Deecisive

but those stats were comparing him to his fellow melbourne players, how well did his stats measure up against other midfielders in the competition? I dont know how many times I saw multiple opposition players with 30+ stats but could not find a melbourne player with 20+

Neeld has solved the main areas of concern with our forward line, we now should have the players to contest, mark and kick goals, if its not marked then we should have a couple of crumbers available who can gather the ball and kick goals. The mids do need work, but while many feel our backline is our best line it still has a lot of work to do. We had trouble all year getting the ball out of the backline when the press was on and I would love to see stats of goals against us from stupid turnovers in the back half. We need someone like Ray to help break the lines. As for the ruck, I hope Jamar still has something to give, a few of the games I saw he was pretty ineffectual in the ruck, we didnt get first touch to the ball often and when we did our mids were too slow to get rid of it.

Neeld and the team must be reassessing our ruck strengths based on the changes to the rules, they must be thinking about Jamars lack of spring and what that will do to our chances of getting first hand on the ball. These changes may actually generate some interest in Martin as the rule change will probably suit him. As for Martins fitness, if I recall correctly he used to be a basketballer who came to football later in life, i would think then his best is yet to come, give him a good preseason, fewer injuries and do a dawes with him, i.e. play him in one spot then I think he could flourish.

Only way to find out if we paid overs or unders is on the field next year.

Swapping of late picks may not be an issue, especially if that was something that we were to trade to North for Pederson, also this year we may see a few more reasonable players delisted by all clubs so we maybe able to pickup some good talent there at a bargain price.

Good pickup, may have paid overs but his an important piece in our forward structure, need a big gorilla able to monster collingwood backs, while his form this year was not brilliant he is young enough and hopefully determined enough to turn it around.

I can not agree that we have good inside midfield Jones is reasonable, stands out in out team, but not a star, has to learn how to pretend to punch the ball once he falls on it and is tackled. McKenzie is a tagger not really an attacker, Silvia, hmmm best position is half forward is not consistent enough for the midfield in my opinion. and Trengrove is still learning, not a great year this year. We need insides and outside midfielders any of the 3 would be a great addition and probably be starting first game with Viney, I wish we could get two decent mids, but we will probably need to give away our 20th pick for Dawes, so may need to go with a recylced player like Rodan which maybe enough to get us through the year.

Melbourne's rebuilding is still a work in progress, we have pulled together some very good forwards that as mentioned above should stand us in good stead for a good while. We have a couple of good midfielders coming in and hopefully we will see some lift from others around in other positions, if not then they now know that they will not delisted or traded. I believe we should be aiming by the end of next year to be playing the type of football Neeld has said we will. That we will be showing promise of what our players can do to the public in general attracting more supporters and that we will be a more attractive home to other players, having said that its not as if too many if any of the targets that we have been going after have knocked us or our $$ back. The inclusion of several players who have always barracked for the Dees is a bonus as this will hopefully inspire a greater sense of belonging and purpose. Go Dees lets hope that 2013 will be the start of a decade of great football for Melbourne.

Dawes added to the forward line now means Melbourne can go longer into the 50, less backward kicking, more direct play (even if it is along the boundary). The inclusion of so many good players will definitely lift the spirits and the effort from our other players, looking forward to a rebuilt and revitalised Melbourne next year.

GC and GWS will find it hard to keep players, they already have a few home sick kids and others who are not happy with a few stars getting all the $$'s, bless you Tom Scully. They will also need to start to trim their lists soon, and will need to release players to draft new players. Other clubs will circle them like vultures next year and pluck them senseless. I heard a rumour that Ablett wanted to return to Vic at the end of his contract I'm sure others will go the same way.

So if the compo pick is supposed to be representative of the nett loss due to players leaving a club, does that mean if we lost Bate, Rivers, Maloney and someone else, then subtract Brynes does that mean we get a 1st draft pick for the nett loss, and would such a pick be after our initial pick 3, after all the saints are calling for their compo pick to be immediately after their first round pick?

Clark has proven himself more than capable at ground level to suggest otherwise is foolish. Neeld WANTS a big forward to help Mitch out (dont we all) Pederson is an option, but probably has not really been tested in a key attacking position week in week out, Dawes has worked in that space so knows the drills, and how not crowd his fellow forwards, etc.. he provides body contact and create contests at centre half forward so that we dont see the ball bouncing straight back out of of our 50 and down the other end. Obviously if Dawes does not want to come across we want to have a contingency plan, Gumbleton is a posibility for that contingency role so they are talking to him. good thinking, if you dont have a backup plan should you fail on your primary target(s) then you will soley be relying on whats in the draft pool, which could be someone fantastic but given we will probably take a quality mid with no 4 that leaves us to pick someone good at 20 there may not be any reasonable talls in pool by then, or if so they may not be worth pick 20. So recruit one or two now and also hope you pick up more in the draft.

