DeeSpencer

Okay, you've tempted me in to doing this. Let me first say that a best 22 is almost impossible, it changes after every performance especially in a side so unsettled as ours. Instead I'm going to select what I see as the team I would pick each week, if I had all 40+ Melbourne players fit and firing. B: MacDonald Frawley Garland HB: Morton Rivers Bruce C: Grimes Moloney Green HF: Sylvia Bate Jurrah FF: Watts Miller Petterd Foll: Jamar Jones Davey Int: Martin McDonald Trengove Scully First point - regardless if its Brendan Van Schaik or Trent Zomer every team needs a second ruckman. It's take your pick between Meesen, PJ, Spencer or Martin. PJ + Meese have the form on the board but I've gone with Martin for his athleticism. Backline - I don't think Warnock will ever amount for more than a good ordinary player. I'd prefer Frawley, Rivers and Garland. Joel Macdonald has impressed so far, Bruce is steady off a flank and Morton has the edge over Strauss, Bennell and co. That list is near endless such as Cheney, McNamara, Bartram but I'm not keen on any of them. Midfield - Moloney, Jones, Davey the cornerstone. Grimes, Scully, Trengove the future, the latter two must play if showing anywhere near enough. The skipper still very important off the pine and I'd love Green forward (Green goes forward, Morton midfield, Strauss backline was an option) but he's still dangerous from a wing. McKenzie and Dunn might be the closest 2 to getting a spot here. But I heard Bell tagged well during the last practice game and I've heard Rohan Bail showed some nice signs on a wing. Forward line - 2 default selections here. Brad Miller - we need his presenting and size atm. Jack Watts - he needs top level experience. Sylvia plays his half forward roaming role, with modern zoning defensive it was the role he was born to play. Bate, Jurrah and Miller form a combination. Neither of the 3 can command a forward 50, but if used properly can be dangerous marking options. Petterd gets the last spot, he played good footy last year and can mark and kick goals, get up the ground and apply solid defensive pressure. I couldn't fit in a crumbing option, but Wona is straight in if he can get back to his best, it's been too long without him! Maric close on his best as well.

Jamar, Moloney, Jones, Davey, Green, Sylvia + Bate. Sorry I went 7 like others have. Jamar is an obvious one. He is far and away our best ruckman and vital this year. The other 6 are primarily responsible for clearances and forward structure. If we get those two things right we be a much better side. I'm making the presumption that with the experience now obtained by Frawley, Warnock, Rivers, Bruce, MacDonald and hopefully Garland back and young players (Strauss, Bennell etc coming through) the backline can take care of itself. If guys like Jurrah, Grimes, Scully + Trengove etc have huge years they will become our most important 6, but they won't win lots of games unless the 7 above perform.

Thought he was a bit soft in the first quarter - don't know if anyone else agrees with me? After that he was pretty solid though. Wins some of his own footy and doesn't get destroyed by ordinary forwards, carries the ball well, kicks nicely. But I think we will have days when the majority of thought will be why did we recruit this in between size soft flanker.

If our recruiters took blokes every bloke that wasn't even playing a decent grade of footy and was recommended by an aunty I think we would be in more trouble than we currently are. I don't blame them for missing him in 2008.

It sounds harsh - but anything we get from Bell both this year and into the future is a bonus. He's a good hard worker and courageous so young players should learn from that.

Bryce Gibbs played a lot of footy off a half back flank/back pocket in his first year at Carlton. People routinely criticised Pagan for it but Gibbs is going along pretty nicely at the moment. If Scully's best role in the team is as a tagger, then I'm happy for him to play there in the short term. But I'm not sure it will be.

I'll watch it in my living room thanks. I'm just a tad disappointed that we get a raw deal again.

With no Franklin playing - could we afford to sit Matty Warnock out? I know he is a very handy defender and each year surprises me that he keeps improving but maybe Frawley and Rivers could be enough up against Roughead and possibly Dowler. A lot depends on Garland - if he can play a preseason game and prove his form and fitness he must play. I'm happy with Jamie Bennell, James Frawley and Jared Rivers being locked in at the moment, then would add 4 of Bruce, Macdonald, Warnock, Garland and depending on if he's not in the midfield Grimes or possibly the best performer out of Strauss/Cheney and all the other currently spare parts backmen McNamara (personal fave), Bell, Bartram, Bail. Any chance we have of beating the hawks will need an inspired midfield performance - Jamar, Moloney, Jones and Davey and co will have the get on top of Spud Ruckmen and star midfield - Hodge, Mitchell, Burgoyne, Lewis, Sewell, Batemen, Ellis and co.

