Little Goffy

Bwa ha ha. Depending on how hung up you are about draft decisions from years ago, this will either upset you or pass with barely a smirk. If Melbourne had recruited Ollie Wines, and Port had Toumpas, we would probably be ahead of them on the ladder right now. Which to me means "we are getting more right than we are getting wrong, and I wont cry over the misses". But maybe I'm just taking it easy because I'm still convinced that the Toump will be a credible and enduring AFL player.

Yeah, on consideration, looking back on his 2014 rather than thinking too much on his unlucky 2015, absolutely. A young small forward who managed to kick a decent stream of goals, despite being in the second lowest scoring team in the history of the 22-game format, that's a keeper.

I'm not sure of the contract status of most of our players, but the list changes end of year look to me like - Retirements; Mark Jamar Delistings; Rohan Bail Aiden Riley Viv Michie Jordie Mckenzie Dean Terlich Question Marks; Dean Kent Matt Jones Jack Fitzpatrick The unfortunate fact for these guys is that you can cut this entire group without affecting our match-day performance. Some still have a chance to prove themselves, and in what is rumoured to be a weak draft the club might persevere rather than start fresh with draftees. A 5 or 6 player 'churn' is pretty appropriate for a club still looking to develop their list.

So far this season not even Lance Franklin has managed to get over Tom McDonald. Just quietly - McDonald, Dunn, Jetta, Garland and of course Salem... Something is going alright in our defensive group. JADE RAWLINGS – BACKLINE COACHRawlings, the club’s backline coach, joined Melbourne in September 2011. He was the only coach from the Mark Neeld/Neil Craig era to be part of Paul Roos’ coaching panel.

Jesse Hogan has never lost an AFL game at the MCG. (Just thought I'd get that out before this four-week rough run). But seriously, I think my favourite feature of his game against Richmond came to attention late, when we had to stay cool and stop any momentum riding against us. Over and over he was there on the wing, making a contest and quite calmly nudging, bumping, and bullocking the ball safely over the boundary for a stoppage. The relentless Paul Roos momentum routine of old. When the game needed to be kept steady he just did it - totally calmly accepted that since a given contest was a mess then a 50/50 after a bit of time to reset was better than risking a breakout from that mess. A professional there to do a job for the team; remarkably little ego in those decisions considering the boldness and confidence it takes to do the other things he does!

Tom Scully for 2 picks / Callum Ward for 1.

That's the trouble with playing in Canberra, as soon as you're ahead for 51%, you think you're set for the next three years.

Beams at Collingwood = 1st for clearances and inside 50s. 2nd for possessions and contested possessions 3rd for goals Don't forget Luke Ball is gone too (3rd for clearances, 4th for tackles). Sidebottom, Pendlebury and what's left of Swan will all need to play more time in the middle, reducing their regular contribution to rebounding. That exacerbates the departure of Maxwell and Lumumba, leaving basically a couple of kids and Clinton Young to try to provide drive for Collingwood's counterattacks. Under Buckley, Collingwood have managed three fewer wins each year, going from 20 wins in Matlhouse's last season (2011), to 16 wins, 14, 11... Seems like something special has now been pulled out to keep that rolling.

The truth of it all is, we MUST get pick 7. Aish, Wines, Haynes, Caddy, Rich, Sheppard, Palmer, Selwood, Ryder, Lewis, You have to go back to Kane Tenace to find a player who hasn't made it to a full career, and almost all of those selected have become or look like becoming A-graders.

Darling, Shuey, Martin, hell, some fool even suggested we dudded ourselves with the Tyson trade because 'we could have drafted Lewis Taylor'. Some people will always sink into the second guessing and ever so superior hindsight. I really hope this thread works and keeps that sludge out of the main threads.

Thinking about Brayshaw, would North be interested in packaging something/someone with their first pick to get our first pick, thus ensuring they collect him? Would be a nice combination of sentiment and suitability. Adding to that, North must be one of several clubs who would be very interested in using an early pick to collect one the the multiple tall forward targets that are hovering in the top-5 range. We may have several suitors for that first pick, and I agree with a few others that it if Petracca will be gone by our choice then the value of that pick goes down for us. One the other hand, there look to be multiple good prospects - midfielders and effective rebounders - that would suit our needs around the 10-20 mark. Ellis, De Goey, Marchbank, Duggan, Laverde, Blakely, - a lot of these profiles suit, and we'd only need one to slip. Even the previously much-touted Hugh Goddard is floating in predicted position.

People complaining about Tom McDonald are just lining themselves up for participation in the 2016 'humble pie' thread. Anyway, an overall disposal efficiency of 73% for Tom isn't horrendous, but there is definitely a clanger problem throughout our defence. Mcdonald 2.4 Garland 2.4 Dunn 2.3 On the other hand, for the 1%ers count - McDonald 9.7 Garland 4.9 Dunn 4.6 I think we can persevere with the young fella a bit longer.

