Season 2017 - Melbourne

Football Discussion Non Essendon Stuff
1

Melbourne

Coach – Simon Goodwin

2016 –
Points For – 10th
Points Against – 10th

Top 5 Best and Fairest

  1. Jack Viney
  2. Nathan Jones
  3. Max Gawn
  4. Dom Tyson
  5. Jack Watts

2016 Rising Star Noms

Clayton Oliver (Round 1)
James Harmes (Round 7)
Christian Petracca (Round 9)
Oscar McDonald (Round 21)

Ins – Michael Hibberd, Pat McKenna, Jordan Lewis, Mitch Hannan, Dion Johnstone, Lachlan Filipovic, Tim Smith, Declan Keilty

Outs – Jack Grimes, Matt Jones, Lynden Dunn, Chris Dawes, Ben Newton, Viv Michie, Max King, Hertier Lumumba

My Prediction

They have been building towards finals for a long time. Every year they are picked to be the big improver and the last few they have shown glimpses, they have improved but just not enough. They feel a little to me like a team that does a lot of things well but none of them brilliantly.

I don’t rate their backline parrticularly highly. Feels too short and too reliant at the KP level on too few. Tom McDonald looked the goods two years ago but his development slowed last year. Oscar looked the goods in patches last year. They need the McDonald boys to stand up in a big way this year. They have added Hibberd for run. I have concerns with Hibberd, it looked to me in his last season of footy that he had been found out, he is one sided and teams played him very well. I am also not sure they needed Hibberd, to me it looked like they were ok for HB Flankers.

The midfield has a reasonable level of talent. Viney is a gun, Jones is valuable and I think they have a few young players like Brayshaw and Oliver who will be more productive this year. You look at Vince and Vandenberg who has been very good, then throw Jordan Lewis in the mix and you have a sturdy midfield. Petracca will give them more minutes in the middle this year as well and provides a little more excitement. You could argue it is a blue collar midfield that needs more run but I think they will go pretty well.

Max Gawn became a very good ruck last year. It was an area they looked to be struggling but he found his natural game and was very damaging. They have Spencer as depth but will be hoping Gawn stays on the field.

The forward line is full of potential. Hogan was another player who didnt develop they way they would have liked last year. I think the contract stuff got in his head and he looked to get ahead of himself. He is still going to be a gun. Jack Watts became a valuable footballer last year and seems to finally be showing his potential. Garlett is a quality small and with minutes from Brayshaw and Petracca they should be ok next year. Much like the backline though, it just feel like they lack depth.

Everything still smells like Roos, will be interesting to see what Goodwin changes up. Melbourne tends to suck me in a little when I see some of the young talent they have. There is still some holes in their playing list, especially in the KP ranks. I dont think they are good enough to play finals yet. They will challenge for the lower section of the eight but somewhere around 9-11 should be about their mark

2

Who?

3
Who?

Clean your ears out IT.
Horton heard it.

And agree with most of that AB, although I think they may start to blood Weideman a little this year to add to Watts and Hogan up front. *About a 7 - 10 team for mine.

*I was going to say 7-11, but I don’t think they have any Indians in the side, and I believe everyone receives their full wages.

4

It’s either Weideman or Pederson for that third tall forward

5

Max Gawn is deadset elite, could move into the mantle of best ruckman in the game this year. Viney is pretty ■■■■■■ good too, Hogan has his moments and Oliver should end up pretty solid.

Outside of that… An eclectic mix of washed up and mediocre talent.

9-12 finish for mine.

6

Bugg mcdonald garland
Hibberd frost? Kent

Vince viney brayshaw
Gawn Lewis Jones

Vandenberg weiderman watts
Kennedy Hogan garlett

Tyson melksham petraca Oliver

That was a bit if a struggle and has a few problems, no second ruck option (probably Peterson for weiterman), and I’ve left out Salem, harmes and trengove.

I can actually see pig and melksham having a bit of work to do to push into this side

7
Kent is a forward so I'd move him into Kennedy's place and put Salem in the backline. Bugg also played forward so I'd switch him to the forward line in place of Weideman (they ran a smaller forward line for most of last year). Neville Jetta seems to continually get games for them in the backline so he'd take the vacant backline spot.

I think they tried Frost as a relief ruck for short periods of time but Gawn is fit enough to go the full game so they shouldn’t need a dedicated ruck / forward.

They are tough to gauge. They should make the 8 based on what they lost compared to what they brought in during the trade period. It’s whether they can handle raised expectations well or not.

Who the hell is their second kpd, Peterson? Didn’t know they moved both Kent and bugg forward. Kennedy was pretty solid for them last year no?

Really can’t see them making the 8 to be honest.

If goodstuff goes on to having a successful coaching career I’ll be pretty irritated by that, yes that is petty.

Peterson didn’t play that many games last year. For memory Frost was trialled up forward for a bit, then Pederson, then Dawes. They never really settled on anything but I can’t recall what they did in the last month of the season.

