BEST 22 FOR 2012

[hatta]

Colin Garland        James Frawley         Luke Tapscott
Jack Grimes            Jared Rivers             Sam Blease

Aaron Davey          Brent Moloney           Nathan Jones

Brad Green               Jack Watts                Jeremy Howe
Ricky Petterd            Mitch Clark                Liam Jurrah

Mark Jamar              Colin Sylvia              Jack Trengrove

Jordan Gysberts        Stef Martin
Jordie Mckenzie         Joel Macdonald             

Emg -      Max Gawn     Rohan Bail     Call Morton

Guys who could be regulars depending in Neeld -     Mathew Bate    Neville Jetta    Clint Bartram   Jack Fitzpatrick   Tom McDonald

Backs - Frawley, Garland and Rivers take the big bodies, Tapscott plays the enforcer and allows Blease and Grimes to run off the half back and be the play makers. Grimes and Tapscott to take the kick ins and potentially Blease and Garland.. Joel Macdonald coming off th bench, is an important part of the side, he can play big and he can rebound the ball also, overall he is a versitle defender who played through the midfield and played well there with Casey, depending on how he goes at top leve in 2012l, he could be another hard body down back to support the undeveloped up and coming players. Tom McDonald showed in 2011 as a young big bodied key defender, he looks the perfect replacement for Rivers as he ages past his prime years, could potentially crack into the side in 2012.
Building a back 6 that plays their roles, shuts down their opposition direct opponents and are able to attack and be a factor to worry about going into a game is vital.. I think Grimes might be a player that is an All Australian within a few seasons, probably tagged within the next couple seasons and should be one of if not the best rebounding defender in the league.

Midfield - Moloney, Mckenzie, Jones and Sylvia (who in my opinion should spend more time on the ball) are the hard ball get players, who can allow the outside runners in Trengrove, Gysberts, Davey and potentially Grimes at stages to distribute the ball to the forwards. Lets be honest the Dees need to recruit again next year, another star onballer and to be completely honest Melbourne havnt got the attraction that other clubs have at recruiting 'A' grade players, we need someone to be our number 1 onballer, Moloneys great and Trengrove will be this player one day but recruiting someone who currently isn't the number one at another club and would be at ours would be a huge asset. Someone like Joel Corey who stands behind Kelly, Bartel and Chappy would be a huge asset to our midfield, surely one of the compensation picks could be enough to get Geelong to deal a midfielder with another 2-3 years in him (just in time for the likes of Trengrove and Viney (recruited for season 2013) to become the star players of their own.

Rucks - Jamar is one of the top 5 rucks in the league, but he's only got another few season in his legs, which allows Martin and Gawn to build a top range ruck combination, hopefully Gawn to become as damaging as what Sandilands is throughout his prime years. Currently Jamar and Martin are the best options, they can both run through the midfield, both go forward and be another big body and Martin can play down back..

Forwards - Let's face it, our forwards is where we lack the most, hopefully the recruitment of Mitch Clark is the light at the end of the tunnel. He should play 90 - 100% game time at full forward and will take the weight of the shoulders from Watts and Jurrah. Howe, Jurrah, Petterd, Clark and even Watts are capable of a big mark and having 5 forwards capable of being a marking option wont outline the obvious lack of size... Green is the leader up forward, he's experienced and held a captaincy however I think Moloney will be the captain for 2012.. Martin and Jamar will rest at times down forward and at times, Martin, Jamar and Clark will be on the ground at the same stage, Jamar in the ruck with Martin and Clark playing full forward and centre half forward respectively. Denpending on how things go another option would be to have Clark roam around CHF and push up the ground, with Gawn or Martin playing deap forward rotating with Jamar in the ruck. Lastly Watts on the wing would have to considered this season, if Clark and either Martin or Jurrah play as a key (not that I think Jurrah is big enough to hold down a key position) it would allow Watts to push up the ground gather possession of the footy, and be a marking target up the ground.

What do people think ?

[Purple 77]

Great write-up Hatta.

