Malthouse's message...

[Paddywhackers]

Dear Pat,

Going up against Brisbane, we knew that with Luke Power having his 250th, and Jonathan Brown and Brendan Fevola coming under media scrutiny, they were going to be a difficult side to win against.

We all know the calibre of Brown and the coach, Michael Voss, who have both demonstrated in the past how they fight back, and they also had home ground advantage.

I must say, we had a tactic to restrict them early, and that didn't happen. We didn't close them down at all, and under those circumstances, the longer the game went, the more they were able to punish us in terms of possession rate and stoppages.

As a consequence your backline can only hold up for so long, and as it turned out their two big forwards kicked enough goals to get them over the line.

The last two weeks we've conceded well over 400 possessions in each game against Geelong and Brisbane, which is a concern. We're just not getting enough of the football ourselves, and we're giving the opposition too much football, so we need to address those issues.

We're not going to go silly at the selection table, I think that's just a knee-jerk reaction.

Given the calibre of sides we've played in the last two weeks, I thought we were highly competitive against Geelong, and they needed to play well, which they did, and I thought Brisbane had to play very well to beat us, and they did.

We've got to be better, perhaps, at holding sides, and getting a bit more of the football ourselves, but more importantly, not letting the opposition get as much as they've been getting, which puts massive pressure on different lines throughout the game.

If we don't win it, forwards don't get it, if they do, as often as they have been, it puts massive pressure on our backline.

We now focus on the Western Bulldogs. They are a very good football side. I would suspect both sides will be reasonably desperate.

 

[Paddywhackers]

Thanks Mick, I always appreciate that you send me this letter personally. I agree on many points, but why the **** did you play O'Bree and not Barham who is always in the bests in the VFL? Could you please play him next week. And lets be honest, get rid of Anthony next week, he was terrible, Thanks, Pat.

 

[TradeDraft]

Hey Mick if it's not Working - Try something F**king Different.

This pretty much goes with people saying he is Stubborn

 

[HFF]

Very glad to hear Mick will not go silly at the selection table.

We need continuity among the group.

However, judging by many threads on this board screaming for half a dozen plus players to be dropped, many won't be happy with those comments.

Really there should only be one or two changes maximum this week.

I'd keep Jack in the team too. He needs confidence in the firsts. Everytime we send him back to the twos he kicks a bag. It doesn't do anyone any good if we keep sending him back. Let him find his mojo at FF in the seniors and back him to work through it.

 

[Optimax]

Paddy because barham is a poor footballer and not even a forward, Lockyer, dick, rounds etc were better choices as hff replacments

Dave just stop, micks stubborn, your stubborn, I'm stubborn it doesn't matter. Mick could have swapped all our defenders and forwards and we still wouldve lost, why? Our side players were ineffective and beaten, moving them would have made our non excistant structure worse abd exasperated the problem. Of course swearing, carrying on and making outlandish statements os easier then rewatching the game and seeing what happened

 

[bucksisbest]

I'm still pissed off about this loss , it was so pathetic. It was almost grabbing some blokes by the collar worthy.
Malthouse has got to get his ghost rider to be more imaginative with his or her use of adjectives.

 

[TradeDraft]

Dave just stop, micks stubborn, your stubborn, I'm stubborn it doesn't matter. Mick could have swapped all our defenders and forwards and we still wouldve lost, why? Our side players were ineffective and beaten, moving them would have made our non excistant structure worse abd exasperated the problem. Of course swearing, carrying on and making outlandish statements os easier then rewatching the game and seeing what happened

I am not talking about moving players, I am saying go to Man on Man game style. Worked against the Crows in the Semi last year

 

[TradeDraft]

I'm still pissed off about this loss , it was so pathetic. It was almost grabbing some blokes by the collar worthy.
Malthouse has got to get his ghost rider to be more imaginative with his or her use of adjectives.

Then he backs it up with Crap in his letter like this:

I must say, we had a tactic to restrict them early, and that didn't happen. We didn't close them down at all, and under those circumstances, the longer the game went, the more they were able to punish us in terms of possession rate and stoppages.

 

[Wooljay]

I am not talking about moving players, I am saying go to Man on Man game style. Worked against the Crows in the Semi last year

Barely did.

He seemed to make a lot of excuses in those first two paragraphs. I think we just didn't come to play, and they were desperate as all hell and got a lot of lucky breaks in the game. WB game is going to be huge, as much as I hate Etihad, am bummed I won't get out to the game

 

[Paddywhackers]

I don't know if you could say Barham is a poor footballer. He is no Sidebottom, but he has some good qualities.

He runs hard. He gets the ball and runs and carries. He has good evasive skills. He is like a bull terrior with his tackling.

Sure he turns the ball over, but so does O'Bree, and he does it dispite not having Barham's qualities. He (Barham) has also been named in the emergencies in recent weeks so has been close to selection too.

