Official Round 1 Melbourne Game day thread

[swansrule100]

i agree rogueswan ted was very good yesterday. Perhaps seaby could just of played ahead of white? him and mumford would offer more up forward resting than white offered yesterday.

Bird would of been a good sub

[ugg]

The AFL highlights video for the game says Mumford was reported for a hit on Sylvia but there is no mention in the official report?

He'll be fine, it wasn't high, just a tad late. Melbourne received the free down the ground.

[Doctor]

Some thoughts from moi. I had an interesting perspective on the match as I watched the first half live but had to go out so saw the second half knowing the result.

-The third quarter killed us. I know Melbourne missed some chances but we missed ours first. Had we put the match out of sight the Demons' misses would never have been an issue. Having said that, we ended up doing well to get the draw. There were plenty of makeable ones but Goodes' miss on the siren and ROK failing to spot Jack standing in the corridor unmarked were the two biggest ones IMO. He probably should have kicked the late one too. It was a snap but he had enough time and it was on his preferred side.
- Umpiring was pretty fair to both sides although the dreadful free against McGlynn that lead to Jurrah's goal was head-scratching. We were also hurt by the new advantage rule when we played on and blew it. I think that happened to Melbourne once though too.
- Vidic was excellent.
- Grundy got to the ball and contested well but made a lot of mistakes once he had it
- McGlynn was great.
- Kicking accuracy from set shots is all that's keeping Goodesy from becoming an elite centre half-forward
- Sumner looked nervous but showed a bit, as did Rohan
- We need to rethink who we select as a sub and how we use them. Jamar is finally living up to the hype and playing two specialist ruckmen against him would have been the way to go IMO.
- Reid looks like he could be anything
- I thought Shaw did a good job on Davey. Smith was quietly efficient as always
- Our disposal, especially by foot, was sloppier than it has been for a while. I hope this is just round 1 rustiness

[johnno]

Was there on level 2 of the Great southern stand yesterday and these are my thoughts:

I thought Mumford was beaten, but then Jamar is a quality ruckman
ROK was easily our best player
Teddy was superb
Reid is a keeper, great hands
Goodes was class
Bolton did well
McGlynn did well
Jack, Kennedy, Hanneberry and McVeigh could/should of done better
Rohan and Jetta were servicable
Summner didnt play well
Smith and Everitt were both very good.
Bevan did some good things and some bad things
Grundy had a shocker
Mattner was solid
White....I just dont know about this boy, his got size, strength, speed, athletisism....he just has to realize how to use it.
Shaw played as a tagger and I guess he did his job
Seaby did ok when he came on

[Bas]

Last year, Collingwood drew with Melbourne and went on to win the premiership.
Clearly, we are following the same path.

That makes sense to me.

MMM (Dunstall??????) described Moore as the "Pocket Rocket" and was talking if he was playing. Then another clown went on how TDL was going to be a danger to the demons.

They get paid to do this? I can't wait to hear them call the first Gold Coast game. They only know about 4 players in the team.

[Hartijon]

Did anyone else think that Bevan was a good option as a small forward. He presented well,nailed one then missed one but no clangers in the forward line! Not the same story in the backline where he was very good(Goal keeper spoil) and very bad(Handpass to no-one and bad scragging tackle at critical time). I like him up front and his 3 goals against Carlton in the final last year should have given him that role.

Goodes is great but not a reliable kick. TDL would have had 1/2 as many chances but probably kicked the same score.We should not have lost that game but in the end I was willing to take a draw.

[Nico]

what can you say ... first points in round 1 since 05. Also was the statistic that we'd only won 1 game out of the past 11 games at MCG? Also, I honestly think we looked the more likely team most of the game. I think the Dees would have beaten most teams yesterday. No excuses, we should have won the game, but I don't think we should carry on too much because the overall season perspective looks ok and we did nearly steal it back yesterday when I thought we were gone.

And Melbourne clearly plays their best footy at the "G".

[Nico]

Know what boys and girls? Our first game in yonks without Kirky steering the ship out of the centre, and it showed.

Direction in the midfield was not working, and I am sure they will isolate this problem. Also Jude spent a lot of time up forward, and not getting his head knocked off in and under as usual. Its been many years since this combo has not been prevelent.

We had a changing of the guard, and its a bit messy at present, but not throat cutting. But it showed.

Also I made a comment earlier that Gary Rohan played like a chook. I do not remember actually writing this. I apologise to Red, and shall put the white away. Me bad.

Yeh, but our centre clearance work was much better. Maybe our positioning of our mids during general play was down was the problem. I reckon Hanners, Kennedy and Jack were heavily tagged which didn't help.

