Ricky Petterd – It was a pleasing season for Rick because he's had some real issues with his hips and groins over the past few years. For him to play 18 games was a real positive. He played his best football as a forward, where he was able to mark and use his defensive pressure. Ricky finished with 19 goals and he curbed several dangerous running defenders, like David Wirrpanda. He also showed some flexibility in the midfield and down back – Sean Wellman on Melbournefc.com.au

A very important player for our future IMHO....

A strong mark, good defensive pressure as mentioned above and some real footy smarts.....

A strong pre-season will do him wonders..... Look forward to watching him develop more next season

A very important player for our future IMHO....

A strong mark, good defensive pressure as mentioned above and some real footy smarts.....

A strong pre-season will do him wonders..... Look forward to watching him develop more next season

Agree with you Krazy. Add enormous courage and pretty good reliability in front of goal to what you have said, and Ricky is a very good prospect. I really liked him as a forward, but some more time in the mid field would not surprise.

A very important player for our future IMHO....

A strong mark, good defensive pressure as mentioned above and some real footy smarts.....

A strong pre-season will do him wonders..... Look forward to watching him develop more next season

Yeah maybe, he does some good stuff from time to time, but i think he struggles with consistency, it will be interesting next year to watch these types of players when the team is actually trying to win.

Jury is still out on Pettard

A pleasing year from Petterd IMO.

Comes out of contract at the end of 2010, so I'd imagine he'll go to the Gold Coast - being a local boy.

I've been a massive Petterd fan since his first game. He is a smart and classy footballer and I hope he does stay at Melbourne when the Gold Coast enter the competition.

Comes out of contract at the end of 2010, so I'd imagine he'll go to the Gold Coast - being a local boy.

Be disappointing if he did go but he'll be 21-22 and if he has a really good year next year

Gold coast will through the kitchen sink at him. He'd probably get paid double what he's

worth moving to GC also. I think GC and GWS are the major stumbling blocks

in the MFC rebuild they may just undercut all of the steps taken over last 2 years.

I think he could be an A grade mid. But that's a long way from where he is now.

Great awareness, lateral movement, smarts.

Decent kick, but can improve.

Hopefully, we can get him to stay beyond 2010.

Great year from Ricky this year. Like to see his good form continue and hopefully we can hang onto him.

really rate ricky think his one of our better younger players. just a little unsure of what is his best postion

He's in my top ten must keeps. Close to the top five. He is a premiership quality player with all the building blocks. CAC's last gift.

Top player, I like him more and more as I see him play. Better as a forward in my opinion, but he's only young, time will tell.

Has he grown all since having that unfortunate lung incident? he seems taller to me

Very talented, but i'm not sure which position he would perform best in..

If he improves his disposal by about 15%, he'll become an A grader.

Until such time, he has got to work on his kicking. Interestingly his goal kicking is pretty good, but under pressure his field kicking is very much hit and miss.

Good Dukes, [censored] Disposal by Foot, which improved in front of goal, but during general play it is still a worry, i was one who had a dig at Rick earlier this year, but now i would like to congratulate him on the way he finished off the year, and hope that we can keep him on the MFC list for the coming years.

I get a bit excited when I think of all the no-name medium sized players at Geelong. Milburn, Corey, Enright, Johnson, Ling Mackie, Rooke who are all high 180s or low 190s.

I look at Petterd compared to some of these guys... who don't have incredible penetration or attractiveness in their kicks, but have excellent footy brains. Petterd has guts to spare and is a smart ball magnet. On a backline rebounding he can be an important, if not crucial, part of a premiership team.

I get a bit excited when I think of all the no-name medium sized players at Geelong. Milburn, Corey, Enright, Johnson, Ling Mackie, Rooke who are all high 180s or low 190s.

Corey, Enright, Johnson, Ling, Mackie, Rooke, Milburn all no names???

Corey, Enright, Johnson, Ling, Mackie, Rooke, Milburn all no names???

I knew I'd pay for that.

They'd be either our best player or in our top 3... but due to Bartel, Ablett, Scarlett, Chapman, Selwood... and media darlings like Hawkins and Ottens... these guys fly comfortably under the radar. Perhaps Ling and Johnson have gotten more praise than the other, but even with Ling he gets as much press for his looks and hair as he does his football.

No-name... obviously a mistake. I think I should have said second-tier...

Jesus. Their second tier would beat our first by 30 goals. What a team. I think they may be my favourite non-Melbourne team since I've been following football. If we're half as tough, skilled and close as those guys we'll go a long way.

I knew I'd pay for that.

