I've never closely watched him play, so I'm not in a position to comment. It's pretty obvious that our club will seriously consider a supposedly talented hard at it 20 year old with two years development in an AFL system.

Fwiw, Tim Watson intimated on SEN this morning that the reason he was delisted was off field disciplinary reasons.

But Sleeve has already put us straight on that one.

If you take all that as read, it's still a surprise decision in Tom's case. Bradley had played quite a bit of footy, and his limitations were clear for all to see. Hislop is still just so young. As far as the rest of the football world is concerned, including EFC members, the fact he's gone is considered borderline premature.

Now I would consider it mandatory that no footy department follows the whims of a fanbase, naturally. Especially if this site is anything to go by. But in Tom's case, it's clear whatever he did wrong (and he must have made a wrong step SOMEWHERE) he did behind closed doors.

Knights' reputation, and that of his recruiters and footy department will now be scrutinised more deeply, as a result of both Bradley and now Hislop. I don't think it's outrageous to suggest this either.

The mistake of recruiting him? That's clear now, and you're right. But the mistake of letting him go, when he could go to another club and play good footy, that will (possibly) come.

I think its more the speculation around why he was delisted. Bradley was a first round pick and to dump a first round pick after three years is a cause for concern about the recruitment.

Knights has dumped Hislop for disciplinary reasons. If anything Knights' reputation would be enhanced for trying to maintain minimum standards. Its consistent with the Lovett issue. Furthermore, Bradley has done nothing at Freo to suggest Essendon made the wrong call. They recruited badly in a poor draft year. There are a number of issues at play in addition to recruitment. Player fitness, injuries and development that are at stake with Hislop. I dont think Hislop was high profile player.

With regard the mistake of letting him go? Well its a judgement call. While there will always be the exception and its rare, Clubs cannot carry and tolerate borderline players that cant and wont toe the team line.

I have no doubt MFC should look at him if he is indeed talented and make a judgment call on whether to recruit him. No doubt the Club will find out what the issues are/were with Hislop and hopefully make the right call.

I want him at the club... lets get him. He's young, which pretty much fits our criteria.

I have no doubt MFC should look at him if he is indeed talented and make a judgment call on whether to recruit him. No doubt the Club will find out what the issues are/were with Hislop and hopefully make the right call.

I like this part, particularly the last sentence.. i am glad at least one of us has the confidence in the club making the right choice... they have been good at that over the last 10 years!!!

Guy guys, have a think here. Melbourne have had talent in the last 20 years, but have only rarely showed a team unity and professional in brief glimpses when we have had good seasons.

We need to recruit with character in mind. I like the sounds of our freshest recruits who sound more discilplined, blokes like Morton, Grimes, and if we get him, Watts looks a great role model.

As we get rid of Nathan Carroll, why bring in blokes who don't turn up to training ? I say stuff him. he is not a gun like Kerr.

forget him. we must see the bigger picture.

While Tom is no doubt a talented hard at it footballer - he is not without his faults: not overly quick, sloppy skills at times, injury prone.

Despite being banned from participating in the NAB Cup (with Andrew Lovett) due to alcohol related incidents off field, and despite being reported 4 times in 10 games for Bendigo in the VFL .... Tom was initially offered a 1 year contract to stay with Essendon for 2009.

However, after the Essendon Best and Fairest, Tom went out and after a drunken night on the town - became involved in a knife fight with somebody (I know this for a FACT as he was admitted to the Epworth Hospital with deep lacerations to the hand and minor to the chest).

Hawthorn were keen on him in the Super Draft of 06, and apparantly had been sussing him out during trade week, but the Prismall deal pushed it back untill it was too late.

They'll pick him up in the Draft, unless someone gets into his ear and asks him to bypass the draft for the PSD with a 2/3 year offer.

I have no doubt MFC should look at him if he is indeed talented and make a judgment call on whether to recruit him. No doubt the Club will find out what the issues are/were with Hislop and hopefully make the right call.

I like this part, particularly the last sentence.. i am glad at least one of us has the confidence in the club making the right choice... they have been good at that over the last 10 years!!!

Its a pity you read as well as you can quote and bold text.

If you knew how to bold quoted text would the word "hopefully" ring any neurons as a qualified expectation of outcome?

I guess not.

Christ it has been there a month but that bomberblitz thread has over 500 posts in it!

I hate things that remind me of how outnumbered we are

Have you read some of those posts? the majority have a lot less content and thought put into them than the ones you see here.

And there are a lot of imbeciles asking the same question for the 34th time that was already answered earlier in the thread.

