JJJ

May and Lever should get 5.5 each. They’re a duo that works off each other like few others. 4 T McDonald. Proved me wrong. Albeit for a week. 3 Oliver. Our stoppage work is below par when he isn’t involved. 2 Petracca. First half was impressive before a knock to his knee. 1 Langdon. His run is vital to us. Somebody earlier mentioned Gawn and his struggles rolling forward. He lacks and forward craft when he’s required to play anywhere other than deep. He mistakingly lead and moved to areas which meant he was creating congestion for our smaller forwards. In the 2nd half he went back to a more defensive role. He needs to be a threat forward though. Winning hit outs and pushing back limits his overall impact on winning the game.

I’m ok with us getting the blow torch. We should. Maybe it would make the club ask themselves why people didn’t turn up? That’s the biggest issue. Why didn’t they? It’s completely in the clubs hands. The playing group need to perform and the club on a broader level needs to engage better. This idea that people turn up regardless is rubbish.

I was at the Presidents Function and spoke to about 20-25 people and the lack of crowd came up in conversations as it became obvious that we were going to have a small crowd. Only 3 people were critical of supporters for not turning up that I can remember. Most signalled unhappiness with the club in one way or another as a reason that they could’ve stayed home if they didn’t have the lunch to attend. There was a sense of empathy to supporters who watched from home. I also found theres a decent amount of apathy regarding the club, the poor list after Roos began the rebuild almost a decade ago, the coach, the board, the President, lack of marketing, untrustworthy playing group etc etc. Whilst I don’t share all of those opinions, I couldn’t blame anybody for feeling that way. When asked to rise to the occasion, this coach and playing group have repeatedly failed.So even against an injury riddled team, I was not confident of a good result. When you throw in the ticketing (when some fans in their 60-70’s are receiving QR code’s for tickets you can expect confusion) and a global pandemic you get 21,000 people turn up. It’s up to the club to fix this. Win games. Get on the front foot publicly. Don’t be a doormat for other clubs and the AFL. Who knows, it might galvanise the weary.

I’m in a similar situation. Normally I get some good info but this year is crickets... Re Gaff: the meeting with Goodwin wasn’t great. Gaff told him he wanted to play pure midfield and Goodwin told him he thought he was a wingman in our system. It never progressed from there.

Taylor loves him in his draft year.

ADMIN EDIT: This has been debunked. Please take care when posting rumors. Apparently the young fella damaged his shoulder and has already had it operated on. 20 week rehab to follow. Fingers crossed I’m getting a wind up...

I’ve associated with some of his now ex teammates and he’s been around. I think he makes bad choices outside of footy. Don’t want our players to do the same. Apparently a terrific fellow though.

I still wouldn’t have him but if you’re going to make that argument at least attempt to make it relevant. Clubs always weigh up risk vs reward when dealing with players and you’ve compared 2 Brownlow medalists to a washed up, undersized power forward with no other skills required in today’s game. On top of that, both the Tigers and Collingwood sacked players who were close to both of those blokes in an effort to make them fly straight.

I am not going into specifics but he knows how to party and I wouldn’t want him around my club. on top of that he’s an undersized power forward who doesn’t cover enough ground defensively. We already have a power forward who does that.

Not sure. Have they done something I should know about. I'm sure about Crameri though.

Avoid. Not the sort of bloke I'd want around our younger players.

Drafting injured players can be dangerous from a player development point of view. Both physically and mentally, they've missed an important time and the clubs have less to go on before drafting them. Some overcome, like Selwood. Some don't. Interestingly, a player who we drafted with less exposed form and development, Weideman, is struggling with the AFL workload. Word is bone spurs in his foot/ankle area have forced him to drop weight and reduce his running loads. I believe this has impacted on his movement this season.

I dislike Melbourne and opposition supporters equally. Adelaide supporters have asked me to stop clapping while melbourne supporters tried to tell me it's illegal to stand up and applaud the players after a goal.

He sat in his seat with his family on Sunday and was clearly rising and falling with the teams fortunes. OT: His reaction to some of Jack Watts' efforts were interesting though.

