There seems to be a few mid-season review articles being published so thought I would start a thread.

Here is the first in a series of Roos' assessment of players:

Mid-season review: Bail to Grimes

The comments are typical Roos: honest and matter of fact.

They are not that different to what DL's say (at least the objective posters).

In some cases, if you read between the lines you can see where the players may sit at eos.

Here is Roos' assessment of the season so far for the team:

Weve improved across the board: Roos

He comes across as being really proud of the boys and I think this comment: ...when guys are really sticking to their roles, and really listening to their leaders and listening to their coaches, we seem to be a pretty good team, regardless of personnel.... is what every coach hopes for.

Here on DL we have admired (with some envy) clubs that can just bring in players that 'perform a role', that can win regardless who is on the park. Last Sunday showed we are capable of doing the same.

I like Roos' 'commercial' about players listening to leaders and coaches.

I would say almost every player on our list has improved in some way, this year!

May it continue.

Really interesting read.

There is no doubt the depth has grown and this is not a criticism of Dean Terlich or Matty Jones, but they were third and fourth in the best and fairest [respectively] two years ago. The fact that there are so many more players that are in the team and are available [ahead of Terlich and Jones, shows our improvement], he said. But we still see Matty Jones play terrific footy. He came in on the weekend and hes been in and out of the team but he kicked two goals and played on [Corey] Enright. - See more at: Weve improved across the board: Roos

Brutal truth.

The next installment: Mid-season review: Harmes to King

Roos is talking up the recent performances of players which reflects how much they have improved.

He doesn't shirk away from stating where players need to get better...he even gives an insight into where Jesse lapses are: "As a young player does, he goes through lulls in games, but he allows himself to get back into contests, because he works so hard and hes such a good competitor."

Its good to get the coach's view of the world.

Interesting reading about Max King, any significance to the last words in the report about being consistent "on and off the field"?

Interesting reading about Max King, any significance to the last words in the report about being consistent "on and off the field"?

IIRC he said something similar re Fitzy though that may relate to his diabetes.

It reads like a warning shot to me.

It reads like a warning shot to me.

Me too, although I have no substance to back that feeling up. But telling a player to get more consistent off the field suggests, to me at least, he has some issues with his training and commitment to improvement.

Typically frank assessments. Right on the money I would say.

Me too, although I have no substance to back that feeling up. But telling a player to get more consistent off the field suggests, to me at least, he has some issues with his training and commitment to improvement.

It's probably about preparation, recovery, opposition homework etc. Some players aren't very coachable in that way and maybe its something to do with that?

King's a young player who didn't come through the high performance TAC system. He probably had more to do to get used to AFL lifestyle than most and he certainly had more work to do on his endurance than any player on our list.

Fitzy has been on the list for 6 or more years and still has one of the strangest body shapes I've ever seen. Obviously the chronic fatigue and diabetes must impact him and I get not every athlete ends up with the adonis style body but I'll be shocked if that's the best he can do with 6 years of training.

I don't think Roos is bashing them, I think it's more a throw away line he likes to use but at the same time I'm sure it's the truth!

Like the Roos is seeing the same things that we are

- Role players needing to find consistency

- Senior guys in Dawes and Dunn needing to lift

- Howe to get competitive

- Frost to come back and be a defender

- Working with Grimes and Gawn to improve

- Noticing the improvement Cross has made at half back

I couldn't make half the moves Roos made. I couldn't be an AFL coach to save myself. But I like to think that after watching a heap of footy and a hell of a lot of Melbourne games that when I see something that works that I'm right. Especially with Roos' game plan that is pretty simple contested footy without a lot of tricks it does a pretty good job of showing who is playing well and who isn't.

King's a young player who didn't come through the high performance TAC system. He probably had more to do to get used to AFL lifestyle than most and he certainly had more work to do on his endurance than any player on our list.

Fitzy has been on the list for 6 or more years and still has one of the strangest body shapes I've ever seen. Obviously the chronic fatigue and diabetes must impact him and I get not every athlete ends up with the adonis style body but I'll be shocked if that's the best he can do with 6 years of training.

I don't think Roos is bashing them, I think it's more a throw away line he likes to use but at the same time I'm sure it's the truth!

King was on the Murray Bushrangers list for 2 years and played for NSW ACT rams in the under 18s championships so in terms of getting used to the lifestyle its no issue at all, he would be as equal as all draftees.

Like the Roos is seeing the same things that we are

- Role players needing to find consistency

- Senior guys in Dawes and Dunn needing to lift

- Howe to get competitive

- Frost to come back and be a defender

- Working with Grimes and Gawn to improve

- Noticing the improvement Cross has made at half back

I couldn't make half the moves Roos made. I couldn't be an AFL coach to save myself. But I like to think that after watching a heap of footy and a hell of a lot of Melbourne games that when I see something that works that I'm right. Especially with Roos' game plan that is pretty simple contested footy without a lot of tricks it does a pretty good job of showing who is playing well and who isn't.

