Jake Niall's piece in today's Age is very interesting:

Demons in purgatory

The 11 out-of-contract players whose futures are unclear are Liam Jurrah, Brent Moloney, Jared Rivers, Ricky Petterd, Joel Macdonald, Lynden Dunn, Matthew Bate, Clint Bartram, James Sellar, Jamie Bennell and Troy Davis.

The Demons have been in contract discussions with youngsters James Strauss, Rohan Bail, Jake Spencer and Sam Blease, whose pace and kicking ability have led to him attracting strong interest from other clubs.

Midfielder Jordan Gysberts, meanwhile, is under contract, but is on the radar of Geelong and might be considered for trade - making it a dozen players whose futures are uncertain, though the Demons will clearly keep some and lose others, depending on their needs and their capacity to attract players.

He mentions that Sellar only signed a one year deal when he came across (thank goodness, I assumed it was 2!).

Certainly this impasse leaves a lot of players futures in limbo and I'm not sure how good for morale this is in the locker room.

Of the eleven, I would happily show the door to Petterd, Macdonald, Dunne, Bate, Sellar and Bennell.

I don't think Dunn will be too happy about that...couldn't give a stuff how Dunn feels!

Definently interesting makes you wonder if it will rub some people up the wrong way, I can see Moloney and Rivers looking at their options being free agents. I would like to keep both.

Blease is our main concern.

He would be priority number 1 at the moment.

We can afford to pay Blease what he may want though, so we shouldn't panic.

Keep in mind, we would've been very busy lately with Howe and Jones.

I think if we can sign Blease, then it tops off a good year in terms of keeping our gun players.

Some interesting movements amongst all this ... a few players "out" who I would have expected to be "in" (Sellar, Troy Davis, Rivers ... Gysberts???), plus a couple who I would have seen as possibly "out", but seem to be in (Bail, Spencer, perhaps Evans who hasn't played this year but has just been promoted).

The off-season is going to be a lot more exciting than the season that precedes it.

I would've thought that we'd be keen to keep Rivers. Maybe it's him who has put negotiations on hold? I'd be very p*ssed off if Neeld didn't think he deserved another contract.

I'd give Sellar another year, and wait to see how Bartram's operation goes. I'm not surprised Davis isn't in discussions... two years on the list and he has barely made an impression. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him go. It'll be interesting to see what Geelong offer up for the Gys. Definitely worth listening to them.

Jurrah's future obviously depends on his court case. Does anyone know when a verdict is expected to be reached? Or would we have to decide whether or not to re-sign him before the case is over?

I think we'll keep one of Macdonald and Dunn...toss a coin to see which one it is.

Bennell, Moloney, Petterd, and Bate can go.

I'm surprised with Rivers being told to wait when we seem to be awfully keen to tie up the likes of Jake Spencer & Rohan Bail.

"MELBOURNE has taken the radical step of putting contract discussions with 11 players on hold until mid-October"

Hallelujah !!!

NOW....we're getting serious.

It's a dangerous strategy but at the same time, it's bold and it's brave. Franchise clubs aside, we're the worst performed club despite our early draft picks in recent years. Something has to be done and you have to admire the football club for taking what has to be regarded as a courageous step.

I like this part because it demonstrates that the club is going all out to address the crux of our problems -

The Demons are likely to be in the market for three or four experienced players from other clubs, with their inability to run and spread an obvious weakness that requires redress.

Exactly what free agency is about.

It can help clubs and players alike.

I applaud Melbourne. 90% of those mentioned were stated here as trade bait so many times.

If someone wants them so be it. If we do want them after the trade period, then we have a market value or not to offer them if we want.

Actually WJ the only danger would be NOT to take such a stance after years and years of inane nothingness. Some will think this means we are attempting to discard all and sundry, that 'their' fav player is up for the chop where in reality its simply the club looking to see who's around, who's interested in anyone on our list and what the best outcome for the playing list might be. I would expect many to indeeed remain with the club but there will be a couple of players let go as the list simply needs to improve.

We cant stay the same...we're doomed if we do.

It's a dangerous strategy but at the same time, it's bold and it's brave. Franchise clubs aside, we're the worst performed club despite our early draft picks in recent years. Something has to be done and you have to admire the football club for taking what has to be regarded as a courageous step.

A few times when I've moved house or just been having a bit of a spring clean I often come across weird & wonderful trinkets that I forgot that I had. Sometimes the throwing out of these things is delayed under the misguided notions "oh, that'll come in handy" or "I bet somebody, somewhere could make use of that, so why not me?" The next time a clean up comes round these things often get thrown out anyway with me musing "what a load of junk!"