You must have read my mind on the vast majority of your opinions, I have been trying to tell other melb fans the same thing such as your midfield review, besides aaron davey. IMO, i've had enough of him, we need more from a senior.

you are definitely one of the select few that know what they're talking about when it comes to melbourne

This could be bias, but i love the look of this team, but jeez a classy midfielder would help wouldn't it?
This is a long shot, but I think we should aim our sights at goddard next year. We still have a lot of salary cap space, believe it or not, and nice trade bait (the compo picks from $cully), I really think we can land him, or someone with the same caliber at this club. With a star midfield signing, this team would look scary 

[Ziplock]

goddards contract is up next year isn't it? therefor trade bait means squat... will probs go to gws if anywhere :P

[MTTY]

B - Rivers, Frawley, Tapscott

This line is one of better ones. We have who i see as a future multiple FB in Frawley, while we also have a Hard/tough back pocket player who can be the enforcer much like Josh Hunt for Geelong, he is still very young. Rivers i see as being too short and not strong enough to hold down a CHB position against the second best forward, this way he takes the third tall.

HB - Grimes, Garland, Davey

Probably has the potential to be our best line; Grimes is one of our best players and the way he approaches the game allows us to set up and break through forward presses' (Future Captain if you ask me). Garland showed his ability to go with both talls and smalls this season but with Rivers no better than him with the talls and no other Key back ready then he is the man to take the leading CHF types. Here is the interesting positioning Davey always played his best football off the half back line, the reason being his ball use. This position was shifted to solely Grimes last seasona nd the previous year even after he was injured (Grimes) Davey never returned to that role, if he is shifted back there then we have too very efficient avenues out of defence.

C - Bail, McKenzie, Jones

A very young line interms of age. Bail adds a lot of outside run and i believe is a very underated talent at our club and in teh AFL, he is ahead of Gysberts in my eyes. Then we move to McKenzie who is a favourite of mine, he adds the hard ball factor as he always puts his body on the line, he also is arguably our best tackler and early last year we clearly missed that. Jones is a tough nut with speed and grit, he has huge determination and is able to do as Sylvia does and take on the opposition.

HF - Howe, Watts, Sylvia

This line will be a future key for Melbourne going forward. Howe in his first year showed his superb markign skills as he was likened to Russell Roberston and delivered that. Watts never really was able to settle at FF, a change and an extra big man takes attention away from him and may allow him to showclass his class, marking, accurate shot and pace. Sylvia is interchangable for me he along with Trengove and Green will be alternating through this role next season with Trengove spending the most time in the middle. Sylvia's run, skill and marking ability gives him the power to play that marking forward role and kick in a range of 20-30 goals.

F - Jurrah, Clark, Petterd

All these forwards are skillful in there own way, while Clark will take a lot of the attention from the other two all three have the ability to take huge marks as well as finish their work off. The Melbourne forward line now has four potential 40+ goal kickers next season.

R - Jamar, Moloney, Trengove

While i see Trengove as a better outside player at this stage of his career, he still offers a lot as an inside one with his class around the ball. Moloney will continue his work with Jamar as a combo and will be another hard nut around teh abll forming a possible lethal combo with McKenzie.

INTER - Green, Martin, Gysberts, Blease

All these players bar Gysberts offer multi postions in their games, which i see them being the perfect bench starters making it simple to swap one of Green and Martin to FWD or DEF or ruck for Martin and Gysberts or Blease to a running back or Midfielder.

EMER- Gawn, Bate, Bartram

All these players are next in line for their positions, with Bate being a replacement marking forward, Gawn next in line for the ruck and Bartram as a tagger or running defender.

Fringe - Morton, Fitzpatrick, Evans, Nicholson, McDonald, Bennell, Dunn

All these players have enough talent to break into the team but at this stage need to further develop different aspects of their game.

[HTM]

Out Blease
In Bail

[hatta]

cheers purple 77!
I completely agree with you, the two combo picks should be enough to land someone of high standard, the side would look threatening to the finals if we only had a star midfielder, landing Goddard would be perfect

oh and look I wanted to trade Davey last year the moment he couldn't take a tag!! but I'm just hoping that he can get back to his best in 2012..  he's still a great kick