I’m a big Ben Kennedy fan. He started off well early last year but ended up in VFL for a while before getting back to seniors (although he didn’t play as well as he did earlier in the season). They seem to prefer to go with Kent, Garlett and Bugg as their smaller forwards. Now that they have Lewis as a new addition along with Oliver and Petracca commanding more game time, I’m not sure where Ben Kennedy sits in their pecking order. Ben Kennedy should get games, I’m just not sure if he’ll be an automatic best 22.

8

Kent is a forward so I’d move him into Kennedy’s place and put Salem in the backline.
Bugg also played forward so I’d switch him to the forward line in place of Weideman (they ran a smaller forward line for most of last year). Neville Jetta seems to continually get games for them in the backline so he’d take the vacant backline spot.

I think they tried Frost as a relief ruck for short periods of time but Gawn is fit enough to go the full game so they shouldn’t need a dedicated ruck / forward.

They are tough to gauge. They should make the 8 based on what they lost compared to what they brought in during the trade period. It’s whether they can handle raised expectations well or not.

9
Kent is a forward so I'd move him into Kennedy's place and put Salem in the backline. Bugg also played forward so I'd switch him to the forward line in place of Weideman (they ran a smaller forward line for most of last year). Neville Jetta seems to continually get games for them in the backline so he'd take the vacant backline spot.

I think they tried Frost as a relief ruck for short periods of time but Gawn is fit enough to go the full game so they shouldn’t need a dedicated ruck / forward.

They are tough to gauge. They should make the 8 based on what they lost compared to what they brought in during the trade period. It’s whether they can handle raised expectations well or not.

Who the hell is their second kpd, Peterson? Didn’t know they moved both Kent and bugg forward. Kennedy was pretty solid for them last year no?

Really can’t see them making the 8 to be honest.

If goodstuff goes on to having a successful coaching career I’ll be pretty irritated by that, yes that is petty.

10

Big year for Melbourne, their fans need something to show for their years of misery.

Backline - 6 - Not the worst going, some serious talent but it won’t take too much to get a hold of them if their midfield doesn’t help cover them. Tom McDonald needs to return to his best, last year too many players got a hold of him and killed him; his kicking going backwards and shoddy and losing all confidence in himself. At his best he can take some fantastic contested marks and nullify the best forwards but too often he’s a confidence player that loses belief far too quickly, he’ll need a big year for Melbourne to make finals. Hibberd is a valuable addition to the half back line and adds some badly needed experience to the likes of Hunt & Salem who are both too raw to make huge impacts, it also means Vince who was moved down back for the last half of last year is allowed more freedom to move into the midfield. It will be a big year for Hunt and Salem, both with natural improvement could give Melbourne a finals run but both as of yet have only been inconsistently brilliant; Hunt with his run and dash gave some fantastic run whilst Salem the former number 9 pick shows great composure with ball in hand but again got shot down with injury just as he was finding some consistent football. Neville Jetta has developed into a respectable shutdown defender, at least he’s found a role in the side now and did some good jobs on some good players throughout the year. Oscar McDonald probably faces the biggest year of his career, he struggled throughout last year and the task of playing on some big players overwhelmed him often. If he could be a reliable back for them it’d be more than enough for Melbourne, they sorely lack a second key position back to support Tom McDonald. Frost was tried but like Oscar struggled often. They can only afford to carry one and I’d be putting my money on Oscar to be the one. It’ll be interesting to see how Melksham fits into the side, he’ll be battling for a senior spot although surely Goodwin wouldn’t give up so much to have him sitting in the reserves for too long. I think he’ll be useful but I’m not expecting anything we didn’t see at Essendon. Billy Stretch is another who I think will surprise people, roaming between back and the wings he’s creative and runs hard and will be a very good player for them. Backline will be very interesting for them, so many talented players they just lack week in week out consistency, Garland was one but the game passed him by last year. Harmes is another who could be given more game time although spots look limited.

Midfield - 7.5 : Building nicely but years of draft picks will surely mean they need something to show for it. The key weakness is speed here, a fantastic bunch of hard nuts but they lack speedy class which is why Stretch and perhaps Salem will get midfield time. Lewis will provide experience and give Viney a chopout in the contest. Viney will be their Cripps, he’s their main man for the future and I still think he can go up a gear or two and him with Jones and Lewis means they finally have a hardened group of midfielders. Tyson and Vince provide outside run but both can get their hands dirty, Tyson whom they gave up so much for had a good year but will need to step up further if they’re to drive towards finals, he had a good year, but a good year won’t be enough for them. Petracca will continue to build, he’ll be a big time player and he’ll need to be managed smartly but it’s hard to argue he won’t be an extremely good player, perhaps it’ll be a few years before he becomes a star. Brayshaw was expected to quality on the inside but instead took two steps backwards, struggled with injury and never got a proper run although he returned to some form late just as Melbourne well and truly gave up. I like Brayshaw and with Viney/Petracca/Jones/Lewis/Tyson/Vince/Oliver and they have an outstanding group of of potential winners, key word being potential. Throw in Stretch and kids like Oliver who would have been a great story if not for Parish raising the bar for what’s expected of first years. I’d rather Parish but Oliver looks a hard nut in his own right, clearances definitely shouldn’t be an issue this year for them. All these players developing means Trengrove, once a star and his leg has basically killed his career. I’ll be very surprised if he can resurrect his career but with a full pre-season who knows. Neal-Bullen is a star at VFL level and leads the net rung with Trengrove for a spot and you can throw in Vandenberg but surely they have enough of his type. Overall a strong developing midfield and the time for excuses ends this year.

