Adam The God

Yep, fair enough, mate.

I gotta say. I can't deny I'm a little envious and [censored] off that a coach like Bolton can bring structure and work rate from ordinary players so quickly. We clearly have more talent on our list and going forward I wouldn't want to be Carlton (they're peaking too early too), but it is frustrating to watch. That said, the caveat is certainly our inexperience meaning it's harder to implement those structures and work rate for longer, on a consistent basis.

I agree to an extent, P, but I think this post assumes that the FD are going to sit on their hands behind closed doors. You can bet the players received a whack last week. But it would have been internal and as much as in the aftermath I would have liked Roos to acknowledge this, there's not a lot to be gained from it. As for frustrated supporters voicing their frustration, I have no problem with it, so long as it at least has some thought behind it. The Ox rambled about list development. If there was one thing you couldn't knock us or Roos on over the past 3 seasons is list development. Guys like Hunt, Wagner, (IMO) Omac and Jetta are obvious examples of players that have either come in and played their role straight away or have improved drastically off a low base.

He never was. Thoroughly overrated from day dot.

Not really a problem. We won't pay overs anymore. We'll pay Geelong and Hawthorn money for guys. Otherwise we'll never get anywhere. The only guy that might be an outlier is Hogan.

I understand that, but I suspect there's a lot more going on too.

Now ENYAWED, I'm not frustrated at all by our KPFs developing naturally in the VFL. And I'm pretty sure with the Weeds' body in particular, the club would have hoped he played in the VFL all year, rather than get thrown to the wolves. As for Hulett, I suspect he's got things to work on and some maturity to gain, but once again, no frustration at all with him developing in the 2's. And finally, for Max King.... possibly agree on that one. Not looking so good.

Banable offence?

Lol. What's your source for this, Chook?

What are his tools that will allow him to make it, HH? Can't see it myself.

Omac and Frost are both growing into their roles and will continue to do so, OD. That'll be three KPDs in 2 years time. If we land Hurley, great, but I don't actually think we're doing that badly for KPDs. The major deficiency on our list, IMO, is in the midfield. We need more class, speed and guys in that 22-25 age bracket. I'd be going full pelt at Prestia and Brad Crouch. I'd give up our 2017 first rounder for Prestia and I'd be prepared to give up someone like Kent or Salem if it landed us Crouch.

I'm not nervous as I've already invented reasons why he and his manager would go down the injury management path at this stage. But seriously, I'm confident we wouldn't go after him if it was degenerative.

Absolute twaddle. They're developing in the twos like the top clubs develop their younger KPFs. We're not going to throw them to the wolves like we have in the past. Mids are a different prospect. Some are plug and play, but even if they're not ready to take the step straight away, as a rule midfielders take less time to develop.

I must say though this is a particular feature of our new crop of midfielders. Petracca is one of the cleanest players I can remember and certainly the cleanest Melbourne player in my lifetime. Oliver rarely fumbles and Brayshaw is pretty good too. This is why I don't stay down in the dumps too long after a loss. We have so much midfield talent, who are now finally being coached correctly and developed well. I love Viney, but the fact he's not even in the top 2 or 3 players I'm most excited about speaks volumes about the potential of this list. And before you go 'potential, potential, rah, rah, rah', take a seat and look at who is coaching them. A premiership coach in Roos (you don't fluke a flag) and one of, if not the best, development coaches in the last decade in Brendan McCartney. We are in good hands and we will get there, but with the majority of our better players still not past 30 games, there will be ups and downs. See, I can't say for sure that Roos would have envisaged playing such an inexperienced team in his third year, but I'm sure he knew how deep an issue we had at the MFC (as signposted by PJ). Therefore, he and PJ quite deliberately but very cleverly undertook two years of defensive-minded football, making us more competitive, but never yielding great results, just steadily improve. In the meantime, this allowed us access to top talent in order to rebuild the list. What I can almost say for sure (given the man's seeming sharpness) is that when PJ made those finals remarks, he knew full-well that we probably weren't going to play finals this year. This probably would have been obvious to those associated with the list build at the end of year 2 or even at the end of year 1, the extent of the dearth of leadership at the club. Somewhere during this time (before the aspirational benchmark for finals in 2016 was laid) it seems that the path of youth being the best direction, would have been plainly obvious and the only alternative. But what would you have preferred him say? We're not aiming for finals?

