The Melbourne Football Club needs stars, not average players

[Grimseyisgod 378]

I think that over the past few years, we have picked up average players and only a very few stars. Here's my take

Pederson,Rodan, Brynes, Gillies: Average

Dawes- Good

Clark- star

I have seen people talk about players like Yarran and Greenwood, but i am of the belief that they are just average.

I it enough of picking up average players. Melbourne need stars!

so i say target the big guns, or just go back to the draft and try to create a star.

It is very unlikely that a club will pick up an average player and theyll turn into a star.

Note: Mitch Clark was basically a star at Brisbane and they really didnt want him to go

[hardtack 10,127]

Deja-vu

[jabberwocky 2,301]

FMD I 'd be happy with some average players to replace the below standard ones.

But yeah I get the gist.

[Goat 98]

Gillies= back to county football

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

I think that over the past few years, we have picked up average players and only a very few stars. Here's my take

Pederson,Rodan, Brynes, Gillies: Average

Dawes- Good

Clark- star

I have seen people talk about players like Yarran and Greenwood, but i am of the belief that they are just average.

I it enough of picking up average players. Melbourne need stars!

so i say target the big guns, or just go back to the draft and try to create a star.

It is very unlikely that a club will pick up an average player and theyll turn into a star.

Note: Mitch Clark was basically a star at Brisbane and they really didnt want him to go

I agree completely

Get the best midfielder available, pay overs for it, cos we'll have to. We DESPERATELY need more of the 'real mcCoy' type players amongst this group, there is nobody setting a standard of quality for others to follow

[Sir Why You Little 34,697]

Absolutely...Average players will not improve us...The only thing that will improve is that average players Bank Account.

Let some other club top up their super.

[Grimseyisgod 378]

i think that over the past few years Melbourne have fallen into the trap of getting players for the sake of getting players.

I'd rather have kept Brad Green than pickup Rodan/Brynes

[dee-luded 2,958]

I think that over the past few years, we have picked up average players and only a very few stars. Here's my take

Pederson,Rodan, Brynes, Gillies: Average

Dawes- Good

Clark- star

I have seen people talk about players like Yarran and Greenwood, but i am of the belief that they are just average.

I it enough of picking up average players. Melbourne need stars!

so i say target the big guns, or just go back to the draft and try to create a star.

It is very unlikely that a club will pick up an average player and theyll turn into a star.

Note: Mitch Clark was basically a star at Brisbane and they really didnt want him to go

average, hmmn, so was Dangerfield & so was Boak going back 3 years.

I don't know about Yarran or Greenwood as I haven't been bothered watching those clubs over the last couple of years. but fro0m the bit I've seen Yarrans skills are nice?

Greenwood I don't remember seeing

The point is while they may be performing at a low level at the moment, doesn't mean they don't have it in them..

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

I think that over the past few years, we have picked up average players and only a very few stars. Here's my take

Pederson,Rodan, Brynes, Gillies: Average

Dawes- Good

Clark- star

I have seen people talk about players like Yarran and Greenwood, but i am of the belief that they are just average.

I it enough of picking up average players. Melbourne need stars!

so i say target the big guns, or just go back to the draft and try to create a star.

It is very unlikely that a club will pick up an average player and theyll turn into a star.

Note: Mitch Clark was basically a star at Brisbane and they really didnt want him to go

The thought process behind bringing most of those you've named above was about bringing about a culture change as well as some games experience. It was never about picking up 'stars'. It's definitely debatable whether or not some of those players have contributed positive change at our club. Clark and Dawes are definite keepers but the rest was Mark Neeld's attempt at addressing a few list and club culture issues.

As for stars, the club has always struggled to produce them, but in my opinion our club's inability to produce highly rated players since the Daniher years has killed us.

All we can hope for as PJ and GB keep telling us is that with great coaches, heavy investment in our recruiting, player development and list management, we should be able to produce some quality players over the next 5 to 10 years.

Quality leaders will always fast track the development of young talent, so the nurturing of our young leaders in Grimes, Trengove, Viney and Hogan is imperative.

[The Hallowed Turf 95]

Correct me if I'm wrong but we get picks 2 & 3? One of them must be used on a gun mid. Someone like a Dustin Martin or Rory Sloane. Throw the world at them. See if their club will bite. We paid overs for Clark but he is quality (barring his injury). People will say Martin's ill disiplined, or Dale Thomas is injury prone. No one is 100% guaranteed to perform as expected. We need big bodies to complement Viney, Toumpas etc. in the years to come. And we need some bloody mongrel!

