Pates

I’ve come around to this, he can develop nicely while taking pressure off TMac and Weids. My only concern would be that Weids would get stuck behind him and not continue to develop, I still believe in Sam but jeez we need him to get a wriggle on.

If that’s what they’re offered I’d just say he goes into the draft and we pick him up again. For once using a bit of bargaining power melbourne! For me our defence works with him being in there with May and Lever fit. May takes big body #1, Frost takes big body #2, Lever floats as the interceptor, Nev small defender, Hibberd flanker #1, Salem flanker #2. Sell it to him Melbourne, make him feel wanted!

Trac had a good season, but for his talent and ability, I’m sorry if this sounds harsh but we need better than good. We need him to be outstanding if 2020 is to get us back in the premiership conversation. We need him, Oliver, and Brayshaw to be a triple threat of stars that have opposition coaches thinking “how do we stop them”. They each have that in them.

I had to laugh a few weeks ago when there were people calling for Jonesy to step down immediately after Walker did it. Nate has been a great servant of the club and deserved that break at the end of the season to make his own assessments (he likely knew before then anyway). Stepping down as Tex did looked bad for me, it reflected poorly on himself, the club, and the coach. Jonesy on the other hand let the season breathe and did it in a way that just made it a mention in the news reports but not a big deal. Right call, right time. Thank you Nate for your captaincy, I hope you’re able to make 2020 a good year to (likely) bow out in.

Viney’s year wasn’t good imo but I’m sure there are certain things that we don’t see that the coaches do. That said I would hope that Viney himself reflects on this season as a poor one by his standards and that the place we finished is a reflection on his leadership group’s inability to drive higher standards for 2019. I’ve said this a couple of times, 2019 might be a failure that can lead to greater success if assessed and used properly. It doesn’t have to be a wasted year. Congrats to Oliver and Gawn on tying for the B&F, I would’ve had Max in front but Oliver was still good this year (without being incredible). Now bring on 2020 (hopefully with no injury list!).

I'll be wanting Richmond to win this one, there's something about GWS being premiers before we break our drought that really sickens me. Also was kinda hoping for a Pies v Tigers GF more the atmosphere but seeing their fans devastated is also enjoyable.

I think he's got potential, Gawn was a fairly late bloomer as well and who better to teach him ruck craft? As for whether he fits into the team as a second ruck on a regular basis, obviously his forward work (marking in particular) needs to improve.

Yep apparently it's his fault because him being around makes us biased towards Jack and that Todd was a part of the "boys club" or something like that. Sports fans sure know how to eat their own. ?

I'll be frustrated if Frost goes, zero doubt in my mind that with May and Lever fit, Frost fits in nicely as the second KPD with Lever floating as an interception defender. He has great speed which is great for breaking lines and chasing down players that underestimate him. Why can't it be Oscar touring Waverley?!

Relax, we probably would've ruined him like every other high draft pick we've ever had.

I gotta wonder if the club is trolling it's fans (particularly Demonland). They've released articles of Brayshaw being a better player this year, and Fritsch happy as a forward. FWIW I didn't have a huge issue with him being played as an intercept defender while we had literally no one else, but there came a time when the swap back needed to happen and it did actually happen for another 2-3 weeks. Lack of genuine forward options was a big thing for us this year, Fritta could've provided that.

I might be wrong but I thought PJ stayed with the club a bit longer than initially agreed upon. Don't forget he was retired from this caper when he came on board. That said I don't disagree that we can't seem to stick the landing in becoming a club that has a fight till we die kind of mentality, more of a look great when everything's going well but when the sh*t hits the fan pack it all in and accept our lot.

And what did those picks do for us? Not a hell of a lot. They need established senior players that can compete and guide their young brigade, if they had a number of them coming to the club I'd have little more faith those picks wouldn't go to waste but right now it looks like those kids will either go up there to fail or develop and go to another club after 2-4 years.

I see no reason to rush things, for crying out loud the season only finished a week ago for us. Let the players settle on their breaks, I'm sure the conversation has been had and if it hasn't than it should be had at the next opportunity but there is no reason to force it now. It would only pile on more unwanted attention onto the club. I'd prefer they do it once the boys are back from their break, I also agree with dazzle that Viney should also relinquish the captaincy and move into a VC role behind Gawn.

For me Spargo is a great example of drafting an undersized player with limited abilities. I'm not even exactly sure what he was drafted as but he's been played mostly as a small forward I believe. I agree with you that looking for a small forward we also have to make sure they have that vertical leap or at least the ability to affect aerial contests, but more important for me is that they have pace to create forward pressure much like as Aaron Davey type.

I agree, I think an announcement of him relinquishing the captaincy won't come until after the Grand Final and we're getting into trade/draft period. If (I hope) Gawn is give sole duties that will happen late 2019/early 2020, as you say to allow a bit of space between the regimes.

