whatwhat say what

it is an absolute disaster. at least the club made the correct decision. but we are going to be feeling the ramifications of this for YEARS to come. while we will survive the current media rights deal - which requires 18 teams in the competition - our future as part of the afl will be sorely questioned thereafter.

i will be disgusted if we don't sever ties with energywatch.

he and howe - who flew for everything, spoiling his teammates a lot of the time - looked like the only players capable of clunking a mark. clark's timing was horrible. martin's field-kicking was pretty respectable too, and he's a solid shot for goal. i wouldn't trade him at all. think he's got the makings of a very, very good player.

i'll go with, from the 2 22's: the ones: B: newman - frawley - garland HB: j grimes - d grimes - deledio C: watts - d martin - trengove HF: howe - clark - foley F: vickery - riewoldt - nahas Foll: jamar - cotchin - jones I/C: s martin - magner - mckenzie Sub: conca the twos: B: bartram - rance - post HB: macdonald - rivers - s morris C: tynan - jackson - bail HF: edwards - miller - houli F: davey - green - a maric Foll: i maric - moloney - tuck I/C: grigg - bate - b ellis Sub: blease line-ball btw mckenzie and jackson as the final midfielder on the bench, and i reckon conca is ahead of blease at this stage.

my guess would be 'under contract'.

port adelaide have a class midfield - hartlett, boak, brett ebert, cassisi, mccartney, plus gray (who didn't play) - and an array of tall timber up front - schulz, butcher, westhoff, d stewart - that will cause a lot of sides trouble in 2012. far better than our options. it's arguable that their backline is comparable to ours, with only frawley a fair bit ahead of his direct line opponent (carlile). rivers and chaplin are about equal, i'd take surjan over bartram in a heartbeat, pearce and grimes is a close call, probably just in favour of pearce as he's a proven entity, and p stewart is miles ahead of joel macdonald. i had port several positions ahead of us - 12th compared to 14th - before round 1, and after round 1 it could conceivably be far greater. and tigers are clearly further advanced in their rebuild than us. as are the kangas. and essendon. and west coast (who scored someone who could be the best key forward in the competition in a trade for one of the best mids in the comp, and thus 'won' the trade in my opinion).

did gysberts and tapscott play, does anyone know?

heard it too, thought it was a good call. davey's chasing and tackling was actually okay yesterday when compared with 2011 - 5 tackles and 2 holding-the-ball decisions in his favour. it was everything else he was doing - not running to position, not shepherding, not offering an option as a forward, not getting to the fall of the ball as a crumber - that was awful to watch.

we must try and trade for gaff. our inside mids are solid, and with viney they could become quite good. we clearly lack polish, class and speed - three qualities that gaff possesses in spades. of the free agents available, the only top line ones who would bring value to our club in the long term are travis cloke, jordan russell, and brendan goddard. everyone else is a two year player at best or a player who has proven time and again that they're not up to making their own side's starting 22 - eg. gilbee, salopek, knights. i personally think someone such as jacob surjan - one of my fave players in the competition thanks to his ruthless attack on the ball and man - could be of immense benefit to the side. he's the sort of small defender he haven't had since whelan's body finally gave out on him for good. oh, i'd also expect of our free agents that moloney and jamar as the only ones with genuine value for other sides, but rivers might offer something for someone out there too.

At the Dogs vs Eagles match, and if the rumour is true that Gaff wants to come back to Melbourne at the end of the year, I'd happily trade that mid-first round pick for him. He's exactly the sort of smooth, fast, skilled outside mid that we sorely lack.

i was at the game, and i thought jones' impact was negligible at best. he didn't do much. god it was awful. i then backed up last night with the bombers vs north thriller, and i think both the lions and the demons are potential cellar-dwellers this year. we're both absolute rubbish football sides based on yesterday's showing.

i remain ever hopeful that gysberts is going to develop into the classy mover that he promises to be. but it's just a hope - i look at the way fyfe is dominating games for fremantle and the way that bastinac is a red-hot goer for north, and lament yet again our average drafting and continued poor development. don't forget, he who shall not be named was meant to be our 'star' midfielder. i'd say, at this stage, the only two in our midfield who look capable of achieving that mantle are trengove and watts - a kid who's co-captaining a shockingly poor side, and a tall bloke who played his first ever game in the midfield yesterday. it's an absolute indictment on our playing stocks that it's come to this. as i've said so many times, you can't have your best players be late draft picks / rookie list selections and hope to compete with the best teams in the competition. hawthorn's stars are their top echelon picks plus mitchell, collingwood's the same with pendlebury, thomas, a father-son in cloke plus swan. the key to being a successful side is to draft well and develop well. sadly, we have done neither for far too long a time.

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

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.