stevethemanjordan

Speed of ball use > speed of foot You seem to have an obsession with foot speed. Ash is fast, but like Frost has a tendency to blindly bomb away or miskick because of how quickly he is travelling. Look at Hawthorn and Richmond's lists as templates during flag years. Richmond play an incredibly intense and quick surge game that requires an extremely high level of execution of disposal. If they don't have that, it breaks down. Hawthorn drafted and traded for elite ball users and demolished opposition sides because they could completely dictate the speed of games. We were one of the poorest skilled sides and are one of the poorest skilled sides. It is ball use and footy IQ that we are in desperate need of. It runs from ball use coming from defence through to first disposal out of a contest in the middle, through to delivery inside 50. We look slow because we are slow in the way we use the ball and make decisions.

Going out on a limb there binman!

So that you have a better understanding of what an "interrupted pre-season" looks like @Satyriconhome : “The midfield basically couldn’t do any competitive work. Even 10 years ago, you could condition AFL players with 100s and 50s and 200s (sprints). “Now the game is ballistic and change of direction and it’s highly fatiguing. “We weren’t equipped for it. We couldn’t do the work that those midfielders needed and the physical contact, they couldn’t do that. Then a tough draw and then a heap more injuries.”

Gysberts was taken earlier than expected and whilst poor development and environment didn't help his cause, I never rated him. Even after those first two games. Posters that go on about disposal numbers are in the same category as those who say "we need to keep Sam Frost because of his speed". Constable is in a similar boat to Gysberts in that he has very little hurt factor to his possessions. He is the last kind of player we need on our list. Brayshaw was a number 3 pick and finds it hard to hit targets at the best of times. Charlie is a poor man's Brayshaw. We need dynamic, ballistic and smart players who use every who treat every possession they get as though it's worth gold.

Owes us more than any other player on the list. I expect him to get to AA level form next year. He's a proud man. We'll be a totally different side if Lever and May play 22 games together.

Frost gives away goals and turns the ball over just as often as he makes exciting runs. He is also renowned for making mind bogglingly stupid decisions. He is a Grand Final nightmare. The way some supporters are going on about losing him is simply over the top. Clearly the MFC don't value him anywhere close to what some supporters do. "He's our only quick player". That's not a reason to keep a player. There is zero evaluation involved in a sentence like that. A five year old could make a comment like that. If Frost nets us a second round pick that we ontrade to Freo for Langdon then we already win. The possibilities we'll have to trade up the draft then will be many. Also, how had Frawley gone since joining the Hawks? Clarkson certainly turned him into a star didn't he..

Cryptic clue?

Agree.

Do you mean that some confused and cooked Hawthorn supporter rang in to suggest that the Hawks should go after Anderson? As others have stated, the reason GC were given pick two as part of a package was so they can secure both Rowell and Anderson together. They're best mates. And the Gold Coast need everything working in their favour to keep their young talent together.

He's the [censored]. Just think of all the smart users. He's not a laser foot, just knows where to put it.

I was joking really. Dont know enough about thus years current crop to make a comment. But from what I've read and seen, I'd be happy with Serong at pick 3 if we hold on to it. Has all the attributes we need for a small high pressure forward who can also run through the midfield.

Caleb Serong by a country mile if we hold on to pick three, (which I hope we do). He's an extremely well rounded player who is exactly what we need in our forward half.

Fair enough. I certainly find it difficult to remain patient with the club.

Man. All of those lines I've bolded just contradict one another. You say "it's at a cost to clubs like ours" and follow it up with "I agree that it's up to the MFC to get it right" and finish with "I still maintain that people have a right to be [censored] off about it". The AFL are doing what they were always going to do if this happened to one of the expansion teams this early in the piece. It has zero effect on us. You know why? We don't need the AFL to screw us, we consistently do it to ourselves.

It makes complete sense for the long-term success and future of these types of sides. The AFL is an extremely unique sport and we're still trying to grow the game nationally. Major sporting codes in the states are universally loved sports. We've still got areas in our own country where the interest in AFL is about as much as it is in a foreign country. No other competition would need to hand out as much because the foundation would be there. Port Adelaide are a great example. A club with a rich history who became a new AFL team. Gold Coast and GWS are being built from scratch.

