All I keep reading now is McLean is a overtated hack more or less and that now Jones is not far behind them.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!

We have a 21 yr old McLean and 19 yr old Jones who lead and carry our whole freakin midfield, Kerr is a great player but without the 3 or 4 other great midfielders around him he is struggling big time, if you through in Corey and Black in our midfield I will guarantee that both McLean and Jones would be looking 100 times better as they would not have the attention that the likes of Bruce, Green and the older mids should have bith all clubs know that they are not our best midfielders.

Get off their backs, in 3 years time we will be once again saying how good these players are when we A, have a decent ruckman getting the ball too them, the likes of Morton and co have stepped up to help close the gap and I think within 5 we will have the nucleus of a great midfield.

Well said

McLean and Jones are our best 2 young midfielders. The dees will not trade them, they are not going anywhere.

wiht Morton developing, and Ricky and Bate due back soon, we should see the young core start to gel.

Also a quick mention about Chip- he looks a good sort down back for many years to come.

IF anyone will be traded it will be your vets. I will not mention names, we all know changes will be made and a few fan favs will be delisted or traded. These names will not include Jones and Brock.

I agree, they are mainstays of our mids, we need to build through the draft. Otherwise we will be constatntly in rebuilding mode. Mclean and Jones have to do too much as it is. We need help and as Hawthorn has proved it comes through patience, drafting and allowing Richmond to make massive draft selection blunders!!

NLean has been very good so far this year, the problem that he's facing is that he has no senior teammates giving him and Jones support.

NLean has been very good so far this year, the problem that he's facing is that he has no senior teammates giving him and Jones support.

Indeed.

They are playing the roles of senior midfielders, except they are 19 and 21.

I can't think of one other club in the AFL which relies on the efforts of such inexperienced players in the midfield. Maybe possibly Essendon, and look at how they're traveling.

Great thread, share your frustrations with people who want a 20yr old and a 22yr old to dominate a midfield.

They are ball winners that will drive us back up the ladder in a few years time.

The percentage of McLean's touches that are contested is 38%, and Jones 36%.

For comparison Maccas is 30%, Bruce 24%, Green 23%, Morton 27%, Bell 27%, Wheatley 17%, Carroll 28%, Rivers 36%, and Wonaeamirri 50%.

Not a slight on any of those players, just an illustration that McLean and Jones are midfielders we haven't had for awhile - ones that don't need 'handball receives' to have an impact on a game.

Have mentioned this stat before and will again, I see it as being pretty relevant to competitive footy.

I havent been on the boards much this year, so I didnt realise Brock was copping it?

He's been good this year! Started slowly but has been working really hard and getting alot of hard ball the last 3 weeks or so. Definitely in our best few this year I'd say.

Jones on the other hand has been woeful. He is my biggest disappointment thus far in 08. People here will defend him saying he works hard and always gets to the bottom of packs etc, but fact is he isnt very good at the moment. He isnt getting as many clearances this year due to more opposition attention, and his disposal is poor. He has had no impact. I just hope they can fix his kicking.

Yep...

There has been far more than usual twittery on the 'land boards this year. Actually, 'ology has looked MUCH more sensible.

Some of the corkers:

- McLean is crap and has gotten as good as he'll get.

- Neitz is rubbish and doesn;t deserve to play another game.

- Green isn't doing enough.

- Carroll needs to be dropped.

- Robbo, Whelan and White are in their last years...

Unbelievable.

I havent been on the boards much this year, so I didnt realise Brock was copping it?

He's been good this year! Started slowly but has been working really hard and getting alot of hard ball the last 3 weeks or so. Definitely in our best few this year I'd say.

Jones on the other hand has been woeful. He is my biggest disappointment thus far in 08. People here will defend him saying he works hard and always gets to the bottom of packs etc, but fact is he isnt very good at the moment. He isnt getting as many clearances this year due to more opposition attention, and his disposal is poor. He has had no impact. I just hope they can fix his kicking.

Agreed Lord Trav, Brockie has worked hard to be back in our "best". Do you think though, perhaps the attention (re. tags) has been moved from Brock TO Jonesy, who was much more potent last year? Or has Brock just learnt to deal with it better - Personally I hope it's the latter.

Whatever the reason, it's great to see my namesake doing so well, but there is no I in team is there?

We're backing you all the way lads, through thick and thin. GO DEES!

Yep...

There has been far more than usual twittery on the 'land boards this year. Actually, 'ology has looked MUCH more sensible.

Some of the corkers:

- McLean is crap and has gotten as good as he'll get.

LOL at what 21/22 and 50 something games or so? Definately wont get any better...

- Neitz is rubbish and doesn;t deserve to play another game.

I'm 22, so I cant really remember Flower playing. Neitz has been the best player in my time. Not the most talented, but the best. We need him out there if only for the reason that he always provides leadership and a contest at worst.

- Green isn't doing enough.

Green has been one of our best this year, and the fact that he got dropped from the leadership group for Yze and Miller shows what a joke this club is.

- Carroll needs to be dropped.

For who? There isnt anyone. We have Frawley in the side. Martin is raw as a chafed backside. There is noone else.

- Robbo, Whelan and White are in their last years.

Robbo and Whelan still have 2 years or so left I'd say. I actually think this will be Whites last year. Bumped into him at the driving range a few weeks back (see him there usually 2-3 times a year) and he said he didnt think he and Neitz would be going on next year. We know Neitz isnt, but White may not either.

Do you think though, perhaps the attention (re. tags) has been moved from Brock TO Jonesy, who was much more potent last year? Or has Brock just learnt to deal with it better - Personally I hope it's the latter.

I think Brock is learning to cope with the tag. He didnt get tagged last week, he played on Judd. While Judd had more of an impact on the game, Brock got more of the ball than him with 32 touches, and alot of them contested.

Jones hasnt had much of a tag, and if he has they have been poor players mostly. He copped Ling for about 15 mins and that's about it. The problem is coaches are aware how important he is, so when there's a ball up you will see now he gets blocked by opposition so he isnt winning the clearances much now due to that. Couple that with his woeful kicking and he isnt doing much good out there at the moment. All he can do is keep working hard, and try to fix his kicking so he does some damage when he gets it instead of just roosting it 50m high 30 metres long to nothingness.

Jones on the other hand has been woeful. He is my biggest disappointment thus far in 08. People here will defend him saying he works hard and always gets to the bottom of packs etc, but fact is he isnt very good at the moment. He isnt getting as many clearances this year due to more opposition attention, and his disposal is poor. He has had no impact. I just hope they can fix his kicking.

I agree that Jonesy has struggled.

He really needs to work on his decision making, which is hopefully something that he'll develop with more experience. He has to learn to take the first option more often, because he does not have the leg speed to fluff around with the ball.

Ok...

So was your response agreeing with me? My point was that there's been a lot of crap written on 'land about how bad we are. I was just showing a few examples of the nonsense written here...

Sorry yes. I was just pointing out how stupid they were infact. Probably didnt need to

The both of them are playing low on confidence. They are too young to be legitimate leaders like Neitz, and don't have the support around them. I think the both of them have done well considering the circumstances.