Machsy

I, for one, could easily be one of those accused of following group think, being fickle and of succumbing to confirmation bias, or whatever accusations want to be thrown around. Simply, I thought Frawley one of our best and most important players, simply because I highly rate his ability and think his type is quite rare. But I also realised pretty quickly that I grossly overrated the difficulty and cost of acquiring a suitable mature-bodied replacement. I'm confident in Frost's ability, and he has has more years left in him than Frawley. I think we have done very very well for ourselves.

Seriously... WTF are you talking about?!

Good call, Deestroy Allsy.

I'm very pleased with the way things have turned out. Whilst I kept trying to console myself with the fact McCartin was highly rated and we'd have 2 blue chip key forwards, the envy of a lot of teams, I just couldn't see it. I'm sure McCartin will be a capable player. Good attitude. Competitive. Big enough. But probably not as big as I'd like. What are the attributes that set him apart? I don't see competitiveness and aggression like you see in Hogan or Viney. He doesn't get knocked over on field, but he doesn't knock too many others over, and won't when they're his size and bigger. Not particularly fast or agile, average at ground level for his size, not amazing endurance. For all the hype of him being a "one grab" KPF, I recall seeing him juggle a lot of marks as his smaller opponents fell over around him. Kicking is decidedly average. I think St Kilda was sold on the player they need him to be rather than the one he is or will be. I'm not trying to talk McCartin down. I'm just delirious to have 2 blue chip mids, exactly what we need, instead of 1 and a forward that I'm not convinced on, despite him being firmly in the spotlight for 2 years +.

I'd agree. I wasn't talking in terms of personality. But he's not a leader either. And I think that might count against him for St Kilda.

He's a carbon copy of... dare I say it... Colin Sylvia.

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, if genuine, it is personality based. He's not the type of bloke you want to be a leader. He has made comments about teammates finding him annoying. Hyperactive like a diet-Jack Riewoldt or Heath Shaw.

Yeah, nah.

For pick 3, you'd be silly not to get both.

Darling was an 800m runner who was capable of playing as a big midfielder as a junior; McCartin has shown no such capability, and is significantly larger and more lumbering.

He won't be even in the top 10, in my opinion. We'll see who's correct come draft day.

*cough* called it months ago. No Wright in the top 10.

Think... 5 or 6 years for Wright to develop. After the AFLPA has successfully negotiated the reduction of the requisite years for FA eligibility, and Wright leaves us because we've sucked the whole time he has been at the club, because we don't have enough blue-chip midfielders...

WERRIDEE says that Sam Blease will win a Brownlow at Geelong... Hey! You're right, it is easy to make sh*t up and attribute it to other people! Nice one nuffy.

Does she though? Big unsubstantiated call to make...

I get the feeling Wright won't even be taken in the top 10 of the draft. GWS will take McCartin as a replacement for Boyd, but Wright will take too long to contribute, and by the time he does look like giving some sort of payoff, the rules will change and he'll probably be a FA. Drafting kids like Wright will not make us competitive again in today's climate. It'll root us to the bottom for as long as the club survives.

Happens every year.

It's ok, I laughed.

I could sit down, watch all the film, and do a list projection... Should the club recruit me to play HBF?

Would we even be talking about him if it wasn't for his father being coach?

I think GWS are brutally aware of the need to spread the age of their list.

I think the key is that in AFL, like in many things, you become a product of your environment. What's the point in taking a supremely talented youngster and bringing him into an environment conducive to fear, doubt, submission and underachievement? I think we've seen it year after year, drafting impressive talented young men, then scratching our heads 3 years later when they look a shell of themselves. Obviously this isn't absolute, as you will still get a Nathan Jones coming from a cesspool. But we need an environment where we instill or reinforce work ethic and strong positive work habits. All kids who get drafted have talent. But we need an environment that will take a Luke Parker at pick 40 and forge him into a superstar, not another talented also-ran. We're not there yet. Cross helps, Jones helps, Vince helps, Dawes helps. But we're still short a handful of quality people to lead the way. I do think we recruited Tyson as much for his strength of character as for his talent. We need an environment that will guarantee more hits than misses. Then worry about making sure we recruit the kid at pick 2 who has 3.2% more talent than the kid at pick 10.