Dees2014

That was not so with Maloney. They were universally regarded as the best clearance combination in the AFL, and were directly responsible for Jamar winning All Australian selection. It is also a bit mystifying why Brisbane don't recruit Jamar to re-ignite that combination

Oh really. I think he is no better than our current mids which is appalling...

I don't know how many here have seen the Demons train, but Watts is certainly not an elite trainer: in fact he is pretty average, and has an average engine. He may be ok in short bursts, but I doubt he could do it repeatedly. Let me say here and now I am not one of those on this site who knock JW all the time. I think he is potentially our best player and one of the elite in the AFL, but like so many on our list has been appallingly badly managed. Roos will fix this. I look forward to the day when I can look on at our training sessions and see JW exhibit an elite engine and the "bust a gut" attitude that the elite trainers on our list like Fitzy and Nicho do every time they go out to train. This also goes for the most of the rest of them. Some people on here think I go on about Fitzy a bit much. He is a man who through shere determination is close to being an outstanding player in his sport of choice in the face of serious health problems. If the likes of Watts or Bleese showed 10% of that determination we would be Premiers every year!

Disagree. I really think for us to draft yet another who can't kick accurately would be a mistake. We have simply done this too often in the past and it has cost us dearly viz Bleese, Gysberts, Jones, Garland, Macdonald, McLean, Sylvia, Matt Jones. Ben Lennon is our man: tall, big, a brilliant kick, great engine, a terrific mark, and has the best kick for goal accuracy in the draft. Do it Melbourne.

Clark, Howe, Tyson, Michie, Vince, Gawn, Bleese, Fitzy, Trengove, Grimes, Evans and hopefully Lennon. As I have said many times on here, our biggest upside is for Roos to turbo charge our current list, which I think he will do. All of these players are both talented and needed. I trust Roos and his team to turn them into champions......

Well, surely the whole point of this is that our current list needs to change and change radically. Bleese certainly has the speed but not the endurance or for that matter commitment. Trengove has the commitment but not the fitness. Toumpas has the skill but not the speed. I have included Hogan as I am hoping he plays a long leading CHF role in view of his huge engine, and plays a forward mid field role in doing so. Likewise Frawley as an attacking CHB which he used to play under Bailey. Cross, Tyson and Vince will do it anyway - that is just the way they play. All these players will need to change their ways under Roos. I hope they do, not least Sam Bleese.

Well I have been to many training sessions under Neeld and before that under Bailey, and I can tell you I have never seen anything like this at a Demons training session. It does not mean it didn't happen, and more likely under Bailey than Neeld, but certainly I have never seen them practice like this. For me it said a lot about Roos style, certainly very different to the style I have seen demonstrated at successive Demons training sessions.

This begs the question, who are our gut runners. Certainly, it bring Bleese into the frame, but also Watts, Toumpas, jones, Tyson, Grimes, Hogan, Trengove, Cross. I know everyone will say, everyone needs to get involved, and they do, but he specifically singled out a few players as key eg Jetta and Wells. Who are ours in this because one thing we lack is real pace across the ground.

Quale has already indicated who she thinks we will draft at 9 ie Lennon, and a great choice he would be. She is one journalist who usually gets it right, because she doesn't guess. She bases it on ongoing conversations she has with all clubs and draws conclusions based on their thinking. You can be pretty sure that will be the case this time, and that includes who will be drafted in the preceding picks. Lennon, IMHO, would be a great get, and would be ready to go right away. Would complete a very successful trade period for us.

And a really tough pre season. If you have seen him train, he is not the most intense trainer in the world, and lacks the big engine. He will need to develop one if he is to develop into an elite midfielder. If he does though, he would be a huge plus for us. His skill are sublime, and he would be very very difficult for others to match up on. As well as those we have recruited this year, plus Jones and Viney, if we play a fully fit Watts on the wing, Chip at CHB, and Hogan at CHF (who does have a huge engine), they will be the links which will mark our midfield really powerful. Very few other clubs have that sort of combination. It is very exciting....

I think Barratt is starting to damage his reputation. His judgement is constantly being questioned by well credentialled commentators, as well as callers to talk back. A couple of instances: 1. On trade radio he went on at some length about how unfair it was that North has to cough up pick 8 for MaDonald when the WCE indicated they would draft him with their first round pick. He said this was most unfair when the MFC got Viney at pick 26 the year before ( because of course GWS were the only ones in a position to trump us and they were not willing to draft him at pick 1 - it was also helped by the bargaining associated with the Hogan deal - many believed in fact this was part of the deal which makes it even better from our perspective.) Astute trading on our behalf. These Barratt complaints were not only canned by Wallace, but it caused a meltdown on talkback with caller after caller canning Barratt for being nong, and this was across the board not just Demon supporters. 2. Barrott kept on marking us down because he kept saying we traded pick 2 for Tyson, when in fact we traded pick two for Tyson and two pick upgrades one of which was 20 for 9. He was also canned for this by both Wallace and talk back callers. There were two or three other instances where Barratt demonstrated a staggering ignorance of how the AFL works. It would not surprise me if the powers that be do not invite him back next year as his credibility with those that know is now very low. Even the AFL eventually get sick of such blatant ignorance and incompetence.

