youami

Spot on. Buckley synopsis the same as mine, therefore no loss. Valenti a bit stiff. But unfortunately just not good enough. A bit like Godfrey. No point keeping these blokes with limited upside because they have a go. Would people prefer to see Valenti starting in the middle next year or Scully? Blease or Buckley? Let's back our draft picks and importantly get games into them.

Anyone in Melbourne know whether this game will be on free to air or pay tv? I'd love to get a look at Jack Trengove.

he will be eligible to go on the veteran's list in his 4th year. no doubt that helped his cause to get 4 years. might front end his first two years of his contract, then back end the last two. essentially no salary cap for him in years 2011 and 2012.

4 years appears too much to me. it's up to aaron to prove he is worth it. let's hope he doesnt get complacent now that he has 4 years. congrats to davey on the new contract.

just got a text from jim stynes davey has re-signed for 4 years.

i have heard both davey and jurrah have been offered 3 year contracts. a very professional club these days. the new administration has not put a foot wrong. carn the dees

to name a few. na i think you've named them all. plus cousins and richo have one year left in them. that leaves cotchin, deledio, foley, throw in vickery. that's about it.

In response to Hannibal, I haven’t seen either; however, if it is a toss of the coin, will it come back to what type of player the Demon’s need more? In the last 2 drafts we’ve focused mainly on outside runners: Outside: Morton, Bennell, Strauss, Maric, Wona Both inside/outside: Blease, Grimes and from what I’ve heard, Scully too. Inside: McKenzie, Valenti (if he stays on) maybe Jetta. For balance I think we may need another purely inside midfielder to compliment the outside runners. In the 2006, 2005 draft we picked up one of each in Petterd (outside) and Jones (inside). 2003 – McLean (inside), Davey (outside) and Sylvia (a bit of both). We must have faith that the outside mids we’ve recruited will be good, our current stock of inside mids are not as polished in my opinion. Therefore, we must go the best inside mid at pick 2, whether that player is Trengove is for others to decide.

yet mcdonald, a man who turns 33 next year, i think, continues on. robbo it's not about age, it's about character, and building the right culture. of all the blokes bailey has let go, or cut short, how many of them have that hard edge to them, that never say die attitude. White, Yze and Robbo all were heroic when things were going well. I dont want to slag off players, but it's clear Bailey is building a culture, not just ditching blokes because they are old. Otherwise McDonald would have gone 2 years ago.

Due to the draft cut off age being moved from 30 April 1992 to 31 December 1991, the 2009 Draft has only 66% of candidates compared to last year. In 2009, teams get first crack at players who were born between 1 May 1991 - to 31 December 1991. Therefore we have to be smart and not see pick 34 this year, as equivalent to pick 34 in 2008. The 2009 pick 34 is equivalent to about pick 50 last year. I think the Dees will only use 4 draft picks this year. I therefore suggest we trade either pick 18 or pick 34 for a decent player in the age brackets that we are developing. Blokes like Mitchell Thorpe or Ben Reid from Collingwood might be a chance. If we have a smokie we'll still be able to snap them up with pick 50. Then hopefully we can get a gun out of contract player our PSD pick 1. I think players will be keen to come to Melbourne now as most of the hard work has been done. Success isnt so far away.

ludicrous suggestion. has no value.

maric could become the next porplyzia

We will have 4 really good chances at a rising star next year Watts, Blease, Scully and Trengove. Scully and Trengove are apparently ready to go from round 1. Watts and Blease should benefit from being around a club for a year, and not going to school next year. Maric, Jurrah, Grimes are no longer eligible as they have only just played too many games. Some great signs there. Strauss could be another that has a chance.

If Dees dont deliver a premiership from this rebuild, we're gone. We cannot afford another rebuild like this one. We need a premiership in the next 5-10 years, preferably more. Why are we potentially gone? Because we have had no success for over 40 years. Same thing happened to Fitzroy and South Melbourne. If that's the case, there will be no community camps, no family days, no visiting crook kids. Therefore the sole purpose of a football club is to win premierships, otherwise you end up, eventually like the Dodo.

Political correctness gone mad.

All about building our supporter base so we can exist. Our reason to exist to win a premiership.

what are examples of MFC initiatives not geared to winning premierships?

