deanox

I think I disagree. Ice got a theory that our defensive zone works better at Ethihad as it is narrower than the G, where the extra width opens it up allowing teams to find a gap. Subiaco is 15 m longer, but narrower than ethihad again. "Bigger" in this case doesn't affect modern defensive. I'm really interested to see how it works for us.

Hibberd > Melksham Pretty happy with this. We paid overs last year and unders this year. Both are best 22 and I think Hibberd will be close to top 12 for us for the next couple of years. At his age he is effectively a very good quality upgrade on Matt Jones. Make our list run much deeper.

Id love us to say that publicly.

Just to throw around some other possible scenarios, how would people feel about: - Hibberd and Essendons 2016 2nd rounder (19?) - for - Our 2017 first found (12?) - Hibberd and Essendons 2016 2nd rounder (19?) - for - Salem and our 2016 3rd rounder (46?) - Hibberd - for - Grimes/other fringe player plus or 2016 3rd round (46?)

It has been a tough year for fringe players at the MFC. We have had virtually no injuries, particularly to the midfield group, we've had a couple of kids come on, and we've competed most weeks. Usually the guys on the fringe (ANB, Grimes, Trenners, Newton, BenKen) would all play 8-12 each and we'd be taking about how important it is that we have depth. With our best 6 available almost every week and kids rotating through the last couple of mid spots, these guys just haven't been given the opportunity. Unless we get upgrades, I hope we have some stability. Dumping good depth performing at tier 2 for the equivalent incoming from the opposition won't help us.

It's rough but it comes with the territory of a $60k per year job straight out of high school in an industry where you are the focus (everything is done for you and tailored personally to you: coaching, fitness, personal trainers, massages, specialists looking after you), with a chance for that to jump to $200k plus within a couple of years.

I suspect the crowd will stop obsessing about draft picks once: a) we play some finals so we have other things to get excited about b) we play finals so we don't have a top 10 pick (less exciting than pick 3) c) we have 25+ regular senior players who everyone thinks are better options for round 1 than an untried 17 year old who gets drafted (will be accelerated if the 17 year old is ranked 10-15 rather than 1-7)

I really enjoyed his highlights clip. A couple of things really stood out. His ability and the way he avoided tackles obviously, but also the ways he gathered the ground ball so easily, particularly the way he freed his arms and got handballs out to advantage and the number of overhead marks he took. I'm assuming the potential knock on him is fitness i.e. endurance, and perhaps pace over 2-3 steps. Pretty happy.

That being said i have no knowledge of whether this year's top 10 is stronger or weaker than last year's or next year's. It may be hard to to compare because this year's best 10 players are playing in a weaker competition (i.e. shallower).

We are discussing the quality of the top 10-15 players and which options are available. That is unrelated to discussing the quality of players 30-60+, which is considered to drop off. Thus the draft is "shallow" i.e. not deep.

Shallow means not deep.

I think any second forward needs to be ruck capable. Weideman may be, I don't know, but for that reason I would be trying to fill the spot with a player who is a genuine ruck forward.

An extension until 2019 is enough for me. It ends any short term speculation. If we haven't come good (and by that i mean be regulaly competitive and playing a final or two) by the end of 2017, Goodwin is going to be under serious pressure in 2018. To have Hogan locked in for 2019 will mean over less distraction that year. If we aren't challanging in 2019, Hogan may as well go and so should we. Pumped by this article!

We struggled to bring him into the game. Amazing how this week, when we actually match the opposition through the midfield and with i50's, that we struggle to convert these to shots on goal.

I wonder if these 2 and 3 years deals were significantly front ended? We didn't have anyone to pay the salary cap to, so it is easy to front end the contact, pay the cap, save the cash for bigger fish in future years and it is reasonably cheap to pay players out later if needed.

I'm not sure it does. I think it highlights that "midfielder" is a loose term we use to cover a whole number of roles/positions from extractors at the bottom of packs, inside distributors, outside receivers/links, outside distributors, taggers, run withs, etc. Without a good mix of all these types a midfield performs poorly, looks one paced etc. A genuine superstar can play any of those roles as required, but there have been very few pages in the history of the game who can do that whole surrounded by substandard team mates.

I don't think it is unreasonable. A big play at a star via FA, trade our first pick for another mod who will be in our top 6 mids and a lower trade for a fringe player at a good club who may push for selection. Trade players for a ruck if needed, keep our second pick for the draft and get petracca and maybe Trengove back as well.

I'd try and buy three mids this year. One big fish, one other starting mid and a third young mid who isprobably best 22. Don't mind if we get one FA and trade for the other. Agree about the ruck but I don't want to spend big on one unless they are a forward/Rick who can play on the same team and share the ruck work with another ruckman.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-05-14/dawes-aims-to-expose-frawley-fitness “He’s [Frawley's] missed about a month of footy, so he’s going to be vulnerable, in terms [of his match fitness],” Dawes said “I imagine he’ll go to Jesse Hogan, [with] him being the No.1 forward, but if he comes to me, that’s certainly what I’ll be trying and do – work him around and try to exploit his lack of match fitness.”

Jackovich kicked 71.57 in 14 games in his first season. He also kicked 50+ in the reserves.

So is he AV or AB?

If he was a reasonable athlete (read good pace) with a big build playing rugby he would probably be playing no. 8. A good prop could potentially transition but a lot of them are just the big blokes.

Disagree. Out isn't just that. Though they are pumped to be together. The relationship Angus has with Roos is a plus. They are happy to be at Melbourne. It isn't Essendon. It isn't st kilda. It may not be getting drafted to Hawthorn BUT it isn't horrible anymore to come to roos and the dees.

"He's gonna kill me!" Fantastic clip. There was something about those two. I've never seen draftees come to Melbourne that just looked like they were going to make it. They oozed confidence together. I hoe we see that on the field. Amazing.

Early nomination for post of the year. Love it.