@ 2 clearances a game? I'd say were desperate for something. Gun is at the side of his head this year.

And he had to work with no support in the midfield to the most lack lustre ruck combination around, its no wonder Jones was at times overwhelmed and it was not due to lack of effort or desperation. At any other competitive club Jones would have been 4th or 5th up in the midfield. At MFC he is the No 1 midfielder. Go figure.

You're missing where the real problems are and were. Enjoy your witch hunt though.

i feel like the MFC needs to do something different/exciting to spice things up a bit and give us supporters something to laugh/cheer/jeer about!!!

Cousins would certainly add that!!

if we can get 5 quality young kids then why not get cuzzo.......??

i reckon he might have got his s%$t together.. and he would certainly bring people to the games!!!

Here is your answer Goose: -

is this thread still on cousins? for fcuk sake..he isnt coming to melbourne so who gives a cr@P

Smart move Freak.

Cousins is damaged goods. So Goose, why would Melbourne waste their time picking him up for 1-2 years? For attendances? For another win or two? Either reason it would be short lived and a waste of money not to mention extra resources. I'd prefer a young 20 year old or even pick 67 at the ND and pass on PSD#1.

And he had to work with no support in the midfield to the most lack lustre ruck combination around, its no wonder Jones was at times overwhelmed and it was not due to lack of effort or desperation. At any other competitive club Jones would have been 4th or 5th up in the midfield. At MFC he is the No 1 midfielder. Go figure.

You're missing where the real problems are and were. Enjoy your witch hunt though.

No Witch hunt here. No fairy floss either. Just straight up the guts.

No Witch hunt here. No fairy floss either.

Not much common sense either.

Im not going to pretend i know anything about the draftees. Ive seen a lot of footage on youtube, but it doesnt give you a clear indication of where the player is at. They all look good in highlight footage.

Questions for people who know -

Aaron Corneilieus looks good, but from the footage it looks like he is rarely challenged by a defender.

Is this because he makes the space so well? Can he take a pack mark? What position does he play when playing in the VFL (FF?, Third tall?, Bench?)

If we draft Watts, is he more a FF or CHF?

Is there any chance that Roughead might fall to pick 35?

And is there any more news about that Liam Shiels guy from Eastern Rangers?

Not much common sense either.

Problem with common sense is that it's not very common eh?

I'm starting to warm to Ash Smith at 19 if Blease, Swift and Hill are gone.

#1 Watts. This one's easy.

#17 If anyone slides we take them here (Johnston, McKeenan, Yarran etc) otherwise hope for Hill, Swift, or Blease. Basically a good solid mid prospect, with pace. West Coast will be after a mid at 18 so we take a mid here, then go tall with 19 if we want another tall.

#19 Shoenmakers, Cornelius? Lisle? Maybe one of the prospective picks from 17 if they're still there.

#35 a ruckman? Roughead if he is there, if not we may pick up a guy like Suban, Zaharakis, Strauss, Ash Smith, Nick Heyne. Some of them may still be here at this pick, and they are all decent midfield (or flank) prospects IMO

#51 Dont really know who will go here. You dont hear much about later picks, and you're not watching for them when you're watching a match with Watts etc in it

I'd love for:

1. Watts - our next FF/CHF star

17. Hill - ridiculously quick and agile outside mid to compliment our slower inside brigade

19. Mckernan - ruck/forward. Id like for him to play as a gorilla type FF in the goal square, and have Watts be the agile leading CHF. If he grows abit more then he can switch between ruck aswell.

35. Strauss - midfielder/rebounding back with good skills

51. Redden - tall ruckman at 202cm and probably still growing. He's a decent ruck prospect who may take a while to be AFL ready, but could form part of a solid rucking rotation

Nup. i don't want Hill with any of our picks. He doesnt have the great foot skills that people believe he has...and more importantly what we need.

I'd take any of Hill, Swift, Blease.

Hill is quickest and most agile, and also gets most ball. But I agree, his foot skills arent great. They're very hit and miss. Also he sometimes panics under pressure.

Blease is quick, has a great pick up on the run, but fades in and out of games. He's inconsistent and often only gets 8-9 disposals. I also think his kicking is poor when he's running full tilt, where as Hills is more reliable when sprinting. Blease has more potential though probably, will get fitter and hopefully not fade in and out of games.

Swift is an unknown. On his U16 form, he has the best skills of the 3, was quick, agile, ball magnet, both inside and outside, and just generally a beautiful all round package. Now, we dont know. I dont think growing to 192cms will alter his game like many have said, it's more whether his knees hold up (he did test well at Draft Camp), and how his development has been shunted do to barely playing the last 2 years.

In any case, we're basically hoping that one of those 3 makes it to pick 17.

Firstly, I dont believe he wants to play at MFC.

Leaving aside the issue of Cousins, his character and his various indiscretions over the years, why should it matter whether he wants to play with us?

After all, this is a draft and we have the first pick. If we can't select an available player with our first pick it turns the whole draft into a joke!

Leaving aside the issue of Cousins, his character and his various indiscretions over the years, why should it matter whether he wants to play with us?

After all, this is a draft and we have the first pick. If we can't select an available player with our first pick it turns the whole draft into a joke!

There an old saying of take a mule to water and.........???

