P-man

Okay, so we're officially a destination club now (lulz at that entire exchange). Hiibberd and Salem in 2017 I'm excited. Not quite at Big Kev level but in that vicinity.

As I said, I get that 55's groupings are conditional. I guess it depends on how many of those options were enacted. The sum of the parts so to speak. It also is hugely contingent on what we actually are getting in return. White's performance against Footscray doesn't do him in any harm in his quest to remain on the list, but I don't think we'd suffer too greatly from moving him on. My delistings would be Newton, Terlich, Dawes, King(R) and maybe White(R) with Lumumba retiring potentially. I agree that only one of Dunn or Garland should be traded, as trading both would be a crazy given the depth of our key defensive stocks. Out of the two I'd say keep Dunn. I'm resigned to the fact that Grimes will likely seek greener pastures which I think is a shame as I honestly believe he has some good years ahead of him. They will probably be played at another club and so be it. I wish him luck. With Grimes and Newton going I'd keep Michie. He has assets as a player that are undersold and he hasn't had ample opportunity at AFL level in roles that suit him. I understand I'm pretty much on my Pat Malone there and I'm okay with that. ANB and JKH might be on the trade table but I'd want them used only as part of a deal for a certified gun in return. I believe in both being able to become quality players, ANB moreso. Harmes won't be going anywhere and I doubt Wagner will either. M Jones and Pedersen provide points of difference. Their spot would want to be filled by a player that betters them in those areas. My underlying point is I'm obviously okay with strenghtening the list, but we are in a precarious position with the ages of the players being thrown up for delisting and trade. A lot of them are senior players in an already VERY young squad. If we are replacing these guys with speculative picks in the 50s and 60s then I'm not okay with that. We have stability and we have a Casey side about to challenge for a flag. I don't want to see that stability disrupted unnecessarily.

Not going into this. Safe to say we disagree on the quality of certain players. Minimal list changes are required. There is no cause for a panicked slash and burn.

Yep, on the condition they're not replaced. Honestly I'd keep Pedo regardless. More than handy role player to have at our disposal.

I get that some of these groupings are conditonal, but I can't for the life of me understand why some supporters want to do major pruning of the list. Is it force of habit? I don't get it. We have the strongest Casey side in more than a decade. Our depth as a result is as strong as it has been for a similar amount of time. If we cut loose all of Grimes. Michie, Newton and ANB, that's basically the core of the second string midfield gone. We'll be back to having a crap Casey side applying no pressure to the seniors. It just makes no sense to me. It's worth emphasising again, we had a charmed run with injuries this season. We may not be so fortunate next year.

Can't recall if he did (and have no desire to watch the segment again to confirm either way). It sort of goes without saying that if you think a player is a list clogger then you also think they should be delisted/traded, doesn't it? Personally I think getting rid of both of them with no ready replacement would be almost as dumb a decision as we could make, and I don't see it happening.

Possibly. That would be his only defence.

Lloyd described all of Dawes, Dunn, Garland and Pedersen as list cloggers in the club review on the AFL website. Anyone who wants to delist both Dawes AND Pedersen isn't fit to comment on Melbourne's playing list. Keeping one of them (Pedersen) is a must.

Delist: Terlich, Newton, White, King FA: Grimes 50/50 on Dawes and I'd keep Michie for another year personally (shouldn't surprise anyone).

Yep, spilt milk etc.

I could [censored] about mine and stu's Hibberd thread being merged with the Hurley one. And how five months worth of Hibberd discussion is now lost in that thread. But I'm above that.... *grinds teeth* Anyway, second rounder seems fair to both parties. Hopefully it doesn't get complicated further because Essendon.

Thank god Essendon beat the Suns today. Being the only side to lose to them this season would've ranked high in the embarrassment stakes.

He does seem pretty attached to his mate Billy. Not saying it would be a deciding factor, just an influencing one. No way I'd be letting ANB go if it can be avoided. He will be a player down the track. That said, with the amount of talent on the list, one or two guns slipping through the fingers is almost inevitable. I'm not as keen to get the broom out as others when we are sitting top of the VFL table. Depth is a strength at the moment so delisting of players like Michie and Newton needs to be carefully considered as they who are both still reasonably young and placing pressure upon those in the seniors. They themselves may seek out opportunities elsewhere. Players I see being moved on are Terlich and Grimes with Dunn, Dawes and Spencer all possibilities to be playing elsewhere next season. I'd keep Garland at least for depth as he is more adaptable to the attacking game plan. We need cool heads in charge of these decisions. Obviously the club is in a much healthier point now, but we've seen what can happen when you let a bunch of senior players go in one hit. I'd be happy seeing changes staggered over the next two years rather than a whole heap at once, but a lot will depend on whether certain players are happy to stick around knowing where they sit in the pecking order.

Thanks for sharing. Might be time to tell the folks down at ESPN that the club has had a new logo for several months now.

Just five home and away hoodoos left. Four of which we still have a chance to beat this season.

It's not a bad theory. I'd argue that Garland is no better than Dunn in that regard, and he seems to be getting ample opportunity. I also don't think the long kick (of which Dunn is the master) is the worst way of breaking through the press, but maybe I'm outdated. I know possession is king these days. As Steve says, some transparency would be novel but very welcomed. It doesn't have to be a Dunn bashing. Just a cliche-free explanation of what Dunn needs to work on to get into the side. Will never happen. If things like that happened, Demonland content would be halved overnight.

Well said. Selection has been a failing of the season so far. This week is probably the most reasonable to date but there are still question marks. Roos justified the five changes this week by saying players needed a rest. Garland and Viney are out injured, while Newton and ANB only just came into the side. Kennedy is the only one you could reasonably argue was "rested". We continue to load up the side with inexperience, and some of the players getting reprieves for average performances aren't exactly certainties to retain their spots in the future, i.e. Wagner, Hunt and Harmes. If it was Brayshaw and Salem it would be a little easier to digest. For a third year in charge, it certainly looks a lot like a development year. Dunn and Grimes aren't a panacea, but I don't believe we are genuinely fielding a best 22 every week.

I can confirm tongue being planted in cheek on that. Frustration re Dunn's non-selection is not, however. Suddenly he's become the slowest, fattest, stupidest footballer alive. It's absurd. He's in our best 22 players and should clearly be playing for mine. I take your point re following instruction but as you say it is only speculation. I thought it was a fantastic resurrection of a career culminating in a VC appointment last year. Things have turned south very quickly which I find disappointing. It might look like I overdefend the likes of Dunn and Grimes. I appreciate that eventually you move past players of that ilk. But for me, we haven't reached that point yet with Dunn, not when the guy taking his spot is bambi in footy boots, and we absolutely should be getting Grimes to 100 games.

I'm with those who are mystified. I thought the days of giving senior players the middle finger were in the past but apparently not. So he had a bad game against the Saints. He wasn't exactly alone. Maybe playing O Mac is a ploy to get his brother to sign...

Super duper. Vanders when fit to go straight into the middle.

What's sad is that when that happens, the sympathy for the injured player will be less than it should be.

Could it be any more blatant the way he raises his arm? Almost a McLean carbon copy. The AFL needs to do something now. For a first game player to be doing this is absurd.

Brown threw out the figure of $1m a season for Melbourne to keep him. Healy hosed it all down saying he won't leave and Brown basically agreed.

Love this kid. Kicking also isn't as bad as some reports suggested. Lock him in for Round 1.

No idea mate sorry. I pretty much only watch state of origin and the GF.