CHANGES 2007: TRADING AND DRAFTING - PART THREE

by The Oracle

The seasons have come and gone and, as we move into the early days of summer in our still drought stricken land, I am bemused by the fact that football continues to grab so much attention in the media. The newspapers are full of it and when I was on the road during the week, the radio commentators were still focussing on our winter game rather than on cricket, golf and tennis. If it wasn't the fate of the Kangaroos or Ben Cousins, it was the Madden Medal or the Pre Season and Rookie Drafts – news that one would think should not normally be the focus of our attention when the mercury nudges 32 Celsius (as if we're normal!).

Like it or not, the public obsession with the game continues and while we've all forgotten about the Federal election (after all Kevin 07 doesn't look all that dissimilar to John 96 give or take a few grey hairs and a decade or so in age) we're still excited about the changes to our footy team lists. In Melbournefc's case, the changes have been a plenty. One quarter of the 2007 list is gone. That's eleven players (although a dozen places have changed if you allow for Jace Bode’s elevation from the Rookie to the Senior list). The changes read as follows:-

Arrivals: John Meesen (traded) Cale Morton (National Draft) Jack Grimes (National Draft) Addam Maric (National Draft) Kyle Cheney (National Draft) Tom McNamara (National Draft) Stefan Martin (Pre Season Draft) Jace Bode (Rookie Upgrade)

Rookie List Jake Spencer® Shane Valenti® Austin Wonaeamirri® Trent Zomer®

Departures:

Senior List - Clint Bizzell (retired) Nathan Brown (retired) Ryan Ferguson (delisted) Simon Godfrey (delisted) Travis Johnstone (traded) Heath Neville (delisted) Byron Pickett (retired) Daniel Ward (delisted)

Rookie List - Jace Bode® (Rookie Upgrade) Daniel Hayes® (delisted) Daniel Hughes® (delisted) Shane Neaves® (delisted)

The obvious questions are whether there has been an improvement to the club's list and whether the changes will allow for it to climb back into contention for a finals place after a horror season in 2007. The answers lie in the future. Firstly, it is to be hoped that the injury curse which struck the club this year will move on to another club (Carlton or Collingwood perhaps?) and that many of the team's younger players who have shown lots of as yet unfulfilled promise step up to the plate as they approach fifty games and beyond. As for the list itself, there seems to be no reason why we can't see some benefits in the short to medium term.

The major losses on last year's form would appear to be Travis Johnstone and Nathan Brown but the former was very much a hot and cold proposition and rarely gave consistently to the team effort while the latter was winding down after a long career and whose disposal skills were questionable at best.

In their places, we have a young group with varied credentials. The National Draftees all come with impressive CV's. Four of them – Morton, Grimes, Maric and McNamara – are graduates of the elite AIS/AFL Academy and the fifth (Cheney) won selection in the TAC Cup Team of the Year on a half back flank. Meesen was a top ten draft selection three years ago and we know that big men take time to develop. He's big, strong, fit and athletic, has served his apprenticeship on an AFL list and, by all accounts, is relishing the return to his home state.

While the emphasis in the National Draft was clearly on selecting players of quality among the elite players available, the Pre Season and Rookie Drafts enabled the club to delve into the area of speculative recruiting – they are all considered rough and raw diamonds in need of polishing and refinement and will put the club's new coaching structure to the test; they are development players who, past records will tell us, are less likely to make the grade but if they do, they can become every bit as valuable AFL players as some of the early draft picks. For proof of that you only need to look at Dean Cox (West Coast), Ben Rutten (Adelaide) and Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) or our own recent Bluey Truscott Medallists, James McDonald (twice in a row) and Russell Robertson as well as speedster Aaron Davey and three or four other former rookies who help make up the Melbournefc list.

The club has certainly addressed the need to bolster its big man stocks with the recruitment of Spencer who joins Meesen in its pool of tall ruckmen. Martin and Zomer could also fulfil that role but are more likely to be developed as key position players.

The recruiters may have shunned Ashley Sampi because he didn't show enough improvement in his fitness during the pre season but made up for it with the recruitment of young Tiwi Islander Austin Wonaeamirri who follows the path of fellow Northern Territorian Aaron Davey onto the rookie list. Like the Davey brothers, Austin moved south to play and he impressed the citizens of Adelaide with similar qualities at Norwood in the SANFL.

The club's final rookie selection was Shane Valenti who has been rewarded for two excellent seasons of hard work and dedication at Sandringham. The youngster did not finish runner up in the Liston Trophy and overall winner of the Fothergill-Round Medal for nothing. He also follows Aaron Davey onto the rookie list after winning the latter award so those pundits who write him off because they consider him too small and too slow for AFL football do so at their own peril.

I set out below, the club's playing list for the coming season and, to allow you a comparison of how an AFL's team list can change over a short period of time, I also present the list from the last Olympic Year (new players names in bold).

MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - PLAYING LIST (SEASON 2008)

SENIOR LIST:

Clint Bartram Matthew Bate Daniel Bell Jace Bode Cameron Bruce Simon Buckley Nathan Carroll Kyle Cheney Aaron Davey Lynden Dunn James Frawley Colin Garland Brad Green Jack Grimes Ben Holland Mark Jamar Chris Johnson Paul Johnson Nathan Jones James McDonald Brock McLean Tom McNamara Addam Maric Stefan Martin John Meesen Brad Miller Brent Moloney Cale Morton Michael Newton Ricky Petterd Jared Rivers Russell Robertson Colin Sylvia Matthew Warnock Isaac Weetra Paul Wheatley Matthew Whelan Jeff White

VETERAN LIST David Neitz Adem Yze

ROOKIE LIST:

Jake Spencer Shane Valenti Austin Wonaeamirri Trent Zomer

MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - PLAYING LIST (SEASON 2004)

SENIOR LIST:

Steven Armstrong Daniel Bell Clint Bizzell Troy Broadbridge Nathan Brown Cameron Bruce Nathan Carroll Ryan Ferguson Simon Godfrey Brad Green Chris Heffernan Ben Holland Cameron Hunter Mark Jamar Chris Johnson Travis Johnstone Darren Jolly Chris Lamb James McDonald Brock McLean Brad Miller David Neitz Alistair Nicholson Phil Read Guy Rigoni Jared Rivers Russell Robertson Nick Smith Colin Sylvia Scott Thompson Peter Vardy Peter Walsh Daniel Ward Paul Wheatley Matthew Whelan Jeff White Luke Williams Adem Yze

VETERAN LIST:-

ROOKIE LIST:

Joel Campbell Dale Carson Aaron Davey Adam Fisher Luke Molan Paul Newman

We wave goodbye to 2007 and look forward to 2008 knowing well that life is all about changes. We've seen wholesale changes throughout the club's coaching set up and a considerable change in its playing list. The effect of those changes remain an unknown but as always the Demon faithful are hopeful that the changes made will bring better things next year.