Michael finally axed?!

[kelvin_sheedy]

For a bloke who the papers were doing double paged spreads telling us how he was going to return to his titianic best, that he was fitter and stronger than ever, and that he would once again reign as an immovable backstop for an exciting new era at Essendon. Tis quite comical Mal's fall from grace. The writing was on the wall last year, but it appears now more and more Bomber fans, (like the rest of us who already have) are awkening to his endearing struggles. Put Mal in a good team and he's great because he gets carried, just like he did at Brisbane, when he has to battle hard he's exposed as very, very average.

Piss off w***er.

He's been a pretty good pickup and been very good this year.

I guess you wouldn't have a clue as you have your hand on it whenever a full back is mentioned.

Here's your chance to mention Scarlett a hundred times. I don't know how you manage to type with one hand.

 

[SirJimi05]

SirJimbob im with you on this one. Your right his lack of speed and mobility are a problem you can see it every week. Do you think Pears will fill his spot or someone else will and Pears slotted into a pocket or flank?

It seems like NLM might fill the void this week but i would love to see Pears get the opportunity sooner rather than later.

It is a perfect chance to fast track his developement and i think he will be up to it as he is a good size and is quite mobile.

 

[Last Line Hero]

Piss off w***er.

He's been a pretty good pickup and been very good this year.

I guess you wouldn't have a clue as you have your hand on it whenever a full back is mentioned.

Here's your chance to mention Scarlett a hundred times. I don't know how you manage to type with one hand.

I expect you to unload on all the Essendon fans who have supported his axing as well.

Go on then.

Or are you a biased hypocrite?

 

[Merv]

What blinkers? Even Bombers fans are saying he's struggling.

Comical perhaps isn't the right word on my part, more like ironic.

The blinkers are you saying what you said was "blah blah blah" but in actual fact it was something quite different.

 

[SirJimi05]

I expect you to unload on all the Essendon fans who have supported his axing as well.

Go on then.

Or are you a biased hypocrite?

You're the only person who has stated that Michael was very very average even when he was at Brisbane. We all know this is not true.

 

[Merv]

I expect you to unload on all the Essendon fans who have supported his axing as well.

Go on then.

Or are you a biased hypocrite?

You are not on your own board now.

Time for you to run along....

 

[Johnnyprinias]

It seems like NLM might fill the void this week but i would love to see Pears get the opportunity sooner rather than later.

It is a perfect chance to fast track his developement and i think he will be up to it as he is a good size and is quite mobile.

That would mean someone else other than NLM must take richo?

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

I expect you to unload on all the Essendon fans who have supported his axing as well.

Go on then.

Or are you a biased hypocrite?

It's been done before.

Some just don't get it.

Have you finished? Are you done yet. Go and clean yourself up.

 

[SirJimi05]

That would mean someone else other than NLM must take richo? Surely wouldnt be Pears.

Pears wasn't names this week.

I reckon Knights might do something a little funky with the Richo matchup.

Not sure who it might be but i reckon we migh all go "wtf ....... is lining up on Richo!"

Then again i could be wrong and he may well just go with a NLM or McPhee.

 

[SirJimi05]

It's been done before.

Some just don't get it.

Have you finished? Are you done yet. Go and clean yourself up.

It certainly has and my ears are still ringing.

 

[Johnnyprinias]

Pears wasn't names this week.

I reckon Knights might do something a little funky with the Richo matchup.

Not sure who it might be but i reckon we migh all go "wtf ....... is lining up on Richo!"

Then again i could be wrong and he may well just go with a NLM or McPhee.

Righto then what about putting Fletcher to start on him then rotating with NLM. That would be a surprise

 

[Last Line Hero]

It's been done before.

Some just don't get it.

Have you finished? Are you done yet. Go and clean yourself up.

You continue to disappoint Kelvin.

 

[HirdforPM]

michael is a slow dinasour

 

[Last Line Hero]

michael is a slow dinasour

Watch out Kelvin's coming...

