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Its been a lot longer than 3 years.. no marquee players ever nominate us because we have been a laughing stock for a decade.

Congratulations to former Demon Jordie McKenzie on winning the B & F at SANFL club North Adelaide.

Don't disagree, but I lead a boring life and these rumours give me some temporary interest and enjoyment. Until this year, when we started to play some decent footy at times, my favourite part of the footy year, was trade week and draft days.

Rockliff is underused as a marking forward. He's incredibly good at having a mismatch and taking one on one grabs. He doesn't have great hurt factor in the midfield, but he and Petracca changing off a half-forward flank would be interesting and cause headaches. Like most rumours, I place zero faith in this one.

IF TRUE, it would have a lot to do with Rockliff's contract. The rumour was that he is on $800k a year with I think 2 years left. Mitchell will stay or go, at about $500k a year. So who would want to pay Rockliff $800k? Probably no one. But, if we got Lions to pay a bit and we paid the rest, with some upfront, as we probably have some room this year with Melksham bonus etc, you could work out a deal. I think the Lions are absolutely desperate to get rid of Rockliff and not many clubs can afford him and are worried by his baggage. Anyway good to read positive rumours, even if they don't come through.

'No woe is me', from my point of view. We'll be the biggest winners of the trade/free agency period due to the critical re-signing of Hogan. The re-signing of Hogan is far more valuable than the following players nominating Melbourne as their club of choice: 1) A solid b+ meat and potato midfielder (Prestia) 2) A potential champion who hasn't played a game since iPhone 5's were the hottest thing in town (O'Meara) 3) A good midfielder with no pace and slightly questionable disposal (Mitchell) 4) A 32 year old who once played 6 games in 2 years (Wells) 5) a player that hasn't had a good season since 2012 (Mayne) 6) A forward ruck that has been even more inconsistent than Watts (Vickery)

He had a bad year due to his ankle, but I still reckon vandenBerg can be of real value. The club loves Wagner.

Their ripping success in getting Lewis Hodge Mitchell and Rioli in the draft, plus the likes of Burgoyne set them up for a decade. Made them a destination club to build on that core. Plenty of duds along the way though too. So I don't buy-in to the mystique that their recent and current recruitments moves will automatically be successful. O'Rourke hasn't set the world on fire, Vickery is an idiot looking for a village and O'Meara is a high-risk gamble - if it doesn't come off the list starts looking mediocre very quickly.

How many people who were running the club then are still there now? It wouldn't be hard for Taylor/Viney/Mahoney/Goodwin/whoever to go "yeah yeah sorry, those guys were idiots, the club isn't like that now.". If he still holds a grudge over that, he's probably a sandwich short of a picnic anyway.

Posted this in another thread but I think also worthwhile here. I see the following mids and flankers who got a game at times this year as not part of our starting 22 if we are to become a serious threat. Bugg, Vandenberg, M Jones, Kennedy, Harmes, Lumumba, Wagner, Michie, Newton, Neale-Bullen, Trengove, Grimes White. At times during the year we had up to seven of them in the side at once. At best it was still 3, which not surprisingly was in the consecutive wins against the Hawks and Power. This was in a year when we had a pretty clean run with injury. This to me shows that if we are to improve we still have a clear need to draft, trade and develop our midfield and running depth as well as hope that all of Oliver, Brayshaw and Petracca become consistent top grade talent sooner rather than later.

You either need to change your meds or start taking them.

With our improved list, group of youngsters, who need games and development, loss of first round pick and new found professionalism, in not leaking like a sieve, it is hardly surprising that our name doesn't come up, against every single player mentioned as leaving his club, as happens with some other clubs. Our philosophy is hopefully, if a player doesn't look good enough to make our 22, or at least in the ruck/forward role be able to provide good depth, then avoid them and draft our own. That said we may still be targetting someone, but without using next year's first pick, given we don't have much to trade, this may not be the year, unless we are targetting a very good player who would be worthy of our first pick in 2017. Mitchell could fit that bill, but IMO the Swans would be mad to let him go. My prediction then is a fairly subdued trade week, where we get Hibberd early and then maybe a Barlow type, who could make our 22, but obtained fairly cheaply.