Not that this site is immune to any of that...

Sorry for the improper usage of the BOLD tool!!

hahah

anyway back to my point!!

i am genuienly happy that you have faith in our football department to make the right call on Hilsop!!

me personally i would take him- the kid probably just needs a change.. he is a 22yr old bogan and fixeable where is nathan is a 28yr old bogan and will only get worse!

the worry for me is i think the MFC football department will be scared of taking on someone with a big of C%$#T in them in the future!!!

when in actual fact we need someone like hislop....... tough, runs in straight lines, doesnt mess around with the ball.. gets it and kicks it, likes to drop in the hole and take marks, supporting the defence and is not afraid to put his head over the ball.

get him!

Sorry for the improper usage of the BOLD tool!!

hahah

anyway back to my point!!

i am genuienly happy that you have faith in our football department to make the right call on Hilsop!!

me personally i would take him- the kid probably just needs a change.. he is a 22yr old bogan and fixeable where is nathan is a 28yr old bogan and will only get worse!

the worry for me is i think the MFC football department will be scared of taking on someone with a big of C%$#T in them in the future!!!

when in actual fact we need someone like hislop....... tough, runs in straight lines, doesnt mess around with the ball.. gets it and kicks it, likes to drop in the hole and take marks, supporting the defence and is not afraid to put his head over the ball.

get him!

You also have to consider whether he fits Bailey's game plan or not...

And after the Sampi drama of last season, I don't think that MFC will touch him in the end

anyway back to my point!!

i am genuienly happy that you have faith in our football department to make the right call on Hilsop!!

Its a dumb point because I dont have faith. And its Hislop.

me personally i would take him- the kid probably just needs a change.. he is a 22yr old bogan and fixeable where is nathan is a 28yr old bogan and will only get worse!

How would you know who is fixable and who is not? You must have felt Laurence Angwin was hard done by.

the worry for me is i think the MFC football department will be scared of taking on someone with a big of C%$#T in them in the future!!!

Is it a bit of .... in them? What like Pickett? It might help if the player has actually the right attitude to play football and attends training and manages to stay off the sauce. I dont find people with an alcohol problem that is accompanied by violence as people with much character in them at all. But its clear it excites the lowest common denominator of football supporter.

when in actual fact we need someone like hislop....... tough, runs in straight lines, doesnt mess around with the ball.. gets it and kicks it, likes to drop in the hole and take marks, supporting the defence and is not afraid to put his head over the ball.

Every seen him play or are just running cliches that you have heard others use.

IMHO Nathan Jones and Hislop both wouldnt fit into the same midfield.

Its a dumb point because I dont have faith. And its Hislop.

Is it a bit of .... in them? What like Pickett? It might help if the player has actually the right attitude to play football and attends training and manages to stay off the sauce. I dont find people with an alcohol problem that is accompanied by violence as people with much character in them at all. But its clear it excites the lowest common denominator of football supporter.

I certainly like watching footbalelrs with C*%T in them playing for the MFC (despite their personal struggles). Something we havent seen at teh club in a while.

Does that put me in your category of the lowest common denominator?

I certainly like watching footbalelrs with C*%T in them playing for the MFC (despite their personal struggles). Something we havent seen at teh club in a while.

Does that put me in your category of the lowest common denominator?

Given Hislop has not got on the ground that much in the past two years the poster I referred to seemed to value his off field spirit.

I suspect you may be referring to on field spirit. You want to name the players you value in that category?

Fwiw, Tim Watson intimated on SEN this morning that the reason he was delisted was off field disciplinary reasons.

Discipline part of Hislop axing

While there will always be the exception and its rare, Clubs cannot carry and tolerate borderline players that cant and wont toe the team line.

Ultimately, yes. But as you have said, it's just not as simple as putting a line through a player's name simply because he has had disciplinary problems. If they're chronic, then yes, get rid of him. Like you say, it's a judgement call.

he is a 22yr old bogan

the worry for me is i think the MFC football department will be scared of taking on someone with a big of C%$#T in them in the future!!!

when in actual fact we need someone like hislop....... tough, runs in straight lines, doesnt mess around with the ball.. gets it and kicks it, likes to drop in the hole and take marks, supporting the defence and is not afraid to put his head over the ball.

get him!

I thought he was 20?

I applaud your sentiments, but it's just not that simple. Some people say that discipline is mandatory, and that any problems with it mean a player has to go. If that's the case, then Pike, Aker, Cousins and Kerr would never have played in flags. Likewise, just having some %&$# in them doesn't equate success. If it did, there wouldn't be players like Angwin and Gardner having their careers devastated.

