Romey

I reckon if he goes anywhere it is likely to be one of Hawthorn, Adelaide or Carlton.

I believe one of Watt's more subtle strengths is his ability to intercept or obstruct handballs from opposition, which is why he deliberately hangs back from tackling. He is deceptively quick with his hands and with his excellent reflexes has a good knack of at least getting his fingers on the ball to deflect a handball which sometimes leads to turnovers. Everyone bemoans his inability to tackle but I suspect this habit is probably more valuable to the team.

More press on Watts in The Age today. He certainly pumps above his weight with the media attention that he draws. I think pairing him up with Daniel Cross makes a lot of sense. If you combine the work ethic of Cross with the skills of Watts you potentially have a Brownlow medalist. Demon Jack Watts Learns New Tricks From Old Dog Daniel Cross. http://m.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/demon-jack-watts-learns-new-tricks-from-old-dog-daniel-cross-20140127-31iue.html

An interesting fact about Jack is that over the past 10 years only 6 people have run a faster time than his 20 metre sprint time of 2.82 seconds at the 2008 draft camp. Of these 6 only Daniel Pearce and Ashley Smith are currently listed and regular senior AFL players. While this may not make him an elite midfielder, it is an often forgotten strength of his that has never been fully exploited. I personally feel this amazing time is as much a result of his superior reaction time than his sprinting skills itself, which is particularly valuable in a chaotic and congested midfield situation.

Forgive me if this has been mentioned but I just noticed that Viv Mitchie scored 8.01 in his agility test for the draft camp in the year he was drafted by Fremantle, ranking him 2nd for that year and 18th over the past 10 years. This probably makes him the most agile player on our list.

Does anyone know if the Princess Park circuit is a true 3km's? Browsing through historical draft camp results only 10 people in the past 10 years have run the 3km time trial in under 10 minutes which is less than 1% of the total tested.

Interesting article in today's Age on Jack Watts moving into the midfield. Given his efficiency with the ball, time in the system and improved fitness this could prove to be master stroke move by Paul Roos. Let's hope he becomes our own version of Scott Pendlebury given their basketball background and similar physiques. Demons' Jack' Watts ready to take on the elite

For those that have not been following this petition has now over 350,000 signatures. I played footy with Nick for a number of years and he is a champion bloke. He deserves a crack at these drugs to buy himself some valuable time and if you have not yet had the chance please sign up to support his cause. http://www.change.org/SaveNick http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3teA62o5eLY&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D3teA62o5eLY

If a 25 year old Buddy is worth a 9 year contract, surely someone like Shiel who is 20 would be worth offering 6 or 7 year contract in order to attract him to the club. If he was on the market He would be in hot demand, and the Dees would need to be doing something to differentiate ourselves from the bigger clubs to make him want to come to us. I know there are risks but with Franklin the precedence has been set and offering long term job security might be a deciding factor.

If a 25 year old Buddy is worth a 9 year contract, surely someone like Shiel would be worth 5 or 6 I order to attract him to the club. Players like Shiel are in hot demand and we need to be doing something to differentiate ourselves from the big clubs like Carlton and Collingwood. I know it is a risk but the presidency has been set -

As I mentioned earlier, if the market is offering Adams $400k per year, we should offer him $500k per year on the condition he goes into the pre season draft. It may be overs but retaining our top picks are worth far more than $100k.

Perhaps it makes sense for the Dees to make Adams an outrageously high offer contingent on him going into the pre season draft. Retaining our high draft picks would be worth more than paying him and extra $100k or $200k per year and we would be guaranteed to get him.

I actually think Parker has the potential to be the best of the lot. In two years time he could be commanding $400k plus a year. Perhaps we could get in early.

The Swans have one of the most impressive young list of up and coming midfielders in the competition, with the likes of Hannebury, Mitchell, Parker, Jetta and Rohan coming through to support the likes of Jack, Kennedy and McVeigh. The signing of Tippett along with their recent premiership will create salary cap pressure and make them vulnerable to losing some of these potential stars. Could Roos tempt one to come to the Dees? I'd love to see a Hannebury, Mitchell or Parker in a Melbourne jumper.

