Bay Riffin

interesting 'cherry picked' statistic. His 6 years prior to joining Melbourne he played 17-19 games. since he became established he hasn't missed big chunks of the season until last year. I think the fitness thing is a massive over reaction.

you don't rate Taylors record at top draft picks at Collingwood and Melbourne ?

and if we take Green and our chances at pick 8 or teen picks then everyone will scream we just added to our inside bull strength and not addressed weaknesses.

this. Competitiveness goes a loooong way. as they need to improve and adjust as they go. Calrksons speech for Lewis when he retired was telling. Lewis was valuable for the team as a competitor. He was the go to man as third man up at the ruck contest. then they changed the rule. He was execellent at impacting the contest slinding low into packs. then they changed the rule. Yet he found a way to be valuable and played 300 games. Was not quick, great reader of play, started as a poor kick too, but was very observant on the field and thought about the game. the ultimate competitor.

Howe who left the Dees as a more than capable kick, handpass and sensational mark ? he was ahead of Hunt when he walked in the door.

I effectively see him as a replacement for Tim Smith and Brown is better. and on output I put Smith ahead of Weideman. Hopefully that changes but round 1 I think Brown would be selected ahead of the Weid.

Heard the same thing. Same source said Petracca is working on his goal kicking. maybe we have the same source.

sounds like Dusty did. I expect him to win a brownlow, a premiership and attempt to stab someone with a chopstick.

people also forget Hogan missed a big chuck of last year, so not sure on that theory myself. having watched every game my honest opinion was TMac was playing very sore and restricted. and when he started to come good had genuinely lost some self belief. then he clicked against Carlton then was off injured again.

anybody got the rating at the end of 2018 ?

I see real potential with our forward line if TMac and Weid can regularly play and be fully fit. Melksham is an elite goal assist player and defensive forward, Petracca elite at ground ball gets. Add in Bailey Fristch and we just need a goal sneak to emerge.

did he say that when he kicked 50 goals, or just this year? when he's up and about he is hard to stop.

agreed would have to see some more pics.

indeed he looks surprisingly big. reminds me of when Frawley piled it on one pre-season then became an All Australian. lets hope its a sign, as half his problem is being pushed off too easily.

interesting if the AFL don't see that as draft tampering. within the rules but not at all what the draft is about.

So you don't rate McDonald, Weid, Melksham, Petrraca anymore ? I think SOS landed a couple of key forwards to work with but most disagree. Weitering has been up and down, Walsh looks like they finally were gifted a good number 1, Fisher decent, no-one rates SPS who has been disappointing, Stocker complete unknown at this stage. So really he got a couple of key forward from many first round picks and they still have holes in their midfield, wings, flanks and they have just a workmanlike backline with no flair, kicking ability and average pace. They look like an 8-10 win side to me (and yet to be proven) after 5 years of premium draft picks. I would could that a defnite FAIL.

100% agree. He was obsessed with GWS rejects and I can't remember one 'cheap' one coming good. its taken 5 years to get into a position over leaving the bottom 4. throwing darts at a dart board would have greater success.

I think we overrate second round draft picks. Spargo stands up easily at pick 29. looking at the last few years with a sample around that pick, who is better around pick 29 ? If he is better than half this lot, i'd suggest he was definitely worth it. 2015 Pick 28 Luke Partington West Coast Pick 29 Alex Morgan Essendon Pick 30 Mason Redman Essendon 2016 Pick 28 Patrick Lipinski Western Bulldogs Pick 29 Shai Bolton Richmond Pick 30 Sam McLarty Collingwood 2017 Pick 28 Sam Taylor Greater Western Sydney Pick 29 Charlie Spargo Melbourne Pick 30 Tom De Koning Carlton 2018 Pick 28 Xavier O'Neill West Coast Pick 29 Will Kelly Collingwood Pick 30 William Hamill Adelaide

I thought he was terrific early. Good kicking technique, plenty of pace, hard at it and got plenty of the ball. I thought he drifted out of the game moreso with that ‘connection’ problem we have. Plenty for the coaches to work with here now he can have a pre season with the AFL team. Can’t see why he can’t play a Puopolo role, probably in the midfield as well.

unless Frost can run up and place the ball in his teammates hands, he will have to kick or handball at some stage. Which often doesn't quite hit the target stifling momentum as they re-gather the footy, or just kicks a howler or two resulting in easy goals. Clarkson is slowly assembling a far less skilled disposal side, which makes it difficult to maintain possession. frost will have good runs of game for sure but even those will be peppered with atrocious mistakes. This is Frost. He does the difficult exceptionally well and the basics exceedingly poorly.

if this was the 80s. yes. but all forward have to clock up the Kms now.

He has more potential than Omac to me. but its still early days. his improvement is promising.

yes but there is massive massive pressure on clubs to improve for memberships, sponsorship and to move up the ladder. I have no doubt most clubs are impatient and for instance its much hard to prize a first rounder this year than next year from any club.

any insights who else we rate early on for pick 8 >

this superbly summed up what we don't do well and why I think Thomlinson will be valuable. He naturally takes up the spare ground and stops easy ball on the outside. a lot of winning is what happens off the ball and cutting off easy options, so the opposition has to take risks. Langdons pace and outside run will help as well.