sylvinator

The analogy with the TV in his conclusion was in reference to some outsiders who look at strauss' first 3-4 games (their first look at him), which were pretty hopeless, and make conclusions that he'll therefore be a dud. He spent a few paragraphs explainaing how Heath Shaw, Enright, Gilbee and Malceski (4 of the best attacking defenders in the league) took a few years to make it and that they all looked pretty ordinary early in their career. So much like them, Strauss has the tools (kicking, speed etc) to make it, we've just gotta be patient. It's a relatively simple analogy i would have thought.

Worth noting the injuries he's had. Therefore, despite coming into his 3rd season, it is really more like his 2nd season of footy. I would hope that he keeps playing consistently for VFL and plays 5-6 games in the latter part of the seasons. His kicking skills are a big asset

Don't let facts get in the way of a good story. Some people are way too negative these days, looking to criticise everything and anything, whether its warranted or not. Facts is, this administration has brought us back from the brink of existence in every way possible. We no longer have the debt-axe held over our head, and we've been re-introduced to our rich culture and heritage in a big way, all while stepping into state-of-the-art facilities for the first time in 50 years. Our coach has also taken us from a complete rabble, to now be considered probably the number 1 up-n-coming team going forward. Sure, we're going to face hurdles along the way, and we'll only really be contending from 2013, but the steadfastness and dedication to the rebuild has been admirable and effective. Lets appreciate the successes of the past 18 months, and be patient enough to know that we can only really expect real onfield success for another 18 months. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, while we wait for Scully, Trengove, Morton, Grimes, Watts, Gysberts, Tapscott and Cook and co to actually get to 50 AFL games and have 4-5 pre-seasons. Because I'm pretty certain it will be worth the wait

Even though i'd love to make finals, there certainly are plenty of legitimate reasons why we shouldn't make finals this season. The fact we are the second youngest and second most inexperienced side in the league (in front only of the lowly Gold Coast) should not be underestimated. I'd like to win at least 10 games this season as a pass mark, whether that gets you 8th or 10th i'm not sure.

Firstly, GWS would be very silly to have Scully as their marque $1m+ player. GWS are going to get plenty of teenagers who are supremely talented. With regard to their senior players, they need ready-made big strong AFL players. Scully is going to require 2-3 more years of development before he'll be an AFL star. GWS would be much smarter throwing money at Dale Thomas type player. Secondly, Scully would be very silly to want to be GWS' marque player. GWS will absolutely definitely be shizenhousen for at least 4-5 years. Scully knows we'll be pushing for top 4 by 2013. He'll be living is a crap area, away from crowds and the MCG. Plus we now know that any marque player will be so heavily scrutinised by the media it will be out of control (Ablett anyone?). Does Scully really want to spent the next 5-6 years being scrutnised beyond belief, all the time copping huge tags and enourmous internal club pressure... all while he's trying to develop. Scully will be a rich man if he stays at the demons. It is NOT a good fit between Scully and GWS, and Scully and GWS are both smart enough to realise this.

At the start of the year, it was pretty clear to me Newton was only re-rookied because of our dire need for ruck options. Pre-season, the prospect was Jamar going down was frightening. Spenser and Gawn still years away from being competitive in the ruck, Martin coming off an horrific 2010... we were seriously bereft of options. Newton is perfect back up for Martin in the 'back-up ruckman/versatile around the ground' position that has been created with the new ruck rule. Campbell was brought in as a desperate attempt to give Jamar cover. As long as Jamar and Martin are doing the job, Newton will stay in the vfl in my opinion. Newton's best chance of playing is to show he's a better option with Martin

This ignores his role in the team. Dunn is defensive forward. Every team needs a forward who can strangle an oppositions most damaging opposition rebounder and still be dangerous in front of goal. Dunn plays this role well and will continue to be in the team while he is doing that job. Not every player is going to be a star- some guys need to play their role. Dunn's role is one of the more important in the team. I think some are just disappointed he hasn't continued kicking 3-5 goals a game like he was in back end of 2010. Well firstly he might get back to that. I think he had 6 scoring shots in round 1. Secondly, if he keeps nullifying the opposition's best rebounders, he will still be in my best 22

I find it interesting to see the comparison between how us armchair experts see the game and the professional coaches (who might put a premium on things like in mind 1%ers and playing the team role) This is how Bailey and McKenna viewed the game... Gold Coast v Melbourne 10 Brent Moloney (Melb) 5 Jack Grimes (Melb) 5 Mark Jamar (Melb) 4 Jack Trengove (Melb) 4 Colin Sylvia (Melb) 1 Aaron Davey (Melb) 1 Rohan Bail (Melb) Jack Grimes second best on ground. Very few hand him in their top 5 at all, though some gave him 1 vote. Just shows that sometimes you need to dig a little deeper to see a players true worth. Jack Grimes is going to be our future captain and an absolute star on the competition. Yes he is lacking a little confidence in his disposal at the moment, but for someone so young he is a credit to himself. Sick of hearing unwarranted over-the-top criticism against some of our players, Grimes especially.

