Rhino Richards

We're on the same page but I dont think except in recent years our drafting has been notable and even then the recent years 2006 onwards the jury is out. But it looks a lot better than what have seen in the years prior to 2006.

Why do you think our drafting has not been so bad? In 1997, our No 1 draft pick proved to be a lazy, talented footballer with a poor attitude and no leadership skills The AFL burnt us in 1999 and 2000. We completely stuffed 2001 and we blew first round picks in 2002 on Nick Smith and Daniel Bell. We had picks 3 and 5 in probably the worst draft ever...2003. We were lucky to trade pick 5 for pick 11 last year. In 2004, we used a first round pick on a good VFL player in Dunn. We traded/wasted the second pick for 200cm rover in PJ who is also a very handy VFL player. And we got Newton with the next pick. We used two other first rounders on Beamer and Bate who have been fair at best over the journey. In 2005, we took N Jones with our first pick and he is honest without being a star in his 5th year. We traded away picks for Pickett....enough said. We took Buckley with pick 53 and Bartram who is fair at pick 60. There really is nothing to write home about our drafting even relative to other sides.

In many ways its been down right appalling aided by Salary Cap penalties in the early years.

Your correct on the trade terms with St Kilda but..... Powell had a great 2000. Got OP in 2001 and was recovering and a shadow of himself in 2002. We were a couple of kicks off the PF in 2002 on the outstanding efforts of Yze and TJ. Powell and Woey were bit players in the that year. After one good year surrounded by stellar midfielders like Harvey and he dropped off the pace literally in 2004 and 2005. Certainly not worth the 3 years. I understand his OP condition continues to hamper his post AFL physical activities significantly. Enough has been said about the Woey situation. A good ordinary player who got the most out of himself and won the B'low in 2000 as part of unsung blue collar midfield that year that included Powell, Leoncelli, Rigoni and the McDonald brothers. Got found out in top company and MFC did well to get a first round pick for a player whose playing time was fading.

Definitely. All three are good players but Morton will be a gem and difficult to match up on height wise and engine.

I think the issue is not how long KPs take to develop, but was Talia or another KPF the best available at 11 or 18. I maybe wrong on this but I dont think Talia was taken by any club in the main draft or he was, he was taken well down. What does that say?? What MFC have done has emphasised that with your top picks and certainly those in the first round you take the best available.

The research is certainly better but the depth of quality in the TAC varies from year to year. Outside a couple of obvious choices, 2003 and 2004 have been ordinary draft years indeed. And if its reasonable to give a 5 year judging period then the jury is reasonably out on 2007 and beyond.

Exactly.

Petterd has had a good start to the year until injured but he is neither the "real thing" or a Riewoldt. They would not be the examples I would use at all. West Coast get a good player and cling to him.....Hmmm.....Judd, Cousins....Embley and Kerr. There is no doubt about it WCE have absolutely made a complete meal of their list. They have lost on the players they needed to endure and kept a couple of pretenders on their list who are mere shadows of their former selves. Collingwood is a well drilled, well coached team that lacks an abosolute star and game breaker (possible a couple). They have not picked up a really good player since Buckley. They lack the elite quality that will take them past a PF. At best this year they might face off Geelong in a GF and get done by 10 goals. They have a number of front runners who go missing in big games Davis, Didak and Daisy. They have players that promise the next step but dont deliver to the next level Shaw, Swa, Pendlebury and Cloke. They have a former No 1 pick who wallows in the 2nds.A disaster. Collingwood spent another first round pick covering him (Wood)and they have also cashed the chips in with Jolly (a mediocre pick up for a 1st rounder). If the Pies dont win the flag this year, there is going to be a cavalcade of retirements from that side as a number of M'house selected 10+ year veterans get their marching orders or seeing the writing on the wall. Malthouse will finish as the longest serving coach at a Club not to win a flag. Another club whose recruiting and list management has been questionable to say the least.

Hardly quality. A washed up overweight cameo player whose star faded quickly. Add little to MFC and took alot including his pay cheque. Should have been sacked for not turning up to a game after drinking the previous night. An embarrassment that would not be tolerated by the current football management. A bad trade.

He went back "home" for the weekend to see his family. Other players have done it. Not unusual. Should we slap him in irons to stop him galavanting? The cad. B) They should also be banned from having discrete coffees in Melbourne with other Club officials to. MFC need to get onto that one.

You should be a little cynical and I am glad to see you know "the powers that be in this town". Ra Ra. You're an easy win for any piece of spin. B) I just believe in credit where credit is due. Reward actual performance not spin and investigate and deal with underperformance when it does occur. Lets judge all this on the actual results on and off the field shall we? I assure you I will sing their praises when they achieve and be critical when they dont. Regardless of who is in power.

These picks are unproven and popping the corks should wait until they produce. I hope they do in spades.

"Talls" being players over a certain height or players who can play a key position. If you believe that we need talls now then recruiting young talls will not solve your problems until 3 to 5 years down the track. Given where the game is going and given our list I would not invested early draft picks in a KPF unless that KPF was the best available. Our issue is potential a mobile tallish forward who can pitch hit the ruck. We should look for that player in the PSD, within our list or if he is the best available then so be it. I would cringe to solve poster's desire to recruit for needs that we had nabbed Talia at 11 instead of Gysberts.

Points 1 to 10 include a lot of spin that would make a PR consultant blush and the achievements are still WIP in most cases. But I acknowledge alot of good things are being down. However to turn the good ship MFC around will take alot more of the good stuff thats been done to date ...and hopefully less of the spin that fluffs it. Now dont look directly into the camera lights!!! Which "officials"? Funny, didn't think we were in Russia..... And not getting sucked in by the media spin played by player managers to heat up the contract negotiations for their client.

No more than Sylvia and Miller. Dunn and Newton need to justify their selection on other metrics than given illusory comfort in a 3rd string role for them

I think you would play McKenzie in the guts but in this development year it might be a worthy test for Bennell to hone his defensive side on Garlett or Yarran. The best way to stop the Carlton forwards is to cover their midfield....Gibbs with 40 plus possessions will hurt a side.

Game Set Match.... B)

Agree Old. There is so much MFC could learn off the Geelong champions in the way they play.

Good form 45. Glad you are contracted to MFC for next year

Look at the first and third lines. Its not a contradiction just you trying to self sauce your pudding. Glad your stopping while behind. Wise.

This is the value of the Club recruiting the "best available" and picking 4 midifielders with picks 1,2,11,18. There were many who said we should have taken a KPF for needs when there was no KPF there as best available. Some even touted Talia!! Some really good decisions made by MFC over the past 2 years and its bearing fruit.

Sorry thats a fallacy. On the back of their glory years of the 70s and 80s, the Hawks had developed a large supporter base which carries them through today. He is right you are confused about cause and effect. And you dont undertand the objective of the AFL. Its not the self serving "level playing field" dogma you're fantasizing above.

In some cases both players are actually accurately assessed. This site has a habit of eulogising MFC players to be better than they are. If MFC are to reach the heights of a Geelong, we have to develop better alternatives to Moloney and Jones. The process has been put in place by the Football club the quality is emerging and those players should hopefully be better than the some of the more expereience incumbents. The challenge for the incumbents is find a reliable supporting role as better skilled players develop.

Hawkins could be the player that Kosi isnt. But that might not make him a role model for Watts. If Ottens comes back will they hold Hawkins, Pods and Mooney up forward. Send some tapes of Nick Riewoldt. Watts should be looking to emulate the work rate of that player.