Adelaide Demon

Yeah, I mean with that forward line, there are quite a number of difficult match-ups there. Green has the running-capacity of a midfielder (and will probably rotate through at time, and off a wing etc.) but is also a strong mark, and obviously he's a fantastic shot for goal. Bate can work up the ground and plays tall, his weakness in his agility and work below his knees means he has to. Jurrah is a difficult match-up, purely because he has all the attributes of both a tall and a small, and having explosive smaller- to mid-size players like Sylvia and Wonna give the forward line more mobility and unpredictability. Obviously Watts will develop in to our premier tall forward but at this stage our forward line is an interesting, evolving and exciting mix of unpredictability.

Thanks for making these polls. They have been interesting. My best 22 is Frawley Warnock Rivers Grimes Garland Bruce McDonald Jamar Martin* Davey Scully Jones Moloney Trengove Morton Jurrah Green Bate Watts Sylvia Wonnaeamirri + one other (of Petterd, Strauss, Blease etc.) *If Jamar played forward more often, I'd probably prefer Meesen in there. I say + 1 out of Petterd, Strauss, Blease etc, because our positioning of players can be very flexible considering we have the likes of Davey, Sylvia and Morton to switch around if need be. I can really only see about 3-4 places up for grabs if there are no injuries and no serious drops in form - and they are probably Wonna's, one of the backmen's positions (McDonald...), the second ruck spot, and if Watts, Scully or Trengove aren't ready (but I reckon all three will be).

The guy cannot occupy a place in our 22 unless we have a dozen+ players injured.

Totally agree with all of that. Particularly the last sentence.

Superstar in the making. Don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but he will be one of major our drawcards in our charge towards a flag. Could kick 50 goals next year.

Anyone think J. Watts looks like Cooney in that photo at the top of this page?

With all due respect, you obviously have no idea of world football. The World Cup is held in June and July every four years. It does not change its routine because of a local, domestic competition, that - in the grand scheme of things - has no impact. I love the AFL as much as the next bloke but I recognise that it is the premier sport in Australia, and the 190th sport in most other countries. If we get the WC, it will happen in June and July. The AFL will have to go on hold for 6 weeks. That is what is going to have to happen.

This read really makes me emotional. I hope that Jimmy will pull through this, and I know that he is most likely to, and he is the man that will lead this club to its greatest glories since the '60s, and no sentement will be forgotten on this great ruckman that grabbed the club by the scruff of its neck and dragged it out of its darkest era and in to its new era of greatness. We will love you forever Jimmy.

I still feel that we would benefit more from having pick 34 than keeping people like Michael Newton and Paul Johnson etc. on the list but if we aren't going to get rid of one other (I know that Newton has a contract etc.) then so be it, 4 quality players and hopefully one other in the PSD is a good off-season result when it's all said and done. Can't wait for these first four picks, Strauss and Blease to debut and Watts, Grimes, Jurrah, Morton, Jones, Frawley, Wonna and Bate to all keep improving. I can't see Barts getting many games to be honest unless we have injury problems.....

That would be awesome!

I mean initially from the sounds of it, it is way too long but think about it, they would both be 32 in 2012 and 2013 respectively, it's not like they'd be going around with walking sticks. A player of Green's class should be able to play (i.e. be retained on a list) until they are 31 or even 32, I think that's reasonable, and Bruce made the valid point last year when he played his 200th that he only started playing professional football at the age of 20, so perhaps his body is not as battered as other 30-year-olds... I think as fans, particularly as fans of a developing and young list, we are too concerned with age once a player reaches 28. For players who have not had reccurring major soft-tissue injuries throughout their careers - like Green and Bruce - playing beyond 30 is not necessarily a problem and physically there is no reason that either of them can't go on until 32. If they are playing consistent footy like they did this year, there is no reason to delist them purely based on a birth date. Here's to Bruce and Green getting to 300! There are no guarantees about anyone staying on the list indefinitely, and what I am saying here is that having a player aged 32 or even 33 on your list is not the end of the world as most people seem to think it is. I would say that on the face of it Brucey won't be going around in 2012, I'd say he's got two more years left, but hey, if he had a good 2011 and there was a spot for him on the veteran's list and we weren't looking to clear out a heap of players, then it is possible that he could be retained as a 32-year-old. I saw highlights of the 2000 Prelim yesterday, these two were very prominent figures that day!

Yeah pretty spot on. I will enjoy the Premiership all the more knowing that the number next to "Years of consecutive membership" on my membership card has a nice little figure next to it like 5 or 6, obviously that is nothing compared to some members but at least I can fully enjoy the good times knowing I've been there 100% for all of the bad ones.

