Adam The God

Haha, yeah. I'd add Morton to that as well. Particularly, the Bulldogs game. Every time Morton touched it, I took a sigh of relief. Great decision makers: Flower, Davey and Morton. I think Bails deserves a touch of the credit for Davey's resurrection too. It's obviously his move to play him off half back consistently and it's been a masterstroke.

Yeah. It doesn't happen week after week by coincidence.

I agree. Have you heard what he's been doing with the media? Apparently, he gives away a prize at his weekly press conferences- usually something provided by our sponsors. Is that usual? It's almost as if he's trying to get them on his side and then in another way, it seems entirely professional.

That it is. We signed him up again last year. At the time it made slight sense (even though it bewildered me slightly), as we didn't have a prospective key forward and now we do. But he'll get delisted at the end of next year. By that stage there'll be no place for him in the squad. There probably isn't now either. I'm thinking someone like Butcher will come in and steal that other key forward position from him (rightfully so, he's had his chance).

Yeah, there are photos of Franklin in what looks like a Demon jumper. It is a Demon jumper, but it's the jumper of West Perth (Dennis Commetti's old team and hence his support for Melbourne), so it's more than likely Buddy (being a younger bloke) went for one of the Western Australia teams. As for Judd, he went to my school, so I know he certainly barracked for Melbourne (but in the end went to Carltank for money).

1. Watts 2. Morton 3. Davey 4. Garland 5. Rivers 6. Warnock 7. Frawley 8. McLean 9. Wonaeamirri 10. Martin 11. Bennell 12. Jones 13. Blease 14. Green 15. Grimes 16. Moloney 17. Pettard 18. Strauss 19. Maric

Yes, that's what I take from that. It is indeed. Though, Mike is a Melbourne supporter, so maybe that's it?

True :D Both kicks resulted in Melbourne marks. One to Sylvia (I think) and one for PJ (who had another good game btw).

Cheney had another solid game. His attack on the ball a number of times set up thrusts forward. He's worth another next week. Another thing I realised is he's quite tall. I remembered him being around Peter Walsh's height, but maybe I was just blinded by the comparisons the first few times I watched him. When he stood next to Johnson, he was comfortably taller than him.

How were his two 70 metre kick outs too. I thought he was very exciting today too.

Was that not the most exciting game of football you've seen from a young Melbourne midfielder in at least the last 10 years? His composure under pressure today was just sublime. Furthermore, I thought it was a brilliant move by Bails today. Everyone knows that the most difficult and priceless thing in football these days, is hitting targets inside forward 50. So, instead of Davey (arguably our most skill player) playing across half back and buillding thrusts, he puts Morton, an equally superb user and decision maker across half back to play a similar role, which then in turn allowed Flash to play up the ground, across half forward. This meant that we had someone with absolute quality delivering passes inside our forward fifty and as you saw today, Aaron's ability to hit targets inside forward 50 is second to none. Great coaching by Bails and fantastic games from both Aaron and Cale. They weren't alone today, by any means, I thought the majority of the team were fantastic, but I think Morton announced himself to the competition today, as the next big thing. It wasn't just that he backed up his 34 touches from last week, with 37, but every time he touched the ball it seemed to turn to gold. He simply had stacks of effective disposals. I know I was willing them to give it to him every time. He's a pleasure to watch and I dare say the first top class midfielder we've possessed in my life time (not counting Flower, who played when I was only a few years old).

He was soft today wasn't he?

That happens on busy messageboards. None of us know each other, there are bound to be clashes of opinion. I could do without the snipering though. You're spot on though, we're all supporting the same team, let's have a bit of harmony.

Well said. Your screen name suits you.

Mouth watering prospects. I keep forgetting about Blease. There's a lot of early draft picks in that team.

I thought we had re-signed him? I thought that was discussed in another thread?

They only have that many??? I thought they regularly (I don't know how, with the lack of success they've had down there) got 35,000+. Apparently, I was wrong. Go the dees though! Just imagine if we were on top, 7 straight...we'd have at least 35,000 then.

True, which is why I'm prepared to wait and see. But if he doesn't show anything this season, he doesn't have the promise, IMO that those three had.

Because, the ability to run and carry, with speed, in modern day football is priceless. The beauty about Brock is he has the ability to win the ball. Much like a Sam Mitchell (as I said in another thread). Mitchell is not quick, but he has pacey players around him to give it too. He also has superior decision making ability to Brock, but that can be learned. Brock has too much ball winning potential to be given the flick. He's also visually a leader. I don't think any of us really dispute this.

Jonesy is a ball magnet. I've always thought he possessed massive potential. This year already he has shown great improvement. Last year, he would have had to be our most tackled player. The amount of times he was run down was ridiculous. Although not always his fault (they'd give it to him, running past, when he was already wearing an opposition player on his back), he did seem to lack a lot of awareness. But seemingly, the coaching staff and probably even Jonesy himself have looked at this and his decision making this year has generally been pretty good. I believe Jones could be one of the premier midfielders in the comp. He just needs to keep developing both his decision making and disposal (which occasionally still lets him down).

What better man to discuss these plans? It's great to have you back on board, Cameron. I'm not just excited about the future of our playing group, but also the future of our club, off the field and you're such an important and valued part of that.

Yeah, this year is already tiring me out. The last few weeks have been tiring enough, now being on this forum it makes things even harder.

From what I've heard and pictures that I've seen of him, he reminds me of Watts, but a bit more of a stay at home forward, whereas Watts could almost play in the midfield in time.

Yeah, makes no sense to me, I gotta say.

You know, I'm quite similar really. I almost get white line fever, in that I completely forget about the draft picks, until the final moments of the match and we're down. Afterall, I've supported Melbourne all my life, you can't just switch off like that. I go thinking, give it a good shake. We're not expected to get particularly close in any of our next 3 matches, so over the next few rounds, I want us to just keep steadily improving. Improvement is what I'm looking for from every player and if I get that, irrespective of the result, I'm happy.