stevethemanjordan

I'm nitpicking but Grimes is now an AA. It's fair to say he's considered a gun as a medium/tall defender. He's taken his time. But he is incredible at what he does.

Unless a godfather deal comes our way, we should be keeping our core together at all costs until at least 2021. They're not in their prime and under Paul Roos, we drafted these players to be the future of the club. I would be absolutely livid if we let one go given the fact that they're supposed to 'come through together'.

One key area we need to improve to give us the best chance of continued positive development for our younger group: * Experience and leadership. Every supporter should be acutely aware of the fact that due to our atrocious track record of drafting and player development over the past decade, our list has been completely bereft of genuine quality leaders. It has been so bad that we've had to consistently bring in older heads to fill the void. Byrnes, Cross, Vince, Lewis, May etc. With Lewis now retired, I strongly hold the view that our group would benefit from having another 200+ game player on the training track and on the field. The simple fact of the matter is that we need to keep doing this until enough genuine leaders emerge from our current core group of players. Viney and Lever need to get back to playing consistent football even though both are the furthest advanced in that age group. Brayshaw, Petracca, Harmes and Oliver need to grow up a bit and continue to develop. Jones would benefit from having another older head on the ground as well as relinquishing the captaincy and get back to concentrating on his own form. Viney the same. Like many, I think Gawn is ready to take the mantle as sole captain of the club. But this should be a reminder to everyone about how long it can take for a player to develop and mature to the level required for a leadership role. It doesn't always happen overnight like it did with Viney. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to the future of the club that we keep our younger core on the straight and narrow. We cannot afford to lose one of our younger core players in the club's current state. Higgins or Smith are my choices for experience and leadership. Both have different levels of experience/success and both are different players. However, both offer us attributes that we desperately need. Higgins is arguably playing the best football of his career despite his age and I liken him Bourgoyne in the way that there are no visible signs of him slowing down. His decision making, ball use, positioning and footballing IQ are absolutely elite and then there's what he'd offer from an experience and leadership pov also. Smith is the wingman we would love, penetrating kick, really smart, elite of elite runners and leadership and experience that would trump that of Higgins'. I'd be ecstatic with either player and I genuinely think that we need at least one of these types going into 2020.

Just read that he signed until 2021 at the start of this year. So rule him out. He's super crafty, quick and very smart with ball in hands. High pressure and skilled. Think of a player that possesses all attributes that our team doesn't. Daniels is that player.

I rate Daniels, would be happy with 11, 13 and Daniels and a swap of later picks. Daniels is exactly what we need.