This draft at least at the elite end is also almost entirely running mid-fielders which suits us down to the ground. Next year's draft is almost universally judged (by the so-called experts) as much stronger than this year, because it is made up of a lot of big bodied key backs and forwards, as well as some first rate very large ruck types. This could also suit us as by then we may be looking for a ruck back up for Maxy and a possible replacement for Chip Frawley, although I suspect if we do well in 2014 he will stay. This is the best year for three or four years to build our midfield because of its evenness and it's predominance of midfielders. In this, I think we have done very well, topped off by recruiting Lennon in the draft. If that happens, then I'd give our guys an A+.

Barratt is what he is: an incompetent and small minded idiot. The best way to show that is to prove it on the park. If I remember rightly, there was a cabal of Melbourne journos who has a similar attitude to the Swans when Roos first took over. He well and truly made them eat their words. We should do the same. It will be wonderful to watch, and a massive incentive to thrash North every time we play them in the future. Go Dees!

People have rapidly forgotten what an inconsistent player Sylvia was and is. No-one has accused Vince of that. In fact he is widely seen as being "a big game player". Sylvia is far from that. Further, our overwhelming need is gun mid- fielder. Vince fulfills that role far better than Sylvia, and so is a net gain for us. We must all remember that Roos looks at our total requirements and recruits accordingly. On that basis, Vince is a huge plus for us. How it could be claimed otherwise is beyond me.

SEN ranked the top three clubs trading as:1. Collingwood 2. St. Kilda 3. Melbourne To be fair to Terry Wallace, he consistently ranked us higher than Barrett, and when it was announced on Thursday that Trade Radio was going to rank trading by the clubs on Friday afternoon (with Barrott and one other - not Wallace), Wallace's words to Barrot was: "Now I hope you will be fair to the Demons, Damian". He was not joking, so it is not only Demons fans who complain about Barrott's prejudices against us.

Anybody got a recording of Terry Wallace's assessment of the Demon list on trade radio yesterday afternoon? It was excluded from the podcast which usually lasts 75mins but for some reason only went 35 mins yesterday. I understand he predicted for us 6-8 wins. If so, that is more than most posts on here from our own suporter. Interesting!

I seem to remember Roos had a very good record at Skilled against Geelong with the Swans. Perhaps one of it will rub off.

Just remember, we would not have Hogan, or if it comes to that, probably Jackson and Roos, were it not for the Scully trade. In many ways, it set the tone for the following 18 months of disaster. We are far far better off without him. If he had stayed he would have just turned into yet another highly talented, high draft pick, demon underperforming mid fielder. I understand he is in the top three at the giants in terms of contract, and is rated 5 or 6 in terms of their mid fielders. I predict he will be gone from there when his current contract runs out in a year or two and he finds out that they try a renew it at a rate 30-40% of the current one. Although having said that I understand he is in their leadership group although that is largely these days determined by the players. Not sure what that says overall.

It is a very different situation to last year. For a start we have an administration, and coach who know what they are doing. We can be sure that come game day, this team will get the most out of what we have. The old admin did leave the basis of a good backline, and a forward line. What they didnt do is bring along a well coached high number of first round draft pick group, so particularly our on-ball group is disfunctional, which we are fixing by trading and by bringing along talented key players who have chronically under performed: Trengove; Watts; Grimes; Bleese; Toumpas; Evans; Howe; Viney; Byrnes; Fitzpatrick; Gawn; both Jones etc, etc. That is very very different from last year. The upside is huge - it would need to be given the position we found ourselves in.

Brisbane, given Maloney's presence. Neither of them have been as effective since they have not played together. It would be a cheap and very beneficial investment for them, particularly given brisbane's difficulties in keeping players. Are there any which we would be interested?

Rjamar will be traded

I like this one very much, except after a full preseason I would have Gawn ahead of jamar.. I think you have used our new recruits very wisely. I think we will draft Lennon at 9, in which case I would move howe to FP, drop Evans, and put Lennon on the flank. Otherwise couldn't fault this.

Clark, Hogan, Grimes, Fitzy, Howe, Frawley, Garland, Dawes, - need I go on? The point I'm making is that there is a huge upside in our current list if it is coached and led like an elite team should be. It will be, and that is where most of the improvement will come from. The injection of good draft choices is the cream, and will fill our biggest void which is our midfield, and will be the glue which makes our very good forward and back half perform up to their potential. The prospects are very good.

And Essendon, who will be bottom after they lose half their players

Lennon has several attributes the other mid fielders in the draft don't have: he is taller than most of them (188cm) and is an excellent overhead mark good in traffic and hard at the ball, but good outside as well as well as having very quick hands and is quite quick for a tall man is an excellent set shot for goal as well as a long accurate kick is building an engine to become an elite mid fielder, but at the moment is a specialist HFF. I think he would be perfect for us