Club Focus Melbourne 2020 - Brown, Bowey, Laurie, Rosman

AFL Club Focus

What do Melbourne need to focus on this off-season?

  • Recruiting via trade

    Votes: 6 75.0%
  • Recruiting via the draft

    Votes: 2 25.0%
  • Managing the salary cap

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Managing the age profile

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    8
Melbourne club focus thread
  • Thread starter
  • Moderator
  • #2

Data from footywire. To check the draft order (updated weekly) see the thread here.
 
This is a Dees-specific version of the player contracts & statistics spreadsheet pinned to the top of this forum. It summarises your players' contract situations, experience, ages and heights. The data is from footywire, and the spreadsheet will update itself when footywire is updated. It may contain some errors, I do not have the ability to update them so we just have to deal with what footywire gives us. It's the best we can do for the moment.





According to this data, Melbourne are:
- 14th tallest, averaging 187cm
- 9th heaviest, averaging 86kg
- 11th oldest with an average age of 24.1 years
- 14th most experienced, averaging 62.4 career games


Your picks in the first five rounds of the 2019 national draft are:
1st round pick (tied to Melbourne - currently pick 3)
2nd round pick (tied to Melbourne - currently pick 21)
3rd round pick (tied to Melbourne - currently pick 39)
4th round pick (tied to Melbourne - currently pick 57)
5th round pick (tied to Melbourne - currently pick 75)

To check the draft order (updated weekly) see the thread here.

Who retires, who is traded, and who is re-signed?

What do you see as the gaps in the list? How could those gaps be filled? Via trade or from the draft?

What will it take to get it all done, given the current trade and draft value on hand?
 
Last edited:
  • Thread starter
  • Moderator
  • #3
Bump, lucky last one of these.

What do you want to do with this list, Dees fans? Fair bit of currency and a solid ruck/midfield core to build off.
 
Jun 11, 2007
34,086
29,320
Victoria
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Bayern, Milan, Boston Celtics
Lot of depth in the Dees list
Would think Lewis & Garlett may retire. Jones may weigh up Lewis/Hodge style deal should GCS or Carlton be looking for maturity to add to their kids.

Surely hit the draft and add some elite speed (or trade it in).

That list is better than where they're finishing this year.
 
Lewis and Garlett will retire, maybe Garlett gets another year but unlikely.

Jones stays.

Unsure of contract status, but any of this lot that doesn’t have one will be nervous: Stretch, KK, Maynard, JKH, OMcD, ANB, Tim Smith, both Wagners, Keilty
 

Beer n Skittles

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 6, 2012
9,849
17,343
AFL Club
Carlton
Other Teams
Rampage
Difficult to know what to make of their list given performance this year. Underperforming for sure. But what's with the list management? Was there a type of player they needed less at the midseason draft than Kyle Dunkley?
 
Mar 18, 2013
14,611
31,079
Melbourne
AFL Club
Collingwood
Other Teams
University
Very rare that you have a young list like theirs that has played a preliminary final with such a high draft pick. Whilst I thought their list was vastly overrated coming into 2019, I still reckon they have the blocks to build up a premiership team with a few successful tweaks.

Have pick 3 at the moment, they should back in their list and send it packing for an established gun or two. Little bit of lip that Andy Gaff could be on the table but I have no idea how much truth there is to that.
 

Marc_Remillard

Maderator
Jan 4, 2015
6,783
7,711
AFL Club
Melbourne
We have the basis of an ok team however it should be noted that we haven't had a rising star nomination in the last 3 seasons (well, at least i think so).

I would hope that we keep our core group of players and take our first pick to the draft and not trade it away. We have to use a first rounder in the draft because we've been trading them away recently but who knows what the AFL ruling will be on that one come November time.

Lewis to retire, Gartlett delisted along with a couple of our depth players and I wouldn't be surprised if Joel Smith asked to be traded. You probably have no idea who he is but he's still has good potential despite injury issues.

