Roar Rookie
Joined June 2012
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Loves witnessing or being part of a contest, whatever the sport. Follow me on Twitter @james_bett
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Travis Cloke's drawn-out contract negotiations could see Collingwood lose one or even two of the six Magpie players yet to commit to the club…
Zac Dawson is a player that fans love to hate. As a young boy at Hawthorn he was much maligned by fans as a…
Poor draft choices and list management decisions have put the AFL's Melbourne Football Club back four to five years. Melbourne lacks two major things…
Mark Harvey's sacking and replacement with Ross Lyon raised many an eyebrow about whether loyalty existed in football anymore. As we enter the halfway…
Kel the players themselves have said that the press under Watters is very similar to the one under Lyon, but they have increased the amount they play on. Watters talked about against Adelaide, North Melbourne and Richmond that the game was played at a pace that was far too quick for his liking, and has endeavoured for much of the season to have either Goddard or Fisher loose behind the ball. I agree the gamestyle is very different and is prone to being scored against, much in the same way that it makes them far more likely to score heavily this season than under Lyon, however, whether Zac would have been exposed or not, him playing for the Saints would have created a flow on effect whereby Blake Clarke/SImpkin, Dempster can play on lesser forwards
Why the Saints are missing Dawson
I am far from a St Kilda basher needeep and in fact if you care to notice i talked about how Ross Lyon was only a bounce of the ball away from 2 premiership cups, and the Saints of the last four years have been excellent teams. I would also like to point out the Fremantle’s midfield has been without Fyfe and Morabito for much of this year, and has been without Hill for three games, and Barlow, Mundy, Mzungu, De Boer and Pearce have punched above there weight for much of the year. Meanwhile St Kildas midfield possesses the class and brilliance of Hayes, Dal Santo, Montagna, Goddard when he plays through there, as well as the emergence of Armitage and Steven and the tagging of Jones gives the Saints a major advantage in that area. Riewoldt and Koschitzke alongside Milne, Schnieder, Saad have a far superior forward line to the Dockers, which gave them the artillery to belt the Suns that the Dockers simply don’t have. I do agree that the positive game style of Watters has given the Saints far more scoring power, that is plain to see. And i don’t see how you can say that Dawson hasn’t helped the Dockers or hindered the Saints. Dawson going to the Dockers has freed up Johnson to play as a loose defender rather than having to be majorly accoutable and more to the point, his resurgence can be largely attributed to Lyon, whose demands and expectations has seen him “pull his finger out” as you said.
Why the Saints are missing Dawson
Justin i agree with much of what you have said, but i would like to point out that most of what you have said is based on looking down the track in a couple of years time. the point i’m making is that if you compare our choices to the players that have gone at lower picks, we have made some major blunders, and that coupled with clearing out the experienced players within the club has hurt Melbourne dramatically.
Given the lack of young players we have and the fact that our captains are 22 and 20 respectively, i can’t see how losing Brock McLean was a masterstroke. He would be captain of the club now if James McDonald still wasn’t and it would have taken a huge weight off Jack Trengrove’s shoulders who in my belief looks shackled by the captaincy and his development is being hindered as a result. As for Cook, even if he is too skinny, without Mitch Clark or Jurrah there is a massive opportunity to play him now, because him being in the side will certainly improve him, and it cant really hinder the Demons any more than is already the case.
As you said with Viney he is three or four years away, yet another player who Melbourne fans look at as they did Watts four years ago, as a messiah who would lift the Demons from the abyss.
Both Dunn and Bate will be delisted at the end of this season it seems, and both players have been severely impacted by the loss of Yze, Robertson, Nietz and Miller from a forward line which has seen defenders that are far too good for them playing on them.
Melbourne Demons will take long road to rebuilding