In the end I hope we're not spooked by a few disciplinary issues. We have a majority of smart, cool-headed blokes running around at the club, and unlike Essendon we don't have a core of unruly loose cannons. Perhaps Knights thought it was time to tackle the issue seriously and make an example of Tom. We're not in the same state as the Scum. I hope we take a balanced look at the situation. But when all is said and done, we're never going to get the "perfect" player in the PSD (were he to go that far). Players don't get recycled because they're an ideal fit. And if it's a couple of injuries and disciplinary problems... then that's about as good as you're gonna get for a 20 year old. At the moment, there's no-one else. Simple as that.

Discipline part of Hislop axing

And there it is. An "official" word if you can call it that. Tom will be painted with this brush for the next 5 years, and should he overcome it and play 200 games, possibly the rest of his career. Would we suggest a performance based contract to him? Any clauses on discipline? If he baulks at the idea and feels he's being treated unfairly... then maybe it's best to let him go to a different club. If he shows genuine signs he wishes to reform (maybe he can come train with us?) in an interview, then go for it. I back the club t make the right call.

What's this talk about a knife fight?! ...

I CALLED THIS ON OCTOBER THE FIRST, AND EVERYONE THOUGHT I WAS RAVING MAD!

I got wind of this late september, so for all those doubters, go back and check my post on the first of October!!!!!!

He is worth a look, as we are rebuilding and could use the talent. He may be a loose cannon but a delisting should wisen him up a tad.

He is a surefire pick in the PSD, and I would have no problem taking a risk with the first pick in the PSD.

Just looking at it a bit laterally. How much of this may be put down to being drafted in the "Sheedy" style..and dumped by Knights ?

Sheedy was reknown for nurturing the harder to coach types. Possibly Knights just sees him as the 'to hard basket" and so shows him the door ?

just a thought

Yeah... WTF!!! That's like us letting go of Bate or something. Hislop is a gun, I nearly had a heart attack... I'd take him in the draft, let alone the rookie or PSD...

Bump.

Hope you're better.

Here's what I posted in the other thread

While Tom is no doubt a talented hard at it footballer - he is not without his faults: not overly quick, sloppy skills at times, injury prone.

Despite being banned from participating in the NAB Cup (with Andrew Lovett) due to alcohol related incidents off field, and despite being reported 4 times in 10 games for Bendigo in the VFL .... Tom was initially offered a 1 year contract to stay with Essendon for 2009.

However, after the Essendon Best and Fairest, Tom went out and after a drunken night on the town - became involved in a knife fight with somebody (I know this for a FACT as he was admitted to the Epworth Hospital with deep lacerations to the hand and minor to the chest).

Hawthorn were keen on him in the Super Draft of 06, and apparantly had been sussing him out during trade week, but the Prismall deal pushed it back untill it was too late.

They'll pick him up in the Draft, unless someone gets into his ear and asks him to bypass the draft for the PSD with a 2/3 year offer.

As there is another thread on Hislop where there is more discussion, I am closing this thread.

Please use the other thread.

Thanks

I CALLED THIS ON OCTOBER THE FIRST, AND EVERYONE THOUGHT I WAS RAVING MAD!

I got wind of this late september, so for all those doubters, go back and check my post on the first of October!!!!!!

He is worth a look, as we are rebuilding and could use the talent. He may be a loose cannon but a delisting should wisen him up a tad.

He is a surefire pick in the PSD, and I would have no problem taking a risk with the first pick in the PSD.

If another club wants him he will go in the National Draft and will not be there for the PSD.

The only way we could get him in the PSD is if we really wanted him and he wanted to come to us and he didn't nominate for the National Draft.

Just looking at it a bit laterally. How much of this may be put down to being drafted in the "Sheedy" style..and dumped by Knights ?

Sheedy was reknown for nurturing the harder to coach types. Possibly Knights just sees him as the 'to hard basket" and so shows him the door ?

just a thought

If that's true, then the more important thing will be whether DB can smack the attitude out of him. It's no good if he goes from Sheedy who liked him, to Knights who didn't, and then to DB who is a no-nonsense kind of coach. I get the feeling that if Dean sees him as Kinights does, we'll pass on him before the draft even begins. Good point though.

What's this talk about a knife fight?! ...

HE had the injuries so big chance he didn't bring the knife... It's very easy to get into a fight in the city and have a knife pulled on you.

I think he is worth the risk.... a few hard midfielders would be great (1 in hte PSD) and may mean we can take a tall with 17 and 19 rather than two midfielders