Nascent

Small interview with some in-game footage for those that are interested. Aish shoulders the draft burden

Here's the win stats for every team over the past 7 years. I haven't included finals or mentioned draws. Geelong: 123/147 Collingwood: 103/147 Hawthorn: 99/147 St Kilda: 86/147 Sydney: 84/147 Adelaide: 77/147 North Melbourne: 74/147 Bulldogs: 71/147 Carlton: 70/147 West Coast: 70/147 Essendon: 69/147 Freemantle: 69/147 Brisbane: 58/147 Port Adelaide: 57/147 Richmond: 53/147 Melbourne: 34/147 GC: 11/59 GWS: 2/37 I've highlighted the Bulldogs record as they seem to be generating a bit of discussion over their eligibility for a potential priority pick.

We have won 34 out of a possible 147 games in the past 7 years. If we jag a few wins in the run home, I don't think a record of say 38 out of 154 is going to change the AFLs thinking too much. If they decide that we warrant draft assistance, so be it. If not, they may as well scrap it altogether as no other team would qualify... that is unless GWS continue like they are for another 5 years.

In my opinion, Taggert is closer to being delisted than getting an AFL game.

Does a bear sh*t on the pope?

As others have said, was subbed off early. Scully is the reason we have Hogan on our list. For that reason, Demonland should dedicate a shrine to the West Sydney Wanderer.

Callum Twomey from the AFL website has done a quick top 20 that is subject to change over the coming months. phantom-draft-form-guide Interesting to note that he has ranked Sheed and Dunstan at pick 17 and 20 respectively. Certainly would be nice if we could snare one of those in the second round. I like the write up on Freeman and think he may be one to keep an eye on.

So we have Hogan, Dawes, Clarke, Watts, Howe Hogan: promising, can't be expected to carry the forward line and be kicking bags in his first year. Dawes: not a regular goal kicker and more of a lead up to the wings type that sends it into 50 Clark: will he return? No one can guarantee that. Watts: only just starting to find the ball in the forward 50 against fellow cellar dwellers, will look at his performances in the run home with great interest. Howe: inconsistent player that that has been pushed into numerous positions during the course of a game, still leading our goal kicking table Howe I think can become something special, not just a one trick pony. He is smaller than all of our other marking forwards yet can win the ball against opposition smaller and taller than him, he is a genuine opposition match up headache and brings something different to the table than our other forwards. He has had half a season in one of the worst Melbourne's side in history to try and develop his game in the midfield, think we can give him more time than that... no one has looked good there except N. Jones. Luckily we still have him until 2015. If the perception is that he is only taking hangers, drifting in and out of games then fine... I'll be happy to trade. He will still be valuable then and won't be a restricted free agent. At the moment, if you're so desperate to get rid of marking forwards, I would be looking at Watts (prepares for lynch mob). Only just starting to show some of the intensity needed but would be surplus to needs in the big tall forwards department with Hogan & Clark (maybe?) having both the mobility and skill to match. Not to mention Watts is out of contract and I suspect would have a higher currency to get the deal done + some. Edit: Watts trade subject to the return of Mitch Clark back to full fitness.

I'm all for acquiring midfielders. But IMO, Howe is currently a top 10 talent at the club and we should be holding onto as much talent as possible. I've seen him do some great things shifting back to defence and take some good intercept overhead marks back there, much like Watts did in the final quarter of the Bullies game. I think he has more versatility than you're giving him credit for and are perhaps judging him too harshly on one game. For me, we either trade for fringe 22 players that we believe can be solid best 22 contributors, lure a midfielder into the PSD or develop our own through another couple high end acquisitions at the draft.

I seem to recall Howe was praised by many on here early on in his career (lol, what was that like a season and a half ago?) for his defensive efforts. I haven't had the chance to attend recent games because of work, but has he perhaps been given more of a licence to be an attacking player since the departure of Neeld? I wouldn't be so flippant about moving Howe on as he is quite clearly in our most talented handful of players. We should be adding to the talent we have, not trading one out and one in. It's also interesting to note that his 3 best games were also in some of our heaviest defeats against Essendon, Gold Coast and Fremantle. Not sure if that means a whole lot. No doubt he needs to work on consistency and bridge the gap between his best and worst. He is a must keep for mine. Postscript, he is also leading our goal kicker this year at 20, with our next closet on 11. Not bad for a high half forward who has spent most of his time up the ground this season. While he is not your typical crumbing forward, he is still quite adept when the ball is on the ground.

True, a lot can happen in the next 4 and half months. There seems to be high end quality talent which includes but not limited to Freeman, Dumont, Lennon, Taylor, Crouch, Kolodjashnij.... and Boyd would have to be in the mix still on talent alone. My line of thinking is I would rather a Cotchin (i.e. class) than a Cunnington (i.e. bigger body).