Dees have not won a premiership in a million years and winning one is vital to our long term future. Once we have achieved this goal, we need to win as many as we can in our 'window', once our window is closed, our aim is to get back up again (not as soon as possible, but for as long as possible - current boards view i believe). Only once we have stabilised as a club, and stability is due in no small part to success, can we consider other things. Of course a football club has certain obligations to it's members and society, but it's main aim, number on KPI, reason for being is to win a premiership. How can it be any other way?

no brainer. a premiership. All that other crap pales into insignficance. Premiership, premiership, premiership. In that order.

you cant count moloney (originally a PSD swapped for a first rounder) and meesen (originally a top 10, swapped for about pick 35)

Our midfield stocks have improved out of sight in the last 2 years. the class is Blease, Bennell and Strauss. Grimes too looks a player that can play both inside and outside, Scully from all reports can do both. Bennell looks a classy outside mid, Morton class outside mid. If Maric can build up his engine he has a very good football brain. I really liked the look of McKenzie on the weekend, what surprised me was his penetrating kicking, everyone spoke about his hands, but i like his kicking, his clearance rate and tackling too is first rate, as is his tackling. Also let's not forget Wona. He absolutely blitzed it in the intra club (his only game for the year). I hope he can build his engine up coz he has the potential to rotate with Davey as the damaging midfielder. Bailey has alluded to this in press conferences. I'm really excited about Blease though, Strauss at the moment isnt getting enough of it, but has class. Therefore I think the mids look ok, Wona, Grimes, Morton, Blease, McKenzie, Strauss, Maric, Bennell and Jetta. That is a decent group of mids, add Scully and the foundation is there. The rucks on the other hand? Jamar, maybe has 1 or 2 years left in him, Meesen massive question mark, Spencer has shown signs, but needs a good 4 or 5 years. Martin an excellent back up ruck, and can rest up forward or down back. We need a key ruckman though in my opinion.

In my opinion we've got the midfield coming through, particularly if you add Scully. The rucks are the problem. True we need another forward, but there arent many out there. We need so much, by securing the burger it would be one less problem. But you're correct, Brisbane may not want to. Fair enough too.

Comparable to the Jeff White AA year, Jolly wanted out as he could see writing on the wall. Sydney got him for a steal.

All pie in the sky stuff. But our weakness at the moment and over the next few years appears to be our ruck division. Jamar has been very good in the games played this year, Meesen has shown a little, Martin has the back up ruck position in the bag, Spencer is about 4 or 5 years away from playing consistent football, if indeed he can play consistent football, and I’ve given up on Paul Johnson. With the emergence of Mitch Clark (possibly AA this year) and Charman nearing the end, aka. a perfect back up ruck in the short term, would the lions consider trading Leuenberger? Pro’s – Burger was recruited in a very strong 2006 draft at pick 4, meaning 2010 will be his 4th pre season, he’s probably a year or 2 away from holding down the ruck spot, it’s interesting to note, Mitch Clark was taken in the 2005 draft and had an array of injuries prior to this year. - the emergence of Clark may mean his value to Lions is much less as it was last year. - The trade could be done, our priority pick (if we get one) for Burger, maybe they could sweeten the deal, but id be happy with a straight swap. - Burger may want to go to a club that can guarantee him more game time (R.Warnock), considering his game time will be severely impacted by Clark. Con’s – injuries (but see clark) - he’s from Perth originally, will he get homesick? This could be a win-win for both clubs, Brisbane get a very high pick and address a more urgent issue (getting a solid mid before the drafts are affected), we get a ruckman who could play for the next 10 years, without having to wait the 4 years before his body is ready. If we look at the opportunity cost of the pick, we would miss a midfielder, either Trengrove or Morabito, we have drafted a heap of mids lately, and we have Jones, McLean and Moloney, possibly McKenzie as strong bodied inside mids. So the question is, is a ruckman more important than a hard at it midfielder, not just now but in 5 years time? I’d say go the ruck, but would Brisbane make the trade? I’ve seen no U/18’s myself, but reports I’ve read, suggest that Scully is head and shoulders above the rest. So Scully to me is the priority, after that we can be creative with our other priority pick, if we get it.

if bailey is consistent with his selections for sunday games this week. generally the last 3 named on the extended bench are the emergencies, therefore, bail, valenti and mckenzie all emergencies. id expect bailey will wait until they get back to melbourne for debut games for bail and mckenzie, particularly mckenzie. perhaps it's a little taste of things to come. id suggest at least two of those blokes will go in next week at the g.