Drunkn167

It's not that particular payers believe they're worth more per se. Lemme try and explain this without getting too much hate haha So all year, the younger playing group as a whole has been told that the club is moving in a different direction, they are changing things up and bringing in a lot of coaches/new players etc The players have been drilled into their heads all season that certain things need to change to achieve the ultimate success, they need to be team first and other things. One part of that is that even though they may receive great offers from other places, if you wanna stay at Melbourne and help them achieve a flag you may need to take less money for the meantime. This includes all current and future players. Now imagine that the club is going over and beyond for a 21 year old, 50 gamer, and are willing to pay him more then most if not all of the current players, that kinda contradicts everything they've been told. Thats what's gonna annoy them. Theyd love to have Lever alongside them, but not at that cost. I hope it's more like he's on $700k a year with bonuses built in or something, not a million a year. That would be much better.

I'd hope so

Coz I can tell you for a fact that the players would definitely be pretty angry about.

You're missing the point dude. There are a number of players currently on the list who are better then Lever on a helluva of a lot of less money, that's what would create animosity within the group. Don't get me wrong all, Lever would be a great catch for Melbourne no doubt, and it'd be awesome to see him dominate in our backline.

$4 million over 4 years seems way too high for him. Didn't Lewis give a speech earlier in the year that the players should be willing to play for less money to get more, best 22 players in, in order to win a flag? If the MFC have offered Lever that much, doesn't that pretty much throw all of that out the window? Thats gonna p*** off a lot of the playing group

He may not be a starting mid, but he has rotated onto the wing and even on the ball a few times this year, adding more strings to his bow.

Link to article- http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/localfooty/casey-demons-forward-bayley-fritsch-named-fothergillround-medal-winner/news-story/89337747bd3fc2fd472a94ad56f24279

He just won the VFL's "Best Up and Coming Young Player" Something like the last 14 years, every player to win this award has been drafted.

The kid can play, gets some amazing hang time and for a smaller bloke is a great contested mark. For those saying he isn't good enough, you obviously did not watch a lot of VFL games this year because he is insanely talented. Put a couple of AFL pre seasons into him and when he fills out and puts on some weight he'll be a beast. Plus there's one thing about being drafted to the MFC that a lot might not realise, is that the club primarily go for 2 apsects in a bloke (apart from footy skills) This isn't speculation, I heard this come directly from Goodwin at the start of the season: 1) They must have a huge want to play AFL and 2) have a great, friendly, likeable personality. Look at guys like Hannan, T.Smith and Keilty, came from tough pathways to get onto an AFL list (having to play VFL whilst working full time jobs) and have great personalities. Fritsch fits those aspects perfectly. Get him in.

What!?!?! This is news to me! He's still at work so I haven't spoken to him yet. I wonder why they've done this, if he was getting a debut I assume he would've been told by now, and he hasn't rang me to tell me so. So maybe they just want to use him as an emergency, or possibly a backup for finals?

Nice pic of Dec, got a decent write up too

Dec and Dion Jonhstone spent the weekend up in the NT doing community work, a good write up on their experience http://melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-05-27/dion-and-declans-excellent-adventure

This is my thinking too, if they play both Pedo and Dec to rotate through the ruck, it frees up Watts to stay up forward and have a formidable forward line with Hogan. But as I and others have said, he isn't quite ready for AFL yet and needs more developing, but you never know.

As much as I would love for this more than anyone to happen, Dec isn't ready for the AFL yet. Maybe some better form during the year might get him a gig but he needs at least another preseason in him.

Yep that'd be me

http://m.melbournefc.com.au/video/2017-02-10/china-southern-arrivals-declan-keilty

Nice article about Dec in the local paper https://imgur.com/gallery/4V19X

Dec has been given jumper number 45

1 last thing I'd like to note, is his listed weight shows 88kgs, where the last time he weighed in he was up to 96kgs, pure muscle. A good pre-season in him and he will have a very competitive amount of strength.

If it's any consolation he was rated Number 1 this year in the VFL for one-on-one wins, mostly against key forwards.

There is a nice highlights reel - Declan Keilty

Declan had an interview with the Mebourne staff today about his draft prospects

Just got the word that the Casey staff members have said that Melbourne are indeed having a serious look at Declan

Pretty well spot on. The only thing I'd like to correct is his ability to ruck. You are right in the sense he can't be a full time ruck but he has an incredible vertical jump that can match/beat most AFL players and the few times he has rucked against AFL listed ruck/forwards this year he has either held his ground or won. His endurance is a bit on the average side and always has been and he definitely needs to work on it though

lol nice try but no