Dees2014

Jeremy Howe, with good guidance from Roos, and taking the 4th back, will kick 40

Essendon will be a basket case all year and for some time to come; Brisbane don't even have a coach and a stable President and board and at least 6 of their key players want to leave; Gold Coast mid list at best with a number of their young guns wanting to return to Melbourne at the end of their initial three year contract; Collingwood's going backwards and about to have a clean-out; Richmond will be seriously wounded by the finals exit and I think will take a long time to recover; Carlton are front runners and will be as flaky as usual with their only big forward 32 and wounded. There is every chance a disciplined, focussed club can sneak into the 8 in the bottom four. why not us?

Interestingly, the current odds for Demons making the top 8 from the bookies is 10/1. That has come in from about 30 at the end of the season and about 50 half way through the season. It still puts us 17th, but at least the bookies have us improving, and fast. I think a fair reflection of where we are at. Anyone got any other information. Might put something on at 20/1 if it is around....

No chance. One of the rat pack with dodgy connections. Doesn't in any way fit the Roos culture criteria. Not a chance that will be compromised. Not a chance!

Well guys - surprise surprise, all the other clubs are against getting another pick, the Age poll is against us, Eddie is against us, I guess the queen of sheeba is as well.Get used to it. As we become more successful, as we will do over the next year or so, everyone who thinks they can get a leg up will focus on how unfair the AFL rescue mission was. It is the old squeaky wheel syndrome. We will know when we become a powerhouse when they argue about our game and not our club weakness. Oh and by the way, when you need to worry is when they are not talking about you ( because that means you are irrelevant) rather than when you are.suddenly, we are getting a lot of attention. Why? Because we are now a danger which needs to be eliminated by fair means or foul. Well that's a pleasant change! Our aim should be to become untouchable and so strong that we cannot be intimidated. hawthorn is the model. When the merger was mooted, they were strong on the field, but almost broke. They got out of that. We can too by innovative, disciplined and creative administration. Once we become a viable, strong, and prosperous business, they will target how unfair our intimidatory forward line is, rather than whether they think they can push us over by buying our players, and pointing to our bank balance. No one questions the right of Carlton, Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn to exist,f but they do us. It is up to us, with the short term help of the AFL to get out of it. And we will. And sooner than we all think.

Good, thoughtful post. I agree Petterd would be handy down back, maybe frees Grimes up to go more on the ball. The ones I think have had the greatest impact on the team have been the loss of Jurrah and Wonnamiri. When both of them were fit, firing and in the right mind set they could turn a game, and Austin was a seriously good crumbling forward who could fit perfectly in our forward line next year. Likewise, a fit, mentally and physically, Liam Jurrah. Their return won't happen of course, but in terms of the losses which have hurt us the most, I would nominate those two. Ironically, neither loss was the fault of the club (in fact quite the opposite), which is more than you can say for the rest.

Sometimes you have to look behind these sorts of comments from journalists. Usually they ape the club they support. The most recent example of that was the way mark Robinson in the herald sun and on AFL360 for so long refused to face up to the Essendon drug scandal and Hird's central role in it, and was continually scooped by Caroline Wison in the Age and Patrick Smith in the Australian - to Gerard Whateley's continuing embassassment on AFL360. Frankly it is beyond me why Robinson still has a job. He is a lightweight. With Barrot, I dont know who he supports but I suspect Collingwood or Hawthorn - the two Melbourne clubs most vocally against additional MFC assistance. He is a [censored], but not a very influential one. I don't think he is worth the time of day frankly. Let's move on, get continuing and building success, and that will just make the Barrotts of this world even more angry and resentful. And that I'm sure will please all of us.

The major point of my post was we do have the basis of a quality mid field, it is just they have been so badly developed, led and coached the upside for Roos and his assistants is very high. By drafting mature age mids using more high draft picks could leave us in a very good position, particularly given Roos proven ability to pick quality mature age players and blend them into his game plan

