stevethemanjordan

I'm desperate for this club to change Machsy. Having an experienced senior player who is part of the leadership group display the same sort of behaviour as players like Sylvia makes me sick and tells me that there are still players we need to move on if we want to see a transformed club. Frawley is a pea brain. I'm annoyed because he doesn't carry himself well on or off-field and it reflects badly on the club. Which is where my care is.

You're such an interesting poster Machsy. You get up on that high horse with the flick of a switch. This is a forum for MFC supporters and I've posted my opinion of Petracca as a player you insecure fairy. Not once have I or do I claim myself an expert. Everyone is aware this is a football forum and people are entitled to share whatever views they hold. You're a strange guy. I hear that you disagree with my view of Petracca and that's fine. But I'll continue to rebut your stance on this 'tank' talk. Aerobic testing will show nothing but how fit he is at this moment in time.. Genetic predispositions to aerobic/anaerobic capacity and thresholds are really not that important at AFL level unless you're lacking majorly in other areas of your game. This is not an athlete competing in a running event in the Olympics. It's the AFL. No [censored] genetics help. But my argument is that once kids are playing in the midfield at state level, their 'fitness levels' and 'tanks' are already high. Some will have naturally better tanks, some won't be quite as strong. But once these kids get to the AFL, it's their appetite to work as hard as they can that will determine how fit they can become. Tell me who has the best 'genetics' when it comes to endurance running out of: Fyfe Mitchell Kennedy Bartel (in his prime) Ablett Cotchin Dangerfield I'll answer it Machsy. Nobody cares. They've all got themselves to an extremely high level of fitness due to their work ethic. Some will obviously have a better natural fitness base but I don't ever hear anybody talking about it. They've all got AFL midfield fitness levels. It's their footballing attributes that people talk about. (And Dangerfield's explosiveness). Something the Petracca also has..

Again, with a willingness to learn and desire to become the best player possible, things like that are secondary when it comes to assessing a player. I'm not saying they should be completely disregarded, but if you hear Christian speak, you'll be filled with confidence knowing that his attitude toward improving himself as a player is already at a professional level. It's the same as Jack Viney's 'tude.

Of course I understand that some human beings have naturally better working and functioning organs as well as physiological advantages whether it be a naturally better resting heartrate etc etc. (Average example). And they are the one's who clearly become the greatest runners of our game which becomes their 'strong' attribute. It did wonders for us with Rohan Bail huh.... My point is, any able body who's body can withstand the physical demands of AFL football CAN build a tank which will allow then to compete with the best. (Providing they have the work ethic and desire to push themselves to the limit).

I'm a sports guy. What exactly needs clarifying?

I say bugger the wishes of supporters who are cool with him changing his tune during the season and consistently spitting out substance-less dribble in an attempt to make himself look like a person of integrity and loyalty etc. Have you listened to any interviews of his Machsy? Or are your responses purely based on your irritation of what others' thoughts are on the situation? For the one-hundredth time, if he'd said from the start 'I'm putting contract talks on hold and will decide on my future with the MFC at season's end' and then shutup about it for the rest of the year then myself and others wouldn't mind as much. But he HASN'T done that and he's said some things that in my opinion were thoughtless and pathetic.

He's played the majority of his footballing life as a forward so obviously his 'tank' will need work. Last year he kicked 40 + goals as a full-time forward and has now just won the Lark Medal for best player in the championships as a midfielder. Let me spell this out for people. Anyone who stays injury free and has an outrageous work ethic and desire to be the best can build a tank required to compete at AFL level. Anyone.

Not that bloody good? Ahhh Machsy.

Interesting readingAlthough there's no way GWS would give up both Treloar and Shiel for pick 3 and Blease/Tapscott in your hypothetical.

Well he's as explosive as they come. Have a look at some vision if you can find any. And to be averaging the numbers he averaged throughout the 18's competion as a midfielder goes against what you're saying... I don't know where you got that info from. The guy wins a heap of ball in the thick of it. As for the 'art' of positioning.. Players learn to perfect those things once at an AFL club so if that's the only downside you see then you should be jumping for joy. The only real chink in the armour I see is that he doesn't have a great running capacity as he's only just started playing midfield which again is hardly a problem if he has a strong work ethic and willingness to get the best out of himself. Which he does if you listen to him and hear from some of his coaches. He will be by far and away the pick of this draft. Once in a generational player if developed properly. I'm calling it.

