MadAsHell

Negative, he'll be a restricted free agent as Moloney would be in our top 10 earners. He wont be unrestricted until he's had 10 years service, not 8 so he'll still have currency. I voted to trade them both, but that's only if the season were to end now. If they pull their finger out and finish the season strongly then they'd be worth keeping obviously. If trading does become an option then I'd be looking at Moloney with our 1st first round compo pick (3/4) to Adelaide for Dangerfield if he wants out. Maybe try and secure McKay also with a later draft pick. And Sylvia and our 2nd first round compo pick (13) to Gold Coast for the Demons fan Prestia. I can only keep dreaming....

If we're looking at trading then I reckon we could look at something like Moloney and our 1st first roud compo pick for Dangerfield & McKay who's been mentioned on another thread as someone we might be looking at and then Sylvia, Petterd and our 2nd first round compo pick for Prestia and an agreement Gold Coast wont nominate Viney in the draft? We get two quality mids with pace who can play inside and out and a versatile McKay who can play a tagging role in the midfield or play off half back allowing Grimes to play in the middle more. All hypotheticals though until seasons end and we know where we sit with draft picks...

I like Prestia, reminds me of Montagna. If that's true maybe a trade of our first 1st round compensation pick plus Moloney or Sylvia for Prestia and an agreement they wont nominate Viney? McKay's not a bad player, but I wouldn't move heaven and earth to get him. 2nd round pick max!

IN: Fitzpatrick, Petterd OUT: Sellar, Sylvia Sellar has to go and Fitz is the obvious replacement to play forward and pinch hit in the ruck given Martin hasn't played at all in 3 weeks. i bring Petterd in for Sylvia as I reckon Col could do with a run for some form at Casey and would like to see Petterd & Dunn both playing as defending forwards. Dunn goes to Gibson and Petterd goes to Hodge. Wanted to get both Bennell & Couch in there but just can't find room just yet. FB: McDonald, Frawley, Bartram HB: Garland, Rivers, Grimes C: Trengove, McKenzie, Bate HF: Howe, Fitzpatrick, Petterd FF: Dunn, Clark, Davey FOLL: Jamar, Moloney, Magner INT: Bail, Jones, Morton, Tapscott EMERG: Bennell, Couch, Watts

Well if the ladder stays in the same position that it is now then we'd end up with picks 2, 3, 13 & 25. We could end up going: 2. Jake Stringer 3. Jimmy Toumpas 13. Dayle Garlett 25. Jack Viney 2 quality mids, a Goddard clone & small crumbing forward. Everything we're looking for and we wouldn't even need to trade for it!

Cale's contracted until the end of next year I'm pretty sure.

Spoke to him saturday night and said he was a week away. Would expect him to come back through Casey rather then staright into the seniors.

