deanox

my favourite quote EVER: "I feel privileged to be playing in the first game he plays..." Harry O'Brien on Jack Watts' debut.

with a bit of luck, in the coming years sylvia and mclean will turn it on, and we will all say it started in 03! PS the name of the top article is terrible. 'electrify against the pies'? its like some people with writers block were sitting around and couldn't come up with a good pun. why not just, electrify the pies, or, watts to provide dees with the electricity they need, or something that flows better?

i felt carlton got a great run from the umps, but what got me is the way the umps seemed to control the game. the umps were continuously popping up, they were very in your face, especially at crucial moments. they made decisions that influenced the course of the game, stopped momentum and prohibited the flow of the game. i think they ended up with more than double the free kicks of WCE? someone can confirm/correct that if they want. speaking of umpires, did anyone se the oush in the back paid against ricky petterd for casey yesterday? he used his hip to body the other player out. no contact with the players back, both hands up for the mark and got pinged. terrible.

62,783

last year a couple of times, he marked around 45, wheeled around onto his right, and banged goals from 55. it really took me by surprise, it was very un miller, but it just looked so natural. i don't think he'll ever be a great set shot at goal when kicking from a distance, but i'd love to see him back himself more often, especially if he wants to wheel out ala franklin (but the other direction) to get more distance. i am not sure if the difference is the different kicking technique, or the fact that by taking the shot straight away he didnt have time to think about the shot. is it technique or is it in his head? history tells us it probably doesn't matter now that he is 25 (26 next month thanks phil cleary), but he seems to have so much confidence in his lead and mark up, but lacks the confidence in his disposal and hesitates with decision making.

good analysis, except i think you're wrong about bates pace. i think he has the speed, just cannot turn fast enough. if he is facing the way he wants to run he does quite well, but if he has to turn and chase he is left for dead. he did it well a couple of weeks ago when he bodied a player under the ball then took off. he wasn't caught, and it wasn't a big hulking KPP who was chasing him either.

i think we are on the same page RE miller. I think as watts starts to kick on, he ill have to reinvent himself closer to goal because watts will play the half forward role much more effectively than miller i.e. he will take the marks upfield but still manage to kick goals. i cant see why miller cant ply his lead and mark trade out of the square, but im not sure how he will go in the one out situation.

very exciting article. he has shown glimpses this year, and is starting to be more consistant. however it is great that he realises that he was wasting it and letting everyone down. its great that he has realised that drinking to excess is not on. perhaps the most exciting part of this article is the culture that seems to be emerging at the mfc. the group seems more tight knit and honest than i can ever remember. this wouldn't have happened 5 years ago.

you're an idiot. he is great at chasing and running and tackling. that is one of the key features of his game at the moment. i agree about dunn. if he played like that at afl level, id be stoked.

im not sure we should really be counting butcher. even if we draft him, and if he comes on to be a good player, he will be at least 4 years away from having a constant impact. similar to newton taking a while to have any impact, watts will probably be 3-4 years away from being a dominate KPP as well. by then miller will be 28-29 so there won't be heaps of overlap there.

bell has successfully shut down didak in the past. might be a plan there, he has the pace to go with him on the lead, only real issue is if didak plays a crumbing role.

Nasher perhaps rather than trade for a draft pick, a better option would be to trade for a player of similar potential for fits a gap in our structure? ie another team needs a tall defender, we need a mid with pace and good foot skills. if a team has a couple to spare they might be willing to trade. adamfarr, potent and dangerous yes i agree. but id agree he was the most potent and dangerous all day. miller might have taken a few marks and finished with a few, but he never looked potent nor dangerous. when he marked it he never looked confident of kicking it. newton i thought was our hardest working forward, in that he got to everything and was the target across half forward in the first half. he wasn't taking marks close to goal, but had a number of touches which set up shots at goal. i like jurrah, and want to see him at afl level, but i dont think he is going for the same position as miller, but rather as an opportunistic medium forward. that is not a good way to pigeon hole him, especially not long term, but right now he wouldn't have the fitness to play the half forward role we ask of miller. he would need to be placed closer to goal.