Some of you may be interested in this reply I posted on "theroar" website in response to a smart-Alec posting from some disgruntled supporter, probably bomber or magpie is my guess. http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/09/07/how-will-the-paul-roos-era-unfold-at-melbourne/ I was making the case out ( as the article did as well) as to why we would get at least 10 wins next year. Indeed when you have a really good look at our position I concluded we may well make the 8. It was more encouraging than I had imagined. Whilst some of the thing in the post may not be 100% accurate, I think the conclusion is quite valid. I would be interested to know what others think. Here is my post: "BS - you sound like a grumpy, bitter Bomber fan, or should that now read Magpie fan. I think before you start criticizing the author, you should do your homework. It is indeed very possible the Demons will get ten wins next year - indeed it would not surprise me if they made the eight. They have class backs in Garland, Frawley, McDonald and Grimes, a potentially one of the best, biggest and most mobile forward set ups in the league in Clark, Dawes, Hogan, Howe, Fitzpatrick and Watts. And some very high draft picks who have been very badly coached but are immense talents. I refer to toumpas, viney, grimes, watts , sylvia, Bleeze and Trengove, all of whom will be on the ball next year ( in more ways than one!) at various times next year. A coach like Roos will bring all of those up to A grade level which they all have that ability to be - all were top ten picks and all have chronicly underperformed and had over several seasons of being thrashed every week had their confidence shot to pieces. Throw in Jones into that mix (the club's most consistent player) and you start to see an elite mid field forming. In 21 year old 6'10 Max Gawn, the second biggest big man in the league after Sandilands, and one of the most mobile, and 22 years old 6' 7" Jack Fitzpatrick, one of the fastest players at the club over 50 meters and who is just recovering from CFS, and diabetes (I think). He has shown in the second half of the year why he was regarded as one of the best schoolboy footballers in the country before he became ill, and has the potential to develop into a quality ruck/forward. Alternatively, because of his devastating speed and his strength, some at melbourne talk about (dream about) him on a one wing and 6'5" Jack Watts, also one of the fastest runners at the club, on the other - both almost impossible match ups for oppositions. Add to that Mark Jamar, an all Australian ruckman just 4 years ago, and you start to see a strong mobile force. Further, the club looks like having two picks in the first dozen, and three in the first 20 which gives them the chance to trade for quality, mature age midfielders, and maybe class crumbing forward, which Roos says he is prepared to do in the ND and PSD. Would be icing on the cake.... With quality coaching and good leadership on and off the field (which with the help of the AFL) has now been put in place, I have no doubt the Demons will bounce back and bounce back hard under Paul Roos' astute coaching and leadership. Roos is a very astute man. He would not have gone into this if he thought it was a basket case. It isn't, and it won't be. Fortunately, none of the rest of the competition has woken up yet."

Yes, Neil Craig is a quality guy, and a good coach. I hope he lands the Brisbane job who have apparently interviewed him. I'm sure he will leave a positive legacy at the MFC, one of the few over the last two years.

I disagree. Dawes has shown more at Melbourne than he showed at Collingwood IMO (aka Mitch Clark), it is just he doesn't seem to be on the park enough. Collingwood would have loved to have had Dawes in their Finals campaign I'm sure. Would have been much better than Lynch. The other thing that Dawes does is he bring great leadership to the club, and we are very short of mature good leaders, particularly with finals experience.

Buckley was not a terrible choice, but the combination of Buckley and Eddie is poisonous, even though Eddie was responsible for replacing Malthouse with Buckley in the first place. Maybe he didnt expect him to be such a strong leader.Eddie is all about short term performance and is very reluctant to move on key players who are disastrous for club culture eg Swan, Thomas, Didak, Krackeou and about four others - the so called Magpie rat pack. All of them keep very dodgy company. Epitome of the "d____k h_____d" culture which Paul Roos so successfully declared war on at the Swans. Until Eddie looks more at the long term they will be destined to have numerous repeats of Saturday. By his press conference, you would have to infer that Buckley thinks he now has the power to clean them out. Plenty of clubs will look for opportunities here, fortunately now that we have Roos we won't be one of them. The culture is so important to developing a winning mind set for him. With a reported $4.5m on offer over 4 years from Carlton to an injury plagued Dale Thomas it looks like the Blues will be an early fall guy of it. Bring it on I say, bring it on.

I think it is more than reasonable that Colin should want to play finals football successfully in his career. His problem is that he would be no more than a fringe player in the like of the Swans, Hawks or Cats. he is no Jarrad Rivers. We would certainly not get a first round pick for him, more like third i would have thought on current form and unfulfilled promise over a whole career. Clearly, Roos sees potential as he does on much of our list, but that is all it is. Colin has very little value out there at the moment, and he should realise that in sides in the top four, no matter what they may say to him in getting him across. He would be far better staying with us on say a three year contract, learn under Roos how to be an A-grader (which i have no doubt he could be), and play in the finals series next year or the year after and be part of a Premiership in 2016. He will not get that at any other club. One further note, the two years we have had priority picks, if Col leaves we will have one left - Jack Trengove. Scully, Mclean left, Sylvia potentially out the door. What does that say for the system, or more particularly the unique incompetence of the Melbourne Football Club. Can we name any other club where that has occurred. I think not.

