WELCOME TO THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - CHRISTIAN PETRACCA

[Earl Hood 5,851]

I was a bit suspicious of Petracca when I saw the footage of him getting injured in the 3km time trial

it actually looked like he was faking the injury

maybe he was tanking to make the Saints skip him and get to the MFC

Would have thought he would be double/triple tanking to get to a real,team, not MFC.

[Machsy 2,858]

FFS the kid is 18 and full of testosterone. Give him a break.

We don't need any more introverted shrinking violets.

Love his attitude when he said pick me and I won't let you down.

Any rough edges can be smoothed over. Show me anyone who is the full package at that age.

Give him a break! He's only 18!

You do realise that Sylvia was 18 once too?

Chances are that some of these kids will turn into Sylvias...

It's all crystal ball gazing, but I'm not sure it's a good sign when he says he's hyper and drives his teammates to annoyance with his intense personality (paraphrasing).

I.e. he won't be a leader of your club in my opinion, at least, not in the way that you want.

Other players may follow him, but not necessarily anywhere you want them to go.

[Earl Hood 5,851]

Give him a break! He's only 18!

You do realise that Sylvia was 18 once too?

Chances are that some of these kids will turn into Sylvias...

It's all crystal ball gazing, but I'm not sure it's a good sign when he says he's hyper and drives his teammates to annoyance with his intense personality (paraphrasing).

I.e. he won't be a leader of your club in my opinion, at least, not in the way that you want.

Other players may follow him, but not necessarily anywhere you want them to go.

I think these kids will lead by example on the field. The finer points of man management and leadership will come later hopefully. That is my memory of footy, on field deeds first, then show me leadership and I will follow.

[chook fowler 18,462]

Why not make the comparison with Dustin Martin who has settled down to be one of the top midfielder/forwards in the business despite coming from a long way back in the attitude dept. I would back our new development staff of McCartney etc to sort out any issues.

[Norm Smith's Curse 2,078]

I found dustin martin cocky and annoying. Lucky we went for trenners and scully.

[Uncle Fester 2,841]

If Sylvia got more BOG's and kicked more goals all of us would ignore the laddish stuff he got up to.

I don't care what our players do if they can back it up on the field - criminal stuff excepted.

If Petracca's hobbies include getting smashed and acting like a moron, I don't care, as long as he gets 30+ possies a game and two goals.

But the has to get the touches and goals to get away with that.

[PaulRB 6,048]

Watched his highlights again today and his in close pack work is sublime plus he has grunt, burst and can mark.

If the Saints pass, happy times.

[Bring-Back-Powell 13,503]

Any chance we overlook Petracca should he be available?

For instance we we go:

Pick 2- Brayshaw

Pick 3- Lever, Pickett or De Goey

Leaving GWS with the man they so desperately wanted in trade week- Christian Petracca.

[Guest]

Any chance we overlook Petracca should he be available?

For instance we we go:

Pick 2- Brayshaw

Pick 3- Lever, Pickett or De Goey

Leaving GWS with the man they so desperately wanted in trade week- Christian Petracca.

Not a chance. Lever etc don't hold a candle to Petracca. Not only is he best available, he's exactly what we need. A key defender isn't.

[chook fowler 18,462]

A big bodied, explosive, ready to go mid who can kick goals and seems driven to succeed. What's not to like?

[nutbean 8,837]

That is disturbing on so many levels

actually, it is disturbing on every level

[nutbean 8,837]

Well darling gets a mention for starters

Thank you for mentioning one name.

So lets look at Darlings draft 2010.

Peruse the next 60 names and pick out all the Key position players.

Please let me know the second key position from that draft to make an immediate impact.

(seriously - I can go through drafts and pick a few big blokes who have impacted from day one - the Darlings of the world are an exception - not the rule)

[Ouch! 2,093]

It's interesting that an article on the AFL site today has a quote with regards to who the saints will pick, Finnis says the only instruction he has for the recruiting department is that they should pick a player with the next 10 years in mind. In terms of the Saints, Petracca will give them an immediate boost in the next few years, but I think that the longer term view would be McCartin for the saints.

Also saw that they mentioned that if they go with Petracca then they need to realise that they will need to stump up at least 500k for a quality forward in the future. (Given what happened with Boyd and Franklin over the last couple of years)

TBH I don't think we can really lose out here, and neither can the saints really given that they drafted strongly last year with their midfielders and can afford to go with McCartin if they have an eye for the future.

Looking forward to how it plays out on Thursday!!

[spirit of norm smith 13,528]

Brayshaw and Petraccccccccca !!!! That would be Merry Xmas

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

Agree.

