Mad_Melbourne

im a bit of a dweeb asking this, but is it actually on a radio station or just on the AFL app, saves me googling anyways (which was probably easier to do).

Here is hoping, despite the opinion of most of the germs on here, he is best 22 and an important player.

Biggest clutch at straws i have seen in a player comparrison for a while, players can kick off both feet and he sure can kick from distance with both, but his passing around the ground leaves much to be desired and his kicking would be in the below average - average category as opposed to Bernie who is elite

Probably one of the worst nicknames i've seen, but good on you for continually putting it out there, kudos. ACL injuries are relatively common nowdays and the rehab is usually pretty good, the thing im most excited about is that he is exactly the type of midfielder we are looking for in our team. That said he is still young and yet to play a game, but an explosive goal kicking midfielder is ideal for us. Hoping for at worst something similar to Jack Ziebell, in a sense that he can spend plenty of minutes up forward if necessary and find the goals.

I think he might spend more time as that forward/ruck leaving Dawes to play as a true CHF and Hogan to play deep. Although he has played as a defender due to his natural athleticism, I am pretty sure that Roosy suggested early in the year he would be a forward/ruck. Athletically almost the best on our list.

Hardly would be, at current Essendon can ill afford to get rid of players with potential even if they have been sub performing. The list has suffered from the draft sanctions, poor list management and lack of actual quality footballers. Whilst Melksham is no superstar he is still a top 10 talent who has shown some potential to be a decent footballer. No games what soever they would much rather him on their list than traded.

I was purely arguing with his statement that he thinks Watts and Howe have underperformed and are not as good footballers relative to Melksham due to them not winning us games and being 100 game players. I do have my concerns in terms of bringing him over impacting the game time we can get into our younger brigade, earlier I stated my main reasoning for not understanding bringing him in is that he is not immediately top 22 and thus will prevent players like ANB and Harmes getting games. ANB is not a small forward but rather a midfielder and will eventually push into this role and I would prefer to see him push into this role. That being said, I understand the need to continually improve the list and have no qualms if we are bringing players in to do so. Of course Goodwin and Taylor will have more idea on what they want to bring in and his strengths and weaknesses and as they have continually been doing good work i have no problems with any player they bring in. The biggest concern i have is his percieved value by Essendon in terms of trade, they will argue he is a top 10 draft pick with potential, obviously a required player due to the 2 year contract offer and he has a top 5 in their BNF. That seems like late first round to early second round pick and personally i would rather go to the draft. A straight player swap and I think we would have more value on our list from Watts or Trengove or Howe than Melksham. So to me, it just seems like its a bit of a tough one because i see the trade being a third round pick, or a player like Toumpas + picks or something in that ilk, but its allabout risk v reward. If we get him for the right price, great, we have improved our list.

Id argue both are doing more when compared to Jake Mellsham. Who has also played 100 games and clearly not winning Essendon games. Your method/reasoning is awful and purely wrong. Given the chance to resign Howe and hold onto Watts or give a spot on the list to Mellsham it is a no brainer

He does some really good things for the Bulldogs, he has a really quick turn of speed and often finds space out the back of the packs, but his disposal is average for the most part. I dont see him adding major improvement to our forward half, but that said would increase the strength of our list overall.

its too easy to stick the boot in on an anonymous forum so i will not bother continuing down that track. I am sure he is good to his family and friends as most people are. None the less, it does not make my statements of what he can offer to the team incorrect as he played his best season through the midfield as a tagger. He has limited flexibility and I would still prefer to get games into our younger players ahead of signing a midfielder who would be competing with them rather than a cut above.

Average footballer, sub-average bloke, does not really offer anything that we are in desperate need for, has no flexibility (just an out and out midfield plodder) but is probably an improvement on our other NQR who will most likely be delisted anyway. Personally, I would prefer the club playing guys like ANB and Harmes ahead of him, but that would be the spot he is competing for.

