I was contemplating the recent trade ins, draftees and now rookies, and its apparent that competition for a spot in our team has gone up several notches and will be hard to earn.

That Lumumba, Gartlett, Frost, Hogan, are coming into the team, with the loss of just Frawley (Clarke we never really had) means several 2014 regulars won't get a regular game.

That what many reported to be the hardest day of training at the MFC occured on the same day as our high pick recruits arrived was no co-incidence. It was intended to give them a rapid reality check that simply being a high draft pick won't get you into this team in 2015 - A mental and physical shock' for Demon draftees after brutal running session, that both our two prize pick in Petracca and Brayshaw were suitably humbled was the intention.

That we just picked up two new rookies Aaron Vandenberg (aged 22, 188 cm, 90 kgs) and Mitchel White (aged 18, 188 cm, 85kg), both competing for midfield and flankers spots.

That Grimes reliquished the Captaincy to focus on his football, read, staying in our best 22.

All indicates that Roo's is consciously creating an high performance environment with intense competition for spots in the MFC 22, and that the bar is high and getting higher.

It feels different to anything I've seen at this club for a long time, and bodes well.

I freaking love the smell of a professional organisation.

Yes we have great depth......just hope there enough class amongst it.

Yes we have great depth......just hope there enough class amongst it.

That there is my issue. We seem to have stock piled some C grade talent in terms of genuine mids over the last 2 years but its still a massive improvement over our D grade bits and pieces players such as Strauss, Tappy, Blease, Evans, Nicholson, Barry etc

I do like the fact now though that come round 1 our new draftees will be competing against players like Michie, Newman, McKenzie, Riley who I don't believe are best 22 but will be backing themselves to get in there and mature enough now not to let there opportunities slip.

Will definitely create a culture were the players will be busting a nut to first crack a gig and then to keep a spot.

Keeps them honest and on there toes.

Gotta like that

I never realised how much a team could be changed over one drafting period!

All the inclusions fill a hole the team previously had; we have a line breaking defender now, a genuine small forward, we have recruited a potential 200 gamer KPD and with the young midfielders we secured, we have given ourselves every chance to have a dominant midfield in years to come.

I'd say another successful draft period next year and we can finally begin a march towards number 13!

I never realised how much a team could be changed over one drafting period!

All the inclusions fill a hole the team previously had; we have a line breaking defender now, a genuine small forward, we have recruited a potential 200 gamer KPD and with the young midfielders we secured, we have given ourselves every chance to have a dominant midfield in years to come.

I'd say another successful draft period next year and we can finally begin a march towards number 13!

I reckon it is two drafting periods so far sweet Dee it started in November 2013

That is true, 2013 and this off season has seen many changes.

That is true, 2013 and this off season has seen many changes.

Imagine next year when we land a big name recruit via free agency.

Can only hope.

Great to see the midfield depth start to take shape. The competition has to be good for the team.

I hope we get an A grader or two from the next year or so. How long since we have had one???

The last true A grader we had was Gary Lyon IMO. Neitz was a ripper but not really A grade, Schwarta could have been before the knees, Jones IMO is knocking on the door, his stats compare to Abletts.

To win a premiership a side need s couple of these players

It occurs to me that one of the rationales for the recruiting on "mature" mids in Riley, Mitchie, Vandenburg, Cross, Vince over the past couple of years is to relieve the pressure on our high draft pick mids having to play and perform before they are ready or at the expense of their medium term fitness and confidence in their talent.

My opinion is that its rare for a kid to walk into an AFL list and be fit and resilient enough to play a season in the middle. I think it takes until their third season (third pre-season) for them to be at AFL level fitness without inducing a injury, or form drop that affects their confidence.

