West Coast will take Rich

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

im 90% sure that Rich will be at least as good as Daniel Kerr and I think Watts is no chance of being a Riewoldt or Franklin or the star that we are after. While I would love to have a talented KP at melbourne, deep down I think everyone knows that Rich is the player that has to be taken. If Melbourne pick up Watts and he isnt a star, melbourne will be laughed at for many many years for claiming to 'take the best available' player.

Garbage. You dont know how any of these players will turn out. From your own admission you've hardly seen them play. Deep down you really dont have a clue.

MFC will chose the best available player with its first pick. Whether its Watts or Rich, if the player does not reach the lofty levels expected Predergast will be pillaged. FFS, also even if the player chosen is a very good footballer, if NikNat is a once in a lifetime star then every club will look stupid for not choosing him No 1.

One of the more flimsy cases for choosing a certain player I have read.

[H_T 3,043]

im 90% sure that Rich will be at least as good as Daniel Kerr and I think Watts is no chance of being a Riewoldt or Franklin or the star that we are after. While I would love to have a talented KP at melbourne, deep down I think everyone knows that Rich is the player that has to be taken. If Melbourne pick up Watts and he isnt a star, melbourne will be laughed at for many many years for claiming to 'take the best available' player.

So you want Melbourne to lay down against the Toast! at the G

[bjgc 0]

The All Australian team which Prendergast is a selector didn't even have Rich in the best 18. Ziebell, Ericwickaranga and his teammate Deboer were named in the midfield and Hartlett as a HF. I thought it looked strange that this guy can go no1 but is behind another 4 midfielders in the All Australian side. Has this ever happened to a No1 pick before? Watts has to be our man our midfield might be poor but it's not as bad as our forward line it is a joke. Trade Sylvia for Prismall and then we will be laughing.

[Rogue 585]

Trade Sylvia for Prismall and then we will be laughing.

Why would Geelong do that?

[Viney_12 1]

Ziebell is awesome, but I don't think he'll be available when our 2nd pick is .

[Don24 103]

i just hope we can snag Warnock from freo in the PSD! if we can get Warnock and Watts il be pretty happy! that means we can have PJ and Warnock in the ruck, Watts and Miller down forward and a host of Key backs.....spine is looking pretty good!!

[grazman 7,404]

Ziebell is awesome, but I don't think he'll be available when our 2nd pick is .

Not according to the majority anyway, he seems a certain top ten.

[ChaserJ 4,995]

The All Australian team which Prendergast is a selector didn't even have Rich in the best 18. Ziebell, Ediriwickrama and his teammate Deboer were named in the midfield and Hartlett as a HF. I thought it looked strange that this guy can go no1 but is behind another 4 midfielders in the All Australian side. Has this ever happened to a No1 pick before? Watts has to be our man our midfield might be poor but it's not as bad as our forward line it is a joke.

Rich didn't have a fantastic carnival. If it wasn't for the hype and a very good last game, he probably wouldn't have made the AA team. Struggled with a heavy tag at times, but doesn't mean that he is rated below the other four. They were just viewed to have performed better at the champs (Rich would have received far more opposition attention than the other four). Trent Cotchin also struggled in the Championships last year, doesn't seem to have affected his performance at AFL level.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Exactly Dappa, its all talk.

I'm tipping there wasn't much talk of Lance Franklin at the tigers before they went with Tambling!

I just reckon it gets a bit silly with all the ways statistics are interpreted... and even when you get so called "experts" they can't cover all the different aspects you're supposed to. No-one can...

Recruiting gets better every year, and every year I gain more confidence in the experts. If you pay attention to every rumour, then there are ten reasons to take EVERY player and ten reasons NOT TO as well...

All we can do is calm down and make as simple an objective assessment as we can... and the best way is to look at the most known quantity you can find, which in this case, is our existing list. We know where the majority of players are at, and the coaches have seen them all for at least a year. Based on that info, you then have a crack at the draft... It's all you can do I reckon. Hence the reason I'm on Watts.

[Chook 15,012]

All we can do is calm down and make as simple an objective assessment as we can... and the best way is to look at the most known quantity you can find, which in this case, is our existing list. We know where the majority of players are at, and the coaches have seen them all for at least a year. Based on that info, you then have a crack at the draft... It's all you can do I reckon. Hence the reason I'm on Watts.

