The Chazz

Does your man have this? I mean 100% have this? Trengove is 2 years in to his apprenticeship. Sometimes an apprentice can get their qualification in 3 years, but to expect him to have it after 2 years is just (and it's not by much) premature. He has leadership potential, and at times exceeded that potential, but there are still areas that I wont him to work on before taking on that responsibility, and think he can get away with it out of the "captain's spotlight".

Wasn't T$ standing in between Jonno Brown and Bazza Hall on that epsiode? If I were an 18 year old, at the size he was, knowing I'd be playing against these blokes in a couple of months, I'd be nervous too...!!!

Geez I feel sorry for Barty. He cops so much sh!t on this site, and like Jones, I think it is quite unfair. He is one of the best taggers on our list, and would take a couple of bloody good players to make him surplus.

Brett Lovett as backline coach - thoughts?

The other forward line coaching possiblity could be Cam Mooney. Open about wanting to coach, retiring at seasons end (I honestly think he has played his last game), would be great for our younger forwards to learn from. There are a few guys out there, and I'm sure there'll be more announcements in the coming days, I just hope that we continue to be proactive and get the best possible.

I'd suggest you start trawling - the Chris Dawes topic is rivalling the Scully threads (that's what it feels like to me anyway!).

Is it that people want to come here, or is it that we are offering better money and creating different (for us) roles that require filling (which has been partially done internally creating vacancies that need to be filled)? I know your excited B59, I'm just trying to keep a lid on it sorry!

Not sure if this has already been done, but as it is tomorrow night, thought we should get in to it. 1st - Moloney 2nd - Jones 3rd - Sylvia 4th - Trengove 5th - Martin Most improved - Stef Martin Best 1st Year player - Luke Tapscott Coach's Award - Who'd bloody know! Jack Watts

Agree, but either way Neeld wants us to play, I think we have the flexibility with the players on or list, and don't think it's worth sacrificing high draft picks for someone like Dawes. I just think we are 2 years from having the "ideal" forward line, and believe we need to finalise getting the guts right.

I wouldn't at all be surprised if Leigh Brown from Collingwood landed the forward coach role next year. We don't seem to have the experience side of the ledger sewn up yet (as per the request of Neeld). Depending on the movements of Neil Craig, I'd imagine the backline coach may be in the AFL system already. On the other hand, I see Sumich may be interested in the St Kilda job. I wonder if he is thinking that he has served his apprenticeship and is starting to look at senior roles? If so, and if he misses out on a senior gig this year, perhaps it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for him to come to Melbourne to get "noticed" more, as well as learn different things under a different senior coach. If that were the case, I would like to think that we would make an enquiry.

Amen brother. You will go blue in the face trying to get this point across Dr!

Not so sure about this Lutz. I have nothing to go on, but I wont be surprised if Melbourne chase and land Sewell. To help our cause, I'd be offering his brother a rookie spot as a minimum, and it may just be the deciding factor to get him to come over (along with the $1.5m/3 year contract).

Well said Pennant. It's the last line that people hate. We have a certain model that our future (next decade) premiership hopes are hinging on, and Cook appeared to be a better fit than Darling. See Old Dee, it's not that hard at all is it???

Gee Super, now you have made me all nervous. I actually go the news about Watts being on the panel tonight from Barrett's twitter account. Sorry folks, the real story is that Barrett saw Watts talking to Garry Lyon and that's where the rumour originated from. The reality is that Watts was talking to Lyon about which table he is sitting on at the B&F, and if he is having the chicken or the beef. Sorry to get your hopes up...

Where do we stop with this thought process Old Dee? Ok, I admit, we made an error not picking James Hird, Adam Goodes, Matthew Scarlett, Dane Swan, and any other superstar that we had the opportunity to pick but didn't. Get over it.

This bit I agree with - the rest of it makes you look like an absolute clown. Fitzy has played 1 game, in a season where he missed a majority of footy due to injury. He is 3 years development behind Stewart; I would expect Stewart to be ahead of where Fitzy is. As I said earlier, the jury is out for me regarding Fitzy, and in time, he may prove to be a dud. But, I can't see the logic in picking him up when we have a guy that is bloody near a carbon copy of him currently on our list, with only 1 "real" game under his belt. The best part about your post is the fact that you highlighted the fact that our tall, KPF stocks aren't as drastic as people believe. The problem for some people is that they want a quick fix. You've named 4 players, not including Fitzy, that we need to fill 2 spots with. Our biggest challenge is getting the ball down there quicker and more often - this part is where I see the biggest holes in our list.