But seriously, I can't stress it enough. Listen to Petracca speak. He's switched on and has the perfect attitude. He's a competitive beast who's built like a bull, has unbelievable explosiveness and hands and an awareness and peripheral vision that Pendles has thanks to his basketballing background. When you've got those attributes to your name, you cannot trade away a pick that could potentially land this bloke. He's a freak.

I agree that Petracca is a must get for this draft. I'm praying that he's there at 3 or thereabouts as I don't believe we'll finish lower than that. Like the poster about pick 4 for Tomlinson and a later pick could work as long as that pick isn't too far down the pecking order. Whichever way it goes, I'm desperate for Petracca. The bloke looks to be a wild beast ready to year the competion apart. Haven't been this excited about a prospect for a while.

Hate? I wouldn't say hate. Am I annoyed? Yes. Do I think he is a pea brain? Yes. Do I think he'll help the club move forward? Definitely not. I want people and players who care about the club, and I'm sick of hearing him talk about the contract. He's a passenger because it's clear his mind is elsewhere and he doesn't want to help this club get back up. He's playing for himself, he's thinking of himself and I can't wait to get a PP for him and see what magical trade we can make or player we can pick up.

Fyfe is a great example of a player who was never built like a bull, but perhaps had a strong desire to compete in all facets of the game before he reached AFL level. As for the culture side of things. Freo are now a club who through the appointment of Ross Lyon and the help of their senior leaders and players have instilled a hugely competitive environment and 'culture'. Fyfe's improvement as a player, he's body-shape change and the psychological element to his game will have changed without doubt from being brought up in an environment like that. How much? We'll never know. Had he been drafted to the Dees, would he be the competitive beast he is today? Would he be the player he is today? We won't know, but I doubt it. Culture is formed at a club. Bringing players into clubs with the right attitude traits will help form a clubs culture/environment along with a coach and a whole host of other people. But players with a competitive desire to win any and every contest and to chase and tackle come in all shapes and sizes. It's not about drafting bigger-bodied vs smaller- bodied. Especially at under 18 level. We see how many bodies change once these players have pre-season after pre-season. The Cale Morton/Lucas Cook/Jordan Gysberts are usually exceptions to the rule. But they were also players who clearly had frail minds, not fantastic competitive spirit and were brought up in the poorest club culture that has ever existed within the AFL. Triple Whammy.

Wanting to go hard at the opposition, to tackle, to hurt and to chase STARTS in your head. It's a psychological thing. Being physically bigger or stronger in the body will sometimes HELP your psychology. Being a smaller build or a player who's attributes are strongest outside of the contest does not equate to that particular player being 'soft'. Just like having the biggest body doesn't automatically make you the hardest bloke on the field. Culture is a seperate issue and word altogether and I think I'll leave it there.

The things he says just make me cringe. He's a seriously dumb bloke and it's getting on my nerves. Again, he could have held back on certain things in that interview, but no, he prefers to speak before he thinks. Please leave Frawley. If you haven't decided by now, then I have no faith that you'll help turn this club round. He's a passenger of the highest order. Give me the PP.

As I'm sure you know, the MFC are a 'special case' and I'd argue that out of all clubs, ours would still measure close to last when it comes to leadership across the board. I'm talking about players who can drive standards like Daniel Cross. Jones is the only player I can think of who has come through unaffected by our deplorable past 8 years or so. Nobody else on our list has demands as much of themselves and of others. Which is what leaders must do. So with that in mind we've drafted Cross and Vince. Dawes as well. Malceski would be a great get providing he stays fit for the rest of the year.. Obviously he's a great player and has a beautiful kick which would help our backline emensely as we have next to nobody with great skills playing back there. But more importantly, he's one of Sydney's leaders and experienced players and having him for any young player at our club would be hugely positive and inspiring. We don't have these players and we need them. Not all of them. Obviously ones that are still performing and who are injury free etc. For the posters talking about his knee injuries, do you have any idea how long ago he did his knee? Years. We'll be getting 1 or 2 more players like this for next year. I have no doubt about it.

