drdrake

Lets see how Mclean goes when he gets the heavy tag Trav gets each week.

I can't see why everyone wants to put Mclean at No 1, he has had some good games last year but he is not our most omportant player or best player on our list. He is showing signs that he will be but maybe 2008/9. IMO I would have as follows, Melbournes Best players, based on them at their best and the importance of them playing. 1) TJ, our most skillfull, damaging and creative midfielder only problem is consistancy 2) Neitz, our target when fit can kick big huals of goals 3) Rivers best tall defender by far 4) Mclean has what it takes to be our best player in the next few seasons 5) Bruce would be our best player but can't kick 6) Davey the pace we need and X Factor 7) Robbo Contests hard and can kick bags 8) White pains me to say but when he rucks well we generally win, but this year he has been beaten in Ruck work but still does enough around the ground 9) Carroll KPP hard nuts we need him down back 10) McDonald B&F winner can stop players and get the hard ball 11) Whelan greta small attaching defender 12) Green has become more of a hard working midfielder no flair gets enough of it and good skills 13) Yze he is a freak should never handball 14) Pickett Hard nut composed greta foot skills 15) Sylvia I wish his OP would go away 16) Bell Mid size defender has shown good form this year 17) Jones Hard gets the footy, will be a better player once Mclean gets fit 18) Bartram is our no. 1 Tagger he came in last year first year had the hard jobs enabled JMAC to get the footy 19) Bate we just need to find the right role for this kid Kicking over short distances need to improve 20) Godfrey in Bartrams absence has got back to the great tagger he was a few years back, kicking and skills let him down. 21) Moloney hard worker but predictable with the footy 22) Miller just hard working needs to take contested marks still our best option at CHF Then you have some youngsters Petterd, PJ, Dunn who look to have the ability to play consistant AFL footy but by the end of the season we will know where they stand. Jamar and CJ I don't know where to put them he has been one of the bigger disappointments of this season, I thought they could come in and play good footy but they has shown nothing. The untried Newton, Buckley, Frawley should play this year and we can rank them on their AFL performance. The others are so far away from playing AFL wwe can't rank them. The older players Ward, Brown, Holland, Biz, Ferguson, Wheatley IMO are only filling spots until the kids are ready to play, I wouldn't expect any of these players at the club next season, you may keep holland for his size and Wheatley for his versatility.

Jaded your point on Wheatley and Whelan, Whelan lasted 5 minutes and Wheatley was crap, we could of played Buckley, CJ, Newton, or Petterd against Freo, they didn't need to play, and by playing them we less players avaliable to be rotated through the midfield. Once Jones went down we had one fit player on th bench. West Coast have injuries, they also have the depth to cover it, what was exposed this season is we don't have the depth to cover losing players out of our best 22. Adelaide, West Coast and even St Kilda still win games when they have kep personel out.

Now with Eddie resigning from CEO, one G Lyon will lose some of his coverage, lets have two head coaches Lyon and Voss and get a past coach to be part time mentoring type role. Super star legend Ronald Dale comes to mind.

I wouldn't put it down to medical staff more preparation of our players and taking risks on unfit players. Whelan shouldn't of played the round he got injured neither should of Wheatley, Rivers is being rushed in when he has not been right. Silvia and Moloney have OP it is a management issue for them it will get better but will always be an problem. Mclean is a concern seems to be able to only string 5-6 games together but his body may still be adapting to the physical requirement of AFL. These three are young and you expect injuries as their bodies adapt to AFL training. I'm sure with Bartram that he had the scans and got the OK, he done his knee like Neitz and Robbo, thats just back luck just like Brocks foot and Frawleys fractures you cant do anything about these injuries they just happen. Bringing players back to early I agree but when the team is under the pump you sometimes play players that shouldn't be played and hope they get through, this year luck wasn't with us I'm sure other years it was. It will also take some time for the players to adapt to the new training techniques of the Phys Ed Guy, don't forget he was a sprint coach and many of the drills and exercises would be based around power movements just like sprint training. This takes a high toll on your body and takes some time to get adjusted to.

It wouldn't supprise me to see Mclean play a half also.

I would of thought Holland would be a good match up for Lynch and Carroll to get the third tall. It wil be interesting to see who is finally named in the 22, Brock had a broken bone so if they name him he is right to go because they would of scanned it this week. He won't be fit and hopefully if he does play doesn't flattern him for the following week.

That sounds like a fair deal why don't we completely raid the west and give Godfrey to Fremantle for Pav

throw in a Queenslander CHF as well for Hanson direct swap

It was a joke about trading him for Judd

Agree that Rivers plays well as that zoning defender but he also plays well one on one and until Frawley plays a few games he is not in the best 22. For all we know he may be a couple of years away from cementing his spot, we hope not but the guy doesn't deserve to be named in my best 22 until he at least shows he can play at this level. He will get his chance this year and hopefully at season end when we are naming our best 22 for 2008 season he will be in it.

