Little Goffy

The Melbourne Football Club has suddenly become one of the AFL’s fastest sides, with almost all it's new draftees specifically noted for speed and agility. In fact, ALL of our draftees also had ‘good skills’ comments next to their name, and perhaps most impressively all have had ‘smart player’ and ‘reads the play well’ comments thrown around about them too. The draft selections are an unmistakable vote of confidence in our existing tall forward group – just the hole at FF/CHF has been filled – or perhaps more accurately, we now have great material to fill it but it might take a while to do the pour. The flood of skilled, agile and fast midfielders is likely to push players such as Matthew Bate, who has often been used as a utility, forward much more of the time to do the leading, marking and long kicking that were the most promising features of his game not so long ago. Adding to that, it has been well noted that the Demon’s much discussed game plan was falling down before it ever got to the forward line, as there simply wasn’t enough speed and skill to execute it. This draft shifts the balance significantly on that front, too. Mclean and Jones will go from being the too-slow workhorses to being very explicitly Scott West style players, feeding a fleet of skilled runners and using their endurance to get to every possible contested ball. Nathan Jones in particular could see tremendous benefits from not feeling a need to do everything himself, and having a single clear task to dedicate his effort towards. This draft is also a major vote of confidence in Mark Jamar and Paul Johnson. Perhaps Stefan Martin will end up doing some ruckwork after all, because there isn’t a lot of ruck depth on the list right now. I’m sure this is an area where many Demons will have their fingers crossed - is it a vote of confidence, or just a choice to take the risk here, rather than try to cover all areas in one draft? Two new aboriginal players mean we now have five on our list: Davey, Whelan, Wonaeamirri, Bennell and Jetta. Without descending into stereotypes, there’s no denying that many indigenous players take seriously an obligation to provide mutual support, and having a substantial group of indigenous players across a range of ages is a definite positive factor. The more the merrier. The delay to the Pre-season draft will give the club some time to interview a few people and conduct ‘due diligence’ on character and determination. Then draft Casey Sibosado. If he had any arrogance issues or whatever the hell it was that made 16 clubs overlook him, being snubbed at the draft should help squash that. And for the future? I would tip that a relatively small number of players will exit the club next year (end of 2009), as the feature of that draft will be shallowness – increased age requirement and the ongoing siphoning off of players from Queensland who choose to sign with the Gold Coast team will shrink the pool significantly. A trade to advance a pick might happen if we have a player not getting opportunities because of a full best 22, or a ‘best set’ in their area (a speculative example would be James Frawley, should our defence continue to improve and especially if Rivers comes back in at full steam) The year after that (end of 2010), some players - remember that we re-signed a whole swag of young players for two years - may be up for trade to the new Gold Coast club, hopefully at inflated prices as Gold Coast will have lots of good draft picks but be in need of some ready-to-go players. Obviously I wouldn’t want it to be anyone I rate especially highly, but there’s no harm in helping a couple of OK to Good players make a fresh start and stretch their career. Brad Miller is even from the area. And we'll need those traded picks, too. Because by the end of 2010 the Demons won't be playing around with luxuries like number one picks anymore.

Carlton announced Bryce Gibbs before the season was even over... amazing they could be so sure that they would get the number one pick that year. Kreuzer they started hyping as a certainty well before the event. There's no harm in showing a card when everyone will get to see it first up anyway, and it's not like we're undermining the sancitity of the draft. A nice idea, adding a bit of value to a sponsor event and also letting a few fans feel a bit more included. Another good little step.

The thing where they got him to tell the players... It would have been better if they'd got all the players to tell him that they were staying.

Let's see, who's available. Neitz wouldn't need to be a special announcement, he'd be staying more than arriving. Buckley. Well, for me, no thanks. West I respect and I'd appreciate him on our staff. Leigh Matthews would be, well, weird! James Hird was pretty busy last I heard. Alistair Lynch as a forward coach? But it's probably Strauchnie.

Wow. I'm stunned. I didn't know it was possible to tank a corporate information video. I say we out-green the bastards just to stick it up 'em!

Robbie Warnock, dude, Robbie Warnock at Carlton. We've got Matthew - you know, the one who has actually had to do a job on his own for whole games, rather than just look good in flashes.