I agree. I think roos has rightly copped his whack for a few times he has been slow to respond in the coaches box. That said, I think he deserves a lot of credit along with the rest of the coaching staff, for some particular moves he has made this year. Cross going to half back and peeling off to get in front of opposition key forwards has allowed Howe to return forward. Using viney in key tagging roles, Vince also shutting down the best opposition midfielders while being potent offensively as well. There have been some moves he has made that haven't gotten the amount of praise they deserve as well, watts taking Taylor last week amd catching him in no man's land allowing us even numbers across our forward line among others.

A large majority of players have shown significant improvement when they have come in, and whilst the depth players still have their brain fades, they still come in and play their roles which keeps our structures similar week in and week out.

I'm genuinely excited by the second half of the season as the players look to be starting to understand what role is needed by them on any particular day, and for the first time in a long time there seems genuine cohesion between defence and attack.

Especially with Roos' game plan that is pretty simple contested footy without a lot of tricks it does a pretty good job of showing who is playing well and who isn't.

That's the thing with this game plan. It is one that requires a player to work very hard and it shows up the players who don't or get lazy at times.

Here is installment 3: Mid-season Review: Lumumba to Salem

Roos seriously rates Lumumba and gives him a big wrap. Along with the Garlett for steak knives trade the 3 way transfer to get Lumumba is great for us especially as Mitch has had injury problems again.

I fear we may not see Pederson again...Roos' comments were short but not too sweet. "Pedos season has finished, due to injury, which is really disappointing. He played a couple of important games and really good games, but unfortunately were not going to see him for the rest of the year." Not critical but I just didn't see much hope in there for a contract extension.

Other comments from Roos are as would be expected.

Don't see anything there suggesting Pedo is in trouble

I'm really enjoying the insight from Roosy in these reviews. For the most part I think he is being as honest and straight-forward as he can be in a public forum, and not papering over player weaknesses (which we would see through anyway). Good work coach!

Don't see anything there suggesting Pedo is in trouble

Surely there's a better nickname for Pederson.

One thing that stood out for me is that Roos is prepared to coach and hopefully improve players regardless of ability and age. During the Bailey tenure, we pretty much threw players on the scrapheap based on age (White, Yze, Robertson, Bruce, McDonald), because he couldn't see them helping the team long term. It was all about the kids. But seeing how important Vince and Cross are for the young players development goes to show how misguided we were during those years.

Here is installment 3: Mid-season Review: Lumumba to Salem

Roos seriously rates Lumumba and gives him a big wrap. Along with the Garlett for steak knives trade the 3 way transfer to get Lumumba is great for us especially as Mitch has had injury problems again.

I fear we may not see Pederson again...Roos' comments were short but not too sweet. "Pedos season has finished, due to injury, which is really disappointing. He played a couple of important games and really good games, but unfortunately were not going to see him for the rest of the year." Not critical but I just didn't see much hope in there for a contract extension.

Other comments from Roos are as would be expected.

I think the lack of tall forward depth means Pedo will stay.

One thing that stood out for me is that Roos is prepared to coach and hopefully improve players regardless of ability and age. During the Bailey tenure, we pretty much threw players on the scrapheap based on age (White, Yze, Robertson, Bruce, McDonald), because he couldn't see them helping the team long term. It was all about the kids. But seeing how important Vince and Cross are for the young players development goes to show how misguided we were during those years.

Apart from Junior none on your list showed anything like Vince and Cross to warrant keeping them around to be the designated elder statesmen to guide the kids. Either their body was shot or they were brilliance without the substance. You need the substance to get the best out of the kids. And even then with Juniors hammy in his final year, his body was cooked too. There was an old saying that footballers are like sausages... When they're done they're done!. All those blokes were done. We needed a generational shift after 10 years of the same group under danners. It shouldn't have taken this long to start to turn around though (but that's another million page thread!)

Surely there's a better nickname for Pederson.

Maybe we could start calling him Pedersen, just for a laugh?

Apart from Junior none on your list showed anything like Vince and Cross to warrant keeping them around to be the designated elder statesmen to guide the kids. Either their body was shot or they were brilliance without the substance. You need the substance to get the best out of the kids. And even then with Juniors hammy in his final year, his body was cooked too. There was an old saying that footballers are like sausages... When they're done they're done!. All those blokes were done. We needed a generational shift after 10 years of the same group under danners. It shouldn't have taken this long to start to turn around though (but that's another million page thread!)

How I read it was that, maybe, someone like Roos could have possibly got a lot more out of these guys than did his predecessors.