Very well said. Your point is even more poignant since we are a developing team not yet in our window, so ideally we actually WANT our players to prime in 2013 and beyond. We are not Collingwood who are now looking for recruits (primarily through trading) that can impact here and now. We are about building a team for 2013 and beyond. The question is therefore not whether the past 4 year draft choices have performed adequately thus far in their careers. The question is actually whether they will be doing so in 2-3 years time. There are very few choices made by our recruiters in the past 3-4 years which you can't be at least a little bit excited about as a prospect for the future.

Firstly, I don't think it's fair to judge the past 3-4 years quite yet. We won't be able to conclude with certainty about each draft until probably 5 seasons after the draft. I personally think we've drafted excellently. One way to see the success of the past 3-4 years is to consider how many of those players drafted in the past 3-4 years are in our best 22 already and are still improving - Gybserts, Tapscott, Scully, Trengove, Morton, Grimes, Watts, Bennel, Jurrah, Bail, Wonaeamirri. That's half our team! Blease might have been in there too had he not had such a bad injury BUT we drafted a couple of high risk, high reward selections early. I think the success and failure of the past 3-4 season will come down to the success of Morton and Watts. At their best, Morton and Watts will be 196cm, super athletic, super skills, great marking ability and hopefully will both get to 95kg playing weight. These 2 selections were high risk and were never going to fulfill their potential for another 1-3 years. Overall I think we've set ourselves up really well the past 3-4 seasons. We've drafted so much young talent. A couple of possible bung-ups in Maric (pick 21) and Strauss (pick 18), McNamara (pick 64), Cheney (pick 53) but those kind of selections are never going to have 100% success rate. Really the only questionable selections relate to high risk selections that were always going to take years to develop. If they pay off, it could mean the difference between top 4 and that extra edge to win a premiership

Probably agree. If we are going to motivate VFL players and put pressure on the senior players we've got to reward the BOG of the VFL if it fits within the team structure. Although I like the ideas of keeping a pretty stable team because we're very close to our best 22 atm (minus Scully and Mckenzie). I'm really happy with our depth atm: - 4 older players in Warnock, MacDonald, Bate, Newton could all slot in pretty well. None of them should replace a player from our senior team atm, but if injuries occur will come in. - Youngsters in Blease, Strauss, Maric, Jetta, Cook, Gawn, Nicholson, Mcdonald, Evans all actually playing well at VFL level and showing that they are on the improve and developing the deficiencies in their game.

Agree. Watts just needs to keep playing. It will click one day. At the moment he takes a good mark, then stuffs the kick, does a good tap but then falls over, then does a nice kick.... one day it'll all come together. We need to just keep pumping games into Watts and all our youngsters. Watts in 2 years time: 196cm, 95kg, 60 games, 2.78second over 20m, elite skills= scary!

I know the moderators hate people expressing an opinion on something they don't approve of... but I just thought I'd let people know that I just listened to 30 minutes of radio bliss... Mark Fine essentially ripping into Cameron Bruce and his deficiencies as a footballer. Yesterday Bruce played a very typical Bruce game. 20 possessions, 15 of them uncontested and in space, and yet his efficiency was 3rd worst on the field out of 44 players. He spent some time tagging Embley, before tagging Andrew Gaff for a bit. He kicked floaters, he made bad decisions, did then odd good thing but then half-missed another target. Would be a little stronger on the field this season with a 35 year old James McDonald and a 32 year old Cameron 'inefficiency' Bruce? Probably. They're 500 games experience! Would we be stronger long term with them in demons jumpers in 2011? Hells to the no! Bruce and McDonald's absense = 2 spots available for Gysberts, Tapscott. Later in the season it means plenty of games into Blease, Strauss, Maric and Jetta, even Evans and Nicholson. Our time in 2013 onwards. We have stuck to the plan, and sacrifised short term pain in order to ensure we have the best possible chance of winning a premiership during those important years. I for one am along for the ride and I respect all the decisions the football department has made in recent seasons.

Pretty much guarantees victory. Even if we play shockingly like last week, we should still win comfortably. Going into the bye with 2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss- and still haven't hit 3rd gear- is not a bad result at all! Our draw this year is really helping us. If we are even half good we should really make top 10 comfortably, and top 8 isn't without a chance

I would argue that Melbourne are in quite a unique position compared to most other teams. Most other teams have at least 4-5 really premium quality players (even the bottom 4 teams do!) As a result, the differentiating factor between the top and bottom teams is often depth- the quality of their bottom 6 players However, our problem is NOT the quality of our bottom 6 players. In fact, our bottom 6 is pretty strong and is made up of teenagers who are only going to improve. Our real problem is listing our TOP 6. For years this has been our problem. Our top 6 simply do not compare to the top 6 of other teams. We have not had a 'star' of the comp for decades and this continues to be the case. What we are crying our for isn't depth, we are crying out for Scully, Trengove, Morton, Watts, Grimes or Jurrah to become in the top 10 players in the aFL