Brock easily. Not to say I don't like Jones or anything. But Mclean A) Gets to more contests B) is better at getting the ball or forcing a 50/50 when he's there C) uses the ball better when he's got it and D) is a more effective on field leader. Jones could yet be a first rate player, but Brock simply is one.

Uhh... because he only found out that he was allowed to nominate AFTER the normal deadline for nominations, not to mention he's been given a whole host of bizarre compliance requirements to consider before making his decision. Seriously, it'd make anyone re-think their career if it involved having someone watch you [censored] three times a week.

Hawks would still be in debt, and even this year barely turning a profit, except for a couple of million in poker machine revenues and about the same through the sponsorship+game subsisdy from Tassie. On field, yeah, there are lessons to be learnt from Hawthorn. Off field, well. In short - that's not the club I want Melbourne to be. Three quarters of poker machine revenue comes from 'problem gamblers'. I'd actually be pressing for us to cut back our small poker machine holdings - the revenue for us is minimal and I think there would be more value in having a clean reputation in that area. We may even find community groups willing to support our efforts to offset the lost revenue.

It's true. I was at the Canberra game, sitting near the bench. There was a little row of early-20-something girls in front of me. At one stage they actually made starled noises of pleasure when Brad Miller jogged past. Embarassing for all involved, but they'll remember him.

Mmmm... Our MCG. Say it together - Our MCG. And nothing beats being a core part of routine operations and cash flows when re-building a relationship. Our MCG. The tip of the corner of my mouth turns up a little every time I say it. We beat Collingwood in six grand finals at our MCG.

Yeah, from the tiny moments of contact I've had with Jennifer Watt, she's seems pretty much on the ball. There's no doubt she's determined to do a great job. I mean, let's face it, even from a professional perspective anyone associated with getting the Melbourne Football Club back to the status and security it needs will have a gold star on their resume! I wonder if she's leading the nuts-and-bolts organisation for the summit? That'd be a pretty full-on gig. 250 people all up, counting board, staff, some players are coming too, and of course the rowdy mob that will mostly be Demonland and Demonology downloaded into "3-D portable meat avatars". I think we can guarantee that there will be a few people who, once they've had their turn, will spend the rest of the day shooting people down with derogatory comments, or just moaning about how it's all too hard. Especially if their contribution isn't given as much time as they would like (which most likely will be many of them). That'll be the big challenge, keeping people on task and constructive. Can this thread be dedicated to 'I will not respond to the club's efforts to include supporters by being an arse on an important day' pledges?

If he has played under 30 games then he is eligible for the rookie list. Tick. But not earlier.

I thought CJ was coming good; I'd put some effort into convincing myself there was a good future there. But the one year deal was completely appropriate for all concerned - CJ had just barely done enough to keep himself on the list, but would have to back it up next year because he's not a kid anymore. If he built on it next year he would've been able to get a proper contract from there, and everyone would be happy. Hhe wanted more, the club stood firm, so he's walking. The specific mention of Carlton seems odd, in that it limits his appeal to other clubs if he goes around saying 'that club'. I wonder what the story behind the story is there? Maybe we'll redraft him if nothing comes of it. Who knows. Maybe there were other issues involved, maybe he didn't come back fit from the break and there was tension there. As far as the list goes - CJ held one of those positions - HBF/into wing - which are often used as a development area for new players (Grimes, Buckley, Petterd, even Cheney) and which we may, if things go well, have a couple of more versatile players interested in running through there - Garland and Rivers might both find themselves having stints playing a bit loose if Martin, Frawley and Warnock hold reasonably firm. Bell, Dunn and Bartram provide a bit of depth as running defenders, and frankly all three are on CJ's level, despite their various weaknesses. Final thought - given that a big problem this year for the club was a lack of defensive effort, should we really be too worried about the loss of a player whose chief weakness is attitude and hardness?

Aslo. Let's knock em off - we'll be better than we were last year, they wont be better than they were. And we went with them to three quarter time last time.

