stevethemanjordan

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.

I want Watts traded for the right player or draft pick. I had faith at one point that he would be able to change his mentality but I believe he doesn't want to for this club. The football club has contributed to his lack of confidence and performance but a lot of it is an ingrained style of play. Lazy, soft but skilled. If I think about the MFC and the attributes I want players to have and the type of players I want to see run through the banner, Watts is not one. He has said he doesn't know if he wants to play for the club. That's enough for me to want to get a decent trade going and forget about player attachment. It's time to move on as a club.

It sounded like a snide remark to me RP. List management obviously needs to be well thought out. I will give you an example of what I'm trying to say. If we have the opportunity to free up some cash and bring in a mentality shifter of some sort then I would encourage players like Frawley and Sylvia to go it as I think neither of them offer anything in terms of strong leadership and inspiration to our younger brigade. They are cancerous and neither of them care. We need to start doing these things to move our club along.

I don't wish to engage in a battle of ego's with you. ("yes, it was quite something") It's not about a view. It's about getting those perpetrators out and bringing in well developed, smart and strong minded players from other clubs like we've done with Clarke and Dawes as well as continue to draft and nurture the right players. I've never said everyone goes in one year. I've said the sooner they go, the better and that's the truth if we get the right players for them.

Just like Nic Nat wouldn't be the player he is now if he was with us, the same can be said for Ollie Wines if he were at Melbourne this year. When your team is getting smashed week in/week out, it doesn't matter what individual you have in your side. There is too much talk of individual performance and neglect of the root causes and complexity of issues at our club. It's plain and simple to me. We need to be absolutely ruthless as a club and strip the list bare. This is about re-conditioning the entire club and moving on players that some will say are too valuable to get rid of. It's about saving this [censored] club. If we need to trade Frawley or any other high profile player at our club for well developed players and leaders who can change this [censored] place then so be it. The lack of thinking ability and level of consciousness of players on our list is astounding and I'm going to outline some of the symptoms shown because of this: Absolutely no ability to execute any sort of game plan. Terrible decisions and awareness. No want or desire to lead. Happy to cruise through AFL football, without too much thought process and individual analysis of what it means to be elite. The following players are like a virus to our club. Frawley Sylvia Garland Dunn Davey Jamar All of these players are sick. They are asleep. They have a conditioned mentality which we see on-field weekly. They are all shot. The sooner we move them on, the better for our club. Watch their [censored] body language onfield. Garland is the only one who gets a pass this year but that's because he is the only one with the capacity to think. The others are sheep. Frawley is a physical monster, but that's it. He has a pea brain which tranlates to his body language onfield and we see it every week. He doesn't think about anything other than himself and his opponent or what he is going to do that night for dinner.. The same can be said for the rest on that list. They are sick. They are complete sheep. These players are supposed to be our leaders. I want them gone. Then there's our many number of players that don't have the required skill level to be playing AFL. This can be directly pointed to our terrible drafting over the past few years. Players in this category who are not AFL standard are the following: McKenzie Tynan Nicholson Spencer Davis Evans Bail Jetta Macdonald None of these players would be starting 22 at other clubs. The mature age recruits brought in by Neeld to inspire culture change and a mentality change are as follows: Dawes Clarke Byrnes Rodan Gillies Pederson Sellar You could hardly say that list have been influential in the transformation of our mentality and playing culture. Dawes and Clarke are the only two valuable players in terms of on and off-field performance. The rest need to go. Then you have the poor young brigade of talented players who have been on the list for a while now and these poor kids are slowly getting sick as well. Look at the development rate of some of these kids. They have had no real leaders (bar Jones) to look to and two of them are our captains, they have no inspiration and their confidence was shot from day one due to a number of factors and because the team is flogged most weeks. Here they are: Watts Trengove Blease Strauss McDonald Grimes Tapscott Gawn Fitzy Howe These players are a part of our future and we need them to be able to push past this Virus at our club just as Jones has. They are sinking however, and it's a worrying sign. Then we have the untried young brigade who were either drafted last year or have been slowly developing for Casey. Viney Toumpas Hogan Barry Kent Taggart Matt Jones Terlich Clisby Stark We must absolutely nurture these players, manage and develop them in the right way for our club to move forward but for this to happen, we need to move on that first group of sick players who have no positive influence for our club or the development of these kids. Whilst some of these guys are considered mature-age players, it's still their first year within the AFL so I've slotted them in. I haven't included Magner or Couch as they are simply depth fillers and we have clearly seen enough to know that they aren't AFL standard either. Whilst this post is more or less a ramble, I felt the need to spit it all out. These are the issues of our list. It's a sad spot to be in but it is fixable. The more Clarkes' and Dawes' types we bring in and the more Daveys' and Jamar types we move on, the better. It's the only way the list can overcome this illness and before the latest crop of talented youngsters become affected as well. Please let next year be an absolute overhaul of these sick players who are slowly killing our once mighty club. Apologies for the long-winded rant. It's over.

How about we settle on the superstar status already. Lets hope his transition to AFL is a smooth one and he is developed well next year under some decent leaders and in a better environment than he's currently in. He looks to have the tools. Come on MFC. It's time to develop a star.