id be more tempted to trade warnock than martin, although we'd get less for warnock imo

good question. my take on it, is that given watts athleticism, will he play the miller role up field and still manage to kick the 3 goals a week that miller should kick? can miller pay closer to goal? he hasn't had heaps of success there but he is a good mark on the lead. he doesn't have the leap or the pack mark ability of robbo. it looks to me like jurrah, watts, miller and bate are all roaming forwards in a way. jurrah may be able to play more as a one out forward, but not sure what his strength would be like at afl level. i always felt like newton was a better full forward prospect, but he doesn't seem to have the body strength one on one, has a good leap and after watching him today seemed to much prefer being in some space. that being said he took a good mark in the square, and kicked his other 'goal' off a pack.

rather than just writing players off, i was hoping this thread would evolve into a discussion of "can miller, watts and jurrah play in the same forward line or are they all to mobile?" or "Do we ultimately want 2-3 tall forwards, and "does one of them have to be a "3rd tall" ie more mobile player than genuine tall?".

lol don't worry im not geting to carried away. i realise we are a long way away, but 3 years ago we had neitz and robbo who were on the way out. holland who was never gonna to be a star, miller who was struggling and playing in the back line as a result, and newton kicking goals in the vfl reserves 9but ven then we knew he was speculative at best). for once we have kpp developing and performing at vfl level, not stuck behind other vfl players. in previous years we havnt had anything to look forward too, and we have lamented the fact that we had developing defenders and mids but not forwards.

We have, for the first time in a long time, a number of key forwards, capable of playing, if not dominating at afl level. Robbo, Miller, Bate, Watts, Jurrah, Newton are all playing this weekend for one grade or another. While Robbo is on his last legs over the next couple of years, the other 5 are all possible future fixtures. My questions are, which players playing styles can combine best? which players play in the same spaces on the ground? are some players more flexible than others in terms of positions (ie CHF, FF, flanker, 3rd tall)? Is there room for 3 talls permanently? I don't really think any of them are flexible enough to play back or ruck which means imo we would probably struggle playing more than 3. Bate being the exception as he may be able to play a bit smaller. Even assuming all these players come on, will any of them cancel each other out?

what a great weekend for the mfc. three tall forwards have good games in th vfl, including newton looking like he might turn the corner and jurrah having a fantastic 4 goal display, meanwhile, our number one draft ick, a 196cm tall forward, is debuting for the dees on monday.

agree about miller bring the pick of our forwards in the end. however we kicked what, 7 goals to 1 in the last? and miller came home with the crowd. jurrah kicked 4, but kicked 3 when the game was still on. and did a couple of other good things, probably wasn't in the game as much as we would want, and although you can't complain about 4 goals from a forward and extra 5-6 touches would have been fantastic. newton was in it early but faded late in the game. probably most important aspect of his game was that even though he kicked 2.2, he wasn't playing deep as a finisher the whole game, and went up the ground to get 12 other possessions. the main point being, all three put their hand up to be recalled/picked for the dees, while miller will probably get the nod, i think all three are deserving, and personally think that miller, while maybe being the best on the day by a shade, could've been much better, while newton probably did everything he was asked to do, and has done well for 3 weeks now i believe. i dont think another run would hurt miller, with the aim being to get confidence in his kicking, because that is what let him down.

i agree somewhat, during the second quarter, a number of times he gave off quick handballs, or passed to players in better positions. he also led up the ground, similar to how miller usually plays, i hardly saw miller in the second. he laid tackles in the forward line and in the middle. i think he covered a lot more ground than he does when at mfc, his work rate was up and he did all the team things that have been questioned of him in the past. just needs to work on his kicking for goal., which we know he can do.

no i missed that but i saw him make at least 3-4 good atckles, 1 that got a free kick and two that took his opponent out, even if they got it off in the tackle. not sure how tackles are classified by the stats people. freak might know. his defensive pressure was great. it is very interesting to see newton be the dominate forward on the ground early playing across half forward, before miller took over in the second half. i wonder if these two players prohibited each other from dominating the whole game? i didnt see newton in the 3rd quarter. did he spend much of it on the ground? i really think jordie has the potential to be a rookie promotion. he looks a likely type, gets lots of it, disposal is good, moves well in traffic. will be interesting to see how he copes at afl level, but the beauty of the rookie list is that you dont really expect him to be ready for afl for 1-2 years, there is no presure on the lad as he fills out a bit and develops his game.

haha the players in a circle singing the song, with someone holding up the words at one end of the circle.

dunn 18 kicks 6 handballs, one of our best. i think newton finished with about 16 touches...

Miller 21 kicks, 15 marks, 6 handballs, 3.4 (only 1 goal to 3/4 time though I think).

haha had 'guests' and it got turned off.