Our midfield: officially the worst

[The Dr]

Might not mean much, but Prestia says he'll re-sign with the Suns. Disappointing if so.

"It was a bit of a temptation to come home but the boys have proven that they're definitely finals contenders, even maybe this year and definitely next year"

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-05-26/prestia-set-to-resign

 

[Captain Jack]

Might not mean much, but Prestia says he'll re-sign with the Suns. Disappointing if so.

"It was a bit of a temptation to come home but the boys have proven that they're definitely finals contenders, even maybe this year and definitely next year"

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-05-26/prestia-set-to-resign

Probably serves us right for suddenly thinking we were a shoo-in to sign him at the end of this year. Amazing how quickly we developed a hint of a rumour into a near-certain trade so quickly.

 

[CWaffles]

Probably serves us right for suddenly thinking we were a shoo-in to sign him at the end of this year. Amazing how quickly we developed a hint of a rumour into a near-certain trade so quickly.

We tend to do that at the moment, I guess we are just clutching at any rumour at the moment in hope.

 

[Tulip]

Watts is the only player in our team who knows how to dispose of it.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

Feel for you guys, in a catch 22 situation, need some midfield guns to improve but can't really trade for them as they won't want to come to a club thats struggling so much. Need to bite the bullet and build through the draft. Will take a bit but a top 2 pick this year and next should see two elite mids added to the team.

Looking forward to seeing Clarke, Dawes, Hogan up forward next year as well.

 

[SPC 98]

Watched the Trengove interview on DEETV; my god our players are happy with themselves. Neeld has completely brainwashed this bunch into mediocrity. He said that they were disappointed with the result, but happy with the second half.. Not sure any of these blokes have ever heard of 'the cue back in the rack' before!
Our midfield get smacked week in week out, and Fremantle gave them an exhibition this week.

 

[CTHORANGE]

Watched the Trengove interview on DEETV; my god our players are happy with themselves. Neeld has completely brainwashed this bunch into mediocrity. He said that they were disappointed with the result, but happy with the second half.. Not sure any of these blokes have ever heard of 'the cue back in the rack' before!
Our midfield get smacked week in week out, and Fremantle gave them an exhibition this week.

Yeh this has concerned me for awhile now, sometimes it's more the opposition dropping off rather than our boys stepping up. I know we have to focus on some positives, but sometimes we seem to fall into the trap of false positives, which is dangerous because it sets the standard too low for next week, and then they get smashed and wonder what went wrong.

 

[The Dr]

Probably serves us right for suddenly thinking we were a shoo-in to sign him at the end of this year. Amazing how quickly we developed a hint of a rumour into a near-certain trade so quickly.

Yeah, absolutely. Still hoping it might not be concrete, but why on earth would he leave the Suns to come to us?

 

[CWaffles]

Feel for you guys, in a catch 22 situation, need some midfield guns to improve but can't really trade for them as they won't want to come to a club thats struggling so much. Need to bite the bullet and build through the draft. Will take a bit but a top 2 pick this year and next should see two elite mids added to the team.

Looking forward to seeing Clarke, Dawes, Hogan up forward next year as well.

Couldn't agree more, or at least have a coaching staff and board where a potential player can see potential and buy into their game plan, but you need the right people to do that and we don't have them.

 

[Brazen]

Watched the Trengove interview on DEETV; my god our players are happy with themselves. Neeld has completely brainwashed this bunch into mediocrity. He said that they were disappointed with the result, but happy with the second half.. Not sure any of these blokes have ever heard of 'the cue back in the rack' before!
Our midfield get smacked week in week out, and Fremantle gave them an exhibition this week.

Hi guys

Tough as an outsider to watch your lads struggling so much.

I know Morton was the softest of the soft, but how accurate would his assessment be in the paper today, implying that he and the team at Melbourne thought they were training hard, but he got an awful shock with our pre-season and the player's running capacity etc...??

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-05-27/cale-morton

"The training standards are a lot higher over here," Morton said.
"I think there's quite a big gap at the moment," he said.
"But until you do change clubs, and you are involved as a player you don't really notice the changes as much."
Morton, originally from Lake Grace in Western Australia, said he was blown away by how hard the West Coast midfielders trained during the pre-season.
"At Melbourne I was probably one of the better runners, but when I got here I was probably scraping in the top 10.
"I had a full pre-season with the midfield and it was a real eye-opener to see how hard the young midfielders at West Coast like Luke Shuey, Chris Masten, and Scott Selwood work."


Fair or not?

 

[maxmustard]

Hi guys

Tough as an outsider to watch your lads struggling so much.

I know Morton was the softest of the soft, but how accurate would his assessment be in the paper today, implying that he and the team at Melbourne thought they were training hard, but he got an awful shock with our pre-season and the player's running capacity etc...??

