dtrinh

Would anyone think that instead of Dunn maybe using Pederson as a defender to take the 3rd tall. Pederson seems to read the play well especially from the back line and seems to be able to take marks in the backline in the vfl, if he could play on the 3rd tall and hopefully be a cut out player to take either intercept mark or spoil? I think he would fit the role quite well.

Can someone tell me why Taggert doesn't get played on the wing/ through the midfield as a high half forward/midfielder? He was recruited as a midfielder but in the VFL he seems to be played as almost a permanent forward that occasionally runs on the wing. From the sounds of it he isn't a bad kick, is a good height for a midfielder and seems to make good decisions when going forward, just that he doesn't get a big opportunity to do so? I know he has had a few bags of goals but no where near consistent enough to warrant him to be a permanent forward?

Realistically we have got our spine sorted: Frawley McDonald Jones Dawes Clarke What we really need is good midfielders which can rotate through the backline and half forward line. Hopefully we can recruit the best midfielders we can in this draft and develop them. With Jones, trengrove, grimes, viney, toumpas, howe, sylvia rotating through there it seems promising but we really need a few stars... ala what morton and scully were recruited to us but never turned into anything special.

Paul Roos should definitely be the number one choice if possible. Sydney are the team they are and have been the team they are because of Roos. He has created a culture down there which Longmire has only had to continue on with. They're not a team of a superstars... Goodes since his brownlow hasn't been as prominent, o'keefe, jack, mcveigh, bolton are all solid players but aren't superstars. He knows how to develop culture, build a footy team and knows how to make the team play for each other. Williams would probably be the second best option. Apart from that not sure if eade or craig would be great. I think the team would also be stronger with better assistant coaches. I think that rawlings is the one that should stay, not sure about brown or royal. If we could bring in the likes of Ling to take over our midfield, rawlings to stay and if craig doesn't get the head coach position him as forward line coach I think that would provide our club with a strong coaching team to take us into the future. It provides not only coaching prowess but also leadership and ability to develop, teach and coach players which will help with our development. Royal has been in our system for a long time and not sure what he brings to the table. I'm sad we lost wellman to essendon, he seemed to have made our backline the strongest it's been.

Why would Melbourne want Rodney Eade? He left Western Bulldogs at the right time... they are in the same position as us but they are lucky they have a number of senior players who are helping them stay up there....

I think that Pederson actually played well on the weekend. He seems to be able to play that 3rd tall defender a lot better than Jack Watts. He reads the play well and can take marks as a third man up, maybe a replacement for rivers? He seems to be able to run and carry out of the backline too and I don't think his kicking is terrible. Some people seem to rekon he had a bad game against Lynch. Look at T.Mac... had an aweful game in defence, much worse than Pedo and whats worse is he turns the ball over regularly by foot. I think there were 2 or 3 instances where his direct turnover cost a goal almost immediately. I like T.Mac and he seems to try hard, but he really has to improve on his disposal or understand his limitations before he can become better.

How come people say that Neeld is the reason why our midfielders have gone bad? Didn't Neeld coach the Collingwood midfield?

Players which I rekon are just filling up spots on our list: - Bail: is one of our better runners, but poor disposal efficiency and not football smart - Joel Mac: Was brought in more as a role player, is probably a good trainer and someone good to have around the club but not sure if should get a game in the 1's - Nicholson: once again our best runner, not sure how we can develop him, his disposal is too poor to put in the midfield, but seems to have a good attitude and a hard trainer which is what our club needs, maybe keep him on the list to push the training standards? - Tom Gillies: really not sure what he brings to our club. At the start of the season he was a terrible defender and makes bad decisions with the ball. - Mckenzie: he seems to get the coaches award every year. I guess good taggers do take a few years to develop so they can balance between tagging and offensive side to their game, but his disposal is very average so unless he can improve this he would be questionable too.

I'm not sure why you would want McDonald on the wing... especially this year we have seen him turn the ball over consistently and butchered the ball by foot. He does have good endurance but how can we play a player on the wing that has very poor disposal efficiency. Especially in our midfield who already struggles with ball movement. If he played on the wing he'd be causing too many direct turnovers which would definetly turn into direct goals against us. I think that Sellar played a good game down back. He has a bigger body, has a bit better disposal efficiency and can play on those bigger body, taller forwards and resting ruckman unlike McDonald so far this year. I think we should give Sellar a go for longer to see what he can produce as a consistent back man.

Nicholson Frawley Garland Watts McDonald Dunn Grimes Mckenzie Trengove Sylvia Dawes Howe Pederson Clark Byrnes Fol: Jamar Jones Viney Int: Blease, Toumpas, Rodan Sub: Strauss/ Magner

Colquhoun not sure how this guy didn't get drafted! Watching his highlights I was really impressed with his decision making and kicking skills. If there was anyone in the draft who has elite kicking it'd be this guy! hopefully pick him up in the PSD. Gartlett would be an interested prospect... would have the skills... not sure about the attitude. Mark Neeld seems very stern in his ways with bringing in talent that has the right attitude so not sure if gartlett would be high on our list.

So any reports on what happened at training?