We've been linked to James Aish (article here) and I suspect he will be our man. He is supposedly a better prospect than Toumpas who both come from the same club. Would not be upset with Kelly, Scharenburg or Sheed either, but in no way am I an informed individual when it comes to these things and will have trust in Jason Taylor to make the right call. Just another 4 and bit months to go, lol.

Hey mate, what are your views on Scharenberg? There are some comparisons going around to Fyfe but bigger. Certainly sounds a talent and may come under consideration if we aquire two high picks, but I'm a bit apprehensive about using such a high pick on a player that plays predominantly as a flanker.

Indeed, absolute joke. Why do they bother with a point tally system if they're going to apply different weighting to the end scores depending on the type of incident? Also I think common sense dictates that intent should be more heavily scrutinised than accidental/negligent contact.

The rare time where we look dangerous going forward is usually off the back of Terlich or Garland taking the game on. His disposal is generally good, but he can sometimes run himself into trouble and as a consequence turn the ball over. I don't mind that, and he'll quickly learn when its appropriate to attack and when to hold up the play a bit more. His disposal by foot is generally good, although his handpasses can bring him under fire. However, in the back half when the opposition put on the pressure all our players are guilty of this. I suspect that with a bit more midfield support and less of a bombardment of inside 50's, his decision making will improve and he'll be looking like a more polished player. Hopefully it won't be too long before we're all laughing at how we stole this guy at pick 68. A shining light in what is an otherwise bleak season.

In theory that would be nice, but I doubt freo or the lions would give up such quality players + picks, even for the rights to Boyd. Clubs rarely trade out their best players, and when they do, its usually because they want out (most commonly to return to their home state, which VIC isn't for either of these players). Furthermore, if a trade like this was to go ahead... in the process of giving up pick 1 to a team that want a high quality KPF (Boyd), we are also giving up the opportunity to draft Aish (who has drawn comparisons to cotchin) who would be snapped up by GWS at pick 2. To give up the opportunity to draft such highly rated players, the reward for us would have to be ridiculously in our favour, which won't be the case. Edit: in the event that we finish last and acquire pick 1 & 2, I would be open to trading the rights for Boyd as long as we received a quality midfielder + first round pick in the trade.

The problem with this option is that we've seen through the two GWS mini-drafts that clubs are very reluctant to trade any high quality experienced players. Of the four trades that were made, none included players going to GWS.

Great effort. If I might be so bold to make a suggestion or two. In my opinion, having a large demons head in the middle is enough to say that we are the demons. Therefore I would get rid of the word "Demons" and just leave Melbourne up the top. This would also allow the red V to become a bit more prominent. And then minor adjustments from that would be to move the "MFC" insignia and "est 1858" up a little bit closer to the V half way between that and the white shield border.

If true, this is just another amateur decision made by the MFC. Seriously, offering such an impure sacrifice will only be seen as an insult to Odin.

Would add one more, "choose the right option" It was infuriating to watch us coming out of defence or through the wing and the proceed to kick it to a 50:50 contest and/or handball to a stationary target with players hot on their heels, rather than an open player who had worked hard into space. We keep those possessions and we will create further inside 50's and potential scoring opportunities. Instead, we see turnovers that result in opposition loose men burning us on the rebound.

Here is list comparing our 100+ gamers to the next worse Victorian team in the Bulldogs and also some highly rated opposition. Demons Bulldogs Magpies Hawks Cats Swans Rodan 179 Giansiracusa 234 Johnson 235 Guerra 241 Corey 259 Goodes 325 Davey 162 Murphy 233 Jolly 231 Burgoyne 227 Enright 250 Bolton 307 Sylvia 144 Boyd 210 Lynch 215 Mitchell 227 Chapman 247 O'Keefe 263 Jones 141 Cross 203 Didak 213 Hodge 210 Bartel 231 Mattner 221 Jamar 129 Cooney 188 Swan 202 Lake 199 Kelly 216 McVeigh 200 McDonald 123 Griffen 167 Ball 193 Hale 179 Johnson 200 Shaw 189 Byrnes 114 Morris 157 Maxwell 181 Lewis 175 Hunt 186 Richards 187 Frawley 107 Minson 142 Cloke 180 Sewell 172 Mackie 179 LRT 174 Dunn 101 Higgans 109 O'Brien 165 Franklin 167 Rivers 153 Malceski 132 Hudson 164 Osbourne 166 Selwood 141 Grundy 120 Shaw 158 Roughhead 165 Stokes 137 Jack 120 Thomas 156 Birchell 158 Taylor 118 McGlynn 110 Pendulbury 154 Gibson 130 MacIntosh 107 Tippit 104 Krakour 130 Rioli 111 Hawkins 106 Russell 121 Varcoe 104 Young 116 Lonergan 103 Toovey 114 My knowledge of other teams playing group is not as great as it is with the dees, but I'll have a guess at clubs best 22 makeup. Demons: 9 players 100+ five, arguably six of these are best 22 Bulldogs: 9 players 100+ 8/9 best 22 Magpies: 17 players 100+ 12/17 comfortably best 22 with the rest being solid replacements Hawks: 14 players 100+ 13/14 are best 22 Cats: 16 players 100+ 15/16 are best 22 Swants: 13 players 100+ 12/13 are best 22 Now here is a collection of random thoughts; We have the fewest number of best 22 players with over 100 games experience. Only Jones and Frawley can say that they put consistent games week in week out (I know Frawley hasn't had the best start to the year but he is a quality defender putting up with a barrage of inside 50's every single week). So we have a total of two players that we can safely rely on in a week to week basis to perform to a high standard. Compare that to the Magpies who have a dozen players with greater than 100 games experience who put in consistent high quality football. Scarily, this is just looking at it from a quantitative perspective. I think we all know about the quality footballers with experience in the top opposition teams compared to the lack thereof in our own. We are going to be in for a world of hurt for a lot longer unless we can trade in or win over some high quality free agents at the end of the season. We are in desperate need for on field leaders with experience. With all due respect to Sylvia and Jones, it is an embarrassment to see them run out as our most experienced players on a weekly basis... they're 27 and 25 ffs. Jack Trengove is our 13th most experienced player out of 45 listed players with 64 games at 21 years of age. Watts is our 16th most experienced with 59 games at 22years. Our 22nd most experienced player is a 3rd year player with 25 games under his belt in Tom McDonald. Collingwood's 22nd most experienced is Nathan Brown with 74. What I would give to acquire two or three free agents in Lenny Hayes, James Bartel, Sam Mitchell if only for a year or two. Edit: Formatting

