Replace the words "Mark Neeld" with "Julia Gillard" and "senior coach" with "Prime Minister" and it could be an article in any newspaper in Australia today.

Neil Craig as Kevin Rudd

Paul Roos as Bill Shorten waiting his time to take over

Cam Schwab and the board as the faceless men wreaking destruction

Tommy Mac is one of the very few success stories in our recruiting over the the last decade.

He is limited by his kicking ability but still a mile in front of the vast majority of the first round picks we have had.

He is a very good example of how you can get good players outside the first round.

The MFC has got to get over it's pre occupation with Early picks and get quality from all picks.

Neil Craig as Kevin Rudd

Paul Roos as Bill Shorten waiting his time to take over

Cam Schwab and the board as the faceless men wreaking destruction

Neil Craig might sue you for defamation

I agree with all your comments. I love his effort and he he is a real competitor but yes his kicking is huge issue. In addition to your points i'dd add another dilemma. In his position TMac often has ball in hand deep with the best option switching play to the 'fat' side necessitating a kick across the face of goals. If the target is missed then it usually leads to a goal. TMac has given a few of these up, often because he is so slow to kick and his mechanical kicking style.

That's a problem but perhaps a bigger problem is that he might not choose to take that option due to the not unreasonable fear of coughing it up, meaning he takes a worse option and turns back into trouble or goes to the congested side where we have no hope of easily running it of our defense. This exact scenario happened on Saturday. He turned out of trouble and the right play was go across goal to a free man. Risky but it would allowed us to run it out with ease if he had hit his target. He thought about but decided not to take the risk, turned back and kicked it down the members wing into congestion where the saints had the numbers. The Saints won the ball and brought it straight back in for a goal. Even if they hadn't got the goal it would have been really hard for us to get it past their press.

He has to learn how to hit that target, and he might as well practice at every opportunity this year - even if that means coughing it up a few times.

I get the feeling, from what I've heard about our past training sessions, that not a great deal of time was spent on skills practice, in particular kicking skills.

We seem to have been more intent on being able to run all day than be able to pass the ball accurately over 30mtrs.

Neil Craig might sue you for defamation

Might? Would.

I get the feeling, from what I've heard about our past training sessions, that not a great deal of time was spent on skills practice, in particular kicking skills.

We seem to have been more intent on being able to run all day than be able to pass the ball accurately over 30mtrs.

I have been to a few training sessions since the start of the year and the worst of the poor kickers like quite ok at training.

The games seem to bring them undone.

I am not saying we don't have close play at training but I always come away from training thinking it is like dancing with your sister.

All the right moves but no heat and passion.

I have been to a few training sessions since the start of the year and the worst of the poor kickers like quite ok at training.

The games seem to bring them undone.

I am not saying we don't have close play at training but I always come away from training thinking it is like dancing with your sister.

All the right moves but no heat and passion.

It seems to me OD that our players look good at all aspects of the game, until they actually get out on the ground and play a game of football; if it wasn't for that we'd be ok.

I have been to a few training sessions since the start of the year and the worst of the poor kickers like quite ok at training.

The games seem to bring them undone.

I am not saying we don't have close play at training but I always come away from training thinking it is like dancing with your sister.

All the right moves but no heat and passion.

there are a few possible reasons for that:

-poor skills (obvious but realistically all players got to afl level, they may not be elite but I don't believe they are all as bad as they collectively show)

-poor fitness (higher stress on the body means lack of concentration and ability to execute skills)

- poor fitness (don't run hard into space for team mates to kick to)

-poor team cohesion (players don't trust others to be in the "hot spot", don't give the "I sensed he was there" pass, so they look to contests making skills look worse)

-poor game plan / poor understanding of game plan / lack of trust in game plan / bad habits from old game plan

Don't underestimate the lack of fitness as a cause of this, if you've ever had to exert yourself physically then while at high heat rate perform a task it can be difficult.

Personally I think it is a combination of these things. What combination who knows.

he's the best runner at the club according to Garlo, combine that with his size and you've got a very good basis for an AFL career, I also think he has quite good footy smarts.. still just 20 y.o. with 29 games, there is every reason to be confident in this kid. If we have he, Garland and Frawley down back with Dawes, Clark, Hogan, Watts and Howe up forward how can we possibly be so bad as we are now

still just 20 y.o. with 29 games,

At some point he'll be an old man...

Im sorry im just not convinced hes even a good kick at training.

Theres little fluidity in his dropping action and hes hesitant with his follow through .

Some blokes are natural kicks. Some train and train and practice til it improves .

Hes certainly not the former and needs to be the latter.

So often many a players good work is brought undone , negated and punished by poor disposal.

