Webber

Completely agree......Martin is simply a better footballer than Mark Jamar, and has his best 4 to 5 years in front of him.

Absolutely correct. He is not 'one of the quickest', he IS the quickest, and as such will reinvent the big wing/goal kicking forward role. For all those concerned about our midfield, remember that next year is an extra year of maturity for those who have been just developing, particularly Gysberts, Trengove and McKenzie, whose games will be more rounded, and more resilient. Nathan Jones begins his peak form years next year, and a fit Rohan Bail and Michael Evans will give us so much more flexibility. If Moloney holds form (and I think he'll get better as he has to shoulder less of the load), and Neeld can get consistency from Sylvia, then I think we can relax about the midfield. As a bit of a smokey, I have a suspicion Matthew Bate may be looked at as a midfielder now. Logically, that is the only reason we would require him, and to be fair to him, he tore it up at Casey in the midfield, and was BOG in the only game he played there for the Dees. If it worked, it would be an amazing reinvention. As to Stefan Martin, he is a better all round footballer than Mark Jamar, and I actually see him as our no.1 mobile ruckman next year, unless Neeld puts Martin at CHB, which admittedly he would absolutely own. Mark Jamar needs to develop a higher possession game, because his tap-rucking can be a little one-dimensional, and was too easily sharked this year, and he gave us nothing around the ground. I also worry that he is still injury prone. The Mitch Clark get is a HUGE coup for the Dees........when does the season start??????????

Nope, he's our Jack Trengove, and would that he could reach ANY of the heights of Jimmy Bartel! One thing is, he will captain of an AFL club before JB! Maybe he'll acheive everything Bartel has, and that will be his point of difference, hehehee.

Except they have Sam Mitchell, who with Chris Judd is the best 'one touch' user of the ball in the AFL.

Would be a shame to lose Jetta, as he was showing good signs this year. Lots of upside for mine.

Saw him at my pub trivia night on Monday with a bunch of presumably Scotch mates.....he was walking happily with a bit of a limp. I was surprised he was so mobile.

The big bodied marking (or bringing to ground) forward is definitely the first hole filling priority it seems, a la Mitch Clark, Chris Dawes, Jesse White, Kurt Tippett. Do we have a young one in the making? I'm not confident, but I think Max Gawn's development is a key to it, given the freeing up of Mark Jamar, or him being a forward target on his own. I would love to think Stef's further development could see him be a stay at home forward, but ???? And do Lucas Cook or Jack Fitzpatrick look likely? Not so sure. Jack Watts will be able to play that role in 2 to 3 years I'm sure, but his abilities are so multifactored that I'm sure he'll be used as a higher possession player. Given that Carlton are after exactly the same type of player, it's going to be tricky to hook one of them this year. They always seem to come up with the $$$$ for the big trades, don't they?

Interesting you put Jordan Gysberts in that group. Every time I have seen him, I'm constantly surprised by the fact that he doesn't play like he looks. He is in and under, not afraid of taking a hit, and as he gets bigger, is going to surprise more people. He is far from a 'run off' type. I'd almost go so far as saying he has the biggest upside of our entire midfield list.

I think Jack Trengove, Luke Tapscott, Brent Moloney, Nathan Jones, James Frawley, Rohan Bail, Jordie McKenzie, Neville Jetta and Jack Grimes will be starting to get quite excited! Oh, and Jake Spencer, the forgotten man, who probably feels he can now unleash a bit of his inner mongrel. And just possibly Cale Morton, Aaron Davey, Jamie Bennell and Liam Jurrah might be getting a little nervous. One in, all in boys! Gotta love the noises coming from Mr. Neeld! Oh, and a final farewell to Millionaire Tom.....see you at the 'G' next year.

How many premierships have been won by 'big name' coaches, or even those that have won premierships elsewhere, as against novice coaches (and by that I mean those at their first club) ? Clarkson....first timer, Thompson.....first timer. I think the stats will be very interesting. Btw, the last big name coach we got was Ron Barassi.

+1. Trengove is 20 going on 30. I have never seen a more obvious long term captain present himself at ANY club, let alone this one. It may send the wrong message to take it off Green (unless he steps down), or the Beamer, to give it to him next year, but he will be a longstanding captain of this club. I would bet my house on it, and couldn't be happier about it.

He's not wrong. It's just that GWS is prepared to take the risk. The reality is that there is chondral degeneration on the articular surface of Scully's patella, and it cannot get better. It will either stabilise somewhat and hardly degenerate much over the next few seasons, or it will progress more quickly. That's the risk they have taken for their 'marquee' player. I for one, am hugely relieved we have off-loaded him for 2 first round draft picks. Don't forget this will have an effect on his pre-season loading and his top end speed.

He lives around the corner, and football is his career. Nothing in it.

