Gator

You should have taken your own advice and finished up. You've learnt nothing and add nothing.

It's just another opinion, but he does watch a lot of junior footy. Here's Knightmare's 2015 top 23 power rankings followed by a brief bio of Balic. -- Top five on list quality --1. Jacob Hopper (NSW - GWS ACADEMY - MID)2. Clayton Oliver (VIC – MID)3. Jacob Weitering (VIC – KPD)4. Callum Mills (NSW - SYDNEY ACADEMY – MID)-- Top ten on list quality --5. Ben Keays (QLD – BRISBANE ACADEMY – MID/FWD)6. Matthew Kennedy (NSW - GWS ACADEMY – MID/FWD)7. Joshua Schache (VIC – KPF)-- Projected best 22 players --8. Eric Hipwood (QLD – BRISBANE ACADEMY - KPP)9. Aaron Francis (SA – UTIL)10. Mitchell Hibberd (TAS – DEF/MID)11. Kieran Collins (VIC – KPD)12. Wayne Milera (SA –FWD/MID)13. Luke Partington (SA – MID/FWD)14. Darcy Parish (VIC – UTIL)15. Ryan Clarke (VIC – MID/FWD)16. Ryan Burton (SA – FWD)17. Harley Balic (VIC – MID/FWD)18. Thomas Cole (VIC – UTIL)19. Rhys Mathieson (VIC – MID/FWD)20. Harry Himmelberg (NSW – GWS ACADEMY – KPF)21. Kieran Lovell (TAS – MID)22.Jade Gresham (VIC – MID)23. Brayden Fiorini (VIC – MID) 17. Harley Balic (VIC – MID/FWD) Height: 186cm, Weight: 80kg, DOB: 05/01/1997Recruited from: Sandringham DragonsReminds me of: Poor man’s Jackson MacraeBrief bio: Balic has some tricks and plays with that basketballer several other recent draftees have. Balic stands out most with his decision making ability and vision with ball in hand. He consistently chooses the right option and often finds some really damaging targets. In terms of execution while he has the vision and decision making ability by hand and foot it can be a mixed bag as sometimes he will hit his targets, and other times miss. Similarly finishing from set shots and field kicks at goal further improvement is required as he lacks consistency in front of goal. He is also more of a short-medium distance kicker as someone with only average penetration. A further strength of Balic’s is his strength of marking overhead with his leaping ability making him a threat in the air which gives him potential to play forward of centre. Athletically Balic is good overall. He is not a linebreaking threat but moves well, has strong endurance and excellent leaping ability. As a contested ball winner Balic at this stage is not a factor as someone who is a receiver at this point.

In his next post he says, "I have no idea BTW".

Who does he play for ?

Why ? And how is Blighting kicking out McGuinness, McDermott, etc., and us kicking out Watts similar to Betts, who chose to leave Carlton for money ?

Where was this "reported" ? I'm interested in reading this report.

What commonalities would excite you then ? And why ?

For every Whale Roberts there's a McDermott, McGuiness, Jarman. Richmond weren't hoping to keep the injured Deledio ($800K) last year, as they needed to find a way to lure Prestia and Caddy. And football was really part-time then. There's no comparison to the business it is today. Whale would have trained for a month or two preseason and 3 times a week after work. It's not a great comparison. And who said Hogan is looking at his future ? His manager says he wants to be at Melbourne. This is merely driven by speculation and Freo's desperation. Nothing more. Btw, the gambling reference is a poor cheap shot.

At trade time feelings are useless. You use your logic valued against KPIs.

So many on this site are governed by their "feelings". Thankfully, those making decisions aren't.

There's no way they'll make their offer worse. It's fanciful to think so.

That's great, mate, but imo there's not a hope in hell they'll do that. They also want to do the right thing by Lever, who's shown good faith in selecting the MFC as his club of choice. The club won't want Lever, or his manager thinking we're playing funny buggers. This is why we made a good offer to start with. You're welcome to a different view.

Why ?

Adelaide are so pist off because they know how good he's going to be. He plays the modern zoning game to perfection. He reads the play better than anyone else, he knows exactly the right time to leave his own man, and he either takes a brilliant intercept mark, or kills the contest with his fist of fury. He's not fast, but he is agile, he usually hits his targets by foot, and he's renowned in Adelaide for his sidestep. He also has courage. We're talking about a guy who is 13 days older than Oscar McDonald. How much improvement has Oscar still got ? Lever's the same, only far more talented. Oscar can play with Lever for the next 8 years and he'll learn from him. Lever spent 3 years with Talia, which will only help. And let's not forget that Lever was made captain of Vic Metro as a bottom age player, i.e. too young to be drafted that year. Let that sink in. How many bottom age players are chosen to captain their state ? He captained Petracca and would also know Brayshaw well. This is a terrific coup for the MFC.

We've already put picks 10 and 27 on the table. There's zero possibility we'll recant.

Watts was dropped after the GWS game. He was dropped due to his lack of chasing and defensive efforts. He was lucky to survive from the week before. Late in quarter 2 his half-hearted chases on the far right hand forward flank were arguably the worst I've seen in 40 years. You have to see them to believe them. I don't think it's a coincidence he was dropped for the following week. Richmond have shown that what you do when you don't have the ball is as important as what you do when you do. His "pressure acts" may well be "elite" for a tall forward, but clearly there's too much variation in his defensive efforts for the FD. And no doubt his contested work could be far better. Also, we're not privy to the game-plan Goodwin wants to use next year. While it wouldn't be absolutely set in stone he'd already have a fair idea of what he wants to implement over summer. He may not think Jack is a great fit. Ultimately though, the writing is plain for all who want to read it. The club has already told you and it principally involves 3 things: 1. For a 9 year 150 game player they feel his field play is still not at the consistent levels expected. 2. Preparation and standards. Does he do the extras expected of a senior player ? Is he committed to be the best he can be ? Or is he a semi professional, who coasts by on raw talent ? I think we all know the answer 3. The club is already worried about his influence over young players. We have a young group who'll learn bad habits quicker than good ones. Mahoney wouldn't publicly raise this as a concern on a whim If one parks their emotions to the side for just a moment, it's as clear as day why he's on the trade table.

Is this an attempt at humour ?

They got the best out of Oliver, and Hibberd, and Jetta. Hunt improved, as did Oscar and Petracca. How about Neal-Bullen ? Jack didn't get the best out of Jack. He didn't decide to be great.

Lever missed 5 games. On ave. votes per game he came 10th.

It's "blind faith" to not think Mahoney is a liar ? Sometimes it's obvious when people are leveling wth you. This is one of them. If anyone has blind faith it's you.

I'm not sure what the final top 10 is, but here it is with one game to go. He made the AA squad, but not top 10 in their B&F. Hmmm

I've said this once before, but my eldest Brother was on a plane a few years ago and the Melbourne players got on. Jack walked down the aisle smiling and saying hello to everyone. In that regard, he's one in a million.

I'm not a great fan of Watts the footballer. I haven't been for a long time. But it will be bloody sad to see him go. He's impossible not to like and his foot skills are superb. Not to mention, he loves the Dees.

Lever missed rounds 1 and 2 with a hamstring.