We need a good pre-season more than anything else
 

Grimesy87

Cancelled
May 22, 2018
3,038
5,728
AFL Club
Melbourne
Club has to bite the bullet on someone like Angus Brayshaw. 23 years old, has some good currency to dangle at someone like freo for Brad Hill, gold coast for Jack Martin or Sydney for Tom Papley. While he had a good year last year, he still has average foot skills and isn't overly quick. The 3 I mentioned are all a similar age, kick the ball well and have a bit of dash.

The list itself has a lot of quality. With May and Lever patrolling the back half, and Frost playing fairly well with limited footy smarts, our tall stocks are fairly handy. A bit of luck with injuries to May and Lever will keep our backline organised, as those 2 have good leadership qualities and are vocal. Again, we probably lack a elite kick with speed off half back as Hibberd has slowed down this year (a variety of injuries may have aided this) and Jetta is approaching his final seasons. Salem is a good kick, but hardly line breaking with speed. Ideally, he would push up onto the wing. It looks like Jones will go back to the half back flank for his last year's, which I'm concerned about as his accountability leaves a lot to be desired at times.

The midfield is our biggest issue. The names look alright- Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca at times, Harmes, Jones can roll through, all fed by Gawn and Pruess. But that's about it. The depth, which has been tested this year on most lines, is ordinary. The following names on the list are our depth that rotate through the midfield/wing- Spargo, Wagner, Kennedy-harris, Lewis, stretch, kolodjashnij, Neal-bullen, Vandenberg. The younger guys like sparrow, baker and Lockhart look like they are worth persisting with, but those previous 9- one-fifth of the list, are either not good enough, injury prone, or retirement pending. It's a staggering amount of list taken up. The contract status of several of those players means we have little room to wiggle. The other issue is the first choice midfielders mentioned in the first sentence all have the same issues- average foot skills, average pace and a lack of transitional running. They rarely hit the scoreboard running forward, and don't push hard enough defensively to help out like the top teams do. As mentioned at the start of this post, turning someone like brayshaw into Hill significantly helps the outside pace and transitional run, as well an upgrade on foot skills. Some smart trading needs to happen obviously, but it's a necessity.

I'm not as concerned about our forward line as others. McDonald hardly looked fit all year, so the time off should allow him to get his body right for a good crack at 2020. Weideman lacks a bit of mongrel, he lacks the self belief, which i find strange as he showed over the last half dozen gsmes in 2018 he has the ability. Perhaps he missed some preseason, but he does a lot of things right in terms of jumping at the ball, getting separation and is usually a good kick. I'm backing him to improve in 2020, but there will be a lot of pressure for him to stand up. I like petracca as a forward, but he misses a lot of simple set shots that really hurt momentum. He's no orphan in this regard, our inability to finish work inside 50 has been very poor this year. But Petracca sticks out. He has put together a solid past 8 games or so, but it is littered with simple set shot misses that turn a decent season into a fantastic season. Bailey Fritsch has to go back forward, as he is a very smart forward with good skills and leads to the right areas.

Our biggest issue forward is a smart small forward. Hunt has been used there this season, sometimes with good effect, but again with ordinary finishing plaguing him. Garlett looked fantastic in 2016, but the game has passed him by with his lack of pressure, and his poor finishing has cost dramatically.

The player missed the most this season has been Jake Melksham. I never thought I'd say that 3 years ago, but his finishing, his final kick inside 50 to set his team mates up was vitally important last season and has shown this year how important he is to our structure.

Overall, the biggest question this off season will be how list management handle the glaring issues. Will they be bold? Turning our suspect top 3 pick into an established player with foot skills and line breaking ability? Perhaps 3 for Papley, and Sydney's first next year. Or Hill, Langdon and shuffle some picks at the back end. In any circumstance, there needs to be a serious change, or else 2020 will be wasted before it begins.
 

markm106

Brownlow Medallist
Mar 29, 2006
10,790
10,381
Melbourne
AFL Club
Melbourne
Difficult to know what to make of their list given performance this year. Underperforming for sure. But what's with the list management? Was there a type of player they needed less at the midseason draft than Kyle Dunkley?
Certainly didn’t need another inside mid. My guess is he was considered far more highly rated than any of the outside players available. No doubt we’ll target speed this offseason.
 