Glad we're not in the position of the 'aints. All three of Brayshaw, McCartin and Petracca have had pretty dominant years and it's hard to split them.

Edited November 25, 2014 by stevethemanjordan

[whatwhat say what 19,904]

The other factor at play is that Petracca is not even the highest rated mid in the draft - Isaac Heeney is.

Whereas McCartin is probably rated the best 'big' in this year's crop.

[Its Time for Another 4,058]

Brayshaw and Petraccccccccca !!!! That would be Merry Xmas

Agree. Brayshaw and McCartinnnnnnn!!!! That would be Merry Xmas as well. Club clearly stuffed up this year by not getting picks 1,2 & 3.

So SNS I gather you would take the P man over McC. I guess if I had the choice I would take him as well but in the long term if McCartin turns into a Roughead then we may well have got the bookends with Frost of a 10yr spine that you can fill in a team around. If we end up with Petracca then we still have to find a key forward. Midfielders are a lot easier to find than key forwards. Having said that I'd salivate at the thought of a midfield with Petracca and Brayshaw. Then we get Jeremy Cameron next year and we're set. I wonder if the Saints are eyeing off possibly getting Cameron next year and deciding on Petracca with that in mind.

[PaulRB 6,048]

The Challenge the Saints have is they will be competing for the services of any power forward with several other Melbourne clubs (i.e. Carlton, Richmond, etc...) and are not guaranteed in getting their man, recruiting McCartin removes the risk.

Also, I don't agree that mids are a dime a dozen, what we're hoping for with Petracca is a elite mid, and they are as rare as hens teeth...

[Wells 11 4,951]

Maybe Im missing something with Petraccas highlights? I agree he's a great mark and great inside. Only that i cant see his pace or "explosiveness" that everyone keeps talking about and his kicking looked a bit shallow and wayward. He will, as will Mccartin, also be up against a lot of bigger bodies in the AFL and wont be able to dominate with strength in the way he was in a lot of that footage.

Anyone who's seen him live want to talk about his pace? footage can be deceptive. We so lack in that department as a teamand I also feel with Tyson, Jones, Viney, Brayshaw we're not going to short on insiders.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I'm not overly excited by his highlights it must be said. However, I wasn't overly excited by Scully's or Fyfe's so it's still very much a lottery.

[beelzebub 22,542]

Something we lament at the Dees are kicking skills. Petracca seems to be able to weight a ball very VERY well. I like this.

[Jesse Christ 2,884]

Ive noticed that when I look at both the McCartin and Petracca highlights, because McCartin is a KPF I afford him more scope in development because he is a bigger player an we have been conditioned to think they need more time to develop and therefore have more improvement in them, which is probably wrong. When I view Petracca's highlights something inside me tells me he is closer to the developed product we will get and his scope for improvement is kind of ignored, or because instead of thinking he could turn into a Dangerfield I'm scarred he will turn into a Sylvia.. If any of that makes sense,,

[Wells 11 4,951]

Ive noticed that when I look at both the McCartin and Petracca highlights, because McCartin is a KPF I afford him more scope in development because he is a bigger player an we have been conditioned to think they need more time to develop and therefore have more improvement in them, which is probably wrong. When I view Petracca's highlights something inside me tells me he is closer to the developed product we will get and his scope for improvement is kind of ignored, or because instead of thinking he could turn into a Dangerfield I'm scarred he will turn into a Sylvia.. If any of that makes sense,,

Makes sense to me. We've all been burned...repeatedly. From Mclean to Trengove ( with way too many names in the middle....that dont need going over. Although, because Im a masochist, can I just say "Morton" one more time) they've ALL been more Slyvia than Dangerfield. So when I look at Petraccas highlights I seem to only see Sylvia signs. Lets hope whoever it is we get can help erase the deep Sylvia scars.

[What 18,810]

I went back and watched his highlight reel

if the Saints pass on this kid and we dont take him we don't deserve to be in the AFL

he will impact from game 1, a la Ollie Wines

[ChaserJ 4,026]

Not a chance. Lever etc don't hold a candle to Petracca. Not only is he best available, he's exactly what we need. A key defender isn't.

I agree that Petracca has Lever covered, though not necessarily by a great margin. Lever likely settles in as a rebounding half back, and I believe we absolutely need a young half back to supersede Terlich and possibly Grimes.

Our depth there isn’t great, and the ones we do have aren’t known for setting up attacking play from half back. That said, Petracca/McCartin and Brayshaw have my votes for 2 & 3.