I agree with you Dappa, in that we should pick a player who helps shore up a weakness. But it seems to me that our greatest two weaknesses are Clearances and Inside 50s, both of which can be helped by a strong midfield - or at the very least a good ruck division. When we get the ball inside 50, we score fairly regularly, so we don't - in my opinion, need to bolster our forward line as much as the midfield.

For those reasons - and the fact that, more than ever, the game is won in the midfield - I'd pick Rich, with Warnock with our third round pick/#1PSD and Prismall with whichever one's free. If we happen to finish above the Eagles and they take Rich (as seems likely), I'd consider picking Watts if we could still get Warnock for cheap.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

I agree with you Dappa, in that we should pick a player who helps shore up a weakness. But it seems to me that our greatest two weaknesses are Clearances and Inside 50s, both of which can be helped by a strong midfield - or at the very least a good ruck division. When we get the ball inside 50, we score fairly regularly, so we don't - in my opinion, need to bolster our forward line as much as the midfield.

For those reasons - and the fact that, more than ever, the game is won in the midfield - I'd pick Rich, with Warnock with our third round pick/#1PSD and Prismall with whichever one's free. If we happen to finish above the Eagles and they take Rich (as seems likely), I'd consider picking Watts if we could still get Warnock for cheap.

That's really interesting. I actually disagree with your assessment of our two weaknesses, but respect your judgement all the same.

I reckon in a number of games this year, particularly early in the year when we were at our worst, clearances were the only thing we were getting right. Maybe it was the combined influence of Moloney, Brock and JMac... But statistically we were holding our own in this area, and sometimes even beating higher fancied teams. The second weakness, fair enough, is correct... but I'm one of those people that finds inside fifties a bit of fluffy statistic sometimes. Also, once we get it inside fifty I think that's where we have struggled to put any kind of fear into teams. We don't have one big contested marking player in there, that can be crumbed off.

Given how we've gone this year I'm loving how our defence is shaping up. We have rebounding players like Petterd (remember him?!), Wheatley and Whelan in the old brigade, Bell who is a stopper, CJ and Buckley have come on in leaps an bounds in the last month, and of course our big three young KP defenders in Warnock, Garland and Frawley. And that's to say nothing of Rivers who will slot in beautifully into the now-vacant third tall (loose) defender role... in exactly the same way Harley does for the cats.

We're now playing rookies in the midfield a lot because 2 of our starting 3 have gone with injury, an the 3rd one is buckling under the pressure what with being only 20. As far as I'm concerned e have a solid, but unspectacular midfield brigade.

Our forward line is what gives me grief. And it was always going to given Robbo and Neitz have basically controlled it for the better part of a decade. Miller has been admirable to say the least, but can't do it on his own, Sylvia has only been good in patches, and is now being used all over the place (except the guts), PJ is an everywhere man, Jamar is Jamar, Wonna is a ripper as long as he's not taking set shots from 40+ metres, Newton is growing only very gradually, Bate is roaming way up the ground, Dunn is a tagger, Davey is everywhere BUT attack these days it seems.... It's all bit-part guys, resting ruckmen and temporary solutions. I'm not saying we have to recruit Buddy and Roughy... that would be asking the unreasonable... But to get a really good CHF and FF and build around them with all these temporary guys would be a far better solution I reckon...

Ok Chook. After all that, it has occurred to me in the past few weeks what Rich would mean to the club. WC had 2 and a half great midfielders on any given day, and they, coupled with a solid defence, made their horribly mediocre forwards look good. And recruiting for a terrifying forward line won't do anything for us if no-one's there to kick it to them.

I wouldn't be displeased with Rich. Put it that way. I like the idea of recruiting HEAVILY in the midfield, OR the forward line... As long as we are dominant in one of those areas. You can't have it all.

[Chook 15,012]

. . . It has occurred to me in the past few weeks what Rich would mean to the club. WC had 2 and a half great midfielders on any given day, and they, coupled with a solid defence, made their horribly mediocre forwards look good. And recruiting for a terrifying forward line won't do anything for us if no-one's there to kick it to them.

I wouldn't be displeased with Rich. Put it that way. I like the idea of recruiting HEAVILY in the midfield, OR the forward line... As long as we are dominant in one of those areas. You can't have it all.

