Lil_red_fire_engine

I have no hesitation in saying there is no chance Watts will be the elite key forward we had hoped for. I have no hesitation stating that he could easily carve out a career and become a high quality defensive sweeper. The midfield role is so full of unknowns that I don't think anyone can ceiling how he will go. What we do know is he himself has said that is where he played most of his junior career and where he felt most comfortable as a junior. We also know he stated that going hard for short bursts and then coming off in the mid field more suits his make up and may see his elite speed (as tested at draft camp) come more to the for. We also know he has some elite attributes in his ball handling and disposal skills. Whether he makes up the numbers or becomes a seriously good mid will come down to his ability find the ball as well as an improvement in his endurance and want to hunt the ball and man. Being under the development of Roos and Stone I would not ceiling him in those aspects either.

Interview with Watts over the preseason he stated that he played most of his junior footy in the midfield.

Based on my two views of him in the pre-season he doesn't look out of place with the ball in his hand. When he kicks though that is a very different story. His kicking is very much off AFL standard (yes possibly like some others on our list). Separate note but those photos really show off the size of Tyson. He is a seriously good size.

I have been limited in my viewing of both Patton and Boyd but can say I have watched a fair amount of Daniher and Hogan including watching them both at Windy Hill in the VFL this year. The one thing that I think Hogan has over all is presence. The one thing I am confident he has over all of them is a bit of mongrel.

I cannot understand what you could possibly be basing this on. He hardly ever loses against his man - tall or small. Any lethargy he showed was removed from his game in the last 2 years where his attack on the ball and man has been first rate. He very rarely turns the ball over but granted when he does it is usually a shocker that stands out. He is one of few on our list who would get a game with most if not all clubs in the competition

Things to consider when reading this. It is elite based on what champion data define worth measuring. Based on the players in here it seems to heavily skew to possession rather than impact or defensive skill set. Also it is based on the statistics from the previous year. How surprising then that the better performed teams are better represented because guess what? They get more ball. They're more effective when they get it. They kick bigger scores.Thats why they finished where they did. Its a bit chicken and egg to say to be a top 4 team you need 5 elite players. More so top 4 teams get more effective ball therefore 25% of their starting side usually float to the top. In saying this the only player we have who would be close to elite based on their position would be Frawley. I would not be surprised to see Grimes and a fit Clark pop up on this list next year.

Top 4 pretty much as expected which is the disappointment. I was hoping for a couple of others to have stepped up into that top group. The most important thing however is to see how many have improved their times and placings.

Time trials mean plenty. A great performance doesn't mean you can play but a poor performance more or less means you season is cooked in a game style requiring two way gut running with a cap on interchange. The most important thing is to see improvement from the start of pre-season or the previous year.

The guy finished top 5 in a B&F in his first year (granted performances around him weren't great). Whilst his B&F position may not be as high in 2014 I doubt you will see lesser output from him and his position in the team will only be lost because others go past him not because he goes backwards. I doubt this would have cost us much and is a fair risk investment. I saw enough of Kent to see he was worth backing in a further two and again it wont have cost us much.

I would encourage before people whine about our site to have a look at the content of other club sites over the offseason. Collingwood aside, we have clearly the most updates, interviews and videos of the offseason.

Whilst I knew the Demon Shop was at the G I had to ring my father post training on Monday to find it. Even then it was that dark that I assumed it was closed only to find that if I tugged on the door it was open for business. I returned again post training on Wednesday to be well looked after and the store having everything I was looking for. I think we need to realise that most supporters would likely buy online or purchase merchandise on Match Day via the merch tents. A better spot would mean higher rent and I doubt the walk by traffic would justify the outlay.

No alteration from last year that I could see.

First one was a trainer the second one was a player to another two players.

Sorry LDC. Yes meant goal kicking, excitedly writing that up on my ipad on the tram on way home. The two comments one was a player one a trainer.

