Adam The God

For starters, one is patronising, the other isn't.

It seems pretty clear that this is part of PJ's restructure. The article says as much. I like the idea of an academy, but we still need the right people in the right jobs. Agree though that it should have been in place years ago.

Totally agree, Tim. And the fact that he is playing in a midfield bereft of talent and leadership cannot be underestimated.

Let's just hope we can improve our midfield between now and then.

Good on you, Maxy. I liked this the other day.

Dawes will not be playing at Casey, RM. His onfield leadership is far too important. He straightens us up just as he did Collingwood. With our inexperienced forwardline he's even more important on the ground for us.If Clark returns we will shape up with Clark, Dawes and Hogan in the forward fifty, nothing surer. Watts will play between a wing and forward fifty, while Fitzy will have to improve his field kicking and ruck work to get a regular starting spot.

So he's out for the season is he?

It's the midfield, OD. We have other holes, but it's difficult to tell with the majority of our starting 22. Our defence has been a shining light again this year and our forwardline (with the injection of some fantastic leadership from Dawes) is slowly starting to look the goods. It's the midfield that consistently let us down. Jones tries hard and so does Trengove, but the rest, the work rate either isn't there or the skills aren't. We won't make the eight next year necessarily, but we if trade/FA and draft well, we could come close with a decent midfield. I agree with AJ. No wholesale changes. We need some stability. I can see a number of blokes (at least 8) who are either regular VFL players or yo-yo between VFL and AFL. It's not as dire as people think. Fix the midfield, midfield, midfield. I would hope we could fill most midfield holes within two years. Any other list holes (crumbing forwards, running defenders etc) will be fixed as we near a premiership window.

Jones still consistently turns back into traffic and gets tackled. He stamped this out of his game last year, but it has returned this year. It probably has something to do with the lack of space he has been afforded this year.

Disagree with this. Dawes worked hard and the kicking to him was atrocious, not to mention it was dripping wet conditions and tough to mark.

Thing is if we won the clearances (which surprises me) and still lost despite a bottom six worthy team having Brown and Black out, well that says that a loss is unacceptable. I'd usually be saying, yeah, look our midfield is rubbish and that killed us. If we're winning the clearances that is disappointing to lose to such a lowly side. With each week that passes I'm more assured that Craig will not be coaching us next year. We had a plan, but our turn overs simply kill us. We did play a lot of dumb footy too. Turning into traffic instead of out. Not enough risk taking when turning defence into attack. If we can get someone to stamp those errors out over a pre season (I'm not convinced Craig is the man), then we'll be a five to ten goal better team. I'll tell you what though. Fitzy is exciting, as is Viney. The latter made a few errors out there too, but he just knows where to go to win the footy. He also knows how to win a freekick too. We haven't had one of those for a while. A couple of our guys had absolute stinkers though. Absolute stinkers, but I won't name names here.

The basic errors come down to confidence and experience. If we're not experienced, it's hard for anyone to rectify those errors. I do concur with what you proffer though, jazza.

You're assuming that he'll keep his 2010 gameplan. Highly unlikely. Good coaches develop and try to stay ahead of the eightball. That's partially been our problem with the last two coaches. Outdated game plans. If Roos is to coach us, he wouldn't implement an outdated plan.

Really? How odd. They're obviously impressed with McLean. Jones'd great B grade, cusp of A grade with Judd and Murphy around him. Obviously, I don't we should trade him though. It follows naturally that if we could get an A grader or two alongside Jones, he'll be an important part of a bullocking MFC midfield. Personally, I think a few FAs are starting to open up. Sewell and Dal Santo could be perfect experienced big pay FAs and I'd throw the kitchen sink at Sydney's Kennedy and all of a sudden, you have a starting midfield of Sewell, Jones and Kennedy. That's looking closer to A grade than D grade. Dal Santo could then play across half back and play through the middle to give the others a chop out occasionally. Stick Trengove on a wing, Grimes on the other and you've got players that can play through the middle to support these A graders you've brought in. The message - we must be aggressive at trades and FAs. Even more so if we get a PP.

And now he's being tagged out of AFL games, while Richmond are looking far weaker for it.

You mean the AFL are serious in transforming us into a competitive club again.

The biggest problem is the midfield, DF.

Alright then. Substitute 'brand' with 'perception'. And yes, our image can be tarnished further by this.

I'd go for them both, MB38. I'd also go for Adams from GWS or put one of our top picks up for a Josh Kennedy (Sydney) or another marquee player in the right age bracket. We've got the making of a dangerous forwardline. A crumber can be stitched up in the 2014 draft or even with a D Gartlett in the second or third round. Our defence is close to elite IMO. It's time to be really aggressive at the trade table and get our midfield sorted. I'd also look at Sheed in the draft. If he drops to late first round, done.

I agree that their record is no where near ours, Robbie. I was measuring their PP by the old standards which was two seasons in a row with less than 4 wins. Unless they get some KPP they're going to be rooted to the foot of the ladder for a while yet.

Agreed. Clarkson was my first choice. This said, Roos would extinguish the speculation if he wasn't interested or coming. It damages our brand to be strung out in such a public way. The AFL would have stepped in if he wasn't a strong chance. They want the MFC to be a viable option for players, sponsors etc. He's still coming for mine.

The Bulldogs should be awarded a PP at the end of the first round. If they're still down next year, then they should receive one at the start of the first round next year.

We'll have to wait and see. For what it's worth, the muppets on 360 all agreed he was no longer in their best 22. I'd have Sewell on a front loaded three year contract. Even if he breaks down in his second or third year, his leadership would been wonderful for our mids. Interesting on Kennedy. He'd certainly be worth it. I'd be floating our first pick this year for him. For mine, this draft looks reasonably weak and Kennedy is a gun. I used to play footy against him and cricket with him. Really top bloke and would add similar sort of leadership and experience that Sewell would, but with plenty of years left. It'd give him a chance to return to Melbourne too. Five year contract to play his days out in Melbourne with his family watching. Ah, we can all dream.

Yeah, Eade is clearly interested. You only had to see AFL 360 a few weeks back. Definitely wants it. There's more than reason why half of Perth's kids move over here. Perhaps that's just my industry.

Who says we're not preparing B plans and C plans? The continued questioning is media driven, not club driven. I'm sure we're "looking at coaches who are interested in doing the job" too. But as has been mentioned ad nauseam, we cannot talk to other candidates who are under contract at opposition clubs until the season is out.