And admirable restraint from GNF who has resisted any 'i told you so' posts. He was right on the money with his posts about jessie's contract scenario, both his first one and the more recent ones flagging the complexities in the situation as a result of his Dads health issues. Good job GNF and thanks for the info. It won't convince the haters though.

That is not why a big name hasn't come to us.

Maybe, but he'll still be Vickery everyday

Don't understand people thinking bombers will be good next season. I'm tipping bottom four. Half the team haven't even seen the other half all year! stanton and Jobe (32 by start of season) are getting on and the lack of continuity will not help them. They have 6 or so good players and struggle after that. Poor ruck, no forwards aside from Daniher. Not much speed and spread. Missed the draft for 2 years. Not many kids coming through. I may be clouded by my rampant hatred for them however.

lol This guy.

vandenBerg has some great attributes that will continue to make him a handy player rotating across half forward and through the middle - a very good size, has a strong set of hands in the air and makes good decisions in traffic. I have him penciled in for the starting 22 next season.

Had to have a laugh about the Sunday Herald Sun's front page headline ~ "Dane Swan's shock confession - I TOOK DRUGS" Really? It would have been more of a shock if he said he didn't take drugs ?

You wouldn't think so, but leaving his club, losing his captaincy, a fresh start, with guys like Goody and McCartney and we might back ourselves in to get the best out of him.

I feel like the clubs no '[censored]' policy would preclude us from having any interest in Rockliff. I don't think he would fit our culture and our ethos going forward.

Saw Billy Stretch running 400s at gosches this week. He is up early getting himself fit.

And $10m.

The whole 'woe is me' drone gets so tiresome, and a lot of what is said around attracting talent is simply guess work and opinion. Which is fine accept that people seem to constantly post it as though it is fact. My opinion is that 4 factors play into attracting players of any calibre: Money (and contract duration) Opportunity to play and play a role they want Likelihood to experience success Workplace culture (are there people and coaches they admire and are people happy there) All of the above have to be measured against what that person is experiencing where they are. We had a hard time with culture and the likelihood of experiencing success for a while there but the culture has clearly been fixed and we seem set to prove out the likelihood of experiencing success. Of course, for the latter, seeing will be believing. Once that has happened we will eventually attract the free agents and players we need or want to ice the cake. Until then we are doing an extremely good job, finally, of developing it in-house. I personally think that bringing in Macca has been one of the best moves of the club. Roos has dealt with the culture and loving coming into work thing and Goodwin is working on strategy and winning in the modern game. Macca has done an awesome job of developing the kids that Josh, Todd and Jason have brought in. I don't think there is any upside in moaning about who is nominating (or not nominating) us, when we play finals next season the final piece will be there and hopefully free agency can finally start working for us and not against us.

There are probably a few reasons for that, one is the fact we've had the worst recruiters in the competition who have chosen some of the worst draft picks imaginable, and we have had no development program to develop any that have slipped thorough the cracks and were ok. With the top picks we have had we should have been able to set the club up for a decade but we blew it. Then we've had a poor of field team who were responsible for Neeld and some of the most outrageously stupid decisions ever made by a football club, Richmond excluded, who have almost decimated the club. Why would any top player choose us, when we see how Goody turns out it may be different, but we have to get runs on the board first, top players can get almost as much playing for a great club as they do playing with us, so it's a no brainer. We have the ingredients and now it's up to us to see if we can bake the cake, if we can then we will get top liners wanting to play for us. It has to be sustained though, this is the big task for the Bullies now.

despite everything, i think it was a shame norf didn't give him another year. he was in form (5th in b&f), no fitness issues and a legend of his club, if not the game. i hope it bites norf on the bum.