If Cousins does not want to play at MFC why recruit a high cost player with a potentially reluctant attitude amongst all the other question marks that surround him?

Unfortunately AFL footballers are not plug in play utilities.

I'd take any of Hill, Swift, Blease.

Hill is quickest and most agile, and also gets most ball. But I agree, his foot skills arent great. They're very hit and miss. Also he sometimes panics under pressure.

Blease is quick, has a great pick up on the run, but fades in and out of games. He's inconsistent and often only gets 8-9 disposals. I also think his kicking is poor when he's running full tilt, where as Hills is more reliable when sprinting. Blease has more potential though probably, will get fitter and hopefully not fade in and out of games.

Swift is an unknown. On his U16 form, he has the best skills of the 3, was quick, agile, ball magnet, both inside and outside, and just generally a beautiful all round package. Now, we dont know. I dont think growing to 192cms will alter his game like many have said, it's more whether his knees hold up (he did test well at Draft Camp), and how his development has been shunted do to barely playing the last 2 years.

In any case, we're basically hoping that one of those 3 makes it to pick 17.

imo if Swift is as good as what they say it'll only take a year at VFL for him to get back to where he was.

J. Selwood missed most of 06 (I think) they came out in 07 and player almost every game in the AFL

There an old saying of take a mule to water and.........???

If Cousins does not want to play at MFC why recruit a high cost player with a potentially reluctant attitude amongst all the other question marks that surround him?

Unfortunately AFL footballers are not plug in play utilities.

That wasn't the point I was making. Leaving the person aside, why should the team with first choice be disadvantaged simply because the player wants to go elsewhere? It defeats the whole purpose of the draft!

Leaving aside the issue of Cousins, his character and his various indiscretions over the years, why should it matter whether he wants to play with us?

After all, this is a draft and we have the first pick. If we can't select an available player with our first pick it turns the whole draft into a joke!

It may be a joke, but wouldn't you want to select a player that had no qualms about playing for Melbourne, in fact, someone who couldn't wait to get to Melbourne and don the Red & Blue? Rather than selecting someone who doesn't such as Cousins, Warnock or Judd.

Just dope him up before the game and he'll be right.

I know of a few mates that have played their best games after a big night on the turps lol

They won a flag and played plenty of finals on the turps

Has Ben actually said he doesn't want to play for the MFC?

He hasnt said anything about not wanting to play for MFC. But to be fair, there hasnt been anything to suggest he was going to, so he hasnt had to say it. Why would he want to play for us? He will come back and probably have 2-3 years in him due to elite fitness, so why would he want to spend it at a poor club who likely wont even make finals in that entire time?

Enough about Benny anyway.

Who does everyone want to pick up in the National Draft??

mcnamee was sacked immediately when he suggested that we needed to get a high profile player to the club...and now u amateurs are talking about cousins. i'm too tired, can you just call yourself idiots?

mcnamee was sacked immediately when he suggested that we needed to get a high profile player to the club...and now u amateurs are talking about cousins. i'm too tired, can you just call yourself idiots?

Once in a blue moon I agree with you.

I better look outside.

mcnamee was sacked immediately when he suggested that we needed to get a high profile player to the club...and now u amateurs are talking about cousins. i'm too tired, can you just call yourself idiots?

Yeah but the problem with Jonno Brown is that we would've had to trade about 2 first round draft picks for him.

We wouldn't have to give anything for Cuz.

I'm warming to Ash Smith.

He reminds of of Simon Buckley, but a good long kick. His body is a decent size, he has good pace, and one of the best long kicks in the draft.

I'd love if he was there at 35. Pick 17 or 19 is probably too high to grab him with because I expect some talented players will drop/be available there. Guys like Mckernan, Blease, Swift, Shoenmakers etc, so hopefully he lasts until 35. He seems to be one of those guys that is just outside the top 20, but is exactly what we'd love to grab at 35, abit like how Petterd fell even though he is a real talent.

As a player, he may start off on a HBF as he gains experience and builds fitness, which is one of his weakness' as he suffered mild OP, but seemed to be over it this season and getting better and better as it wore on. Once that happens I expect him to be a full time midfielder eventually, who can be thrown onto the HBF to give drive and long kicking in a sort of Jason Gram way. He has great run and a hunger to take guys on and break lines.

If people want to check him out, here's a youtube clip (yes I hear the groans )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4Uvjs4Wh1Q

Hoping he slips to 35 personally!

Good pick up LT...

As Pickers said, classy mover. Seems like he likes to dash off the HBF... Do we have room for another of his type of player? With CJ gone you'd suggest we do. Going on that video:

Good pace, good/very good long kick, doesn't mind dropping back in the hole, stands up in the contest for marks, and when tackled... And he can deliver with his hands which is a skill most MFC players are lacking in. Good vision too around the corners... And I liked him at ground level. Seemed clean.

ALl that said, there's not a lot to go on. Looking at that video, why hasn't he been mentioned before now? How are his numbers? Does he rack up the stats?

#1 Watts. This one's easy.

#17 Swift is worth the punt here

#19 Shoenmakers! not Cornelius maybe Lisle (fwiw Cornelius just reminds me of a short 426 great hands but...) Shoenmakers just looks smooth and that he has some time which is good in a big man