From what I have heard Grimes is a natural leader who is respected by his peers and we are lucky to have him as our captain. I'd be interested to know who else in our squad were captains as juniors apart from Trengove. Remember that Grimes was captain of the Northern Knights and both the Victorian Metro under-16 and under-18 representative sides. For me though his most impressive junior leadership achievement was that he won the Ben Mitchell Medal as the peer-voted leader of the elite AIS-AFL Academy in 2007, ahead of more heralded players such as Trent Cotchin and Daniel Rich. This medal is given to the boy who ties his on-field abilities most tightly to what he does, and who he is. The following is from an Emma Quayle article a few years ago... "At the start of the AIS program, each of the 30 boys is assigned a character trait, and asked to think for the next nine months about which of their new teammates lives it. Their trait might be versatility, care or patience; they might be looking for someone with humour, voice or versatility. They can interpret the traits in any way they choose and, at the end of the nine months, they must stand up at the front of the room, and explain their three, two and one votes. Each year, their coach, Alan McConnell, is intrigued to hear what they come up with. "Each boy has his own take on it, and experiences that have influenced how he feels," he said. "Their insight always astonishes you; there's always one out of left field where you think, Actually, that's right.' And keep in mind that it's hard to con your mates. Seventeen-year-old boys can see through the rubbish, if you like. They know what's going on, and what really matters." There is no doubt in my mind that Jack Grimes has the character and values that we want in our captain. He turns 25 next year and would have matured eyond his years after having experienced probably the toughest induction into captaincy in the history of the AFL. Jack could well become our own version of a Brett Kirk or a Lenny Hayes.

Surprised there isn't a thread on this. It would appear we have some work to do to convince Colin Sylvia to stay. Nobody could blame him for wanting to chase some finals action but he would be a big loss for the Dees right now. Colin Sylvia is yet to decide if he will remain at Melbourne

I am sorry to see Joel go and was 100 % supportive of the decision to pick him as a rookie at the time, but it is interesting that Dylan Grimes was selected with the next pick by Richmond. Dylan, like his brother, was a lifelong Dees supporter and apparenty we would have selected him had Joel not become available. He now looks like becoming a 200 game key position backman and if nothing else, would have provided competition for Tom McDonald or a backup for Frawley should he leave. Love the idea of having the captains brother at the club as well.

Anyone got a link to the interview?

Whilst I love the idea of a proven, premiership coach it is interesting that most of the premierships in recent years have gone to wealthy clubs with superior resources at their disposal. Given Melbourne run a leaner operation, I wonder whether we should be considering which available coach has punched above his weight the most. Williams and Eade for instance enjoyed success without nearly the same football department spend as Clarkson, Matthews or Roos. Perhaps this is a better indicator of a coaches true ability. That said I'd be wrapped with Roos or Clarkson!!!

I have it on good authority that Stockde is a very very good operator who would be an outstanding President. No idea whether be is running or not but from what I hear from those that know him closely be would be a real asset.

Interesting read. Some of the picks we have given away over the years have been used to recruit some handy players at other clubs.

Tall players don't necessarily equate to good contested marks. Eddie Betts can attest to this - he consistently out marks taller opponents in contested situations through better use of his body. It would be interesting to see who in Melbourne would stand out in a basic kick to kick contest with half the group up each end. If you remove Clarke, Jamar, Dawes and Frawly I think we would find Sylvia, Howe, Garland and even Trengove would be amongst the best.

Despite our win the TAB have stretched Melbourne's odds of making the top 8 out to 251:1. Last week I believe it was about 35:1. Either this represents great value or the bookies know something we don't.

This is a genuine question. Melbourne would probably have had more publicity this year than all other clubs combined (excluding Essendon). Do you think our sponsors appreciate the extra media exposure they are getting or would they believe it is tarnishing their image being associated with such a troubled club? I would have thought any publicity is good publicity.

Thanks for doing this C&B. It is interesting reading. What strikes me is that most of these goals were from set plays (centre bounces, kick-ins) or bad turn-overs. It is hard to imagine fitness being a factor in the first 15 minutes after the major break as some have suggested. Also more goals means more rests. Surely set plays is a coaching issue - either our plan is wrong or our players can't implement it. With turnovers I notice that our elite kickers were either not playing or missing in action. (Davey, Watts, Strauss, Tapscott, Toumpass). These are the guys we need to get the ball to when kicking into attack. I guess with about a quarter of our team on Saturday having played 5 games or less we should not be too surprised.