Gee another limited pre-season is not really the preperation he'd be looking for in the make-or-break season of his professional career. I saw him take a hanger on Almost Football Legends though.

I did not know that. That is a staggering statistic. I don't doubt that in five years we will have 5,000+ extra people to watch us per game, i.e. home game v Port at the 'G might get 20,000. It is an interesting thought for me to 'change clubs'. I just could not imagine doing that for any of my favourite clubs in any of the codes that I love (you'll see most of my favourite sporting teams in my signature below). The only time it ever happened was when I went off the Crows, but that was never real anyway as I had no choice in supporting them, and I decided to go back to having Melbourne as #1 as it was before 1991. I can understand people not showing up or taking much of an interest when we are crap, but I can't understand going "Oh well, I'm gonna support the Saints from now on".

Personally I'm all for Thursdays and Mondays. Would be bloody awesome to rock home on a Thursday night and watch some footy. And Monday too. Would mean there would be only two days a week without footy. That is a good thing! The Premier League has no Friday games but they play a game on Mondays most weeks, and have mid-week rounds, and it's great. Would love four days of footy per week. Then on weeks where there is Champions League on or the Ashes or the Tour de France, or French Open/Wimbledon, it's non-stop sport, bring it on!! That Saturday twilight idea isn't bad, would mean you could go from 2pm through to 9pm with some match going, good day of footy that!

Outstanding season. Had at least half a dozen games where he was pulling all of our strings, directing us by foot. Games when he had 30 touches felt like he had 40 because of his efficiency and penetration by foot. For mine, he's the equal of anyone with his kicks in open-play. Should win our best-and-fairest, and was unlucky to miss the 40-man All-Australian squad. Davey's 2009 has marked him as our best player, and getting him signed up recently was vital to the club. His 2010 has the potential to set up his career as one of the champions of the club. If he raises his level yet again he will surely become one of the competitions elite, a title he wouldn't be far off at the moment. His importance within our Indigenous group of players cannot be understated either. He is absolutely crucial to the longer-term development of this club through his on-field brilliance and leadership in the short-term.

I think Morton will step up and be top-3 for us. I really hope he does. I quite frankly think he has been over-rated to this point in his career. He is going to be very good, and hopefully that is what he will be next year. Davey to be in the All-Australian 40-man squad. Sylvia to rip a handful of games open and get 30+ touches 4-5 times. Jurrah to kick 50 goals. Strauss, Watts, Scully and Trengove to get Rising-Star nominations. (Sorry, I know nothing about Blease or picks 11 and 18 at the moment.) Matthew Bate to kick 40 goals and become one of our top-10 players. Frawley to go close to All-Australian squad selection. Grimes to get 8 Brownlow votes.

Our Premiership team will contain Davey Sylvia Watts Jurrah Grimes Frawley Morton Scully Trengove Bate Jones Moloney and there are no guarantees for others. Depending on the year we win it, Green and Bruce could get a medal too. The rest, well teams change year-to-year, week-to-week, and players drop in form and have purple patches, so who knows.

Who the hell is this bloke?! Sums up my feelings on the matter adequately.

"We are Melbourne."

Some of my favourite Melbourne mistakes have been Silvia, Jarrah, Wonnamiri, Robinson, Maloney, Pettard, Travis Johnson.

Yeah I understand Bucks and Valenti getting the chop. They thing that makes it a bit annoying is that Michael Newton is still on the list. He has a contract. There should be more one-year contracts going around, especially for Newton-types! (Well actually I would argue that there should be no-year contracts for Newton but yeah..) Can see Bucks playing for Carlton and doing ok. He and Chris Johnson off of either back flank? Brock in the guts? Haha Carlton might have Navy with Red trim next season..

Joe the cameraman!

Glad someone said this. His on-field intelligence is very high most of the time. When I have watched him closely, which has been often, I have continually been impressed with some of the little, mostly-unnoticed things he does, like taking up a certain position that other players wouldn't have seen, or having an awareness of his opponent that few others have. Love watching him when he's on.

Thinking about this now, I say Jones is more valuable, and am glad that we kept him and lost Brock, not the other way around. There isn't a huge amount of 21-year-olds who have played 70 games. I think the upside for Jones can be large. Still so young. I think a lot of people think of him in the Rivers/Sylvia et al age bracket, when he is in the same age group as Petterd and Wonnaeamirri. He could be a 250-gamer for MFC.