In all due respect Old Dee, some of us here get a little bit tired of posters whinging that we should've picked player "x" instead of who we did, especially 12 months after the event. If you went the early crow on Darling and said this time 12 months ago that we should pick him, good for you. But, the point is, those that "know best" at the Club didn't think he was a worthy first round selection, and was gone by the time we had another chance. We were not the only Club that thought that, and that's just plain reality. Old Dee, you should do what the MFC does and focus on the development of who is on our list, rather than whinge about who isn't. I just wish we had've picked up Hird with our 3rd round pick all those years ago.

Sorry Oucher - you're right. Ed Curnow is the bloke that I would be interested in. How do we go about trading for another club's rookie-listed player?

I beleive Jack will be on the panel tonight. He will do a great job. I wont see it tonight, so would be great to hear how he goes and if he has any news. Cheers

I wonder if Garry Lyon sold Schwab's desk, and the buyer didn't want all the papers at the bottom of it, so Garry perused through them before destroying them...

I have to ask, and I'm dubtful that anyone on here will know the definite answer (although some will speculate), but was it the White Knight (Neeld) that actually poached Misson? Perhaps it was the "consultant" Garry Lyon? I ask this becuase Neeld didn't actually meet with Misson until the day of the announcement (of Misson's recruitment).

RPFC, you are looking far too much in to it. This is one of the most basic stats, which I'm sure is why people struggle to get a full understanding of it (not saying you are in this group!). Nathan Jones had 507 disposals, where 73% of those (370) hit its desired target. The question is about the ones that don't hit the target - how much damage do they do? It's a great question (not sure why I had to ask it when I'm the one sticking up for him!!!), but I'm of the strong view that ANY ineffective disposal, by any player for any team, is damaging. To have the ball and to give it to the opposition is just as damaging 20m out from our goal as it is 20m out from their goal. Judd is a superstar, he gets a lot of the ball. The huge difference is that when he is efficient, those possessions are so damaging. Maybe that's why his efficiency isn't as high as some - he takes high risks that are high reward.

This is where I really feel for Dean Bailey. He inherited a list that had minimal that resembled an A-grade, he knew that and went about changing it. For 3 years, a majority of his players weren't required to play roles (the type that Neeld will be asking), as he placed higher importance on development and games played together. Sadly in 2011 when his players were asked to play roles, they basically had no bloody idea what to do. Of course Neeld will want them to play better, what coach doesn't? When Bailey took over, he wanted his list to look better, which will then help them play better, he honoured the first part, but I think only had a genuine 12 months where he could fulfil the second part, but was let down by his players. As you said, we've done the $cully thing to death, but while $cully may have been the most overhyped player on our list for years, there was definitely enough evidence to suggest that we had a beauty on our hands. When was the last time we had a player come to us that was so focused on being the best player he possibly can, and actually had the ability to become one of the best in the league? There are always going to be superstars that don't require the level of commitment that $cully craved, so hopefully our turn will come (they may even be on our list already), but it's vital that we use those compo picks to get a midfielder or 2 that will be at that A level that we need, becuase I have no doubt we lost one that was on that level.

If that's the case OMR, there's 16 clubs that stuffed up big time. All other clubs had a chance to draft him, but like us, decided not to, for what ever reason that we will never know about. Until we know what we have got with Cook, there will always be question marks. No different to the Watts/Nik Nat arguement, or the Scully/Trengove/Martin arguement, and so on (it happens every year to every club). Having Darling on our list this year wouldn't have meant we would be still playing in September. Nb. I can imagine the criticism if one of our players walked in to goal after a free kick with the ball raised in the air...

Don't get me wrong, the jury is still out for mine with Jack Fitzpatrick, but to the kids credit, he's pnly played 1 game. Fitzpatrick, 200cm, 93kg, 1 game, 20 years old Stewart, 200cm, 93kg, 23 games, 23 years old One would like to think that by the time Fitzpatrick has turned 23, he'd probably have a few more games under his belt than Stewart, and would probably be the hulking forward that you are craving. Let's not forget, we are unlikely to win a flag in next season, so it's a matter of looking at what our list will be like starting from 2013, with a closer eye on 2014. Get our midfield right this year and next, becuase these young, bulky, tall forwards will be right where we want them, when we need them most.