Couple' things. As of this morning, I'm a changed person. I wish to apologise for playing the antagonist on this forum for too long now and will make a conscious effort to either ignore those whom I disagree with or engage with them in a less emotionally-fuelled way. I'll also refrain from using the term 'happy-go-luckies' as much as I enjoy using it. I have more warning points than 'deeluded' has posts now. Sometimes it's easy to forget that we're all supporters of the MFC but with a range of layers that individualise us from each other. The forum is great, it's an escape, informative, provides comedic relief and triggers my annoyances. Thank you and much appreciation to the creators of demonland. With that out of the way, I'd like to lay bare what is in my view the most important off-season I will have witnessed. I understand that sounds rather dramatic and the 'happy-go lu.....' *jokes*. Yes, it's dramatic. But let's think about the state of the club for a minute or two. Let's think about what we've been through since 2007 right up until last year. (2018). * Failed coaches, failed admin, an inability to develop, nurture and pick the right talent, a complete disconnect to the supporter base and no finals. What was/is the result of those failings that we still see today? * A missed generation of supporters, financial troubles, still no real home base, extremely poor and questionable leadership due to a lack of players who have come through the club together which has contributed to the absence of any club culture and has had an extremely negative effect on the 'psyche' of the club the individuals come through the doors. The last point is particularly interesting. Club psyche or belief. This morning, I was listening to SEN with Whately talking to Buckley about 'belief'. About the fact that when Buckley was playing at Collingwood, the list developed a real appetite and positive winning record when playing interstate over a period of time. That then filtered throughout the AFL world and became something that everyone knew, including young draftees that were picked up by Collingwood. It was already embedded in their psyche. The belief that Collingwood 'travelled well'. In a competition whereby the smallest of margins can give a side an advantage, it got me thinking about the MFC. I started thinking about the very real effect our failings have had on the psyche of every young player that has walked through the doors since 2007. It is clear to me that someone like Petracca, Watts or Hogan would have had vastly different experiences had they walked into a big and successful club like Collingwood from the day they were drafted. Experiences that have a profound effect on the psyche and belief of one's self that can absolutely influence whether or not a player can realise their potential. Is it any wonder why a club like Collingwood have continually churned out genuine stars and match winners over the last decade? I think of Jordan De Goey, (a player who went at number 5 in the same draft as Petracca and Brayshaw). More recently, players like Oliver have been relatively unaffected by the feeling of failure that clouded the club for so long and has been able to forge his own path. Gawn similarly has been able to overcome what I used to label 'MFC conditioning'. Every individual is different and has a different make-up and will therefore be influenced more or less by what the outside world is saying. (Outside world being the club our AFL world). The point I'm trying to make here is that part of the unprecedented drop to 17th on the ladder this year has to be in part attributed to what I'm talking about. A very real feeling and belief of Melbourne doing 'Melbourne things'. The "veil of negativity" as Paul Roos would say. You could feel it on the ground, in the stands as a supporter and clearly some of the players played as if it weighed heavily on them. When Melbourne supporters don't show up to a Friday night game against Sydney because we've 'seen it all before', the players feel that absence on the ground. It all has an effect. Go back to last year's elimination final at the G. I was standing in line at gate two of the MCC at 1pm and watched in disbelief at the number of buzzing Melbourne supporters that rolled in over the course of that afternoon. We got 90,000 and how many were Melbourne? The pressure meter that night was at 211 points or something ridiculous and we had but a finger nail of the finals experience Geelong had. The supporters and feeling that the supporters emit can have a huge impact on the way an individual will feel and therefore play. This is why the club can no longer afford to have seasons like we've just had. For both supporters and players. The disengagement is almost immediate from supporters due to our past and they simply won't turn up which creates an enormous negative effect on the club and players on gameday. And as far as players go, if we end up losing one of our 'core' due to unrest, it will further add to the disengagement of the supporters. We have lived through enough rebuilds, high draft picks and promises that we're building a list that will 'come through together'. Goodwin must use this off-season in the right way when it comes to trading. When I look at our greatest weakness as a list, it is skill level and decision making and it concerns me when I don't hear us linked to genuine match-winners and highly skilled players like Martin, Higgins (regardless of age) and even Betts. Langdon in my eyes doesn't fix our problems of delivery inside forward 50. Overlap and gut running is pointless when a team consistently butcher the ball and hand it back to the opposition. I would much rather follow what Geelong did at last years trade period. Target players who give us the best chance at retaining the ball inside 50 and creating scoring opportunities. Our inside 50 numbers this year were very good, what does that tell us? Bad delivery going forward and an inability to lock the ball inside 50. We can completely change the list profile if we're aggressive and bold enough. This is completely make or break for Goodwin and for the club in my view. Apologies for the selfish post.

I don't like the idea of Brayshaw leaving for a variety of reasons. But if a hypothetical came up that resembled yours, I'd take it in a heart beat. And I agree with going after Higgins.

Lol. It's what the happy-go-luckies do best. I was waiting for the post season thread labelled, "at least they ran through the banner this year".

