Melbourne rebuild vs Bulldogs rebuild

[wimberga]

Hi all,

On the Herald sun website there is an article regarding Mark Neeld and the backlash he is getting regarding the thrashing of round 1.

see the link below:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226611979676

I recommend you watch the video footage on the page from AFL 360 where the David King and Mark Maclure give some pretty interesting opinions on where Melbourne is at and what is wrong there.

What is pleasing to say is around the 2 minute mark, David and Mark start to compare whats happening at Melbourne with us at the Bulldogs. It seems that both of these guys really believe in Macca's rebuild and think we are going about it in the right way which is pleasing to see.

Have a look and post your thoughts below.

[bornadog]

Thank you for posting, I normally try and watch AFL360, but haven';t had a chance lately.

Melbourne's rebuild is suffering because they had their chances to pick up number one draft picks, or early draft picks but they made too many recruiting errors. they also got rid of alot of senior players, but truth be known, they weren't really worth hanging on to.

After 5 years of getting nowhere, they became inpatient at the end of last year and have tried to draft ready made players. Unfortunately you can't just bring in a couple of senior players if you don't have the bones or base of a team and no leadership amongst the playing group.

We have kept our good older players, who are now helping the younger players develop. Yes we have had a gap in our age group around the 23 to 27 mark, but by bringing in players of that age group, we can rebuild. The only real mature player we brought in was Goodes as guys like Stevens(21), Young(21), Lower (25) are still to reach their real prime.

I think we are truly on the right track, and must stick to the blue print, be patient and success will come.

[F'scary]

The Dee's high draft picks have been a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare.

[Hotdog60]

Watched the video and it's nice to know the pundits think were moving in the right direction not that their opinion matters.

As for Melbourne I think something smells a bit funny higher than a playing level. Whoever is guiding and directing the club is making some poor decisions on what path the club is going on.

How many top draft picks have they been able to get and haven't gain at all from it.

I think they shot themselves in the foot when they axed some club stalwarts, showing no loyalty

[Bulldog Joe]

Some pretty good comments, but easy to pot a team after that performance. Just as easy to give us some praise after our effort.

I do, however, see the stark contrast in retaining our experience to help the youth develop.

How many of the posters on this forum have called for the departure of Gia, Cross and even Higgins over the past 2 seasons. That would have been the Melbourne approach.

[bornadog]

Some pretty good comments, but easy to pot a team after that performance. Just as easy to give us some praise after our effort.

I do, however, see the stark contrast in retaining our experience to help the youth develop.

How many of the posters on this forum have called for the departure of Gia, Cross and even Higgins over the past 2 seasons. That would have been the Melbourne approach.

So true, you don't get rid of players or retire them off until, a), they can no longer contribute and b) till you have the right players that are able to replace them.

[Bulldog Joe]

The Dee's high draft picks have been a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare.

We all know that you can get picks wrong, but at Melbourne it seems that they just can't develop the talent.

Collingwood seem to make players of whoever they draft. Perhaps it is also a factor of resources to even select the right football club personnel.

[Mantis]

Some pretty good comments, but easy to pot a team after that performance. Just as easy to give us some praise after our effort.

I watched the show and thought the same... If the shoe was on the other foot we would be the ones under the grill.

Yep, Melbourne were poor, but the re-builds of both teams can't be judged on one result.

[bornadog]

I watched the show and thought the same... If the shoe was on the other foot we would be the ones under the grill.

Yep, Melbourne were poor, but the re-builds of both teams can't be judged on one result.

Taking away any bias, which team do you think will be better in say two years time, based on the current players.

[Scraggers]

The Dee's high draft picks have been a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare.

I tend to disagree ... Every player the Dees picked up with their early picks was touted across our draft threads as a good player and a good fit for the Bulldogs.

I agree with Mantis in that its early days yet and too early to judge, but I do think we are on the correct pathway.

[Remi Moses]

Someone on one of the forums predicted The media will turn on their recruiting by half way.
They were 10 weeks out! ( hello Rohan Connolly)
The dees will fire up this week, but it's the pursuing weeks that matter.
I think they're coaching and development is poor and has stymied players development.
The kids aside, the ins are worse than the outs this season

[Greystache]

Not sure if this is the right thread...this does discuss our youth policy though

http://theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/ti...222-2exec.html

Pointless article to fill column inches while not much is happening. You know that in a few months when Melbourne are rubbish and Richmond has missed the finals he'll write another article criticising the recruiting of recycled players and lack of faith in the draft and their ability to develop youth.

These type of articles get written on the flavour of the day, forgotten tomorrow, and contradicted next month. Mike Sheehan was a classic for it.

I think this is what you're talking about. I'm looking forward to hearing Rohan's current thoughts seeing as the Tiger's mature recruits are playing two's and Melbourne's were horrendous.

[Mantis]

Taking away any bias, which team do you think will be better in say two years time, based on the current players.

Who knows??

In 2 years time we could quite possibly have no Cross, Gia, Murphy, Morris & Boyd in our team - they are still very influential players. How the others develop in the meantime will determine where we are.

Melbourne aren't as bad as they were on the weekend and I expect they will improve over the course of the season.

[Mofra]

It is an interesting comparison - Melbourne have gone hell for leather at a youth policy, we've gone for a mix of young players and "mentors".

Morris comes back to the defensive group, Murphy goes forward as the bones of our forwardline (Jones & Cordy) have two mentors, Murph & Gia. Goodes joins Morris as a backline mentor.

Boyd & Cross are in the middle, the midfield group have (damn tough) mentors.

The mature agers we have introduced into the side are not core members of the team - yes Lower is playing an important role, but the core group (spine & midfield) are Cordy, Jones, Roughead, Wallis, Libba, Smith, Dahlhaus ... and hopefully Talia, Hrovat, Macrae and Stringer with versatile types like Roberts hopefully playing a role. You could mount an argument for every single one of those players playing 200 games.

[Mofra]

In 2 years time we could quite possibly have no Cross, Gia, Murphy, Morris & Boyd in our team - they are still very influential players. How the others develop in the meantime will determine where we are.

That's a difficult bunch to cover - but I'd argue Murphy is the only one we don't have a direct replacement for.

Cross & Boyd look fine with Smith, Libba & Wallis coming on (ignoring what Hrovat or Stevens may become)
Gia - Dickson
Morris - I may just be (happily) wrong about Young. Wood can play lock-down but gives up 2-3 inches to Morris even if he does play taller than his height.

A silky moving HF type would be fantastic - although Stringer looks set to play a high forward role anyway (Macrae has Murph's evasiveness but looks set to become a midfielder).

Personally I'd love us to look at adding rebounding HBFer to the list, remain unconvinced by Howard & Tutt in that role.