I left at 11am as they appeared to be winding up. 36 in the main group which included Hogan ( my main reason for attending again today). Same rehab as Monday except also included Viney and Spencer. Trengove, Salem and Michie all finished about an hour in. After about 20 minutes of warm ups some intense grappling work, some close in contested work and then some more half and full ground drills focused on ball movement and in game running. It was also great to see our forward group spend a good period of time on goal kicking. I spent most of the session focused on Hogan, Vince and Tyson. Hogan just spends the whole session moving with intent and bouncing around with enthusiasm. Immediately left to go to the Demon Shop for a training jumper with a big number 1 on the back.Vince and Tyson are all silk and would continually kick the ball to where they wanted to draw the leading player. The other two that stood out to me today were the intent of Tapscott and the movement of Hunt. Two comments overheard today stood out to me "you wouldn't know this was the same team as last year. The fun in footys back" and " it's not about territory any more boys it's about getting and keeping the footy" . Again happy to try and answer queries but was probably more focused on my Hogan man crush and was not as broadly attentive as Monday.

I can confirm Hogan is definitely out there this morning.

Scoop , Nice considered, logical post with clear non-emotive explanations to back up your thoughts. Not enough of these about here at the minute. As our top end starts to mature and strengthen through development and recent trade and Roos hopefully taps into some of our unfulfilled potential then I think our improvement could happen quicker than most anticipate.

"Coach Paul Roos has spoken with Viney about his role for next season and rather than burning him out through the midfield, the youngster will spend more time at half-forward in 2014." The above taken from the below article. I expect there will be a fair rotation of mids playing forward rather than specialist smalls this year. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-07/hogan-deserves-the-hype

It does not surprise that with his speed Blease would not have high end endurance however he should be much ahead of where he is. It is moreso his lack of application to the task that concerns me than his ability. Agree that Dawes looked serious trim and ripped.

Barry looked seriously good to me today both in his polish, speed, attack on the ball and improved size. Agree JKH was not very clean today.

Hogan was there until about 9.40 but never went onto the track. He spoke to Misson and a coach and then went over the road.

I got down there at 9.20 and players already out for warm ups. Trained for about 90 minutes with the first 60 minutes being ball work at medium intensity and the last 30 minutes being timed 4 reps of 300s with short straight line burst running in between each one. Without checking appears all in attendance. Hogan did not train but was there early then disappeared. Rehab group was Fitz, Clark, Dawes, Kent, Reilly, Jamar, Clisby and Gawn. Dawes and Kent looked most advanced but all were doing running with limited concern. Salem, Viney and Byrnes did skill session but not 300s. I thought the handball drills were very clean but the kicking a bit askew partly due to the swirly wind and partly due to the usual culprits. None of the draftees look even close to ready although was impressed with how hard JKH pushed himself in the 300s. The four players that stood out in the positive were Toumpas (best gut running all session), Evans (had put on good size and moved well all session), Howe (most polished all session) and Barry (stood out with his speed and silk). The boys we traded for all have good body size and just go about their business as professionally as you would expect. The most disappointing by far was Blease. How a player who has been in the system as long as him even with his layoff be at the tail end of the C grade group for running is beyond me. Even then he only appeared to coast whilst others busted a serious gut. Excuse spelling mistakes as doing this off iPad on a tram on way home. Will edit up and add more later. Also happy to answer questions where possible.

Improvers Trengove (same reason as others) Toumpas (same reason as others) Spencer (will takeover number one mantle and build on his improvements in size and coordination last year with better endurance this year) Sliders Terlich (will struggle with transition as more of a lock down defender) Kent (Pre-season has limited his ability to build what was already a very small tank. Interchange rule and inability to play midfield yet will hurt him) McKenzie (will be replaced by influx of new and developing mids who have a more rounded game)

Or we could have picked up Shuey, Zaharakis, Talia and Fyfe.

I intend to head down at least on Monday.