That's exactly it. There's no doubt we've made some shocking decisions at the draft table in recent times, but pur major issue has been the lack of experienced, strong, inspiring, standard driving leaders to bring a young group of players through... Even the doggies have Boyd, Murphy, Cooney, Griffen, (Cross until last year)... We have Cross for one year and I ask anyone to go and have a chat to Dom Tyson and Jack Viney and ask how much of an influence Cross has been for them... And that's after one pre season. The doggies have four of them. It's no wonder their young mids are responding and playing terrific footy. Look at their leaders. We still need to bring in the right players from other clubs. Not like Neeld did. Not a scatter-gun 'I'll pick up any delisted Free Agent' approach. But we need to bring in a couple more players who will drive this club forward and for our young kids to learn from. Frawley, Dunn, Garland, Grimes, Jamar etc are products of shocking environments at the MFC and have suffered hugely because of it. We've still got a way to go. No matter what kids we pick up from the draft, we still need to adress our lack of experienced leaders at this club.

Nat Fyfe and Tom Lonergan skinny class? I'm sorry DL but building a hard culture has got nothing to do with drafting bigger bodied players...

In conclusion, we have nowhere near enough AFL quality players on our list. Whether that's from drafting, development, leadership, extraterrestrial invasion of our list etc. Thats irrelevant. It's plain to see from the examples of other lists that people have provided, we just don't have enough quality not depth. And as you say RP, the ceiling for improvement is only so high when you adopt such a poor list. Another big injection at the end of the year will see us climb steadily. We've seen players respond and adhere to the Roos mantra. Get quality in and watch us grow.

Hawthorn seemed to find a bunch of them, not all high draft picks.

Disagree from what I've seen. Average at best.. Any players we pick up in the draft or trading period this year must be sound decision makers and great kicks of the footy. It's the number one priority in my eyes. It's got to be the theme this year. How hard is it to take a leaf out of the way the hawks drafted.. Elite disposal, contested ball winning and competitive. Make it happen.

Our ball movement and decision making is the number one thing that kills us and that's plain obvious from looking at either a Melbourne game or key stats from our games. It's not anything else. I've pointed out in previous posts that we've either matched it or come close to matching it when it comes to contested ball winning, (bar a couple of horrors). Our turnovers, slow decision making, poor skill execution and players not willing to hit up targets for fear of missing or making a mistake is what has killed us most this year. It's glaringly obvious. I don't know how posters are still going on about being beaten at the contest. It's the number one area we've improved most in this year and we are matching it with teams. It's simple. We no longer have trouble winning the ball. We have few problems over-possessing the ball with dinky sideways kicks in our backhalf, (which are mostly pointless possessions). But we have major problems holding onto the ball and trying to move it forward with purpose and potency. It's almost non-existent.

Well done to both boys. They both deserve the extension and whilst at different stages of maturity, there's a common theme here which both players speak about during their interview. Their desire to improve. Barry has come a long way in my view. Melbourne supporters haven't been used to young kids being held back and developed through the reaerves for a long time and Barry is one. Showed great energy and work rate against the dogs. He's learning defensive structures. It will all help. Tommy Mac has come a very long way too and obviously is a big contributor for us. Great to hear him talk about his self belief. Once we get some half back flankers who can use the ball, we won't have to worry about Tommy kicking it so much. (Altnough it still needs some serious work). Great news for the MFC.

Don't be be fooled.North have Harvey, Dal Santo, Swallow, Cunnington, Zeibomb etc all players opposition teams would target ahead of Greenwood. He is having a good year thanks to these guys, but I honestly don't rate him too highly. And I certainly wouldn't be offering 3 mill to him for 5 years. When Roos says our midfield lacks class etc, he is talking about genuine A grade mids who can determine the results of matches. Not topping up on B grade mids who are made to look a lot better than they are due to the players around them.