I think the last thing anyone should do, ESPECIALLY Melbourne, is follow Richmond's lead.

Jesus could be guiding their list development and I still wouldn't do it.

Seriously though, the only way teams like Melbourne and Richmond are going to make a stamp on this league is if they make a gameplan and style their own. Following Richmond, a team that might even miss the finals and really hasn't performed all that much better than we did in 2010, is the worst thing we could do.

We need a "Melbourne style", not a Hardwick style. Let him do what he needs to do at Richmond. Everyone should follow us, not the other way around. That partly defines success.

I'd like to see this as well

BUT

I am despairing that Neeld has a way

Maybe he is letting the players show him what theyv got but it sure doesnt look like much

I am concerned that there is so much talk of the big cull or the miracle draft

We have a list of players who have some skill or skill deficiencies

the coach should be usinmg the skills he has and training them to improve their deficiencies.

Use examples like Jones for effort Watts for skill and tell Morton thats what he mneeds to aim for (just using 3 examples)

Watts took the call to do more but is limited with his body size to replace mitch Jones couls replace mitch for effort but obviously cant play his forward role so there are obviously some things that cant be changed

BUT

i thought at season start that we had a reasonable squad of shorts talls mids forwards defenders and havent seen them played in position and for the time that they might

fitness and the injury list is obviously a problem and hopefully after a hard working off season we will see better results next year

There must be some hope as the Caseys are doing ok so a winning attitude can be developed

Forgot where I was heading with this BUT there are a lot of BUTS.

what? and lose the close ones?

Yep, we should definitely be modeling ourselves on a coach and his underperforming team destined to miss the 8 for another season.

FFS, maybe we should look at the top sides and model ourselves on them. You know, the ones that are hard at the ball and run all day and have great skills?

Just a theory.

The ridiculously overblown love-in for Richmond this year is getting beyond a joke. If we would should model our team on a club that loses to Gold Coast, can't win tight important games, has played in less finals than Fitzroy in the last 30 years and is a front running team with a strong midfield, one kp forward and not a lot else then there is something seriously wrong. Richmond and Hardwick are exactly where we were in 2010, close to the finals, been close but not good enough with top sides, and could easily capitulate horribly with a few unlucky injuries and lack of depth next year.