Ok what gives me hope? Tough question. My fear coming into 2019 was that a few players in 2018 played "above themselves" through high confidence and gun players being at close to peak form. The worry was that a drop off/injuries to those key players would expose those lesser quality players and they would get found out quickly. It appears that happened in the worst possible way this year. We had major injury issues over the summer to key players that lead to them having an extremely poor fitness base, the confidence of some of the fit players were destroyed early on and those average players really rose to the surface exposing how poor our depth is. So what gives me hope is this. We SHOULD have the opportunity to ensure all our key players are given as close to a full pre-season as possible. We have Darren Burgess coming on board who is highly rated world wide to assist in preparing our players better. So really there is no reason (barring bad luck) for us to not have close to our best team available for round 1 next year. We will finally have Lever and May playing together with May now fully aware of what is expected of him. Jetta will be back, although admittedly slowing down, while Hibberd should be over his niggles that held him back. The middle and forward line is the major question mark, it's like the two lines were on completely different planets. This was an awful problem as we won enough of the ball and got it inside enough but we were so easy to score against on the rebound and even when we had multiple entries we still couldn't get anything out of it. The ball would go up the other end ONCE and we'd concede a goal. So I'm choosing to fall on the side of hope with this. That the club has/already has dedicated critical analysis of not only our major failings in that area, but what teams did to curtail our effectiveness and what we can do to counter it. I'm also backing on players who had bad years not doing it two years in a row, Tom McDonnald looked like he was finally coming good just as he got injured, while Viney himself would be the first to admit he was poor this year. Weids showed what he could do in the finals last year, but failed to develop this year. Maybe 2020 will be his year. Pick 2/3 also provides us with a great opportunity to either get some top grade talent in our look to use it as leverage to improve our best 22 immediately. 2019 was an utter failure but it can be used for future success if done right.

Unless we are in prime position to pick up another FF this can't be done. We already looked impotent going forward, Tom had a god awful year, while Weids didn't develop and also had injury concerns. We cant trade out one of our pillars unless we are guaranteed to get one back that is ready to slot straight in.

One of my biggest concerns going into our pre-season is there won't be proper reflection and critical analysis of player performances. Bradshaw's year has without a doubt (to me at least) been average at best, maybe he learned something about himself and a few things that will make him better beyond 2019 but this year he looked lost at times and seemed to lose confidence in his own ability. He is not a winger, and should not be tried there again. He's a guts player that likes to get down and dirty. The club needs to stop with the flufff pieces (I understand them wanting to generate positivity) but make it clear that they aren't just writing 2019 off as a year cruelled by injuries and deeply assessing what went wrong with out key playmakers, Brayshaw being on of the main ones!

Great goal but that was such a bitter loss. Amazing game though, probably one of the best we've been involved in.

I've read a couple of pages and from the jist of things it appears no one knows for certain for Barrett is on about, only making educated guesses. Financial loss is a certain, losing QB the same year we don't have ANAZAC even puts a massive dent in our bottom line coupled with significantly lower crowds. I really wish the AFL had stepped in with Collingwood's request for the gates to be shared to make it interchange with ANZAC eve. Makes it very difficult for this year when two of our blockbusters go begging. Players unhappy is not a massive surprise as well, there doesn't appear to be harmony among the playing group. You only need to look at the way they've been bickering to know that our poor form has created fractures, but "big names" requesting trades will be an interesting one to see if there's any substance. That meeting Petracca's manager had with the footy club, pretty much all the reports on it highlighted that he doesn't want out he would just like more time in the middle. Of the players I could perhaps picture "wanting out" MAYBE Brayshaw by his down year, could be playing him as a winger and naturally resulting in a poorer year might've frustrated him. As others have mentioned ties west are appearing, but he is also Vic born and bred, we also stood by him during his concussion issues and I'd like to think that would earn us a bit of loyalty back. We had so many injuries this year I can't imagine any player being frustrated at lack of being picked, except perhaps Pruess. There were rumblings that Jones wasn't happy with the offer we made him but frankly he should be happy that we are asking him to go around again. I agree with a few others that sometimes there are issues that can be coming out of a club that are not good but all it needs to be turned into a "crisis" is a journo like Barrett labeling exactly that and pouring gasoline on the fire. Having said all that this off-season is absolutely critical. To back up such a pathetic 2019 with another poor 2020 will send us back into the cycle that we're all familiar with, we can't afford to be terrible next year.

Brayshaw's had a poor year, but I also think Goodwin has played him incorrectly, maybe it was a form of teaching to develop his game but it certainly didn't work. He likes the guts and getting into the packs, I feel like he began to second guess some of his natural instincts and it impacted his confidence. He's certainly better than what we saw this year, he's one that should be setting himself for a massive off season. He's a keeper.

I had to have a chuckle at Jones being considered a crucial re-signing. Love the guy and all he's done at the club, but he's getting an extra year based on his standing at the club. Certainly not on form. With Langdon, it sounds positive but until he or his manager comes out and says "Melbourne is his choice" I'm not ruling out a swoop in by someone else.

Totally get what you're saying and don't disagree, I feel our fate is in our hands for 2020 and with our low pick (be it 2 or 3) we have a chance to resurrect ourselves quite quickly. If our high performance team are able to get most of our team fit over and pre-season and our players put in the hard work, the only thing that's holding us back is if we have the right game plan and attitude to be the best. My bigger issue on GC getting an additional PP is that a: the precedent set by how awful we were and yet we were turned down an additional pick was just as dire as what GC are in, b: if being a Melbourne fan has taught me anything it's that you can't throw low draft picks at a club and expect that to fix the problem. They get these two top end talents, but what then? They will likely follow either two pattern, they'll develop and become good players but then get poached by other clubs, or they will fail to develop because the culture there is non existent. They need senior players, culture builder that the young guys can learn off and be dedicated to.

Can't agree more, he's had his chances here. It's time to go.