Jun 11, 2007
34,086
29,320
Victoria
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Bayern, Milan, Boston Celtics
Will have a solid draft hand

Brayshaw for Hill. Maybe also go after his brother as a FA.
Riley Bonner is another i'd look at. Quality ball user coming off HB. Give Hibberd someone to work with. Is out of contract.
Ash & Dow @ 3 and 19 would further add pace to their midfield.

Gawn Oliver Viney
Hill Harmes Salem
Should carry them forward nicely.
 

Dede

Senior List
May 10, 2019
204
123
Sandy
AFL Club
St Kilda
They invested a lot into playing finals and pushing for a flag so will be instreting what they do draft time..

People will say they are slow but how many times this year they won the inside 50 count ? Papley would be a great get
 

VanDemonxx

Club Legend
Jul 24, 2015
1,057
924
AFL Club
Melbourne
Names we should be targeting in the trade period

Small forwards: Elliot, Papley, McDonald-Tippinwuti
Outside mids: B.Hill, S.Hill, Langdon, Z.Jones

Garlett, Maynard, Stretch, J, Wagner, Walker, Kielty i'd say will get delisted
 
Sep 28, 2011
19,390
18,282
Melbourne
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Arsenal
Most interesting team in this years trade period.

Highly rated before the year, haven't fired a shot, pick 2, they could easily on trade for some reinforcements, or keep hold of an Anderson or Rowell.

I think they will be doing a lot, Brayshaw could be a decent asset to trade on possibly?
Does Jones look for some more dollars before his career is over?
 
Oct 20, 2003
1,166
628
in da hood
AFL Club
Melbourne
Other Teams
Melbourne
i'm completely expecting us to find a way out of the bottom two, and / or gc17 will be given a priority pick to go alongside pick 1, so at the most we'll be looking at pick 3 onwards

serong? ash?

unlikely to be re-contracted: lewis, stretch, maynard, jkh, garlett

trade options: brayshaw, o mac, anb
 

Dancing Potato

Premiership Player
Jul 7, 2015
4,411
8,132
AFL Club
Melbourne
Brad Hill has to be the number one target for us. Papley number two.

Dan Butler would be just what we need up forward and should come cheap so we should be chasing him too.

Langdon and Jones would be OK, but only for the right price. I'm not fussed one way or the other with them.

Lewis will retire and I suspect Garlett will either retire or be delisted.

Jones will be a year to year proposition going forward but will definitely play on in 2020 off the half back line.

I suspect JKH, Maynard and Keilty are certainties to be off the list. 50/50 on the Wagners and Stretch, however our depth is diabolical so they may get a reprieve.

Lastly, I'd prefer to keep Brayshaw but would be OK with the club trading him for the right price. Individually the names in our midfield look great but the balance of inside and outside isn't right.
 
Nov 13, 2005
3,324
5,314
Sydney
AFL Club
Melbourne
Rumour on our board that the Dees are chasing Isaac Smith

Straight swap for Petracca would do it :p
What's his sources like?

Smith would be a good for a 2 year deal. If we can add Smith, Langdon and say Zak Jones or a Dan Butler then it improves our side a lot.

Hill wont get to the Dees hence why we'll focus on getting Langdon instead.
 
Aug 16, 2009
9,822
22,220
Right behind you!
AFL Club
Hawthorn
What's his sources like?

Smith would be a good for a 2 year deal. If we can add Smith, Langdon and say Zak Jones or a Dan Butler then it improves our side a lot.

Hill wont get to the Dees hence why we'll focus on getting Langdon instead.
Both Dees and Dogs chasing Smith apparently

Strong mail
 
Back