If you can't get excited about our new recruits at this time of the year then what is the point of having a forum where we all discus them?......If we all don't read the profiles and watch the highlights and have hope and anticipation for the year ahead then what is the point? We may as well shut down demonland and hibinate for 6 months

I enjoy the off season.....I enjoy seeing the new blokes....I enjoy the training reports....I enjoy reading others opinions.

I also enjoy the anticipation of the coming year.

I am no different to you or anyone else. I WANT every player we draft, trade in,rookie to be a gun player. I have had enough of the club being kicked around.

I was excited we drafted 2 gun players. But reality hit home, I have been here before. I now loathe reading about how player X is going to be a gun. We don't know that yet. our past history shows we (for whatever reasons) fail to make the most of the best available we get to the club.

Its pretty sad when the off season is the best time of the year. I much prefer Sept/Oct to be the best part of the year. Then whoever we recruit, they can take a backseat until they prove their worth in the team. As has been the case in the past, thrown in the deep end, and suddenly player X is nothing like the hype he got prior. Both Brayshaw and Petracca can spend all year at Casey for all I care. As long as they begin to grow in confidence and turn out to be the player we all hope for. Having said that, I wont mind at all if they kill it in the 1sts. But as I keep saying, show me 1st, what they can do before I am willing to label them a gun. They are little fish now in a big pond. Previous reports on how good they were at TAC are out the window. Are they dedicated to the cause, are they made up the right stuff to step up. They are coming into a weak side. Pretty tough gig,

Answer me one question and I will stop.

Will you be happy if Brayshaw and Petracca have similar careers as all the players I listed ?

(on Masten you picked one stat - talk to Eagle supporters about Masten - As an opposition supporter i would love Masten to have the ball 40 times a game as it will means we will get the ball 40 times straight away)

My point is that Masten is better than the average footballer and will play 200+ games and the extreme likelihood is that top 3 picks have very serviceable careers, maybe not champions but very serviceable.

As per your question is either Petracca or Brayshaw gets 30 possessions in a grand final and flag win, as Xavier Ellis has, that will be a decent result.

FWIW I think their summaries overrate them and none have mentioned that many of Petraccas best games were as an undersizedmarking key forward in 2013.

In the context of the list where we have Tyson, Jones, Viney etc if they are very serviceable without being great that will help us quite a bit too.

I wonder if we are to trust the first year of Tyson with us or is that just a snapshot in time?

I am no different to you or anyone else. I WANT every player we draft, trade in,rookie to be a gun player. I have had enough of the club being kicked around.

I was excited we drafted 2 gun players. But reality hit home, I have been here before. I now loathe reading about how player X is going to be a gun. We don't know that yet. our past history shows we (for whatever reasons) fail to make the most of the best available we get to the club.

Its pretty sad when the off season is the best time of the year. I much prefer Sept/Oct to be the best part of the year. Then whoever we recruit, they can take a backseat until they prove their worth in the team. As has been the case in the past, thrown in the deep end, and suddenly player X is nothing like the hype he got prior. Both Brayshaw and Petracca can spend all year at Casey for all I care. As long as they begin to grow in confidence and turn out to be the player we all hope for. Having said that, I wont mind at all if they kill it in the 1sts. But as I keep saying, show me 1st, what they can do before I am willing to label them a gun. They are little fish now in a big pond. Previous reports on how good they were at TAC are out the window. Are they dedicated to the cause, are they made up the right stuff to step up. They are coming into a weak side. Pretty tough gig,

I understand all of the above........But I look forward to seeing what these boys can contribute to the side.....I am not expecting any of them to be "guns" in their first year.....I am looking forward to see how Salam and JKH and the others recruited for the last couple of years perform after another pre season

I do not have unrealistic dreams of these kids.....Just want to see what improvements they and others have made...

I wonder if we are to trust the first year of Tyson with us or is that just a snapshot in time?

Interesting question as we have had footballers who have looked for a season and that's about it.

I'm less dismayed by the likes of Strauss who in my eyes never looked like he would set the world on fire than Morton who was promising in his first couple of seasons and then regressed from there on in.

Tyson indeed could be a one season wonder for us but at least he has exposed form at the highest level as opposed to the draftees tearing it up the kiddies pool which is the TAC.

For that reason alone I was an advocate for trading off a high draft pick for a talent at another club.

Interesting question as we have had footballers who have looked for a season and that's about it.

I'm less dismayed by the likes of Strauss who in my eyes never looked like he would set the world on fire than Morton who was promising in his first couple of seasons and then regressed from there on in.

Tyson indeed could be a one season wonder for us but at least he has exposed form at the highest level as opposed to the draftees tearing it up the kiddies pool which is the TAC.

For that reason alone I was an advocate for trading off a high draft pick for a talent at another club.

Agree 100% again

As much as I love Tyson, even for him I am 'keeping my powder dry' as they say. I have seen too many players at the MFC start well and not continue to the next level, Bate is another recent one that springs to mind and you could even argue James Frawley - he certainly is not as good in year 7 as he was in year 3 when he won AA

Interesting question as we have had footballers who have looked for a season and that's about it.

I'm less dismayed by the likes of Strauss who in my eyes never looked like he would set the world on fire than Morton who was promising in his first couple of seasons and then regressed from there on in.

