Trouble is....Hads is injured....Grigg? Injured....McLean it is!

Give Browne a run.

I cant understand how, if as Jimmie describes, McLean is stronger over the ball than anybody else we have, does he not seem to impose himself physically on a contest. There are other players in our team than seem to smash their way in/through. Brock, supposedly our hard nut seems to either be knocked aside or rag dolled.

_________________
"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

He's doing the ol' Bentick special, win the ball in close and then brace for the tackle. Yesteday he had no ability whatsoever to keep his hands free and dish off when tackled.

_________________
You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

Repeated solid performances in the bullants along with Ellard but continually dismissed at selection. On form they should be given a go.

Agree!, Mcleans lack of pace was very evident in the preseason games, nothing has changed.

Slightly bigger body than Bentick but not much difference.

Solid is now good enough to take on the Saints.

Ellard has to be upgraded.

See Wayne Bennett's quote that coaches who listen to supporters, end up sitting next to them in the stands.

The critics calling for Andrew Walker's head is a case in point.

Robinson replacing him is a joke. He turned it over for the Bullants countless times on the weekend which would cost us plenty at AFL level. Robbo's endeavour is unquestionable and if some of his team mates had his drive we would have been thereabouts on Sunday.

For mine, Brock is far too "chunky" in the legs. He could do with losing some of the bulk. Get Cordy onto leaning him up a bit.

_________________
--------------------------------------------------------"The only one that could ever love me..."

I think we are over-reacting slightly. He was terrible yesterday but this was his first bad game for the club. He played well in the first two rounds, got injured early in Round 3, missed Round 4, was decent last week in a great win and put in a shocker yesterday. He'll come under scrutiny like everyone else and will obviously need to improve on yesterday but calls for him to be dropped at this stage are premature.

_________________
Formerly Blues-Back2003.

But as someone else mentioned on another site, he's given us nothing that Hadley, Bentick or even Carrazzo could have given us and he's cost us pick 11!! That could have been another kid with equal talent to Lucas!! Just imagine we had two Lucas' going around for us ATM.

_________________
You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

it's probably too early in the piece to really pass judgement, but he has been somewhat disappointing and I think we have clearly paid overs. The comparison to Luke Ball is rather apt. Ball and McLean are of similar ilk. Ball hasn't set the world on fire either, but certainly has been the equal in terms of contribution to McLean. He cost Collingwood pick 31. Bang for buck, the pies are streets ahead of us.

_________________
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

Browne was was of our best last time we played the Saints smart-ass.

_________________
#23: Lachlan Henderson

actually Brownys game against the saints is the one that I always think of first when I think back to that game, he smashed the lines that game, was awesome. Thats why I was really dissappointed when he was dropped after the bombers game a week or 2 later, even though he didnt play too well . He never recovered since then, pity.

Anyone got a result yet? I'm dying to know.

When was the last time a supposed Carlton midfielder had such a shocker? Not Murphy, Gibbs, Scotland, Simpson, even Houlihan when he has a bad one, wasn't as bad as McLean against the 'woods.

Players should be selected on the basis of merit and McLean doesn't merit selection at the moment. Let him run into form in the VFL and then bring him back. But give the guys who are playing well for the Bullants a chance. Otherwise how else do you reward them.

Has anyone heard about the injuries to Hadley and Grigg?

_________________
"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

Spot on Hellas Blues with your comments above. This happened quite a few times on Sunday and in the third quarter Brock got pinned by the umpire for holding the ball. In normal circumstances the umpire may have called a ball up, but given Brock makes no attempt to get rid of the ball and all he does is brace himself, the umpire penalised him for it. Result was pies go forward a kick a goal.
This could possibly be one of the worst trades in our history, alongside Stephen O'Reilly, Michael Mansfield, Mick McGuane and Craig Davenport.

We got Scooter for pick 35, Pies got Ball for 31.....and we lose our heads and give pick 11 for Mclean!!!!

Can I say this is all just a bit over the top. Sure I am calling for Brock to get a run in the VFL but that is to get a bit of form.

Give the guy a break. Its only 6 games into the season, new club, new gameplan, high expectations, hint of injury etc.

You don't want to write him off this early.

_________________
"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

Scotland and Simpson were pretty ordinary on Sunday. They are well down the pecking order in terms of opposition focus and gave us very little drive. Brock had a bad game on Sunday but it is quite premature to be making judgments after 6 rounds of footy. Hadley is the obvious alternative but his body is not reliable.

McLean cost us pick 11 in the last uncompromised draft for a while. The smokescreen about us going to pick Lucas at #11 anyway are superflous as we could have had both Lucas and whomever was rated next on W. Hughes' list. He might have only played a couple of games, he might be carrying a hip injury and he might be struggling to adapt to his new team/structures etc, but McLean cost us plenty and expectations are high. Had we picked him up in the PSD or somewhere south of pick 30 in the ND, then he would be entitled to some leeway.

We've sold the farm to get this guy, we threw our chips in very early, seemed to be the only bidder and at this stage it looks like we paid overs. Granted there was probably loads that went on behind the scenes that we arent privvy to, but as members we are bankrolling all of this. If there is secret goings on that we arent all aware of that is OK, but we collectively are the final arbiters of whether or not these deals are successful. We vote each Jan with a renewal form on our assessment of the year before and what is liklely to come. These guys are very well paid for their efforts but we, the general footy public, fans, members expect a return on our investment. The bigger the investment, the higher the expected return.

It's not time to cut up the membership card yet and I sincerely hope McLean proves us all wrong, but on balance given what we have seen so far, I reckon it is right to question management's large investment in this bloke.

_________________
"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly