low down

not sure if anyone has posted. liking this: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-recruit-dom-tyson-shares-traits-with-simon-black/story-fni5f91a-1226742492004?from=herald+sun_rss

1. take boyd to build the forward line with hogan and Clark. 2. trade Watts to the highest bidder (keep Howe). 3. with pick 3, 19, the Watts pick select young midfielders to go with Viney, Toumpas, Jones, Trengove. do NOT give up Boyd for a quick fix for our midfield. dont worry about having too many talls in the forward line. Hawthorn's forward line regularly features Buddy, Roughy, Hale and Gunston - it seems to work for them.

i'm right behind PJ, and can see the merit in all his points. though while we're talking 'culture', i cant help noticing that we seem also to have a 'culture' - in recent times at least - of bringing in 'strong leaders' who immediately tell us how unprofessional and inept the previous administration was and that what is required is a complete 'rebuild' of whatever department is seen to be 'the problem' (with the ensuing requests for supporters to show patience while this occurs). i have faith that this time the rebuild will work, but then I had faith in previous architects of major change too ...

thanks Old Dee. Sylvia is still serving his suspension - should be back next week.

i think that of all the available coaches, Roos did the most with the least. his teams played pretty ugly footy though from memory. ross lyon sort of stuff. Clarkson had has been lucky enough to coach a dreamteam for most of his tenure yet has managed one flag - its hard to be confident he'd achieve much with our list. its a bit left field but i like Ratten. when his players weren't injured (they were smashed with injuries last year) he was a pretty reasonable coach who the players seemed to play for. like neeld he focused too much on every statistic but the win/loss column, but thats a bit the modern way and i tend to think a 'modern' yet 'experienced' coach might be the best way to go...

Former North Melbourne great Wayne Carey says Denis Pagan can turn Melbourne around Thoughts?

makes for pretty depressing reading... im sort of coming around to the idea that Bailey was a reasonable coach that the players liked, but didnt get the side fit enough. Neeld seems to be the opposite - he has got the side fit but he aint a great coach and the players (some of them anyway) either dont like him or have picked up that his coaching skills dont pass muster...

not sure if this has appeared elsewhere: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-05-21/injuries-take-toll-on-strugglers this list does not take into account 2013 injuries to players who were not there last year (i.e. Dawes, Viney). Number of games missed by top 10 players in club's 2012 best and fairest 23 Gold Coast 22 Western Bulldogs, Melbourne 21 GWS, Port Adelaide 16.5 Collingwood* 16 St Kilda 15 Carlton 14 Adelaide, Essendon 11 Brisbane Lions 9 Fremantle 8 Geelong 8 Richmond* 7 North Melbourne 6 Hawthorn, West Coast 2 Sydney Swans

horrified by the burgeoning length of this latest rebuild, which in my view was of very dubious necessity. however, one positive of the last few weeks is that there seems to be a bit more 'buy-in' from the players. in recent times the following players appear to have demonstrated that they are on-board with Neeld - Dawes, Clark, Garland, Sylvia - and are showing a bit of leadership as a result .

i wish ollie wines the best, but i cant say it wasnt killing me watching him tear it up in the first few rounds. its a mild relief to see he's come back to the pack somewhat. now to get Toumpas on the park... http://www.sportsfan.com.au/dump-/-grab-/-carry-round-7/tabid/91/newsid/106256/default.aspx

me too DemonWA - 100%. have fallen for it everytime and will again. Hope is the only positive commodity in which the MFC has traded in the last 7 years.

was at the President's Lunch yesterday and Jackson was asked about next year - he certainly wasnt ruling it out. i got the sense he was up for it but needed to run it past his boss (i.e. wife)... no firm basis for this conclusion though, just observation.

Sylvia - 3 weeks. wont help.

why aren't these pieces being written about scully, who is only a year behind Watts and on double the salary? or Matthew Kreuzer for that matter? in the week before Round 1 Robbo said Watts would be an all-Australian backman this year - admittedly it was his 'big call' for the year on SEN but he was by no means laughed at making the suggestion. Luke Hodge - No 1 draft pick in 2001 - got his first and only All Australian selection in 2008. Watts hasnt started well but he's played 2 games in a woeful side. he certainly isnt alone. how old is Watts again? i can deal with Petterd holding down a half back flank in the undefeated tigers (sort of), but if we lose the 22 year old Watts at the end of this year it will be a terrible, terrible error.

do you know when can we expect Jordie back DeeZee? i thought he was a late withdrawal for essendon but doesnt seem to have played for MFC or Casey in Round 3? does anyone know where Dawes is at while we're at it?