Ok then. Just tell me, how much dosh shall I put on your hypothesis of our results based upon one player's vision?

Not convincing at all demon3651. You're sounding like deeluded.

I was using Garland as an example, so ok L Dunn, N Jones, M Jones, J Grimes, R Bail, D Terlich, M Jamar and J McKenzie need anymore? they don't always react straight away to where the next link up players is that is all I am saying.

Just caught up on this.

Derm was full of trash as usual.

Ralphy finding reality hard. Of course you have to give up something to get someone, that's how it works. You improve by being on the winning side of those deals. I think that was the point David King was trying to make. The Salem/Tyson trade, Frawley for Brayshaw, Clark for Lumumba (considering an injured Clark), Ben Newton for nothing, Garlett for next to nothing are deals that we should come on the right side of.

Jason Dunstall probably made the best point about the glaring gap in our list that is line breaking. If our best players stay fit we better be able to match it at the contest and I'm hoping the backline holds up and the forwards can get open if/when given a chance. Genuine line breakers are a huge weakness that Lumumba can only help so much. Vince is one who can run the lines as well.

Anyway, the other line breakers are Garlett, Kent and JKH from half forward who need to get up the field. Watts as well if he can ever consistently find the speed he must have somewhere in there!

Without confidence and creativity we will struggle. If we find it we have enough talent and experience to compete and win. The challenge for Roosy is to step away from his standard plan of composure and defending and embrace a desire to be absolutely fired up. We can be as composed as we like when sharing the ball and not panic, but we need to be absolutely pumped for the contest. Time for the MFC players to throw caution to the wind for a while and play like demons!

Is there a link to watch this?

'aint that mad cow disease a b!tch!

Wouldn't that make it mad dog disease?

Having realistic expectations doesn't make getting to the finals any harder.

Personally, I find having realistic expectations is boring ... realistic, but boring

So you are a June boy like me nutbean.

Good luck with the dreamer nutbean this year.

I could do with being surprised.

PS I think the Logical OD killed the dreamer OD four years ago.

About time for a resurrection then ...

Edited March 27, 201510 yr by Red and Bluebeard

I haven't seen the desire to get the ball at all costs, but it was only pre season.

There may have been a pre-conceived plan to keep the list healthy.

As of round 1 I better see harder contests at the ball. If not we won't win.

If we do then 8-9 wins should be expected.

About time for a resurrection then ...

A round one win would help.

The last major resurrection happened at Easter.

Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope there.

Edited March 27, 201510 yr by old dee

A round one win would help.

The last major resurrection happened at Easter.

Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope there.

So if we beat the Suns the optimistic OD will rise again?

David King and Jon Ralph (AFL Round Table) just predicted that Saints wont win a game this season. There's two wins for us!

So if we beat the Suns the optimistic OD will rise again?

he has been under the bed so long I am not sure he knows how to get out R and B

he has been under the bed so long I am not sure he knows how to get out R and B

A stirring come-from-behind win with Hogan kicking the winner after the siren will have him leaping about like a grasshopper, I am sure ...

A stirring come-from-behind win with Hogan kicking the winner after the siren will have him leaping about like a grasshopper, I am sure ...

Ten goals in front at three quarter time would work better.

Ten goals in front at three quarter time would work better.

That would get the chants of 'Mel-bourne' ringing around the G. If that happens, I will call you the grasshopper for the entire last quarter.

David King and Jon Ralph (AFL Round Table) just predicted that Saints wont win a game this season. There's two wins for us!

We will be favourites in both those games so it will certainly be 2 losses.

Great minds think alike Toorak.

That is exactly my prediction.

OD you know the MFC magic number is 4.

I hope we will 22 games this season but not sure the MFC has a team that can win more than 4.

Loved to be proven wrong though.

It appears from this thread some people have learnt nothing from the past. They continue to over burden our team with their own personal expectations.

Roos is here to put the building blocks in place. The loss of Frawley and Clark is a short term hit. Long-term I'm very positive about the "kids". However, they need to be given time to develop at their own pace.

We have a quality leadership team - and the nucleus of a group of kids with talent that will develop given time. Those kids being Tyson, Brayshaw, Pettraca, Neal-Bullen, Hogan, JKH, Salem, Newton etc . Once this group has played 60-80 games + each - then we are ready to place some expectations on them.

You only have to look at successful teams of the last decade - average games per player is up around the 100 games mark - we are miles away from that. You can marginally reduce the seasons you have to wait thanks to free agency but you must become a desired financial location. Quality trading also helps but that has been our greatest weakness in the last 8-10 years. However, Roos is a master trader and the early signs are good.

