Lampers

I managed to catch around the first half hour as a (prolonged) break from my morning jog. Observations: Hogan is huge in the body for a 17 year-old. Dawes is definitely taller than him, so don't know if Dawes (193cm) is taller than listed, or Hogan (varies, but last I saw was 195cm) id shorter than listed. He was jogging laps with Dawes and Gawn. All the new draftees were there. Toumpas looks reasonable broad across the shoulders and should fill out. They were separate from the group and did some drills including a rapid fire catch and handpass drill off a net. Toumpas was super clean in this drill, Matt Jones good and only fumbled one I saw, Terlich was pretty fumbly, and I wasn't watching when Kent had his turn. They also did 15 metre kick-to-kick and M. Jones didn't need to move a muscle for Toumpas' kicks to him. Barry, Evans and Grimes ran laps not in the main group. Sylvia and Watts were paired together for what looked like 200 metre sprints, but only did half distance. There was one player definitely over 200cm that I didn't recognise. He later joined the new draftees, presume he was an "invitation to train" rookie list possibility. I can't think of any listed player that wasn't out there doing something today (although not all in main group training). I've got some video of the team running past when paired up, will see if I can get it off my phone and up here.

Disagree that it's not about getting anything into the club - it's about getting an intangible, which is a good culture. I've worked in three different workplaces with very different cultures. It's taught me a few things: * A talented employee with the wrong attitude can be a cancer * Tone from the top is vital and is the only real way to change a culture * An engaged, enthusastic (albeit limited) employee is valuable At the end of the day, Melbourne is a workplace, and the players are employees of Neeld and his team. When there is an overwhelming culture of hard work, not shirking the contest, sticking to the team rules, players who in the looser culture of the last decade plus would've done their own thing - hopefully now a player prone to do that will tow the line. The team should be better for it - I hope!

If rebuild through early draft picks was the only answer, we wouldn't be where we are today. While Pick 3 or 4 for Dawes and Wellingham seems steep, there is something to be said for acquiring known quantaties in exchange for a risk (i.e. draft pick spent on a player only tested against other underage players). Plenty of top 10 draft picks have been duds in the past, there is no guarantee. When you look at Sydney and Geelong, they are not littered with high draft pick players. They have a culture that breeds success and develops players to the best of their abilities. I'd love to have our cake and eat it too, but what price do you put on bringing in a culture that should lead to better returns on the whole playing list's abilities? I'd trust Neeld to know what Dawes' true abilities, potential, leadership and work ethic is. I don't rate Dawes on the field, but he'd still be the 2nd best tall forward on our list... The other point would be when talk of trades have got out in the past, they often end up being half true. The draft pick is the wrong one, or there are other picks to even it out, or another player involved. Given what I've heard about Neeld, he rates attitude higher than talent. Right or wrong, I believe most of the moves this period that may leave us scratching our heads will be around moving out players with the "wrong" attitude, and bringing in players with the "right" attitude. If at the end of this period Melbourne have brought in 4 or 5 definite first 22 players with mature bodies and around 100 games experience, that will be massive for onfield competitiveness in 2013 and will probably mean double the wins.

Once there is a better feel for the level of compensation received after losing a free agent, the merits of trading a player the year before free agency eligibility will become clearer. If a player is one year away from becoming a free agent and choosing the destination of their choice at the salary of their choice (assuming they are a sought after player), why would they agree to a trade anyway? And if a rival club knows they could wait a year and get the player for "free", why would they offer a fair trade?