I'm still not convinced on Dunn, IMO will be a lot better in a year or two so I would stick with Miller at CHF for now, this may change once we have a full list and Miller is playing that lad up CHF style which suits him. If he can't perform then he will be out. My best 22 Whelan Carroll Bell Petterd Rivers Bruce Johnstone Mclean Davey Bate Miller Sylvia Robbo Neitz Yze White McDonald Jones Green PJ Bartram Pickett( if he decides he wants to play) or Moloney Em Dunn, Godfrey, Frawley There are only a few side that play three talls up forward most have two and then a midsize tall which Bell can cover.

I feel sorry for this guy he is a winger HFF but it seems everytime he gets a game a AFL level he is played all over the ground like a Mr Fix it. I would like to see him play 4-5 weeks in a row on a wing or hff before you can make this call. He has the skills a little slow but lets see him string 4-5 games together. He may be lucky this year because we have a few older players that will be delisted before him. I would take him the Perth this week hopefully stars and we can offer him and a high draft pick for Judd.

I would like to see Neitz stay inside the forward 25m area one on one, not many ful backs can match his strength, with Robbo or Newton as our hard leading forward. I want to try and get another 3 years out of Neita and this is the only way, play like Alistar Lynch did for the last 4-5 yeaars of his carrear. I would love to see in our centre square bounce PJ ruck, Mclean, Jones and Sylvia with Johnstone and Johnson of the wings.

No I saw it Godfrey got cleaned up by a seagull, Kevin Sheedy will back me up on that the seagulls are tough at the dome. Some players ar just untouchable West and Johnson are two of them unless they do something in the main camera shot they won't get done. They aFL need the Dogs to play a role in the finals this year.

I hear Judd wants to thump us by 150 points so we can offer the eagles a good draft pick for his trade to the Dees.

Won't happen this week, Rivers needs time to get right, we can't keep having avalaible one week out the next give him another week, Mclean and Robbo won't be risked at Subi.

I just wish his damn OP would go away, he s a midfielder first then forward and once he can play consistantly in the midfield he wil be awesome. What a tough midfield Mclean, Jones and Sylvia, it wil be good for Jones if Col can get more time in the midfield, the poor kids body must be hurting he gets hit hard every week, we will see the best of Jones when Brock and Col can hel him out with the in and under hard ball gets.

If Mclean is right I'd rather give him a half at Sandy than send him to Subiaco, that ground can flattern you for weeks if your not fully fit, and even if Brock's foot is OK he wouldn't of been able to run or kick for the past 6 weeks. I can't see many changes this week we don't need both Warnock and Holland playing replace them with a running player more likely CJ or Buckley or Petterd if fit.. If Rivers declares himself fit I still woul give him another week off. If Holland is clear to play he should be played on Lynch, run Bell with Hanson and Carroll to pick up the other tall. Petterd or CJ to run with David Wirrupunda. Moloney does look in need for a week off give him this week. Our forward structure is still a little concerning, subi should suit Miller the ground is made for a lead up CHF Petterd/CJ Holland Carroll Ward Bell Bruce Bate Johnstone Green Sylvia Miller Davey Yze Neitz White PJ Godfrey McDonald Dunn Brown Jones Newton Godfrey gets Judd, McDonald to Kerr. I thought PJ was our most effective tap ruckman yesterday, lets start him in the centre bounce then push him forward and White to do the around the ground work. Try it if it doesn't work then bring Newton on in the forward pocket.

Depends what time frame are we talking, the next two years we need Neitz to have a better chance of winning the flag. Beyond that we will have no choice because there is a good chance he will be retired.

I've posted several times Bate should play a similar role to Sydney's Ryan O'Keefe a hard running CHF HFF tat pushes forward and runs deep into attack. Playing like a midfielder but with a more foward idset to link the defense to the forwards and kick a few goals.

Yze and Pickett

It is time to play this guy as a midfielder first and maybe rest up forward. I don't know his OP status at the moment but if it is under control he should be fit enough to play mainly as a midfielder. As a forward for the past couple of weeks he hasn't had enough impact but his brief runs up the ground he looked good. I would like to see our midfiled for the first bounce White, Johnstone, McDonald, Sylvia with Jones and Davey on the wings.

Don't forget with Brock he broke his foot, you can't run or kick with a broken foot, he is still a couple away, I'd say against the Kangas.

According to a few posters Buckley has struggled at Sandy the past three weeks, Newton is in form and our forward line can't kick enough goals and last week they had enough supply to kick a winning score. This week we don't need Holland Warnock or Frawley playing as I have stated the doggies aren't tall up forward Rivers Carroll, Bell with maybe Bruce, Brown and Ward can cover down back, which then opens a spot on the bench for either Newton, Dunn or Miller. Why don't we test the Dogs small defense by rotating four talls through our forward line. Miller, Dunn and Newton are all three diferent types of forwards and can play in te same team. Why play Newton when Robbo and Neitz are both playing, so he can sit on the bench four 90% of the match. We still have to try and win games, bringing in form players into your team can only bring us closer to this. What happens next week if Newton kicks 10 in the Sandy 2nds (if they are playing this week) does he go to WA to be smashed by the Eagles?