and with less game time.
Wayne Cary, John Longmire and Cory Mckernan, have long gone.