Vipercrunch

It is very hard to draw conclusions from that last game except that Melbourne is better now than 12 months ago and that St Kilda need to lift if they want to go deep into September.

On Sunday there were several passages of play that proved our skill, ball movement, pressure and descision making is better than last year. And that is with a side that has a very long injury list. Our list is so even it is impossible to tell, but one could easliy argue that if we had our best 22 available at least half of the team would change. We are getting better.

The game finished with an 8 goal win, but that margin stretched out in junk time. The actual gap between us and St Kilda if we were both at our best is impossible to tell. St Kilda may never reach the rarified form they were in 8 weeks ago. The amount of "holding back" down by our coaching staff is also impossible to measure.

When I weigh up what I perceive to be "tanking" efforts, the long injury list, and the results of the last few weeks, I think we are likely to at least double our amount of wins next year.

I still think there are a couple of holes to be filled.....but the shackles will be off and I'm sure the players will be keen to atone for a miserable 2 years after some development together.

However there is still some development to go. So, don't be too disappointed if we don't get the results you want early on in 2010.

I am prepared to be patient, but I feel the list is already (i.e. without the incoming draftees) showing signs of heading in the right direction. Hawthorn showed last year that sometimes sucess is closer than most people think. There is at least plenty of real reasons to hope for sucess, rather than the blind and mis-guided hope we have had to settle for in recent years. The taste is definetely there.

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.

Your poll says "Round 22, 2009"

My prediction is 8 wins.

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?

Either way, i'm just not that excited by that pair. I would honestly prefer to draft new players than trade for guys who are willing ot jump ship like that. If they do it once, who's to say they won't do it again?

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.

I think everything does need looking at.

The sheer fact that supporters of clubs are not going out to cheer for there team with 100% effort is the worry! It should NOT and NEVER be like this! Vlad has to relise this even if he continues to say TEAMS dont tank thats fine, have that! but the current system is making their fans not appreciate and most of all ENJOY the football each week for the last weeks!

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.