[Nico]

Just back in the door in Sydney after attending the game. Firstly let me say that the MCG is totally awesome! What a glorious day for footy.
Our first half was very good. We got plenty of ball and our forward line was functioning really well. Goodes outstanding.
Dees did well to hold Jack, Kennedy and Hannebery who all struggled to impose themselves on the game.
Mumford look tired and if clearances are so important I think we should play two ruckman and one of those is not Jessie White.
Bevo had his usual - did some great things did some crap things. Unfortunately the crap things all seem to happen in our D50.
Ted is playing with real confidence and was good in defence. Reg wasn't his usual self.
Mattner was superb and saved our bacon several times.
Thought generally everyone on both sides (except for the Jettas) looked sluggish - was quite warm so maybe that influenced the game.
Did Shaw injure knee/leg?
Liked our forward line with Reid in it but he can't carry FF so not sure what we are going to do there.

Disagree on Reid Knickers. I say leave him there. Reads the play well and surprise, surprise plays in front not like Jessie White who seems to think 20 metres behind your man is acceptable.

[Nico]

Liz,

I think you hit the nail on the head re Malceski/Kennelly. We seemed to have run from too far back whereas these 2 make space further up the ground. I thought Rohan was used a bit sparingly. I would try him on the wing on the big grounds to run to space and take off.

[Nico]

I have read a few posts bagging Horse for having Seaby as the Sub and not a runner. If they had gone with Seaby from the start then they wouldn't have had to worry about when to bring him off.
In the third quarter when Mumford was looking tired it was too late to think about replacing him. Seaby and Mummy should have both rotating for the whole match. Jamar is a very good ruckman and his offsider also good.
We got flogged in the centre clearances and having two ruck-man would have given Horse more options.
Rohan should have been the sub IMO.
I would also like to say that I though Teddy had a good game on one of the most impressive/skillful forwards going around and Bevo did what he was supposed to except for not kicking a set shot goal, he is normally a shoe-in for those six points.

I agree on your Seaby point. If Mumford tries to do that week in week out he will break down again. Maybe they will rotate Seaby and Pyke through the 2's during the season to keep them fit. Still all coaches are learning as they go with this sub rule.

[Mountain Man]

I have said this a couple of times, but I think the lack of practice matches with the PLAN A forward set up, showed, when the players got tired and rushed late in the game.

The mid field need to get used to seeing which the 3 talls, and a couple of crumbers are available - after 1/2 time the delivery was pretty ordinary.

[caj23]

Really disappointing result, we should have iced that match in the 3rd quarter. Anyone who is satisfied with the result doesn't care about winning a premiership because we can't win it with performances like that

Longmire's debut was underwhelming to say the least, same old style and problems as last few years, get a small lead and try and sit on it.

The use of Seaby as a sub was inexplicably stupid, you either play the 2 ruckman and double team Jamar to try and run him into the ground, or use White and add another small/mid to give some extra run to the team. Longmire's strategy (and I use the term loosely) did neither. Jamar was the best big man on the ground by a long shot and the Dees ran us of our feet in the final term. If Bird wasn't fit to play a full game then surely he would of been the perfect player to come on in the last term and make an impact ala Pettard

And why wasn't Goodes given a run through the midfield in the last quarter when he was being well held by Garland? Surely adding another player to the midfield rotations is going to reduce fatigue for the onballers!!!!

I hope it's totally unfounded but I'm concerned with the start from a bloke who has had 9 years to learn the caper in the coaches box

[robamiee]

i thought we were the better team and 2 of those behinds in the 3rd qtr converted into goals would have taken the sails out of them.
We looked sluggish and not clean of hands in the 4th esp Reg...certainly hope thats his bad game of the year..
Teddy was awesome on Jarruh..Kennedy quiet, Jack got himself back into the game in the 3rd...
Not overley concerned as was first game of the year and hopefully we will get clean hands as the season progresses as too many times we outnumbered them yet they managed to disrupt our play.

Agree ith most Seabes and Mummy need to be rotating all day even if it is out of full forward....Rohan could be a good sub...Sumner looked nervous early on....
Like Reid he looks good. solid hands...

The only thing i thought should have done in the 4th was put Goodes in the midfield for 5-10 minutes just to make the demons midfielders react a bit......

[kangle4]

Just wanted to give a mention to Ted Richards aswell becuase I thought he played pretty well on Jurrah who has the ability to turn a game pretty quickly without having to get much of the ball and I reckon a lot of people would have been a bit worried when they saw him lineup on Jurrah.