Perhaps

 

[SirJimi05]

Righto then what about putting Fletcher to start on him then rotating with NLM. That would be a surprise

Ideally we could have a seperate matchup for the forward line and when he goes down the ground but it is very hard to do this due to the way Richo plays.

He kicked a goal against the Hawks where he charged the length of the field from the last line of defence and then marked unopposed in the goal square. We don't have anybody with the endurance and speed to match him like that and he gets down there so damn quickly that it would be hard to change the matchups in time.

Maybe they will consider playing a loose man in defence who can watch out for him and take him as soon as he enters the forward line.

It will be intriging thats for sure.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

It certainly has and my ears are still ringing.

Never seen someone so happy to see one of our better consistent players dropped.

 

[Merv]

You are not on your own board now.

Time for you to run along....

Watch out Kelvin's coming...

Perhaps

You won't be warned again....

Goodbye

 

[Johnnyprinias]

Ideally we could have a seperate matchup for the forward line and when he goes down the ground but it is very hard to do this due to the way Richo plays.

He kicked a goal against the Hawks where he charged the length of the field from the last line of defence and then marked unopposed in the goal square. We don't have anybody with the endurance and speed to match him like that and he gets down there so damn quickly that it would be hard to change the matchups in time.

Maybe they will consider playing a loose man in defence who can watch out for him and take him as soon as he enters the forward line.

It will be intriging thats for sure.

Yes it will be intriging but vital as well. I like the idea of the loose man to take him, although surely terry wallace will counter it. I think the best option will be to have someone on him at all times.

 

[Johnnyprinias]

Never seen someone so happy to see one of our better consistent players dropped.

Mate dont be like that, he has been struggling with the athletic side of things, and following our youth policy he gets dropped. He will play again soon i should think

 

[SirJimi05]

Never seen someone so happy to see one of our better consistent players dropped.

But he is not one of our better or more consistant players.

Unless you are refering to being consistantly average?

And i will not hide the fact that i would much prefer to see a young kid being developed over playing Michael.

 

[SirJimi05]

Never seen someone so happy to see one of our better consistent players dropped.

Question. Why would Knights axe one of his most consistant performers?

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Question. Why would Knights axe one of his most consistant performers?

Injury, rest, match ups, etc,etc.

If we were 4 and 4 would we drop Mal and play Daniher and Neagle?

As for consistently average you are way off the mark.

Round 1 - great.
Round 2 - great.
Round 3 - beaten after a good half
Round 4 - good.
Round 5 - Ok.
Round 6 - Ok
Round 7 - Poor - no matchup
Round 8 - ??

Why are you using Mal as a scapegoat when there are about 10 other players that are under performing for their roles.

 

[Schmick]

Knights is pretty smart isn't he

Take out our fullback, move our CHB into the ruck, which leaves Fletch as our only genuine key back, and don't bring Pears in?

 

[Kong]

i'm not getting into the whole debate, but i must say i never fully rated mal michael when he was at brisbane. he was solid, and did the job, but when playing in a side that was the brisbane lions of that era it must've been pretty hard to look bad. i think he was never any better than rutten, clement, fletcher, scarlett, hudgton (50/50), barry, glass, lake.

but having said that, he did what was needed of him from the team at the time, and the same goes for the bombers last year. i would be happy to see him retire at year's end though, before the game completely passes him by, and with pears, ryder and fletcher to be the first three defenders chosen.

 

[efcboy]

think people are getting a bit carried away here. when you look at richmonds side with richo up on the wing how many power forwards do they have? barely any! do you recall the anzac game when rocca withdrew there was no match up for michael or johns in defence. similarly this week there is no point in playing mal - horses for courses and we'll save him for another day.

richmonds forward line:

n.brown - slattery
riewoldt - fletcher
tambling - hislop
edwards - myers
schulz - mcphee/ryder
bowden - nlm

who out of these 6 would mal have played on? possibly schultz but that would be it. knights has made a good decision to rest him - its not like schultz is that dangerous so might try and exploit him with mcphee running off him like he did when he was all australian.

looking ahead mal could probably play against adelaide on a guy like tippet, then against hawks roughead. we will definitely need mal against brisbane as he did a very good job on j.brown last year.