The idea of this thread is to pinpoint our strengths and real our weaknesses coming into the new season. If you want to contribute please list 3 of each.

Positive

1. Mix of experience and youth

Our list is well balanced with a good blend of experience with a very talented group of youngsters coming through to challenge the older guys.

2. Starting midfield.

White, McDonald, McLean and Jones are as good as any other starting midfield going around right now.

3. Forward versatility.

Neitz, Robertson, Newton, Davey, Yze, Maric. We now have a forward line with serious talent, but more importantly they're all different types of players. I could imagine that when in form our forward would give the opposition coaching staff alot of headaches when setting up their matchups.

Negative.

1. Ruck depth

White is on the wrong side of 30, if he falls over we don't have much to back him up. Jamar and PJ have been tried without alot of success and Meesen has yet to perform at this level

2. Contested possessions

Last year only the bulldogs had fewer contested touches, sure we had alot of injuries but our 'soft' reputation has haunted us over the last decade. We must improve in this if we want to win regular finals matches.

3. Injuries

When Daniher took over as coach he described our list as being 'brittle', well, sadly he left it in a very similiar state.

I actually think our ruck situation is OK, as long as White (who has had an excellent run with injury) remains healthy. Meeson must have a bit of talent considering he was a top 10 draft pick, and he is a good athlete. Jamar - yes he is ordinary but it was only 18 months ago when this site went into melt-down when he broke his leg and missed the Freo semi final...he was servicable to good in 2006. And PJ adds to our depth, but I'm not totally sold on him.

Our defence is our major weakness. Rivers and Whelan are terribly injury prone, while we've got nobody capable of taking on the Pavlich's and Browns.

Given we have turned over 25% of our list, have a new coach and presumably a new game plan our strengths and weaknesses will come forth.

Many of the strengths noted are also weaknesses.

We have a very young list which provides us with hope and potential, that potential may take some time to mature. Given our lack of contested possessions last year the midfield is as much an unknown as the forward line which could be good but has shown often in the past to inconsistent and the players listed are mix of twilight career players (Neitz, Yze), players whose form was ordinary in 2007 (Robbo, Davey, Yze) and the unproven (Newton and Maric).

BBP, I would be careful assuming talent because of the an AFL draft selection some years ago. The draft is littered with players who were Top 10 and never made it in the game. Our ruck is reliant on an aging Jeff White with three other players who have failed to make the grade so far.

I think our defense is capable with Rivers in there and the midfield is competitive. The best way to beat the Pavlichs and Brown is to cut the supply as they are difficult to beat one on one.

FWIW, I think our list is better now than it was when ND took over. Back then our best talent was in our older players many of which were crippled and good for only a season or two after that (eg Lyon, Viney, Stynes, Tingay). Our recruitment in the mid 90s had been appalling. I think our recruitment in the past five years has been good but subject to injury we should see the benefits of this.

Its going to be a really interesting year with the rise of some young players and potential declines of others.

Disagree with the 3 positives... 1 and 2 mnoreso than 3... I'd say our list is VERY young. The mature players we're going to be leaning on heavily have shown a propensity to go missing and/or injured... dome for long stretches. IMO, our list's strengths lie in the outgoing veterans and the guys too young to win finals all by themselves. I like our midfield, but as good as Jones and Brock are they are still quite young, and Jones hasn't reached his peak yet... JMac is a wonderful player, but nowhere near the top-10 midfielders in the game and White is showing signs of age. I do applaud your enthusiasm though. I think with a decent ruckman, our midfield will come into its own in about 3 years, and as far as I'm concerned, it;'s their future that makes me happy to have them. For right now, there are better midfields going round, but for 2008, I think we're just off the pace. And point 3 a agree with somewhat. I just hope the age doesn't catch up with them. They didn't have mcuh help last year, but I did think we had structural difficulties with Miller and Neitz particularly. Miller because he has his faults, and Neitz because when he wasn;t there, they were a touch lost. No disrespect though Jarka... each to their own...

Positives:

1: The unknown.

