After the first two games this year there are many positives. All of the debutants have shown promise, the defensive stocks are high, and Petterd will be a great player.

My concerns are the following:-

1. We have no power forward. While we have the makings of a good forward line with players like Watts, Maric, Aussie and Jurrah, we don't have any prospect of a big bodied power forward to create heavy contest, ball spillages and tie up the opposition's main defenders. Notice that i have not included Robbo (because he probably only has two years), and Miller (because he will only be a bit player in the future). Martin is a possibility but he seems to be more of a defender. He has great hands, good judgement of the flight of the ball, like Rivers, but his kicking lacks penetration and it remains to be seen if he has the instincts of a forward. I don't necessarily think these instincts can be learnt. Look at Didak and Medhurst yesterday and you'll see what I'm talking about.

2. Our midfield is totally one-paced I though Jones and Moloney played well yesterday, (Brock had another bleak day), but there is nobody in our midfield with the explosive pace and accurate penetrating disposal that is needed today. Buckley's disposal is horrible and our midfielders keep getting caught. Blease has both these attributes but is small bodied and will probably play on the wing. Bailey is forced to play Davey in the midfiled and he was fantastic as a sweeper/outrider yesterday but we would all like to see him crumbing packs in the forward 50.

3. Ruck stocks are low Johnson is not a natural ruckman. I'm not sure what he is, but he is worth persisting with. Spencer has great potential but is a couple of years away from really holding his own. We can see that he has no confidence in his kicking and he can't handball either. So often yesterday he tried to dish off and he was super slow and very inaccurate. These should be priorities for the coaching staff, as well as rucking skills, because he is a real goer. Who knows whether Meesen will be any good. I'm not holding my breath.

4. Our defence, looking like it might well be really solid in the future, doesn't kick well. We've seen the tentative kick-ins but its the general field kicking that worries me. The good sides at the moment have defenders with long accurate penetrating kicks (think Hodge, Hunt, Gilbee etc.). This opens up space and opportunity for midfielders like nothing else. If they can pinpoint a 50 metre pass to a running player then the rolling zone is not so much a problem. Our young defence lacks anyone who can kick like this. So many turnovers are happening and the movement out of defence is always tentative and risky. It will give me much more confidence when Wheels and Wheately are back in that lineup, but they are not the future. I know that Strauss comes with that reputation and I do think that Bennell has potential.

These deficiencies point to the importance of this year's draft. From the limited video evidence, Butcher looks great. Big body, fantastic hands and a forward's instinct. Likewise Scully looks like a ball magnet with pace and great kick. We also need at least one more project ruckman. Who knows, but maybe the role of list manager Tim Harrington is to analyse the general shape of the list and project into the future. I hope so.

The upside is as I've said, all debutants showed promise, Frawley has really developed, Martin, Morton, Petterd, Garland, Grimes, Maric, and Aussie all look great.

Our forwardline is killing us.

It literally is stopping us from progressing IMO. We try as hard as we can for 2-3 quarters, but I can't help but think it demoralises our players when they work so hard to get the ball to have no options, outnumbered options or poor options to kick to

Our forwardline is killing us.

It literally is stopping us from progressing IMO. We try as hard as we can for 2-3 quarters, but I can't help but think it demoralises our players when they work so hard to get the ball to have no options, outnumbered options or poor options to kick to

The midfield after half time was awful; smashed in the contested possies, tackles, and clearances. The team also had little dare and endeavour from the midfield after half time which meant we only had 39 Inside 50s for the game.

Again, I defend them.

That is not the fault of Miller, Bate, Jetta, Green, Petterd or whoever else is up there at the time.

Forward line - Hopefully Watts, jurrah and possibly another key forward out of this years draft (butcher) and then adding maric and wona, once developed would look scary for opposition.

Midfeild - It is one demensional but with sam blease, jamie bennel and james strauss with his precision kicking and also hopefully an addition through this yars draft (tom scully) could also develope nicely with the like of tough onballers moloney mclean jones.

Defence- well every can see our defence is coming along very nicely hopefully there foot skills can improve over time.

If all goes well overtime we should have a very promising team.

Agree btdemon. We will most likely get a top 2 pick and maybe even a priority. But results from our 'top' picks will not be known for a few years yet.

This years draft combined with picks from the last two should set us up for an era.