There are many television programs that document people who are swimming in their own junk. I guess they just can't bring themselves to throw out anything based on factors including sentimentality, a little bit of jealousy, selfishness & an overwhelming notion that having all of this stuff somehow makes or will make their lives better.

It is a very human thing to want to hoard crap but ultimately your life is much better without useless clutter. This trading & drafting period will tell us whether or not Mark Neeld is a hoarder. Hopefully he can get rid of our crap without ruining it by picking up more junk from the neighbours' hard rubbish.

I'm surprised with Rivers being told to wait when we seem to be awfully keen to tie up the likes of Jake Spencer & Rohan Bail.

Yeah that's a weird one for me as well. We have to sign Rivers up without him there are way too many holes to fill in the off season. I would get his contract done ASAP.

When you do serious house remodelling you get down and dirty amongst the reno's. No difference here. Its not like we're trying to tweak something, we're rebuilding and in a different guise.

About bloody time.....hoorah !!

If nothing else this shows the NEW lay of the land. The footy landscape has /will change forwever with FA introduced. Glad to see we are being more than slightly proactive.

It amuses me so many scream for a change in fortunes yet dont want any realy change to ocur in case their favourite darling of a player is the one to be sacrificed for the greater good.. A bit like NIMBY meets the footy fan !!

Would be VERY disappointed not to see Rivers finish his career at the MFC. Hope he gets an extension.

I've heard the club reckons there's big upside to Evans. Pity his career thus far has been cruelled by injury.

I would've thought Sellar's done enough to get another year.

Good, get rid of some of the dead wood. Writing is clearly on the wall for some

If I were in charge -

Delist - MacDonald, Petterd, Dunn, Bate, Bartram, Bennell, Davis, Spencer

Re-Sign - Jurrah, Moloney, Rivers, Strauss, Bail, Blease, Sellar

Neeld is clearly wanting to get his own list together and it looks like there are no sacred cows. Rivers, Moloney, Gys. Wow. He is not going to get skewered with someone else's list.

I hope it doesn't backfire. We could find ourselves with no senior players!!

INteresting from a coaching perspective - do you coach the cattle you have (which clearly he hasn't done this year) or do you try to recruit players that will play the way you want them to play.

No point having players that WONT play your game. Hes obviously had an interesting year discovering who they are...and arent.

It will be a very different 'playiing ' team in 2013.

CANT WAIT !!

I hope it doesn't backfire. We could find ourselves with no senior players!!

Sort how it is now. It could not backfire more than it has to date.

INteresting from a coaching perspective - do you coach the cattle you have (which clearly he hasn't done this year) or do you try to recruit players that will play the way you want them to play.

Ah which cattle has he coached this year then?

Regardless of who was coaching, with the performances of a number of players and the team this year there was going to be a big clean out

I don't think Dunn will be too happy about that..

Phhffftt!

It's a dangerous strategy but at the same time, it's bold and it's brave. Franchise clubs aside, we're the worst performed club despite our early draft picks in recent years. Something has to be done and you have to admire the football club for taking what has to be regarded as a courageous step.

I like this part because it demonstrates that the club is going all out to address the crux of our problems -

Jack that will only address part of the problem. The list thats on hold generally represent D/E grade players. Unless we get quality talent in those experienced players, we still lack top quality talented footballers

Yeah that's a weird one for me as well. We have to sign Rivers up without him there are way too many holes to fill in the off season. I would get his contract done ASAP.

im in a different boat here. Firstly, i love Rivers and the passion he plays with. the only thing i would say is that i think there is a number of players who can do what he does and the backline is looking pretty solid for the future. Tmac has come along in leaps in bounds. We know what Chip and Garland are capable of. Sellar is cheap and can take a gorrilla and is also able to go foward. If rivers is not there then maybe Davis has a chance to come up (also will be cheap).

All this points to the possibility that without Rivers we free up some more cash to go after some guns.We cant get too caught up in sentiment with where we are currently at. we have major holes in the middle that need plugging.

Once again, I love Rivers and will be really pleased if he stays, but i dont think its too difficult to find players to do the job he does.

_{I'll be interested to see how acurate this article is. I note that no one from Melbourne has been quoted in it....}

_{Personally I really want to see Rivers, Blease and Strauss signed up. The rest I'm not as concerned about.}

_{Gysberts is an interesting one. If Geelong are really keen, what sort of a trade would they offer???}

Bartram is one of particular interest, I guess it's based around how the surgery goes and whether or not we put him on a rookie spot?

No mention of Cook or Jetta who are OOC this year!