Melbourne Football Club

[Hotdog60]

How do we think the MFC will go next year?

Max Gawn will be 34 next season and must be coming to an end.
Steven May will be 34 and was asked to look elsewhere.
Christian Petracca Gone
Clayton Oliver Gone
Jack Viney will be 32
Jake Lever will be 30 and has had a below average season.
14 players next year will be 30 years or over.
New coach will King have the cattle to lift them?

I think they will be middle of the bottom eight again and could be in for a few years of pain.

[Grantysghost]

It's a fair exodus of talent isn't it.

One thing I'll say they always draft well under Jason Taylor and the last few years are no exception.

They got some really great kids (Windsor, Tholstrup, Langford, Lindsay) but still a little way away.

I expect a similar season to this season. Steele will help a bit. They'll be far better off for having Petracca and Oliver gone who didn't want to be there last season.

[jazzadogs]

It's a fair exodus of talent isn't it.

One thing I'll say they always draft well under Jason Taylor and the last few years are no exception.

They got some really great kids (Windsor, Tholstrup, Langford, Lindsay) but still a little way away.

I expect a similar season to this season. Steele will help a bit. They'll be far better off for having Petracca and Oliver gone who didn't want to be there last season.

Windsor had a disappointing injury-affected season after an excellent debut year. Langford was my favourite player in last year's draft, he's going to be awesome.

I think their big issue is the next age group. Only really Petty, Rivers, Pickett, Bowey, Turner in the 23-28 range.

[mighty_west]

I think Steele is an upgrade on Oliver but Trac will hurt, a lot, Viney should still be ok, Lever should also be ok and Gawn is just a machine, you can't write him off just yet, May like Jones for us had fallen off a cliff so i think they have to play Petty as a defender as he is a very ordinary forward and i have no idea why the Crows wanted him so badly a few years back, he and Lever should be fine, but they do have a lot of kids so i can't see them rising at all.

[NAUGHTY100]

I'm thinking they will miss Oliver alot more then they think , his last 6 games this year were very good and it almost looked like he got that passion back , but as the old saying goes only time will tell wether Oliver regains form , but Melbourne dont have to worry about him any more apart from paying 5 or 6 hundred k for him to play against them , that must be so disturbing to a club thats why im so glad we avoided doing the same with with Marra .
Anyway Patracca is a big loss and so is Oliver , which means Viney will shoulder the midfield virtually on his own , which is a big ask , but they do have some really talented young guys and will get another couple of top players in the draft , although they may take a few years to come good like most young guys .
So in fact i think they will stuggle alot next year , May is 34 and aparently not a fav of the new couch , Lever is banged up , Fritsch went backwards , no mid field apart from Viney so yeah going to be a long year for the Demons .

[GVGjr]

Melbourne clearing the club house of some top end players and also not finding a home for Stephen May is very likely to deflate the playing list
Of course bringing in some new players and someone like Jack Steele should help in the recovery but it's far from ideal and it seems they're heading for a major fall.

Years back North Melbourne who were frequently a competitive side made the decision to clean out a number of ageing but reasonably effective players.
This was done with the view that by opening up the spots and having plenty of salary cap room would be attractive for others players to join them.
Many years later North still haven't bounced back and despite throwing some money around with their offers they still haven't been able to attract top end players and remain entrenched in the bottom 6 club range.

This is a big risk by Melbourne, maybe it was necessary, but it could be a long, long road back for them.

[Topdog]

Goes to show how quickly it can all turn pear shaped if you let bad habits linger. A pretty incredible list that never really gave their fans the success they were all hoping for.

Next season I think they'll have a similar season to this one. Some good young players but not enough quality across the park and as someone else said earlier a real lack of talent in that 22-28 age range.

[GVGjr]

Goes to show how quickly it can all turn pear shaped if you let bad habits linger. A pretty incredible list that never really gave their fans the success they were all hoping for.

Next season I think they'll have a similar season to this one. Some good young players but not enough quality across the park and as someone else said earlier a real lack of talent in that 22-28 age range.

Yes, I fear we walked past problems and didn't really address them in 2017 and it really set us back.
I had a boss who frequently reminded his team that the issues you ignore today with your teams becomes the absolute mess you have to clean up tomorrow.

[The Underdog]

I'm thinking they will miss Oliver alot more then they think , his last 6 games this year were very good and it almost looked like he got that passion back , but as the old saying goes only time will tell wether Oliver regains form , but Melbourne dont have to worry about him any more apart from paying 5 or 6 hundred k for him to play against them , that must be so disturbing to a club thats why im so glad we avoided doing the same with with Marra .
Anyway Patracca is a big loss and so is Oliver , which means Viney will shoulder the midfield virtually on his own , which is a big ask , but they do have some really talented young guys and will get another couple of top players in the draft , although they may take a few years to come good like most young guys .
So in fact i think they will stuggle alot next year , May is 34 and aparently not a fav of the new couch , Lever is banged up , Fritsch went backwards , no mid field apart from Viney so yeah going to be a long year for the Demons .

Pretty sure Pickett will be their top line midfielder. Which isnt a bad place to start. Viney is past his best but will likely start in there as will Steele. Plenty of space for Langford et al to start getting midifield minutes. Mihocek helps the forward structure. It’ll be a transition year but if they use the draft picks well they may not be too far down for too long.

[NAUGHTY100]

Pretty sure Pickett will be their top line midfielder. Which isnt a bad place to start. Viney is past his best but will likely start in there as will Steele. Plenty of space for Langford et al to start getting midifield minutes. Mihocek helps the forward structure. It’ll be a transition year but if they use the draft picks well they may not be too far down for too long.

I get where your coming from , but in my view sure they will use Pickett on ball , but that leaves a gapping hole in their forward half robbing peter to pay paul kinda thing , but i agree that they do have some gopopd young players , but i can see them struggle for the next 2 or 3 years .
Steele will be handy but his not gonna make up for the loss of Oliver and Petracca , also Spargo will be a loss more then most people think , he was very handy depth .