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How To Make Melbourne 'Relevant' Again ...

Range Rover

By Range Rover
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Range Rover Redleg

Range Rover   1,935

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Cloke, Boak, Caddy, Viney and Toumpas

+

A couple of experienced, hard nut moneyball free agents

+

Clark, Jones, Frawley, Grimes, Howe, Jamar and Jurrah

+

A couple of Misson pre-seasons into Watts, Trengove, Tapscott, Blease, Strauss, McDonald and Gysberts

+

Competition for spots from Gawn, Garland, Nicholson, Magner and a few select others

x

18 months to gel into a team playing disciplined, tough, defensive-minded Neeld Football ©

-

The deadwood, the old and the infirm of the past five years

=

A team capable of playing finals in 2014 and of challenging for the flag from 2015 onwards

Who's comin' with me?

Edited by Range Rover
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PaulRB Redleg

PaulRB   6,297

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Can't get too excited when your first line "Cloke, Boak, Caddy, ..." puts control of the outcome beyond the MFC coach and FD, and into the hands of three players who have never stated they want to come to our club...

Neeld and co will get us there, but it won't be via the most obvious (though unlikely path).

How many had Mitch Clark at Melb this time last year?

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Hannibal Redleg

Hannibal   5,814

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I actually share some of your blue sky junk, Rangey.

If you listen to many media commentators they're convinced we're consigned to being ordinary for the next 5 years, but history shows that isn't necessarily the case. There's no doubt that you have to make intelligent list management decisions, as well as having a little luck, but things can change far quicker that many think.

Between 1992-1994 the Swans won only 8 games. In 1993 they won one game for the year and they had a worse percentage than we have this year. They had the makings of some good players, which included Dale Lewis, Kelly, Creswell, Luff, Bayes, Dunkley, but in reality the cupboard was pretty bare. Three years later they played off in a grand final. They added from other clubs players such as Locket, Stewie Maxfield, Roos, Craig O'Brien, Derek Kickett and our own Kevin Dyson; and through the draft they picked up Micky O'Loughlin, Shannon Grant, Leo Barry and Stafford. They lost the GF to North, but from finishing last in both 1993 and 1994 they finished top in 1996 with 16.5 wins.

In 2000 and 2001 the Saints had a combined 6.5 wins finishing last and second last. By 2004 they finished third on 16 wins. Through trades in that time they added Gehrig, Hamill, Capuano, Black, Brett Voss and our own Stephen Powell and through the draft Riewoldt, Kosi, Ball, Montagna, Dal Santo and Goddard.

When Collingwood went down the ladder after the two GF losses to Brisbane many thought they'd be down for quite a while and they'd missed the premiership boat with the end of the "Buckley era". Who would have thought that within a few years of Buckley, Burns, etc. retiring that they'd win a flag ?

Ultimately there are different ways to skin a cat. Geelong built their success through the drafts of 1999 and 2001 with astute draft picks, great Father/Sons and it was topped off with the addition of Brad Ottens. I tend to favour building through the draft for a chance of sustained success and I have no doubt that if we'd nailed every pick over the last 5 years we'd be a very formidable proposition, but what's done is done and even players that haven't shown a lot due to injury issues have still shown developmental potential.

The idea of being aggressive with 'free agency', perhaps trading pick 13, as well as nailing quality picks in a good draft could transform our list quickly. An astute trade last year has already resulted in the best player on our list. I'm all for trying to get another big bodied mature key forward and possibly a Caddy type supplemented with picks 3, 4, and Viney. I see great benefits in getting Cloke, despite the cost, although many won't forget his poor year; and despite Caddy being awful on the weekend I won't judge him on one game. He's a talent with a big body and for anybody that saw him a few weeks earlier against Geelong you'd realise he can play. He's still only 19 with just 20 games to his name. Although, David King's comment on AFL 360 a few weeks ago, which I provide verbatim, "Caddy's a star", is typical media hubris.

I reckon there's definitely merit in picking mature players to supplement our group and I maintain that we have a core list that can improve quickly. But I'll be gutted if they trade out picks 3 and 4. Right now Nathan Jones is better than Boak and he wouldn't command pick 4 in an open market.

A big mature CHF to complement Clark, a few big bodied quality inside mids (Viney, Caddy, Wines), outside pace and class (Toumpas), small goal kicking forward outside of Blease, an elite kick or two from defence (maybe Strauss and another) and we're well on our way. We obviously won't get it all in this draft, but we can make big inroads.

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Range Rover Redleg

Range Rover   1,935

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I actually share some of your blue sky junk, Rangey.

If you listen to many media commentators they're convinced we're consigned to being ordinary for the next 5 years, but history shows that isn't necessarily the case. There's no doubt that you have to make intelligent list management decisions, as well as having a little luck, but things can change far quicker that many think.

Between 1992-1994 the Swans won only 8 games. In 1993 they won one game for the year and they had a worse percentage than we have this year. They had the makings of some good players, which included Dale Lewis, Kelly, Creswell, Luff, Bayes, Dunkley, but in reality the cupboard was pretty bare. Three years later they played off in a grand final. They added from other clubs players such as Locket, Stewie Maxfield, Roos, Craig O'Brien, Derek Kickett and our own Kevin Dyson; and through the draft they picked up Micky O'Loughlin, Shannon Grant, Leo Barry and Stafford. They lost the GF to North, but from finishing last in both 1993 and 1994 they finished top in 1996 with 16.5 wins.

In 2000 and 2001 the Saints had a combined 6.5 wins finishing last and second last. By 2004 they finished third on 16 wins. Through trades in that time they added Gehrig, Hamill, Capuano, Black, Brett Voss and our own Stephen Powell and through the draft Riewoldt, Kosi, Ball, Montagna, Dal Santo and Goddard.