Trengove - pushed too hard too early, developed foot issues then confidence drop

Toumpas - pushed too hard too early, developed hip issues then confidence drop

Tapscott - hip issues never able to impose on field, confidence drop

Watts - pushed too hard too early, unable to impose then confidence drop

With JKH, Salem, Viney, Hogan and now the new crop of kids we have and now should be able to give them time to develop their bodies to AFL level before they are expected to step up to AFL level intensity and performance.

Hogan, through a training related injury has had two years of development at the club in the reserves or in rehabilitation, and while him playing in 2014 would have been great, it may have hindered his medium and long term ability.

When we talk about getting development right its having the depth of list such that your talented kids have to be properly physically and mentally prepared BEFORE they play at AFL level, simply because if they're not others will take their spots.

I reckon it is two drafting periods so far sweet Dee it started in November 2013

definitely 2

the third will ice the total transformation from a league easy beat to a serious competitor

I was contemplating the recent trade ins, draftees and now rookies, and its apparent that competition for a spot in our team has gone up several notches and will be hard to earn.

That Lumumba, Gartlett, Frost, Hogan, are coming into the team, with the loss of just Frawley (Clarke we never really had) means several 2014 regulars won't get a regular game.

That what many reported to be the hardest day of training at the MFC occured on the same day as our high pick recruits arrived was no co-incidence. It was intended to give them a rapid reality check that simply being a high draft pick won't get you into this team in 2015 - A mental and physical shock' for Demon draftees after brutal running session, that both our two prize pick in Petracca and Brayshaw were suitably humbled was the intention.

That we just picked up two new rookies Aaron Vandenberg (aged 22, 188 cm, 90 kgs) and Mitchel White (aged 18, 188 cm, 85kg), both competing for midfield and flankers spots.

That Grimes reliquished the Captaincy to focus on his football, read, staying in our best 22.

All indicates that Roo's is consciously creating an high performance environment with intense competition for spots in the MFC 22, and that the bar is high and getting higher.

It feels different to anything I've seen at this club for a long time, and bodes well.

Hard to compete for spots off the rookie list......

And every year we get excited about the new recruits. Every year we get excited about the 'hardest pre-season ever' and the great shape of our list.

Every year we get smashed in round 1.

Let's just wait and see how well they do.

I believe this is what we call, "depth".

Hard to compete for spots off the rookie list......

And every year we get excited about the new recruits. Every year we get excited about the 'hardest pre-season ever' and the great shape of our list.

Every year we get smashed in round 1.

Let's just wait and see how well they do.

JT straight to LTI

one spot free immediately...another becomes available late in season as automatic.. let alone injuries

Theres pressure off the Rookie bench , i'd subscribe to that

Trengove must be getting very nervous about where he sits now

We'll see how stiff the competition is a week out from round one. At the moment the injury list looks pretty good, but it seems that every year it's lean pickings when it comes to game day.

When we talk about getting development right its having the depth of list such that your talented kids have to be properly physically and mentally prepared BEFORE they play at AFL level, simply because if they're not others will take their spots.

I thought we just needed to get 50 or 60 games into our high draft picks and then we'd be competing for premierships.

Imagine next year when we land a big name recruit via free agency.

Can only hope.

There's no doubt we tried our absolute best to do so this year - and I expect we will ho hard again next year.. Roosy knows we need to have at least one superstar on the list (sorry Jones). However, it will cost us. Although I was absolutely behind whatever it was they were up to this year, it seems like had Trengove passed the medical we would have lost him, Brayshaw, Frost, Neal-Bullen and O.McDonald all for that one player. It's a gigantic price tag and a big risk.

It occurs to me that one of the rationales for the recruiting on "mature" mids in Riley, Mitchie, Vandenburg, Cross, Vince over the past couple of years is to relieve the pressure on our high draft pick mids having to play and perform before they are ready or at the expense of their medium term fitness and confidence in their talent.

My opinion is that its rare for a kid to walk into an AFL list and be fit and resilient enough to play a season in the middle. I think it takes until their third season (third pre-season) for them to be at AFL level fitness without inducing a injury, or form drop that affects their confidence.

