Adam The God

We bought Dawes on the assumption he'd be the third forward behind Clark and Hogan, and would nurture the likes of Jesse. Clark's betrayal put a spanner in the works there. I agree that Chris is not good enough as a second forward. He tries hard, sets a good pressure example, but ultimately doesn't hit the scoreboard enough. I'd be willing to look for a trade, but we'd have to have a ready made replacement. Pedersen can't be the only back up. We also need more toe in our forward 50. Kent's return will help that, but we're still lacking another. Howe is gone, either by choice or the club's, so Kent takes his place. JKH is too slow for that forward pressure role and currently lacks the physicality. And most importantly in the forward half, we need a good foil for Jesse. They don't need to be as good as Jesse will be, but they need to offer more than Dawes and Pedersen. Think Scott Lucas as Lloyd's foil. As for Col Garland, if Frost ever gets on the park, he'll take Col's role. He'll bring the versatility to be able to play on the tall or small opposition forwards. Having not been Melbournised by the past few years, hopefully he'll have a greater capacity to take the game on too.

Bit unfair on Crossy, I reckon. He wasn't good yesterday, but he's been in our top 3 or 4 most consistent and important players this season, IMO. The thing that annoyed me yesterday about Garland's game was his inability to stick tackles. This is a bloke that's 27 and failed to hold two or three really important and not overly difficult tackles. I really like Col, but for a bloke who's 27, he lacks consistency in a way that Jones, Cross and Vince don't. The other bloke who's wildly inconsistent is Chris Dawes. We should be getting more from these guys, but we're not. So what I think we might see if this keeps up, is a surprise trade or two on top of the 5 or 6 obvious delists at the end of this year.

Gee, we'd be pretty unlucky to win the spoon with 6-8 wins, because that's what I reckon we'll get.

The delivery to him against St Kilda was very good. He had two from Jones on a plate, very early. He did kick 5 goals, so obviously, when we clean up our delivery to him, he will really start to impact games. He still needs to bring that forward pressure though.

I think people are referring to Hogan's attitude, more than his ability to impact the contest. But to an extent I agree. He's still gonna be a beauty, but this prima dona stuff has to be looked at. Particularly, if it's going to impact on his ability to chase and work like say Jeff Garlett (9 tackles and most on the ground today). Not sure about that. I think he was worse last week. But there's always a caveat. As above, he's a first year key forward.

True. And we've had it used against us, so as far as I'm concerned, we're owed one.

Players do have more power and leverage these days. If Dion really has his heart set on a move to Melbourne, he could just say, 'I want out, make the trade happen or I walk for nothing the following year'.

We'll get less return if we send him to Casey...

Does Britney have a wonky eye? And Toumpas, Wines derpy derp.

Well actually, this is the only case of it happening under Roos (if you don't count Sylvia) and Gus Brayshaw is working out alright for me. So's Bernie Vince if we're counting that. I'll trust this FD to make the right call.

Spot on. It's probably fantasy. I think he might rate him too, as do I, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him shown the door if we can get adequate compensation. As 'Steve' intimates, less of the 'scarred' brigade the better. It wasn't their fault they were drafted to the rabble that was the MFC 2007-2013, but some seem perpetually unable to stand up in times of need. This could even mean that we look to trade Toumpas too, but only if we can get something decent in return, otherwise his potential upside offers greater reward. The same probably goes for Garland. The kids'll like to follow a winning team. If Howe leaving in some way contributes to that, I'm all for it. I occasionally work in schools and the number of kids that run around with Hawthorn jumpers on, where there is not a Melbourne jumper in sight, is alarming. What's more, I work in pretty affluent, traditionally "Melbourne" supporting areas too. We've currently lost a whole generation of supporters, but kids are fickle. If we have some sustained success, kids will jump on board. What if you could replace Garland with a best 22 mid that was in his age bracket. Would you do it?

I'd give them our second rounder plus Howe. I think that's probably more realistic, but then again, GWS did apparently offer an early first rounder for Howe.

Or it says a lot for Crossy. He'll go around again. I would be staggered if he didn't.

Lol list balance. I get what you're saying mate, but Prestia averages high 20s in disposals and is quick. His disposal averages have risen every season he's played. Someone that can win that much of the ball at this level and shows obvious leadership qualities would add a great deal to our team and midfield. Would give up our first rounder every day of the week.

I'd be throwing $750k at Dixon and offering Jesse $1m at the start of 2016, but that's just me.

Yes and yes.

Ultimately, I'd take Bennell, Dixon and Prestia, but I suspect we won't have enough currency to get that done. So maybe just Dixon and Prestia. :D Imagine Hogan and Dixon. Wow. I'd offer him Dawes-like money and a five year deal.

McDonald's a backman, but wouldn't be against throwing him forward for a week to get a bit of confidence back.

So if people are shying from O'Meara, does that make people concerned about Prestia?

Yep. We need more top end quality. We need more potential/legitimate A graders.

Still soooo shallow. We need 10 or so A-B graders who can rotate through there. We don't.

Yep, spot on. I'd prefer Prestia and/or Coniglio. They are the types we should be after.

It's covered up their deficiencies. He can carry a team, by simply dominating games.

People talk of Yarran's elite kicking, but he can be pretty hit and miss IMO.