Burden our kids with your own expectations at your own peril.

Edited March 27, 201510 yr by T&W

It appears from this thread some people have learnt nothing from the past. They continue to over burden our team with their own personal expectations.

Roos is here to put the building blocks in place. The loss of Frawley and Clark is a short term hit. Long-term I'm very positive about the "kids". However, they need to be given time to develop at their own pace.

We have a quality leadership team - and the nucleus of a group of kids with talent that will develop given time. Those kids being Tyson, Brayshaw, Pettraca, Neal-Bullen, Hogan, JKH, Salem, Newton etc . Once this group has played 60-80 games + each - then we are ready to place some expectations on them.

You only have to look at successful teams of the last decade - average games per player is up around the 100 games mark - we are miles away from that. You can marginally reduce the seasons you have to wait thanks to free agency but you must become a desired financial location. Quality trading also helps but that has been our greatest weakness in the last 8-10 years. However, Roos is a master trader and the early signs are good.

Burden our kids with your own expectations at your own peril.

Noble sentiments, but I disagree.

The following is a predicted Paul Roos 'best team' for the early rounds of 2015. It’s not necessarily MY best team, but roughly what I expect. Although it’s also going to mirror 90% of what the average supporter would want. There’s the odd player, such as Grimes and Garland, who are no longer universal fan favourites, but they’ll get the nod in the early going. I’ve also included Howe in the forwards for team balance. Mahoney hinted on radio this week he'll spend time there notwithstanding where he’s trained and played of late.

Ages as at April 1

MELBOURNE:

FULL BACKS: Jetta (25) Dunn (27) Garland (26)

HALF BACKS: Grimes (25) T. McDonald (22) Salem (19)

MIDFIELDERS: Lamumba (28) N. Jones (27) Vince (29)

FOLLOWERS: Jamar (31) Tyson (21) Viney (20)

HALF FORWARDS: Howe (24) Hogan (20) Kent (21)

FULL FORWARDS: Garlett (25) Dawes (26) Watts (24)

INTERCHANGE: Frost (21) Newton (22) Vandenberg (23)

SUB: Cross (32)

EMERGENCY: Gawn (23) JKH (20) M. Jones (27)

22 And Under

There's a good spread of youth and maturity with 8 x 22 and under, and 11 x 25 and older. There's only one teenager and just two aged 20. Nineteen of the team are aged 21 or over. Rather than "burdening our kids", this team will have a far better age spread and maturity than plenty of sides running around this year. Moreover, it's about time the club and players stopped making excuses and realised the time is here and now. They're well and truly equipped to achieve their fair share of successes. They need to aspire, not ferment further reasons why they won't succeed.

I’d wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments if our team reflected your assertions, but the facts are they don’t. The side is experienced enough to start delivering on its talent. There’s no reason they can’t win at least 8 games in 2015. Eight wins is arbitrary, so some supporters will disagree, nonetheless, the point remains, the team is far more experienced than many believe.

Roos and company have spent considerable time and effort balancing out the list; and in just 18 months they've done an admirable job. They've put parameters in place that gives them every opportunity to reach modest goals. 2015 will be the year the club starts turning things around; and with Petracca, Braysgaw, Stretch, Neal-Bullen and Oscar McDonald waiting in the wings it's the best we've looked in a long time.

Edited March 27, 201510 yr by ProDee

Noble sentiments, but I disagree.

The following is a predicted Paul Roos 'best team' for the early rounds of 2015. It’s not necessarily MY best team, but roughly what I expect. Although it’s also going to mirror 90% of what the average supporter would want. There’s the odd player, such as Grimes and Garland, who are no longer universal fan favourites, but they’ll get the nod in the early going. I’ve also included Howe in the forwards for team balance. Mahoney hinted on radio this week he'll spend time there notwithstanding where he’s trained and played of late.

Ages as at April 1

MELBOURNE:

FULL BACKS: Jetta (25) Dunn (27) Garland (26)

HALF BACKS: Grimes (25) T. McDonald (22) Salem (19)

MIDFIELDERS: Lamumba (28) N. Jones (27) Vince (29)

FOLLOWERS: Jamar (31) Tyson (21) Viney (20)

HALF FORWARDS: Howe (24) Hogan (20) Kent (21)

FULL FORWARDS: Garlett (25) Dawes (26) Watts (24)

INTERCHANGE: Frost (21) Newton (22) Vandenberg (23)

SUB: Cross (32)

EMERGENCY: Gawn (23) JKH (20) M. Jones (27)

22 And Under

There's a good spread of youth and maturity with 8 x 22 and under, and 11 x 25 and older. There's only one teenager and just two aged 20. Nineteen of the team are aged 21 or over. Rather than "burdening our kids", this team will have a far better age spread and maturity than plenty of sides running around this year. Moreover, it's about time the club and players stopped making excuses and realised the time is here and now. They're well and truly equipped to achieve their fair share of successes. They need to aspire, not ferment further reasons why they won't succeed.