Very interesting post Demon Within. Even though you only post on this site every so often, you are one of the best posters out there and you really know you're footy. I think you make an interesting point. I don't think anyone could argue that (perhaps by coincidence) we've drafted a few super athletic, but not particularly aggressive players through the draft of recent times- Cale Morton, Jack Watts, Lucas Cook, Bennel, Strauss, Maric all time to mind. I think it is something we are lacking. And I think we probably will draft 1-2 more Tapscott type players in coming seasons. However, I wouldn't be picking players in the draft purely because they'll be impacting AFL quicker or be more physical as teenagers. Our time will be 2013 onwards. Therefore the question for us is never who will be impacting games in 2011, but who will be impacting games 2013 and beyond. For that reason we've been able to draft for the future over the past 2-3 seasons and we should reap the rewards. I would argue that all the players we recruited have greater upside than the players we missed out on, especially Watts and Morton. Watts and Morton are great examples. By 2013, Watts and Morton will be fully developed physically, Watts will have 60 games and Morton 80 games under the belt. They'll both be 196cm, 95kg+, incredible athletes and with some outstanding skill sets and attributes. If these 2 guys fulfill their potential that could see us winning a premiership and we'll be thankful the club looked long term, because those 2 players were never going to dominate in their first 3 years of footy.

I think we've pretty much settled on our best 22. Only slight changes will be made at the fringes of our team (from 16th - 22nd best players). Maric, Jetta, Petterd will play some games. Scully and McKenzie also when they're fit... but by in large this is our best 22. What we now need to do is for our best 22 players to play together consistently. We need them to know how each other play and to start to read eachother intuitively. That kind of team unity and team cohesion is an essential ingrediant for a premiership and will only come from playing consistently together. For that reason I'm glad they're not making little chops n changes for no apparent reasons (Eg. Maric to Dunn pretty pointless imo). The guys on the cusp on the 22 will play when injuries inevitably arise. Until that happens, a stable team will lead to increased success

I seriously cannot wait for how satisfying it will be in 2 years time, bringing up all these threads. And once Watts breaks out, and becomes twice the player Hurley is, the guys who payed him out endlessly will say they've learnt their lesson, until the next unsuspecting teenager 'earns' their wrath haha. Watch Watts go down in the same category as players written off to early- including Frawley, Garland, Bail, Sylvia from our team... and players from other teams including Dawes, Goddard etc. At least he'll be in good company.

I know if I was running GWS that I would be VERY anxious about the prospect of my marque player, and $1m+ p.a. signing has only played 1 year of footy and has spent his second year with an 'unusual' knee injury. Scully would probably spend year 1 at GWS developing with the rest of the team, he's hardly going to carry the team like Ablett was expected to. I think this news SUCKS but it may work in our favour in keeping him. He will have a brilliant 12+ yr career, we really just needa lock him into a really long term contract assap

So your only indicator of performance for a 20 year old KP forward playing on guys bigger than him, stronger than him and more experienced than him is contested marks. Very very silly post I'm glad you have nothing to do with decision making in our club.

That is explains why Dawes was given sufficient time to develop, but it does NOT justify why Dawes deserves 3-4 years to develop, while Watts does not. Watts came into the AFL as a skinny 196cm KPF with a strong basketball background. He needs those developmental years, just like many KP forwards in the past, including many KP forwards who were top 10 draft picks!

Sometimes I also get frustrated, and just wish he'd bloody dominate one match to shut everybody up. But then i remember that he's 20 yr old, essentially in his second year of footy.... and that plenty of other KPPs who were high draft picks got years to develop without any of this kind of pressure. Did anyone scream at Chris Dawes to bloody do something already when he hardly played a senior game in his first 3 seasons of footy? Is it frustrating? YES. But he has at least 12 years of footy and at least 3 years before anybody should consider writing him off. Patience is very difficult, but it is necessary here

A bit pessimistic to suggest they're as good as out for the year. If Scully plays 11 games this season and McKenzie plays 16 games this year that is still a substantial amount of footy

That's going too far!

I think Jones plays a super important role our team atm. Scully, Gysberts, Morton, Trengove, Blease, Bail and Bennel might be a good football brigade in the future, but none of them have the required strength to go in and match the hardened bodies of opposition midfields. I watched the second quater closely for a second time, and for the first 10-15 minutes, Brissy (Power, Black, Rockliffe etc) were going lower and harder at the footy- Moloney and Jones really stood up for us and kept us in it. Will we need his harder body in 3 years time? Maybe not. Maybe he can play a Luke Ball type role for us as our 6th best midfielder (remember Ball has some serious deficiencies to his game as well- can't kick more than 40m- but played a very important role for Collingwood last year. Whatever happens in 2-3 years, he has a role in our team every week atm