Adam The God

He was never truly in contention.

Mitchell or Sewell aren't quick either. They still dominate. It's whether he can win consistent contested footy that concerns me.

You mean the tens of thousands that jumped ship during the Knights years? Turn it up. Just as Carlton's membership suffered through the draft pick penalties, if Essendon cop similar, they will be in the wilderness for years. When they are up and about again though, they'll smash us for members.

You've been advocating that we draft Kelly though haven't you, Ben? How would he help us win contested footy? We need more inside mids. Simply stockpiling youth is a path we've been done before. Without experience around the youth, footy teams fail. GWS is a prime example at the moment. You need that experience around the youngsters to assist and cultivate their growth and development. During this coming off-season, we need at least one marquee inside mid. I keep saying Josh Kennedy from Sydney. Lucrative, long-term contract to bring him back to Melbourne in front of his friends and family. I understand the likelihood of snaring him is low, but we must be aggressive and we would hold the adequate compensation if he were interested in coming home. Obviously, the ideal scenario is Roos coming to Melbourne. That may sway Kennedy or another top Sydney mid. If we have decent coaching, Kennedy and some FAs (Brad Sewell for example), you're suddenly far more competitive. You seem to have your finger on the U18 pulse more than I do. I'd be interested to read who else you'd target in this draft. We have plentiful youth, I'd be putting pick 2 on the table and seeing what experience is offered. If nothing decent is, then obviously you look to the draft and hope. From my admittedly less than knowledgeable position, this seems a reasonably weak draft for inside mids though. Loved to be proved wrong.

True, mate. Very sad situation. But instead of sinking into our shells like the players do, the recruiting staff and the FD in particular should be rigorously pursuing methods of eliminating the glaring weakness of our list.

I've been very critical of him this year, mate. All he's got is the leap. What else is he offering? I really want us to be aggressive at the trade table this year. We obviously need to ensure that team harmony is in tact should we trade him, but it makes sense that if we can land ourselves a top mid for a flanker, you'd do the deal just about every day.

Look guys, we all know that you have to give up value to receive value. ie. Not Tapscott for Ablett. We need a midfield. I'd love to keep Howe up my sleeve for that extra bit of danger in the forward half, but the midfield is far more pressing than a flanker - as you rightfully point out, Tim. Howe is a great leaper, but has a tendency to drop the easier ones. If it came down to Howe or Watts, I'd be trading Howe every day of the week. Watts' disposal and decision making is just too damaging to overlook. If you get a midfield that can dish to the likes of Watts, we won't need a Howe with Clark, Dawes, Fitzy and Hogan. We'd need that extra little bit of x-factor in the forwardline, but draft someone with genuine pace to fill that role. Howe isn't quick. While he has perceived value, if we can get an experienced A grader, I'd pop him on the table.

Forget Wines, DF. I'd jump at him for pick 2, but Port won't trade and he won't look to leave within his first contract.

I agree with the sentiment, DA. We must be rigorous this draft/trade/FA period. If we don't fix our midfield, players of Frawley's ilk will leave and we will struggle to attract anyone. As obvious as it sounds, we simply aren't competitive with this midfield and although experience is important, I don't believe it is our entire problem. We lack the class that every other midfield has. I think we should be going really hard at an established player (Sydney's Josh Kennedy for example) and offering a 5 or 6 year deal at $800,000. Front load that as much as possible and then go hard at some B grade free agents. The following year go hard at a few Gold Coast and GWS mids coming out of contract. We go hard while we have the cap room to spare.

Trade Howe. See what we get. One of the most frustratingly one dimensional players we have. Made more infuriating by the fact that he has talent, just not the application it would seem.

It's not the list on the whole, rjay. It's the midfield. Without a workman-like midfield, it exposes every other area on the ground. That's not to say we don't have holes in the forward or back half, but no team will be competitive if their midfield rubbish. That's our predicament at the moment.

Craig's in a tough position, but has shown that he is only marginally better than Neeld. That says it all really.

I think we have to stop looking for saviours, WYL. Having said that, I think Roos and Williams are the best choices to dig us out of this mire. Williams clearly wants to coach again. If Roos says no, go with Williams. I still firmly believe Roos will be/is coming though.

Boom goes the dynamite, stuie.

I'd disagree with you on Hurley having a good footy brain, binman. He's a particularly dumb footballer for mine. That's one area Watts certainly has him covered. It's the different approaches to attacking the ball that may seem to place Hurley above, but he's just a rough, gruff boofhead really. Watts has vision and poise that Hurley would dream of, if his brain could work a little faster. Hurley's skills are reasonably average too. He can take a mark and he attacks the footy. He has size and that makes him dangerous, but aside from that very little else.

College suggests the basics need working on. Back to school we go type stuff. Calling it an academy sounds simply more prestigious. Perhaps I'm on my own there, but if I was a player, that'd be my line of thinking.

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.