no offense to anyone inperticular, but anyone who has the view that we should not try to win more than 5 games this year and even aim for a priority pick next season HAS NO CLUE!!!!

firstly, i think it's relevent to say that any self-respecting footballer would simply cringe at the idea of their team winning 8 games in 2 years. how a supporter could actually hope for this is beyond me.

secondly, show me the proof of one team in the history of the afl (since the draft was introduced in the 1980s) that has won a premiership from bottoming out. Did westCoast, Sydney, PortAdelaide, Essendon, Brisbaine, kanagaroos...does any one actually believe that these teams became the best side in the comp by repeatedly coming last and then suddenly shooting up? the answer is that it has never happened, and will never happen.

look at the top teams this year...geelong built their team from midrange draft picks. so did sydney and westCoast.

thirdly, more important than anything else is introducing a winning culture into our team. this is soo frikin important its crazy. and people honestly believe we will be able to have such a culture from bottoming out.

i honestly want us to win as many games as possible this year. if we win 9 games and come 10th...big deal!!! do people honestly believe that getting pick 6 instead of pick 4 will make any difference in the long run? what will make a different is for us to make steady improvement in the second half of this year and continue that improvement next season.

and most important of all, by doing this we might actually gain some respect in the competition. unlike carlton who have won 24 games in the lasts 5 years. to put that in perspective, fitzroy in their last 5 years in the afl won 27 games!!! and do carlton really look like being the next big thing in the afl. hell no!

PEOPLE WHO DESIRE US TO BOTTOM OUT i can only assume want to watch the next 5 seasons seeing us come last, with no real reason to believe it will help us win a premiership... get us a winning culture because that will get us much closer

Thanks Rhino... the "16.5" points was the thing I was looking for.

Just a couplre of questions rhino. Is the priority pick balloted if more than 1 club is eligible. Can we trade this pick? ie. for judd.

You definitely can trade priority picks.

no offense to anyone inperticular, but anyone who has the view that we should not try to win more than 5 games this year and even aim for a priority pick next season HAS NO CLUE!!!!

First of all, let me say I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with the position your post takes. Deciding to tank a whole year, or deliberately giving yourself less chance is NOT the way to go. Average players are made good players by being around the best. Likewise good players are made great by being around the best. This is how West COast keep training the guns. If I had Judd, Kerr, Cousins and Priddis as competition for my spot, I'd lift my game too. And they'd help me, since I was on their team.

BUT! I can't agree with you for season 2007. There will be no tanking. The year is done and dusted already. Let there be no mistake, we are done and dusted, and by getting back our so-called "pride" we will miss out on selections that could make a difference. Now I hope they try to win every game, but if we select a mature side that may have a chance at breaking even with the rest of the comp, we are effectively stunting our growth. We can play young guys and get their forst 10 games out of the way, helping them mould into AFL footballers, and at the same time we may win less, and get higher picks... and best of all, everyone excpet Daniher is happy.

Most importantly though, if we DON'T take the youth path, the other clubs who are more ruthless will do better than us, and recover from bad years quicker than us. We need a bit of mongrel. Collingwood ended up with Thomas by doing this, I wonder if they look at it now and think... gee... I wish we won one or two more games.

we wont need to TRY in order to get a priority pick this year !!

Collingwood ended up with Thomas by doing this, I wonder if they look at it now and think... gee... I wish we won one or two more games.

Not to mention that Collingwood, who are coming along VERY nicely this year, have played a fair amount of first gamers and youngsters throughout the season.

I don't always agree that playing the youngsters is giving up or tanking. If by playing them you are replacing average players who don't bring a whole lot to the side, apart from experience, than there is nothing to say that you're any less of a chance to win games.

Not to mention that Collingwood, who are coming along VERY nicely this year, have played a fair amount of first gamers and youngsters throughout the season.

I don't always agree that playing the youngsters is giving up or tanking. If by playing them you are replacing average players who don't bring a whole lot to the side, apart from experience, than there is nothing to say that you're any less of a chance to win games.

