Come seasons end there will be 17 clubs looking to improve and 1 happy club looking to go back to back in 2015.

In this context, what can the MFC do to fast track our run up the ladder.

Recruiting - This year with 3 experienced recruits making it into out top 5 player, we seem to be improving with our drafting (from a low base), what more can we do?

Development - Casey struggled and failed to make finals, indicating we still lack quality dept and development has a long way to improve. The ins/Outs for the AFL team also often seems to be adding little. What would be the ideal development platform for the MFC? an academy (aka Swans)? , a full MFC VFL team?

Wildcards - Clark, Jurrah, ... are seemingly in our grasp, if they are keen and able, should we try to find a way? Quality yet with issues.

Ideas - International players?

Are we doing everything we can?

Better skills and Hogan holding some marks

How about just doing the basics well. Like kickin', runnin' and markin'

Jurrah will NEVER play AFL again, he is struggling to stay out of jail for goodness sake!

But i agree with spirit, doing the basic for 4 quarters would be a great start.

The only place where Clark and Jurrah are "seemingly in our grasp" is within the fiction section of Demonland.

As Spirit of 26 said, we need to be able to do the basics well, over and over and over each game. And get our fitness up to AFL level.

A bang on year with recruiting would also do wonders, either trading or drafting.

Fitness improvement - 20%

Skills improvement - 40%

A long kicking, quarter-back type player for half back

Hogan fit

A replacement for Frawley

1 superstar

Just typing that makes me depressed - we really are coming from a long way back.

I don't think out fitness is that terrible, we are only tired because of our bad skills making us run so much!

Agree Maldon.

I guess the reason to include the Clark Jurrah dream in there is that all clubs will be looking to "do the basics well, over and over and over each game..." and to lift to and exceed "AFL level" fitness, so what can we do EXTRA to bridge the gap?

How can we find or develop the superstar, etc... we need?

Above what our opponents are doing?

Edited September 5, 201410 yr by PaulRB

Fitness improvement - 20%

Skills improvement - 40%

A long kicking, quarter-back type player for half back

Hogan fit

A replacement for Frawley

1 superstar

Just typing that makes me depressed - we really are coming from a long way back.

Fitness improvement - meh! We have what we have, we'll still be one of the slowest, unfittest teams in the comp next year

Skills improvement - they have skills (watch the pre-game warm ups), just no confidence under match pressure. Can't see this changing much unless we get a few G. Ablett types to lift the club.

Quarter-back - Malecski (how long will he stay fit and effective?), Salem might be okay in this role?

Hogan fit - fingers crossed, but with service like last year he'll struggle to kick anywhere near the 50 goal mark

Frawley replacement - Sam Frost? Probably good

superstar - Hope we get 2, we need someone to drag us up by the bootlaces and help us to address the lack of confidence on matchday issue.

How about just doing the basics well. Like kickin', runnin' and markin'

Ok Tommy

Fitness improvement - 20%

Skills improvement - 40%

A long kicking, quarter-back type player for half back

Hogan fit

A replacement for Frawley

1 superstar

Just typing that makes me depressed - we really are coming from a long way back.

I think I would be happy with 1, 2 and 4 in 2015 Maldonboy

and yes a long way back

I know this Dank guy who can speed things up a bit.

I know this Dank guy who can speed things up a bit.

Whatever it takes!

Quarterback - I would really look at Salem for this role although he is a bit young. But his kicking is very good and he is a monster tackler.

Superstar - there don't seem to be many on offer for a move or trade. We could really struggle to get one so we might have to wait for Viney/Salem/JKH/Tyson to become one.

Fitness - Misson has had three years, maybe time for a change?? With the exception of N Jones and Cross, our players still cannot offensively AND defensively spread from the midfield for an entire game. Can this be changed in one preseason? Bsically yes. Port Adelaide changed from dumb and slow to quick and attacking in one preseason so there is no reason we can't.

Frost to replace Frawley.

Skills improvement - where the %#&* is this going to come from?

Hogan to be fit.

It isn't looking too good that we can improve where we need to in one preseason.

And we MUST get this succession plan in place.

On the international option, I really hope we are looking at Conor McKenna. From all reports has huge potential.

Jurrah will NEVER play AFL again, he is struggling to stay out of jail for goodness sake!

But i agree with spirit, doing the basic for 4 quarters would be a great start.

