Adam The God

We usually do, Steve. He is one of the elements we're missing. But I'd suggest someone like Lever would be much higher on the shopping list and cheaper...

Fair enough. My point was we've moved on from that though. Melksham was signed in a time when we couldn't attract anyone and we saw him as a role player. Garland was signed simply because we needed defensive depth. I gather he was being targeted by other clubs and so we put a 3 year deal to him, instead of two. Last season we attracted a four time premiership player who is still an A grader. I hope we can attract a player of Lever's quality. But Kelly isn't the right fit for $800k+, IMO.

Kelly is not a blue chip. I'm not really concerned about the Melksham comparison. We're not Melbourne of 2 years ago anymore and we've built a list of young talent that will need to be paid. The fact that some would blow $800k on a soft outsider with great skills is mindboggling. Thankfully, I know our list management wouldn't be silly enough to entertain the idea.

They won't keep their list together GWS if they're offering a player like Kelly $750k. He's not a blue chip A grade mid. He's a silky outside mid who needs to play in a good team. He won't win you games. He'll help you win games. Prestia has started poorly at Richmond, but is the best player IMO.

I'd certainly have a word with his management. We can offer a lot more than North in terms of top 8 potential and we're equally based in Melbourne, so if it's about a money increase and moving to Victoria, we can tick a couple of boxes. $600k is a lot more than he'll get at GWS.

I'd be offering Kelly no more than $600k. Good player, could play an important role at Melbourne, but he's not worth paying anymore than that. $800k is absurd. That's a sure fire way to demolish all the good list management over the past 3 years.

Yep, I agree, mate. The Stringer model. Oliver, Viney, Tyson, Brayshaw and Salem gives us plenty of elite talent to vie for starting mid positions once Jones, Lewis and Vince hang up the boots. Petracca, Hogan and Watts for bursts as well.

I'm surprised very little has been made of Oliver's stats in comparison to any other midfielder in the modern era. He has better stats than Greg Williams at this point...

Aliir Aliir, as has been mentioned, would suit our system to a tee. I reckon we could play Aliir Aliir, Tom McDonald and Sam Frost in the same backline, as long as a wise head like Lewis, backed by Jetta and Hibberd. A good mixture of experience, pace, height, good ball use and offensive-mindedness. Jones has improved, but would much prefer Aliir and he suits our needs a lot better.

I think when you really know your brand and every player understands what is expected of them and what they have to do to complete their role for the team, weaknesses are a lot easier to counter and work on. If a player like Harmes can improved his DE (a statistic that I'm not fond of, but I think says something in the case of Harmes and Tyson), he becomes an invaluable contributor and another Jason Taylor genius pluck from nowhere. If we can get our 'system' up and running, I'll back Taylor's ability to give us 4 or 5 plug and plays almost every year. With the coaching team we currently have, I'm confident our guys are receiving the right advice to continually improve on their game. Just back on Harmes too. I suspect his ability to know his body is what's holding him back just at the minute. When he turned it over at one stage against Freo, that was after he'd covered a lot of ground running hard to get involved. Get his fitness right and an ability to know when to steady and ensure he hits his target (ie. experience), will make him a much, much better player. We will see and it's one of the reasons I'm finding the 2017 season so exciting. We're seeing incremental development across our entire list. So much so that when a player seems to be struggling, they stick out like a sore thumb (Tyson's DE% and Brayshaw's inability to find the footy).

I think we judge young players incredibly harshly these days. Especially, when you think of some of the greats of the game. Blokes like Judd and Ablett weren't tearing it up in their first seasons. It took them 5 and 6 years respectively before they reached even a good, consistent player status. KPPs take even longer, as we've seen on countless occasions and yet people get frustrated that these young guys aren't immediately delivering. Jesse Hogan is not the norm. Clayton Oliver is not the norm. I understand it's frustrating when you see Sam running around and struggling to impact on the game and I share your sentiments, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's due time down at Casey or that he'll never make it. He needs time at AFL level and a base level for Weed should be his Round 1 performance. As PD has said a few times, he averaged acceptable numbers alongside Hogan in the first two weeks. This is the base level that Sam must achieve each week, but we've seen how much a talent like Darcy Moore has struggled without the foil of Cloke beside him. The same could be said of Weideman minus Hogan over the past fortnight. Let's keep things in perspective here. And that goes for the knocks on Brayshaw as well.

