Our boys with the exception of a few are [censored] weak both physically and mentally.....

Look at the last few premiership teams; West Coast, Sydney, Port, Brisbane and the Bombers of 2000 were all big strong teams that were not soft in fact the opposite aggressive.

So lets not put all our eggs in the one basket preparing for the modern age running game because big strong footballers are the ones that win you flags....

Consider this our strongest bodied players are; P johnson, Jones, Moloney, Miller, Sylvia, Pickett, Chook, Bell, Neitz, Bate and despite being a girl Holland.

All of them with the exception of Bell, Neitz and Bate came to the club BIG either from another team like Moloney or from their under 18's (Sylvia-Jones-Chook)

That tells me that Melbourne don’t put a lot of emphasis on weights. Well news flash we may look big and strong up against a under 15 outfit but unfortunately we play big bodied footballers each week and the above listed blokes cant carry all the load for us...

Again this comes down to the coaching box reflecting our team and theirs no tough bloke in there....

When you have a big tough coach they acknowledge the importance of strength, Our coach and assistances clearly don't.

Our boys with the exception of a few are [censored] weak both physically and mentally.....

Look at the last few premiership teams; West Coast, Sydney, Port, Brisbane and the Bombers of 2000 were all big strong teams that were not soft in fact the opposite aggressive.

So lets not put all our eggs in the one basket preparing for the modern age running game because big strong footballers are the ones that win you flags....

Consider this our strongest bodied players are; P johnson, Jones, Moloney, Miller, Sylvia, Pickett, Chook, Bell, Neitz, Bate and despite being a girl Holland.

All of them with the exception of Bell, Neitz and Bate came to the club BIG either from another team like Moloney or from their under 18's (Sylvia-Jones-Chook)

That tells me that Melbourne don’t put a lot of emphasis on weights. Well news flash we may look big and strong up against a under 15 outfit but unfortunately we play big bodied footballers each week and the above listed blokes cant carry all the load for us...

Again this comes down to the coaching box reflecting our team and theirs no tough bloke in there....

When you have a big tough coach they acknowledge the importance of strength, Our coach and assistances clearly don't.

Is JONESY really BIG? He's tough, but he's only a little guy by league standards.

jones has a hard body. he is solid, chunky if you will, even if he is only little. davey is slight, jonesy has bulk, there is a difference...

Dont worry, when a hard bodied team win the flag this year, our boys will be in the gym as part of the usual "follow the leader" strategy in place currently.

I seem to remember wildly projectile vomiting after reading that Nathan Jones had lost 8 kilos of muscle in the most recent off-season to improve his endurance.

I seem to remember wildly projectile vomiting after reading that Nathan Jones had lost 8 kilos of muscle in the most recent off-season to improve his endurance.

If you think it was 8kg of muscle, you didn't see him last year.

He was slightly overweight, and he struggled to run out games.

He hasn't lost any of his power, but he can now run all day.

The alternative is to make him run all day while unfit, and put too much stress on his legs and groins, which leads to OP.

As far as Jones is concerned, he needed to lose the extra weight and it has helped him.

That's not what I read, Jaded, and its not the first time players have had to shed muscle for speed's sake. The point about premiership teams requiring bigger bodies is correct.

Remember Troy Simmonds' build after about 3 seasons at Melbourne? Protruding bones everywhere. Went to Freo, and by season's start had bulked up big-time. It wasn't that he matured. He was over 21(?22) when he left, after at least 3 pre-seasons. There's something in the water out West. Benny's strength and confidence has always amazed me. Almost supernatural.

I wouldnt call the so called "best player in the league" Mr Judd bulky and he some would say he gets by alright.

I'd describe Judd as amazingly strong.

I'd describe Judd as amazingly strong.

Yes but I believe the argument the start of the post was regarding the size of bodies of our players. And I wouldnt say Judd was large is my point and he is a great player so I am not sure that it would help our boys bulking up.

judd would be one of the most powerful guys in the AFL

just because we dont have the "beach muscles" like collingwood and freo, doesnt mean we are weak pansies

Yes but I believe the argument the start of the post was regarding the size of bodies of our players. And I wouldnt say Judd was large is my point and he is a great player so I am not sure that it would help our boys bulking up.

I don't think there could be an argument about the fact that Melbourne Football team is very much under developed for a professional outfit.

is anybody watching the carlton adelaide match?

i don't know if it's just the carlton style of jumper or what, but they all look like monsters!! huge, especially compared with our guys. sad to see because i really thought our hard edge we were starting to develop last year was going to hold us in good stead for the future, regardless of gameplan. unfortunately it seems we've gone backwards a few years

True cerrtain players need to bulk up big time to be the best they can but others need to stay lean and quick ie Davey (aka Our best player so far this year). Imagine robbo with a few extra muscles he would slow down too much and his vertical leap would suffer making him virtually useless. I love robbo by the way. We have too many small bllokes with say nathan browns build who although they get the ball ok are too easily pushed around by their opposition player. I think youth is the way forward but let them have a bulking up preseason first then get their fitness up to scratch say 1-2 months of vfl to lose any gained bodtfat and get some pace into their legs. Also not all players are capable of bulking up quickly. We need to take greater care at trade time and should be sharking valuable YOUNG players from other clubs. yeah we are gunna kick the roo's butts to .. they are our [censored]