Enough of the baloney on Moloney, the guy made his own bed and now has to lay in it, everyone sees his value regardless of what Melbourne has or has not said against him. Moloney's worth will be judged on his past performance and the offer obviously put to him by Brisbane, if they are paying him peanuts then compensation is likely to be low. he had a great year last year that will count and the fact that he had a bad year this year because he could not meet Neeld's game plan does not necessarily mean that he is a bad player, but rather one (of many) that does not fit our new game plan and one that wants to go from the club. Obviously him wanting to go helped us decide not to waste time playing him unless he was keen which he wasnt too often. what ever we get for him is better than nothing because if no one took him up he would probably have just disappeared into the draft or off to the VFL, resulting in zero compo. We have had a most excellent draft so far, and hopefully the trend will continue, I have a lot more faith in the trading team now after the Hogan deal which I believe gives us scope to draft two more good players with 4 and 20. I think Barry's value in the draft increased significantly after his testing and the Dees did well to get him included in the trade. Interest now is in who else they sign up and who else unfortunately needs to go. Frankly the club has needed a good clean for a while, too many players coasting, this sweep out should put them on notice perform or look for somewhere else to coast. Glad we have a coach and support team not affraid to do make the hard decisions, and sadly we must thank past coaches and players for our previous poor performances that resulted in us getting some bargaining power in this draft.

Let dawes go to the dogs, he would be getting too expensive for us, for what we want, no point paying overs in the HOPE that he can recapture form. A few clubs including us still need to delist, so some more good average players maybe available soon. Pederson would be a good pickup you would expect at a reasonable price. Just need to do a couple more swaps over the next couple of weeks, then the draft.... Hopefully we may get another decent compo draft pick for Baloney and others who may depart under FA.

Can anyone remember who the Brisbane Lions chose with the draft pick we gave them for Clark?

Hogan, Viney and Wines are all melbourne supporters so great to see we are attracting quality players who WANT to play for OUR club. GWS will take lots of good youngans from this draft and good quality youngans will be hanging out in the two's looking for a game come this time next year everyone will descend on their list like vultures. Their recruiting strategy of just getting the best playsers they can through the door will probably destroy them once concession time is over and $$'s are dangled in front of them.

I would not mind Hogan, Wines, Viney, all Melbourne supporters in the team that would probably introduce a lot more passion and leadership into the team. As for GWS if they weren't interested in Barry its of no concern to them to chuck him in as a sweetner as long as they get 3rd pick its not as if its costing them anything to do so. I must say I do like the way this draft is going so far for the Dees.... keep it going boys.... thought of possibly adding Ray, Pederson and Dawes if he can be bought across for a reasonable price to the time is exciting... This will be a very different team next year and the year after. So how many days to footy season?

I guess you have to look at the context of defensive, is that defensive like the swans lock it in, ball up, lock it in, ball up, or defensive like Hawthorn, Geelong and Collingwood i.e. if the opposition gets the ball they better get ready to be tackled. Melbourne for me plays too much zoned football looking for easy kicks, and dont trust each other enough to kick to a contest, so we kick across goals, turn it over and go down another goal. I would like to see a competitive melbourne not giving an inch, i.e. no easy kick ins around the boundary, seen footscray run it from kick in down for a goal too many times without a melbourne player getting a touch. Neeld's sentiment is excellent just need to make sure the game plan is our own using the strengths of our players and not just a carbon copy of Collingwoods.

Hopefully we can keep pick 13 for another good draft pick, trade 45 for Ray and use compo for Maloney or Rivers for Dawes, though if our luck is still with us maybe we can traded someone for Dawes or Ray thereby preserving these other draft picks. Now that would be a bonza draft.

Too many choices.... Not a lot between Toumpas and Wines by the look of it. I do like the idea that Wines and Viney have played a lot of footy together, are both ferociously competitive and love the Dees. With the closeness of players tagging these days, I think I would prefer stronger body Dustin Martin type over players who maybe a little faster, as you have to get the ball before you can run with it.

Getting Pederson should reduce any perceived desperation to get dawes so it may help collingwood come to their senses, but then again we are talking about eddie, nah he will still insist on pick 4 just for dawes

Looks as if he has lost his mojo and does not know how to get it back. I hope he does he would be great linking up with our new midfield next year and other crumbing forwards

Can we get someone in the trading department call the suns and see if we can interview a couple of their star midfield players, maybe ask how long Garry has on his contract, just in case they consider nominating viney as their first pick?

This is a suggested deal that appeals to both Melbourne and Collingwood, Collingwood would obviously like pick 4 for their two super star discards, while Melbourne needs to keep the discussions open and insisting pick 26 before possibly going down to pick 13. I personnally think Collingwood is more desperate to off load them than we are to take them with low picks. I like the fact that Eddie is probably salivating over Collingwood having draft pick 4 and welly is saying No, No, No. Must be playing havoc with eddies blood pressure. I doubt anyone from Melbourne would seriously consider both the above discards for pick 4. While we definitely need to rebuild our team this needs to be done over several years and drafts so we need to keep an eye on future drafts (and mini drafts) to see what we believe we can gain from those that provides us with a long term options. The draft and trade may shake out some other forwards who can fill the Key forward position until we can get Hogan or another up and coming forward. Eddie keep on dreaming, Welly keep thinking WA, WA, WA... I like the idea of wellingham but not if he does not want to play for us, and we need to remember its easier to get good stats when you are in a quality team that shares and delivers does not mean he can reproduce that in our team.

The fact that he cannot kick is not too big a problem at the moment as most of our guys cann't mark so its a lot easier if he just kicks it somewhere where they can run onto it. Which is why we need to get midfielders who can run harder so that we can actually get tp it first.