One of the best VFL games I've been to with an epic finish. All the Melbourne players put in decent games also. My take on the Melbourne players. Bennell: Probably the best game I've seen him play, silky smooth running off half back, took the oposition on, set up several attacking thrusts and took some gutsy marks in defence also. Funnily enough a mate of mine who I was with today who doesn't watch a heap of footy I told him that Bennell was a spud and would be first to be delisted at seasons end. By the end of the match my mate thought I was an idiot. Blease: Did a lot of the hard stuff that he often doesn't do. A lot of chasing and takling, and was good to see him kick 3. Very good finshing skills and his final goal was a great kick in the circumstances. Didn't have as many line breaking runs as you'd expect, but that's cause he was winning more of his own ball. Couch: I love this kid. He just keeps going and going and going. I didn't even realise that he had that toe injury. Was on the bottom of every pack and the goal he kicked at the 30min mark of the last quarter from a stoppage was one of those goals that quality players just will themselves towards. The second Moloney, McKenzie, Jones or Magner miss another match, Couch has to come in! Davis: Very good in defence. A lot of timely spoils and created some run off the backline. Thought he could have done a bit better and stopping Goldstein from marking in the goal square towards the end, but otherwise another good hitout soldiering the backline. Fitzpatrick: Played an important role today. Was the only tall target in the forward line today with Cook & Williams not lining up and presented all day, his kicking does need work though. Competed hard when helping out Spencer in the ruck, but Goldstein was massive today. Lawrence: Was busy all day and constantly looked dangerous despite not kicking a goal. Nearly kicked a beauty in the last but just missed, like Fitzpatrick he needs to work on his kicking, but his pressure was very good. Whether he makes it or not though I'm still not convinced either way. Nicholson: Suprised he got as much of it as was mentioned. Tried hard all day to provide some run but he did butcher it a couple of times. I still do rate this guy though. Petterd: Didn't get a heap of it and only kicked the 1 goal while spending most of the day forward line, but I thought his 3rd qtr was brilliant. Spent a lot of the 3rd term in the middle when Casey were into the breeze and his work inside helped Casey get on top in the middle that term and win the clearances and only loose the term by a goal when into the breeze. Will be a chance for a recall. Shehan: Best game I've seen him play for Casey, very similar to Davis's game and took some real good marks deep in defence. His use of the ball was a lot better this week then I'd seen the last few weeks also. Spencer: Tried hard but was dominated by Goldstein in the ruck. Wasn't affraid to throw his weight around though and no doubt will be better for todays ruck lesson. Taggert: Didn't see a heap of him but he did do a few nice things playing mainly off the half back I thought. For his first game though he wasn't bad. One thing that was evident though was that he wasn't affraid of the hard stuff. Great win by Casey today as they were clearly missing tall targets in the forward line. With Jurrah, Cook, Williams & Martin to come back though this will be rectified.

Seems as though Jones is buying into the new coaching team and game style. I know Mark Neeld made the comment that there's about half a dozen Melbourne players that they beleive they can turn into genuine A grade players. Well after his form so far this year and his game last night I reckon Jones might be one of them! Still only 24 years of age I think and his best footy ahead of him. I'm still keeping positive about this Melbourne team!

IN: Clark, Frawley, Petterd OUT: Dunn, MacDonald, Tapscott Petterd to play Dunn's defensive forward role, Tappy needs some miles in his legs at Casey and MacDonald although playing ok needs to come out to fit Chip in. FB: McDonald, Frawley, Bartram HB: Garland, Rivers, Grimes C:Trengove, McKenzie, Bate HF: Watts, Sellar, Petterd FF: Howe, Clark, Davey FOLL: Jamar, Moloney, Magner INT: Bail, Jones, Sylvia, Morton EMERG: Fitzpatrick, MacDonald, Tapscott

For our first & second round picks & the 2 compensation picks I'd be looking for. Viney with either our round 1 or 2 pick, hopefully 2nd. Garlett with our compensation pick after 9th place getter (pick 12) if he falls that far. Don't let West Coast or Freo play everyone again. Compensation pick after our 1st round choice, best available, preferably outside midfielder with pace and can use it. First or Second Round pick (whichever we don't use on Viney) same as above. With all of our talls I wouldn't worry to much about drafting in anymore at this stage.

Similar to Rory, no longer on the injury list I noticed this week. Fingers crossed he gets a start in the Casey development team this week and then into the Casey Seniors at CHF or FF asap.

No longer on the injury list I noticed this week. Fingers crossed he gets a start in the Casey development team this week.

IN: Fitzpatrick, Grimes, Petterd OUT: J. MacDonald, T. McDonald, Sellar FB: Garland, Frawley, Bartram HB: Grimes, Rivers, Bail HB: Watts, McKenzie, Bate HF: Howe, Dunn, Petterd FF: Fitzpatrick, Clark, Davey FOLL: Jamar, Moloney, Magner INT: Jones, Morton, Trengove, Tapscott EMERG: Blease, Couch, Sellar Seeing as Sylvia hasn't played for 5-6 weeks now I reckon he should have at least a week in the VFL to blow the cobwebs out. My changes were based mainly on trying to create a bit more run and not so top heavy. Sellar gave us nothing, Joel Mac was terrible and poor old Tommy Mac was very nervous.

