deelusions from afar

I'm not Lyon's biggest fan by any means but I'm always puzzled by people's reaction to him. He's tried to help a few times and hasn't done a lot of good. He's not a good coach so surely no one is calling for that. In what way is he really going to be helpful? He's learnt his lesson from trying and is going to stick with what works (the media). So as long as he has no role in any new appointments etc then this is a win for everyone.

It seems like no matter what happens, there is going to be pain / destabilisation. It would be great if either (or both) Don and Cam came out and said they will be stepping down from the club at the end of the season / year. They have given their all but realise they are not able to make the changes required. This will give stability, hope and time to find suitable replacements. I'm sure the AFL will be keen to assist. Having a full board spill / sacking anyone at this stage of the year is not going to solve the onfield issues. Who will want to come with us if we keep tearing each other apart?

On performances like Sat night it looks like we missed an opportunity to trade Jamar. It was hard to watch knowing a player who had previously been dominant (admittedly for a finite period of time) so powerless. To a certain extent we (through Jamar) have been screwed by the change in ruck rules which are designed to suit the athletic types such as Nik Nat and Ryder... why didn't they do this when Jeff White was in his prime! Right now I feel like we need to try someone else in the ruck. We are getting destroyed in the centre square - I actually think our forward line and defence are holding up ok considering the circumstances. But even though I think this, I'm not sure if having traded Jamar we'd be in a better position. Having a read through some of the other threads about CS, the board, culture etc one of the criticisms is that people such as CS have cut careers short and therefore players don't feel secure etc Why give to the club, take paycuts etc if you know that in 3-5 years or if you get an injury they'll push you out the door? I think everyone can see cutting Junior was a terrible decision in hindsight... but the end of Robertson, White, Yze, Bruce and even Green... were any of them really offering much at the end of their careers? I always remember Jamar in his All Australian season on the ground being interviewed after a BOG performance in Darwin in a close win over Port. That day and most of that year he bled for the club like no other ruckman in recent memory. Maybe he's not up to it at the moment, maybe the new rules have killed him but if we're getting Rodan, Dawes, Byrnes in for leadership and experience then trading Jamar is non-sensical. None of our recruits made all australian. Don't get me wrong, Jamar round 1 and 2 has been a concern. It seemed obvious at the time that such a big contract extension could easily end up as a mistake. But the reality is that Melbourne have barely had any players play into their 30s (without their form waning massively) over the last last 15 or so years. Without the experience around our kids get lost and can't develop.

Ok I didn't / haven't yet seen McLardy's interview. I'm not a fan with how he handled the tanking situation, I'm not much of a fan of Cameron Schwab and I don't know if Mark Neeld can coach. But seriously, what did people expect him to do when interviewed - say one of them is not up to scratch? Even if he thinks that he's never going to say it in an interview on the footy show the day after a 150pt loss. That would be even more destabilising. From the outside, there is a cancer within the club. There are good people (players and admin ppl) trying their guts out and yet we're going backwards. There needs to be change but not simply change for changes sake - not just to keep us supporters / the media / football world satisified that "X has been sacked and so Melbourne must be doing something". I watched Neeld's pregame speech... it wasn't inspiring to me. But realistically does anyone think that the pregame speeches from other coaches these days would be much different? Gone are the days that coaches revved the team up - it's a different game now and so coaches have to be clinical in getting the message through (admitted it didn't get through). For me the jury is out on Mark Neeld but the fact that we were so poor under Bailey, interim coaches (even at the end of Daniher's reign) makes me think this is not really about the coach. The so called "Moneyball" recruiting looks like a terrible strategy... but do we really think that with Martin, Gys, Moloney, Pettard etc we would be much different this year? And drafting a number of speculative kids was not going to help us in the short term either. Without really knowing what's going on (as most of us here) I'd rather see changes from the top of the admin - McLardy, Schwab etc than Neeld. But I don't see anyone putting their hands up and can't imagine why anyone would want to.

Maybe I've missed something here. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to get Toumpas from what I have seen and read about him. But when supporters are saying part of Melbourne's deal to get Viney and Hogan is an agreement that Toumpas will be left for us at pick 4. If this were the case, why would we not have given up pick 4 rather than pick 3? Would love to be wrong but it doesn't make sense to me

Good to have something positive to read for once... Decent side on paper. Still think we need some better kickers in the backhalf - unless this improves I think Jack might stay there a bit. In terms of getting a key forward, we're obviously looking at other options in case Cloke falls through. Someone in another thread mentioned McKernan might be available from Adelaide? I might overrate him, but he seems to be able to cause a lot of damage whenever I've seen him play (admittedly not too often). I also think that Essendon have a surplus of decent forwards - with Daniher coming in, and they already have Hurley, Gumbleton, Crameri, a resting ruckman etc. If Moloney still wants to go to the dons, it might not be a bad thing to start. Would obviously cost much less than Cloke which means we might be able to make a play elsewhere.

I don't profess to have any specialist knowledge about the draft prospects... I read the reports watch a few games etc but basically I'm in the dark. However, one thing that has got me thinking is that some players seem to come on (or fall away) late in their draft year and the closer this happens to the draft the greater the weight is placed on these developments. I say this as according to many of the "experts" - whether it be Emma Quale or Knightmare or whoever, our drafting (at the time) has been considered to be pretty spot on. Obviously the Watts - Nik Nat one would be contentious whichever way we went - but picking Blease and Strauss and even when we picked Scully, Trengove, Gys and Tappscott noone said we'd made the wrong call anywhere. And then you have players like Darling (who admittedly was overlooked by everyone) despite being touted as a no.1 pick a year out from the draft. So I guess what I'm asking is whether others also think that recent form prior to the draft (a good national championship game, TAC cup final or SANFL / VFL final etc) might be looked at too closely while the rest of the info we have on these players leading up to this is thrown out? A star is a star - if they've had a couple of bad games when tagged heavily or had a year off due to injury (assuming they can make a full recovery) won't change that.

I know Terry Wallace doesn't have the greatest reputation going round but had some interesting comments on Melbourne's upcoming draft / trade period. He said we have a great opportunity to completely turn around the club in much the same way that St Kilda was able to do when they brought in Hamill, Gehrig and co while drafting a number of good kids. He said GWS wouldn't be interested in drafting Viney (not sure what he bases that on) so we should try and do a deal with GC - maybe trade pick 11 or 12 (whatever the comp pick is) and a Sylvia or Moloney for Josh Caddy (if he's still wanting to come home) and an agreement for them not to go for Viney with their first selection. If we got Cloke as well it would left with Pick 3 (Trompas? Grundy?) Pick 4 (Stringer? Wines?) Josh Caddy Jack Viney Travis Cloke That would make a difference next year!

We should go after the Collingwood recruiters NOW - Ed can't "knock off" our sponsors if we don't have any anymore!