Jarka

I'm not really sure how much a current board member would be aware of who the coaching staff will try to secure at the end of the season, especially if it's a board member on his/her way out.

As the title suggests I think I've finally gone round the bend, we're more than halfway through the season and we are clearly the worst team in the comp. We have massive holes in our list, our captain and arguable our most successful player in the modern era has just retired and we're as close to being broke that an AFL club can be. Yet, despite all this I'm excited. For some reason I see hope that didn't exist over the last 3 or 4 years. After a decade of sameness I sense a fresh breath of new life seeping through the whole club from the top with our new president down to the rank and file supporters. On the field we've had players arrive who previously where lost (Garland & Warnock), we've discovered new talent (Morton, Valenti & Wona) and even the much maligned (mostly by me) Brad Miller has turned a sharp corner. I'm not sure if Bailey is responsible for all this, I'm just happy to sit back and watch the younger guys grow and develop for the rest of the season. What impresses me most about the club at the moment though is the gradual change of culture. Hell, I can even see a positive in guys like Dunn and CJ. Off the field Casey, Canberra and the OP precinct will be our future, and for the first time in a long time I can actually see us survive and once again grow into the powerhouse that we once were. Stynes is going to reap the rewards of all the hard work that Gardiner and his team did, but I realise now that he is an inspired choice. He is the face of Melbourne, along with guys like Gary Lyon. He's a better figurehead than an unknown but wealthy businessman, and he is very good at gathering people to a cause. I still strongly feel that we need to secure the first pick though, and not just for the november draft. The 1st pick in the psd may bcome very important, especially considering that we will be able to afford a big salary with all of our retirments coming up.

Perhaps his future lies as a forward tagger, playing on guys like Heath Shaw, restricting their drive down the ground, if he could successfully do that and kick a couple of goals a game he would then become very valuable. His lack of high touches wouldn't then become a big issue. Nash, I wasn't overly impressed when we announced Bailey as our new coach, however the more I see him operate the more I'm getting impressed. He seems to building the right culture within the club, a process that won't deliver immediate results but will benefit the club in the long term. I'm more than happy to have several bites of the pie and see Dunn become successful.

Great post (although some of us have been saying this for a couple of seasons ). Dunn has shown some very encouraging signs, but you're right they're not what he was drafted for. What are his positive? Big tank, aggressive, can kick a goal (plays small up forward), this is the challenge for bailey. Where to play him to maximise his talent. Sure he could be a tagger but he needs to get more touches than he does now, he needs to hurt the opposition more.

No, I don't expect him to get 30 touches, I thought my post made that clear. I'm impressed with the 1%'s that he contributes to the team.

It wasn't half, in fact no where near it. More like $50k (he was on $500k)

Carlton has received the last three number one picks, as well as a plethora of other 1st rounders. We have a long way to go to match their run.

So all we have to do to become successful is to be crap for another 2 years... Great thinking Brad.

I'm just happy that Bailey realises that he's not a key forward, also I'd think that Dunn would be grateful for any sort of run with the firsts. He still needs to work on hurting his opponenet with quality touches, all decent taggers playing at the highest level can do this and that's what he needs to work on.

The closer Miller stays to goal the better he plays and more damaging he becomes, as soon as he leads up to the wing his game goes downhill fast. I've been a big critic but this season he has demonstrated a glimpse of the player he might turn into. Consistency should be his first goal but he should never have been put into the leadership group, it just put far too much pressure on him earlier in the year.

I was there that night, and to this day it's my saddest memory of supporting Melbourne. I'll never forget the abuse and unbridled hatred directed at heros of the club like Tiger and Sean White. The amount of abuse they received for doing what they thought to be the right thing was totally unacceptable. A part of the club died that night.

There's nothing I hate more than idiots screaming 'baaaaallll!!!' after a player correctly disposes the footy while being tackled.

As the thread suggests which current borderline players would you like the coaching staff give more of an opportunity for the rest of the year? Shane Valenti - McLean & Jones needs help and Valenti could be the one to give it. Sure he doesn't get alot of touches but his inside work is as good as anyone else on our list, eg his awareness to provide a block or shephard to protect the ball carrier is very good. He's not going to improve any more at Sandy, only game time at AFL level will improve him. Chris Johnson - I still see an upside in him, but confidence could be an issue. Give the kid the rest of the year to show his worth instead of playing him for a couple of games then dropping him back to the VFL straigh away. His recent form demands an extended go and at th every worst we'll discover one way or the other whether he's capable or not. He has the speed and quality of disposal to make it and on the weekend he showed a new desire to put his head over the ball. Paul Johnson - Probably not applicable to this topic as he has already cemented his position but it's now clear that he's our best (current) replacement for White. More minutes in the centre please! Dunn and Frawley are two others who need as much game time as possible, even though I think they won't be as good as alot of others think, they have the skills to be at least depth players and, particularly in Dunn's case, only game time for Melbourne will see development. Would like to see Dunn tried on the wing but we already have a plethora of players for that role.

Hopefully not for the same reason why Rod Keogh got number 31.

Scott Thompson has been the closest player we've had to a 'star' since Gary Lyon and David Schwartz, it's just a pity that the culture of the club wasn't strong enough at the time to influence his decision to stay.

I tend to agree, but it says more about the fans than it says about the player. We should wait for him to play good consistent footy before heaping excessive expectations upon his shoulders.

Dogma was a great movie, however my comments weren't born from it.

If it means survival then I'm all for it.

Correct, he was also dark skinned as well as being married and having several kids.

We'll get to 248 users...and then the server will crap itself, then everyone will log onto demonology and the same thing will happen there. Bigfooty will be the next destination but they won't have budgeted for the mass of demon fans and their server will also crap itself bigtime (it is called bigfooty afterall). Then everyone will tune into SEN and complain about the lack of updates....

If he could consistently kick 2 or 3 goals a game then he'd be a very handy forward to have...unfortunately that's a big if.

Sadly he caused more problems than he fixed, not that he really fixed any problems though.

This year was always going to be a transitional year for us, and let's face it, finding a long term option for FF, CHF, CHB, FB, Ruck and various other positions over the ground was far more important than just missing out on the finals. Of course I'm not happy with losing but I understand that there needs to be alot of work done to get us in a position to seriously make a challenge.

I love his dummy spits

Thanks for posting an article from September 2007...I guess