This is exactly where I sit, Wiseblood. Our potential for 2017 is as high as it has been since the beginning of the Balme/Daniher era but it has yet to transfer over into consistent finals-worthy football. When we play at our peak we look brilliant. When we relax into mental lethargy we get the Carlton, Essendon and St. Kilda games. The difference now is that behind the playong list we have a fully functional, professional club that can operate quietly and efficiently, while making the main focus football and not survivial etc... Our coaching panel looks very strong, our list looks exciting, so the stage is set and all the players are in place. But I will continue to hold the pencil in my hand and not the pen for a little while yet. I see 13 wins, a few ridiculous losses, and we win one final.

There's always teams that go backwards unexpectedly and teams that improve out of nowhere. Hard to say who specifically we'll beat. I don't have a very entertaining answer - I just think we'll win two or three more games than last year and play a final or two.

Most important Preseason for 52 years if we go backwards in 2017 i fear the club will always be a bottom feeder We must beat teams. Fear no one

I'm sure clubs like Collingwood and Hawthorn exploit loopholes in the salary cap, such as securing luxurious discounts on things like cars from their primary sponsors. For example, if a player wishes to purchase a car from Audi (Hawks), Jeep (Richmond) or Holden (Collingwood), they almost certainly receive them on the cheap with the club offsetting the costs somehow outside of the cap. It's no secret that Eddie uses his connections in the media to secure Collingwood players handsome "appearance fees" on The Footy Show, none of which fall under the salary cap.

think about it

comment of the day !! lol

You nearly had me sold on the merits of your philosophy, then I noticed your moniker. (:-)

With the trade period to come I see 4 sides who will definitely make finals. Swans, GWS, Dogs & Crows Hawks imo will slide somewhat into the next group unless they manage to snare all of O Meara, Mitchell, a key defender, Vickery and Roughy comes back. The holes started to appear this year just like Cats in 2013. I am not sold on the Cats they took a big gamble last season and they have a lot of ageing stars. LTI to Danger or Selwood leaves them vulnerable. I have the Hawks and Cats as the leaders of the next group fighting for the top 8 spots so in that group is Hawks, Cats, Saints, Meth Coast (don't be fooled there easy draw at the first 2 thirds of the season glossed over some very big cracks and a very soft underbelly), Dees, Bombers and Pies. I think the Bombers have done really well to get some experience into some quality kids and there midfield has some depth. We have improved and drafted very well since 2013 and I see nothing to suggest we won't continue to do so. Our list needs to understand without putting in some real hard yards it wont just happen. Of course one of the unmentioned sides will just prove us all wrong and all of Port, Freo, North, Carlton & Richmond will depending on injury be able to put good runs together but not really threaten the top 6 IMO. Suns and Lions are both starting from a long way back. Trades drafting and the draw will all play a big part in my views on each team

Maybe, on all the other occasions, he's been an absolute jet.

If last years transaction with Essendon is anything to go by then we won't be playing hardball. I'm just glad we don't have a first round pick to give them for Hibberd.

Good on you Jordie we all applauded your efforts and determination, lacked the necessary support to improve those critical skills required to make it at AFL level, if he came through now he probably would have had a real chance to make it.

Is 29/30 as old in footballing terms as it was 10 or 20 years ago? Advances in conditioning, recovery and medicine mean players can now play at or close to their peak for longer. If Hibberd does not lose his speed then I see no reason why he won't be able to maintain his form till his 31 yo (2021) or 32yo (2022) year old season. Thats a long time in footy. Hibberd provides speed, overlap run, intercept marking, defensive spoiling, long kicking and hardness. I'd love to see him off half back combining with Hunt and Melksham to give us more than 1 speedy rebound option off half back. Hard to judge Essendon players on their performances in 2015 given the pressures they were under on and off field. Still Hibberd finished 8th in their B&F. Melksham finished 9th. In 2014 Hibberd finished 4th. Hibberd also finished 4th in 2013 b&f with Melksham 5th.

Lol. Never a truer word spoken wise. hello demand land, I've been meaning to sign in and register for a while. Love reading all these posts... go dees

My days of being a glass half empty member are over... I go in to every season now with the utmost confidence that we make finals... Hawks had their "line in the sand" moment... I may have possibly just had my "line on the mirror" moment

Yes, we always do well when we make claims about who we'll beat. I sat at the G for the certainties against Essendon and Carlton this year. Really enjoyable.

