The way it looks to me is that GC will start games well, but will often fade badly in the second Half. The MFC should always be ready for a huge 3rd Quarter, regardless of what happened in the first half.

A lot of the GC and GWS sides are going to be sore and tired by half time for a number of years. We must be prepared to exploit this.

One must also realise that because it will take time for their 'culture' to grow, not all of their kids will stay at the club. It takes strong culture to convince an interstate kid to stay at a club, culture that will take GC years to develop. Of those kids that do stay, not all of them will make it, some will turn out to be great, some good and others ok.

Edited November 20, 201014 yr by Demon Disciple

It will be interesting to see which team will be the first to lose to the Gold Coast and will it be up there or interstate. Also will they be good travelers, or will they be like Freo and Melbourne and lose once they leave their home ground?

They had far too many draft concessions. Last year they effectively got the best 11 players from a third of the draft - including Josh Toy, Russell and Weller.

The only bright side for other clubs is the Gold Coast list now contains a whole lot of kids fighting to get picked in the 22. Some will get disillusioned after 2-3 years and return home. Others like Toy will be offered huge money from West Coast, Adelaide, and the big Melbourne clubs when their contracts expire. It's not hard to see Collingwood offering Toy a multi million dollar contract to entice him back to Melbourne in 2013 or 2014 if he lives up to his potential. The Gold Coast will eventually lose their salary cap advantage and will have to find big dollars to entice southern based stars up north.

If we'd had picks 1,2,11,and 18 in this draft we would have picked up Swallow, Bennell (i'd substitute Day for Bennell here) Lynch, and Watson. A gun midfield and 2-3 big key position players.

It makes an interesting comparison with Scully, Trengove, Gysberts, and Tapscott.

Swallow vs Scully could be close. If you missed on one and got the other, you'd still be very happy. I'm glad we picked Scully. He will outrun everyone in the league.

It will be interesting to see which team will be the first to lose to the Gold Coast and will it be up there or interstate. Also will they be good travelers, or will they be like Freo and Melbourne and lose once they leave their home ground?

I'd back it in to be Brisbane. Even if they play at the Gabba it will still be "home state" to GC, and Brisbane are likely to be a total rabble in 2011, having lost there B&F winner and a couple more, having a coach who shows no clue, and with both their star forwards likely to go down with injury (and in Fev's case, off field indiscretions) at any moment.

I'm not particularly worried.

If you have a look at 2004-6 drafts you can see that only about 50% of first round draft picks become quality players. Add to the fact that many GC youngsters will be starved for opportunity and will want to leave, I don't believe the GC is in the box seat to clean up as some people think.

IMO they made a mistake getting Ablett

I would have chosen Goodard

GC are 4 - 5 years away

They will really struggle to keep some of those kids if they are all guns due to the salary cap

IMO they made a mistake getting Ablett

I would have chosen Goodard

?

It's not as easy as just "choosing" players to go there. Obviously they have their targets, but the player has to want to go.

There's absolutely no reason why they could not have had Goddard as well if he'd wanted to go there. I doubt money would have been an issue.

Gold Coast will be an immediate force to contend with, just like Brisbane, Adelaide, Freo and Port were... oh wait.

The only club to have been strong from day one was West Coast. The rest were either poor, or just slotted straight in to the middle of the pack, and those that won flags did it a number of years after they formed. I can't see why this team will be any different.

Really, I don't have a lot of an idea about their players outside of their uncontracted signings and their draft selections, so filling in the 22 is difficult, but I was interested nonetheless in how their team might look:

B: Brown Bock Krakouer

HB: Toy Hunt Harbrow

C: Weller Swallow Harris

HF: Bennell Coad Patrick

FF: Brennan Day Lynch

R: Fraser Ablett Rischitelli

I: Smith Caddy Prestia (Keath)

Sam Iles was outstanding in the VFL this year and should push to play most of next year.

Gold Coast will be an immediate force to contend with, just like Brisbane, Adelaide, Freo and Port were... oh wait.

The only club to have been strong from day one was West Coast. The rest were either poor, or just slotted straight in to the middle of the pack, and those that won flags did it a number of years after they formed. I can't see why this team will be any different.

Exactly. I am also remindful of what we will eventually have. Let us concentrate on what we can control (what the Mfc can control) : -

Viney (first round)

Watts (pick 1)

Scully (pick 1)

Trengove (pick 2)

Sylvia (pick 3)

Morton (pick 4)

Gysberts (pick 11)

Frawley (pick 12)

Cook (pick 12)

Grimes (pick 14)

Blease (pick 17)

Tapscott (pick 18)

edit:

...

...and these:

Jones (pick 12)

Bate (pick 13)

Dunn (pick 15)

Strauss (pick 19)

Maric (pick 21)

Jurrah (PSD#1)