I really don't GAF what this Seb bloke or anyone at SEN thinks to be honest, but I'd love to know how many teams boast 6 under 24s comfortably in the best 22 of a side that finished top 4? It's all well and good North having a heap of highly rated youngsters, but if you finish bottom 4 then who really cares?

We have genuine elite young backs in Rivers, Bowey & McVee.

We have one of the best young key forwards in JVR and one of the best small forwards in the keague in Kozzie.

Probably the only area we are light on with talent in this age group is genuine midfielders and a key defender, but Turner and Adams could both come on in the next few years.

Not to mention we have Windsor & Tholstrup who both look promising on the very little we've seen so far, so I'm not too worried about our young stocks.

I said that drafting is like buying a racehorse with good blood lines you never know you have a Winx or a dud until they race and get more mature.

Players are supposed to reach their best years after 25 so under 24 are potential players not guaranteed stars of the game.

I have watched football for over 65 years and noticed some players come into the game with a bang and go out with a whimper a la Cale Morton and Michael Newton.

16 hours ago, Wrecker46 said:

Max Gawn wouldn't have been a feature in our best players under 24 either

I disagree with that. We knew internally what we had on our hands, hence why we stuck with him for so long. All a journo would have to do is ask someone for an off the record type comment on Gawn. Job done.

But back to the article, whilst I do find the article a little confusing when they talk of recent draftees and their ranking, the rest of it is ok. We haven’t had a lot of access to early picks of late and the results show.

4 hours ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

We have genuine elite young backs in Rivers, Bowey & McVee.

We don’t. We 3 young backs who help form an elite backline.

7 hours ago, JJJ said:

I disagree with that. We knew internally what we had on our hands, hence why we stuck with him for so long. All a journo would have to do is ask someone for an off the record type comment on Gawn. Job done.

But back to the article, whilst I do find the article a little confusing when they talk of recent draftees and their ranking, the rest of it is ok. We haven’t had a lot of access to early picks of late and the results show.

We didn't really, in those days we didn't have much of a clue about anything...we kept trying to make him a forward for his first few years.

Spencer was the project ruck.

Thank goodness those days are gone.

Seems like an obvious conclusion based on our last decade of on-field performances. Leaving aside 2019, 2016 was the last time we finished in the bottom half of the ladder, and that was only just (11th)

Edited December 4, 20232 yr by John Demonic

I had to look up who Seb Mottram is.  Digital Content Producer.  So in other words no football knowledge.

Edited December 4, 20232 yr by Katrina Dee Fan

No issues here.

For a club that's finished in the top half the ladder in 6 of the last 7 seasons, it's logical that we wouldn't be rated highly in the young core.

In the MLB, perennial play off contenders such as Houston Astros (dead last) and Atlanta Braves have the worst farm systems/youth talent while teams such as Baltimore and Chicago Cubs that have been out of the playoffs for years have the best 2 young systems in the league. (although Baltimore finally made a 5 minute playoff appearance this year)

 

If it’s any consolation, Seb predicted Melbourne to finish outside the top 8 in 2021 and then tipped the Bulldogs to beat us in the Grand Finale. 

Edited December 5, 20232 yr by Ethan Tremblay

18 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

If it’s any consolation, Seb predicted Melbourne to finish outside the top 8 in 2021 and then tipped the Bulldogs to best us in the Grand Finale. 

Says everything, really.

On 03/12/2023 at 17:10, Demonland said:

 

PLAYERS UNDER 24: Tom Sparrow (23), Kysaiah Pickett (22), Trent Rivers (22), Jake Bowey (21), Bailey Laurie (21), Daniel Turner (21), Jacob Van Rooyen (20), Blake Howes (20), Judd McVee (20), Andy Moniz-Wakefield (20), Taj Woewodin (20), Jed Adams (19), Will Verrall (19), Oliver Sestan (19) Matthew Jefferson (19), Kynan Brown (18), Koltyn Tholstrup (18), Caleb Windsor (18)

TOP 5: Kysaiah Pickett, Jacob Van Rooyen, Trent Rivers, Tom Sparrow, Jake Bowey. 

The Demons are covered across all lines with this group but there doesn’t appear a standout player that is going to lead Melbourne to its next premiership. 

Kysaiah Pickett can still be anything, as can Jacob Van Rooyen. But aside from the draftees from the past two years, there feels a ceiling on most others, although several are certainly best 22 players. 

Trent Rivers, Jake Bowey and Judd McVee are all examples of players in Melbourne’s best side for the next decade if they want to be, but how much they can continue to improve is the big question. 

League ranking: 15th 

Seb Mottram

What a crock of sh*te. They all have medallions except jvr. And other than sparrow I think they have all shown they can be grade a players. 

