http://www.bomberblitz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=54286

The first of the year after I took a year off last year to deal with small kids and all the stress that brings with it. We will kick it off with a a look at the Melbourne Demons and what 2010 holds for them. For those who dont like to critique or talk about opposition teams, please feel free to ignore the threads.

There is no doubt the Melbourne list is in better shape now than when Dean Bailey came into power but I am not sure if the talk of them being the big improvers is a little premature. They still have some pretty big gaps to cover and relying pretty heavily on youth stepping up.

We will start with the backline and have a look at what is happening down there. Kp players down back look a worry for mine. Looking for Frawley to take another step this year, Rivers to stay fit and Petterd to find a little of what made him special before his injury a year or so ago. The defensive structures there are hard to measure for a team who continually were soundly beaten last year. I think the backline though isnt one that in the short term or even a longer term is ready to put any fear into most forward lines.

The centre of the field is going to be fantastic in the next couple of years. Scully and trengrove will get a fair bit of match time next year and will be formidable. Moloney found some quality game time last season and started to remind us why he was rated before moving from Geelong. Sylvia also is reminding his doubters why he was rated as highly as he was. Davey also showed in his time in the middle that he is a player of undoubted quality

The Forward line is not ready but is going to be pretty good in coming years. Watts looks to have bulked up and will be a better player for the taste he got last year. Blease obviously had his freak injury but will be a very good player in time. Jurrah is an absolute freak and should be even better next year. A side not on Jurrah is I hope Melbourne dont regiment him too much and let him do his amazing stuff regularly. Miller I would expect to spend his time between forwardline but probably more down back. I dont rate him though.

The ruck stocks are thin with Jamar probably leading the way. the pickup of Gawn was a good one and he will probably be starting to come good around the same time Melbourne is.

Dean Bailey is hard to judge. He has had a hard job over the past couple of years and for this reason has escaped any real pressure. I would expect that to change this year without a serious lift in results.

For mine I think Melbourne will finish bottom two again. If they get a couple of things go their way maybe as high as 13th.. for mine I will say 15th. No wooden spoon.

That's a terrible review.

The author seems to have a vague understanding of the club, and nothing more.

Not a bad effort considering where it is from, and how difficult it is to make assumptions about a team that is full of unproven players. Generally accepted wisdom is that we are back heavy and forward light, he seems to have this backwards.

We will start with the backline and have a look at what is happening down there. Kp players down back look a worry for mine. Looking for Frawley to take another step this year, Rivers to stay fit and Petterd to find a little of what made him special before his injury a year or so ago. The defensive structures there are hard to measure for a team who continually were soundly beaten last year. I think the backline though isnt one that in the short term or even a longer term is ready to put any fear into most forward lines.

Pfft this guy has little to no idea what's going on. Petterd a KPB? Unlikely to even play in the backline. Warnock, Strauss, Bennell, Cheney all missing entirely from that assessment. Our backline is the strongest part of the side at this stage.

He also said Miller was likely to play backline. Not going to happen.

Neither is Blease a forward.

Cred = none.

He got most of it about right from an opposition supporters point of view. Except for what he said about the defence. That bit was a fairly long way off.

Well, it's not a bad assessment of our list as it stands. Sure, he's not up to date with all of our players, but how many of us can name every player on the Bombers' list?

I would be interested to see what he would have said had he a more accurate idea of who plays where. He regards our backline as weak and lacking talls. No mention of Warnock or Martin (yes, I think he's better off down back), or indeed Garland (I think this omission is excusable given that he missed last year).

Obviously he's missed most of our new run-and-carry brigade, with no mention made of Bennell, Jetta, Cheney or Straus and a misplaced belief that Blease is a forward. However, to his credit he regards the midfield as our big positive.

I'm a little surprised at the glowing praise of our future forward line. Especially when he seems entirely ignorant of who is in it. We all agree that Watts and Jurrah will be a good combination, but no mention of Bate, Maric or Wonna, not to mention the contributions of Jamar and Morton at various times last year.

Still, for all the inaccuracy when it comes to our list, he has us pretty well pegged. I have been wondering if we are overrating our backs in light of some of our performances (last year as well as last week). I completely agree that Frawley needs to take another big step up to become a serious FB. Warnock is a decent gorilla keeper, but not an A-grader. Rivers has shown a bit but needs to keep improving and stay healthy. Add to that that none of our smaller backs have proven themselves against decent opponents and there is reason for doubt.

I'd give this review a solid B-. Fairly good grasp of things, but he loses points for not knowing who plays where and probably rating us a couple of places too low.

