titan_uranus

I too am excited about our future. But then again, I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. These players we've drafted will take a few years to develop into AFL players. But I can see a core group of exciting young talent that will take the first step towards success in 2009.

I'm with you Dappa, between 2 and 3 on your scale at the moment. I get the feeling a lot of people on this forum rate him out of optimism and hope. From what we've seen there's nothing to suggest he'll become a great player. That's not to say he won't, just that after only a handful of games he hasn't set the world on fire.

Wow. I knew nothing about this Jurrah, but now I'm a fan. And our group of indigenous players expands once more. Jurrah, Bennell, Jetta, Davey, Wonaeamirri, Whelan (did I miss anyone?). We should be playing in the Dreamtime at the G match, not Richmond.

For me, choosing the co-captains option is a sign of a lack of faith in the leaders at Melbourne. We need leadership, we need someone to be able to inspire. To me, co-captains represent a splitting of responsibilities, not a sharing. I would rather see some faith entrusted in one player (preferably Brock McLean) to lead this club out of the doldrums. If the load needs to be shared, that's what the 'leadership group' is for. The board of the club has a president/chairman, and then a group of board members. But just the one president. The off-field team is led by one person Stynes, but that's not to say there isn't leadership coming from Peter Spargo, or Russel Howcroft.

I'm basically with you on all those points 45. If the selectors recognise we need another paceman, then Siddle should be playing. I thought he was quite good in Mohali. If Krejza's fit, though, I think he should play. With Lee, Johnson and Clark, I think we can afford a spinner. For mine, Stuart Clark's spot in the team should be brought into harsher consideration. If he doesn't do something on the WACA pitch, I'd look to swapping him out for Siddle/Watson. At 33, there isn't much of a future in him.

It's a pity this poll doesn't work properly, because I'd be interested to see what the opinions are of those who think we should have co-captains. In the meantime, I've said McLean and NO. A big fat NO. But if it had to happen, I said McLean and Miller.

Me too. There's that one quote from Connolly, which says nothing more than we already knew (we're going to take the best man available), and then there's a whole lot of expansive, speculative crap from Jake Niall, who's struggling to find any news on AFL at the moment. We won't draft CJ.

Absolutely agree. Just because the game wasn't played to a high standard (far from it) doesn't mean it wasn't a fantastic occasion for the Melbourne Football Club. Hopefully, when we do recover and become a decent football team again, this 3-4 year patch will have galvanised Melbourne supporters, such that we will have a strong supporter base that rivals most other clubs.

Seems as though the NZ selectors have recognised that the team they used here won't cut it, as there have been many changes made to their team for the upcoming series they have against West Indies. Chris Martin, Tim Southee, Grant Elliot, Aaron Redmond and Peter Fulton were all dropped from the squad. Firstly, let's not forget that they didn't have Jacob Oram (who returns to the team). With Oram, they could have batted McCullum at 5. There's talk on cricinfo that Ryder will be either dropped or moved from no. 3, and Flynn will play at 3. IMO, Ryder at 3 doesn't work. His style isn't suited to situations where NZ is 1/not much, with the ball only 5-10 over old. Ryder I think would do better down the order. So maybe it will be Flynn at 3, Taylor at 4, McCullum at 5, Ryder 6, Oram 7. I think the NZ team does have some good players looking to the future. Taylor has no. 4 down solid. Flynn will make a good batsman with time, McCullum and Vettori are world-class, Oram not too far behind. It's all a matter of getting a settled team with the right batsmen in the right posiitions.

The thing that worried me in those two articles in the HUN was the suggestion of co-captains (Bruce and McDonald were the given example). No. No, no, no, no, no. We must select one captain, someone to lead this club and take on the responsibility. And preferably not Bruce or McDonald.

Not terribly optimistic of you Jaded... I don't think we'll see Watts until late next year, if at all. He seems to me to be focused on finishing Year 12, and if Maric is anything to go by, then he might get a game or two towards the end of the year. As for the rest of them, I think Bail and Jetta will play the most games.

This I agree with. People talk about the fact that he wasn't picked up in 80-something selections in the National Draft. That surely doesn't matter. Otherwise rookies wouldn't exist. Sometimes things just don't work out on draft day and certain kids slip through. From what I have read, we will invite some possible choices to train with the club. This will give Sibosado the opportunity to prove his ability to the club. He knows that if he wants to play AFL, a good show now with Melbourne could be it for him. We won't look at De Boer if he can't kick.

This is a huge problem. We've got the (very marketable) no. 1 pick to parade about, yet no company wants to align themselves with us. Meanwhile, Carlton gets another sponsor (Malaysia Tourism). They've got three sponsors I think (Hyundai, Optus, Malaysia).

All over. NZ all out for 203, we win by an innings and 62 runs. McCullum not out 84. Lee bowled brilliantly today, it's a pity he didn't get 6-for to make it 10 for the match. But he ripped their top order apart. Hauritz was pretty good actually, but he's not anywhere near as dangerous as Krejza was. I guess Krejza and Watson will have to come into consideration for the Perth match. Clark was underwhelming in Adelaide, so maybe Watson will come in for him as the 3rd seamer, and Krejza for Hauritz. Probably just Krejza for Hauritz.

A KPP? We took 5 small running players today. So maybe someone with some height.

We're wrapping up the tail nicely. NZ 9/270. O'Brien caught behind off Lee for 0, Southee caught by Katich off Johnson for 2, McCullum caught behind off Lee for 30. Lee has 3/66 off 25 overs. Not bad. Edit: All out 270. Lost 4 for 8 in 40 minutes. Vettori left stranded on 18*, Lee gets 4-for. 270's not a good total first up in Adelaide. And they were 3/194 at one stage.

'Dees Pleased with Blease' 'Strauss is Grouse' 'Benell plays well' 'Jetta is better' 'All Hail Bail'

I had thoughts similar to those above, but now Lee has hit back well I think. The way he set up Flynn, with outswingers before an inswinger, was well thought out and executed. And he bowled something like 6 overs for 3 runs at one stage in that third spell. And now he's got McCullum with a slower ball. He's getting variation in his bowling now. NZ 7/269

SEN interview with Jack Watts NOW 'Dees are a great club' Wasn't sure if he was a Demon until last night, as HUN reported 'I'm still 17, got a lot of learning to do, plenty of improvement left in me, got to get my body right'. Isn't sure about playing next year.

Melbourne, Essendon, Brisbane, Port Adelaide, Carlton all passed with their last picks

Tom Hislop (ex Essendon)- Richmond (pick 58) Leigh Brown (ex North Melbourne) - Collingwood (pick 73) Jason Davenport (ex Geelong) - Port Adelaide (pick 78) Colm Begley (ex Brisbane) - St Kilda (pick 83)

Born 26th June 1988 (20 years old). He's a wingman, trained with St Kilda last year http://southern-star.whereilive.com.au/spo...its-draft-pick/ “Rohan is an exceptional athlete,” "Melbourne-born, Bail moved to Brisbane when seven and played with the Ferny Grove Falcons until 15, then with Sherwood for two years. He has mostly played midfield-wing but seems equipped to perform equally well elsewhere. "

Good to see pace coming in, sure as hell need it.

I, like Jaded, have a sinking feeling that the glamour of Naitanui is weighing upon the MFC. Clearly, Watts is the best player. It would be nothing short of a mistake to not take the best player available. But this club doesn't always do things rightly. So I wouldn't be surprised if we took Naitanui tomorrow in the hope that he adds something off-field to the club.

Thanks Haydo, WJ, Rogue and others for the info. I'm still praying that I hear us call out Watts' name tomorrow.