Return to Glory

So far I've made a point of making positive contributions. However, Grant Thomas may be easily subject to criticism but I, too felt uneasy with Neelds press conference. Don't get me wrong - want to like him but I prefer the 'talk softly and carry a big stick' philosophy. All this talk about Melbourne needing to be hard is a one dimensional remedy that is too easily adopted as a cure all when teams are getting flogged. Brisbane beat us through footy smarts and swift ball movement. They pinpointed passes into the forward line and we bombed it in.

Perhaps we could pay his Dad 100 large to make the Demon banner.

Wonna really didn't show anywhere near enough to indicate that he was good enough to consistently perform for Melbourne. On his day a great crumber but certainly those days were a fair way back and probably not that often. I do wish him the best though as I think we all do.

DemonWA, I think you're very harsh re Dangerfield. I reckon he has the capacity to be a star.

Surely you would grab a Dangerfield every day of the week. A line breaker that we desperately need, even taking into account the late form of Blease.

Or would have been a better pick.

Can I ask what the story is with Brad Dick?

Hindsight is 20 20 vision but I was always underwhelmed by Scully's actual football. Yes, he did get a hell of a lot of possessions in a quarter once but he also lacked penetration in his kicking and missed substantial time to a CHRONIC injury. He may well turn into a very good footballer. A great one? He is not the total package and, for my mind, lacks an x factor. May well be wrong but it would be terrific if, in two to three years we felt like the club had dodged a bullet by losing him and picking up Clarke.

He does seem to stuff up a hell of a lot. Just doesn't consistently play well enough to be excused for being a bit of a tool.

We are 2 - 0 in Darwin. My only concern is that, on both occasions, we have then run into Hawthorn and been run over. The recovery aspect worries me.

Can he not change with Stef Martin as a ruck/forward? I would have thought that would be a likely scenario.

He is certainly more than the one dimentional player we thought we were getting. Moves well and makes good decisions. Thrilled to have him in the side.

Austin will hopefully surprise in 2012. Yes, he's had some setbacks but he has wonderful talent and a solid preseason will make the world of difference. Go mate!

The trouble is that he can't kick accurately and, as far as I can recall, has never been able to kick accurately. I feel that we are attracted to the idea of a highly performing Tippett rather than the reality. The sum certainly doesn't equal the parts imo.

Robbie F, I think you'll find that Cook was injured for a period at the end of the season.

Why trade Jamar? All Australian 2009 then injury curtailed him last year. If anything, play him forward a little more to allow Lucas Cook or Petterd to be a second tall with Maric at the base and Jurrah as a third tall. May be time to put Davey forward as he did appear to lose both creativity and confidence down back. Too often Jurrah was having to play as the main lead up forward and a couple of talls would free him up. What we need to see is Cook given game time. Dean Bailey perhaps chopped and changed with the forwards and injury didn't help. A Dangerfield would be a great compliment but surely not? Don't forget also that these boys will have had another preseason under their belt.

I agree Pennant. I also wouldn't necessarily assume Bate , Dunn, Maric etc are dispensable. It may be the red hair but it would be interesting to see whether Bate could play a run with role such as that performed by Ling. Remember that Ling was almost gone a number of years ago.

First post so go easy. I'm not quite sure why there is a huge push by some to trade into the club older, relatively unsuccessful fringe kp players. If you take a longer view, we are travelling reasonably well in terms of developing kpp's. The key, surely, is giving them time. For instance, how can some possibly write off Lucas Cook at this stage. It's ludicrous. I have been down to Casey and, before he was injured Cook was moving well and looking threatening. What I would like to see is the club looking to bring in young mids with a little desperation and mongrel. Viney is exciting but the great sides always seem to have two or three that can rotate - think West Coast in their prime, Geelong, Hawks. It gives these sides a relentlessness that provides the psychological edge. Related to Swans Luke Parker, so incredibly biased but there's a kid who is ferocious with his attack on the ball. If we're going to go after someone make it along those lines.