Ruckman - 8 : Gawn developed into the best ruckman in the competition and as long as he stays fit nobody else will be needed. If they are, rule out finals. Pederson and Spencer are backups.

Forwardline - 6.5 : Hogan is a man you can build a team around and with Daniher is probably the best young forward in the comp. Didn’t have the year he wanted but at his best he’s unstoppable and I agree that the contract stuff got into his head too much. Weideman will get a big taste this year and if a dream world him and Hogan form the perfect duo. He looked good enough in a few games but still has a long way to go yet. It’s funny to see Watts so loved now by fans after what they dished up to him, he had the best year of his career last year and looked dangerous as a third forward. He finally looked comfortable and seemed to have the weight of his shoulders, he may not be worthy of a number 1 pick but he’s still a valuable lead up forward for them and proved that last year. Gartlett is like a roller coaster but that’s what you’ve come to expect with him. He was either kicking goals and being a match winner or literally no impact on the game whatsover and looking lazy, with few inbetween. It’s at a stage now where that’s what you have to expect from him so it’s too late to change now. Kent was one of the few responsible for some great early season form for the Dees before trailing off just like his team did. Needs to work on his weekly game but on his day he can snare some goals and be a dangerous proposition for opposition teams, someone that will sneak under the radar. Too often finds himself disappearing in games which is an issue that he and the team needs to work on. Thomas Bugg spent time up forward and back, and besides maybe a few games was shocking, too often getting caught trying to look impressive and fluster opposition players and too often contributing little and coming off like a flog. Pederson could get some games as a reserve but I don’t overly rate him as something other than backup.

Predicted Finish - 6th-8th : This might be a big call but I’m predicting them to make finals, there’s surely a bolter or two and I see them bolting up the ladder on the back of a very good midfield unit. The youth will still cause them troubles but with Lewis/Jones/Viney/Vince/Tyson/Brayshaw/Oliver/Petracca and Gawn rucking they should be able to push for finals with natural improvement. I also think Hogan is in for a bigger year after a pretty miserable 2016 season, the main issue is a one paced midfield.

11

Great write up CB!! Comprehensive!!

Just on Jayden Hunt, I kinda disagree that he is too raw to make a big impact. He was super impressive this season just gone and was already making a big difference for them with his daring run off the back flank. I think he’ll only get better in season 2017.

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Great write up CB!! Comprehensive!!

Just on Jayden Hunt, I kinda disagree that he is too raw to make a big impact. He was super impressive this season just gone and was already making a big difference for them with his daring run off the back flank. I think he’ll only get better in season 2017.

I mean raw in terms of becoming an elite and big name player, I have no doubt he’ll be a very good player for them but I feel he’s maybe a year off that high level consistency.

13

Yeah fair call mate.

14

Think they’ll scrape through to finals.

15

I think their progress all stems from Goodwins ability to sell an adjust program and game plan to the players.

Struggle early and they could go into their shell and suffer and average year. Except life out of the blocks and they could shoot up the ladder. 9th for me.

16
I think their progress all stems from Goodwins ability to sell an adjust program and game plan to the players.

Struggle early and they could go into their shell and suffer and average year. Except life out of the blocks and they could shoot up the ladder. 9th for me.

Wowee! Is this in pig Latin? :wink:

17

B: Salem T.Mcdonald Garland
HB: Hibberd O.McDonald Melksham
C: Vince Viney Oliver
HF: Petracca Weideman Watts
F: Kennedy Hogan Garlett
R: Gawn Lewis Jones
Int: Tyson Brayshaw Vandenberg Kent

EMG: Jetta, Bugg, Hunt

Would actually like to see Kennedy-Harris in the forwardline for Kennedy, but he was injured lots last year.

I think Dees will improve, but they don’t actually look that good on paper IMO. Midfield/Defence should improve with additions of Lewis, Melksham and Hibberd.

If oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca and Weideman all come on well they are a chance to make the eight.
However I i think they will miss out on finals and finish in 9th Place, which is still an improvement on Roos 11th.

18

I 'd think Jetta (BP) and Hunt (HBF) would always be in their best side.

I know their seconds always do well, but not sure their genuine depth is that good. I think their only draftees this year were VFL players from other clubs.

19

Yeh but jetta 0 touches.

I agree their depth isnt great.

20
I think their progress all stems from Goodwins ability to sell an adjust program and game plan to the players.

Struggle early and they could go into their shell and suffer and average year. Except life out of the blocks and they could shoot up the ladder. 9th for me.

Wowee! Is this in pig Latin? :wink:

Yeah you got me that was pretty damn rank!!