Far be it for me to be an apologist, but the corkie was clearly hampering him, Red.

I'd rather a decent KPF than a small forward. Sorry.

For me, our ideal future midfield is Oliver, Salem, Petracca, with Brayshaw on a half back flank and rotating into the middle, as Petracca goes forward. That is some serious talent, good ball use and x-factor. They could be our Mitchell, Lewis and Hodge. If we can get another A grade mid from elsewhere that takes the pressure of these guys as they develop, we are going to have a seriously A grade midfield in 2-3 seasons.

It's also the system the Bulldogs use, who had McCartney for a couple of years, as we have had AND Roos, and then implemented it in Beveridge's first season. I don't have a problem with the system. The groundwork has been laid correctly, I just wonder whether the younger players should be exempt from this until they find their feet. I think you have to be a little flexible with younger players, particularly, as you imply, before the system becomes wildly known and believed in as a 'Melbourne thing'. I think a lot of our players are trying to find their role and tellingly struggling. They're interestingly all midfielders too: Viney, Tyson and Brayshaw.

I think the 'system' is you come in and play your role and the FD and the MC's expectation is even if it's not your preferred or even best position, while others are ahead of you, you play your role. It's a good idea, but I'm not sure we should be doing it with our younger blokes. I know they have to learn the system, but they also need to find their feet at AFL level. If you're not playing to their strengths, they may never find their feet.

So you're suggesting, LH, that Roosy would be playing Brayshaw in the middle right now and would have played him there more, had it not been for Goody? Seems logical I suppose. What doesn't seem logical is why Goody would continue with this, despite Brayshaw clearly struggling, unless it goes back to that 'system' discussion again? Maybe Goody doesn't rate Brayshaw as highly as Viney, Petracca or Jones, who have all had more midfield minutes than Brayshaw.

My favourite one of those break aways was the intercept from the Selwood turn over down at Geelong. He burst through the middle and kicked it straight down Spencer's throat, who later goaled. One of the most exciting passages of play that year. Got a Gus and Jetta high five after that game too as one of the 12 Melbourne supporters at the ground. I'm not actually sure how far behind Jones or Viney he is as a mid. Jones has been playing large portions at half back and racking up possessions there. Viney has been down on clearances. Depending on how he goes over the next few weeks, I'd get him back in and rotating between the middle and half back. Perhaps, even against Richmond.

If that's the case, and I don't disagree, why was Gus played on flanks and pockets under Roos? Was it a case of protecting him from the crash and bash of the midfield after his injury interrupted start to 2016? If not, Gus should have been playing more midfield minutes last year. I know he had more midfield minutes towards the end of 2016, but he was still playing the majority of his footy outside of the centre square. Goody has also opted to play him off a forward flank. I don't understand it. Get him in the guts if that's where we think he'll play his best footy. Otherwise, stick him on the back flank, like his first year.

Well, this potentially answers my assumption.

There's certainly a similarity in form that cannot be denied, but personally, I think both will be very good players. As you say though, the diabetes condition would worry me as a Saints fan. This comes from a bit of an ignorant place though. I'd just assume diabetes and elite sportsperson wouldn't mix, but I could be entirely wrong.

Please remove Sam Rowe from that list. Sincerely, A F.

Interesting post and I wonder if the one club that ironically would have picked Heeney at #1, was us. Given we did select him first from memory.

Yeah, probably dreaming. And now he's off the market. Ah well.

Haha, just announced on AFL360 that Shiel has recommitted to GWS for $750k. Robbo reckons he might be on a little more than that, but interesting. I'd say he could well have been on $500k at the last contract.