I think we'll win between 12-14 games. But it's pointless predicting wins at this stage. I also don't believe Brisbane will be the push overs you claim they will be. Their list is not actually that bad. Their midfield is decent if harnessed correctly. They have some young, emerging book ends and I think under decent tutelage, they'll win 5-7 games next year. They won't be the basketcase they were this year. I think North will finish in the bottom 6, possibly bottom 4 and Hawthorn and Geelong will come back to the field. GWS will be a scary proposition next year, fuelled by ultimate failure this year. And Essendon will start slowly in the first half of the year, but will improve generally as the year goes on. I can see them finishing anywhere between 12th and 6th, but more likely on the fringe of the 8. I think Gold Coast will be mid table next year. Their midfield is going to take a hit with O'Meara, Prestia and Swallow leaving or remaining injured. Ablett is another unknown, but I suspect he'll never be the player that he was again. His shoulder is too volatile. That puts them in a bit of trouble. I'm not convinced Eade is the man to take them forward either. He might be more of a list builder like he was at Sydney and then with the right coach in 2-3 years, they could be scary once more, with their access to top end talent in the Northern Academies and top draft selections they've acquired/will acquire. The biggest yard stick for us though is consistency and beating the sides below us that we should. I want to see a couple of spankings too. We managed one against the Suns this year, but there were a number of other games (namely the Freo game), where we should have rolled them by 10-15 goals. We also need to ensure there are no efforts like the Essendon, St Kilda (x 2), Carlton and Geelong performances next year. My fear is we've still got one or two of those games left in us next year. I expect to see improvement from the entire list, but the guys I'm most excited about next year are (in this order) Oliver, Petracca, Brayshaw, Hunt, Tyson, Hogan, Viney, Salem, Stretch and seeing how Gawn backs up his AA year. If we can get improvement out of all of those guys (our best players), we'll be pushing closer to 14+ games. History tells me we're another year or so off from having a realistic crack at the top 4 though. I also look forward to the new Goodwin style. I want to see more trust in our team mates and playing for each other. Blocking, shepherding, tackling at high intensity etc. The stuff the top 4 teams do. If we can put that together for 10-12 games next year, we'll be tracking well on our way.

It's winning time !!!

Granted, I haven't seen a lot of Steele, but every time I have he's been ordinary and I've wondered why there was such fanfare.

Us, stiffed by the AFL ?? Good god, they helped us so much it almost seems unfair. They installed Peter Jackson who was working for the AFL at the time, AND they gave us the money to pay Roosy !! They basically forced us into rehab which will be paying off in spades for the next 10 years. What more could you ask for ?? Sheesh, the ingratitude is remarkable.

Could be as low as 22 after priority picks to Coll, Carl, Ess and Rich.

Call me a negative Nelly but I hope your source is right and they move him on. Would mean they keep Mitchell and he doesn't end up at the Hawks. It will really give me the absolute s%^ts if they get Mitchell. So much for competitive balance. The O'Meara one is interesting too. Apparently failed medicals at 3 clubs but the Hawks take him. Sounds like a Darling trick. Make it look bad so you get to where you want to go. Can say to GC well he failed 3 medicals so we aren't giving you what he's worth.

he completely neglected Jake Spencer

Agreed, Hogan IS the CHF, he is so dangerous when he can get on his bike and get into the game, he will still be a 60 goal a year forward up the ground IMO

Buckenara is usually pretty spot on, but he's got the following bit horribly wrong: "The other consideration with Dawes is does he affect how Hogan plays? Hogan plays his best footy deep and Dawes isn’t really the Nick Riewoldt type who can run up the ground and be that lead-up centre half forward. Does Melbourne need to get someone in who can play that role instead?" Hogan is a CHF, you fool. Weideman is the FF, but eventually he'll lead up to CHF as well. And then they can both rotate.