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

And obviously picking up some bonafide stars from other clubs would speed the process up even more.

I hope we can snag one or two through FA.

[DeeSpencer 23,296]

We could do with some greater threads than this one though.

But seriously we need both. We need to improve the players we have and recruit guys who can play a best 22 role and hope some of them are stars.

Sydney won a flag last year with a midfield full of top liners who you could consider about 5 of them or none of them as stars. Freo are top 4 this year and their midfield stars are Mundy, Barlow and Fyfe. All fantastic players but unless Fyfe improves his disposal none will go down as superstars of the game.

The mature age players we drafted last year were not recruited to be stars. I'm sure the club was hoping for more out of Dawes but he has played some decent footy under the circumstances. Rodan really was a one year proposition to soften the blow of losing the malcontent Moloney. Byrnes was never to be a star, Gillies was to give a chance to a depth defender and Pedersen to take a depth tall who could fill a role.

We sat outside our first draft picks in last years draft for stars. Hogan, Viney, Toumpas and even Kent. The latter have shown more than enough to say they can be good AFL players. The first 2 very well could be stars.

Our first pick in this years draft will be spent on a potential star I'm sure of that. If we get another priority pick we could look to trade it for a guy who will impact immediately and might get to the next level or we could double down in the draft. Same for our second or third round picks. Sydney fans will tell you Josh Kennedy is a star. Tiger fans will tell you Maric is a star.

[DeeSpencer 23,296]

And obviously picking up some bonafide stars from other clubs would speed the process up even more.

I hope we can snag one or two through FA.

Have you seen this years FA list. The 2 legitimate stars left on it are Franklin who we aren't getting or Thomas who you'd be very careful on when he's had 3 ankle surgeries in one year. Unless you consider Eddie Betts a star their isn't much around.

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

Have you seen this years FA list. The 2 legitimate stars left on it are Franklin who we aren't getting or Thomas who you'd be very careful on when he's had 3 ankle surgeries in one year. Unless you consider Eddie Betts a star their isn't much around.

Well through a trade then. I don't mind which medium it's through. If there's a chance to secure someone and we are bettering the club then we should go for it.

[Machsy 2,858]

Bloody captain obvious here with the OP.

If only it were so simple.

And Mitch Clark is quite handy.

[Arrow 1,257]

I wonder how the phone call goes to the 'stars' managers'.

Good evening,

Just enquiring to see whether your player has any interest in coming to the Dees.

Our last 5 years of footy have been extremely successful in both wins and losses and in money revenue. Like almost all clubs our membership numbers are raising rapidly.

What are your players thought's on our coach? ..... Or our board? ......
Never to worry about that, he can look to our development system to know in a few years he'll be surrounded by good footballers. Even when our development in the rarity fails, we do that elite club culture to fall back on, which we're confident will bring out the best in our players.

We also had the classic scandal where we deliberately lost games, to get a draft pick.. Who left us anyway. We truly believe that decision has made us this strong club we are today.

Now... If I was a manager I'd be surprised if I was still on the line to the second paragraph.

Contrary to what the media tell us, players especially stars do not leave for 'non-expansion' money.

The two close examples are Clark and Goddard. Clark has deep issues with Brisbane as a club, and it was clear he would take anything just to get out of there. He's on big bucks because Freo had buckets of it, but we had more. Goddard saw what everyone could see and jumped off the Titanic. He's stated he wants a premiership and he was lucky it resulted in good money at Essendon but it wasn't the reason he left.

Our club has tried to quick fix before... Remember when we thought getting a few good draft picks would be the answer..

Bringing in a star in many instances is the same.. Paying a premium to skip out doing the hard work. It's not the answer.

When Ted Richards left Essendon to head to Sydney he initially flopped. Dropped twice and spent 10 weeks in the 2's only getting back in after a season ending injury to their fullback who I can be corrected by I think was Craig Bolton... He was considered a flop. This year he will find himself in the AA squad. His last 3 years have been crucial in Sydney's brilliant growing dynasty of a team.