I agree that it's been obvious for a few seasons now. There's clearly an identifiable trend to the way we lose games and with the number of injuries we've had this year, we've spiralled into a [censored] heap. Whilst the perennial positive pollies may call it out as hindsight, I've always been concerned with Goodwin's head strong approach to one way of playing. Even last year during the season proper, all of the warning signs and trends were there in the games we lost. Especially the ones we badly lost. Collingwood, Hawthorn, West Coast, St Kilda etc. He didn't change a thing coming into this year and as far as recruiting and trading go, he put all eggs in one basket. For seasons now, I've questioned why contested heavy and inside type players have been played in positions they're not suited too. From Tyson and Jones on a wing, ANB playing at half forward too often to recruiting Sparrow as our first round selection in the draft last year. Injuries aside, our list profile has come back to bite us in a big way. The 666 rule change has added to that. Posters may brush it off and think that we'll be fine next year like they always do. But the reality is that we've been a laughing stock for the best part of a decade and as a club, we simply cannot afford to have a seasons like we have this year for a long time if we have any desire to get close to the big boys of the comp. This is part of why I am so harsh when evaluating our situation, list, players and posters' views. Because I care too much about real possibility that the gal between us and the power house Victorian clubs will just keep growing. I know people who have given up as supporters and no longer follow the club. The happy-go-luckies may laugh at that, but if you look at our supporter base, demographic and the very real fact that we have lost a generation of supporters, it's not so funny. Which makes having years like this absolutely unacceptable. Goodwin has been given a lifeline and the club better address our list in an extremely aggressive but calculated way.

Word. It's genuinely embarrassing and cringe worthy that posters are kicking up a stink.

Yeh well had we sorted our [censored] out as a club, we wouldn't have had to suffer the consequences would we.

That makes very little sense. An expression of frustration that wasn't meant to be taken literally when almost every post in this thread is a genuine complaint about the AFL [censored] the MFC over. Right.

Lol. Explain to me how the AFL [censored] us over? Let me know the last time we turned a top draft pick into a genuine star.

Wouldn't speak too soo. I've heard O-Mac will be a future AA for us from multiple demonlanders. Several even.

Obviously not this year. But next year, finishing anything above 17th will be a 'positive'. It's upsetting that I needed to explain that.

Let's be honest, the happy-go-luckies will host a jamboree of we finish 16th next year.

Late reply, sorry. Gold Coast will have a much greater chance of attracting mature aged/bodied players with a PP. No? A star even. It gives them options. The AFL will do it and fair enough really.

Some of those players have actually produced decent seasons. Petracca for instance. Making a comment like you have is pointless. We all know it's highly unlikely that a side will have a successful year if a host of players will be requiring some sort of surgery. However, what you and so many other happy-go-luckies fail to make mention of is that a team competing in a prelim final falling to 17th the following year simply can't be explained by injuries. In short - Yeh, it's hard to have a 'successful' year with that many surgeries, but it's equally as hard to finish second bottom and win only 5 games for the year unless there are some other suspect reasons at play.

Wrist slashing.

It's just wrist slashing. Ask the happy-go-luckies. (Speaking of which, jeez they just disappear once we stink it up.)

Jeez we're an arrogant lot aren't we. We've been around since the dawn of footballing time and it was only 10 years ago that we received a priority pick from the AFL. What's worse? As recently as 2014 we submitted another request for one with the AFL denying it. However, we did recieve pick 2 as compensation for Frawley leaving that year. For Frawley. Let's just take a minute to think about how other clubs felt about that if we're playing this game? The AFL bring in two more AFL clubs to expand the game and there are Melbourne supporters on here whining that the Suns might be taking precious pick two away from us. We've been around for how long and still need assistance in almost all facets. We make a prelim and are so arrogant to think it will just happen again the following year. We are a nothing club right now and supporters whining about the AFL giving the Gold Coast assistance are completely contradictory, pig-headed and are in total denial of the state of their own club. It beggars belief. How about we look after our own backyard you peanuts.

It's all just wrist slashing if you ask me. You're all overreacting.

@binman might know. Oscar was labelled as an out for an ankle, yet Lever plays and apparently needs surgery. Interesting..

What he offers the side is nearly always balanced out by the unfathomable howlers he makes. I was simply pointing out that after he made that impressive run down tackle, he kicked the ball out on the full. Which is something we see far too often from the guy.

Haha. Jeez you're a sensitive soul if you view that as bagging or bashing. I merely pointed out a fact. Yeh he made the great tackle. But gave it straight back. So what's to like? See his effort against Reid just then? Take those Rosey glasses off.