Melbourne deserve the priority pick in the upcoming draft. But don’t give it to them, for the love of God!
I’ll lay my colours on the line early. I’m all red and blue, but I like to think I can be fairly unbiased (except for those two hours over the weekend).
In and out of the finals all through the Daniher era, in 2006 Melbourne were two games away from a grand final appearance when they overran St Kilda. It was the end of the era of strength in the earlier part of the decade with Neitz and White leading the charge, 100 gamers like Green and Davey heading to their peaks and up-and-coming hopefuls like Sylvia and Nathan Jones getting involved. The rest were journeymen and ‘triers’
The club wasn’t thick with talent and, to be honest, I think they were lucky to get that far. But from there, the leadership and skill became pretty sketchy.
For the subsequent seasons it was 14th, 16th, 16th, 12th, 13th and 16th. Even during the Scully/Trengove hunt, it’s still a pretty pathetic stretch.
I’m not one to blame the recruiters and I’m not going to turn around years later and be a genius that retroactively picks the draft apart. The sliding doors moment when it could have been Matty Stokes instead of Simon Buckley is one of thousands you could find at any club.
The Demons have been through hell for the last few years. Some of it is their own doing, some of it would have been pretty hard to predict. There are more than enough articles out there about the cyclone of issues that tore through the club.
Either way, it went downhill, and fast. Jared Rivers left just so he could experience a couple of wins. If the future is that bad that he can leave his mates, a pretty healthy contract and a leadership position just so he can sing the song after the game then the club is in trouble.
The forced ‘retirement’ of James McDonald is the new Norm Smith Curse (even that has yet to be lifted!) and it left what little leadership that remained in tatters. There was no one left for this batch of draft picks to learn from. They stepped into a vortex. That just goes to show how good Grimes, Garland and Jones really are. They’ve had to do it themselves.
Coaches and board members had split the club straight down the middle. Administration headed by Cameron Schwab versus players all standing behind Dean Bailey… Then they played Geelong. That dark day. The day the floor fell away.
Schwab just survived and Bailey was pushed out much to the chagrin of his soldiers. A deep malaise fell over the club and without those strong leaders to guide the guys out it settled and got into their bones.
Neeld came in and went too hard too early. You don’t whip a horse straight out of the gate, you wait until the final stretch otherwise you could be bucked off.
None of the players wanted to play for a totalitarian regime without the freedom to think for themselves. In watching the wild decline it became apparent, not only were they not playing for the coach, they were playing against him.
When the two factions went toe-to-toe only one will win – it’s never been the coach and never will be. Neeld got bucked off. Another coach was on the scrapheap because of the division.
Others may disagree, but I don’t think this playing list is reflective of its lowly status. I’ve seen some bad sides before (Melbourne’s included) and there is some real talent in there. It could be elite if it’s extracted from them.
That’s where the right coach and the right captain(s) need to be in place. It wasn’t right at the Demons. The Jacks might be great captains one day, but not today.
If it was a matter of just dropping a priority pick to fix it all then Melbourne should be a dual premier by now. Many other clubs should have been given this leniency by the AFL much earlier.
The Tigers, since the late 80s, have been quite rubbish, but after many failed attempts to drag themselves out of the gloom they managed to get it right. They got the right type of players in and gave them the support to become the players they should be.
Cotchin, Deledio, Martin and Riewoldt have become top line players in the competition. Granted it’s not without their hurdles, but if the upward trend of these guys continues there may be a Brownlow or two for them. They’ve done it without a priority pick and they will see finals again this year.
The Dogs, prior to Rodney Eade taking the reins, were shambolic for a while. They needed a priority pick more than they needed Barry Hall. They could have John Butcher roaming the forward line. But through a great twist of fate Mitch Wallis and Tom Liberatore turned up as Ryan Griffen was hitting the elite bracket. They’ll be ok.
Melbourne, in its current state, is a perfect candidate for the priority pick. If you took a cross section of those years and presented it to the AFL asking for the pick, you’d get it with a hug and a sympathetic look. Present the entire picture and it’s more likely the club would be shot to put it out of its misery.
The Demons needs to suck it up. Find out where it’s gone wrong and fix it. Get the support in place for this young list before it’s too late. Going back to their parents, asking them to pay their bills and get them out of trouble again won’t teach them anything. Let them do it the hard way. It will make the eventual rise seem less hollow and worth all this pain.
Brian Cook said it best “…they need to develop the Melbourne Way” The group that is there now need to bunker down and rediscover what that is, then all take that hill together.
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