Watts should proviude a target but he will take another 2 pre seasons to get some body size. I note that Morton has grown to at least 193 cm's. Hopefully he can muscle up in the next couple of years and develop into a good third tall up forward.

I agree we are in desperate need of a gun mid. We should rectify this in this years draft.

2009 TAC Cup

Gippsland Power 2.0 4.3 10.5 13.8 (86)

Dandenong Stingrays 6.5 8.7 14.10 16.11 (107)

GOALS:

Gippsland Power: Butcher 5 Pincott 3 Vardy 2 Northe Carr Golby

Dandenong Stingrays: Pitt 5 McInnes 2 Petropoulos 2 Stringer-Morris 2 Parker Clifford Bastinac Roberton Hallahan

BEST:

Gippsland Power: Vardy Butcher Stevens Pincott Dowse Heppell

Dandenong Stingrays: Scully Pitt Hallahan Mitchell Baumgartner Andrews

REPORTED PLAYERS:

Gippsland Power: Nil

Dandenong Stingrays: Nil

ITS SIMPLE. DEES HAVE TO WIN NO MORE THAN 4 GAMES TO GET PICK 1 AND 2. IF WE DONT GET THESE PICKS WE WONT GET A FLAG. WE NEED THESE PICKS FULL STOP.

#1 PICK- CLASSY MIDFIELDER (COONEY OR ABLETT) LIKE . WE ALREADY HAVE HARD IN AND UNDER PLAYERS LIKE JONES AND MCLEAN.

#2 PICK - ANOTHER TALL FORWARD OF SOME SORT.

OUR BACKLINE IS ON ITS WAY...

CALE MORTON IS GONNA BE A GREAT PLAYER, VERY MUCH THE SAME AS CAMERON BRUCE BUT BETTER

BRUCE, GREEN, ROBBO, WHEATLY AND MACCA ALL THESE SORTS OF PLAYERS ARE NO REAL BENEFIT OTHER THAN TO SHOW LEADERSHIP AND SET AND EXAMPLE. THESE PLAYERS WILL NOT BE PLAYING BY THE TIME WE CONTEND FOR A FLAG. 4 YEARS +.

ITS SIMPLE. DEES HAVE TO WIN NO MORE THAN 4 GAMES TO GET PICK 1 AND 2. IF WE DONT GET THESE PICKS WE WONT GET A FLAG. WE NEED THESE PICKS FULL STOP.

#1 PICK- CLASSY MIDFIELDER (COONEY OR ABLETT) LIKE . WE ALREADY HAVE HARD IN AND UNDER PLAYERS LIKE JONES AND MCLEAN.

#2 PICK - ANOTHER TALL FORWARD OF SOME SORT.

OUR BACKLINE IS ON ITS WAY...

Even if we get them we're not guaranteed a flag.....but we're probably better equipped to challenge for a flag.....but that will come down to the coaches and the game plan.

PS. It's not that simple.

4. Our defence, looking like it might well be really solid in the future, doesn't kick well. We've seen the tentative kick-ins but its the general field kicking that worries me. The good sides at the moment have defenders with long accurate penetrating kicks (think Hodge, Hunt, Gilbee etc.). This opens up space and opportunity for midfielders like nothing else. If they can pinpoint a 50 metre pass to a running player then the rolling zone is not so much a problem. Our young defence lacks anyone who can kick like this. So many turnovers are happening and the movement out of defence is always tentative and risky. It will give me much more confidence when Wheels and Wheately are back in that lineup, but they are not the future. I know that Strauss comes with that reputation and I do think that Bennell has potential.

I'm happy for Aaron Davey to take the kick-ins and play that 'quarterback role' going forward. He played it well vs Collingwood.

I don't see the urgency of Davey in the forward line for the future as we have Wonna, Maric, Aussie and Petterd as you're small forwards capable of kicking goals. They just need to learn to apply defensive pressure like Davey was made famous for in 04-06.

Assuming we get picks 1, 2 and 18 this year, would anyone entertain the thought of putting pick 2 on the table if a gun forward or midfielder who's played 50-100 games was offered for trade?

I'm happy for Aaron Davey to take the kick-ins and play that 'quarterback role' going forward. He played it well vs Collingwood.