 

[Optimax]

I am not talking about moving players, I am saying go to Man on Man game style. Worked against the Crows in the Semi last year

We didn't win that match playing man on man, we win more ball and went manic in the pressure stakes

on the Brisbane match, man onan wouldn't have helped us, our forwards useless, at least one key defender undersized throwing out match ups, mids losing clearances and any stop ball like we were standing still. Basically going man on man won't protect any part of the ground if you don't win the midfield footy abd pressure, we did neither, zone or man on man or under 10s scrummage they would have cut us up

 

[TradeDraft]

We didn't win that match playing man on man, we win more ball and went manic in the pressure stakes

on the Brisbane match, man onan wouldn't have helped us, our forwards useless, at least one key defender undersized throwing out match ups, mids losing clearances and any stop ball like we were standing still. Basically going man on man won't protect any part of the ground if you don't win the midfield footy abd pressure, we did neither, zone or man on man or under 10s scrummage they would have cut us up

So reading that we lost it at the Selection Table?

 

[HFF]

So reading that we lost it at the Selection Table?

No Dave.

What Opti is trying to say, (I think) is that we lost this game "above the shoulders" because we simply did not turn up to play. Mentally, we wre non-existant and it showed with poor decision making and concentration on team structures throughout the night. Brisbane were better than us throughout and even Mick "suggested" this in his email when he said "you can only hang in for so long", when being dominated around the ball.

 

[Optimax]

So reading that we lost it at the Selection Table?

In hindsight selection didn't help, but on Thursday night I felt it was correct even if I do personally prefer Nate to reid.

The match was completely list by the players though, our 22 is collectively better then their 22, so I'm in no doubt our players put in a tired, insipid, quite frankly piss poor effort and that's where the match was lost.

 

[Pie eyed]

I don't know if you could say Barham is a poor footballer. He is no Sidebottom, but he has some good qualities.

He runs hard. He gets the ball and runs and carries. He has good evasive skills. He is like a bull terrior with his tackling.

Sure he turns the ball over, but so does O'Bree, and he does it dispite not having Barham's qualities. He (Barham) has also been named in the emergencies in recent weeks so has been close to selection too.

I'm looking forward to seeing him actually play.
If he's half as good as suggested by half of his supporters he should lock in a place in the first quarter.

 

[Optimax]

No Dave.

What Opti is trying to say, (I think) is that we lost this game "above the shoulders" because we simply did not turn up to play. Mentally, we wre non-existant and it showed with poor decision making and concentration on team structures throughout the night. Brisbane were better than us throughout and even Mick "suggested" this in his email when he said "you can only hang in for so long", when being dominated around the ball.

Correct, once again on hindsight selection was probably a little top heavy up forward and reid possibly not the best choice across chb this week, on Thursday night I dong recall many if any querying that part if selection.

Game was lost by us mentally and credit to Brisbane they made us pay

 

[The Panther]

Mick's ghost writers are Hullett & the Canadian/Seppo.

 

[Pie eyed]

Mick's ghost writers are Hullett & the Canadian/Seppo.

Not really fair to lump poor Jonathon in with the Seppo's.
Canada is a member of the Commonwealth after all.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

We're just not getting enough of the football ourselves, and we're giving the opposition too much football, so we need to address those issues.

We've got to be better, perhaps, at holding sides, and getting a bit more of the football ourselves, but more importantly, not letting the opposition get as much as they've been getting, which puts massive pressure on different lines throughout the game.

Am I reading too much into things to say that these quotes don't necessarily bode well for O'Bree retaining his spot or Barham coming in?

 

[daics_35]

I think where Mick Malthouse says we wont go silly at the selection table he means there wont be man changes to the team for this week. That would be disapointing.

 

[notorious_zhang]

I think where Mick Malthouse says we wont go silly at the selection table he means there wont be man changes to the team for this week. That would be disapointing.

As long as O'Bree and Anthony get ommitted

 

[Old Spice]

I'm not for a massive sweep either, but certainly some fine-tuning.

O'Bree has to go out and Anthony. Glad we tried the three tall experiment, but it failed us.

My man cracker Barham should get a look in and Rounds sounds like a decent prospect.

How is Rounds defensive pressure?

 

[TradeDraft]

As long as O'Bree and Anthony get ommitted

I say O'Bree will keep his spot but JA will be Dropped knowing Mick

 

[The Royal Sampler]

How is Rounds defensive pressure?

Good -> very good.

He's not a noted brilliant tackler, but he's very quick (would be top 5 at the club for sprint speed) and has a strong body, and elite endurance. The s**t-down defence is as much about "perceived pressure" as actual pressure, so Rounds' job would be to get in the kicker's face quickly and/or close down any linking options ASAP. He should be able to do that very well.

 

[mdc]

Elite endurance? You sure Sampler?