deelusions from afar

God I hope Richmond win!

Says in the age today that GWS will be looking for a ruckman at the end of the year with Jamar supposedly on their list. I feel the game has passed him (esp with the new ruck rules) but is it really worth trading one of our only senior players at the club - even for a reasonable pick? Much of our problems today seem to stem from our lack of senior players / leadership Robertson, White, Yze, McDonald, Rivers, Moloney (I'm not saying we made the wrong call on all of them) - it can't be creating a good culture if none of our players finish their careers at the club or feel their careers have been ruthlessly cut short. Or can it? How do other clubs manage this? We seem to do it particularly badly.

And was surprised hearing his response re Dermie's comments. He obviously had not heard about it. I'm sure someone at the club would be aware but at the very least he will probably bring it to the leadership group. If there is anyone that hasn't been taking their recovery session seriously - they will be from now on.

Apologies in advance if other people think this is merely duplicating what others have said in other threads. But there have been so many duplicate negative threads recently (with just cause) that I thought this warranted its own. It's our darkest days at the moment. I know we've been promised that the light at the end of the tunnel is near & are sick of the spin going into every new season... but this guy is a light in a virtually starless sky. When he was chosen as co-captain, I thought it was because Grimes had not been able to string a full season together (prior to last year) and they did not want to be playing without a captain most weeks. Trengove had obvious leadership qualities but was very young as we all know. In hindsight and from afar, it looks as though Jones and Clark would have made good (perhaps better?) captains. However we don't see the day to day workings at the club and so watching this interview, I got a glimpse as to why he is one of our captains. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2013-04-17/recovery-claims-untrue-trengove He's what 21? Considering the media pack that is swarming around us at the moment, the composure he shows in that interview gives me confidence. He's on message and his determination and steely resolve in the direction we are going shines through. He's missed the pre-season and has been slammed from pillar to post for being too young to lead by people that couldn't actually have any real idea. His form and speed were disappointing last year (maybe due to injury) and the start of the season has been tumultuous for the club - but he stood there, answered all the questions without giving them the "quote" for another negative article. I used to cringe when hearing previous captains such as Green or Neitz spoke to the media. I don't with Trengove and have equal faith in Grimes. Now of course the obvious response is that this counts for zip if he/they can't lead on the field. But they can. With no pre-season, he's got better with each game. He was down last year but (as all the coaches said so many times last year) he lead the team in nearly all the defensive indicators and his work rate was good despite getting less of the ball. People forget that many teams had him as the #1 pick in 2009 for being able to do it all and despite what you think of our ability to develop young players, in Trengove I see the same focus and desire to be the best he can be that Nathan Jones had when he started. We all know how much Jones has improved and I think Trengove has more raw talent / potential than Jones did. Similarly Grimes captained a team that had Kruezer and Cotchin in it - he can play! We've been getting killed in the midfield - can't be an easy place to be playing for a young footballer - but with Gawn knocking on the door, Trengove and Blease getting fitness back, Sylvia finding form (can he do it every week?), return of McKenzie and the injection of M Jones, Terlich, Kent, Evans, Viney & Toumpas we might not be as far away as some think. It's amazing how much better your attack and defence look when your midfield improves. I still think Trengove was unfairly thrown to the wolves in being made captain so early in his career, but with all he's been through outwardly he shows no signs of it affecting him. Perhaps it has made him stronger - made him grow up much faster than what would normally be expected of a young AFL player. With Grimes, Jones, Clark and Viney around him we have a good young leadership group who are selfless, tough and uncompromising - these guys can and will change the culture of the club.

Might have been mentioned elsewhere, but Footy Classified last night highlighted the impact Adelaide ruckman Sam Jacobs (lack of) form is having on his team. Obviously not having Tippett to help Walker hurts but the fact is, their midfield hasn't been anywhere near as good as last year so far. They are down massively on hitouts and clearances particularly centre clearances. The flow on effects are that their midfield (with the likes of Thompson, Dangerfield, Sloan etc) are having less impact even their rising star defender is looking 2nd rate so far with the amount of pressure he is under. We would kill to have some of the A grade talent they have in the midfield and yet when they are not getting first use of the ball, their problems are similar to Melbourne's (albeit nowhere near as bad). I think if we were able to break even in this part of the ground or at least nullify our opponents in this area, the scoreboard will be much closer. I think at this stage of his career Gawn is being unfairly overhyped... but he may be able to make a contest of it in there in way that Jamar cannot.

We've been to hell, it's time to come back

Who's the Matt that he didn't want to answer a question from?

I've heard Caro, Neil Mitchell, Gerard Whatley among others go after Schwab today - I get the feeling if he or McLardy do not go and Neeld is sacked they will turn up the heat on Schwab beyond 11.

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!