So it seems our game will start at 8:30pm Melbourne time on Sunday, which I think is just down right rediculous. I understand that Victorian sides often have to travel west in the NAB cup/challenge to compensate WA teams who have a heavy travel burden during the regular season, I also understand that it's best to start games late - ie. 5:30 Perth time to avoid the heat. I don't want our players ending up dehydrated for the sake of the NAB cup. But come on AFL, we're a club trying to attract supporters (especially young supporters) so I don't see why we get hidden away at a time that restricts young viewers and old viewers as well with the game likely to finish after 11pm. Hardly ideal to see Trengove and Scully in action for the first time. How many parents are going to allow their kids to stay up late when they have school the next day. Plus it is a foxtel game so I don't see a family outing to the local pub as being a popular option. Would a 1 hour earlier start really make a major difference to player welfare? I hope that the management of the club have voiced their concerns over this fixture as it puts us at a disadvantage to the other 15 AFL clubs (the game works out nicely for Freo who last time I checked have a predominantly WA supporter base). I would expect certain advantages in other fixtures and/or financial compensation for this matter. The only benefit is that at least if we're getting pumped Richmond style it won't attract so much attention!

It's been up for ages, so I presume the club know all about it. It's a lame video. But I actually rate this one as pretty good -

As a forward - has some potential but will only ever be a back up plan As a defender - maybe not quite up to it. Pace is great on long leads but can be caught out not reading the play. Still a great back up to others As a ruckmen - I'm excited. He has a good leap and I think he'll really learn how and where to palm the ball. I'd like to see some more aggression from him. He certainly isn't soft, but he's a big guy who doesn't lumber along, he can really cover the ground, so I want to see him use that in whatever position he plays.

The Scotch scholarships for football largely go to indigenous kids - Junior Rioli, Nathan Djerkurra are 2 of them - and do raise some publicity which I doubt Scotch cares much for as well as improving the team. But the main reason for them is to give something back to this country and try to help the indigenous people. I believe rightly or wrong Scotch believes that their education will produce better role models and leaders out of young indigenous men than if they stayed at home. In particular, Scotch has a strong link with the Tiwi islands (home of Rioli). I think giving a bunch of well to do kids a closer experience with indigenous Australians is also a positive. Other scholarships go to boys who wouldn't be able to afford the fees. No doubt a lot of the other APS schools hand them out along a similar line (Melbourne Grammar have adopted a similar tactic of scholarships to indigenous players - Stephen May who will end up at the gold coast is one of them). Haileybury received widespread criticism as their scholarships were more of a recruiting drive and did steal talented young footballers from other schools - often very good and expensive schools. I'm not sure whether they still have this practice in place, I would hope not.

Firstly, I did VCE in 2006 so I know exactly what it means, and I hope its a while until I'm an idiot parent! Scully might well have been able to work really hard and to the best of his ability in getting 59, but I have my concerns. It is just my opinion that everyone should be given a fair crack at VCE without having to train like a part time elite athlete. Because to get drafted unless you are Buddy Franklin like talent you have to commit a great deal to your TAC team, and I believe it would hinder their VCE performaces. It doesn't affect Scully so much, he has a great shot at setting himself up for life with a footy career. But what about the guys who poured a massive amount of effort into their footy and didn't get drafted. They now have less chance of doing what they want to do. That said kids out there, a lot of my friends who didn't get what they wanted in 2006 are exactly where they want to be now. And yes Hayliebury give out sporting scholarships. They bought a good chunk of their first XVIII over the last few years, and I believe its a ploy that hasn't been as successful as they hoped it would.

59 isn't reasonably well. 59 for a Hayliebury student is probably in their bottom 10% of students. Scully getting 59 is an argument for raising the drafting age so guys don't have as much work to do for footy in such an important year.

Healey appears to be a big bodied clearance midfielder. According to reports he was playing some good footy for Casey reserves before a long injury ruined the second half of the season. He seems to be at the end of the list of strong clearance midfielders behind probably Moloney, Jones, Mackenzie and Scully, Trengove, Gysberts. I'm not sure what else he brings to his game. But at the top level I think you only need 1-2 clearance mids in your 22 with others capable of winning their own ball. As he is on the rookie list he will have to really impress to get a game, but a lot can happen in a season. If Healey becomes a best 22 player in the future then I will see it as a bonus. Hughes is a very interesting type. He looks good at VFL level and if he could contribute what he does there at AFL level he would be a very good player. His problem is to me at least is that he has never really knocked the door down to get senior selection. I'm not sure what he is up to in his preseason, but he I think he's had a lot of injuries in the past. A massive preseason could see him become an AFL level player. Again he is another that seems worth persisting with and would be a bonus if he made it at AFL level.

Being picked up by Freo is awesome! Just look at Croad, McPhee, Brodie Holland, James Clement, Peter Bell, Jess Sinclair the list goes. All you have to do is stay a couple of years and get traded to a victorian club and you will have a great career.

The fact was that at the end of 2008, our key forward options for the future were Miller and Newton, with the likely addition of Jack Watts. We also knew Bate could play decent footy on a flank. We had no idea Liam Jurrah was going to announce himself as a highly promising 2nd/3rd tall forward. We had to stick with Newton, and for whatever reason decided a 2 year deal would be a good idea. The club was wrong in giving Newton a 2 year deal, but now it seems to only have cost us a rookie pick in a weak draft. We now have a player who has the following attributes. Defensive pressure - has improved to average for a key forward Strength - poor but should be improving Field kicking - average Goal kicking - poor Marking - sometimes reasonable, often poor Speed and Athleticism - okay Hunger, desperation, appropriately used physicality - non-existent Reading of the play - not too bad X-factor - might be hiding in their somewhere.