When Collingwood went down the ladder after the two GF losses to Brisbane many thought they'd be down for quite a while and they'd missed the premiership boat with the end of the "Buckley era". Who would have thought that within a few years of Buckley, Burns, etc. retiring that they'd win a flag ?

Ultimately there are different ways to skin a cat. Geelong built their success through the drafts of 1999 and 2001 with astute draft picks, great Father/Sons and it was topped off with the addition of Brad Ottens. I tend to favour building through the draft for a chance of sustained success and I have no doubt that if we'd nailed every pick over the last 5 years we'd be a very formidable proposition, but what's done is done and even players that haven't shown a lot due to injury issues have still shown developmental potential.

The idea of being aggressive with 'free agency', perhaps trading pick 13, as well as nailing quality picks in a good draft could transform our list quickly. An astute trade last year has already resulted in the best player on our list. I'm all for trying to get another big bodied mature key forward and possibly a Caddy type supplemented with picks 3, 4, and Viney. I see great benefits in getting Cloke, despite the cost, although many won't forget his poor year; and despite Caddy being awful on the weekend I won't judge him on one game. He's a talent with a big body and for anybody that saw him a few weeks earlier against Geelong you'd realise he can play. He's still only 19 with just 20 games to his name. Although, David King's comment on AFL 360 a few weeks ago, which I provide verbatim, "Caddy's a star", is typical media hubris.

I reckon there's definitely merit in picking mature players to supplement our group and I maintain that we have a core list that can improve quickly. But I'll be gutted if they trade out picks 3 and 4. Right now Nathan Jones is better than Boak and he wouldn't command pick 4 in an open market.

A big mature CHF to complement Clark, a few big bodied quality inside mids (Viney, Caddy, Wines), outside pace and class (Toumpas), small goal kicking forward outside of Blease, an elite kick or two from defence (maybe Strauss and another) and we're well on our way. We obviously won't get it all in this draft, but we can make big inroads.

We'z on the same page Benny-H. The bare bones of a good side is there. It just needs a heart transplanted into it.

We can go a long way to setting ourselves up for the next seven years during this off-season, the most important in the club's history.

I'm betting we'll take the 3rd best kid in the country at pick 3, then use picks 4 and 12 to secure a Boak and a Caddy type. We can get away with one more young star at pick 3, but Neeld needs ready mades with hard bodies ready to go for round 1, 2013.

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bush demon Redleg

bush demon   2,010

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Posted

I actually share some of your blue sky junk, Rangey.

If you listen to many media commentators they're convinced we're consigned to being ordinary for the next 5 years, but history shows that isn't necessarily the case. There's no doubt that you have to make intelligent list management decisions, as well as having a little luck, but things can change far quicker that many think.

Between 1992-1994 the Swans won only 8 games. In 1993 they won one game for the year and they had a worse percentage than we have this year. They had the makings of some good players, which included Dale Lewis, Kelly, Creswell, Luff, Bayes, Dunkley, but in reality the cupboard was pretty bare. Three years later they played off in a grand final. They added from other clubs players such as Locket, Stewie Maxfield, Roos, Craig O'Brien, Derek Kickett and our own Kevin Dyson; and through the draft they picked up Micky O'Loughlin, Shannon Grant, Leo Barry and Stafford. They lost the GF to North, but from finishing last in both 1993 and 1994 they finished top in 1996 with 16.5 wins.

In 2000 and 2001 the Saints had a combined 6.5 wins finishing last and second last. By 2004 they finished third on 16 wins. Through trades in that time they added Gehrig, Hamill, Capuano, Black, Brett Voss and our own Stephen Powell and through the draft Riewoldt, Kosi, Ball, Montagna, Dal Santo and Goddard.

When Collingwood went down the ladder after the two GF losses to Brisbane many thought they'd be down for quite a while and they'd missed the premiership boat with the end of the "Buckley era". Who would have thought that within a few years of Buckley, Burns, etc. retiring that they'd win a flag ?

Ultimately there are different ways to skin a cat. Geelong built their success through the drafts of 1999 and 2001 with astute draft picks, great Father/Sons and it was topped off with the addition of Brad Ottens. I tend to favour building through the draft for a chance of sustained success and I have no doubt that if we'd nailed every pick over the last 5 years we'd be a very formidable proposition, but what's done is done and even players that haven't shown a lot due to injury issues have still shown developmental potential.

The idea of being aggressive with 'free agency', perhaps trading pick 13, as well as nailing quality picks in a good draft could transform our list quickly. An astute trade last year has already resulted in the best player on our list. I'm all for trying to get another big bodied mature key forward and possibly a Caddy type supplemented with picks 3, 4, and Viney. I see great benefits in getting Cloke, despite the cost, although many won't forget his poor year; and despite Caddy being awful on the weekend I won't judge him on one game. He's a talent with a big body and for anybody that saw him a few weeks earlier against Geelong you'd realise he can play. He's still only 19 with just 20 games to his name. Although, David King's comment on AFL 360 a few weeks ago, which I provide verbatim, "Caddy's a star", is typical media hubris.

I reckon there's definitely merit in picking mature players to supplement our group and I maintain that we have a core list that can improve quickly. But I'll be gutted if they trade out picks 3 and 4. Right now Nathan Jones is better than Boak and he wouldn't command pick 4 in an open market.

A big mature CHF to complement Clark, a few big bodied quality inside mids (Viney, Caddy, Wines), outside pace and class (Toumpas), small goal kicking forward outside of Blease, an elite kick or two from defence (maybe Strauss and another) and we're well on our way. We obviously won't get it all in this draft, but we can make big inroads.

NOt to mention our 1986, 1997 and 1999 seasons where we surged up the ladder the following year to play in prelims and a grand final.

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