Poise and maturity beyond his 19 years of age, at pick number 53- he has easily been the best value pick for the MFC over the last 10 years. I know it's only early days, but young McDonald is showing all the signs of a 200 gamer backman, and a future AA fullback. Only weighs in at 88Kg (apparently) and still has a lot of development game and body wise to come.

A major shining light in the doomy Melbourne landscape. Hats off to the recruiting team for this coup! Wraped with this kid!

  On 06/08/2012 at 04:59, SloonieMcFloonieloone said:

Wraped with this kid!

Wow. Did I read this inappropriately in my head...

He's been great.

If he can improve his disposal & decision-making with the footy... wow.

So far still very happy.

Like a young Prestigiacomo.

The best thing about Tom is his reading of the play he knows when to run off and when to stay back on his man he never seems to be caught out away from his opponent and that's hard to teach that reminds me of Scarlett he just needs to polish up on his disposal and we have a star

Pity he may aswell play for the opposition with his disposal! Other than being the worst kick in the team he is a gun

young under-20-gamer who has some obvious potential but some serious deficincies at this stage. -nevertheless a portion of the supporter base declares he will become a star. We've seen a billion of these come through and almost none have actually become stars, so I'll wait and see thanks. Blease is exactly the same. We have shown we are not able to produce the 'complete' player and our young blokes who can't kick or have a poor work ethic or whatever rarely work these flaws out of their game

Certainly is backing himself to run & carry when he wins the ball..which is a sign he has a bit of confidence in himself.

He goes ok,but worrys me ala Earl Spalding at times when he runs..looks like hes always going to be caught..but because he is a big unit he breaks the tackle which is good...when he does do it.

Only young but going as good as can be expected at this stage.

any other unsung heros from yesterdays game??

Gee Jonesy has had a great year hasnt he. He's really improved I think.

The ting about Tom is he rarely gets beat.

Also though Tappy played well..Great hip & shoulder on one of the suns...thats what Tappy can do ala Toddy Viney.

Loved it and thought his game was good.

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:12, Mad_Melbourne said:

Pity he may aswell play for the opposition with his disposal! Other than being the worst kick in the team he is a gun

Rohan bail says hello

His upside is his good will (ought to ) get better. His downside can we addressed and worked on. Needs more meat but thst will come.

Hes doing pretty good for a youngen A rare light in a dark year.

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:06, José Mourinho said:

If he can improve his disposal & decision-making with the footy... wow.

He is still very green, so no doubt experience will help in the long run, yet as you say Jose, his disposal and Decision making aren't all that flash at the moment. Hopefully with experience and a few more pre-seasons, he will be able to correct/improve these. They are rather large/important areas to improve in, but should he do so, then he will be able to take the all important next step from a 'could' to an 'is'.

i like the look of him so far. at the moment he does look as though he will become a star but as said above he has only played 20 games and is largely unproven. if he does indeed become a gun then he will be one of the biggest bargains ever!

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:12, Mad_Melbourne said:

Pity he may aswell play for the opposition with his disposal! Other than being the worst kick in the team he is a gun

He has some positives: good mark, physical, good run, punches well but his disposal and decision making must improve. He turnovers the ball fat too much and his decision making can be questioned. He cost us 2 goals agst the Suns and I think 3-4 turnovers agst the Tigers cost us goals directly. He has huge upside and I see him being our FB/CHB in our finals assault in the next few years. We got a good one at #53.

He reminds me of a young Dustin Fletcher!!! Not as good looking though.

Has a lot of potential but i feel scared typing this as previously mentioned, have seen this phenomenen peter out so many times. I live in hope!!!

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:19, Tapscott Tough said:

Certainly is backing himself to run & carry when he wins the ball..which is a sign he has a bit of confidence in himself.

He goes ok,but worrys me ala Earl Spalding at times when he runs..looks like hes always going to be caught..but because he is a big unit he breaks the tackle which is good...when he does do it.

Only young but going as good as can be expected at this stage.

any other unsung heros from yesterdays game??

Gee Jonesy has had a great year hasnt he. He's really improved I think.

He certainly has the confidence and doesn't he love to let his opponent know it when he beats him; love how he pushed Patton in to the ground a couple of times when we played GW$ and gave him a mouthful.

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:31, Demon Disciple said:

He is still very green, so no doubt experience will help in the long run, yet as you say Jose, his disposal and Decision making aren't all that flash at the moment. Hopefully with experience and a few more pre-seasons, he will be able to correct/improve these. They are rather large/important areas to improve in, but should he do so, then he will be able to take the all important next step from a 'could' to an 'is'.

I also wonder with disposal and decision making, how much is dependent upon teammates.

Watts always seemed to get caught as his first instinctive reaction often wasnt matched by the alertness or expectation of those around him. As they all learnt to work with what they had there was a marked improvement in his disposal.

Not surte and havent seen enough of the play but is McDonald disposing poorly because his teammates arnet ready for him to get it and/or dispose of it to them?

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:32, young dee enthusiast said:

i like the look of him so far. at the moment he does look as though he will become a star but as said above he has only played 20 games and is largely unproven. if he does indeed become a gun then he will be one of the biggest bargains ever!

We are due one yde after some we have recruited

Seems an excellent runner. Great endurance and as others have said playing well beyond his years.

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:06, José Mourinho said:

If he can improve his disposal & decision-making with the footy... wow.

So far still very happy.

Like a young Prestigiacomo.

Who racks up 22 more touches per week than Presti ever did...

Kicking/decision making is a huge concer but like his run and one percenters.

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:43, dpositive said:

I also wonder with disposal and decision making, how much is dependent upon teammates.

Watts always seemed to get caught as his first instinctive reaction often wasnt matched by the alertness or expectation of those around him. As they all learnt to work with what they had there was a marked improvement in his disposal.

Not surte and havent seen enough of the play but is McDonald disposing poorly because his teammates arnet ready for him to get it and/or dispose of it to them?

I hear you, but with Tom Mac he seems to have some absolute clangers. The ones where they come clean of the outside of the boot and go nowhere near where he was intending. But that would be literally the only criticism I have on his game. He beats his man, runs off them a lot, reads the play well, just needs to clean up his disposal.

Yesterday he was always with his man when it counted and made a good contest. That's what matters. Everything else can be improved upon.

Whether we can help him with that remains to be seen.

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:09, cowboy_from_hell said:

The best thing about Tom is his reading of the play he knows when to run off and when to stay back on his man he never seems to be caught out away from his opponent and that's hard to teach that reminds me of Scarlett he just needs to polish up on his disposal and we have a star

Yeah, good call i reckon. It shows confidence being prepared to back your judgement as a back the way he does. I also reckon it reflects well on the coaching team in so far as if he thought he'd cop it in the neck when it didn't come off if he wouldn't do it. They obviously encourage him to back himself which is great. Also super important he does so with Rivers up forward and Watts out as we miss their capacity to intercept mark and zone off

  On 06/08/2012 at 05:43, dpositive said:

I also wonder with disposal and decision making, how much is dependent upon teammates.

Watts always seemed to get caught as his first instinctive reaction often wasnt matched by the alertness or expectation of those around him. As they all learnt to work with what they had there was a marked improvement in his disposal.

Not surte and havent seen enough of the play but is McDonald disposing poorly because his teammates arnet ready for him to get it and/or dispose of it to them?

What?

No.

He has a clunky kicking action, and he exacerbates this by often getting himself in a situation where he doesn't have enough room to dispose of the footy easily.