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-05-27/cale-morton

"The training standards are a lot higher over here," Morton said.
"I think there's quite a big gap at the moment," he said.
"But until you do change clubs, and you are involved as a player you don't really notice the changes as much."
Morton, originally from Lake Grace in Western Australia, said he was blown away by how hard the West Coast midfielders trained during the pre-season.
"At Melbourne I was probably one of the better runners, but when I got here I was probably scraping in the top 10.
"I had a full pre-season with the midfield and it was a real eye-opener to see how hard the young midfielders at West Coast like Luke Shuey, Chris Masten, and Scott Selwood work."


Fair or not?

Probably fair I guess, I doubt anyone would think we do things better/as good as you. Doesn't change the fact that Morton is still a giant pussy.

 

[CTHORANGE]

Yeh probably fair, according to our coaching staff our training regime wasn't up to AFL standard until this pre-season, which Morton obviously wasn't apart of. According to Dawes and Byrnes we are training at an AFL standard now.

Kind of hoping Morton does alright actually, obviously a talented kid and started well for us, but fell apart horribly after that. Had to go from our club but didn't deserve to be on the AFL scrapheap just yet. One things for sure, he'll have to work extremely hard to get a look in over there.

 

[Brazen]

Yeh probably fair, according to our coaching staff our training regime wasn't up to AFL standard until this pre-season, which Morton obviously wasn't apart of. According to Dawes and Byrnes we are training at an AFL standard now.

Kind of hoping Morton does alright actually, obviously a talented kid and started well for us, but fell apart horribly after that. Had to go from our club but didn't deserve to be on the AFL scrapheap just yet. One things for sure, he'll have to work extremely hard to get a look in over there.

didnt catch the Dawes/Byrnes comments over here so thats good to hear, perhaps another solid pre-season up to scratch, and the likes of Clarke and Hogan etc running around again will see the highlight reel start flicking over again for you guys.

Will be coming over in a fortnight to see WCE v Saints, and then the Queens Bday match with you lads and the Pies... will be an honourary Dees fan for the day and wouldnt mind screaming a bit of blue murder at the Pies, so fingers crossed the boys give me something to yell about :/

 

[mrmonkey]

Feel for you guys, in a catch 22 situation, need some midfield guns to improve but can't really trade for them as they won't want to come to a club thats struggling so much. Need to bite the bullet and build through the draft. Will take a bit but a top 2 pick this year and next should see two elite mids added to the team.

Looking forward to seeing Clarke, Dawes, Hogan up forward next year as well.

Well we need to get some leadership in the team, particularly in the middle. If we can't import decent ready made players. Hopefully we start to draft natural leaders. I don't know how, but we need to draft the next Joel Selwood or something. But at the moment, the way we have drafted, its hard to keep faith. Having said that I feel we have a young leader in Viney

 

[GHardeman]

[quote="Looking forward to seeing Clarke, Dawes, Hogan up forward next year as well.[/quote]

We are all pinning our hopes on Clark, and why not, he is a breath of fresh air and a great player, but he is always injured. He played 82 games out of 132 for the Lions and he has played 9 out of 31 for us. Any discussion about mids always talks about our potentially great forward line, but we can't get Clark, Dawes, Watts & Howe on the ground at the same time, let alone for a significant sequence of games necessary to build a real forward line.

 

[Dee31]

Is Harrington escaping the wrath he deserves? Isn't he our list manager? Is it fair to say he will be joining our coaching staff and board on the scrap heap by seasons end? Surely he has to go. Our list is in terrible shape. Talentless midfield, no crumbing forwards in a game where they are crucial, and with the amount of top draft picks we have had, we still have no A Grade players on our list.

It's hard to imagine anyone keeping there jobs by years end. I honestly can't see us winning more than 2 or 3 games. Simply unnacceptable after half a dozen years already of being extremely poor. I'd keep maybe 12 current players(N.Jones, M Jones, Howe, Gawn, Grimes, Trengove, Viney, Toumpas, Clarke, T.McDonald, Frawley and Hogan.) Even then, you could argue half of these deserve to go. I'd sack the whole board and anyone who has been involved with our list management or development, and I'd start again.

Yep, pretty much agree with you on all of those points although I would include Dawes, Garland, Turlich and Byrnes to that list of players we need to retain. Turlich has done nothing wrong in his time at the club, Garland needs some support and blaming Dawes or Byrnes is woefully off the mark. Both are quality footballers who will produce if given half a chance but neither one is an 'impact player, which is precisely what we need. No point having a 'finisher' if we can't get them the ball in a remotely professional fashion. No point in complaining that they're not in-and-under players (which we need) when they've built their reputation on being an outside player . The blame resides with the person who recruited them to play for us today (by the time we're good enough to use their skills they'll be just about ready to retire). I would also say that blame should extend to all of the people who were involved in choosing our coach (the last two). Quite simply, if those people responsible for the poor decision making remain at the club we will never be anything other than mediocre and, eventually, we might be nothing at all.

 

[GHardeman]

Simply unnacceptable after half a dozen years already of being extremely poor. I'd keep maybe 12 current players(N.Jones, M Jones, Howe, Gawn, Grimes, Trengove, Viney, Toumpas, Clarke, T.McDonald, Frawley and Hogan.) Even then, you could argue half of these deserve to go. I'd sack the whole board and anyone who has been involved with our list management or development, and I'd start again.