Can anyone tell me what injury col has atm and why he is training with the rehab group? I don't remember him having an injury at the end of last season?

yeah wallin looks very good. Seemes to have some pace, good defensive aspects to his game and seems to have quite a bit of penetration with his kicking finding targets under pressure and in space. I'd love to have him in a red and blue jumper next year!

Cheers for the report dum dee dum... nice insight into how you rekon specific players will go next year. It's good to see that we've started ball work and ball movement earlier. It will definetly help us with our structures next year and hopefully timing and general play. Might mean we might even up the uncontested and contested possessions with our oppositions!

Not sure if kicking efficiency stats are useless? It shows that the player can make good decisions during the game while also being able to hit up targets? A big reason why Melbourne played so average last year is because we can't hit targets, we turn it over by foot too much, can't take marks around the ground or be able to use the footy the way we want to play. If you see all the top teams, they not only excel at contested footy but also are able to hit targets both in traffic and when they have time.

I think you're jumping the gun there abit. yeah sure we've brought in some bigger bodies and hopefully able to play some more consistent football but not sure if we're going to show THAT much improvement that we're going to shake up the top 8. You've listed a midfield which except for jones and to some degree grimes has shown something, trengove had a down year, magnet started strong but declined, sylvia showed patches as he always does, mckenzie played well as a tagger but still is just an average B-grade midfielder and add in unproven talents in viney and maybe wines. How are we going to shake up finals if we're still missing a star and coming from a 4 win season which apart from essendon came from the bottom two teams? I'm just hoping we show a bit more development and win a few more games! I like the way the club is going but one year is definetly not enough time to change where we came from originally under Bailey

So where do people think that Tappy's best position in our team is? This year he had very limited number of possessions and played majority of this football in the forward half. But I don't see him fitting down back as I see nicholson getting the small forward each week. From this season I rate Nicholson's 1v1 work, he works hard with second and third efforts, is tough and gives us some run. Questionable use of the ball but hopefully he can improve that slowly. I think Tappy will have to play forward flank and rotate through the midfield. He has an accurate and big kick on him which I rekon the tall forwards would love! Nice quick delivery into the forward line from stoppages catching the defenders off guard.

yeah agree with that... I wasn't sure about o'rourke until that footage came out. Looks like an absolute beauty... good poise, balance, speed and can win his own ball inside. Only problem I think was he had a very average first two under 18 championships and only showed a bit in the last game? Not sure about his consistency then?

I was thinking more like mature aged players that possibly could make an impact immediately due to their more developed bodies. I was thinking of more players with speed, run and carry and hopefully disposal efficiency compared to in and under contested ball winners.

With Kelly O'donnel in his role as pro-scout I rekon that we might have some interesting later picks in the draft and the pre-season draft. With all our later picks I think that the footy department might have a go at some mature aged recruits like magner and couch who might be able to step into the team immediately while letting our youngsters develop further.

Watching the o'rourke highlights makes me question who to pick up now. O'rourke seems to have great kicking abilities over short and long distances and doesn't appear to have a problem hitting up a target at all even under pressure. He seems to have speed, break away from packs and great disposal efficiency. Another player i really wish will fall through is toumpas. His highlight real is something to be amazed with. Seems to be a combination of wines and o'rourke put together. Wins his own hard ball and contested possessions at the clearances, has the speed to break away from the congestion and seems to have great kicking efficiency. I really hope he will fall even though I can't see how.

Cheers Travis and Chaser... he sounds like a pretty safe option. Viney although is a good contested ball winner seems to have good burst pace and can break away from packs and link up in chains quite well. I just wasn't sure about Wines. Also wondering all this talk about O'Rourke... not sure if he's another player that is just talked up or is he the real deal? I haven't managed to find any highlights of him and from the stats he seemed to have a pretty average start to the season and the championships with really low possession counts in the first two vic metro games and then he stepped it up a lil later after that. I rekon Jackson Mcrae looks like he is going to be a good player... seems quite similar to andrew gaff in that he is a good run and carry player with a damaging left foot. What do you guys reckon? Maybe think that pick 4 is a lil high for him?

Just wondering if anyone who follows the TAC cup or saw any of the vic country games give any insight into Wines. They rate him highly in relation to clearances and tackles but just wondering how his speed and kicking efficiency was? We've already gotten rid of a player ie Brent Moloney who was considered a clearance specialist and a hard nut but he was too slow and was unable to keep up with the speed of the game. Not sure if we need to bring in another player too similar to him? He sounds like he has good endurance with a high beep test but we really need to bring in someone who can work hard both ways, spread well from the clearances and possess some speed too.

Just wondering if anyone knew, I've watched Oliver Wines highlights. He looks good in traffic, doesn't show him kicking it much which makes me worried because i'm not sure what kind of disposal efficiency he has? In relation to Wines how is his speed from congestion and ability to spread. We do need hard bodies, but something that Melbourne really lack in the midfield is players that can break from the pack, have adequate speed. At the moment Jones appears to be the only one which makes me worried as we don't want to pick up another Moloney (strong around the congestion but slow around the ground who isn't able to keep up on the turnover). Apart from that how come Jono O'rouke doesn't have a highlight real? was really keen to see what kind of player her really was and how good his decision making was but there's nothing around?