Vipercrunch

A saying from the computer game Starcraft - "They'll never even know what hit em" (in a southern US accent)

Couldn't agree more. Everything seems to be falling into place for a period of sustained sucess on and off field. Time to see our dreams become reality.

The games are over. The future is now.

As in done just after Round 22, 2009. The next poll can be done just before Round 1 2010.

There's plenty of discussion about this at the moment. Might have to re do the poll just before the new season starts.

I would much prefer in 2010 for all players to have to compete for a spot on the team rather than be gifted it. Part of our development now (2010 and beyond) has to be creating the culture that no matter who you are, you are picked on your merits, not for development, experience etc. Make all the players, no matter their potential or draft pick have to earn their spot. I think this goes especially for Watts. I am concerned that he is lacking the drive and hunger that is displayed by other, less talented youngsters who perhaps feel they have much more to prove. The attack on the contest shown by Watts so far has been lacking in intent.

Link to the register page. I am assuming you have to re-pick your team again after each week. The restrictions on how many players from each team will change week by week.

Yeah, it's pretty tough. I also had a rule during the main season not to pick any Collingwood or Carlton players, but now you have to. Team name: Bring on Summer

I probably won't get any support, but from a impartial Llyod hater I thought the Buddy bump was worse. Llyod should get off as it was two players with the same intent to the contest. The AFL has never really said contact wasn't inevitable on occasions. So funny to observe the Hawks sook about it all too. Campbell Brown is such a hypocrite.

The only unknown from this year has been the attitude of the oppisition when playing us. I have heard numerous times from commentators claiming to have heard from other teams who have struggled to "get up" when they have played against Melbourne. Our list management and experimentation has been well known, so I can imagine that oppisition teams would perhaps struggle to get their players completely primed to come out with the normal intensity against us. Time will tell.

Join in to help maintain your interest this year.

I think there is also a chance that this year could be as quiet as usual. Draft picks could be over valued as usual (perhaps even more so) and trades could be few. The casualities could be many good players with years to offer will be delisted and not picked up. This coming trade week could very well be the catalyst that gets free-agency over the line.

The image of him seemingly close to tears getting consoled by CC during the game against the Tigers after Jake King was giving him a hard time is a cross for me. Yes, he did turn the tables and had a big impact in the second half which is much to his credit, but the fact that King got so much under his skin shows he is still learning to handle the hard annoying tags and that will require his time and attention into the future. Moloney and Green both seem to be a bit more in control of their games and would be great captains. I'm not sure of the age of those two, but hopefully the captain after the next one is someone appointed young that can lead for 5+ years.

In the famous words of Yoda - "I sense much anger in him"

Members of Demonland voted 26 to 114 against keeping Robbo so don't expect much support here. His time is up and the media agree.

An extension now sounds like the best way to go about it. I think most keen observers have seen enough to know the future is bright even through the cloud of experimentation and list management. The fact that we have used so much of our list this year, and very few (if any) looked completely out of their depth tells me they are being developed and coached well. I actually think our improvement next year will be considerable and won't come from our yet to be seen 2008 and 2009 draftees (Watts, Blease, Strauss, Scully etc). It will come from the guys that have shown us glimpses this year even though ravaged by injuries. One more pre-season for guys like Grimes, Martin, Morton, Jetta, Bennell and Jarrah will make a world of difference. If all goes well and we avoid such an extensive injury run, I expect about 10 wins next year.

I don't really have a problem with players leaving for a better opportunity (ala Simmins, Jolly and to an extent CJ). If you can't get a game at Club A due to a excess of players in your position, then as professionals earning their living, why shouldn't they leave?

Ditto

I would love to see a Viney, Stretch or Grinter play for us. These will be the first players whose fathers I can remember. I grew up yelling "STRETCHER!!!" everytime he used to have one of his frequent runs down a wing. It would be great if they turned out to be AFL level players.

Very surprised at the McDonald result. He must stay in my opinion. He is playing well enough and he is the perfect example I want the younger guys to be looking up to. I would be very surprised and somewhat dissappointed if he was to go.

I would be more than happy if any of Green, Moloney or Davey became our next captain. If had had to chose, I would pick Green.

That sums it up. The fact the so many Melbourne supporters weren't even slightly annoyed or dissapointed by a loss after the siren to a terrible Richmond means that the system has too many drawbacks and needs to be changed.

The draft and priority pick system is designed to equalize the competetion, so effectively, the first pick/s need to go to the team with the worst list. The current system based on ladder position and premiership points is not effective enough to ensure that the most deserving team gets the first pick/s. A team may have a good, deep list but get slaughtered by injuries or a team that is really poor might get a few lucky wins against injury riddled opponents and finish off the bottom. The Win/Loss ratio is not good enough for my liking to determine which team deserves the best draft picks. I think the draft order for the first 8 (or more) picks should be determined by two things. Firstly, at the end of the home and away season each club has to rank the player list of bottom 8 sides. Perhaps it can be made the responsibility of the coach, football department or whoever, but these 16 rankings are then collated and used to derive a draft order for the first 8 picks. A second, indepentdant panel is then responsible for going through this list (worst player list to best) and determine if the club deserves/requires extra "priority" picks. Each bottom 8 club can put submissions into this panel to argue their case and clarify all confirmed or possible retirements. The extra picks can be granted before the start of the first round of the draft (Pick 1), after the first 8 picks (Pick 9), or before the second round (Pick 17). The only drawback I have thought of so far is that clubs might hide young players, but that is really to their own detriment. If clubs are keen and focused on development, they will continue to blood youngsters as per normal.

I've decided to live in my own little world of make believe where all our football related decisions in the last few years would have been made exactly the same if there was no such thing as Priority Picks and the draft order was unrelated to ladder psition. Therefore, I will be able celebrate any future sucess with a clear mind.

One thing that does concern me with all the tanking talk and the events of yesterday is how the playing group feel. If they are getting told internally that we are playing to win, but because of the public attention and the "player management" going on begin to question things, can there be a respect issue with the coach. The players were either great actors, or were totally devastated by the loss yesterday. Could they now feel that Bailey isn't on their side and that he deliberately manufactured the loss? Can this cause long term trust issues? Some will say the players aren't paid to think etc etc, but I think that is a little bit simplistic.