Really happy with Frisch and the Red Nut - go dees 2018!!!

Complacent about what??

We haven’t achieved anything for decades except failure...

Complacent comschmacent, pfft.

Going into the draft I would've said the only real deficiencies in our list as far as 'roles' go was having a bit more spark going into attack from the midfield and a bit more speed and unpredictability in general.

Fritsch, Spargo and Baker are clearly a collective match for exactly that hope.

With Petty, I am very happy to add another competent tall defender to the mix - despite us having a few and despite the fact I am on the optimist's side with Oscar McDonald, it is still an area I don't have huge confidence in.

Aside from bringing in a ready-made mature ruck support, I don't know if we could've targeted out needs much better.

No,  not complacent all ... we're being quite pro-active in fact. 

Every year since Roos,  PJ and Goodwin arrived,  we've improved our list incrementally.  This should mean more wins going forward ... given a reasonable run with injuries.  

We've cleared out any number of non-achieving footballers in the last 5 years and have gradually replaced those players with better players. 

Our win totals ...

2013 - 4

2014 - 4

2015 - 7

2016 - 10

2017 - 12

That's an upward trend .. and Rome wasn't built in a day.  To make the next 2 or 3 jumps gets harder from here on in.  We'll need more good players in order to be an absolutely true contender that can win premierships.  And we need a few stars to emerge too. 

We've now got 13 players who ordinarily wouldn't get dropped in a team that is quite capable of winning more games than it loses.

Hogan,  T-Mac,  Petracca,  Oliver,  Tyson,  Hunt,  Lever,  Viney,  Lewis,  Gawn,  Jones Hibberd & Jetta

And that is without including Vince,  Garlett,  Salem,  Brayshaw and a few others. 

And what about our new draftees?  We might get lucky and produce 2 more good players from our 4 picks (you'd hope for at least 1)

We've been far from complacent and I believe we've set ourselves up to take another step forward next season. 

3 hours ago, Macca said:

Our win totals ...

2013 - 4

2014 - 4

2015 - 7

2016 - 10

2017 - 12

Not to nitpick and reopen old wounds but we only won 2 games in 2013. 

But 100% we are having an incrementally better W/L ratio, and I also agree that we have made improvements to the list. 

If our young brigade continue to improve then that SHOULD continue. You take nothing for granted with Melbourne though and 6 consecutive years of improving W/L would actually be quite an achievement. 

no,he hasn't been nominated for the draft.

11 minutes ago, ENYAW said:

no,he hasn't been nominated for the draft.

It took me a moment or two ENYAW - but I got it! ( A shiraz does slow one down)

Very cryptic !

Very cryptic indeed!

.

Edited November 25, 20178 yr by Macca
Posted in error

1 hour ago, Pates said:

Not to nitpick and reopen old wounds but we only won 2 games in 2013. 

But 100% we are having an incrementally better W/L ratio, and I also agree that we have made improvements to the list. 

If our young brigade continue to improve then that SHOULD continue. You take nothing for granted with Melbourne though and 6 consecutive years of improving W/L would actually be quite an achievement. 

Good point Pates - we were even worse than I thought!  I'd edit that post but am unable to do so.

One thing that has to happen is the star quality that needs to emerge - we need a few absolute game-breakers if we're to be a true contender. 

Otherwise, we may only get to be as good as we were in the Northey & Daniher era's ... not that we were failures back then - far from it. 

Premiership teams are full of good players but those teams almost certainly contain a sprinkling of guns/stars as well. 

 

 

Edited November 25, 20178 yr by Macca

22 hours ago, Demons11 said:

Ridiculous comment.  They traded in Lever, acquired a pressure player and pace.  All defencies that needed to be covered.

Agreed and after all, it is not going to be drafted players that win you a finals berth or a flag, it is going to be those you recently acquired beforehand, and those who - through experience and understanding - develop, together.

I was going to respond to this thread and then I thought, I can't be stuffed.

On 24/11/2017 at 9:50 PM, Dees2014 said:

Looking at our end of year trading, and the draft tonight, I get the over whelming impression that we have decided we have a premiership list and all we need to do is to wait and it will mature into a champion team. And by the way, we can give away a couple of first round picks who are not only potential champions, but provide us with experience and leadership, something which over the last couple of years we have desperately needed in close crucial games which we usually lose. 

I really could not understand tonight’s trading. We clearly prefer smaller fast runners, when what I think we need is more physical strength a la a David Neitz. Instead we go for smalls, or lightly built forwards. 

I suspect we will go backwards in 2018 - unfortunately!

Dees 2014,  

You may not recall Neitz in the early years of his career. Many of us will recall a skinny looking guy who didn't look like he could blow the froth off a cappuccino. He started as a scrawny backman but built up nicely and became a pretty formidable forward.

I'm guessing that's what the football department is hoping some of our draft picks will become.

1 hour ago, pineapple dee said:

Dees 2014,  

You may not recall Neitz in the early years of his career. Many of us will recall a skinny looking guy who didn't look like he could blow the froth off a cappuccino. He started as a scrawny backman but built up nicely and became a pretty formidable forward.

I'm guessing that's what the football department is hoping some of our draft picks will become.

Yep, and in the meantime, the other clubs will stop their development to let us catch up

I hope Jason Taylor doesn’t read this thread. He’ll be kicking himself when he realises he could’ve simply drafted the next David Neitz. 

On 11/25/2017 at 7:09 AM, Stretch Johnson said:

We have close to the hardest midfield in the comp. 

David Neitz wasn't available. 

Our list has improved markedly since the end of the season.

 

The first 5 games for us will determine our year. Must make the 8 or we will break.