Bowey had second season syndrome this year but his ball usage off half back is elite. He’ll come good again in 24

37 minutes ago, BDA said:

Bowey had second season syndrome this year

It's a worry that he had it in his third year.  

13 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

It's a worry that he had it in his third year.  

Time flies. 

Let's call it a case of delayed onset second season syndrome

3 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

If it’s any consolation, Seb predicted Melbourne to finish outside the top 8 in 2021 and then tipped the Bulldogs to beat us in the Grand Finale. 

With such insight,  it's a wonder he hasn't got his own SEN timeslot. 

Maybe pair him up with a cereal grain (serial pain) we all know?  🌽 

Hi everyone, I'm Seb and I wear my pants pulled up to my armpits with my stripped short sleeved shirt tucked tightly into my daks.

Everyone on 'Land: Hi Seb.

2 hours ago, BDA said:

What a crock of sh*te. They all have medallions except jvr. And other than sparrow I think they have all shown they can be grade a players. 

Bowey had second season syndrome this year but his ball usage off half back is elite. He’ll come good again in 24

Imvho sparrow can absolutely be a grade and also a potential leader/captain of the club, thats how highly i rate him. Look for him to go up a level or 2 this year

2 hours ago, BDA said:

What a crock of sh*te. They all have medallions except jvr. And other than sparrow I think they have all shown they can be grade a players. 

Bowey had second season syndrome this year but his ball usage off half back is elite. He’ll come good again in 24

JVR is a great prospect but even still, does he crack the top 5 for key forwards under 23? King brothers, JUH, Amess all ahead. He's somewhere in with Cadman, Thilthorpe, Logan Mc, Ollie Lord.

Rivers is a very good backman now, we don't know if he can become a great backman or a very good mid.

Bowey's a nice player but he's not an elite ball user. No one is with our safe ball use from half back. Bowey was lucky to have 1 elite kick a game, the best half backs have 1 a quarter.

15th is a bit low, we have a nice range of young talent, but it's hard to justify putting us in the top 10 unless there's a lot of weight given to Windsor and Tholstrup.

14 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

JVR is a great prospect but even still, does he crack the top 5 for key forwards under 23? King brothers, JUH, Amess all ahead. He's somewhere in with Cadman, Thilthorpe, Logan Mc, Ollie Lord.

 

Best way to compare them all would be looking at impact after the same amount of games/same age.

JVR v Ben King - Jacob Van Rooyen and Ben King AFL Stats Comparison (footywire.com) - he has him covered in most stats and kicked almost identical goals with almost 20% less game time

JVR v Max King - Jacob Van Rooyen and Max King AFL Stats Comparison (footywire.com) - again has him covered in most stats

JVR v JUH - Jacob Van Rooyen and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan AFL Stats Comparison (footywire.com) - JVR wins again

JVR v Amiss - Jacob Van Rooyen and Jye Amiss AFL Stats Comparison (footywire.com) - this one is tight and I'd probably give them a tie. Will be interesting to watch both their careers as they were the same draft.

I won't bother with the other ones, but this shows that at the same age JVR is outperforming some of the guys who are now becoming established key forwards.

JVR is trending so well against the young AFL guns, he draws your eyes to him during a game. Very exciting days ahead, the kid has no fear.!!

21 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

JVR is trending so well against the young AFL guns, he draws your eyes to him during a game. Very exciting days ahead, the kid has no fear.!!

What happened to his brother, I saw he didn’t get picked up? Surprised he isn’t worth a rookie spot.

On 05/12/2023 at 19:54, DeeSpencer said:

JVR is a great prospect but even still, does he crack the top 5 for key forwards under 23? King brothers, JUH, Amess all ahead. He's somewhere in with Cadman, Thilthorpe, Logan Mc, Ollie Lord.

you're severely underrating what van rooyen offers and overstating the value of others by comparison

king brothers routinely under deliver as the #1 forward targets for their respective clubs, juh plays effectively as the 'third' tall and seems to be a bit of a specialist at docklands, thilthorpe and lord are hot and cold, while cadman probably shouldn't have played at all in 2023

i'd take jvr over all of those mentioned with exception of jye amiss and possibly logan mcdonald

 

Keep on writing us off journos we love it, so do the players.

One of the first early signs of a lot of flag years is the media putting out articles about how the premier-to-be is terrible actually.

2 hours ago, SPC said:

What happened to his brother, I saw he didn’t get picked up? Surprised he isn’t worth a rookie spot.

If anything goes wrong with McDonald or Brown would an early retirement be an option which would open a mid-season draft slot for Sam Van?