Spot on. The West Coast defenders aren't super quick either, but they're organised. That organisation won't really matter if we can kick it on Spencer's head from time to time and he plucks them like he did in Geelong. We have to play Spencer, IMO. I turn 30 next year. We won our last game there when I was in Year 9. Haha, how are there any of us Demons left?

I agree with you on Stretch having a place ahead of Kennedy. I'd have Jones and Vince drop to the bench, move Petracca onto a wing or into the middle and Oliver into the guts. I disagree with you on Salem and Jetta though. Bringing in someone like Hibberd and playing him off half back to improve our kicking efficiency and attacking stocks back there will release Salem to play a midfield or a forward role. Both roles, IMO, he's more suited to. Brayshaw could be another who plays off half back setting up play (he played there in juniors) and then with stints in the midfield. His clearance work against St Kilda showed he'll be a force to be reckoned with as will Oliver, Petracca, Viney and Tyson.

Yep, agreed. And the Blues will continue to stockpile B/C graders. They're never going to win a flag that mob. They're also going to miss out on a high draft pick this year. SOS has to get everything right in the next few years and looking at his golden access to GWS and all those misses, I wouldn't be too confident if I were Carlton. This might sound a bit strange, but I just wonder how heavily Melksham will feature in plans next year now that we've found Hunt. Hunt is a better spoiler and quicker than Melksham. It'll be interesting to see how that works. I wouldn't move Hunt off the half back flank unless the opposition find a way to blanket him (like St Kilda did) - in this instance, I'd move him forward (like we did). The more I think about it, the more I think we should play Melksham off half forward and utilise his speed in our press. I just wonder if Goody's plans have changed with Hunt's emergence. And I actually think our backline has some really good balance if you add Hibberd to Jetta, TMac, Frost, Omac and Hunt. A nice blend of pace, height, better kicking and solid one-on-one play.

Can I please have them both, Grandpa?

Sell the farm? Who mentioned selling the farm? One first rounder is hardly selling the farm.

Prestia and Crouch. Thanks very much.

On the back of stronger offers from Carlton and Richmond.

I think we're viewed very differently within AFL circles than supporter commentary and the majority of journalists would suggest. You only have to read a few articles or listen to a few media pundits talk about our players/list. I don't rate Terry Wallace, but he is clearly a fan. As is Wayne Carey. The majority of the media and opposition supporters (and some of our own) won't give us any credit until it's earned (fair enough), but our list has dramatically improved and the only other young list in the competition I'd take over ours at this stage is GWS'. As McCartney has said before, we're 18 months behind the Bulldogs, but what must be factored into this, is the base we're coming off. The Bulldogs had a bunch of leaders who had played in multiple prelims, who led the way for their young talent coming through over the past 2-3 years. We had pretty much nought, without being too unkind to Jonesy. It may take another season or two before we're taken really seriously, but I DGAF. As long as we see progress and continue to strengthen our list. Which we will.

I saw that too. What a rubbish post. I sometimes wonder what people are doing when they're at the game. Are they watching it or do they only become involved when goals are kicked?

I can hear the press conference at the end of this year. Prestia: "Melbourne have a really good young list and I want to be apart of that. I grew up barracking for Melbourne and I want to make sure they're back up the top where they should be." During December, Weitering decides he too wants to go to Melbourne, the club he supported as a kid and does a handshake deal with Mahoney to come over at the end of 2017. Who says romance in footy is dead?

I reckon Prestia will choose us and I think he'll take less. I don't think we'll overpay for him. The club is run professionally these days, despite the St Kilda result.