Backline - 2 decent games on Barry Hall in career. Forward - probably about 15 decent games including a good final against Freo. He will help with the development of Watts and co to come in and take pressure off them when required. Let's not try to abuse him personally. Miller at least gives his all for the club, if all of our more talented players did that we wouldn't be coming off consecutive wooden spoons.

I think Davey cut a lot of that out of his game last year. He still did it occassionally but so do Ablett, Boomer Harvey, Judd etc. Davey is now in the top bracket of players tagged in every single game, it's not because he's a superstar but because there is no-one else worth tagging. Hopefully very soon that changes.

Bailey contract extension would be my guess, but I would do that on the eve of next season or during it not now. What else could clarify big? I didn't want to speculate but I couldn't help myself. Maybe Jim handing over the presidency - not saying he should or he needs to but he might want to. Football department staff seem in order. Playing list seems settled. Macdonald, Meesen, Newton look set to be the final 3 on our lists. No doubt we will attempt to create a good deal of interest in revealing the numbers to our new players - but I don't think that will make much of a headline. Training venue - Casey deal looks good and can't see much changing their, maybe something to do with the rectangular stadium and everything to do with that, or even some other venue. Leadership - McDonald has been conformed as 2010 captain has he not? The rest of the leadership group would make a story but nothing amazing. Finances - AFL and MCC deals seem to be appropriate. I'd love to sign another big/good sponsor.

GH - Rohan is like a tall in that he was drafted more on potential than performance - he averages 12 possesions (I think that is in championships not TAC). Trengove's SANFL form would've put him in a lot of AFL sides late last year, so after an AFL preseason if he remains fit it seems logical for me that he will be in the side. NAB cup form will dictate. Trengove, Scully, Strauss, Blease, Tapscott must all be in with a good shot. Those 5 are more advanced than the 4 who had their debut this year - Spencer, Jetta, Bennell, Cheney. I'd be surprised if anyone else debut outside those 5. And we shouldn't forget it is more than likely that Joel Macdonald will make his debut.

I've heard Scully gets 31, Trengove 9 and Gysberts 5. I'm unsure what the other draftees get. I'm also unsure whether Blease, Strauss, Bennell and Jetta get to take up lower numbers, or if they would want to. I think the best policy on these things is to hand out the numbers as the come available, with the most deserving getting first choice. If they want to take on a highly regarded number then good luck to them. I'd say Scully and Trengove as pick 1 and 2 should get first go, then probably Bennell and Jetta for a reward for a good season, then maybe Blease and Strauss followed by Gysberts extending through the picks. But they are just numbers, you make them your own if you are good enough. If any of these young guys are upset with a dodgy number then they should have a good season because at the end of the year it is likely that the best number going around will become vacant - Junior Mac's 23!

Craig Cameron will endlessly be hurt by backluck: 1. Molan being a dud. However the rumour was Daniher pushed hard for this pick, and it will be noted that Molan was very unlucky with injuries. 2. Scott Thompson going home then Moloney going down, and Rivers as well 3. Armstrong got Bali bombed which can't help a career, and a promising Broadbridge got killed - RIP The list can go on. I don't think he was a bad recruiter - he did get Aaron Davey for a rookie pick did he not! I think his last 2 drafts were very very good. It might have been a case of not having the resources around him in that early period. The nucleus of the premiership we are setting up to win will come from CC's last 2 and BP's first 2: McNamara Frawley Bennell Grimes Garland Strauss Blease Trengove Morton Petterd Watts Maric Wonaeamirri Jurrah Tapscott Martin Scully Gysberts Gawn Jetta McKenzie Cheney Obviously you put Bate, Jones, Sylvia, Moloney, Davey, Warnock, Rivers, Green, Jamar etc and a few handy pick ups in future drafts (our Rioli or Selwood thanks) around these guys, but in terms of the sustained success it will be from when these guys go from being 22-25 to 25-29. Which should co-incide with 2013 onwards if anyone cares.

Dogs made consecutive prelims without Hall, we are yet to see how they will go with him. Hawkins is irrelevant, he just sits at full forward. Does stuff all. Unless Miller pulls his finger out he shouldn't be given the chances he has in the last 2 years. Watts, Jurrah, Bate as the talls is what we have to do to improve them. A Warnock, Garland, Stef Martin/Frawley backline for much of 2008 has paid big dividends for 2009 and that is without Garland. Speaking of Garland he is the only alternative to take pressure off Watts and Jurrah. A dud Brad Miller will get us nowhere.

See no reason why any of McDonald, Davey, Bruce, Green and Moloney would be left out. Miller is always around these things, but I think it might be easier to give him a year without leadership. But if he deserves it he gets in. After that I like the idea of Grimes. I still think the next captain will come from the experienced group - with Davey firming as favourite, but if Jack's leadership is as good as it is made out to be, then football wise he has shown enough to join the group. The major problem is that he has only played 12 games! Rivers, Warnock, Sylvia, Jones, Bate, Morton are others that looking in from afar seem to show leadership.