I don't see the urgency of Davey in the forward line for the future as we have Wonna, Aussie and Petterd as you're small forwards capable of kicking goals. They just need to learn to apply defensive pressure like Davey was made famous for in 04-06.

Assuming we get picks 1, 2 and 18 this year, would anyone entertain the thought of putting pick 2 on the table if a gun forward or midfielder who's played 50-100 games was offered for trade?

Agree on everything you said about Davey. Watching on the weekend I had forgotten how good he was by foot - don't think he missed or if he did I was getting a beer or something. As for picks on the table - NO! Unless we get Franklin or Roughnut forget it. Get a group that in a couple of years will be roughly the same age and can make another dynasty. Put our spuds on the table and let Freo give us another 1st round pick.

Agree on everything you said about Davey. Watching on the weekend I had forgotten how good he was by foot - don't think he missed or if he did I was getting a beer or something. As for picks on the table - NO! Unless we get Franklin or Roughnut forget it. Get a group that in a couple of years will be roughly the same age and can make another dynasty. Put our spuds on the table and let Freo give us another 1st round pick.

I think that at this stage Sylvia may qualify as a 'spud'. If he has a reasonable year this year then we could maybe do a TJ style trade for the sake of the future.

2009 TAC Cup

Gippsland Power 2.0 4.3 10.5 13.8 (86)

Dandenong Stingrays 6.5 8.7 14.10 16.11 (107)

GOALS:

Gippsland Power: Butcher 5 Pincott 3 Vardy 2 Northe Carr Golby

Dandenong Stingrays: Pitt 5 McInnes 2 Petropoulos 2 Stringer-Morris 2 Parker Clifford Bastinac Roberton Hallahan

BEST:

Gippsland Power: Vardy Butcher Stevens Pincott Dowse Heppell

Dandenong Stingrays: Scully Pitt Hallahan Mitchell Baumgartner Andrews

REPORTED PLAYERS:

Gippsland Power: Nil

Dandenong Stingrays: Nil

Butcher kicked 5.1 from his 6 kicks, not bad hey? He had a late start because of injuries as well, really interested to see how he goes in the u18's. Add Scully and Lucas, apparently they're the 3 leaders right now.

I'm thinking we might need a VISY type company for support, so we can recruit a Matthew Pavlich. So we'll need an endless pit of money, much like Carltank.

I'm happy for Aaron Davey to take the kick-ins and play that 'quarterback role' going forward. He played it well vs Collingwood.

I don't see the urgency of Davey in the forward line for the future as we have Wonna, Aussie and Petterd as you're small forwards capable of kicking goals. They just need to learn to apply defensive pressure like Davey was made famous for in 04-06.

Assuming we get picks 1, 2 and 18 this year, would anyone entertain the thought of putting pick 2 on the table if a gun forward or midfielder who's played 50-100 games was offered for trade?

Pick 2 on the table, - no unless for judd like.

I see you've cloned, Wonna. did you mean some other?

I'm thinking we might need a VISY type company for support, so we can recruit a Matthew Pavlich. So we'll need an endless pit of money, much like Carltank.

Maybe he can be the good will spokesman for the MCC???

The was talk off season of the PAV not being so happy at freo. I wonder if CS and CC are putting their power point presentation together allready!

potentially overnight captain of the club I would suggest for 2010. I think he is or atleast was out of contract this year.

Pick 2 on the table, - no unless for judd like.

I see you've cloned, Wonna. did you mean some other?

OOps add in Maric in our future fwd line.

POTENTIAL MELBOURNE GRAND FINAL SIDE FOR 2012

FB: Rivers, Warnock, Cheney

HB: Frawley, Martin, Garland

C: Scully, Strauss, Bate

HF: Maric, Watts, Davey

FF: Jurrah, Butcher, Wonnameri

Foll: Spencer, Morton, McLean ©

Int: Blease, Grimes, Jones, Petterd

Emerg: Bartram, Buckley, Jetta

Now that line up has potential if you ask me??

I will also make note that although I have only named the one ruckman in Spencer, by 2012 I'd like to think Martin could pinch hit in the ruck by then.

POTENTIAL MELBOURNE GRAND FINAL SIDE FOR 2012

FB: Rivers, Warnock, Cheney

HB: Frawley, Martin, Garland

C: Scully, Strauss, Bate

HF: Maric, Watts, Davey

FF: Jurrah, Butcher, Wonnameri

Foll: Spencer, Morton, McLean ©

Int: Blease, Grimes, Jones, Petterd

Emerg: Bartram, Buckley, Jetta

Now that line up has potential if you ask me??