I have not checked the games played by our players but I would guess that Brock is by far the most experinced young player that we have and he has just played his 50 th We sometimes forget that Bate, sylvia, Dunn, Bell. PJ, Jones etc are even less experienced and are playing in the seniors almost every week! Add to that Petterd, Frawley and Garland from the recent draft. I believe that this suggests a peak for MFC in 5 yrs time. I would hope that we can give others a go in the remaining rounds, ie. Newton, ?Neaves(if Yze goes to the long term injury list) and that we can draft some of the best young talent and possibly 1 0f Judd, Pavlich or Rewoldt. Iwould suggest that we would have a good chance with the latter if Thomas comes with Voss?

we should be getting a priority pick this season, and we should aim next season for one. It sounds ludicrous, but i think we need to rebuild out list. This also means we need to trade players like bruce and green.

lol u know i have said that since round 4 and everyone laughed at me. We need 2 years at the bottom of the ladder...financial reasons will stop that from occuring. Bruce + TJ must be traded

no offense to anyone inperticular, but anyone who has the view that we should not try to win more than 5 games this year and even aim for a priority pick next season HAS NO CLUE!!!!

firstly, i think it's relevent to say that any self-respecting footballer would simply cringe at the idea of their team winning 8 games in 2 years. how a supporter could actually hope for this is beyond me.

secondly, show me the proof of one team in the history of the afl (since the draft was introduced in the 1980s) that has won a premiership from bottoming out. Did westCoast, Sydney, PortAdelaide, Essendon, Brisbaine, kanagaroos...does any one actually believe that these teams became the best side in the comp by repeatedly coming last and then suddenly shooting up? the answer is that it has never happened, and will never happen.

look at the top teams this year...geelong built their team from midrange draft picks. so did sydney and westCoast.

thirdly, more important than anything else is introducing a winning culture into our team. this is soo frikin important its crazy. and people honestly believe we will be able to have such a culture from bottoming out.

i honestly want us to win as many games as possible this year. if we win 9 games and come 10th...big deal!!! do people honestly believe that getting pick 6 instead of pick 4 will make any difference in the long run? what will make a different is for us to make steady improvement in the second half of this year and continue that improvement next season.

and most important of all, by doing this we might actually gain some respect in the competition. unlike carlton who have won 24 games in the lasts 5 years. to put that in perspective, fitzroy in their last 5 years in the afl won 27 games!!! and do carlton really look like being the next big thing in the afl. hell no!

PEOPLE WHO DESIRE US TO BOTTOM OUT i can only assume want to watch the next 5 seasons seeing us come last, with no real reason to believe it will help us win a premiership... get us a winning culture because that will get us much closer

Lions were crap for years before they won three in a row.

WCE had some lean times picked up Judd at a lucky 3 and a few years later were good.

Geelong got mid range picks but got Scarlett, 2 Abletts, Blake Hawkins thanks to father/son.

Teams that bottom out take several years to do well as their recruits get experience.

Magpies had a priority a couple of years ago. Got an early pick for Tarrant in last years draft. If they choose well then they may do well in the next few years.

We have got the basis of a good list with some good youngsters running around at Sandy (Dunn, CJ, Newton and Dunn). A classy young player through this years draft would top it all off.

We most likely will not get a flag in the Neita era but could well in the Brock era if our young players come on and we add a bit more class to the list.

We should be playing youngsters with an eye to next year. An early draft pick would be a big advantage for us going forward.

With or without an early draft pick we should play finals next year.

An early draft pick this year will be really valuable for say, 3 years time.

Not to mention that Collingwood, who are coming along VERY nicely this year, have played a fair amount of first gamers and youngsters throughout the season.

I don't always agree that playing the youngsters is giving up or tanking. If by playing them you are replacing average players who don't bring a whole lot to the side, apart from experience, than there is nothing to say that you're any less of a chance to win games.

We put a realistically competitive team that should have won on Friday with a number of experienced senior players and we got absolutely spanked by the bottom side. We do not have a competitive side out there and our season at 2 and 10 is shot. Replacing those players who wont be around next year while trialling young players who more than likely will is not tanking.

However (while not you Jaded), there were those who were calling play the kids from approx round 2 this year many of whom were not match fit nor had shown any form at Sandy up to then. Our season was young with opportunity. To me that was tanking.