First of all, thanks for replying so in-depth. Second, I absolutely agree with your statement that we should specialize in one particular area of the field - as that is, in my opinion the easiest way to a Premiership, since, if you are the best in the league at one aspect of footy, you have a good chance of winning a lot of games via that strength.

But it seems we're saying similar things. We just differ in our number one priority. I believe it's better to develop a very strong midfield than anything else because of the way the game's played these days. No forward will profit if the opposing team's midfield constantly wins the ball in the center and runs back into holes when without the ball. Likewise, it's every forward's dream to run onto a lace-out ball delivered with pin-point accuracy from the midfield.

Finally, as you mentioned, the impact of the Cox/Judd/Cousins/Kerr/Embley midfield on an otherwise ordinary team was immense. The dramatic fall of the West Coast Eagles with the loss of just two of this group is testament to this. This near two-time Premiership-winning, top-four monty team was reduced, in the space of a little over one year, to a genuine wooden-spoon contender.

Compare this to Richmond and Carlton, who for many years had no midfield but did have power forwards who regularly kicked bags of 6 goals, invariably finished at or very near the bottom of the ladder. Only now, with the arrival of Chris Judd (yes, the same one that nearly participated in the back-to-back Premierships of an otherwise wooden-spooner) at Carlton, accompanied by the maturity of the Kreuzer/Murphy/Gibbs midfield, are they beginning to win games, despite the fact that their spearhead and contender for Biggest [censored] In the Universe, Brendan Fevola, is kicking no more goals than he used to. Likewise with Richmond. Perhaps even moreso, as even though Richo is kicking fewer goals, the good form of the Simmonds/Cotchin/Deledio combo is giving great supply to the likes of Mitch (?) Morton and Jack Riewold.

So, in conclusion, Obama for President! Er . . . that is to say, I believe that the Warnock (Naitanui)/McLean/Jones/Rich (Prismall)/et al. midfield is the best way to improve both our defensive and offensive pressure and, consequently, give us the best chance of a flag after the dominance of Geelong, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs.

By the way, it's no coincidence that I think that the next wave of Premiership contenders will include Carlton, Richmond and Melbourne (no bias there!).

God that's a lot of words.

[Rogue 585]

Also, once we get it inside fifty I think that's where we have struggled to put any kind of fear into teams. We don't have one big contested marking player in there, that can be crumbed off.

We may not strike fear into them, but iirc our inside 50 'efficiency' has been very good.

Easier to cobble together a working forward line than it is a midfield, as you've said.

[Jarka 767]

Look at the Hawks. They recruited for type before ratings as players, and as a consequence they got a couple of the only good KP forwards through about 3 years of drafting. Recruiting for type didn't work for us, but it worked for them... and then some.

Disagree, Franklin and Roughhead were both rated extremely highly. They were not picks satisfying 'for type' mentality, Franklin in particular was considered to be a great talent, the question mark being only with his attitude, which has proved to be false.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Disagree, Franklin and Roughhead were both rated extremely highly. They were not picks satisfying 'for type' mentality, Franklin in particular was considered to be a great talent, the question mark being only with his attitude, which has proved to be false.

Absolutely correct.

[H_T 3,043]

Disagree, Franklin and Roughhead were both rated extremely highly. They were not picks satisfying 'for type' mentality, Franklin in particular was considered to be a great talent, the question mark being only with his attitude, which has proved to be false.

There is still a question mark over his attitude, hence him giving away free's. Also, nearly costing a tribunal appearance or two.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

There is still a question mark over his attitude, hence him giving away free's. Also, nearly costing a tribunal appearance or two.

There always will be.

But he has delivered way above any reasonable expectation of him. If they can keep on the straight and narrow, he will be an elite, crowd drawing player in today's modern game. He is well on the way there.

[H_T 3,043]

There always will be.

But he has delivered way above any reasonable expectation of him. If they can keep on the straight and narrow, he will be an elite, crowd drawing player in today's modern game. He is well on the way there.

Oh no doubt, he clicks the turnstiles over a few thousand times each week because of his freakish athletic ability and excitement. A great marketable name in "Buddy" and he has the whole AFL world talking about him.

Same drawing power as a Ablett and Carey - no body's perfect, there will always be that attitude, but it is that same attitude where he struts himself which makes him the player he really is. "Almost Invincible"