I will also make note that although I have only named the one ruckman in Spencer, by 2012 I'd like to think Martin could pinch hit in the ruck by then.

Still need another ruckman, Martin won't be able to hold down CHB and pinch hit in the ruck. I like your defence, as it's not at all far-fetched, because they are all currently playing. Exciting times ahead looking at your side in 2012. Scully and Butcher is just purely speculative at this stage. I'll just say it's a strong speculative side. Fingers crossed it is a Grand Final appearance in 2012. It would be one of the youngest sides ever mind you.

l0ooks goood just swap bate with moloney

OOps add in Maric in our future fwd line.

I new you made a simple mistake, & on reflection I realised you would have meant Maric.

Another possability for Melbourne if we did finish bottom would be landing a KPP through the pre-season draft. Say Thorpe, Dowler or Boyle from Hawthorn? All three are key forwards under 26 and are second fiddle to Franklin, Roughead and Birchall. If we could land one of them in the pre-season draft (assuming we come last again) and then draft say Scully and the best young ruckman with picks 1 & 2 (again assuming we win 4 games or less).

This would then address all three areas of our weaknesses. The big question would be if one of those players would leave Hawthorn. This way we could potentially play 3 tall forwards by 2011, say Watts, Miller and Dowler with Jurrah also on our list all at once. BAck to the good old days when we played Neitz, Schwartz and Lyon all at once with Smith also on the list.

Maybe he can be the good will spokesman for the MCC???

The was talk off season of the PAV not being so happy at freo. I wonder if CS and CC are putting their power point presentation together allready!

potentially overnight captain of the club I would suggest for 2010. I think he is or atleast was out of contract this year.

Starting a rumour montasaurus?

I thought he signed a new contract last year, 3 year deal. I wouldn't have thought Freo and the Pav would part company...but I thought that of Judd too until 2007.

Another possability for Melbourne if we did finish bottom would be landing a KPP through the pre-season draft. Say Thorpe, Dowler or Boyle from Hawthorn? All three are key forwards under 26 and are second fiddle to Franklin, Roughead and Birchall. If we could land one of them in the pre-season draft (assuming we come last again) and then draft say Scully and the best young ruckman with picks 1 & 2 (again assuming we win 4 games or less).

This would then address all three areas of our weaknesses. The big question would be if one of those players would leave Hawthorn. This way we could potentially play 3 tall forwards by 2011, say Watts, Miller and Dowler with Jurrah also on our list all at once. BAck to the good old days when we played Neitz, Schwartz and Lyon all at once with Smith also on the list.

I don't want to shoot you down, however, with the first two picks you should always go with who you think is the best kid available, not to fill a hole. The reason for this is that the best ruckman might not be even in the top 10. It's also pretty rare that good rucks are taken so early.

soo far the best two ive herd of are scully and butcher, 2 players that specialise in areas we really need.

Seems obviuose to take them rather than hopeing to pic up some player that isnt wanted from another team.

Id rather have them as backups rather than first preference.

I think we need 1 more key forward, and mids mids mids...

No matter how strong your backline is, or how many guns you have up forward, midfielders are they key to winning flags... As Mick M said the other night on one week at a time i think it was, when was the last time you can remember a side winning a flag that didn't have a completely dominant midfield?

My answer to that question would be North Melbourne in 99 and that was only becuase the Bombers choked against the blues in the prelim, otherwise you look to the Crows the year before... Every side since has had a completely dominant midfield...

Lets say we get Butcher, then how will our team look in four years (forgive me if I forget someone)...

Forward: Watts, Butcher, Jurrah, Aussie, Maric, Jetta, Bate

Back: Rivers, Garland, Warnock, Martin, Frawley, Bennell, Cheney, Grimes

Midfield: Morton, McLean, Strauss, Blease, Buckley, Jones, Bartram, Bail, Sylvia (make it in the middle some day Col please)

Great depth forward and back... however you need the most depth in the middle, where you need the most depth, and that's where we'll be spread a bit thin... no Bruce, Green, McDonald... Davey will be close to the finish line, as will beamer... therefore we need mids, mids and more mids...