PaulRB

Took the approach that all players do as well and slightly better than last year and looked for which players have greatest upside potential... Hogan Watts Tyson Petracca Brayshaw Garlett Lumumba If all these boys play to their potential talent (albiet undeveloped in some cases), we improve dramatically as a team, and as a spectacle. Hogan is "over ready", as in he'll be physically more mature than his game stats (Zero) warrant, could hit 2015 like a second or third year player with heaps of talent and hunger. Tyson and Watts are blooded and continued improvement and consistent quality now demonstrated. Petracca and Brayshaw are x-factor and class, seemingly physically mature enough to match it from Day 1. If they are playing, they will hurt oppositions. Garlett and Lamumba are bonus players who at their best would be in our top 5, if they bring it week in week out, well rise...

Dangerfield to Dee's is a no brainer. We'd have the cap space with Clarke and Frawley leaving this year, and few other players pressing for top 50 AFL player type pay deals at the moment. He's in the top 10 players in the competition. A midfield of Dangerfield, Jones, Tyson, Vince, Viney, Brayshaw, Petracca, Salem, Toumpas, etc... would allow us to compete with and defeat the best teams in the competition in 2016, at least in the midfield. If we play soft, and let him go to another club, it simply means we're accepting being mediocre for longer.

I hope we go aggressively after Dangerfield. Assuming we finish around 10th in 2015, the addition of Danger, plus the continued maturing of our young mids would almost guarantee finals in 2016 and beyond. And put a flag within the realm of possibility by 2017...

I'd like to see us absolutely destroy a team in 2015, ideally the Blues or Bombers Beat them twice and spend the last quarter singing the song with no fear...

Herald sun article - The 20 young guns set to light it up in season 2015. Who is your club's young gun? has some optimistic news opinion for us... 1. Jesse Hogan 4. Angus Brayshaw 8. Christian Petracca 13. Aaron Vandenberg Bodes well

I reckon thats pretty close to the mark. Interesting that there's only two kids (Salem & Petracca) from the past 2 drafts being given a run (off the bench). Bodes well for 2016 and beyond, given the talent we now have brewing up in the twos.

Preliminary final against the Hawks with a win after the siren when Frawley runs across the mark to give Jack Watts 50 meters and the goal from 35 meters out. F#%kers!

As Packer said of Alan Bond after selling him Channel 9 for a Billion in the 80s, "you only get one Alan Bond". Likewise we'll only get one GWS Scully deal, and it's been working out very well for us...

Critical pieces that need to click for us to rise significantly over 2014 (4 wins)... in order of impact: Hogan - If he is injury free, fit and firing to his potential for 22 rounds we're a two goal per week better team. Garlett and Lumumba - at their best these two would add a lot, Garlett the wildcard, on form should add/defend a couple of goals per week between them. Gawn and/or Fitzy - if these two can consistently find their best form we have a third forward (with Jamar). Dom Tyson - his improvement in 2014 was amazing, if he can keep improving on the back of a great pre-season, he could be anything. Young Mids develop - Kent, Viney, Kennedy-Harris, Mitchie, Riley, Salem, Toumpas. Enigmatic ones step ups find their roles - Watts, Howe, Grimes, Garland all seem to have questions over their best position and role, if these boys can get settled and find their role and mojo we will start to motor.

Can't see any of the new draftees being in for Rd 1.

Article from The Age highlights the gulf between first year draftees and AFL level - Christian Petracca and new Demons look to an easier road ahead, in it Mahoney is quoted with "Now, there is a science-driven understanding that the gap between under-18 and AFL football continues to grow, and cannot be bridged in a summer. "Our players went through their hardest session for the pre-season on Monday," Mahoney said. "Our first-year players completed less than 50 per cent of training, and that will be consistent with how they'll complete their first pre-season. "Anything further than 50 per cent of a pre-season is too big a step-up for a player coming into his first year. It's something we monitor very closely. If we feel players are starting to show some signs [of fatigue] we certainly look out for them - not just in pre-season, but during the year as well."

If the pieces click, we are capable of going over Carlton, Collingwood, Adelaide, Essendon, Richmond, GWS, Saints, Doggies, Lions, and maybe Weagles...

HIghlights that the fitness requirements of AFL footballers is increasing every year. Another reason why giving kids time to improve their fitness over an adequate amount of time is so critical. To Curry's point about Jones being able to hit the ground running (in round 16) and play on from then, Jones started in 2006 (8 seasons ago), before the flood and the game's shift to the more heavy contested and harder running game we see today. And as Ollie Wines demonstrates some Kids can do it.