If there's another thread that mods think this should join then please move it. However I thought it warranted it's own thread. Hear me out. I don;t think it's a case of not having the cattle to get this team off the mat. I think we have a lot of the cattle, we just need to get this game plan down, get more games into the young players and fill our 3 vacant slots (by my count). If you compare our team to that of Collingwood in 2010 who Neeld's probably modeling our game off I think we'll get there. Here's a bit of a run down comparing the two. FB: N. Maxwell = T. Davis (need to start playing the kid, hits the contest hard.) FB: N. Brown = J. Farwley (need I say more, Chip has him covered.) FB: B. Johnson = S. Blease (the kid needs to pull his finger out, could becoem a massive weapon and fill this role.) HB: H. O'Brien = J. Grimes (Already plays the same role, will get better if he stays injury free.) HB: B. Reid = T. McDonald (Similar to Davis, I really rate this kid, and he's tough and can play on bigger opponents. Sorry Riv.) HB: H. Shaw = J. Strauss (need his kicking skills back there.) C: D. Thomas = (This is where we have a vacancy. Need an explosive line breaking classy mid in the next draft.) C: D. Swan = J. Trengove (I reckon JT can become this good, he's got a lot of work but the kids all class.) C: S. Wellingham = (I'd love to say Morton, Bail or Dunn could play this role but not convinced as yet. Probably another oppening where we need a midfielder who can run with someone all day, shut them down and get the pill a bit themselves.) HF: B. McAffer = R. Petterd (Ricky's got the guy covered easily with skill, just reckon he needs to focus on his defensive sid and fill the defensive forward role.) HF: T. Cloke = J. Watts (While Watts will never be the massive unit Cloke is, I still think he can reach the heights of N. Riewoldt who is still a very effective CHF in todays game. Watts just need to keep bulking up and his work rate up.) HF: A. Didak = C. Sylvia (Like for like for mine.) FF: L. Brown = J. Fitzpatrick (Reckon Fitzy is the guy to play the forward/2nd ruck role. He's agile and starting to clunk more marks out at Casey. Starting to have doubts if Stef will learn how to play as a forward.) FF: C. Dawes = M. Clark (Big bodied FF filled.) FF: L. Davis = (Obviously we need to recruit a small crumbing forward or two.) FOLL: D. Jolly - M. Jamar/M. Gawn (Either of these two will be able to play as no 1 ruck, just a question of how long Jamar can hold out Max.) FOLL: S. Pendlebury = J. Gysberts (Reckong the Gys is a mini Pendlebury in the making.) FOLL: L. Ball = J. Viney (I know Jack isn;t here yet, but reckon he'll scream Luke Ball the way he goes about it.) INT: D. Beams = J. Howe (forward who can also play midfield.) INT: J. Blair = N. Jones (Blair's more of a forward who occasionally plays midfield, Jones is a midfielder who I'd like to see add the ability of being able to play forward.) INT: S. Sidebottom = B. Moloney (Vital part of midfield rotation. Sidebottom has more class but Beamer could be equally effective.) INT: A. Toovey = L. Tapscott ( swing man who can play anywhere. Toovey plays mainly back but does get moved around. Tappy has the ability to play anywhere.) So would like to hear what peoples opinion of our list is. By my thinking we're onlt 2 mids. (1 quality & 1 tagger) and a small forward short of what we need. So for me it's time to start getting more games into the likes of T. McDonald, Davis & Fitzpatrick. But then again I might be looking at this with red & blue goggles. GO DEES!