Don't mind a few of these names but I think Jayden’s AFL career must be in huge doubt with an early retirement likely: Fremantles jayden pitt has heart-scare infecting a frankston day time hooker? Don't mind this (although I still hold out some hope for Watts), develop the talent that we have while including one or two experienced 24yr+ and preferably 100+ gamer that lead by playing consistant high quality footy. Would love a Lenny Hayes for a year or two. Not sure if this is in reference to Neeld's coaching press conferences or others from the board but I think Neeldy is doing the right thing in the media now. Remember round 1 2012? Neeld was roundly criticised on here and in the media for doing just that after a 41 point loss to Brisbane. If I remember correctly, he said only 4 players had "passable" games and that you could "bet on your life" that he wasn't going to be taking the same 22 to our next game. The media had a field day with it an siezed on the perception that there was/is a growing rift between the coach and senior players.

Five year deal for untried sun Gold Coast has recently signed up their prized mini-draft selection in Jack Martin to the end of 2017 with a two year contract extension. In my opinion, this is exactly what we need to do with Hogan. He is obviously a player we have invested heavily in and plan to build a team around, and all Melbourne supporters can see he has the talent to justify such a lengthy contract. In fact, he is probably the only player I have seen on here that is lauded by all, even more so than Jack Viney. Despite locking him long term away from prying clubs, it will finally create some good publicity for the club by showing that our highly rated players are sticking to the cause and are putting their faith in the future of the MFC. Get it done!

I was thinking about this last night as well and hopefully it can be officially cleared up soon. If you're right Dr. Gonzo and players had to serve their suspensions in season, the full 2 year ban would equate to missing 4 seasons of footy (6 months each in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017). This article in The Age what-next-for-essendon- suggests that players may be able to reduce their bans by 50% (1 year ban) through arguing no significant fault or negligence. The only way to reduce the ban down to 6 months appears highly unlikely to happen after reading the following paragraph. The third relevant clause is 10.5.3, Substantial Assistance in Discovering or Establishing Anti-Doping Rule Violations. This clause states: "An anti-doping organisation . . . may . . . suspend a part of the period of ineligibility imposed in an individual case where the athlete or other person has provided substantial assistance to an anti-doping organisation, criminal authority or professional disciplinary body which results in the anti-doping organisation discovering or establishing an anti-doping rule violation by another person or which results in a criminal or disciplinary body discovering or establishing a criminal offence or the breach of professional rules by another person . . . No more than three-quarters of the otherwise applicable period of ineligibility may be suspended." So it is a possibility that players, if charged and suspended, may be able to reduce their bans by half and only serve 1 year bans, but they may yet have to sit out 2 full years of competition i.e. 6 months served in season 2014 and 6 months served in 2015.

I like Daniel as a player and he can do many things well, he has the speed and endurance to run out a full game of footy, he can also take oppenents on with his pace and really break the game up. However, we are all too aware of his limitations with his kicking under pressure. For this reason, I wouldn't mind seeing him utilised in a different way to the small defender role he frequently plays. One would be as a tagger to shut down a dangerous oppenent and bring others into the game using his hands rather than his feet. He has the endurance and a defensive mindset as well as the speed to compete with the likes of an explosive player like a Dangerfield. Or alternatively, have him playing on a wing where he has more of an open ground to run and carry, perhaps giving him time and space to deliver into the forward 50 with a bit more precision. I think he is too good a talent to waste and hope he can cement himself as a best 22 player.