Pates

The rising star might just come down to this week. Unless Jess gets a bag of 6 and Cripps gets 35+ possies I reckon one of the two will stake his claim. Must admit though I'm less and less concerned about Jesse winning this award, he is already an amazing player at his age, he doesn't need a medal to tell him he's going to be a gun. I get the feeling a premiership medal is the only one he truly wants (hopefully while wearing red and blue!).

I know......don't you love it?!

Toms had a poor 2nd half of the year but I reckon would've been leading the B&F prior to the pies, I would say 5th would be between himself, Dunn, Cross, and maybe Brayshaw. Would love to see Gawn heading the to pointy end of the B&F but I think his run will have been left too late.

Tackle of the year, by anyone.

Every week he seems to raise the bar of his abilities. 4 weeks left in his first season on playing on AFL defenders, what more can he achieve?

What a gem.

I think it can be developed, get the right people around him doing a technique that will work for longer distance. Perhaps Neita could give him a few tips, or get Jonno Brown or Carey (both who seem to have man crushes on him) down to help him develop. I don't know that he can necessarily sort it out himself, but that's why you employ coaches isn't it?

Hopefully he starts to get more penetration on his kicks as he develops. It's pretty much the only thing lacking from his game. That mark in the last quarter was simply a thing of beauty.

He looked proppy all game and I reckon if it hadn't been Maddie's match he would've been 50/50. By the look of him at the end of the match he'll be 50/50 again, seven day break will help him though I reckon he'll be underdone.

Next week is a chance to break two, but one in particular for me. Winning two games in a row is one of the records I really want to fall this year. Even the Blues have managed to win two games in a row this year. Also a chance to knock off the saints.

Like any young player Jesse is going to have down patches, he has had that in the previous couple of weeks but he was back to some good form today. Strangely enough though his form fluctuates with when the midfielders decided whether or not they will look to hit a leading target of just bomb it in in hope. His first year has already exceeded my expectations and he continues to grow. Next week against the saints is a real opportunity for both Jesse and Melbourne. He's already shown an ability to tear them apart, nothing like building an early liking to playing a certain team, and we can really use it to springboard the season.

Tommy Mac was in the form of his career earlier this year, I don't know how it's gone so wrong. I reckon he just needs to get back to basics, he might've started to believe his own hype and believed he needs to take things on his own. Just get him back to he was doing best; fisting the ball through, body on body work, and getting the ball the hell out!

It's amazing that in his biggest haul game I felt he could've done better! Opposition defenders are already starting to realise how good he is and they're trying to stop his run at it and blocking him at contests. I hope the umpires are reviewing this as it's happening a lot in games. But jeez we've gone a gem here. 22 goals in 11 games in his first playing year.

I think all of us were genuinely trying to, but how can you? The guy plays like he's been out there for 5 years. The Melbourne store is going to run out of number one's to be printed on gurnseys!

I'd like to add a record that I'd like to see broken. Last time our leading goal kicker had 50+ goals was Brad Green in 2010. Since then we've had: 2011: Jurrah (40) 2012: Clark (29) (after 11 games) 2013: Howe (28) 2014: Dawes (20) A slow decline, but obviously it is being turned around with Garlett and Hogan.

Yeah knocking it down early is always a good thing, sometimes you hear families of players say stuff like "we just want what's best for him but it would be nice to have him home" sort of throwing out there the idea of a return. But that really just sounds like Jesse's enjoying his time here and his family are just as happy for him.

If Jesse scores the first goal he should celebrate something like this.

Very happy to land him. He has all the talent in the world, c'mon Roosy unlock it and turn him into a star!

Honestly for me the only way this could possibly work is if there was a second training ground created somewhere next to the G, for that to be viable they would then need to probably create underground car parking under Yarra Park (something I believe is planned) but as said above a lot of work would need to go into flattening the ground as there really isn't anywhere that flat as it is. To me for all parties to be happy it would cost a lot of money and in the long run have very little commercial or community benefit (something that has been a carrot with the Western Oval and Arden street). This is all coming to the point where we review the AAMI park situation, it must be pretty crowded there with four teams, especially with three of those teams having matching seasons (winter for Dees, Storm, and Rebels) which means I reckon it might get cramped during summer when it's a lot of weights and core strength building. Of all the ideas being thrown around (aside from staying at AAMI) I would say the Docklands idea provides most of the positive aspects, although it takes us away from our spiritual home. It will be built from scratch to specs that fits with us, provides a park and training area for a new community, still keeps us in "Melbourne" and in fact pushes us further into the CBD of Melbourne (something Bartlett seems keen on). We can also look at the potential of a social club that can be used for post-game functions, particularly when we're scheduled at Colonial/Telstra/Etihad/whatever stadium.

Moving back to the MCG definitely appears be a positive, but I have the same concerns as Earl Hood. If we're still having to train at our same outdoor location then what benefit is there to the players? AAMI park is an elite facility so whatever we do, or wherever we go it must be to give the players the best opportunity to improve themselves and not just be a fluff story designed to give us good press and perception.

I've been one to try to disassociate the Wines vs Toumpas decision, just focus on our player make him the best we can. But jeez I was devasted reading his stats from last night.

Fitzy is my 2014 disappointment, I honestly don't know where his career is heading. With the lack of forward options available I would've expect him to be bashing down the door, but he's been mostly unsighted for the entire year. His recent form at Casey has been solid though so perhaps he'll get a game or two in before the end. It sounds like whereas last year he was predominantly a forward they've been focusing on getting him ruckwork better.

He won goal of the year that year so I reckon they have it to Abraham because he couldn't get two cars! His goal was great but his mark was incredible. I've never been more shatters to lose a player since the Wizard went to Freo and screwed up his career.

Early on he made some errors but he settled into the game big time and became BOG for us. He has a class about him that haven't seen in a Melbourne player for a long time. He's continuing to make that recruiter who criticised our trade look like a muppet!

Tyson will create his own name, he's looking like one of those player that just rises to the top.