Albeit not a star of the game, he is a star in his position created by a player who was an 'average player'. The club worked with him, and he wanted to work hard to get himself to this level... My gut feel is our club isn't pushing our players hard enough to force them to get the most out of themselves. I'd love to know how much extra running our blokes do outside of the club.. Sadly, I'd think very little.

We could bring in 5 stars next year and for 3 years we'd be great.. But its wallpapering over the actual problem.. Get our development right. Back our blokes in, stop throwing out cash and make our 44 want to be the best possible players they could be.

Right now, we look at Cameron Pederson as an absolute spud. This year he has been an unmitigated disaster, but like Ted Richards 10 years ago, Cameron has enough raw skills to be a good footballer but the club and he need to work together to make it happen.

For the sake of all the ridiculous ideas I've posted on here before, I'm happy to say I can see Cameron ending up a good footballer, a required best 22. But not doing the workload he's doing at the moment. Like many at AAMI Park, they need to realise that right now they're simply not doing enough..

Come on Melbourne, for the life and sanity of all of us please work this out!!!

Edited August 23, 2013 by Demon Land 7

[Arrow 1,257]

And yes, I'll take Levi Greenwood.

[DemonWA 3,502]

The title of this Thread is worse than the OP itself, but yeah...In an ideal world we'd have 30 stars on our list.

[dee-luded 2,958]

Lets have a Moratorium on flashy lightweight really outside types this year & maybe next.

.. .. until we get some real hard engine room drivers who can drive a cultural change thruout the organisation...

no more sweetly spoken pretty boys from the draft, we need tough guys, (eg) Smitchells, BHodges, Sewells, Chappies, SSelwoods type of characters... from all positional U-18 NAB Cup players.

IMO its imperative to firstly change the cultural style, of our inside club player thinking first, before we try for the highly skilled but lightly framed type young players.

get the heads thinking tough first, then add the icing later.

Edited August 23, 2013 by dee-luded

[Powell 52]

You devolp 'stars', we shouldn't be looking at everyother club to try and grab their good players! We should be looking at the talent on our list and turning thoose players into stars!

Seconding the op needs to get his head out of the air, no quality afl player in their right mind would want to come to mfc!

[dee-luded 2,958]

You devolp 'stars', we shouldn't be looking at everyother club to try and grab their good players! We should be looking at the talent on our list and turning thoose players into stars!

Seconding the op needs to get his head out of the air, no quality afl player in their right mind would want to come to mfc!

if this was a response to my post above, I've edited it to make it read better.

[Akum 2,660]

I wonder how the phone call goes to the 'stars' managers'.

Good evening,

Just enquiring to see whether your player has any interest in coming to the Dees.

Our last 5 years of footy have been extremely successful in both wins and losses and in money revenue. Like almost all clubs our membership numbers are raising rapidly.

What are your players thought's on our coach? ..... Or our board? ......

Never to worry about that, he can look to our development system to know in a few years he'll be surrounded by good footballers. Even when our development in the rarity fails, we do that elite club culture to fall back on, which we're confident will bring out the best in our players.

We also had the classic scandal where we deliberately lost games, to get a draft pick.. Who left us anyway. We truly believe that decision has made us this strong club we are today.

Now... If I was a manager I'd be surprised if I was still on the line to the second paragraph.

Contrary to what the media tell us, players especially stars do not leave for 'non-expansion' money.

The two close examples are Clark and Goddard. Clark has deep issues with Brisbane as a club, and it was clear he would take anything just to get out of there. He's on big bucks because Freo had buckets of it, but we had more. Goddard saw what everyone could see and jumped off the Titanic. He's stated he wants a premiership and he was lucky it resulted in good money at Essendon but it wasn't the reason he left.

Our club has tried to quick fix before... Remember when we thought getting a few good draft picks would be the answer..

Bringing in a star in many instances is the same.. Paying a premium to skip out doing the hard work. It's not the answer.

When Ted Richards left Essendon to head to Sydney he initially flopped. Dropped twice and spent 10 weeks in the 2's only getting back in after a season ending injury to their fullback who I can be corrected by I think was Craig Bolton... He was considered a flop. This year he will find himself in the AA squad. His last 3 years have been crucial in Sydney's brilliant growing dynasty of a team.

