PaulRB

Pedo Out - http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-02-26/demons-injury-setback

Roos goal has to be getting the strongest team Rd 1, even if those players (Dawes, Viney, Clark, Garland) have had minimal game time (i.e. a solid hit out for Casey) prior to Rd 1 they should play if fit.

Jesse Hogan!!! Finally.

I know history recommends caution and even pessimism in making predictions about Melbourne's 2014 chances, but there is something stirring that makes me feel that the Demons will be this year's bolter. So my prediction is we'll win rd 1 and finish the 2014 season in the 8! I think we have the perfect storm of hunger, experience and talented youth, favourable draw, exceptional coach and several stars about to bloom (Watts, Howe, Trengove) and re-bloom (Frawley, Clark, Jones).

If Jack Watts is All Australian, we're playing finals.

Best time of the year!!! yay

I'd hope both he and Roos get the bug to stick around and drive us right through to the ultimate.

We offer our first born for him to stay on.

Like ^^^ Meditation works to quiet the mind allowing better focus and intuitive action to rise... Might also help Jack to cope with vomiting "more in the next 3 months than he has in his life" hee hee hee Bring it on Roosy!

I think Jack is the type of player who will rise with the tide (so to speak), as in when Melbourne are up and running he'll be a better player. The intro of Hogan and Clarke next year will lift the intensity of the forward line ( and provide JW with clear targets), the intro of a couple of seasoned mids will lift the intensity in the middle (where JW should play, i.e. on wing). Jack knows he has no more excuses and a rare opportunity to recast his reputation as a quality player under a well respected new coach in Roos... Everything is in place for him to succeed and finally have some of those career defining and game winning moments we all know he is capable of.

Is it coincidence the week we play Fremantle a rumour circulates that Fremantle in interested in Melbourne's Jack Watts? The most plausible reasons include: Melb thought Jack could do with a reminder that unless he lifts his game (and extends his contract) he might find himself at a new club next year of Melbourne's choice, and one potentially 3440.8 km away from his family and friends. Freo marketing thought it might get more Freo fans turning out for an otherwise lack luster Sunday late arvo game... Jack let slip that he'd always fancied moving to Perth's version of Geelong.

Agree, my biggest worry about JW is that he's still waiting for others to lift and lead the team into better times. Those players you mentioned seem to be taking public responsibility for turning it around. At the same time JW publicly laments our lack of selwood, hodge type players... makes me think he's painting himself to be a fringe player... Which we'd all hoped he'd be more than.

Every Auction needs a couple of bidders to up the price. We can say to GC and the other Vic clubs we'd take Caddy for Pick 13 (if GC play ball on JV). This would mean for Caddy to go elsewhere that the club would need to offer GC batter than Pick 13. GC get a good deal for a so so player.

I'd pass on Caddy for the sole reason that he wanted to go ONLY to the Dons last year and made too big a fuss about it all for a player with few credits in the AFL player bank... Over valued and we'd be likely to pay too much if we tried to out muscle other clubs ... for a so-so midfielder whose value has diminished since he was drafted, i.e Drafted at pick 7 & now struggling to justify pick 13.

Hold on. Gold Coast get Tippet for pick 13 and a second rounder, and we get Caddy for pick 13 (and some change). I'd prefer GC's deal for Tippet.

To use a PK line, Caddy is "all tip and no iceberg".

Caddy hits me as a young player who has done little more than others of his year, but generated enough headlines that he is known to all and thus assumed to be better than he is. Bit like our Tom.

He may be OOC but not a FA so he goes where GC trade him to.

not active - http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=131093 Yet still tradable.

To do the trade you gotta have the picks and the Cats (pick 15+) and Bombers (pick 30+) don't. So who are they sending to GC in exchange for Caddy?

I think your are objecting to a practice (loose Journalism) that has always gone on. The difference is now we can track their "journalistic" sources via the internet, where previously they'd be getting quotes and ideas over a beer at their local. The internet and time pressure on journos to produce more with less time, make the shift in sources and journalistic practices inevitable. Not sure it equates to s decline (it may), but it is also more transparent...

I think a journo using a club discussion board to get the pulse of what the collective of Melb obsessed fans think is wise and more likely to reflect some truth (if such a thing exists) than alot of the traditional alternative sources, even former players, etc ... There is alot of research that collaborative groups generate superior results to individuals in most circumstances.

I think Cale and Jack are being developed as our rebounding/switch/ kick to boundary line contest/ kick long options and Cale muffed it. The sting of humiliation is a more powerful teacher than a private video correction exercise two days later... Cale will grow or wither, I hope the former.

I was at the game and when Morton turned it over, approx 30,000 MFC fan collectively howled/cried/moaned. Cale knew he'd just humiliated himself. Being pulled and having the coach give him one is about Neeld clearly establishing standards and Cale dealing with failing to live up to these standards. Standards that every successful elite sporting team has. Babying him or having a go at MN for being too tough on him is OK for boys, but not for men, and certainly not for an experienced professional man as Cale is aspiring to be.

Cale was not alone in costly turnovers, Jack Grimes had a patch too. I liked Cale's game up to the clanger. I think he is developing well under Neeld. However, he still has a way to travel to fulfil his potential.