mo64

By the tone of your response, you sound like a prepubescent xenophobe, who'll never travel overseas for fear of catching a culture bug. Anyway, when was the last riot at an EPL game? And do Victorian teams' supporters sit side by side with the Adelaide Crows supporters at AAMI stadium? And maybe people from overseas watching an AFL game on TV, involving a home side and an interstate club, think that our supporters are segregated, when they see a small pocket of support for the interstate club. Get a life Toad!

Hannabal, you're spot on here. I'm fairly sure that CAC took on the list management at the end of 2006, and I was extremely critical that we only had 3 selections in what was seen as a bumper draft. We drafted Frawley with our 1st selection, yet we retained Bizzell, Ferguson, Holland and promoted Warnock, who were all similar palyers struggling to get a game. I'm sure existing contracts may have had something to do with this, but the promotion of Warnock was staggering to me. Prior to 2006, I'd say that ND in consultation with the Chris Fagan, would have been the list manager. And for mine, our list management has been a bigger problem than our recruiting.

Toad, you 'haven't seen that chant/song before' yet you find it lame! I hate Liverpool FC with a passion, yet I find the song awe inspiring. Each to their own, I guess!

Based on your logic, Stephen Wells is a better recruiting manager even though he's been gifted Scarlett, G. Ablett, N. Ablett, Blake via father/son rule. Fatty, give us something tangible. Give us 1 receruiting manager who you regard as successful, and provide their draft record.

Thanks BMFPM. Any news on the progess of Clint Bartram's recovery from injury?

I can't think of a genuine 'star' that we've blatently overlooked during CAC's tenure. With the exception of Dean Cox and maybe Daniel Kerr, I doubt that CAC had the opportunity to draft any of the current top 15 players in the AFL. Off the top of my head, this would be my top 15, excluding the recent retirees: J. Brown - Father/son C. Judd - Early pick D. Cox - Rookie from WA colts. Project player who became a star G. Ablett - Father/son N. Reiwoldt - Early pick M. Pavlich - Early pick C. Cornes - Early pick M. Scarlett - Father/son B. Hall - Pre-dates CAC, then traded. B. Harvey - Pre-dates CAC B. Johnson - Pre-dates CAC J. Bartell - Early pick D. Kerr - Draft pick no. 17? unsure of which draft. S. Burgoyne - Early pick A. McLeod / B. Cousins - Pre-date CAC I'm sure I've missed someone, but I really struggled to find 15 genuine stars. Oops, after reading Old's post, I did miss Simon Black, as CAC did.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I find the stock standard AFL chant 'Melbourne, clap, clap, clap' very humdrum and uninspiring. Having said that, what's even worse is the Saints cheersquad adopting the basketball chant, 'Let's Go Sainters, Let's Go, clap, clap'. Whilst I agree that soccer has more downtime, the chants or songs are used to spur your team on, and could be adopted in the AFL. In fact, what draws me to an occasional A-League game is the atmosphere of the crowd. I don't have a problem adopting a chant from another sporting code, as long it's not juvenile or offensive. BTW Rhino, You'll Never Walk Alone predates the Hillsborough disaster by about 20 years, and has been a prominent part of the Kop since the '60s.

In the modern game, I don't agree that premiership sides are built around a 'great' spine. Sure, you need good players in the key positions, but the Geelong, WCE, Sydney and Port pemiership sides hardly had great spines. A quality midfield, including a dominant ruck division, is the most essential ingredient for a successful side. It'll be interesting to see how the West Coast go without Cousins and Judd. Then you can judge how 'great' their spine is.

OK Rhino, answer this one. Why wasn't Sylvia taken on the recent trip to China with the other young players?

Geez, i'm more concerned with some of the names still on our list. Aside from the players in the twilight of their career, ie; Neitz, Robertson, Yze, White, there are still question marks over the following players, as none of them are walk up starts to get a game next year: Carroll Holland Jamar C. Johnson Wheatley Miller Sylvia

I'm with you Dappa Dan. He may not become a Chris Judd, but he may become a Matthew Priddis, an out and out midfielder with no pace, who's not versatile. Strange, 15 clubs overlooked him in the national draft as well!!!!!

Haydo, I pose this question to you. Does Col give himself every opportunity to get his body right?

Spot on Demonised. However, when teams are losing games and confidence is down, players go into survival mode, and play for themselves. It's unfortunate that selfless acts such as 'blocking for a teammate' don't show up in the stats column. If it did, a player like TJ and Yze would have a big duck egg next their name every week. Obviously the coaching panel are aware of them, as our most selfless player, James McDonald, has won the past 2 b&fs.

He is based in WA, and I doubt that he was Melbourne's scout. The whole basis of his post was that Masten is in out and out midfielder, whereas as Cotchin is a midfield/forward. He went on to say that Andrew Walker and Sylvia, who were both drafted early, were never going to be out and out midfielders.

I recently read an interesting assessment of Sylvia by a club recruiting scout. He suggested that Sylvia doesn't have the nous or run hard enough to be a midfielder. He lays a lot of tackles because he's 2nd to the ball, and doesn't work hard enough to make position to receive the ball. He suggested that Sylvia is predominently a forward, because he's a good mark and kick, who can pinch hit in the midfield. I'm hoping that Sylvia can improve his midfield capability with a full pre-season. If not, he may well be seen as a perennial underachiever.

You would have loved Sean Charles BBP. The problem was trying to locate him. A player who has the x-factor, but not the dedication, becomes a cancer within the club. Look what Geelong did with Steve Johnson. After trying to trade him the previous year, it took a suspension by the club to force him to change his ways. Sampi isn't even on a team list, yet he couldn't show the dedication required to be an AFL player. Interestingly, no other club took the punt on his x-factor. BTW, who are you referring to in the sentence in bold?

Add Michael Long to the list.

Thanks CAC for not only your contribution to MFC, but your insightful contributions to Demonland. A job well done! PS; what were you thinking with Luke Molan? Ha, ha, just kidding!!!!!

I'm a cynic of the draft camp, especially when it comes to midfielders. Recruiting managers should be able to assess whether a player has the physical attributes to make it at AFL level during match conditions. Players like Mitchell, Swallow, Priddis, Davey and Pearce were either overlooked or fell in the draft based on their physical attributes, rather than their ability to find the ball. Whether a player has a big engine and excels at the beap test, is irrelevant to me, if he doesn't know were to run. Does the name Mark Bertz ring any bells?

It makes a mockery of the draft camp, which is all about physical attributes.

Based on your reasoning, another lightweight by the name of Danyle Pearce would still be rotting away in the SANFL.

No great surprise. His old man has been pushing for the relocation to the Gold Coast. Like father like son.

Bode - No star, but up to AFL standard. Buckley - Depth player, but scope for improvement. C. Johnson - Make or break year. Has some attributes, but doesn't appear to believe that he belongs out there. Weetra - Never seen him play. Was a speculative pick to start with. Warnock - Definitely not up to AFL standard. Was gobsmacked when we upgraded him to the senior list. Was never a KPP.

Rhino, the kid has already played a dozen games of senior SANFL footy, and his body shape is bordering on Ashley Sampi. I see no problems with playing him in the NAB cup.

Let's hope he's better than Trevor Spencer!!!!!