You then exist on the wrong side of the balance sheet .

How many goals have the Dees given away this year ?
Granted far far from being Toms fault alone.....just saying .

One morning we had a little sort of kick to kick , well Tommy was part of a trio in a circle type drill, the ball was brought in, a player marked and switched across then that player cleared out to the flank. I was watching from roughly that flank but obviously over the boundary.. Now Im not sure if Tommy was trying to include me in this drill but about 7 out of ten kicks ..I marked..lol

It's quite clear that TMc was confused by the fact that you were marking the ball, when you should have been letting it bounce off your hands, or at the very least punching it away with a double-fist, especially if you were standing by yourself.

Im sorry im just not convinced hes even a good kick at training.

Theres little fluidity in his dropping action and hes hesitant with his follow through .

Some blokes are natural kicks. Some train and train and practice til it improves .

Hes certainly not the former and needs to be the latter.

So often many a players good work is brought undone , negated and punished by poor disposal.

You then exist on the wrong side of the balance sheet .

How many goals have the Dees given away this year ?

Granted far far from being Toms fault alone.....just saying .

skills

brains

guts

athleticism

that's all its about

he has 3 of the 4 so far

Tommy Mac is one of the very few success stories in our recruiting over the the last decade.

He is limited by his kicking ability but still a mile in front of the vast majority of the first round picks we have had.

He is a very good example of how you can get good players outside the first round.

The MFC has got to get over it's pre occupation with Early picks and get quality from all picks.

yup..

Talk about a steal at pick 53.

I get the impression he has the attitude and application to allow him to succeed in AFL footy.

I remember on boxing day he tweeted he was at the gym working out while blokes like Howe, Dunn and Petterd were sinking frothies at the cricket.

I think hes a really good footy player.. He actually "gets" the game. ( funny youd think all afl players did...but hey )

He has terrific application.

I just want him to kick better; icing on the cake. its his only real flaw. Im sure hell do what he can to change it. He must know.

Ive actually noticed a few times where Craig will actually show a player at training what hes doing wrong in that regard. Probably needs to spend a month with Tom

I think hes a really good footy player.. He actually "gets" the game. ( funny youd think all afl players did...but hey )

He has terrific application.

I just want him to kick better; icing on the cake. its his only real flaw. Im sure hell do what he can to change it. He must know.

Ive actually noticed a few times where Craig will actually show a player at training what hes doing wrong in that regard. Probably needs to spend a month with Tom

I seem to recall Craig spending some time with him in the off season helping him out, perhaps a bit more one on one might help.

I think we all need to take a deep breath and remember how much stress the backline has been under this year.

While I appreciate some of the skill errors from Tom are inexplicable I also have to give him credit for being a young bloke trying his guts out in a team bereft of talent and regular effort.

Very mature young fella.

Really like Tommy however the point about improving his kicking is salient. At he moment his lack of effectiveness in his this area puts a ceiling on is potential. Nothing 3 hours extra at training each week can't fix

For a guy who can get 5 kicks a game and still be in the top 4 players on the ground we are worrying a lot over very little.

I get the impression he has the attitude and application to allow him to succeed in AFL footy.

I remember on boxing day he tweeted he was at the gym working out while blokes like Howe, Dunn and Petterd were sinking frothies at the cricket.

Yep his dedication is second to none! Will be in the leadership group next year. The guy will work his backside off to prove himself at AFL level. Improve his kicking and he will be an All Australian within the next five years.

Great quote from Tommy in the age.

''I was a late draft pick - pick 53 - and I didn't expect to be drafted, but I want to be one of the best players who comes out of that draft,'' he said. ''There were 52 players picked ahead of me and I want to be better than all of them.''

Great quote from Tommy in the age.

''I was a late draft pick - pick 53 - and I didn't expect to be drafted, but I want to be one of the best players who comes out of that draft,'' he said. ''There were 52 players picked ahead of me and I want to be better than all of them.''

What an excellent thing to say.

Great quote from Tommy in the age.

''I was a late draft pick - pick 53 - and I didn't expect to be drafted, but I want to be one of the best players who comes out of that draft,'' he said. ''There were 52 players picked ahead of me and I want to be better than all of them.''

He has the No.12 from that year covered. In fact the recruiters could have saved much supporter angst over the years if they picked 53 at 12 and 12 at 53.

Seems to me Neil Craig has issued Tom with an instruction. "Don't kick it...ever. Always look for the handpass option".

Maybe it's time he said the same think to Nicholson (actually, just joking. Nicholson's pace means his combination of run and kick makes him a 60-70m player. Just, at the moment, not an accurate 60-70m player. Craig needs to get Nicho working on his kicking).