Apparently Brereton insisted on toughness when drafting, when he ran the footy dept at the hawks.

2 recent draft picks by the MFC lack foot skills - Morton & Jones. BUT potentially very good players.

So, what I am suggesting here is: at a minimum, any player drafted by the MFC MUST

1. be tough (hard, likes a contest)

2. have VERY good foot skills under pressure (edited)

Apart from a lot of negatives this year, we have

1. appeared soft

2. had appalling footskills.

thoughts?

edit: by foot skills, I mean a good kicking technique.

lost me when you said morton has poor foot skills.

good luck with this thread.

  deanox said:

lost me when you said morton has poor foot skills.

good luck with this thread.

Yeah, i thought the same... did you actually watch Morton play this season?

Otherwise, toughness and foot skills are a good start, but as far as I can remember i think the club said something to the same effect last year or before that(?)

Something about only drafting players with good footskills, but the emphasis was on leadership, rather than toughness specifically

  deanox said:

lost me when you said morton has poor foot skills.

good luck with this thread.

Thanks.

I didn't even mention Morton's lack of toughness. I know many folks on this forum, and elsewhere rate him. To me he has a huge engine, and footy smarts (ie where the ball is/is going). His foot skills remind me of Bruce, sadly, and he will need to develop toughness for the contest.

BUT I DON'T WANT THIS THREAD TO TURN INTO A MORTON DISCUSSION.

well it's is going to turn into a morton discussion when you say stuff like this

if you look at mortons highlights reel from last year, he has a good kick and a good kicking action incl. one of the biggest kicks in the draft and a few pearlers from outside 50

since then, he has put on about 8 kg of muscle mass and with that much difference, ability to kick like he used to is going to be lost until he regains it

to add to that, lack of confidence etc etc under more pressure ya di da

he will turn out to be a very good kick and his skills was basically the major reason for him being drafted

and yes, we should have criteria and we do have criteria which will change this year with BP in charge

okay, for starters..what a crock of [censored] is the stuff being said in this thread. For those that are denying that Mortons kicking this season has been anything less than deplorable...up the medication for Gods sake. Mortons kicking in the under 18's is IRRELEVENT, its how he kicks in the afl that matters..and his kicking has many fans puzzled after expecting a youngster with elite footskills. Then some idiot said that because he put on muscle then his kicking went worse...what [censored].

  Mono said:

Apparently Brereton insisted on toughness when drafting, when he ran the footy dept at the hawks.

2 recent draft picks by the MFC lack foot skills - Morton & Jones. BUT potentially very good players.

So, what I am suggesting here is: at a minimum, any player drafted by the MFC MUST

1. be tough (demonstrated)

2. have VERY good foot skills

Apart from a lot of negatives this year, we have

1. appeared soft

2. had appalling footskills.

thoughts?

edit: by foot skills, I mean a good kicking technique.

morton was considered one of the best kicks in the draft last year...search him on youtube and watch his delivery..

goal kicking is another thing, and i know he sprayed a few this year- nerves, first year.

so two more recent draft picks (jones was from 2005 draft)

Morton and Maric- two good kicks

The last time Melbourne went for someone "tough" they got Molan.

  Clint Bizkit said:

The last time Melbourne went for someone "tough" they got Molan.

When was he 'tough'?

I never saw him play through injuries... wasn't especially tough when he was at the falcons

This is an interesting HS article about the hawks recruiting.

I quote the second last paragraph:"A key ingredient is hardness: Hodge, Lewis, Brown, Sewell, Mitchell, Guerra, Campbell, Franklin, Roughead, Croad, Osborne. They either hit the ball, or the man, hard and often both."

Hardness is not everything. But in AFL footy today, if you don't have it to some degree, you aint gonna make it.

  Mono said:

Thanks.

I didn't even mention Morton's lack of toughness. I know many folks on this forum, and elsewhere rate him. To me he has a huge engine, and footy smarts (ie where the ball is/is going). His foot skills remind me of Bruce, sadly, and he will need to develop toughness for the contest.

BUT I DON'T WANT THIS THREAD TO TURN INTO A MORTON DISCUSSION.

Morton has a booming kick. Saw him this year playing a game for Sandy gick a goal from the boundary line on his right side from about 60m out of one step. Unbelievable.

The errors by foot he made this year I put down to nerves, the fact that this was his first year and the immense pressure applied by the opposition that we really cannot appreciate sitting in the stands. Not to mention the fact that this year it took so long for players to present and make space up the ground as a quick, viable target which added to this pressure.