Trengove - pushed too hard too early, developed foot issues then confidence drop

Toumpas - pushed too hard too early, developed hip issues then confidence drop

Tapscott - hip issues never able to impose on field, confidence drop

Watts - pushed too hard too early, unable to impose then confidence drop

With JKH, Salem, Viney, Hogan and now the new crop of kids we have and now should be able to give them time to develop their bodies to AFL level before they are expected to step up to AFL level intensity and performance.

Hogan, through a training related injury has had two years of development at the club in the reserves or in rehabilitation, and while him playing in 2014 would have been great, it may have hindered his medium and long term ability.

When we talk about getting development right its having the depth of list such that your talented kids have to be properly physically and mentally prepared BEFORE they play at AFL level, simply because if they're not others will take their spots.

I still don't get this 'we played him too early' stuff. Nobody has ever been able to articulate to me exactly HOW quickly going to the senior side somehow 'ruins' a player. Correlation does not imply causation. Nathan Jones came in round 16 of his first year, has played 179 of a possible 184 games since, and has chalked up three blueys.

Every year we get smashed in round 1.

I'll actually cry if it happens again

There's no doubt we tried our absolute best to do so this year - and I expect we will ho hard again next year.. Roosy knows we need to have at least one superstar on the list (sorry Jones). However, it will cost us. Although I was absolutely behind whatever it was they were up to this year, it seems like had Trengove passed the medical we would have lost him, Brayshaw, Frost, Neal-Bullen and O.McDonald all for that one player. It's a gigantic price tag and a big risk.

Need a lot more than one superstar to be a good team.

Not sure what you are talking about with that trade, I dont think any of us know what was on the table

i love that we are all so excited about something that is now happening with us, which has just been the "norm." at every other club. Shows how far behind we really are/were.
Would love to get my hands on some of the people who called the shots that put us in this mess.

Need a lot more than one superstar to be a good team.

Not sure what you are talking about with that trade, I dont think any of us know what was on the table

Yes. I know. That's why I was underlining the cost of getting one.

You clearly weren't one of the thousands who were glued to this site (and others) at the time and know exactly what I am talking about.

Point is that getting a superstar is costly. Do you disagree with that or are you just another pedant wasting everybody's time?

I still don't get this 'we played him too early' stuff. Nobody has ever been able to articulate to me exactly HOW quickly going to the senior side somehow 'ruins' a player. Correlation does not imply causation. Nathan Jones came in round 16 of his first year, has played 179 of a possible 184 games since, and has chalked up three blueys.

I have to agree with this,

I think the issue with these players at the MFC have been more that the weight of expectation that these kids were shouldering the load to success for us. Each draft we have the next 'savior' coming into the club.

Roos is attempting to allow the development staff to work with the kids to allow them to adjust the life of an AFL footballer, to shield them from the expecations both internal and external that from game 1 they have to be the messiah.

PaulRB, I think your comments re Toumpas and Watts are not quite right... Toumpas did't develop the hip issues after joining the club cos we pushed him too hard if I recall. He had surgery on the hips prior to joining us, it was the hamstrings and appendix issues that affected him. But the expectations upon Watts were what has stiffled his development I believe... and the coaches each with their different ideas of his best role etc...

Stronger clubs allow their players develop by being introduced to the game and don't have the pressure of being the number one midfielder, or being tagged, or they can play on a flank allowing them to learn to adapt to the speed and physical nature of the game, watching their more experienced team mates, and indeed the stars on other teams and how they go about things. After the 2-3 years as you suggest I think they are then starting to develop the maturity and physical strength and conditioning to take the game on.

"Veterans Daniel Cross and Heritier Lumumba, formerly at the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood respectively, rated the session as the toughest of their careers."

That really is a staggering statement - those blokes have played a combined 23 seasons and 426 games of AFL footy! Few tough training sessions along the way, no doubt!