So you pay out Dawes and Pedersen? You pay overs to draft picks to get to 95% of the cap? You make club that is already hostile and insecure even more flaky? You are right that there needs to be change, but the change needs to be a building of relationships and reputations (like Hinkley and Koch are doing) not a revolving door of people who enter as saviours and are quickly disposed of.

 

[Tulip]

[quote="Looking forward to seeing Clarke, Dawes, Hogan up forward next year as well.

We are all pinning our hopes on Clark, and why not, he is a breath of fresh air and a great player, but he is always injured. He played 82 games out of 132 for the Lions and he has played 9 out of 31 for us. Any discussion about mids always talks about our potentially great forward line, but we can't get Clark, Dawes, Watts & Howe on the ground at the same time, let alone for a significant sequence of games necessary to build a real forward line.[/quote]
You're not wrong. Clark should come back through the VFL with a strict focus on his fitness. Play Fitzpatrick for the next 5-6 weeks.

 

[Jamurp]

Watched the Trengove interview on DEETV; my god our players are happy with themselves. Neeld has completely brainwashed this bunch into mediocrity. He said that they were disappointed with the result, but happy with the second half.. Not sure any of these blokes have ever heard of 'the cue back in the rack' before!
Our midfield get smacked week in week out, and Fremantle gave them an exhibition this week.

The game was over by half time, any goal kicked by us in the second half was irrelevant. I can't believe I keep hearing this crap from the coach and the players.

 

[Blackas87]

People on here seem to be a fan of Tapscott this year, say he's had a good game because he made a big bump and one of his kicks hit a target, but realistically he does sweet F all out there in the role he plays. He's got a solid body, time to try him out in the midfield I reckon, get him involved in the game, give Jones some protection and hopefully he can step up out there. We need to try something.

 

[jhong]

People on here seem to be a fan of Tapscott this year, say he's had a good game because he made a big bump and one of his kicks hit a target, but realistically he does sweet F all out there in the role he plays. He's got a solid body, time to try him out in the midfield I reckon, get him involved in the game, give Jones some protection and hopefully he can step up out there. We need to try something.

Would like to see him have a run in the midfield too .

 

[Topkent]

dont think he has the engine yet, the way he throws himself into contests hes stuffed immediately afterwards, love his bravery though

 

[CWaffles]

Agree would love to see Tappy in the centre bounces to throw his weight around! Playing any sort of forward role at Melbourne is hard when the ball doesn't get down to you enough.

I think it's best to just keep giving him games, the rest of this year might aswell be about getting some games and confidence into our younger kids.

 

[Dee31]

Yeh this has concerned me for awhile now, sometimes it's more the opposition dropping off rather than our boys stepping up. I know we have to focus on some positives, but sometimes we seem to fall into the trap of false positives, which is dangerous because it sets the standard too low for next week, and then they get smashed and wonder what went wrong.

Absolutely and that should be obvious to all of us. The opposition, having already sealed the game, drop their intensity (sometimes due to the lack of pressure being placed on them by us) and we start to look more competitive.The only thing that matters is how long are we able to hold a game 'in the balance'. That is, how long are we able to keep it as a contest that we could actually win or draw?

I can accept as inevitable that a lack of class will ultimately prove telling and the opposition will eventually run away from you. As the game progresses, each mistake you make and each mistake they don't make will add up and prove costly. Class will out! ENDEAVOUR, ATTITUDE and CHARACTER keep us in the game to that point, a lack of skill is what loses it for us. However, I cannot accept that the team does not begin on level footing with the opposition. If our players arrive ready to play and have been prepared accordingly they should be able to go with the opposition for at least the first half. After that, mistakes made due to lack of skill start to create an ever-widening gap between their score and ours.​

That being the case, if Neeld and our coaching staff cannot prepare our players to begin each match with the necessary mindset (which sees them play with endeavour, attitude and character) then they've failed and that is where they have to accept the blame. The coaches can't play the game for us and they can't magically overcome our poor recruiting but they can and must prepare the players to play ever game in the right fashion.

Look at our season so far in those terms. Never competitive against Port; never against Essendon; first half against West Coast; the whole game against GWS (who admittedly outplayed us for the first three quarters); whole game against Brisbane (admittedly, thanks to their kicking);never against Carlton; never against Gold Coast; first three quarters against Richmond; never against Fremantle.

That's five games where we were never competitive, two games we were competitive the whole way through (one being against a 2nd year club), one we were competitive for three quarters and one we were competitive for the first half.

I'm stuffed if I can see where there's anything to be happy about in that lot.

 

[Topkent]

There has been maybe a handful of positives from this season , terlich , joneses and garland

Players like blease Strauss Dunn trengrove watts frawley tapscott Mackenzie bail T.McDonald Jetta taggert tynan spencer Sylvia and I could keep ****ing going have either stagnated or dropped away there has been improvement from literally 4 players