I cannot remember a first year player at his club in the past 20 years get more of the pill than this bloke. When we start applying out own pressure at the stoppages, run harder to present and have constant targets available to move the ball on quickly instead of hesitating issues such as Cale's occasional poor disposal will rectify itself.

stigga- well put. with you 100% there, cale is going to be special

I do agree with drafting criteria- of being able to kick the ball, and be tough

  Freak said:

okay, for starters..what a crock of [censored] is the stuff being said in this thread. For those that are denying that Mortons kicking this season has been anything less than deplorable...up the medication for Gods sake. Mortons kicking in the under 18's is IRRELEVENT

Fail. The thread is about drafting players who are tough and have good foot skills, Morton had awesome foot skills in u18's so we drafted him. Morton's kicking last year is entirely relevant to what this thread is about. We can't judge this years draftees on what we think their kicking will be like next year

  Golgothan said:

Fail. The thread is about drafting players who are tough and have good foot skills, Morton had awesome foot skills in u18's so we drafted him. Morton's kicking last year is entirely relevant to what this thread is about. We can't judge this years draftees on what we think their kicking will be like next year

hahaha touch'e

  Golgothan said:

Fail. The thread is about drafting players who are tough and have good foot skills, Morton had awesome foot skills in u18's so we drafted him. Morton's kicking last year is entirely relevant to what this thread is about. We can't judge this years draftees on what we think their kicking will be like next year

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from all the highlight clips of Morton, he was an outside player at under 18's, hence his disposal was rarely under pressure. Therefore I fail to see how you could accurately assess his kicking skills. Any local footballer can hit a target when under no pressure. His attributes at under 18's were his motor, ability to find space, and ability to read the play.

Now in Morton's defence, this season he rarely had viable options upfield to display his kicking skills, and his indecisiveness may have attributed to his poor disposal. But on 2 occassions I saw him actually shank a set shot for goal within 40 metres, under no pressure. This for me was a worrying sign.

And before any of you bozzos reply, of course all players miss shots for goal. A shanked kick is when the ball goes off the boot at a 45 degree angle to the right (for a right footer), and is unacceptable at AFL level.

  mo64 said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from all the highlight clips of Morton, he was an outside player at under 18's, hence his disposal was rarely under pressure. Therefore I fail to see how you could accurately assess his kicking skills. Any local footballer can hit a target when under no pressure. His attributes at under 18's were his motor, ability to find space, and ability to read the play.

Now in Morton's defence, this season he rarely had viable options upfield to display his kicking skills, and his indecisiveness may have attributed to his poor disposal. But on 2 occassions I saw him actually shank a set shot for goal within 40 metres, under no pressure. This for me was a worrying sign.

And before any of you bozzos reply, of course all players miss shots for goal. A shanked kick is when the ball goes off the boot at a 45 degree angle to the right (for a right footer), and is unacceptable at AFL level.

Hate to tell you mate, but 'kicking skills' and 'ability to perform under pressure' are 2 entirely different things...

once he gets used to the intense pressure and learns to not let it bother his kicking action, he'll be able to kick just the same and his kicking skills will be a shining light.

Quite simple really.

  mo64 said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from all the highlight clips of Morton, he was an outside player at under 18's, hence his disposal was rarely under pressure.

What?...all two minutes of it on youtube? How do you know he was only an outside player? Do you have any statistics to show a lack of hard ball gets or contested possesion?

  TheShaft said:

Hate to tell you mate, but 'kicking skills' and 'ability to perform under pressure' are 2 entirely different things...

once he gets used to the intense pressure and learns to not let it bother his kicking action, he'll be able to kick just the same and his kicking skills will be a shining light.

Quite simple really.

One of your more bewildering posts. For someone to say that how a person kicks the ball under pressure isn't inclusive in their "kicking skills", just shows a lack of knowledge of sport in general.

Using a golfing analogy, I can make putts on the practice green, but rarely make a putt during the round. Am I a good putter? No, because my mindset is part of my putting skills. The same goes for footballers and their kicking skills. Some players just never get their mindset right after years of experience, eg; Matty Richardson.

  mo64 said:

One of your more bewildering posts. For someone to say that how a person kicks the ball under pressure isn't inclusive in their "kicking skills", just shows a lack of knowledge of sport in general.

Using a golfing analogy, I can make putts on the practice green, but rarely make a putt during the round. Am I a good putter? No, because my mindset is part of my putting skills. The same goes for footballers and their kicking skills. Some players just never get their mindset right after years of experience, eg; Matty Richardson.

But like i already said - that is his ABILITY TO COPE WITH PRESSURE - not his footskills.

I also think adjusting to the AFL game affects this as kicking to the same spots and using the same timing on a lead does not apply.

Regarding my 'knowledge of sport in general', I've competed at a higher level than I think you'd ever believe.

I've also spent time with the bio-mechanics experts that work with the MFC on their kicking.

If anything i think your reply shows your inability to comprehend these simple concepts, and the fact that while they can affect each other, they are separate & independent of one another.

  TheShaft said:

I've also spent time with the bio-mechanics experts that work with the MFC on their kicking.

Say no more! B)

Mono, change your opening post so it says "good foot skills under pressure" to make Shaft shut up

Morton,s weakest part of his game is disposal under pressure

he ticks all the other boxes though

Kid will be a GEM

  Mono said:

Hardness is not everything. But in AFL footy today, if you don't have it to some degree, you aint gonna make it.

Correct.

  Eastie Boyz said:

Mono, change your opening post so it says "good foot skills under pressure" to make Shaft shut up

Done. Opening post has been edited.

Toughness, good foot skills....did some1 say Daniel Rich?

woooooooottt!