stevethemanjordan

What are peoples opinions on the disposal quality and decision making of Petracca vs Brayshaw? Hypothetically speaking, if we were given first access to pick either, I'd say they would key attributes in determining which player to pick. I've heard neither have elite disposal but from that limited footage someone posted, I didn't see the 'neat' disposal that people speak of with Brayshaw. Petracca on the other hand whilst not a Salem kick looked like he's got better decision making and awareness when it comes to disposing the ball by foot. Early days of course but one thing we got right last year was nailing two picks that have AFL standard kicking and decision making ability in Salem and JKH. Needs to be a theme for this draft too. We know how much our team lacks in skill execution and decision making.

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.

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...

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.

Sounds like the star mid we've been waiting to draft for how many years now?

So, can someone tell me how good this Petracca bloke is? (Regardless that the info is from demonland) Have we got some posters that have seen this guy play live? Are we talking the 'Oli Wines' of 2015? Looks like they've both got similar physical attributes. Similar height and both heavy boys. What's his kicking/vision/decision making like? Anything would be great.

He's hands off at this moment in time BB. We've got a big bodied guerrilla defender who may be leaving our club at seasons end and our list is hardly full of great one-on-one defenders so I think it's fair to say he's on the untouchables list for this season.. It may be a different case if our list was teaming with top end KPP backmen but T Mac has shown his worth as a standout close checking defender. As others have pointed out, if we had some elite rebound half back flankers with elite skills coming out of our backline, Tom would be made to look a lot better than he is as he'd be assigned to play to his strengths and not worry about being the rebound player himself. We all know about his decision making/kicking deficiencies.

So what was the point of pointing out his age?

Oh I deciphered it old mate. But I can't say I necessarily agree with it. Kicking ability and decision making are not things that can be EASILY changed once you reach AFL level. Tommy Mac defends admirably and has a real knack for spoiling and contesting well, but as I keep saying... Within the AFL, you need players that display a number of attributes at the elite level and tonight was yet further evidence that we are battlers of the highest order. Skill level and decision making change marginally with confidence and momentum. Not monumentally. We need to hit the draft hard and trade well again to get rid of the [censored] that is still on our list.

Cool fact.

Yes. It's called players being able to kick adequately at the level they're playing at. Hardly surprising. Only at the MFC. We have a team pretty much full of players who consistently miss targets and take way too long to move the ball forward.

Haha. Mate, you give everyone time. Not saying that McDonald should get the flick but jeez you have time for any individual who dons the jumper it seems. His kicking, slow decision making and brain fades are seriously concerning for a bloke playing at this level. That goes for most of our backling. Do people believe time will change these things? Roos has drilled into players the need to compete and none of us can question the majority of the team's 'efforts' at that. But holy [censored], we have some serious troubles with our lack of skill and decision making. Major concerns.

Hopefully the start of many more masterstroke decisions for drafts to come. (God knows we need em')

Christensen has a damn clean pair of mitts on him.. He's got unbelievable touch! We'll all see it differently but JKH's style and attributes resemble those of Christensen's in my eyes. Almost identical.

Each to their own. I definitely can't see it though.. Christensen was pretty much a full time midfielder before he got injured.

Stanton?! Really? Can't say I see that. I'd have to go with Christensen for Geelong. Very similar game style.

Tyson Viney Salem JKH New breed, under a new environment with new coaches and players like Cross and Jones to learn from. Throw in another highly talented midfielder or two next year from GWS and things start to look pretty exciting... Give me Sheil and O'Rourke. Happy days.

Were you just taking a guess at that list of players that you posted?Seriously, it really shows how little thought you put into your post. And I'd argue a few of the names you put in that list are extremely limited players and are in fact one of the very reasons why we are where we are as a club! So, quite the opposite of what you were saying.

JKH for us this year, but that's really only because of circumstance. We have no smart, agile or skilled small forwards. Byrnes is on his last legs and nobody else on our list plays that position as naturally. He'll get the most games out of our draftees. What excites me most is what Roos has already flagged. The need to develop and nurture our first year players properly. I'm really looking forward to watching Salem's progression and development this year at Casey with the pressure right off. Same goes for hunt and even Toumpas and Viney at stages this year. Looking forward to the day where our list is strong and stable enough for young players to have to wait and play consistently well before being given a game. I can't remember the last time we were in that position. There'll be more trading before that occurs though. We still need a talent top up on top of Vince and Tyson from this year.

With you 100%

Edited. I've been using that word in the wrong context for too long it seems.

Maybe. Maybe not. This [censored] is so deep though. Look at Viney for example. It's the environment he's been brought up in that has shaped and developed the attributes that have got him to this level. Watts almost has the complete opposite. Sublime skill and a smart footy head but has no physicality, hunger or work ethic. How does somebody re-condition a player like Watts? No coach or sports psychologist can work on such a thing if the subject is not willing to change, and that's the vibe I get from Watts. He doesn't want to change for us. Look at his level of performance. Look at his body language on field. Look at his chasing and tackling attempts. I don't want someone like that playing for the MFC. It makes me sick. Watts has got to understand that even if he is to play at another club, his level of performance is not magically going to change. It is completely determined by his output level and his desire to want to change this ingrained style of play. It's up to him to change.