Axis of Bob

Who are these low draft picks at Hawthorn that have "elite disposal, contested ball winning ability and competitiveness"?

Turner says that every year. Then he conveniently forgets that and says it again a year later about another player.

These are my thoughts. I heard that he tests well for speed (sub 3 secs) and agility, but haven't heard anything about his endurance. On early impressions, I'm not keen on Brayshaw simply because he's more of a constant motion accumulator rather than a power runner.

Looking at last year's draft, we selected the following players: - Salem - JKH - Hunt Looking at those we drafted, the ability to get on the outside and do damage was very important. Rookies - Harmes - King - Jetta - Georgiou plus we added Tyson, Cross and Riley. Through the rookie draft and trades we picked up players opportunistically, like experienced hard bodies and role players. Interestingly, our first rookie pick was also a midfielder with pace. I think that there was a clear long term plan with our drafting which addresses a key need that will only get more important - speed. I would be surprised if this wasn't a theme in this year's drafting as well.

Last night's stage was compelling viewing. Wet weather, cobbles and riders taking risks to take time off each other when vulnerable. The crashes were caused as much by the aggressive riding than anything else. The conditions were slippery, but they were going flat chat, which wasn't what the conditions called for. High risk, high reward. Nibali rode fantastically, especially to stay at the front and away from the danger of the middle of the peloton in those conditions. It really opened the tour up.

I only saw the televised games, so take this with large quantities of salt ... Is there a chance that Ahern could challenge as the first midfielder picked? He certainly seems to have a huge amount of upside and a bit of x-factor. Fast, uses it well and his hands just seem insanely clean in all situations. One of those players who has the tools but just doesn't produce the high numbers yet. Here's footage.

Apologies to everyone else, but this will get boring for a little bit. I agreed with rpfc's post that we lack skill in defence, and that focussing solely on McDonald is missing the point. I reinforced this by explaining that we lack skill in defence. In fact, my exact words were: "We have a backline that only has one damaging kick - Lynden Dunn. Our inability to break lines from defence, by foot or with run, has been a big problem for a while." You didn't read my post. You saw the first word and assumed it was a direct attack on your POV. You made a mistake because you didn't read properly. The best response you could have made was "Oops, I misread your post" which would have resulted in nothing further happening. By continuing to try to cover up your mistake you are just making yourself look foolish. You don't get out of a hole by digging. At no stage did I focus on the poster. I responded to rpfc's post, not yours, because he is a good poster who makes interesting points.

Let's go back a step. You implied that I don't think skills are important. This was directly in response to my post, which was of me bemoaning the lack of highly skilled players in our backline. *sigh*

How did you get any of that from my post? Did you even read it?

I assume that wasn't in response to my post.

Agreed. We have a backline that only has one damaging kick - Lynden Dunn. Our inability to break lines from defence, by foot or with run, has been a big problem for a while. Ironically, McDonald is actually one of our best at running through the lines from defence!

I'm sorry that you didn't understand what I was saying. My tactic of quoting you and then responding to that specific quote may have been more subtle than I expected. I'm also not entirely sure who you are still arguing with, since we've already established that we both agree that there needs to be a balance in recruiting.

To be fair, KP really is.

You: "For mine its about improving the playing list..bettering the best 22 not collecting kids for a rainy day." This is the direct quote I responded to. I then told you that it's about a balance between improving the best 22 and also picking kids for the future. You then agreed with me that balance is something we should be trying to achieve. I don't see where I said we shouldn't downtrade our early picks.

I've only seen the televised games this year, so I really have very little idea about what's happening. That said, it seems like the first group of players all still have some pretty big flaws that mean that none are a stand out choice. St Kilda seem to like McCartin (probably for the reasons you mentioned, as they are going to be looking for a go-to forward to replace Riewoldt). I like Durdin, despite his lack of output in the games I saw, although probably more as a rebounding key defender. As for the midfielders, there wasn't really a midfielder that stood up and showed why they were better than everyone else. You mentioned Petracca and Brayshaw leave me a little underwhelmed with his lack of explosiveness (which we need). I think we'll do well to trade down as the players we'd be more interested in are likely to be available at 10+, which seems to be where most of the skilled runners appear to be.

My point is that everything is a balance. It isn't about only recruiting for now nor is it about only recruiting for the future. It's about a balance.

Like what St Kilda did?

His primary role is as a lockdown defender. The fact that he provides such good run is a really nice bonus. He's a very good young key defender, and this thread is awful.

Really?!? A young key defender was beaten (?) by a mature and talented key forward at times on the lead when they were isolated inside 50. And the lockdown key defender isn't a great kick. This is enough for you to be 'officially over' him? Your opinion is not worth the paper this thread isn't written on.

I was thinking the other way, as in that they would gain an early pick. They'll keep picking up their older players on the cheap, IMO.

It wouldn't surprise me if GWS traded a player for an early pick. They had a bunch of draft picks in one draft, so trading one for an early pick spreads their age profile across a few more years.

The best thing about Dom Tyson's hair is that it is attached to Dom Tyson.

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-05-28/eyecatchers-round-one Round 1 Eye Catchers. Includes a tiny bit of vision of Billy Stretch towards the end.

At this early stage, goodoil, would you be inclined to trade an early pick for speed or would you take the tall and grab the class from elsewhere?

The Trott stuff is interesting. I thought that Vaughan was being harsh .... until I saw the interview. I saw some of the stuff he said and thought "isn't that just being out of form?" Stuff like not seeing the ball. Like all cricketers, I've gone through periods of feast and famine. When you are in form you see the ball early and are confident in your ability to play it. When you are out of form sometimes you barely pick up the ball at all and suddenly every ball is a hand grenade. But he spoke about everything as a focus on numbers. He tried to fob off questions about being afraid of Johnson, which he clearly was, and instead talked about his average in an ODI series several years ago. It was the talk of someone trying to maintain the illusion in his head that he is the best .... rather than accept that he had been worked out. He was always a very proud cricketer - some would argue too proud - and now his crafted internal world was falling down as he tried not to accept his fate. Like a dictator claiming he is in power after being ousted in a coup, Trott exiled himself to live another day. He said he's not depressed, he's burnt out. It's going to take a lot to convince the public now that he needed to leave. It was a strange interview.