Clubs and therefore the competition will never be 'even'. But hopefully one day they'll be more 'even' and certain clubs will need less 'assistance'. Gold Coast and GWS are at a huge disadvantage compared to established teams who have a secure supporter base and foundation. If they fail early on, they'll get assistance. They can't and shouldn't be treated the same way as established clubs because the whole experiment would fail.

Here's something that should be on the minds of Melbourne supporters instead of this Gold Coast package fluff. How about some energy and attention goes toward the pending decisions that will be made around trade period time? I'm far more concerned to hear that both Papley and Martin have nominated Carlton as their club of choice whilst also potentially getting Betts back. Now without wanting to jump the worry gun just yet, I find it alarming and fascinating that our name wasn't linked to either player. Whilst the Elliott offer is promising, I'm praying that we haven't gone all eggs in one basket with him and there's some transparency around us and Tom Papley. For instance, if he didn't want to come then what was the reason? Again, it will reflect extremely poorly on us if it's because of the season we had and it should be a reminder to those who continually excuse this as "just a blip year". The talk of our lack of outside speed is nothing but a big furphy in my opinion. We had the same list last year and at times we looked absolutely ballistic with our forward movement. It'll come down to having a fit and firing midfield with some players who need to lift their decision making game. In case people haven't noticed, we averaged a huge number of inside 50's this year which means we need to start converting those into shots at goal. Papley would have been absolutely perfect as that high pressure half-forward and Jack Martin turns opportunities to score into scores. If Elliot signs, I'll be over the moon. If he doesn't, I'll be wanting answers in regards to game changing players like Martin and Papley and why we didn't pursue them. At the moment, Carlton are going to leapfrog us and they won't be turning back once they get on a role. Let that sink in for a minute.

Why is it so hard to decipher between a well established club like us vs an eight year old club plonked in the middle of a rugby infested state? I don't care how poor we are. We have supporters. We have 50,000 + members. We're 150 + years old. Gold Coast are a new team trying to establish itself in a new area. Nobody has a right to be [censored] off. If things went to plan this year, the draft compromises wouldn't have troubled us and nobody would be saying boo. Do you think Richmond GAF about what's just transpired? Let's worry about our own backyard.

Well I'm not entirely sure who you're alluding to. I know over the journey I have been extremely critical of list management and recruitment decisions. Maybe supporters can vote me in to a recruiting role or something, I don't know?

It's hard not to when things don't go to plan, is it not? I mean, clearly in an ideal world the Gold Coast would be challenging just like GWS right now. But [censored] happens. There were failings at board level through to coaching and then the player group fell apart as a ripple effect. And the people holding those positions were absolutely held to account. They were sacked! I'm not sure why everyone just assumes that all was going to be completely rosey when introducing two new teams. How in the world do some Melbourne supporters have so much patience for their own club's ineptitude, willing to defend it to the line yet will crack the sads with a click of the fingers when the AFL have to help an expansion club eight years into its inception. Trying to grow a game, introduce two new AFL teams into non-AFL supporting environments means there'll be inconsistency in rules, give outs and policy. It's just the way it goes, I don't understand what people expect?

If stating that "we have nobody but ourselves to blame for where were are now" is sticking the boots in then hip-hop hurray. I'm sorry to offend by stating facts.

Christ Melbourne supporters are embarrassing.

Prime examples for players who were taken earlier than predicted? What about ones that were predicted to go where we took them, but amounted to nothing? I can give you a list of those if you like?

Get angry at your own club. Write a letter to them. Ask them to nail their picks at the draft this year and make some killer trades.

Getting dropped for a clutch final having played over 100 league games says a lot about ones body-of-work, how they've developed over that period and where they currently sit in the pecking order on a clubs list. He had two howlers after that. His body of work is a far more accurate assessment of his value compared to a single final a year ago where he played very well. The outlier is that final. He has had far many more games of average football than great football. If you still don't understand, I don't mind. Someone else can explain it to you.