Albeit not a star of the game, he is a star in his position created by a player who was an 'average player'. The club worked with him, and he wanted to work hard to get himself to this level... My gut feel is our club isn't pushing our players hard enough to force them to get the most out of themselves. I'd love to know how much extra running our blokes do outside of the club.. Sadly, I'd think very little.

We could bring in 5 stars next year and for 3 years we'd be great.. But its wallpapering over the actual problem.. Get our development right. Back our blokes in, stop throwing out cash and make our 44 want to be the best possible players they could be.

Right now, we look at Cameron Pederson as an absolute spud. This year he has been an unmitigated disaster, but like Ted Richards 10 years ago, Cameron has enough raw skills to be a good footballer but the club and he need to work together to make it happen.

For the sake of all the ridiculous ideas I've posted on here before, I'm happy to say I can see Cameron ending up a good footballer, a required best 22. But not doing the workload he's doing at the moment. Like many at AAMI Park, they need to realise that right now they're simply not doing enough..

Come on Melbourne, for the life and sanity of all of us please work this out!!!

Going so well until the Pedersen bit.

[jnrmac 19,203]

If you guys see any great mids lying around can you please let the club know. We need some and it would be a real help. Thanks,.

Or we could put an ad in the paper. Didn't we get a coach that way??

Mids wanted - I can see it now...

[Grimseyisgod 378]

average, hmmn, so was Dangerfield & so was Boak going back 3 years.

I don't know about Yarran or Greenwood as I haven't been bothered watching those clubs over the last couple of years. but fro0m the bit I've seen Yarrans skills are nice?

Greenwood I don't remember seeing

The point is while they may be performing at a low level at the moment, doesn't mean they don't have it in them..

Dangerfield was one of the most hyped players i have ever seen, everyone knew he'd be a star. Boak was in the same boat, both VERY highly regarded and actually showed alot. Rodan was always pretty decent (nothing above that) and Brynes was never that good.

Yarran has proven NOTHING and has been in the system for a while, same with Greenwood.

The thought process behind bringing most of those you've named above was about bringing about a culture change as well as some games experience. It was never about picking up 'stars'. It's definitely debatable whether or not some of those players have contributed positive change at our club. Clark and Dawes are definite keepers but the rest was Mark Neeld's attempt at addressing a few list and club culture issues.

As for stars, the club has always struggled to produce them, but in my opinion our club's inability to produce highly rated players since the Daniher years has killed us.

All we can hope for as PJ and GB keep telling us is that with great coaches, heavy investment in our recruiting, player development and list management, we should be able to produce some quality players over the next 5 to 10 years.

Quality leaders will always fast track the development of young talent, so the nurturing of our young leaders in Grimes, Trengove, Viney and Hogan is imperative.

Agreed, Clark and Dawes have been great for the group mentality. The others have proven nothing

We could do with some greater threads than this one though.

But seriously we need both. We need to improve the players we have and recruit guys who can play a best 22 role and hope some of them are stars.

Sydney won a flag last year with a midfield full of top liners who you could consider about 5 of them or none of them as stars. Freo are top 4 this year and their midfield stars are Mundy, Barlow and Fyfe. All fantastic players but unless Fyfe improves his disposal none will go down as superstars of the game.

The mature age players we drafted last year were not recruited to be stars. I'm sure the club was hoping for more out of Dawes but he has played some decent footy under the circumstances. Rodan really was a one year proposition to soften the blow of losing the malcontent Moloney. Byrnes was never to be a star, Gillies was to give a chance to a depth defender and Pedersen to take a depth tall who could fill a role.

We sat outside our first draft picks in last years draft for stars. Hogan, Viney, Toumpas and even Kent. The latter have shown more than enough to say they can be good AFL players. The first 2 very well could be stars.

Our first pick in this years draft will be spent on a potential star I'm sure of that. If we get another priority pick we could look to trade it for a guy who will impact immediately and might get to the next level or we could double down in the draft. Same for our second or third round picks. Sydney fans will tell you Josh Kennedy is a star. Tiger fans will tell you Maric is a star.

Josh Kennedy is an absolute star as Maric really isnt that good anymore. He had a good year last year and has been poor all this year.

We do not need more average players, we just need stars and to do develop our lads

[Allen Jakovich 516]

The only thing that'll improve us is confidence, and the only way to build confidence is to improve the personnel around the players. This will see them grow in self belief and then the tide will turn.

If there's one thing we don't have its a shortage of talent.