NO anti Jurrah comments permitted around here or you will be branded a racist, words like JAIL, NEVER, STRUGGLING all stereotyping

The only way to hasten a rise up the ladder is for the club to make the RIGHT Decisions. We cannot afford mistakes.

Yes it sounds corny. But it is the only way. When a decision is agreed upon by a group of people or made by one person, these decisions just have to be the right decisions.

Quarterback - I would really look at Salem for this role although he is a bit young. But his kicking is very good and he is a monster tackler.

Superstar - there don't seem to be many on offer for a move or trade. We could really struggle to get one so we might have to wait for Viney/Salem/JKH/Tyson to become one.

Fitness - Misson has had three years, maybe time for a change?? With the exception of N Jones and Cross, our players still cannot offensively AND defensively spread from the midfield for an entire game. Can this be changed in one preseason? Bsically yes. Port Adelaide changed from dumb and slow to quick and attacking in one preseason so there is no reason we can't.

Frost to replace Frawley.

Skills improvement - where the %#&* is this going to come from?

Hogan to be fit.

It isn't looking too good that we can improve where we need to in one preseason.

And we MUST get this succession plan in place.

Agree completely re: the succession plan, sooner the better for the senior assistant

Skills will improve once players like M. Jones, Terlich, Grimes are either traded out/replaced or just providing competition for places in the Best 22. Also the game plan must prohibit players like TMac having the ball in his hands coming out of the D50.

Misson is probably doing alright, we didn't get that many soft tissue injuries this year did we? I tend to concur with Azzkikca above, our fitness is suffering because of the amount of tail we're chasing after turning it over.

SUperstar(s) - Gonna be really difficult. Clark was one but didn't work out unfortunately. If we can keep upgrading the list in the style of Tyson/Cross/Vince/Michie we'll hopefully improve but would love a big scalp to come to the dees like a Dangerfield, Ablett, or Judd (in his prime) type player.

Astute ans strategic recruiting. We MUST nail all our draft picks- also, when it comes to free agency- we must retain our players to allow us to pick up free agents ourselves. To do this we must become a better team post haste, which comes down to perfecting our development and of course, nailing those draft picks.

When trading draft picks, if possible we should deal with clubs in similar positions to ourselves. Dealing with powerhouses will only help to prolong their dominance, easier said than done as a good trade will strengthen us- but if it also strengthens the team your chasing, how do you bridge the gap?

In short we need to perfect the elements that are in our control, and be more strategic dealing with other clubs. We need to shift our mindset to winning at all costs and be more ruthless with moving on passengers, which I think we are in the process of doing.

I know this Dank guy who can speed things up a bit.

We have to explore this dank.

And of course get rid of Paul Ro'os.

Time for gazza to inject the new coach.

Only way we can close the gap quickly is by doing what we did last year, getting discards or trades from other clubs that are better than our own and (as you point out) nailing most of our picks. We might be able to hasten the process if we can lure a big fish or two. If that means we are getting rid of high picks, I'm not that fussed, so long as the big fish are in their prime (although it all boils down to luck in the end, Clark ticked all these boxes but lady luck decided to drop her pants and shower us on that one).

P.S. it would help if all the picks we trade out to other teams turn out to be duds.

Edited September 5, 201410 yr by leucopogon

_{Simply win more games.}

When I think about this these days - I do the opposite of what Maldon has done above - anyone younger than 21/22 are not mentioned as an origin of improvement.

Hogan might straighten us up a bit but he is just 20 next year.

The men we have now and the men we recruit will dictate how we go in 2015.

The Midfield

Looking at the B+F - Jones (1), Tyson (2), Vince (3), Cross (5), Viney (11) and Matt Jones (13) were the only pure midfielders in the top 20 players...

One of those 6 players is a year away from retirement, another is 20 and another is a very limited worker.

Last year I was saying that Jones needed help, thankfully, now I am saying that Jones, Vince, and Tyson need help.

If you want to short circuit this - get another Tyson, and get another Vince, and then do it again the next year.

We simply have a third world midfield still.

The problem is in the title of this thread... this is not something that can be done quickly.

It has to be done precise and methodical. The Dees have one chance left to get this right or we will become the next Fitzroy. Hast and rash decisions caused this mess, quick fixes and half arsed plans made it worse. Roos knows it will take time, why else do you think he signed on the extra year.

We are in good shape off field with the administration and football dept. Now it's all about the list -making good choices, developing them properly and keeping them healthy. Simple really!