2009 - Hawthorn away (Tassie) (premier) 2008 - Geelong away (Geelong) (premier) 2007 - Hawthorn (at the Dome) (11th) 2006 - Bulldogs away (Darwin) (9th) 2005 - Brisbane away (Cazaly stadium) (grand finalist) 2004 - Kangaroos away (Canberra) (10th) So, in six years two premiers and a grand finalist at very much their home advantage. Plus Kangaroos at what was then their 'second home' And dogs in Darwin. One game in Melbourne. No games against any bottom four teams. I can only assume this has been the price we pay for the favourable main season fixtures we're been getting over that time...

It hurts, huh. I say win. A winning team is an overvalued team. Half the first round of the draft in 2010 will be undervalued as trade coin. If we're winning, and if, for example, Miller is happy to return to his childhood area (and I mean practically the same streets), we could get a first round pick for him, which would be seen as luncay in any normal draft. Gold Coast are the next Freo; they will have huge pressure on them to be competitive immediately, will have to make a lot of trade and draft decisions in a hurry and they will have a surplus of early picks with diminished 'marginal utility', making the value of mature players much higher, especially key position players. Being in a good position to dupe them will be almost as valuable as getting a high pick now. Why do you think that the full set of Frawley, Newton, Petterd, Bate and Dunn all got signed for two more years? Win! Win like crazy, win everything you can! It's the best way to improve out draft position!

Get ready to freak out! Jarman to take the reins at Demons With selective quoting skills like these, I'll be a feature writer in no time.

Very candid Q&A with Robbo has gone up on the MFC website. Interesting that he's basically acknowledging that he and McDonald are almost done for. Must be a very odd time for those guys, knowing that they are unlikely to play finals again, and that they aren't really part of the long term 'grand plan' to bring us to the top of the ladder again. I think we'll see Robbo come back with a bit of intensity, and given the emptiness of our forward line at present, he'd be a handy player to have back.

Pre-season draft - a vague 'not likely' Rookie draft - with half a dozen to pick; pretty good option I would say. Young enough to fit with the grand plan, old enough to be available immediately if needed. No harm in giving him a year.

Those wacky Fitzroy supporters. Anyhow, don't lose sight of the fact that we still got better home game crowds this year (even adjusted for away-home games) than the Dogs and Kangaroos. Melbourne are a solid asset for the AFL, and given a bit of oxygen we would quickly reinvigorate. It's dissapointing that the AFL's strategic agenda makes us more useful as a 'holding club' ready to merge with Gold Coast or Sydney, but I guess they'll get their own share of dissapointment when we say NO.

If there was actually a consistent criteria for 'deserving' good fixturing, even if it was a shonky one like those the AFL trots out (poor performance is the excuse one year, poor drawing power the next) I'd probably be ok with YM's comments. But there isn't. Since it's based on political clout, there's no 'deserve' in it. The talk of protests is the classic resort of the disenfranchised; to assert themsleves as impossible to ignore. Everything we can do to make ourselves visible (constructively) in the next year gives us a little more clout, and a little more marketing to boot. It's the only way we're going to get out of this hole. Wear the colours, never watch games alone, put up a poster at work, run the tipping competition, go in fun runs, hire a skywriter; anything visible helps.

Good on ya, Calabrese Boy. When people talk about Grimes or Mclean having leadership qualitites, it's definately because they go around the club saying things like that, instead of hardening up and focusing on what they can do. Can Demonland introduce a 'swear jar' rule where anyone who slags off our own club has to buy a membership for a pensioner or something?

Mark it in your diaries - it's going to be a great day. Now officially unofficial - an event has been created on Facebook, so if you are on Facebook just search for 'Jeff Kennett is a bastard', it's an open group so anyone can join and can invite anyone to join. I'm tipping a huge crowd on the day; the more people mark themselves as 'attending' early, the more momentum it can build as we approach the date. I'll be headed off to start a thread on the bay 13 forum at big footy, could someone let Demonology know? And let me know if there are any other places it'd be good to place this on. Now all it needs is some celebrity endorsement and a mascot.

Nugget, based on this post and a few others you've made lately, you seem to have taken a step up in motivation. We'll see what comes out of this Ideas Summit, and then perhaps get a team together to promote/support the club in whatever ways we can. But yeah, VCE first. Good luck, make sure you smell the paper. (Smell is a memory stimulant)