They'd be either our best player or in our top 3... but due to Bartel, Ablett, Scarlett, Chapman, Selwood... and media darlings like Hawkins and Ottens... these guys fly comfortably under the radar. Perhaps Ling and Johnson have gotten more praise than the other, but even with Ling he gets as much press for his looks and hair as he does his football.

No-name... obviously a mistake. I think I should have said second-tier...

Jesus. Their second tier would beat our first by 30 goals. What a team. I think they may be my favourite non-Melbourne team since I've been following football. If we're half as tough, skilled and close as those guys we'll go a long way.

For a media darling, he gets a lot of criticism...

He's in my top ten must keeps. Close to the top five.

I think you're massively over-rating him. If we lose someone to the GC I won't lose sleep if it's Petterd.

For me, the major issue is that he's not particularly quick and his skills aren't particularly good either. Some have mentioned his goal-kicking but his shots were generally from quite 'easy' spots - how many did he dob from the boundary or from 50 (or outside)?

I think he has a good footy brain, is a decent mark for his size and gives a good effort. However, without pace or skills I'm not sure where he fits as an important player in our side. What important role do you have him pencilled in for?

I don't think he's a crumbing forward and he doesn't have the pace to man a crumbing forward. I don't see him as a push-up forward and he doesn't have the skills to play as a free-wheeling playmaker from defence.

Perhaps he could take on a limited midfield role - stopper or inside - or play as a defensive forward, Rooke-style, but I don't think he's irreplaceable by any stretch. I'm finding it hard to envisage a vital role he fills, let alone figure out how I could get him near a 'top 5' must-keep list.

As Jaded said, if his disposal improves you might be in business, and likewise if he improved his pace/engine. I don't dislike Petted but despite a decent year he hasn't shown me he's a vital premiership building block.

I think you're massively over-rating him. If we lose someone to the GC I won't lose sleep if it's Petterd.

Sort of yes and a sort of no from me. I've hummed and harred on what to say about him. He looks the real deal sometimes and other times I wonder if he is as good as we thought he might be. Of course he has had a rotten run with injuries but I think next year will tell us where he really is. If he looks good by round 14 then sign him up and keep him. If not then sign him anyway and see what we could get from GC.

I dunno !! Seems to be at that point where he could be..or might fall away as just another. You continually hear of.. he had to put up with this or that about players. Well all very good if its managable or improvable or it simply becomes a millstone for them and a perpetual excuse in time.

He shows glimpses of a really clever player and for me at times just seems to fade. I want to get a lot more optimistic about him...I want to, just cant get there yet.

I hope he does though.

I think you're massively over-rating him. If we lose someone to the GC I won't lose sleep if it's Petterd.

Each to their own.

As for the role I have him pencilled in for, that's the part that excites me. Given what he can do, how hard he works, how much of the ball he finds, he can go mid, wing, rebounding defender... and he's recently kicked goals and looked a good prospect as a forward. I lean more towards rebounding defender personally. But that's just going on what we;ve seen of him so far.

If he learns to contest a bit harder, put his body on the line, I really think he's not that far from a Corey, or Milburn. I saw a handful of moments that led me to believe he has a dormant mongrel in him. If we can get Rivers to draw that out of him, then I'd like to see him ultimately rebound from the backline.

And for the record, I don't see him as being a PJ type... good at many things, not really good at anything. I've seen him play games where he's been in the top 3 in our side. He's a must keep. Classy footballer.

Oh, and I think people overstate his lack of pace and kicking skills. He may not be REALLY pacy but he knows where to put himself. And by foot it's not about how you kick, it's about where he goes with it. Maturity and a bit of space created by his team-mates will ease the pressure on him, just like everyone else. A LOT of our players look like bad kicks this year when they really aren't. I don't think he's any worse than Grimes, for example.

I think he could be an A grade mid. But that's a long way from where he is now.

Great awareness, lateral movement, smarts.

Decent kick, but can improve.

Hopefully, we can get him to stay beyond 2010.

If he improves his disposal by about 15%, he'll become an A grader.

Until such time, he has got to work on his kicking. Interestingly his goal kicking is pretty good, but under pressure his field kicking is very much hit and miss.

Petterd has a 'long way' to go to be considered an 'A' grader.

Petterd has a good footy brain, is a decent mark for his size and gives his all. However, he lacks pace and polished skills. He's currently a utility. Has he even yet cemented an important component (role) of our side? I'm not so sure.

Petterd has a 'long way' to go to be considered an 'A' grader.

Petterd has a good footy brain, is a decent mark for his size and gives his all. However, he lacks pace and polished skills. He's currently a utility. Has he even yet cemented an important component (role) of our side? I'm not so sure.

You could have just read the line after the one you bolded.

Would have saved you a post...