After watching last weeks Game not a bad review at all. We are not rated out there & seriously do not deserve to be at the Minute.

How far we climb up the ladder this year will depend on how many true leaders we have on the list.

Not Leaders at Training during the Week, But i mean True Leaders on Match Day.......

Was more interesting reading what others on that forum wrote...not all seem to think we have no hope ..lol Always interesting actually to see what other teams fans think of this or that player as they will come at it totally unbiased ( with respect to the players ) as compared to say many of us who have issues possibly with this bloke or that.

Some of those Bombers have a bit of insight...quite interesting....and some are air-wasters!!

Was more interesting reading what others on that forum wrote...not all seem to think we have no hope ..lol Always interesting actually to see what other teams fans think of this or that player as they will come at it totally unbiased ( with respect to the players ) as compared to say many of us who have issues possibly with this bloke or that.

Some of those Bombers have a bit of insight...quite interesting....and some are air-wasters!!

Yes quite insightful what the Bomber Blogs said- Our Rucks are the Worst in the Comp at this stage, which is going to make it hard from the outset

After watching last weeks Game not a bad review at all. We are not rated out there & seriously do not deserve to be at the Minute.

How far we climb up the ladder this year will depend on how many true leaders we have on the list.

How about quality players that can physically compete at AFL level?

Yes quite insightful what the Bomber Blogs said- Our Rucks are the Worst in the Comp at this stage, which is going to make it hard from the outset

A case of stating the bleeding obvious about our ruck stocks. Its been like that for 3 years.

How about quality players that can physically compete at AFL level?

A case of stating the bleeding obvious about our ruck stocks. Its been like that for 3 years.

i would say quality players who can compete at AFL level are usually Leaders Rhino. We do not demand enough of ours at this point-and to be honest we are still not sure who they are.

& secondly many on here would come up with excuses on our ruck stocks not being so bad-That's the reason i stated it.

i would say quality players who can compete at AFL level are usually Leaders Rhino. We do not demand enough of ours at this point-and to be honest we are still not sure who they are.

& secondly many on here would come up with excuses on our ruck stocks not being so bad-That's the reason i stated it.

Like Fevola, Lovett, Carroll, Houlihan, Didak, Betts, Hurley, Stokes etc. Our "leaders" are too few and not good enough to impose on games. In fact we are demanding a hell of them and they are not up to. So you are saying the AFL competitive players are leaders and as we dont know who are leaders are, we therefore dont know who our AFL quality players are? Cute logic. The issue is lack of quality players. Dont know why you bothered.

Who are the many on here that would argue our rucks stocks are not that bad? No one in their right mind. They have been deplorable for years. I think you stated for you own edification if you seriously thought otherwise.

Like Fevola, Lovett, Carroll, Houlihan, Didak, Betts, Hurley, Stokes etc. Our "leaders" are too few and not good enough to impose on games. In fact we are demanding a hell of them and they are not up to. So you are saying the AFL competitive players are leaders and as we dont know who are leaders are, we therefore dont know who our AFL quality players are? Cute logic. The issue is lack of quality players. Dont know why you bothered.

Who are the many on here that would argue our rucks stocks are not that bad? No one in their right mind. They have been deplorable for years. I think you stated for you own edification if you seriously thought otherwise.

Do you have to pull apart every sentence posted on here??

I didn't really understand that answer to be honest...using last sundays game as an example...Who on the ground led the Team?? My answer is ....Nobody. What's yours?

Do you have to pull apart every sentence posted on here??

I didn't really understand that answer to be honest...using last sundays game as an example...Who on the ground led the Team?? My answer is ....Nobody. What's yours?

Junior McDonald for one.

You should have left off when I corrected your silly statement "How far we climb up the ladder this year will depend on how many true leaders we have on the list." Its a matter of quality players. Blokes like McDonald, Moloney, Miller and Green are just not going to win you games. Its the development of the sub 23 yo group. they dont have to leaders at this point but develop into constructive AFL players.

Clearly many assumptions based on articles & grabs from the "newspapers" - And we all know you cant believe everything you read in the news papers.

I personally think the initial author lacks real knowledge about our list. The "article" tries to pass mainly inaccurate assumptions as facts in a mis-guided effort to appear "knowledgeable".

Junior McDonald for one.

You should have left off when I corrected your silly statement "How far we climb up the ladder this year will depend on how many true leaders we have on the list." Its a matter of quality players. Blokes like McDonald, Moloney, Miller and Green are just not going to win you games. Its the development of the sub 23 yo group. they dont have to leaders at this point but develop into constructive AFL players.