Tyson indeed could be a one season wonder for us but at least he has exposed form at the highest level as opposed to the draftees tearing it up the kiddies pool which is the TAC.

For that reason alone I was an advocate for trading off a high draft pick for a talent at another club.

Injury is the only thing that will cut him down 'nut', he will be an "A"grader if he stays fit, guarantee it.

Injury is the only thing that will cut him down 'nut', he will be an "A"grader if he stays fit, guarantee it.

I never guarantee anything but if you have a look at his attributes

- knows how to find the ball ? check

- makes good decisions ? check

- hard as nails ? check

- good defensively but also runs forward to kick a goal - check

- solid mark - check

He only needs to slightly lift his disposal efficiency when he is clear - he fluffs the odd kick

There aren't many aspects of his game that he is deficient in.

So besides injury and unexplained form slump where he stops finding the ball I feel more comfortable about him continuing to deliver than for example a Morton after his first couple of seasons (wait until he bulks up and is able to put his body on the line more etc etc)

I never guarantee anything but if you have a look at his attributes

- knows how to find the ball ? check

- makes good decisions ? check

- hard as nails ? check

- good defensively but also runs forward to kick a goal - check

- solid mark - check

He only needs to slightly lift his disposal efficiency when he is clear - he fluffs the odd kick

There aren't many aspects of his game that he is deficient in.

So besides injury and unexplained form slump where he stops finding the ball I feel more comfortable about him continuing to deliver than for example a Morton after his first couple of seasons (wait until he bulks up and is able to put his body on the line more etc etc)

I would say there is a fair bit of room for improvement in the defensive side of his game

I would say there is a fair bit of room for improvement in the defensive side of his game

There is a room for improvement in all areas of his game but he is not completely defensively unaccountable. He gets back to help in defence and he chases. To my memory he did not have an opponent that cut him to ribbons last year.

He is a 21 year old with 35 games to his name. I stand by the comments that he has displayed all the attributes to have a successful career.

I used Morton as the counter to the example as he showed early promise but he not only had areas to improve in - he had areas that he showed no aptitude in at all.

Without wanting to reignite the Watts debate - many are saying he will be a very good footballer when he develops a "physical" side to his game. This is not something he needs to improve on - this is more a glaring deficiency and needs to surface. Something that is being displayed so rarely that many question if he will ever find an appetite for the contest.

Tyson has areas to improve on but I don't see glaring deficiencies except for the odd fluffed disposal.

There is a room for improvement in all areas of his game but he is not completely defensively unaccountable. He gets back to help in defence and he chases. To my memory he did not have an opponent that cut him to ribbons last year.

He is a 21 year old with 35 games to his name. I stand by the comments that he has displayed all the attributes to have a successful career.

I used Morton as the counter to the example as he showed early promise but he not only had areas to improve in - he had areas that he showed no aptitude in at all.

Without wanting to reignite the Watts debate - many are saying he will be a very good footballer when he develops a "physical" side to his game. This is not something he needs to improve on - this is more a glaring deficiency and needs to surface. Something that is being displayed so rarely that many question if he will ever find an appetite for the contest.

Tyson has areas to improve on but I don't see glaring deficiencies except for the odd fluffed disposal.

Geez Nut you are all over this thread. Almost every post you have posted here I have agreed with. Tyson hopefully continues his 2014 form into 2015.

Agree 100% again

As much as I love Tyson, even for him I am 'keeping my powder dry' as they say. I have seen too many players at the MFC start well and not continue to the next level, Bate is another recent one that springs to mind and you could even argue James Frawley - he certainly is not as good in year 7 as he was in year 3 when he won AA

Surely our luck will change. Having Tyson building on this year would be a huge step for us to climb up the ladder. These type of players that have been on a list for a few years are the ones that need to keep improving and more importantly have along successful career in the red and blue.

Since 2000 irc we have had only 8 ?? players that have joined the club ,play over 150 games. That's just one factor why our young recruits struggle. Even when we trade in experience from other clubs, even those experienced guys haven't stayed on the list long enough to help guide the new players. Not one player in 12 years has chalked up 200 games.

You need only to look back at some of players that promised a lot but failed to deliver: T.Johnston, C.Johnson. S.Thompson took 3 years to show he had what it took, then disappeared back home. add B.McLean, Jurrah teased us for a few seasons Wonaeamirri promised a lot, then was gone in the blink of an eye. The lastest being Clark. Against all that we are long due to strike some gold. I'm really looking forward to a fit and firing J.Hogan. The group gain some confidence and self belief, the momentum swings and everyone starts to look good.

With a top 5 pick you've got about a 50/50 chance of getting a 200+ game player who is regularly in contention for All-Australian selection. I'll take that, thanks.

Interestingly, sveral of the 'failures' have been disappointing talls, often carrying injury issues.

Grant, Watts, Hurley, Gumbleton, Kruezer.

A smaller layer of the disappointing results have been from skinny types who didn't quite keep up with the intensity at the top level - "Picket Fence's nemesis" players.

Balanced midfielders taken high have a very good 'hit' rate, though the major exceptions (Sylvia/McLean and Scully/Trengove) do also point to why there's a bit of pessimism about it on a Demon supporters' forum!