The Tanking Begins!

[Adam The God 29,635]

Exactly. I would fall in love with Bailey if he done the same thing.

Adem Yze and Jeff White just to name a few.

[H_T 3,036]

Agree we are pulling together a good backline. The jury is still out on whether 1,2 or 3 of those players will take leadership status enough to meld a great backline. Will 2 or 3 of them mature enough and be good enough to lead a young team of backmen.

Time will tell. My nominees are in terms of leadership status - and you can disagree if you want - Frawley, Garland, Rivers, Grimes. In 3 years time (injuries permitting) they could well have approx. 85, 65,120 and 60 odd games to their names respectively. (May get some arguments on Rivers and the amount of games he will amass, but you get the drift).

At this point I would say that we are further ahead with premiership potential in the backline than we are anywhere else on the field, but we don't have the 4 or 5 premiership leaders in our side, to add kids to, to win a flag in 5 years.

I agree, we look to have things coming together down back before anywhere else. The ol' cliche' - Premierhips usually have a settled and strong defence. Or a rock solid backline is the cornerstone to Premiership success. You know what I mean anyway...

Who were the premiership leaders at Hawthorn before they won the flag last year? (Take yourself back to before last years GF - if possible- and try and identify them), Hodge is an easy one. But honestly who would have picked the likes of Stuart Dew to stand up as he did on that day, before the game?

Sometimes leaders come to the fore. Maybe Brad Green or Brock McLean, Brad Miller or even Colin Sylvia by then. Right now we probably cannot see who are the 4 or 5 leaders that you talk of. It's well known the Mfc lacks strong identifiable leaders. Give it time, some might just surprise and stand up when it counts. Much like Dew.

That means we are still 8 years at minimum away from a flag.

Maybe. Who knows? I would like to think 6-8 years away, minimum 4 years. But who really knows?...

[Steamin Demon 392]

Mate, I don't need to smoke anything to know you can't comprehend the written word. Scully and Buthcher are great players. Stick them in a side with no senior base, or foundation, and do you think they will win a flag for us? Go back to sleep, idiot.

Listen up !!! I'll speak sloooooww. I suppose putting a inexperienced Franklin and Roughead into a even less experienced forward line won't win a flag either, You build a foundation by putting young talent in, which Melbourne obviously lacks at the moment.

Scully and Butcher aren't GREAT players, They are two 17 year olds that haven't played a game. These two happen to be the best young talent in the country by all reports, So you go and get that talent to build the best foundation for years to come. Instead of firing back barbs at people that disagree with you, Try and back up your ridiculous posts. My suggestion would be to actually watch the game instead of just looking. Good night sweetheart.

[beelzebub 23,240]

Finishing bottom means nothing. We can finish 14th, but if we have less than 5 wins, we still get the picks.

well..cant absolutely agree with that.

Should we want to have our pick of the litter then finishing last does gaurantee the first two picks.Id be happy with that and come out blazing..( or sparking a it at least ) next year :D

[IWAP 170]

Finishing bottom means nothing. We can finish 14th, but if we have less than 5 wins, we still get the picks.

If this happens, would be the second time in 3 years that Tigers win the spoon and don't get the no.1 pick! Win Win

[beelzebub 23,240]

finishing 14th with less than 5 only means we get picks PP1 and regular pick 3..effectively picks 1 and 4.. Id rather picks 1 and 2

[diesel 420]

finishing 14th with less than 5 only means we get picks PP1 and regular pick 3..effectively picks 1 and 4.. Id rather picks 1 and 2

Less than 5 wins and the PP is the important one. As we well know win more than that and its picks 3 or maybe 4 only. I won't be heartbroken if we show sufficient improvement that we win 3 more and get picks 1 & 3 or 1 & 4. Games against WC and Richmond loom as a danger!

[Sir Why You Little 36,735]

Mate, I don't need to smoke anything to know you can't comprehend the written word. Scully and Buthcher are great players. Stick them in a side with no senior base, or foundation, and do you think they will win a flag for us? Go back to sleep, idiot.

Listen up !!! I'll speak sloooooww. I suppose putting a inexperienced Franklin and Roughead into a even less experienced forward line won't win a flag either, You build a foundation by putting young talent in, which Melbourne obviously lacks at the moment.

Scully and Butcher aren't GREAT players, They are two 17 year olds that haven't played a game. These two happen to be the best young talent in the country by all reports, So you go and get that talent to build the best foundation for years to come. Instead of firing back barbs at people that disagree with you, Try and back up your ridiculous posts. My suggestion would be to actually watch the game instead of just looking. Good night sweetheart.

Agree absolutely. Hawthorn took a Punt on young Talent & Stuck to it.

We must do the same, But what we need to REALLY do is instill a Hard Winning Culture into these Promising Kids. Make them want to Strive for excellence-That is a large part of what Hawthorn did.

Cyril Rioli didn't wait 8 years for a Flag Tilt!!!

Our Flag Tilt starts next Year...

[Roost It 1,434]

Then you agree with me. Thanks. If as you say that in 5 or so years time those picks will be our foundation along with Watts, Morton, Grimes etc

then it follows that it will take another 3 years or so to build the team around that foundation. That totals 8 years which is what I said.

Answer this question; What 5 current players do we now have who are grand final potential leaders, for the players you mention above to add to, to meld into a grand final winning side. Don't say Garland, Warnock, Martin, because they are still kids and not leaders yet. They will need younger kids to mature to work with them to win a flag.

Again, 8 years.

5 current and potential leaders. Remember it was you who used the word potential.

Garland

Frawley

Grimes

Jones

Watts

These 5 all have leadership written all over them, as does Scully who we may well draft.

You're being a bit of a smartarse but I can see where you are coming from. The fact is we are a very,very young side and thus are leaders are going to be young as well. There is nothing wrong with that. The 5 I have mentioned have leader written all over themselves, which is why adding picks 1 and 2/3 is so important. Implying that as a club we have no foundation to build from is wrong, the foundation has been laid, although the concrete hasn't set and it might rain so let's cross our fingers.