On what Basis is that a silly statement? A Leader doesn't have to be captain out on the ground, although Granted a Great Captain will be a great player, & at present we do not have anybody who fits that Bill. Personally i wish Junior McD was coaching, i don't think his reaction time is sharp enough for the style of player he is, although yes he does have a big heart.

I was shocked at last sundays performance regardless of its NAB CUP stature, we are so far behind the rest of the comp right now, For 2 reasons....The Kids which i knew, but the absolute lack of leadership was so obvious it made it a horror moovie to be honest.

That is a team that has been training since October 6th 2009 ,& yes not one of those older Blokes stood up.....I wish we could Channel Norm Smith right now!!!!!!!

On what Basis is that a silly statement? A Leader doesn't have to be captain out on the ground, although Granted a Great Captain will be a great player, & at present we do not have anybody who fits that Bill. Personally i wish Junior McD was coaching, i don't think his reaction time is sharp enough for the style of player he is, although yes he does have a big heart.

I was shocked at last sundays performance regardless of its NAB CUP stature, we are so far behind the rest of the comp right now, For 2 reasons....The Kids which i knew, but the absolute lack of leadership was so obvious it made it a horror moovie to be honest.

That is a team that has been training since October 6th 2009 ,& yes not one of those older Blokes stood up.....I wish we could Channel Norm Smith right now!!!!!!!

Rather than pontificate with the cliche "leader" what we need are players that can regularly and consistently play competitive consistent football.We dont have that. Our senior players are few and are B graders are best and C graders at average. Junior was the best of them.

I am not surprised you are shocked. It would not have dawned on you that given the list and side we went in with it was an uphill battle. Do you understand why Bailey and Connolly preach patience? 18 to 20 years dont become 25 year olds overnight.

I'd suggest that Norm Smith wont take your call as he would say "He's wanted back on Earth"

I think Brad Green is a pretty good leader and would make a good captain in the absence of Junior Mcdonald.

Rather than pontificate with the cliche "leader" what we need are players that can regularly and consistently play competitive consistent football.We dont have that. Our senior players are few and are B graders are best and C graders at average. Junior was the best of them.

I am not surprised you are shocked. It would not have dawned on you that given the list and side we went in with it was an uphill battle. Do you understand why Bailey and Connolly preach patience? 18 to 20 years dont become 25 year olds overnight.

I'd suggest that Norm Smith wont take your call as he would say "He's wanted back on Earth"

I am well aware of Patience yes, but to be brutally honest i did not realize until sunday how patient i must be.

To be Flogged by a toothless Fairy Floss team like fremantle who i do not rate apart from when they play the eagles was i hope the kick in the guts a few of our older players needed.

Your comment about Norm Smith was good!!!!

I am well aware of Patience yes, but to be brutally honest i did not realize until sunday how patient i must be.

The list is young and they will stumble before they walk. our senior players are few and none regularly impose themselves on matches. Its alot that falls on young shoulders

To be Flogged by a toothless Fairy Floss team like fremantle who i do not rate apart from when they play the eagles was i hope the kick in the guts a few of our older players needed.

They had two AAs. They had a number of capable players with 100+games experience plus they have some good youngsters. I am not sure why Freo cope the carp they do. I dont rate their coach but their list is not as bad as it seems. They have cut alot of dead wood in the past two years.

Seems MFC have suppporters have developed some unearned hubris as to how good its list is. Its 2 to 3 years away.

The list is young and they will stumble before they walk. our senior players are few and none regularly impose themselves on matches. Its alot that falls on young shoulders

They had two AAs. They had a number of capable players with 100+games experience plus they have some good youngsters. I am not sure why Freo cope the carp they do. I dont rate their coach but their list is not as bad as it seems. They have cut alot of dead wood in the past two years.

Seems MFC have suppporters have developed some unearned hubris as to how good its list is. Its 2 to 3 years away.

The shock i genuinely had, was of our senior players. The kids i can deal with no probs-Play them 3 games out of 4 and rotate them

But those senior players....AFL Players for 6-10 years....It could have been due to no Ruckmen, but not to that extent

I would play Brad Green up Forward this week. Anywhere inside the arc. With Matty Bate to help LJ

Which senior players?

Which senior players?

None of our senior Players stood up last Sunday 45. Not one of them sadly-& it was the perfect day for them to do it.

Seems MFC have suppporters have developed some unearned hubris as to how good its list is. Its 2 to 3 years away.

And... we finally get to the crux of all the hysteria since Sunday night.

glad they did the preview on 4th jan