mo64

Hibberd aside, is this the most unskilled backline in the AFL? They each offer something, but skill aint it...

I'd take Prestia ahead of Crouch. Whilst I accept that Prestia has come off a knee reco, Crouch's injury record is ongoing.

I made the comment about Viney, and I actually think his kicking is fine. It's his handballing in tight situations that I question. Elite clearance players like Mitchell, Ablett, Fyfe, Selwood and Dangerfield are able to make impactful plays by either kicking, handballing or bursting out of play. Viney is elite in ball-winning, but isn't elite in his impact like the others.

Viney would need to improve his disposal to get close to elite class. His contested ball winning is elite, isn't damaging enough when he gets his hands on it. Jetta is a borderline B-Grader. Chris Johnson was the best small defender in recent history, and nobody classifies him as an elite player.

Hunt's physical characteristics remind me of a young Tingay, but that's where the comparison ends. Hunt's disposal skills and football brain are miles off elite level, and can't see him bridging the gap. Players who become elite generally have all the tools when they enter the AFL, but lack consistency or physical capabilities. The exception are ruckmen, who don't normally mature till their mid 20's. Gawn, Hogan, Brayshaw and Petracca are the current players that have the potential to become elite.

It's pretty simple. From the outside, it looks like he's holding out for a big payday, hence his performances come under greater scruitiny. Frawley and Howe received the same scrutiny. If his performances in the past 12 months warranted a big contract, then everyone would shut up. Sadly they haven't.

At half time I was wondering what all the pre-draft hype was all about. His disposal was terrible. After half time, wow, he was moved to the forward line and he was amazing. Looks like he could develop into another Stringer.

Garland can't take a tall either. Height isn't everything in a defender.

What I find perplexing about this entire thread is that posters seem to base their opinion solely on our teams last performance. After a win, Prestia is surplus to our requirements. After a loss, we need more midfield depth, so Prestia is a necessity. People are also forming an opinion of Prestia's capabilities based solely on this season, after coming of a knee reco. I reckon he's been pretty good considering he's playing in a team that has been a rabble. We are a middle of the road team, and if a very good player like Prestia expresses interest in playing for us, we should do everything within reason to get him.

Poor analogy. There's always been a large grassroots support for soccer, but the old NSL had to be re-branded for the game to flourish. There is no grassroots support for watching Women's Football, just as there is no spectator support for the W-League (Women's A League). The competition should be seen as nothing more than a vehicle to increase female participation in playing AFL. And that's great. Unlike the W-League, it's not a pathway to achieve higher success like the Women's World Cup or The Olympics. If flogs like Andy Maher get on their highhorse about inequities in pay between the men and women, it will do more damage to the National Womens League than help.

Bugg is a slight improvement on previous taggers like Godfrey and McKenzie, and his shutdown role on Sidebottom was important to our win. I don't mind Bugg playing as a hard tag on the opposition's best outside mid, but week in week out, I don't want a player with poor disposal like Bugg playing in the middle on a regular basis. We've achieved the same tagging results with the likes of Viney and Vince, but they can also hurt the opposition the other way.

The only knock I have on him at this stage is that he needs to utilise his run to get involved when we've got the ball, and make himself available for an outlet kick. Also think that Nev Jetta needs to do the same. Would love to see Hunt develop into someone like Rory Laird.

The problem with you Picket is that you dare to question the decisions of the Football Dept. The Demonland majority drum into us plebs that the FD know everything about the game, and we are merely ignoramuses. (Sarcasm meter turned off). Anyone with half a football brain could work out that Frost was not a forward, and the experiment was a waste of time and potentially cost us some wins.

If only they were playing on comparative players of the calibre of LeBron and Shaq. It was more like Hasheem Thabeet and Anthony Bennett. Weird how you only highlighted one "R" in Jack's surname.

Let's throw in T.Mac if they're prepared to add Zac Dawson to the package. We need a quality user in our backline.

Only if Richmond do a medical on him first.

At least he was honest about his own form and at what stage of development his brother is at. But he's done little to defuse speculation about his future. If he wants to be part of a successful MFC, then re-sign now, and allow the list managers to pursue other targets.

Our defense as a whole has been bad with or without Dunn. It's obvious to nobody what role any of our key defenders have, let alone what Roos expects of Dunn. Dunn is not the cause or the cure. The coaching is the problem. But the most demoralising thing for a team is to have a player that is clearly not capable of making a physical contest (O. Mac). Same applied in previous years with Watts. If Dunn is such a problem, give Pedersen a game. Anyone bar O.Mac.

No comparisons whatsoever. Nev wasn't gifted games like O. Mac. He made it the hard way, including a delisting. No-one is saying delist O. Mac, but just let him develop at Casey until he's physically capable.

That was just one game. Thought he was ok/good against North and Richmond in the weeks preceding. Dunn was probably frustrated and bewildered with our tactics against the Saints in allowing Reiwoldt to play as a loose man in their forward line. O. Mac has been hideous in every game he's played, yet retains his spot. Bewildering.

You've gotta kidding. On what basis? Strength at the contest? No. Disposal skills? No. Reading the play? No. Dunn was no worse than T. Mac in the few games he played, and miles better than O. Mac and Garland. If he has been ostracised for not adapting to our ridiculous zone defence, FMD, neither have any of the other key defenders.

And we've yet to play 5 out of the top 7 highest scorers this year, aside from ourselves.

Did our defensive structures work well against North? No. Did our offensive gameplan work well against GWS? No.

There's no eveidence to suggest that against good teams or even average teams playing well, we have been able to achieve what you say. Our next game against Collingwood will be telling.

Your bolded statement hits the nail on the head. We don't limit the damage the other way, partly due to structures and partly due to personnel. And I'm not talking about man on man across the backline.