whatwhat say what

agree with chook - magner, watts, trengove, martin.

we are a very, very ordinary football side.

Mark Maclure was scathing about his lack of second efforts and poor defensive workrate on the post-game coverage on ABC radio.

dees best and fairest?

Jones

dees best 1st year player?

Tynan

goals clark will kick?

33

games jurrah will play?

0

dees surprise of the year?

several big name players placed on trade table in october - specifically sylvia, watts, davey, and rivers

premiers?

Hawks

first coach to get sacked?

Primus

biggest off field controversy?

vlad's succession plan likened to putin's succession plan

games won by gws?

3

And how did Geelong clear that debt?

That's a murky one.

That said i do admire Costa & cooky. But they hit the jackpot with the bank manager concerning the debt.

not to mention the then premier.

Our top-end drafting has always been ludicrously bad. That's where you get your quality ball users and decision makers, and we've stuffed it up on a regular basis.

before the preseason started, i thought melbourne would be in the mix for positions 10-14 come close of the year.

i now struggle to see how we'll be higher than 14, more likely 16 or so.

but i'm okay with that - the players have to learn a new game plan, and ultimately i think they will be better for another tough year followed by a solid period of quality play in 2 years time (ah, that old chestnut again!).

if we activate the two compo picks - as I expect we will - then we're looking at having access to more high quality players at the end of the year, which is exactly what we require. one thing i've been banging on about for a while now is that our best players all seem to come from the rookie list - you cannot expect to compete with the best teams in the competition if your high draft picks prove to be not up to it, either through their own application or - i think more likely - inadequate development.

bailey was an awful coach - he has taken us backwards over the course of the last four years. the skills of the players are abysmal, and with neeld's gameplan they require excellent execution, which is just not going to happen overnight.

are you at the game?

i'm disappointed, but not surprised.

bailey took us backwards over 4 years, and neeld is starting from the bottom again.

it ain't gonna be beer and skittles in 2012!

meh, is anyone surprised by how this is going so far?

their midfield is superior to ours, their gameplan is more embedded than ours, and i'd say the respective forward and backlines are relatively even, save that butcher is a star in the making and frawley is a star.

the game will be won and lost in the guts, and port should dominate. they'll do us by 40+ points.

Really hope this is true.

Would love to see someone as red-and-blue as young Jack in #31.

That number has been a curse since Barrassi walked out on the club.

when do we have to nominate the use of compensation picks?

and if we elect to use them this year, then wish to utilise them in a trade for a gaff / dangerfield / gray / boak, would the club we traded them to then be compelled to use them in this coming draft?

here: http://media.theage.com.au/sport/real-footy/preview-melbourne-demons-3112077.html

previously they've done gws, gold coast, port adelaide, in that order.

so i guess that means they think we'll finish 15th.

ouch.

they're building a hotel in the province that schwab was looking at as a centre for high altitude training.

the announcement will come when it comes.

hopefully both the dees and port will announce before round 1, or potentially before this week seeing as we're playing one another.

gotta say, port has greater midfield depth and class than we do.

we'd kill for a player of boak, hartlett, or gray's class.

we have far too many cassisi and kornes types, and not anything like the class of those three mentioned.

Well....yes and no. They have plenty of players that only have a couple of years under their belt. How come the players they've unearthed are classy, tough and unrelenting FROM DAY ONE!!!!!!!?????

that comes down to development, retention, and ability to draw players leaving other clubs to ours.

hawthorn have done a remarkable job in the last decade or so. plus their drafting has, clearly, been superb, and astute.

so far we've drawn clark to the club, the starting 21+1 is dominated by players picked up late or in rookie drafts, now the drafting and the development need a heap of work.

it will be interesting to see whether the club chooses to utilise the two additional picks granted for scully - the issue of retention is one that plagues us, and has done as long as i can remember, with players regularly leaving the club, probably right back to the most infamous of them all. the curse of #31!

we need players who can perform as part of our midfield, and they say this upcoming draft is chockers with strong mids.

if we're truly as terrible as we looked at times tonight, we might even be in with an outside chance for whitfield, but i somehow doubt it.

the worst thing is that you knew it was going to happen. we're just not good enough.

it's interesting that so many people say we're lacking class, and that all those top round draft picks have been wasted. we're not the only ones; some clubs just draft better.

the big problem is development, and hopefully that's something that neeld and company will address. he's clearly not impressed by our drafting - two top 15 picks are playing at casey, watts just wants to dispose of the ball as soon as he gets it, and sylvia is just a dumb footballer.

our high-end drafting has been shocking for years. morton disappoints or is injured as well.

sylvia wasn't bad, he's just very, very, very stupid.

yeah, about what i expected to be honest, and in truth what i more or less expected last week too.

i thought we might show some competitiveness like last week, but alas it was back to the sheer ineptitude of 2011. i think this was worthwhile, however, as it at least shows the new coaching department who will and who won't fight when being slaughtered by a vastly superior team, who are only going to get better, and are deservedly one of the premiership chances.

as someone above noted, we don't have a lot of class in the midfield and so rely on grunt. magner's injury is a big blow to the start of the season, as it also poses questions abotu depth, which is something we lacked last year even when he who will not be named was up and pretending to play for us.

also, we know we're not even near as good as hawthorn. they're going to be a great team to watch this year.

bring on round 1.

the likes of morton, jurrah, mckenzie, tapscott are no chance for round 1 you wouldn't think - simply not enough miles in their legs across pre-season to be a walk-up start in round 1. grimes and trengove will be pushing up that hill to get there in time too. plus i'm pretty certain that sylvia is out suspended, isn't he?

B: Bartram - Frawley - Rivers

HB: Grimes - Sellar - Garland

C: Green - Moloney - Trengove

HF: Howe - Watts - Petterd

F: Martin - Clark - Davey

Foll: Jamar - Magner - Jones

I/C: Bate - Blease - Bail

Sub: Dunn

there's still a lot of questions to be asked about the line-up, and it could very much change after the outing against the hawks.

i loved what i saw of couch in his half of football against the pies, and he'd very much be a chance for the sub role. but dunn did his role well too in that time, and adds height and versatility rather than a pure midfield change-up.

please, no more injuries til round 1!

every time i watch him play i see something that's genuinely exciting about him.

he's going to be an absolute gun.

so it would seem that both bate and magner will be in the starting centre square line-up in round 1.

again, super-impressed by the backline - sellar has added solidity, and both davis and mcnamara showed potential too. garland is kamikaze - i never know what's going to happen.

i got very sick of foxtel saying that they were missing so many key players.

yet their midfield for parts of the night was made of pendlebury, swan, thomas, ball, and wellingham. melbourne's midfield - missing moloney and trengove as the only two players in our group who are even approaching 'star' status, plus mckenzie - out-worked them for the most part. great to see.

i'll add bail to that 'bad' list. he not only burns the ball but he does things that are disadvantageous to the side.

super-impressed by magner and sellar. couch looked good too.

sounding like sellar and magner are going to be great additions to the side for 2012.

7 i50s to 1 at the moment. that ain't great.

no, compare and contrast the sides.

gc17 were playing their best - ours were mostly inexperienced.

a 3 point 'loss' with 5 more i50s is disappointing, but all that matters is that we've had the first hit-out for 2012.

bring on brislions!