It occurs to me that one of the rationales for the recruiting on "mature" mids in Riley, Mitchie, Vandenburg, Cross, Vince over the past couple of years is to relieve the pressure on our high draft pick mids having to play and perform before they are ready or at the expense of their medium term fitness and confidence in their talent. My opinion is that its rare for a kid to walk into an AFL list and be fit and resilient enough to play a season in the middle. I think it takes until their third season (third pre-season) for them to be at AFL level fitness without inducing a injury, or form drop that affects their confidence. Trengove - pushed too hard too early, developed foot issues then confidence drop Toumpas - pushed too hard too early, developed hip issues then confidence drop Tapscott - hip issues never able to impose on field, confidence drop Watts - pushed too hard too early, unable to impose then confidence drop With JKH, Salem, Viney, Hogan and now the new crop of kids we have and now should be able to give them time to develop their bodies to AFL level before they are expected to step up to AFL level intensity and performance. Hogan, through a training related injury has had two years of development at the club in the reserves or in rehabilitation, and while him playing in 2014 would have been great, it may have hindered his medium and long term ability. When we talk about getting development right its having the depth of list such that your talented kids have to be properly physically and mentally prepared BEFORE they play at AFL level, simply because if they're not others will take their spots.

Toumpas is an exact case in point of unrealistic expectations put on kids stepping up to AFL level Midfield work with injury interrupted pre-seasons and/or seasons. That is, BAD DEVELOPMENT. Jimmy was drafted late 2012 In season 2013 played 14 games, developing hip issues as required to play too much at AFL level intensity without adequate fitness base. As a result the 2014 preseason was limited with hip issues... In season 2014 Jimmy played 4 games, as Roo's lowered the expectations and physical demands required of him as he sorted his hip issues and built a solid AFL level fitness base. That work is continuing today and should start to bare fruit in 2015.

I think with the fitness requirements of a modern midfielder its unlikely a first year player (irrespective of talent) will play more than a handful of games. That Brayshaw and Petracca struggled to do only 11km of an estimated 18-20km running session, highlights how far off ALF pace these kids are, and 1 pre-season ain't going to catch them up... If, like Petracca, they can sub into a forward role then maybe two handfuls... The same could apply to second year players as well, especially those who have had one of their pre-seasons cruelled by injury. We shouldn't expect much from this draft until 2016, despite the hype.

I was contemplating the recent trade ins, draftees and now rookies, and its apparent that competition for a spot in our team has gone up several notches and will be hard to earn. That Lumumba, Gartlett, Frost, Hogan, are coming into the team, with the loss of just Frawley (Clarke we never really had) means several 2014 regulars won't get a regular game. That what many reported to be the hardest day of training at the MFC occured on the same day as our high pick recruits arrived was no co-incidence. It was intended to give them a rapid reality check that simply being a high draft pick won't get you into this team in 2015 - A mental and physical shock' for Demon draftees after brutal running session, that both our two prize pick in Petracca and Brayshaw were suitably humbled was the intention. That we just picked up two new rookies Aaron Vandenberg (aged 22, 188 cm, 90 kgs) and Mitchel White (aged 18, 188 cm, 85kg), both competing for midfield and flankers spots. That Grimes reliquished the Captaincy to focus on his football, read, staying in our best 22. All indicates that Roo's is consciously creating an high performance environment with intense competition for spots in the MFC 22, and that the bar is high and getting higher. It feels different to anything I've seen at this club for a long time, and bodes well.

Swing man able to go between half back and half forward as required by the game (similar to Watts). Can hurt one-on-one on the wing, get out kicks, and freaking defenders out when bombed into the forward line.

Very consistent performances week in week out. Great tackle and marking numbers as well as high disposals... Get him AFL fit and immersed in the team and he could surprise.

Like Mitchell at the Hawks, stepped aside and let Hodge take the captaincy. Been good for both players and the club. I think if Jacks purely focused on his game, decisions, execution etc... and not trying to rally and direct others he'll come back to form quickly and better than we've ever seen him play. Plus he now has something to prove.

Oh dear! tragically funny

Its like one of those magic rings, the closer we are to a flag the more visible it becomes... One of Crazy Cams final initiatives!

Nice summary of draft, proposes ... "This is the dawn. This is the resurrection of the once proud, and perhaps one-day formidable Melbourne Football Club." Demons dominate draft for the second year running

Best thing thats already come from the Essendon drugs fiasco, is that while they were distracted... ... we've sailed right past them. They just don't realise it yet.

I wouldn't mind if they developed Oscar as a Gunston style forward, big engine, tall, can mark and kick goals... according to his highlights.