Lil_red_fire_engine

"Meanwhile, Connolly said coach Dean Bailey is currently going through the process of finding a replacement for midfield coach Paul Williams."

I am amazed that no one commented on the above. Am I mistaken or did we not announce Mark Williams as new midfield coach?

I know its a highlights package from a while ago but based on that footage and assuming his knee is fine then there is no way he will last to pick 17.

I would have loved us to have landed a big fish during the trade period. In saying this I actually think our lack of action fills me with great confidence that the current management actually know what they are doing.

We chose not to overextend or overvalue a unproven ruckman or a B grade mid with a knee reco. Yes we may not have been their first choice (which is disappointing) but I am sure that decision for them may have been more difficult if we had thrown money, extended tenure of contract or enticed their current club with pick 17.

We chose not to overvalue a player who until the last half of the year would not have been in 90% of supporters starting 22 and I doubt with the improvement of Grimes, Petterd, Cheney and new draftees was a given to get a game next year.

We chose to not promote Valenti although he showed he can get a kick at AFL level. Instead we retained him for the back up player he should be.

To me we have learnt from previous mistakes and our lack of action shows that we are standing firm on our plan.

And if you want to judge him as a development coach, take a quick look at Col Garland, Warnock, Stef Martin, Cale Morton, CJ towards the end of the season and Wonaemirri & Valenti as rookies that made the grade.

Not bad.

This smells to me of cost cutting pure and simple. We had better development out of our players last year due to having 2 quality development coaches. So lets take one of them away and put him in a completely different role. Maybe I am wrong but I doubt we will hear of the replacement for Williams exited position. No disrespect to Williams but these are specialist coaching roles. It makes sense to me to be a midfield/ruck/defensive/forward coach you should have actually played majority of your football there. He may be an excellent VFL coach and proven development coach but I do not see why he would be good in this new role.

exactly, there is and always will be a go home factor. Don't know what he is on about. For the people that are sold on Watts they obviously haven't seen much of him. They just think 'Watts, Key forward, Quick, Victorian. i'm sold!'. This is far too premature especially when Watts has many flaws and the likes of Rich who is the best available player is right there. At the end of the day, if Watts was from another state you guys wouldnt even be mentioning his name

Freak, apologies if this has ben covered elsewhere, what are Watts potential flaws? What makes you so sure of Rich? All three boys have their unknowns but most appear to believe Rich a sure thing? This cannot be from his carnival performance where the only time he looked damaging was when he was not being manned up. As soon as he saw a tag his head dropped. I also would doubt this would be because he has burnt playing against men in the WAFL. Consistent sub 20 possession games culminating with 9 in a grand final (FWIW Phil Read had 24 possessions) dont really get me overly excited. It could not be his draft camp testing as he hardly participated due to injury.

I would think if you rated them across leap, speed, agility and decision making Watts would be the best performed player in the history of the draft camp. Then also add his actual proven ability at the highest junior level to player (Larke Medal). And lets not forget the kid was focussing on another sport. I cannot even fathom the comparison on paper let alone consider why Rich would be so clearly ahead in your eyes.

No one knows who is will be the better of the three but on paper who we should take could be no clearer.

I would absolutely love to get Scotty West as a midfield coach at the Demons!

Whoever we get lets hope he can do a good job. That's all I ask!

Williams is no loss. Schwartz gives no impression to me he would be a good coach. West is a good idea. Shame we did not pursue Lappin who is now at the cattery.

Pick #1 Jack Watts

Pick #17 Toughest Mid in the draft available

Pick # 19 Toughest KPP available

Pick #35 Another tough mid

So its Luke Molan at 19 then.........Unless there is a KPP that has fallen to us which we rated alot higher we should be taking ball carrying mids with toe at 17/19. Blease, Swift, Robinson, Zaharakis or players of similar vein.

I don't believe that it was the case that they were considering Steven Gaertner. I believe that it was someone else but I don't know who.

As for Eastie's question about Neville Jetta in WA - he was BOG in the WAFL colts game, not the senior grand final. He could be a bit of a prospect for a late draft selection.

Rich 9 possessions in the granny ??????????? What makes everyone so sure he is readymade for AFL?

Know nothing about Bentley.

Griffen is rumoured to want to return to Perth where Freo are interested, naturally. Tenace and Ray are no better than Simon Buckley imo.

Also know nothing on Bentley but would suprised we would target defenders. Tenace and Ray on one hand offer the one thing we dont have (speed) but on the other hand offer the one thing we have plenty of (poor disposal).

Um Jones WTF?

I know he turns the ball over but who in our side doesn't?

He's a 20 yr old kid who's copping the most attention from other clubs through the middle and we've dropped him?

Surely there must be something else to it?

I for one don't actually rate him as highly as some others on this forum but how the fcuk can u have Bell in the side ahead of Jones on form?

