Moved Thread Remember when Melbourne were going to be the next "super team"?

[Scotland]

Pick 4 then Pick 1 then Pick 1 and 2 to go with a few picks between 5 and 20 over a 3 year period is the recipe for a pre-emptive circle jerk.

In reality that's Morton & Grimes (2007), Watts, Blease and Strauss (2008) and Trengove, Gysberts & Tapscott (2009) + whatever comes from the Scully picks down the track. People get carried away thinking all early picks will be guns and guns straight away. None of the above has as yet established themselves as genuine stars after 3-5 seasons on an AFL list.

People can LOL at the Dogs for also sucking now, but they were preliminary finalists in 2008, 2009 and 2010. You can 'rebuild' forever (See Richmond 1980-) but eventually you have to play finals footy and give it a crack and if you come up short so be it.

 

[ApplecrossWC]

When I read Melbourne and super team in the same sentence I literally spit soda all over my monitor laughing.

 

[Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear]

Better to have expectations and fail than to be the Western Bulldogs.

We had expectations from 06-10 but never assumed we would be a super team that would be winning 20 games a year and pulling a Geelong as melbourne supporters and the media were.

 

[BlueTouchPaper]

Yep. They were the media darlings. How things can quickly change.

It's been 4 years...

 

[Hoffy95]

Wona should be able to provide some stat shortly that irrefutably proves that Melbourne currently are that super team.

 

[seysearles]

I do not recall.

They will win a flag before the Dogs, though.

The compulsory backhand. To be expected.

 

[bombermick]

Terry Wallace was one who was saying they were going to be a superpower, while clubs like North and Essendon had terrible lists.

Not a huge surprise he made a bad call.

 

[Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear]

It's been 4 years...

You could even go as recent as the beginning of the 2011 season. Hopes were high after the dees scraped together 8 wins in 2010, an improvement on the previous years.

 

[Put a Lids on it]

The media were pumping up their tyres at an alarming rate, shows what they know.

 

[blease_blease_me]

It was only Melbourne supporters generating the hype, most sensible footy watchers knew they'd still be s**t.

Rubbish.

Michael Voss and Paul Roos made the statement we would be the next superpower, and the media ran with it.

Get your facts straight before you post.

 

[Corrosion]

This thread reminds me of reading the OP of the following link:

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/melbourne-will-finish-top-four-in-2011.806230/

 

[carndapies]

Matter of time before they fold

 

[Demonic Ascent]

In reality that's Morton & Grimes (2007), Watts, Blease and Strauss (2008) and Trengove, Gysberts & Tapscott (2009) + whatever comes from the Scully picks down the track. People get carried away thinking all early picks will be guns and guns straight away. None of the above has as yet established themselves as genuine stars after 3-5 seasons on an AFL list.

Considering Strauss, Blease, Gysberts & Tapscott have been injured for the better parts of their careers to date I'd say it's a bit early to be making a call on them (Grimes can be added to that list as well though has stringed games together this season).

 

[Theo X]

Matter of time before they fold

We're one of the few teams in the black. Take it to the bay, '****.

 

[Cudi_420]

I still think the Dees have a good list of young players. The media beats its own drum because the likes of Roos, Malthouse were talking up a list that hadn't even played together yet.

Basically it was Melbourne supporters thinking the club was going to following in Hawthorn's footsteps in rebuilding quickly and winning a flag. Unfortunately the club itself is a bit of a basket case and it's yet to prove it can actually develop the young talent that it has.

Forget about what the media says because it goes back and forth based on what the flavour of the day is. Melbourne still has a sound young list that averages like 50-55 games per player, per game, which is a grossly inexperienced side to be playing AFL footy. Top 4 sides are almost double that. It's just a matter of putting the right people around those players to develop them. Can Melbourne, the club, do it? Probably not if history is anything to go by, but I still have faith.

Melbourne WANTS to be a super team, and it's been there before so I don't see anything wrong in hyping itself up. But that was like 50 years ago and it's taken far too long for the club to realise what is needed to be a premiership winning club in the modern age.

You can't blame Melbourne fans for hyping this team up. It really is a promising list. Unfortunately, the players just had awful, awful direction, and the foundations of a poor club built around them, which makes it hard to play to strengths and improve in certain areas.

I'm sure many of you could pick 3-4 players in Melbourne's side with less than 50 games that you'd love to see your own club pick up and develop.

 

[lock33]

Deflection thread.