Agree Dee-luded, but it has to be the right mix. For example Russian as the number 1 ruck and then say Clark & Fitzpatrick forward, but forwards who can play in the ruck. I'm starting to think Stef's biggest problem is that he's not a natural forward.

Far to top heavy today, I want to see some run added into the team. I want some of the young players to be stuck with and some of our ordinary older players moved out. I want to see a strong bodied tagger in our midfield, a small crumbing forward who can tackle and harrass and some creativity coming out of defense, which leads me to. IN: Blease, Davis, Moloney, Petterd, Tynan OUT: Bate (hasn't really shown anything), Garland (in poor form and made a lot of mistakes), Martin (can't play he Jamar, Clark & Sellar all in the one team), McKenzie (love his tackling, but needs to get more of the ball or be able to play a tagging role which he doesn't), Rivers (lack of run out of defence. Time to bring in a tall who can provide this). FB: Davis, Frawley, Davey HB: Grimes, Sellar, Bail C: Watts, Moloney, Blease HF: Trengove, T. McDonald, Bartram FF: Howe, Clark, Tapscott FOLL: Jamar, Dunn, Magner INT: Jones, Petterd, Tynan, Morton EMERG: Couch, Martin, McKenzie Edit: Forgot to include Tynan in my INS. If Grimes doesn't come up then Couch should make his debut.

Best comment so far, Carlton had a shocking 2002 and started their rebuild from there, where as Melbourne were still playing finals till the end of 2006. Lets give it time, it took Carlton several years to turn things around with all their resources, it will probably take us at least equally as long and we've had more distractions to deal with then they did.

Clearly someone who never goes to Casey to watch him play and has made this call based on the one game he played last year. A lot of upside to Fitzpatrick, I'd challenge you to find any 3rd year 205cm forward/ruck who has more upside to him then Fitzy. Moves better then anyone that size I've seen.

Thrilled to see him updated on the injury list to only 3 weeks away now. Obviously he'll have to do several weeks with Casey Reserves before being considered for Casey Seniors, and I don't expect to see him with Melbourne at all this season but I'm looking forward to seeing him run around out at Casey. Competative kid who could play almost anywhere on the ground, and is the type of build we need going forward. All the best of luck in your comeback from injury Rory!

For mine. IN: Couch, Martin (if fit), Moloney (if fit), Morton, Tapscott OUT: Bennell, Green, McKenzie, Rivers, Sellar FB: Garland, Frawley, Bartram HB: J. MacDonald, T. McDonald, Grimes C: Trengove, Magner, Morton HF: Howe, Watts, Petterd FF: Martin, Clark, Tapscott FOLL: Jamar, Moloney, Couch INT: Bail, Bate, Jones, Dunn EMERG: Davey, McKenzie, Rivers

I agree, it's not that hard at all. I love a drink and used to go out drinking 6 nights a week and have a glass of wine at home every night. I was getting married in 2010 and wanted to loose some weight so went off the grog from mid March until the end of October. Wasn't easy but if the will power's there then it's easy enough to do. I had friends birthdays and all different functions to get through. Also look at one of our former champs in Shane Woewodin, the man didn't drink during the season back in an error where drinking was a lot more accepted during the season. He was ahead of his time and if he could do it 12 years ago, I don't see why our players can't do it in the professional era we are in now.

Saw Cook play in the VFL game against Collingwood last year at CHF. Kicked 4 I think and took several strong pack marks around the ground, he's got the goods. Wasn't long after that he got injuerd and was out for the year. Lets just give him time.

He certainly isn't a star, but he plays with an intensity that until players like Morton, Blease, Strauss, Taggart etc start to play with he'll continue to get games. But harsh on Taggart I know being in his first year, but I was just looking for midfielders names from outside our best 22.

Reckon after Davey's performance as the small forward on the weekend there's still hope for Nev yet. If he can get back and play some decent games as the small forward late in the season and manage to chase, tackle, keep the ball in our forward 50 and kick a couple of goals there'a a chance for him yet.