If there's one thing we can be sure of, it is that a North Melbourne tall forward on his last legs will have a final hurrah against the Demons. It's as frustrating as Daniel Bradshaw or Peter Matera record against Meanwhile, Tom McDonald by the numbers on sunday - 18 disposals at 77% efficiency, with 3 clangers. Also, ten 1%ers. If I recall right, McDonald has been not just our leader for 1%ers all season, but has been the leader in 1%ers in every individual game. The kid goes alright. Definitely has flaws. Got beaten by someone taller, more experienced, and better supported.

The team overall fell short significantly today and it really exposed the weaknesses of some of our younger and/or less 'complete' players. I've still got quite a bit of belief in Tom McDonald's future, as I do in Garland and Grimes. Won't declare them to be future stars, but I can see all three being the 200-game stalwart types. And I think those types are very valuable in the current inflationary environment, when you see player salaries doubling and doubling again as you get into the A-graders and then the 'champions'.

Pretty sure we already have a massive wines thread.

I really think there are only two things missing from Watts' game at the moment, but they sure make a difference; Collision play. I wouldn't say soft, just not enthusiastic or confident. It's much like when people hover around an unfamiliar photocopier; they know how it works but they feel like there might be something different that they'll miss and that'll screw the whole thing up, so they linger, stuck in a mental fog. Straight-line running. Great lateral movement, pretty good acceleration, but it's not often you see Watts steaming along at top speed for sustained stretches, whether to get the handball receive or break a line. Obviously Adam Goodes is the pinnacle example of a tall player doing this (and a big part of why he is a champion) but for Watts it is completely missing at the moment. Both aspects are trainable, I'd say. And both are very much between the ears more than they are a physical limitation. So, we could see Watts make a dramatic step up, no doubt about it.

Top observation Mr Bizkit. A very specific problem that needs to be ironed out. Disproportionate impact compared to the relatively small amount of regular work needed to build a better habit

Hmm... putting some thoughts together. Cale Morton has improved his confidence and involvement quite a bit this year, and I get theimpression it has been through a lot of positive and supportive talk around him. However, he still makes horrendous super-clangers which can cripple our momentum and turn the rythm of a game. Clearly, those clangers are emerging from total brain-farts which are still confidence based. Confidence in that particular moment just implodes I get this quiet feeling like his confidence has been taken a far as it can by 'support'. Now the coaches need to challenge him, really confront his failings, hope that he now has the strength to face them and the bristling frustration it causes, and by 'practicing' dealing with that, get to that next point of confidence. If the occasional blast works, it could be the making on Cale Morton. If not... well, it isn't going to break him, it will just mean we have found his limit as a football player. But if there is one thing that is completely obvious, it is that Cale's problems are pretty much all born from a lack of confidence and belief.

I hear the 2012 draft is a ripper. 30+ 'sure hit' players. I'm so excited that the Demons will be well placed to mine that draft with numerous end-of-first-round picks. Poor GWS gets a frayed dishrag of a draft to work with. Bwa HA HA HA HA HAAAAA

Ok, a moment to clarify two things; 1) I've seen the media get this wrong a couple of times, so here goes - the $5million debt quoted is actually for the end of this year, including, this is important; including, the projected $2m loss from this year. The million dollars from tonight knocks it down to four million. The other million I'm sure we'll raise by the end of the year (including the 100k from foxtel) will get it back down to three million. 2) There was no 'payout' to MacNamee. The money paid to him was ordinary salary for his time while at the club. The board learnt from the lesson of Steve Harris' payout and set the contract terms specifically to manage that issue. Mr. Peter Spargo, the board member/acting CEO, is currently filling the role without payment. Send him a card - thanks to him the club is actually saving about a grand a day for sacking MacNamee. To be henceforth known as the 'Spargonator', 'Spargonaut', 'Spargman' or simply 'Spargsy'.Banner of 'Spargos a legend' or 'all hail the Sparg' would be appropriate. Peter Spargo - currently second in awesomeness only to Jim Stynes himself. His profile - Peter is the Managing Director and owner of family companies associated in the oil industry, and now involved property development. He currently employs over 200 staff. Peter holds a Bachelor of Economics and all his working life been associated with retail businesses. He is well versed in all aspects of business and is well placed to identify revenue opportunities for the club. He is a life long Melbourne supporter and has a strong family connection with the Melbourne Cricket Club. Peter currently is an MCC member. Peter is also involved with community football associated with the Prahran Junior FC. He has coached for many years and his family is a major sponsor. Peter and his family are commercial sponsors of our club and have been the Elite Sponsor of David Neitz for many years. Peter is married with four sons, all Demons.