This.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

I still think the Dees have a good list of young players. The media beats its own drum because the likes of Roos, Malthouse were talking up a list that hadn't even played together yet.

Basically it was Melbourne supporters thinking the club was going to following in Hawthorn's footsteps in rebuilding quickly and winning a flag. Unfortunately the club itself is a bit of a basket case and it's yet to prove it can actually develop the young talent that it has.

Have a look at Hawthorns senior players compared to ours circa 2009. That's why it didn't happen like that.

 

[Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear]

This.

Mate we've got the buddy accident, dane swan 2 week club imposed ban, Travis Boak signing and Matthew Primus getting the arse threads, I wouldn't need a deflection thread.

 

[Ketchup]

Mate we've got the buddy accident, dane swan 2 week club imposed ban, Travis Boak signing and Matthew Primus getting the arse threads, I wouldn't need a deflection thread.

A car accident, someone getting a 2 week ban for missing training (has already happened about 6 times this year at multiple clubs), a contract disagreement and a coach getting the sack is all yearly news. It has nothing on a AFL player getting so drunk he passes out on the footpath with illegal substances found in his pocket to which someone can only assume he has taken some.

 

[Tulip]

It was only Melbourne supporters generating the hype, most sensible footy watchers knew they'd still be s**t.

That's just not true. Maybe you who appears to take pride in our current state, but we weren't the only ones up and about.

Just look at Voss even recently.

Safe to say it's worked out...

 

[Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear]

A car accident, someone getting a 2 week ban for missing training (has already happened about 6 times this year at multiple clubs), a contract disagreement and a coach getting the sack is all yearly news. It has nothing on a AFL player getting so drunk he passes out on the footpath with illegal substances found in his pocket to which someone can only assume he has taken some.

Right because people can't have discussions about other clubs without there being some alterior motive behind it. It's all a conspiracy. Such a sad cynic.

 

[Ketchup]

Right because people can't have discussions about other clubs without there being some alterior motive behind it. It's all a conspiracy. Such a sad cynic.

Now were getting the hang of it

 

[Slander]

Cudi's post is on the money. We have the bare bones of a good list now. Back then the hype was generated through smackings dished out to first the overrated Brisbane Lions (4-0 at that stage) & later Paul Roos worst ever defeat as coach. After years in the doldrums & light seemingly at the end of the tunnel you could perhaps forgive Dees supporters for getting a little bit carried away.

However just as it was folly to assume the MFC had some divine right to ascend the ladder post 2010 it is folly to assume we'll be forever a basketcase. Clark, Trengove, Frawley, Grimes, Howe, Jones & T McDonald form a pretty good nucleus. Watts, Sylvia, Garland, Moloney, Jurrah (hopefully), Rivers & Jamar are capable of playing a good standard of AFL footy. Bartram, McKenzie, J Macdonald, Sellar, Martin & Magner aren't the worst set of role players in the comp. There is still hope that some good players could come out of the largely unproven batch of Gysberts, Blease, Strauss, Nicholson, Evans, Tapscott & Gawn.

I'm not saying that the above is some kind of supersquad waiting to happen. Nor will it take anything but quality coaching, structures, buy-in, leadership, recruiting, player development & sheer blind luck if this group is to have any chance of sustained improvement or success but there is blue sky. Clubs have been in worse positions before, just about every team vying for this years flag has had their fair share of hardships & have turned it around. Last year Adelaide were beaten by 96 points by Melbourne, 2 years ago we smashed Sydney, they turned it around pretty quickly, the MFC can too.

 

[SirJimi05]

Wona should be able to provide some stat shortly that irrefutably proves that Melbourne currently are that super team.

Reminds me of a couple of years back when he was arrogantly stating that it was a fact that Melbourne would play finals the following year and anyone who disagreed was an idiot who obviously had no idea about football. *





































*waits for wona to tell us how many days since Essendon last beat Melbourne.

 

[Cudi_420]

Have a look at Hawthorns senior players compared to ours circa 2009. That's why it didn't happen like that.

Yeah, that also. Hodge, Crawford, Sewell, Brown, plus Franklin, Roughhead. It took 7 years from '01 to win a flag. It's been 6 years since we last played finals. Best to look from 2009 on for Melbourne considering '07 was Daniher's last hoorah, and '08 was Bailey's first chance to clean out the list, which he did, probably too aggressively, because now we have two kids as captains.

Realistically, 2014 is the absolute earliest this team will play finals. And that's pushing it. 2015 would be a surety, and if it's not, 2016 will see Melbourne with yet another new coach.