I also attended training with a few hardy fans. I don't really get into giving a blow by blow account of drills etc. Just observe a select few. Hogan. Funny gait when he runs but otherwise was a real standout. Did a few things that made me pretty excited. Great 1st touch in awful conditions and gives maximum effort at all times. Kicking was great. His marking, better ... Watts. Liked him today. Used the ball brilliantly. A couple of gathers below his knees at speed were a highlight but his general sense of purpose and running was impressive. Toumpas. Looks slimmer through the hips and thighs and was covering the ground well. Thought his kicking was pretty poor but his voice and run was surprising to me. Ive met him previously and thought he was a great kid but it was great to see him speak up. Leading Teams influence? Frawley. Gun. His encouragement of his teammates during the running drills was great. Trengove. Still slowish but his real problem seems to be his lateral movement. Changing direction at speed is terrible. He lost a few contests based on this alone. Definitely looks slimmer though. Mitch. Moving better than 2 weeks ago. He looks better than I thought he would but I am determined to keep a lid on it. Cross. Loves to work. Made some of our better runners from previous years look a little silly. Worryingly, he doesn't look as slow at the MFC as he did at the Dogs. Kicking was better than advertised and was excellent at the competitive drills. Michie. This bloke is massive. Kicking was a fraction inconsistent but runs well, covers the ground with enough speed and is very strong for a mid. Hogan aside, this guy was the highlight. Nicholson. His skills are embarrassing. Reckon he missed 3 targets by a total of 50+ metres. Howe. Playing as a 3rd/4th tall he will be dangerous. His marking today was top notch and he hit targets. It could just be me but he looks bigger than this time last year. Trained with a lot of intensity which I thought he lacked last preseason. Very impressive. Bail. See Nicho. The new draftees: Salem. Neat kick in sloppy conditions but he is smaller in person than I thought. He needs to develop his body. Really quickly. Took a nice mark right in front of me which surprised and and then sliced a kick to a leading forward. Did it all very easily. Tools all seem to be there. Jay KH. Smooth. Runs well and hit targets at will. He is small. I actually really like him. During the full length drill he duffed a kick, ran hard to be an option, got ignored, continued to run, received the ball and kicked a goal around the corner. Hands on knees and looking like he was going to vomit, he noticed the ball from the next drill spill, so he picked up the ball and repeated the same drill. No hesitation. A few of the older players didn't do that when the opportunity presented. Pitt? Is that his name? Has a hitch in his kicking technique which will be difficult to eradicate but he just floats over the turf when he runs up and down the ground. Overall the skill level was not bad, usual suspects aside, and the enthusiasm and voice was good. The style of play was kind of on show throughout the drills. Congested, competitive drills with quick hands and strong tackling and then full length drills with player breaking away from defence and kicking to a player leading toward goal. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how we will be playing.

As of Friday it looked pretty grim for us regarding a trade with GWS but things seem to have shifted a little. Here is the latest I have heard: - Bugg was asked if he was interested in coming to the MFC. He said 'no'. It surprised me to read his name yesterday as I would say my source is ok. Not sure what to think about that one. - Dom Tyson doesn't look to be going anywhere at the moment. He is very highly regarded up there and he hasn't gone to the club and requested a move. We did ask though. Same goes with Treloar who has settled well. - The same cannot be said for Dylan Shiel who wants to come back to Melbourne. The city not necessarily the club. You can join the dots as I have (stupid me) but I do know that some people at clubland (GWS & others) were very amused by Roos' comments regarding trading players 12 months before their contract expires. It wasn't aimed at Frawley, or at least that is what other clubs think. - GWS is extremely reluctant to trade Shiel but with this new development I can't see how we wouldn't be top of the pile as a trade destination as Dylan hadn't ruled us out last I heard. - GWS really want pick 2. Really want it. I honestly have no idea what GWS players would be involved but it would surprise to see Buntine in the red and blue. They love him.

Of course I didn't. This was always going to be a painful trade period. You should be worried about our assistant coaches. With our ridiculous succession plan we need to show the footy world we have a legitimate plan. You don't think that Dylan Shiel would've asked who will be my coach after Roos retires? I can't believe you would not be worried about this. I can tell you it is a concern for players.

Its not nonsense. It's a fact that other clubs and managers are privately telling prospective FA's and players that we have approached that we can't develop our own. What you are saying and I am hearing are pretty much one and the same anyway, our poor player development has lead to the rabble that we are and as you say, a less attractive alternative.

Chappy, I think is a mistake by Geelong but Pods won't be missed. We are in serious strife at the moment in the open market. Any quality player we have approached so far has said 'no' and we seem to be lacking a couple of quality assistant coaches. We are massively on the nose. The best thing it for us may be to trade for Viv, Vince and Lyons and draft BPA with pick 2 and do it hard again next year. Have a crack next year at the best available assistant going around and hope that we show some signs of improvement towards the latter part of 2014 to attract players. At this rate we will have some cash to spend. Our list is unbalanced and in need of some coaching but the addition of some midfield depth could get us up to 5 wins. Forwards: Hogan, Clark, Dawes, Kent, Howe Mids: Jones, Watts, Toumpas, Viney, Trengove, Gawn, Spencer (Pick2, Michie, Vince & Lyons) Backs: Frawley, Garland, McDonald, Grimes, Terlich

The perception in the industry is that we can't develop young players. The notion was used pretty heavily this trade period by opposition clubs when we approached their young players. heck even player agents aren't keen for their young stars to come to us. I hope it doesn't make us try something desperate.

Unless we get Dom Tyson (I haven't heard anything solid about him), it would seem we won't be trading for any gws players at this stage. It's stating the obvious but we are not a great destination for young players at the moment. At least that is the perception and you know what they say about that.....

by 2015 he would be our #1 mid. Can't say that about anyone in the 2013 draft class so, yes, he is worth it.

why those 2? As of Friday he hadn't told us 'no' so that's a glimmer.... I expect a few more answers early this week.

The GWS asking price and I don't think Shiel has yet to state that he wants to come to MFC definitively yet. Lots of water to pass under the bridge......

Without going into specifics, my info comes from within GWS. FWIW There are a few players up there who would like to come home but I don't think that is any different to any young players at other AFL clubs. I am not that confident that we will see Shiel in MFC colours.