PaulRB

Stevie J at the Cats and Steve Milne at the Saints are elite. There is no reason LJ can't reach those heights...

Put a motor into LJ and his line breaking and delivery from the wings into a forward line would be mouth watering...

Funny how everyone has dropped off Liam Jurrah for elite... LJ - Aged 23 - 35 Games 81 goals - freakish talent with clear areas for improvement. JW - Aged 21 - 40 games 33 goals - loads of upside...

Thats fair enough. Looking forward to seeing it rolled out.

A couple of factors seem to have been important to Neeld in selecting the LG as highlighted by the selections and his comments as to why they were selected and his general coaching approach. The captains and most of the LG are articulate students of footy, great representatives of Neeld's Football University approach. They would have soaked up Neeld teachings and game plan and are the type of characters who are keen to communicate, explain and encourage their team mates in their also learning the new game plan. Most of them have had to work hard on themselves due to injury (Grimes), position (Jamar and Clark) or due to weaknesses in their game (Bartram, Jones). Most of them seem to have their best footy in front of them and have completely signed up to the Neeld reign. To the discussion points: Moloney - Love his grunt, passion and rawness, but suspect a couple of thing prevented him being in the LG, namely: he's an instinctual player who I suspect reverts to his gut approach when the pressure is on and drifts off what his contribution to the game plan should be. He also seems to go into his shell when the team or he is struggling. His butt wacking approach to team motivation may work on some players sometimes (saw him gee up Jnr before a game with a series of butt wacks and Jnr was on fire) I suspect that it is too full on or one dimensional for others. I think he need to focus this year on learning how his game style can be adapted to suit Neelds new game plan, I think this is a fair challenge for Beamer. I noticed last year when Scully was in a clearance set up with Moloney, it was Scully who was telling everyone (incl Moloney) where to be. Garland - Love the "Undertaker" reckon he's a student of the game who, like many in the leadership group, has the ability to both hold his position and do his role while also assisting his team mates do theirs. I think both he and Frawley had/have a great mentor in Jared Rivers in this regard. He's aware of the flow of the game and rarely takes the wrong path out of the backline. I'd hope that being in the LG gives him the confidence to be more aggressive and assert himself more on the game. Frawley can already do this, Garland should be able to do more damage than he does. I think Garland will be looking after Cale this year. Bartram - Barty rocks, solid, honest and couragous. Puts his body where it will inspire teammates, does all the 1percenters and works hard all the time. Reminds me of "Wheels". Should be interesting to see how he has steped up to the LG. Jamar - We are blessed with the Russian, he's a kick arse ruckman when uninjured and if he's taken up the new Game Plan and its establishment and implementation in the heat of battle his value only increases. He'll be an awesome mentor to our up and coming rucks, and a very physical presence around the ball. Clark - Forward line presence we've lacked. Don't know enough about him to say too much, but the fact that Neeld and co we so keen to get him and now promote him means he is integral to taking our forward line up a notch or two, either directly or indirectly. On the Neeld's Game Plan, our Game plan this year, I think it is simplistic to say it will be X or Y. I think that the game has evolved to the extent that there are half a dozen or more "Game styles" the team will learn and the real skill of the LG and coaches is playing the right one at the right time. Chipping around the boundary won't be the style against teams who leave the corridor unprotected, for example. Horses for courses, hence the value of our LG being articulate footy thinkers... Go Dees, looking forward to 2012 big time.

herald sun - http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-coach-mark-neeld-plans-new-role-for-ex-lions-ruckman-mitch-clark/story-e6frf9jf-1226260413346

Colin Garland and Mitch Clarke into the Leadership group.http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2012/02/02/1226261/233693-mitch-clark.jpg

Given Neeld's "I get one chance at this" and "... won't die wondering" philosophies, I doubt he'd leave our picks in the bank when they could be on the field in 2013. We'll use them to trade or draft the final pieces of the team that will hopefully take us into contention asap.

I like that we have a mix of the easy then the hard.

I love the payout on Tom. Makes me laugh. I'm not going to "get over it", nor do I want to. I'm going to nurture my bitter feelings toward our former player for at least his footy carreer. I'd advise if you are "over it" you'd best stay clear of threads like this one...

Can't go to watch but keen to encourage those who do to put their thoughts and observations down for those of us who couldn't get to training...