Last year we had maybe a few players that could come into the side and improve dramatically on 2006... As it stands right now there are older players who were injured and out, or injured and played (Neitz, Yze, Wheatley, Davey), young players in their 3rd and 4th seasons that are yet to cement a spot (Sylvia, CJ, PJ, Newton, Buckley, Dunn, Bode to name a few) and young sparks, new to the club, that will be super keen to get that last spot in the 22 and will work hard every second they're on the ground (Maric, Morton, Meesen). Now I'm not naive enough to think it'll magically come together and we'll win a flag, but with a new coach, a list that's a mystery to EVERYONE, and a new footy department... There are going to be times when people will be stunned at the dees this coming season. There'll be bumps, there always are... but there'll be some thrills...

2: Defensive stability.

We're a way off... Let me make that clear. And this paragraph only applies to our STARTING defense. But you wouldn't have to do a lot to improve on last year. Frawley being bigger, Rivers back older and wiser, Bell our little-big-man, Petterd the class, and a bunch of pinch-hitters and embryonic defenders that will have learnt valuable lessons last year that they MUST improve on this year. It certainly couldn't get any worse. I loved Doggy, and I even had a soft spot for Ward, but their kicking will no longer be a problem. We can see the team look up the guts instead of the wing for their target. Now when we come out of defence, we can watch the ball meet the boot with much more confidence. THAT in itself is going to be a joy. I'm looking forward to seeing if Bailey's run and carry model has had the effect on the players that we hope it will... If what they're saying is true, they've learnt how to exploit it, unlike under ND.

3: Tackling/hard stuff:

Including hardball gets. I don't have the numbers, and I doubt they're much good... But the young midfielders and defenders are one thing before anything else. Hard. These are the years when Brock and Jones will develop their reputations as being hard-nuts regardless of how the game is going. We were a string tackling side last year, and even better in 2006, and from all accounts Bailey has applied some focus on this area. And we have the league's leading tackler for the last 2 years. There is some truth to the fact that we're good at this because we're secind to the ball, but I think it's a positive. Hitting players hard makes them doubt themselves the next time they go in. The Aaron Davey rule...

Negatives:

1: Ruck.

Spot on Jarka. There's going to be a big step to take here that won't come for a long time. Jamar will not be at MFC in 2009, PJ is a good young player, but a long wa from being a dominant ruckman... Meesen and a very lucky Jeff White are our only hope. I worry.

2: Injury.

Another one nicked from Jarka... I've seen nothing to convince me our chronic problems are gone yet. Maybe the game-plan will safeguard players... who knows. I'm worried about it, but hoping my doubts are proven wrong.

3: Defnsive depth.

As above, I reckon our starting defenders are good players, if young... But it's our depth I have concerns over. I think it's probably true that apart from in the guts, you are more exposed early in your career with a slim body in defence, where you need to be able to apply physical pressure. There will be games where the young VERY green KP defeders wil be called upon, and it will be only a matter of time before they are beaten in the tussles. It's ok though... everyone is beaten early in their careers... But it doesn't bode well for 2008.

No disrespect though Jarka... each to their own...

Mate, none taken at all, I enjoyed your post

i must disagree with you dan .. "We were a string tackling side last year, and even better in 2006"

We weren't .. Byron was .. he was the heart and soul of an aggressive melbourne side .. but then he went on the [censored] ..

Without doubt our biggest weakness is our small membership 17800 as against 23000 same time last year. Forget about winning or losing, without members we are going nowhere. Time the bloody board stood up and did something about this. The 150 year has been swamped with news articles about China and Harris but, where is the drive to create and retain memberships, the lack of passion coming from within the club (playing group excepted) is almost unbearable. NAB cup results mean nothing without a healthy membership and a drive to create one.

what is it?

when you get memberships you win

or

when you win you get membership

personally i reakin its the second one .. Nathan Jones doesnt stand there in the game and count the number of melbourne to opposition supporters .. although im sure nicholson used to....

i must disagree with you dan .. "We were a string tackling side last year, and even better in 2006"

We weren't .. Byron was .. he was the heart and soul of an aggressive melbourne side .. but then he went on the [censored] ..

Rubbish. Byron was hard, yes, and made his team walk a bit taller, but he was the LAST player you'd call the heart and soul of the MFC side in 2006. JMac won the Bluey for good reason. He was the league's leading tackler and IS the heart and soul of the MFC list. Just behind him was Clint Bartram who in 22 rounds was way upthere in the tackling stats...

Byron was nowhere near them in that statistic. I reckon he was a good player for us in 2006, particularly from about round 3-16ish... But the TEAM won the tackling title, led by JMac and Clint. ANd to suggest Byron was a leader is just plain absurd.