mo64

The simple fact is that there is not set formula to winning a premiership. Brisbane, Pt. Adelaide, West Coast, Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn each constructed their lists through various methods. If we go down the same path as Hawthorn, there is no guarantee that we'll make the finals, let alone win a flag. You just need to develop a playing group capable of winning 14-16 games during the home and away season, and come finals time, anything can happen. The other thing that came out of the GF, is how flawed it is try to emulate Geelong's game plan. They dominated in every key stat., inside 50's and contested possession, due to their elite midfield, yet weren't able to apply any scoreboard pressure because they overused the ball, and didn't play with a conventional forward set-up. Sounds familiar doesn't it, except that we couldn't win contested possession, and couldn't get the ball inside 50. It just goes to show that even with the best midfield, a "run and carry" game plan can be dismantled if you apply pressure at the contest, and zone off in your backline. Clarkson out-coached Thompson big time, and Thompson didn't have a plan B. Why the hell did their best forward Steve Johnson, spend most of the game outside their forward 50?

How underwhelming.... And what do we propose to give up for Bentley?

We haven't had a great player since Robbie Flower, and we need to retain our "solid" players, regardless of age. Whilst people like you keep pushing the "youth at all costs" line, the rest of us will have to keep digging into our pockets for an annual debt demolition appeal. BTW Shaft, Brad Green is someone who has good foot skills. Had it from day 1 as well............

No, I think you should remain in the race if only to inflate the salary that Carlton have to pay. It pretty obvious that his manager is using the other clubs as a leverage to boost Warnock's salary.

Say no more! B)

One of your more bewildering posts. For someone to say that how a person kicks the ball under pressure isn't inclusive in their "kicking skills", just shows a lack of knowledge of sport in general. Using a golfing analogy, I can make putts on the practice green, but rarely make a putt during the round. Am I a good putter? No, because my mindset is part of my putting skills. The same goes for footballers and their kicking skills. Some players just never get their mindset right after years of experience, eg; Matty Richardson.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from all the highlight clips of Morton, he was an outside player at under 18's, hence his disposal was rarely under pressure. Therefore I fail to see how you could accurately assess his kicking skills. Any local footballer can hit a target when under no pressure. His attributes at under 18's were his motor, ability to find space, and ability to read the play. Now in Morton's defence, this season he rarely had viable options upfield to display his kicking skills, and his indecisiveness may have attributed to his poor disposal. But on 2 occassions I saw him actually shank a set shot for goal within 40 metres, under no pressure. This for me was a worrying sign. And before any of you bozzos reply, of course all players miss shots for goal. A shanked kick is when the ball goes off the boot at a 45 degree angle to the right (for a right footer), and is unacceptable at AFL level.

You make some really valid points. If as you say Green overprices himself, I'm not against trading him. I just don't buy the argument of "out with the old and in with the young", when the old (Green) is a proven commodity, whereas a 2nd round pick is unknown.

I want a club to support. A couple of more years like 2008, and I doubt that I will. I take the Paul Roos view on winning a premiership, "there is no formula to winning a premiership". 98% of posters on this site actually believe that there is. Every year we hear the same old thing about the Swans and Adelaide having ageing lists and being ready for a fall, but their coaches are good enough to get the best out of them. If you put yourselves in a position to make the finals, anything can happen, as the Swans proved in 2005.

In our case it's more pain, more $pain.

So by the time our young inexperienced players come to grips with the gameplan, the game would have evolved again, and our reactive coach decides he has to copy what's in vogue at that time, and overhauls the list again. Even Bailey came out and said the inexperience is no excuse for our performances.

Not as abysmally as the current game plan.

Conversely you can get players of the calibre of Danny Roach, Luke Molan and Barry Brooks, so what's the effin point of bringing up Judd and Cooney's names. :angry:

First and foremost, playing youth doesn't guarantee you success. Brad Green may not make us a contender, but he may allow us to be competitive next year and the year after, which is more than a 17-18 year old kid can hope to achieve. And I assume that you're expecting a draft pick between 1-3 for Green, because that is where your examples Judd and Cooney got picked up. <_<

So trading away our likely B & F for this year for an unproven 2nd round draftee will improve our list for the future will it? And if as you say, Green's best football is behind him, why would another club give anything for him? Why can't people get this through their head, we won't have a future if we have another 2 years like this season. We are not in any position to think about 5 year plans. If you're prepared to underwrite our losses for the next 3 years, by all means trade Green for an 17-18 year old unproven kid.

So for the next 5 years we can keep using the same excuse for losing "we've got the youngest list, what more do people expect". Trading proven players for untried 2nd round draft picks is ridiculous. Rivers has finally got some bigger bodied defenders around him, and is the perfect foil for Garland, Martin and Warnock. If Rivers is a crock, others clubs will do the necessary medical checks before handing over a 2nd round pick.

So you're saying that it's common practice for a footballer to tell a total stranger in a pub that he's going to another club, prior to telling his current club? Yeah right!

If it is true, and I doubt it, it says something about the maturity level of Prismall.

Great write-up. No fluff included. And I totally agree with your assessment of our forward line. They weren't that bad. The problem was that we rarely got the ball up there, and when we did, they were outnumbered because it took so long to get there.

All true Rflowering, but what I find annoying is that with every new board, we hear the same thing about debts in the closet. Didn't the auditors raise some concerns last year about how and when we were accounting for some expenses?

Steven Gaertner's an interesting one. He was highly rated in most phantom drafts last year, but was overlooked, and was was too young to be nominated as a rookie. I might be totally wrong on this, but Melbourne took some time before passing with their final draft selection, hence allowing 1 pick in the PSD. The reason for the delay was because they were considering taking Gaertner. Demonland, can you shed any light as to whether this was true.

I'm not a massive Matthew Warnock fan, but I believe that his stocks are at there highest. If Robert wants to go to Carlton, lets ship Matthew off as well. Carlton desperately need tall backs, so what would be a viable trade for Matthew?

Then enlighten me as to how many goals these supposed resting ruckmen have kicked this year. Kosi and Moran have played predominantly as forwards this year, and how often would Charman rest in a forward line comprising Bradshaw and Brown?

Correct me if I'm wrong, didn't Blake and Hudson start in the ruck for their respective sides? Minson is used up forward because of the Dogs lack of big forwards, and I wouldn't rate him as either a ruckman or a forward. Ottens never starts a game in the forward line, but does push forward when in the ruck. I doubt that he spent much time up forward when Blake was on the ground. Without loooking up the stats, I doubt that there is a ruckman that's kicked over 25 goals this year. Don't include Hale because he's kicked his goals when played purely as a forward.

These days, ruckmen don't rest in the forward line. So you are either a ruckman or a forward. In the case of David Hale, they've decided that he's a forward, with Petrie playing as the ruckman. Vickery sounds like Brad Ottens, and it's taken him 9 seasons to finally establish himself.