I'd go C - Moloney VC (and media rep) - Grimes & Trengove Leadership group - Jamar, Clark, Frawley. With the leader to be decided again next year...

I think the strategy of freeing up Frawley is a sound one and if Sellar is not up to it, I'd be trying Tom MacDonald back there in a similar role.

"... warriors to give the golden eggs time to hatch." If Neeld and co were talking about current players with these quotes, who were they talking about? "He's a toothpick" - ? "He's a dead-set cross from me" - ? "He's like Kung Fu Panda" - ? "He's got something" - ? Always "go with the grunt" Neeld... Go Dees

Cook - U18 All Aust CHF - is an unknown player, so to pass any serious judgement on his potential is a waste of time, untill sufficient time has passed for Cook to show us why Barry picked him pick 12. Barry was a great asset for the MFC, he worked hard under the instructions of the coach at the time so any changes brought in by Neeld's arrival that alter the value of a recruit is not Barry's fault. Recruiting Clarke has lowered our need for Cook to come on quickly. Neeld, as a teacher, will know how long these boys will take to ripen and show us exactly what Barry (and the Club) saw when they selected them. The draft is a complicated version of the selection process we hd at school when class is broken into two teams by each captain alternating to select their team. When we selected Cook and missed Darling our plan valued Cook higher. At the end of the day, when Cook plays his first game for the MFC he will have earned it, given our tall forward talent.

If we activate our compo picks and finish in the 8, would not our first pick be the mid round compo pick that we don't have to use to acquire Jack Viney? i.e. we could get Jack with our regulation first round pick..?

I think we should use both picks this year. Given it takes a couple of years for a mid to become a regular player, and longer for most key position types, Neeld will want to deploy all the playing assets that the MFC has as soon as possible. Extending the window is a bonus you think about once you've snagged your first flag.

Be keen to hear the best times for our 3 km trial on Friday...

Could also be the difference between a coach in the last year of his contract vs a coach in his first year...

Any news on today's training? I always look forward to the session reports...

A fit Jurrah is in our best 22 and has the potential to become a better player than his 35 games to date have shown us... More so with Clark and Watts likely to take tall defenders 1 & 2. The fact that Liam can lead from goals, fold back into an open forward line and is so good at crumbing makes him a weapon we are yet to fully utilise. The acquisition of Clark will be successful if Clarke can create space (draw defenders) to allow Liam and Watts to do the serious damage they are capable of. Plus if Liam (like Watts) can build his engine I'd love to see him as an outside midfielder, wing, finding space and creating opportunities down field.

I suspect that Wonna has communicated to the club about his situation, and they (the club and him) prefer it stay private.

If Neeld took over in 2008 and assuming that this years recruiting focus was his for the period form 2008 to now we'd probably be contemplating Neeld's replacement and lauding his replacement for focusing on speed, skill and whatever else the heavy body approach x 4 years would mean. If Neeld is worth his salt his recruiting emphasis will shift as our needs shift year by year, as he rounds out our list. Baily had a blank canvass to fill and I think he and the recruiters did a great job building the list we have. The reality is that aside from Clarke, most of the team next year will have been recruited prior to this year.

The key moving forward is player flexibility. We know Garland can play back, so if/when required we can simply move him back. However, if we can develop Garland into an Andrew Embley style wingman we will start to fully utilise Col's talent and increase the options the coaches have. I'm all for it. In fact I'd suggest a player flexibility score added to DC's formula as players capable of playing multiple roles are worth more than specialist/limited one, especially given the limited bench and speed of the game.

If Craig and Misson can get us as fit as the Crowbots were a couple of years ago or the Saints of recent time, and Neeld introduce a game plan that's capable of winning a Premiership... Anything is possible. In "reality", in 2012 we should be in the eight (6th to 8th spot), in 2013 pushing into the top 4, and in 2014 ripe for our tilt. A factor that's hard to measure is the extent to which our woes (Scully's defection, Bailey's sacking, 186, etc...) limited the Melbourne football team's ability to demonstrate where where their development was actually at in 2011. I.e were we a 5 % worse team in 2011 because these things were going on? and can we recoup that 5% in addition to the benefits the Neeld's regime are bringing to the group? and how much of the the pain and humiliation endured by our players in 2011will be translated into steel on the field in the year to come?