We are just starting to turn our culture around, removed players of this personality type in order to refresh the club and bring in hard working competitive footballers. Whilst on paper Bennell offers alot of what we are missing, with polish and outside skill, i would look at Callum Ah Chee in the draft ahead of Bennell. If we are able to get Prestia or O'Meara out of GC that is a bigger win than Bennell.

I am almost certain Watts will be on our list next year, further that he will continue to cement himself as a top 22 player. Statistically he has had a good year, even taking into consideration his poor games. He will again finish in our top 10 bnf, which whilst it is not the top 5, it is still a testament to his consistency over the last two years especially. Posters on here and supporters in general often overstate his deficiencies and understate his contribution. Admittedly I am a fan, but I do see his poor traits also. We are lacking, smooth moving, highly skilled outside players and with Watts we have a player who would be pushing towards the elite category for decision making and skill execution. He has started to put strings of matches together and this year has very rarely been our worst and has began to address his problems. That said, conversations about Watts are impossible to have with most posters as they are unable to see past their already made up mind on his contribution to the side.

I agree, adrenaline rush leading to a lapse in concentration and poor decision making.

I think that his issue is more a decision making issue rather than a skill execution issue. Make the wrong decision and often you are punished and we have too many who seem to make the wrong the decision at time. In terms of the ability to kick the football, when he makes the right decision, he would be top 6-7

Prestia said half way through the year that he was pretty confident he would see out his contract at GC, not like that has stopped anyone before. None the less, I would be interested to see how we would go about this, considering the ability to package in next years draft picks etc. That said, I would love to sign Howe, another mid and then Prestia next year. Dream result. Howes ability to play both ends of the ground is underestimated and his kicking would be in the top 6-7 on our list, i think.

Yeh i agree, we are also an easy team to lay the boot into so people get around it. If the supporters are disappointed with the results then the media will run rampant. Because of the variation between our performances peoples expectations change, similar to Collingwood in that they won 7-1 and then ended up not making finals, but internally they did not expect to make finals. But 7 wins and most against half decent opposition, does put us in a position for a 11-13 win season next year, which is what I would be hoping for.

It is purely and simply an expectations thing. St Kilda were expected to be on the bottom of the ladder, thus by winning 5 games and being competitive in a few others, they have exceeded expectations. That said, it is pretty important to have a few established players around the club and Riedwolt, Steven, Armitage and Montagna played vital roles in most(all) of their wins.

Whilst he has the attributes to be the player that we need, he also has attributes to create issues in the culture that are not really needed at this time in our list development. We are at a better stage than we have ever been to handle it, but it is still probably an issue for our football department. Am pretty sure we have ruled ourselves out of Bennell, but that said for the right price I am sure we will take anyone.

There is different aspects to pace, which makes all statements about "speed" and "pace" confusing. JKH has good acceleration, but a poor top speed, which is likely due to his small legs. Rohan Bail has poor acceleration, but a really good sustained "pace" Neither are exceptionally quick. Fitzy and Watts are our two best 100m runners, I remember reading this somewhere, dont have actual source.

From all you personal conversations with Goodwin about type of player that he would like and style of football he wants to play. A 196 cm athlete with good running capacity and skill execution, whilst his Desiree at times can be questionable another possible top 10 bnf finish beckons due to his 8-10 weeks of really solid form.

The thing is, these clangers are noticed more because they are often so bad when he does make it. I can recall two or three that resulted in opposition scores and that's the big issue. Grimes sums up Melbourne at the moment, does some really good things and wants to compete and then all of a sudden will have.a lazy/poor skill execution and then we get put to the sword. His form since injury has been solid and has put himself in the top 30 at the club to be picked week in week out.

Was a solid debut, without being outstanding. Made some really bad defensive lapses and looked confused sometimes, but also made some really significant contributions with some good spoils and intercept marks, looks a likely type. very heavily left footed

Juvenile

any excuse, legitimately some people just dont ever want to be happy. Club did him a service giving him 2 extra years and he represented the club admirably, do we want to see it tarnished by a year where he could just not be up to it. Finish playing good football and he will be happy with it. The club has offered him a role inside the coaching administration.