Bay Riffin

Lets get serious for a minute. he would be faster and a better clearance player than everyone on our list. he plays the ducking technique perfectly mind you, but is extremely evasive and he is only 27 by the way. Also been All Australian. Carlton would be asking for a top 10 pick at least and rightly so. tell me at this point in time who is better on our list ? certainly no midfielder is. you guys are dreaming to think we wouldn't look at him for a high pick.

not beating St Kilda since 2006 is the most embarrassing. would love to own Hawthorn sometime in my lifetime. they've owned us it seems forever since the 80s.

Who in Hawthorns backline could sledge Clark for leaving? Frawley, Gibson, Lake?

So your rating the Mitch Clark comeback a success after his one game ?

Defenders have flourished under Roos. So far we have had Dunn and Jetta in career best form and hopefully now McDonald will lift himself into that really reliable backman as well. that's why im keen to see how Frost goes down back under Roos as he has all the tools for a key back. will be fascinated to see how McDonald goes on Cameron if Roos decides on that match up. he has the athleticism but des he have the guile?

I rate Yarran THE softest player in the league. The amount of times he turns to water in embarrassing. yes he is skilful but he is part of the problem at carlton. I remember Malthouse bagging him whilst commentating when he was having a bad day and came off suddenly limping. he wasn't a fan of that. im happy to throw our energies into someone with more heart.

Actually the cross free kick was there. He slid and took out his opponents legs. That's clear cut now. The next decision if you watch viney just grabs his taller opponent around the waist and manhandles him whilst attempting the mark. It had to be given. What was 50/50 was the advantage which looked a bit generous as everyone stopped.

Grimes to me is made to be a run with midfielder similair to vineys role on Saturday. Was a midfielder as a junior, tough as teak good tackler and good overhead and willing to sacrifice his game. Dunn was in a similair position and think roos will be supporting and encouraging him. But to me he needs the change in role.

I bet he wont. he has had longer than most to prove, and from the first time I saw him at training to now thought he would never make it. he just doesn't have the football ability. blistering pace means nothing if you cant get the pill.

Yes it seems like that. Others like Toumpas get lampooned ion here but after easily 5 or 6 years im yet to see anything in Fitzy. the only times he looked ok was without an opponent running up the wing. he is a great athlete but that matters for zilch at AFL level if you cant do the basics well. I though his one position would be relief ruck, forward but he is far off being that sort of player. could he be a pure defender? possibly but his kicking is average so that will hurt us as well. his days are surely numbered.

I can only go on gut feel but In the nab cup game he played last year he looked good. Nice kicking style like a jolly or cox and showed a bit as a skinny kid. When roos leaves Goodwin will hopefully have a much stronger version who will start pressing for games and keep the pressure on gawn etc.

Big tick for first half of season but for a team with so much to prove we ended without a whimper. In fact we were as bad as ever . I'm still to be convince we have the hunger to go up the ladder.

Hit the nail on the head. Its not just 'skills' that is causing our problems. we need more competitive beasts out there. We have some youngsters coming through, but the older players like Garland, Dunn etc should never accept that.

Strawbs had a lot more grunt than spencer. He should be using that big frame but is about as effective as watts one on one.

Toumpas is flying. Garland isn't.

wasn't he flying on the track last pre-season ?

That's why he made the list. he will get so many 'around the necks' when tackled he will become a clearance king.

I see two with strong legs, the other three need development.

I thought he looked a more natural midfielder. He is excellent at the cut off intercept mark at half back but there seems less of that now with the modern game than when he started. Surely he would be a valuable hard run with tagger type. I wanna see him in the middle getting clearances where disposal efficiency is a little less important, but being tough and hard is.

Yeah I noticed Hawthorn looked a lot trimmer this year. guys like roughhead had trimmed down quite a bit. goes against the supposed mantra of big bodied players to play the more contested style. Maybe we are looking to spread more. a lot of the time we lose the clearances but not because we are second to the ball. we usually get stripped of it as we try and move it out of congestion but have no spread.

what a lazy underwhelming article article, just grab some stats and do nothing with them. his one conclusion that Roos legacy will be decided in 2015 is also myopic. Roos could gradually improve the team in 2015 then again in 2016. why was 2015 the key evaluator?

So did we under Bailey (Tapscott, Strauss,Trengove etc). takes more than that.

He may have answered Yes. what do you do then ?

Makes sense. He and Petrecca appear the two standout midfielders, but Brayshaw has more exposed form as a pure midfielder. he looks a safe bet, but his pace has improved so much he looks like he could be a real weapon. wouldn't be surprised if Roos rated him number 1. so why not the saints. you do wonder why the saints would still be deliberating. all the football, draft camps and interviews surely are done.

Yeah good post. We need competitive beasts. JKH is a good example of that. Watts, Morton, Cook etc lacked it big time. Give me a competitor like Jack Frost (and hopefully his brother is the same). Langford at the hawks shows competitiveness can outlast other skilful attributes. Jetta for us has shown that. he competes. he loves the clinches !! We have to rely on our new recruiters who can pick players with ability and heart. underline heart.