Last time I checked Bell and Jones dont play the same position. Each player that has been sent to Sandy has been sent to work on a facet of there game.. Jones form has been mediocre at best and his high disposal games have been clanger city. It will not hurt him to get some relief at a lower level and work on aspects of his game. Each time this has happened this year the player has returned in better form/polish than prior to their departure.

Garland - Minson

Bruce - Johnson

Cooney - Dunn

Aker - Bartram

Hahn - Frawley (Big challenge)

Garland will get Murphy. Martin will get Minson

6 B Green

5 B Miller

4 M Jamar

3 P Wheatley

2 C Sylvia

1 C Johnson

But...

On more than one occasion he looked like he squibed the contest. Especially in the air.

Well said I was amazed that no one else had mentioned this. He squibbed three contests and a fourth was line ball...

We have nothing we would be willing to trade (the only one would be Mclean) to get a pick in the top 15. To trade a proven ball winner with 10 years ahead of him for a gamble in the draft makes no sense. The only other option now has dud groins and no team would punt such a high pick on Rivers now. First rounders will only be given up if we have an experienced player of high quality or if we had an abundance of a type of player that was in demand ie: Brisbane with rucks last year, Hawks with Key forwards this year. Still in either case you need to find a team who think that is what they need to be serious premiership chance to get one.

Trading this year will go one of two ways this year. There will be 4-6 teams who think they are a real chance next year and will trade to try and and make the most of their window. The other option is teams will hold onto any first rounder they have due to the draft restrictions for GC17 the following years.

In saying this we should be trading players who are older than 24 who could garner us a pick in the 20-30 range or a trade for a potential player under 23.

I doubt Dunn will be dropped as he has kept Swan and Foley to limited impact the last 2 weeks.

Valenti for Bode would be the only change I would make. Would love to see Martin play instead of Frawley but think the big fella will spend the year at Sandy learning his craft unfortunately.

I disagree. You shank the ball because you are panicking a bit, or because you are unbalanced - both relate to a feeling of lack of space/time (even when you have it!). At Sandy, he will get plenty of the ball, but have a bit more time to balance. And get used to giving good delivery. Remember, he went from U18 to senior AFL. Just give a bit of space for a few weeks. Do him the world of good.

The game may be slower at VFL level but the grounds in most cases are smaller and the general delivery is mediocre. This usually puts more pressure on the type of player he is. Alot of the time today he won the ball and disposed under limited pressure. He was just shanking them pure and simple and I believe from overthinking it in most part. There is no harm whilst he is finding the ball 20+ times playing him and seeing if it corrects itself. The more he finds the ball at this level the more likely it will improve. After watching Sandy on the weekend its not like he is keeping anyone out of the side.

He gets in the right positions, oozes class, and is a scrawny 18 year old. I can't believe the expectations of footy stupid supporters.

One of the highlights of the year.

Well said hannabal.He has the confidence to run to the right spots and is getting the ball in dangerous positions. He shanked the ball numerous times today but dropping him to Sandy will not fix that. Just keep getting the games into him is the right way to go.

6 McLean

5 Garland

4 Miller

3 Wheatley

2 Green

1 Bruce

Official team.

Ins are Davey, CJ and Frawley.

Melbourne Team

B: J.McDonald, C.Garland, M.Warnock

HB: B.Green, P.Wheatley, C.Bruce

C: C.Sylvia, B.McLean, L.Dunn

HF: J. Bode, J. Frawley, C. Bartram

F: P.Johnson, B.Miller, A.Wonaeamirri

Foll: J. White, C. Johnson, N.Jones

Interchange from: A Davey, M. Bate, C. Morton, A. Yze

Emergencies: N. Carroll, M.Whelan, M. Jamar

6Garland

5Mclean

4Green

3Wheatley

2Aussie

1Warnock

a bit harsh on morton but some were spot joeboy

tell you what, aussie got a great goal and then had a great run to set up a goal in the first quarter, then almost took a mark with three players on him and then got that amazing goal and another goal lol...how can u not love this kid?

also disagree on Morton. Won the ball in more damaging positions today but his disposal was poor. Kids are always going to be up and down in their first year to say he is going backwards is a tad harsh.

An absolute hack. How many times did he handball it to another collingwood player today€?

His endeavour is fantastic but his decision making and disposal are well below par. Players like him need to be weeded out of the side and list as soon as possible.

Pendlebury that played is Scotts older brother I believe. Bailey has said that players in form will be given their chance. Without seeing the games CJ has been BOG 3 of the last 4 weeks I believe and must be offered an opportunity. Can someone confirm where he is being played? Martin in the bests and Zomer kicking 3 are also promising signs for the future.

I was talking about Whelan.

I agree with you re: Bell, though

I actually thought Bell was serviceable last week and with three quality smalls find it interesting that he has not been included. Garland will get Medhurst. Would asssume that Buckley has been ommitted due to his defensive efforts or lack thereof.

If we had picked up Sylvia with pick 53 and not No.3, would he still be getting a game?

He would still be getting a game we just would not be writing threads about him as our expectations would be on the player himself and not what position someone chose to draft him.