I’d wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments if our team reflected your assertions, but the facts are they don’t. The side is experienced enough to start delivering on its talent. There’s no reason they can’t win at least 8 games in 2015. Eight wins is arbitrary, so some supporters will disagree, nonetheless, the point remains, the team is far more experienced than many believe.

Roos and company have spent considerable time and effort balancing out the list; and in just 18 months they've done an admirable job. They've put parameters in place that gives them every opportunity to reach modest goals. 2015 will be the year the club starts turning things around; and with Petracca, Braysgaw, Stretch, Neal-Bullen and Oscar McDonald waiting in the wings it's the best we've looked in a long time.

Excellent post - but I think you are missing my point. I spoke about games played. Now re-do you team with games played.

Ten goals in front at three quarter time would work better.

Why did I suddenly have a flashback to a couple of weeks ago and a game involving the Western Bulldogs?

Excellent post - but I think you are missing my point. I spoke about games played. Now re-do you team with games played.

Sure.

But it really needs to be compared with other teams. I'd be interested to see it compared to say Port, Collingwood or Brisbane from a "games played" perspective.

Games Played as at 1 April

MELBOURNE:

FULL BACKS: Jetta (57) Dunn (139) Garland (115)

HALF BACKS: Grimes (86) T. McDonald (60) Salem (12)

MIDFIELDERS: Lamumba (199) N. Jones (179) Vince (151)

FOLLOWERS: Jamar (31) Tyson (21) Viney (20)

HALF FORWARDS: Howe (78) Hogan (0) Kent (28)

FULL FORWARDS: Garlett (107) Dawes (101) Watts (95)

INTERCHANGE: Frost (21) Newton (4) Vandenberg (0)

SUB: Cross (227)

EMERGENCY: Gawn (26) JKH (14) M. Jones (42)

13 players with 50+ games and only 4 under 20.

There's enough age and experience to start delivering decent results.

see the glaring weakness. Yet Roos has addressed them perfectly - master trader & good leadership group - as I said above. Now we must wait 2-3 years to let our kids develop in their own time.

However I dont think its out of the question with 10-15 more games - another pre-season into our "kids" - 20+ more games into the rest of the group and we are getting somewhere. Also as I said above its not out of the question we could trade in 2-3 mature players with 60-80 games around 22-23 years + via trading and free agency - this year for the first time in many, many years we will reach 100% of TPP's.

Roos has set the building blocks in place to accelerate the process. However, it appears many here have not learnt from the past - pre-mature expectations.

MELBOURNE:

FULL BACKS: Jetta (57) Dunn (139) Garland (115)

HALF BACKS: Grimes (86) T. McDonald (60) Salem (12)

MIDFIELDERS: Lamumba (199) N. Jones (179) Vince (150)

FOLLOWERS: Jamar (151) Tyson (35) Viney (33)

HALF FORWARDS: Howe (78) Hogan (0) Kent (28)

FULL FORWARDS: Garlett (107) Dawes (101) Watts (95)

"Expectation" is the key.

I reckon outside of the top 3 or 4 teams most are crud, just varying degrees. Even North are are good ordinary side imo, albeit better than most.

A comparison to other sides needs to be made to accurately evaluate what are reasonable "expectations".

Edited March 28, 201510 yr by ProDee

"Expectation" is the key.

I reckon outside of the top 3 or 4 teams most are crud, just varying degrees. Even North are are good ordinary side imo, albeit better than most.

A comparison to other sides needs to be made to accurately evaluate what are reasonable "expectations".

i agree with all you have said ProDee. Our list is still evolving yes, but there is enough experience in the side for us to have a crack at any side.

All teams carry a few newbies. It's how the system works. What we need are some of our list to decide that THEY are going stand tall within the AFL Comp and actually control games rather than just chase.

It's all between the ears now.

Losing to Essendon proved that. In the first 20 minutes we played with them.

We didn't go in for a kill. This is what Roos & the coaches must address over the next 2 years.

Why did I suddenly have a flashback to a couple of weeks ago and a game involving the Western Bulldogs?

Dont' know. Why exactly? Perhaps OD really meant 15 goals up at the final siren ...