As Ollie Wines starred in Port Adelaide’s incredible upset win over the Fremantle Dockers, it brought a tear to the eyes of Melbourne supporters.
It was similar to the tear that appeared after Brent Moloney was forced out of the Demons and went on to play well for the Brisbane Lions.
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It was also akin to the tear that came about as Patrick Dangerfield and Cyril Rioli became stars at their respective clubs of Adelaide and Hawthorn, while Melbourne’s number four pick in the 2007 draft, Cale Morton, struggled to hit targets with a handball.
The tears have been flowing from Melbourne fans over the last eight years, as poor recruitment, incredibly stupid decisions and awful development of players have haunted the Demons.
Ollie Wines could prove to be the stupidest yet.
Wines was almost a certain pick for the Demons in the 2012 national draft, with the blonde dynamo looking to be in the Joel Selwood/Patrick Dangerfield mould.
A good mate of Jack Viney, Wines would provide a good running style for the club, and would most likely work well with Viney in the midfield.
But a last-minute move that boggles the mind, they decided to pass on Wines to take up running midfielder Jimmy Toumpas.
Now, two years on from the draft, Wines probably thinks he dodged a bullet with the Dees, impressing in the Power’s miraculous win over the Dockers in the West and throughout the season, averaging a tick over 25 disposals per game.
Toumpus however, has struggled to make himself a regular member of an already depleted Melbourne side, and has not shown much in the opportunities he has been afforded. There are rumours of the Dees considering him as trade bait.
Toumpus could prove himself to be a worthy footballer in years to come, a late bloomer if you will. But that is not the point.
Melbourne have poorly drafted and developed their players. The Mark Neeld administration simply had their one final say through Toumpas and Wines before Neeld was sacked and replaced by Neil Craig halfway through the 2013 season.
But surely all the blame cannot be laid upon the recruiting?
Players such as Jack Trengove, Jack Watts and Jack Grimes have not even scratched their full potential, and these picks have not been busts. The picks that Melbourne made on these players were not shock selections, as if the Dees had not taken up these players, another club surely would have straight away.
It goes to show that development plays a massively important role in the future of young footballers, and Melbourne has failed miserably in this department.
Jack Watts’ shock debut against Collingwood in the Queens Birthday clash of 2009, simply to draw larger crowd numbers, comes to mind.
These types of decisions brought the Melboune Football Club, one of the founding clubs of the sport, to its knees last year, as the smell of death hung around, reminiscent of Fitzroy before it finally fell in 1996.
The club has finally managed to get rid of those who started the rot in 2011, by sacking Dean Bailey. After Bailey’s sacking, and his replacement in Mark Neeld, Melbourne started the greatest downward spiral in it long history, struggling to win a game with tactics and game plans that boggled the mind, all the way from treating the players like dirt to incomprehensibly stupid game tactics.
Those within the club who brought the club to its knees have all been banished, and Melbourne is now in the safe hands of Peter Jackson and Paul Roos.
The right decision has been made in appointing members from other clubs that have been successful, and has improved tremendously over the course of a season.
There is still more work to do, but the Demons are now looking upwards for the first time in years.
However, there are still some remaining scars of the last five years, and they continue to haunt the Melbourne faithful.
Tomorrow night, the Power travel to the MCG to play Hawthorn for a grand final berth.
Ollie Wines will play a pivotal role for the Power, and if Port Adelaide manage to get through to the grand final on the back of Wines’ performance, Melbourne fans may have tears flowing once again.
Steele
Guest
Moloney was no big loss, he had one average year at the lions and then went downhill. Wines performances continue to make me cry though. Toumpas is just another fail in a long line.
Tony Tea
Guest
Moloney was a flat track bully who never played a good game against a good side and who refused to accept he had to win his own ball without team screening. Then at Brisbane he was serviceable at best. No problem from this Demon supporter in letting him go. Wines is another story entirely. A potential gun who Idiot Prendergast passed on for God knows why.
Carl
Roar Rookie
People love to go on about how poor recruitment has been for Melbourne but I'm not entirely convinced that is the case. The real problem has been a lack of ability to develop those young raw recruits into top line AFL talent. Now not every player will get there, there will always be a place for the work horse like player and there will be more still that never amount to anything, its the ability of a club to develop their playing list that will result in quality teams. Take any of the so called poor high draft pick recruits for Melbourne, had they been drafted by a club that had a modern and professional attitude toward player development there is a good chance they may have become stars in the AFL, conversely players that have gone on to become stars at other clubs may have amounted to nothing at all had they had the misfortune to be drafted to the Dees. For Melbourne fans' sake I hope the MFC administration can wrap their heads around what it means to run a modern football club otherwise the future will remain bleak to dull at best
Blake Standfield
Roar Guru
Thank god Melbourne never got their hands on Wines, they would have ruined him like they have so much other talent. They will even manage to tarnish Paul Roos reputation by the time they're done with him. They suck money from the AFL and other clubs then cost them further through poor attendance. They have become the most pathetic organisation the sport has seen. It's time to kill those Demons for good.