People change their mind. I hear from some Crows contacts that he is going to be traded and those showing interest are mostly Melbourne clubs which he is comfortable with. Now I wonder who that might be?

Two words - Jack Watts. Roos clearly sees him as a mid-fielder(see his Herald-Sun article from a month or so ago). He has also said what he (Watts) needs more than anything is a position and stick to it for a while. He would be extremely difficult to match up on particularly after a hard pre-season. I'd like to throw a"left field" suggestion for the other wing. jack Fitzpatrick. Another hard matchup, but he has the speed and could well develop into something awesome in that position, particularly with our forward half crowded with the likes of Dawes, Hogan, Clark, Howe. And possibly Sylvia.

I'd add Blues, Bombers, Lions, Tigers, Eagles, Crows. That puts us in the eight. Easy really!

They have fallen off the pace because of their unbelievably large injury list, many to key players. They will be back this week. Carlton will not get a look in. I still predict Swans will again make the GF. I think you are a bit hard on Buckley. He gives me the impression of someone who knows exactly what needs to be done but is not allowed off the lease because Eddie wants above all else short term success. Collingwood certainly has no Paul Roos style "no dh's" policy, and they desperately need one. Reading between the lines of what Buckley said at his post game news conference that is exactly what they will get no matter whether Eddie wants it or not. You can name the "rat pack" - everyone of them dh's - Swann, Didak, even I understand from a Collingwood insider - Thomas. One very fortunate thing about this is under Roos I'm sure we will not be tempted to trade for any of them. Under our previous administrations, I'm sure we would have been first in there, but to be fair I would in no way put Chris Dawes in that category who seems in every way, a quality individual.

Neeld in particular, but Bailey also, burnt some good players through neglectful management and poor player development. Which ones would we like back (assuming for market prices)? I suspect some would be delighted to be part of a successful demons era

I think you should examine closely what Roos said. Specifically, he wants two or three senior assistants who are all capable of taking over and the best one gets the job. It is pretty simple really. Is done all the time in the corporate world. It is call succession planning.We will not know who the next Demon coach is for at least 2 to 2 1/2 years in my opinion, but there will be endless speculation. Get used to it. IMO I suspect Roos wants eventually to end up CEO, and I think he would make an excellent one. He is clearly a very ambitious man. It would not surprise me if that was part of the negotiation. Roos for PJ in three years time would make a lot of sense. Maybe we should (will) send him to the 3 month Harvard mini MBA over one summer. PJ and the new Chairman obviously did something that the others chasing him did not (could not) do. He has consistently said it was the "total package" and the succession arrangement which got him across the line. Great for him, and fantastic for the Demons.

The blues have a chronic shortage of quality big forwards. I reckon they will be after Fitz. We might trade him for the right mid, or small forward. They question is which one? Betts? Garlett? I think either would be a fair trade for Fitz although I would be sorry to see him go just as he is getting his health right and is finding form. We do have though plenty of quality tall forwards if we can keep them on the park. Any GWS or GCS who want to come home?

How about getting Scotty Thompson back from Adelaide? Seems like a good idea to me...

The Dons got Goddard through free agency. Why can't we get something similar? We now have all of a sudden a very attractive destination for them. Something we can sell. I would not be surprise if we got some pretty good standard recruits from this eg Sewell, Thomas,

You watch, he will under Roos. I bet...

Yes, I think Voss makes a lot of sense. It gives him the apprenticeship he never had from a master coach, and he has shown enough this year under difficult circumstances and a grossly under-resourced football department that he has great leadership qualities. The other thing I'd say is that the way PR explained the plan is his preference would be to have two or three senior assistants vying for the top job and then they chose the best, and Roos would then take a management and Director of Football role at the club. how about he becomes PJ's successor? Now that would make a pleasant change - a CEO who knows something about football. I tell you, we are starting a revolution here... Makes a lot of sense to me...

Fitzy, Big Max, Hoges and the star studded forward line. While we are at it, why don't we get moloney back and right the wrong with Ollie Wines