Watts the matter

Just gets the ball the 4th most in the comp, has elite fitness and above average kicking. He also actually kicks the ball which most of our midfielders are unable to do. He is a lot quicker than you are giving him credit for. Disagree on Tim Kelly, solid player but I think he does his best work inside and I wouldn't call him an outside player. Brayshaw has always been a poor kick, a handful of the posters on this site have been able to see this since his first few games. You can dodge around this issue with this foot, that foot. Essentially he is poor kick and it's always going to hold him back at AFL.

I think most would blame the coaches for picking him and we have every right to question that. You could see from his first involvement he was way off the pace. Was just jogging back into the defensive 50 with no idea where to go, then moments later a panic kick. If he was able to give us the equivalent of StKildas 1st gamer we would have won. As simple as that. Smith and Petty can not play together again this season.

This post is just odd. Gaff is vanilla? Tim Kelly is blistering on the outside? Next you will be telling us that Brayshaw is an elite kick.

According to who? I don't believe it.

Dreaming that you could essentially trade Brayshaw for De Goey.

23 possessions a game and 6th in the league for goal assists last year from a hff. Must have been one heck of a game. Toumpas is a draft bust, Billings isn't even close to a bust. Will be a 200 game player. Garlett can't get a game because he has been putrid this season. If he was playing good football he would easily be out best small forward. Some of the names you have listed are not even worthy of a comparison. But you are making your point on the basis of thinking Billings is a hack, so I can see your argument in that regard. I can guarantee you there would be, but we will have to agree to disagree. If the Saints get rid of him you will be able to come back and see you were off the mark. Ultimately, I agree with you that we don't want him for what he would cost. However, if he was available for a second rounder I can assure you it would be done in a heartbeat.

Selling him short would be calling him a draft bust, clearly you didn't watch him last season if you believe this is the case. Have you seen Chad Wingard play this year? Is he a spud also? There is no way you are getting Billings for a second rounder, I can assure you of that. He is an elite talent. I can agree that we probably wouldn't be after him given his price though. His value would be similar to Brayshaws and easily more than Tyson on the open market. Swimming in them? Who?

Billings has had a poor season, but you are really selling him short. He is a very good player and every club in the afl will be interested if he is on the market.

Random post from you mono, both are adequate in the context.

Yes. Our pick 20 became 22 or 23 after bidding so Leslie is not available. We probably would have taken Lewis Taylor if we kept that pick.

I've seen this inaccurately put on this site too many times. Give us Merrett or Crouch in that example and then we're laughing. We traded Pick 20 also.

He has done a great job but there is always an element of luck with recruiting and as a club we appear to finally be getting some good luck. The Salem and Tyson trade would be a failure if we utilised pick 2 correctly. However, as we most likely would have taken Billings with pick 2, it is probably an adequate result. Oliver is an absolute revelation, but if we had pick 1 would we have ended up with Weitering? We also bid on Mills and risked the chance of missing Oliver. Weideman isn't looking like the best pick but with Oliver being the best in the draft it is easier to forgive. Brayshaw and Petracca both solid selections and it seemed like they were the only ones considered. Would have been interested to see where the club rated De Goey, who is probably slightly ahead. From looking over the drafts, I am just thankful that we don't have GWS's recruiting team. They have been appalling and are very lucky for their original 17 years olds which netted them some steals (Treloar, Shiel, Cameron)

I agree that Petracca needs to improve but I just found it strange that you said Brayshaw is a good set shot. I've watched countless contests between him and Jones at training and I can't see it. His AFL set shot kicking has done little to change my view. And you can manipulate stats easily. Petracca kicks at 62% for goal over his career, excluding complete misses. He has not started well this season but when analysing players it's important to use all of the information available not just small samples that don't tell the whole story and suit a need.

Is this a joke? Gus can nail set shots? Based on what? He would not have kicked more than 5 goals from set shots in his career. You have a very short memory or you must watch a different game to me. Petrarca's goal kicking has been a bit disappointing this season but it was a strength last season kicking 26.6.

I think this thread is a gross over reaction to a long awaited impressive game from Brayshaw. Trac has the attributes to be the best player in the comp at one stage, Brayshaw doesn't. I was encouraged by Brayshaw's performance on the weekend, but I'm going to need to see it against some better opposition before I get on the bandwagon with everyone else. For me, his kicking is always going to hold him back. I think some of your observations are off the mark also. There is a reason Petracca is the 3rd rated small/medium forward on the AFL player ratings behind only Greene and Betts. He is elite at what he does.

It didn't look as bad as I first thought when watching the replay and I can't recall what other options he had so that's probably fair.

His kicking was very bad in the first half (lucky that Spargo could play out the game after one of those and that was probably the only one that hit the target in the 1st half), but improved substantially after half time. A very encouraging performance and loved the gutsy mark he took early in the game. Thought his hand balling in tight was much better than what he has previously shown at AFL level. Also nice to see him bounce up after a few big hits.

I thought I had read that Gaff was a Melbourne supporter?

He was good on the weekend but not great. Two of Daniher's points McDonald had the chance to tackle him but was unable to get a hold of him. The Devon Smith goal was a shocker from the whole team, terrible mismatch and could see it unfolding from up above.

Are you kidding? He was awful. Took a courageous mark in the 3rd but nearly everything else he did resulted in a turnover. Even the holding the ball free kick he got, his initial contest and inability to kill the ball was poor. His positioning as a back man was shocking and his opponents were constantly goal side of him. We don't have anyone to replace him with so I guess he can stay for now.

Like the fact that McCartney never sits in the box? This has gone on and on because of your refusal to just say you got it wrong. The bigger issue is the leak to the media rather than the move of McCartney itself.

I would love for you to show me some vision or direct me to it, of McCartney on the bench in the opening 4 rounds. Essentially you are saying he has made up this story. The Brayshaw piece, while a buch of fluff essentially just said Fremantle would be interested in Brayshaw. I don't see how Brayshaw would find that insulting. If you interpreted it differently, that is on you and Angus, not him.

I also had this belief. But I find it hard to think a Melbourne supporter who does our weekly podcast would be unaware of this. Perhaps he knows more than us given the contacts he would have within the club. I'm sure he will read this, so I look forward to hearing him addressing the criticism like he did on the previous podcast.

Saty, I know you think you know it all. But this was reported by a Melbourne supporter who does the offical podcast weekly. It was also said with Paul Roos ,who would have knowledge of each persons role within the football department, sitting next to him. If he says he was in the box the last 4 weeks, I know who I am believing.

Firstly, it's news to me that he is a line coach? Is that correct? It was reported on OTC that he has been told he is not required in the coaches box this week (against his wishes). Is it all falling apart?