Excellent post. Get on board people, next year we're gonna kick some arse. So much to look forward to.

He will NOT be a champion. He is a small, fast, midfielder with elite endurance, but his overall talent is limited by his size, poor marking abilities, and poor disposal efficiency, which will improve, but it's not built into him, a la Trengove. Take into account his knee, and he will be remembered in 5 years as the media hyped overrated number 1 draft pick who took an outrageous money deal when it was being thrown around wildly by a new franchise. From day one after the Trengove/Scully arrival at MFC, it was clear to me who the champion was going to be. I really wanted Scully to be worth the hype, but apart from one quarter against the Doggies in the wet, he just never convinced me, and although I know he had issues this year, he was just woeful. Jordan Gysberts and Sam Blease have more upside than Tom Scully. Just you wait and see. I'm rapt to see him go. If we're smart with using compo picks, we'll do very well out of this.

And me. All of sudden there's a lot of love for assistant coaches....Neeld, Burns. Todd Viney was an assistant/midfield coach to a premiership team at Hawthorn. As assistant coaches go, he is way ahead of the bunch IMO. He is a hard, competitive bastard who was a captain of this club and played 250 plus games without superstar talent. Put an experienced coach behind him a la Craig or Eade, and away we go.

I don't feel angry. This kid, who appears to be the most wrongly exaggerated talent for many years, gave us very little, and is now the most wildly overpaid player in football history. We are guaranteed 2 first round draft picks, and even if they are at 17 and 18, or if we use them as trade, the MFC has done very well thankyou out of this defection. Tom Scully will be good at best, his knee will likely not allow him 6 years in the game, and I will be very surprised if he ever plays a full year as a result of it. I am not angry, I am happy.

All of which put him clearly outside our best 22 for this season. His average possession tally was below average, his efficiency WELL below average, his contest abilities (tackles, contested possessions) ordinary at best. He was not the messiah for MFC, and won't be for GWS, but he's smart enough to jump on what is the most ridiculously undeserved 6 year contract in Australian football history. Truth is stranger than fiction.

And yet....again......missing the point.

Look at the Butcher attempt again....it was not a mark

The simple response Hoopla, is one of objective fact. The free kick count season to season for the 4 relevant teams at home has a greater imbalance than all the other combinations. Are you suggesting that by some odd and yet consistent influence, those home teams just infringe less and the opposition infringe more? Just at those games? And yes, because it creates an essentially inequitable contest, it hugely damages the spectacle for me.....Melbourne game or no. An objective reply would be good.

You could call it a one-eyed view, but I have watched upwards of 400 Melbourne football club games (at a quick reckoning, and wow that's a chunk of my life!) and have never claimed an altered result from umpiring before. This was one out of a mighty big box.

Strangely, you and some other posters seem to be missing the point. Our own team's deficiencies are clearly and horribly theirs, and if we had played better we would have won. This is NOT in doubt, and cannot be questioned, but the umpires deficiencies are their own also, and those deficiencies were an ability to umpire the game objectively and fairly. Port Adelaide won this match as a direct result of this.

I have thought for some years that the home ground advantage for South Australian and Western Australian clubs is around the 4 goal margin against Victorian teams, before the ball is even bounced. This can be put down to varying levels of ground knowledge, crowd support to the players(psychological), and crowd influence on the umpiring, which one has to assume is largely unconscious on the part of the umpires. It is interesting to look at free kick ratios for all these games, and it consistently and heavily favours the home team. This is not the case for Victorian teams at home, and somewhere between for Geelong, Sydney, and Brisbane. Never before however, have I felt the umpiring directly create the result so much as it did yesterday in Adelaide. Port Adelaide won the game as a direct result of umpiring incompetence. Yes, I know we were ordinary, fluffed our chances, turned to ball over etc, and in no way is that diminished, but good umpiring would have reversed the result. It's an awkward thing to raise when you lose, due to the accusations of sour grapes, whingeing, etc., but yesterday is an excellent example of the reality. With a free kick count of 28 to 13 in Port Adelaide's favour, there was a clearly non-partisan interpretation of the holding the ball rule, and what constitutes a 'throw'. That is without mentioning the Jeremy Howe non-mark, which was the sort of decision which goes closer than anything else to ruining the entire game for this fan, with the game poised as it was. The Daniel Motlop non-holding the ball decision was equally appalling. Leaving yesterday aside, I find it difficult to watch interstate games for any club, because of this clear effect. The AFL of course are aware of it, but I guess feel it's in the 'too hard' bin to do anything meaningful about, and probably see it as a fair price to pay for the Victorian numbers dominance in the game. Nevertheless it is hugely disappointing, and sadly diminishes the spectacle of our great game.

They HAVE gone mad. I don't think the broader footy world understand just how bad Melbourne are at the moment. Port Adelaide by 6 goals minimum, and in a canter.