Swampy
Guest
That may well be Dyson Heppel, Brownlow medalist in the not too distant future. You can never tell 100% for sure with youth how they will transition to senior footballers. I'm almost certain that someone like Buddy Franklin wouldn't be who he is if he'd started his career at Melbourne or Richmond for example. It's very much a gamble and there are few sure things in drafting - just go back over all the consensus number 1 picks. Sometimes clubs just pick up whoever is left at that point in the draft. Draft day is rarely surprising on the day. Just because essendon got Heppel at 8 or hawks got buddy at 7 doesn't mean they were intending to pick either of those players nor does it mean that if one of the guys who went higher on the day was still available that they wouldn't have picked differently instead. As the article points out, what happens after the draft seems to be far more important. It is only if clubs are consistently pulling 100+ games players from picks 30 or lower can you really say their acing the draft.
JRW1973
Guest
Dogs picked up two future stars in Macrae (running up in B&f and this season was first teenager to get 40 poss in a game! And Jake Stringer who Kicked 26 goals in last 10 games of season. Hardly losing sleep over decision
Prince Imperial
Guest
Wines is a ripper but we're very, very happy with Macrae and Stringer as we have less need for an inside midfielder. Macrae was second in our B+F in just his second season and has strong outside game. Stringer is a developing 192cm forward who kicked 22 goals in his last 9 games and is improving rapidly.
PartTimeZombie
Guest
Exactly, if Ollie Wines was a Melbourne player we'd all be saying what a disappointment he's been and how he hasn't fulfilled his promise. The problem is Melbourne, and has been for a long time.
Marc
Guest
Good story and yes Melbourne, GWS and the bullies are probably rueing the fact they didnt pick him, but probably not as much as the culprits in 2010 namely Gold Coast with 4 picks, West Coast, Brisbane and Richmond who all had picks before Essendon who snared Dyson Heppell at Number 8. Talk about the one that got away.
Olivia Watts
Roar Guru
Melbourne is a case in point of why it is said 'a champion team will always beat a team of champions'. The lack of strong internal guidance at the Dees has created an environment almost bereft of player development. Jackson and Roos are addressing this but it will take time. Things at Melbourne were so poor that had they recruited Wines he might well be where Toumpas is now; contrariwise, had a Hawthorn or Geelong selected Jack Watts he might be the leagues most exciting young forward by now. I think it is superficial to blame recruiting for Melbourne's ills. What matters is what you can bring out in the players you have; Sydney's success at giving players a second home shows that. It's a long road ahead for Melbourne but they are finally headed upwards. I wish them well
Radelaide
Guest
Definitely development since almost the same Port team got beaten by Hawthorn a few years ago by 165 pts and provided GWS with their first win that got Primus sacked, it's the same reason Geelong never truly bottom out. Would Wines be as good now if he got picked up by Melbourne? I doubt it, would Watts be a star if playing for Port? he has shown enough in some games that the answer would be yes. Look at Ross Lyon he always gets his team into the finals no matter who he coaches, you have to pick a winner not just a good assistant but someone with a winning record, for that reason I nominate Nathan Bassett because he took a middle of the road Sanfl team and made them unbeatable and then when the AFL clubs took notice and took half his young players in the draft he repeated the premiership glory the next year.
Franko
Guest
At the end of Wines first season his Mother said she'd have paid Port Adelaide for providing the young lad the support he had. The point? Culture...
Damien
Guest
I'm pretty sure Toumpas was highly rated at the time and it was not a surprise when taken at 4. How many people trash Richmond for taking Tambling instead of Franklin? But the reality is most people expected Hawthorn to take Tambling at 2 instead of Roughead. Everyone's a genius with benefit of hindsight.
Mellad Ibrahimi
Roar Rookie
Really good article. But Melbourne wasn't the only team that missed out on Wines. Gws had three picks and bulldogs had two picks as well. It's too early to tell with Toumpas given he really he's been really injury prone and Mark Neeld stated that they wouldn't have picked a bloke up that just had a hip operation, if they were picking players for the present.
Anthony
Guest
Great story about Wines by Caroline Wilson: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-softer-side-of-hardasnails-ollie-wines-20140918-10iu2k.html
Dylan Carmody
Roar Guru
I didn't mean to compare Wines to Moloney, I meant to compare how stupid it was to let Moloney go when Melbourne clearly needed a midfielder to go with Nathan Jones. Wines was compared because it was another stupid decision to pick Toumpas ahead of him. I'm not trying to compare footballers, but demonstrate the stupid decisions Melbourne have made.
Tony Tea
Guest
Comparing Wines at Port with Moloney at Brisbane is ridiculous.