Bay Riffin

Give dunn the task on Ablett and tell him to watch the Crowley tapes. Then we should lose by less than 10 goals.

Don't know how people couldn't see the potential in Frawley. He has pace to burn, has great endeavor and is a good kick despite being awkward to look at. Did people expect him at 18, 19 years of age to develop into a permanent key back, and if not, trade him ? He is becoming more consistent and looks a good tough footballer too.

Well almost, I would say trading the unnaccountable softer Johnstone for pick 14 and using it on a young leader in Jack Grimes would be the Hawthorn approach. That type of recruiting makes sense.

very interesting thoughts. Sewell was my example by the way, but i strongly believe that is what they have done. of course it is a weigh up, and skill has to be dominant factor, but let's use our own Bartram as an example. He looks like a coaches favourite, like Godfrey was for Daniher. How long do you persist with a guy whos skills are not a pass mark at AFL level? I personally would look to a Dunn as a 'coachable' type and who can at least kick the ball. forget about Brereton the personality who does admittedly over-analyse everything, but lets concentrate on this approach for a minute. I think it has huge merit, as so many teams have the flashy types who dont always deliver the basics. Look at Port tonight for instance. Who would you keep at Melbourne who will bleed red and blue for us ? I look at our young talent and see big potential. some will be flashy but some will be more consistent. Who do you think will be the future of our club, the heart and soul? I offer Frawley and Grimes as potential players, both skilled and 100% committed to sacrifice their game.

I was listening to Dermot Brereton recently and he mentioned something very interesting about the hawthorn list when Clarkson first came on board. He stated they were looking to retain those players who were most willing to sacrifice their game for the Hawthorn football club. Not necessarily the best players. That meant they probably didn't always retain what was perceived as the 'best' or most skillful players in the squad. Now when you look at blokes like Sewell and Osborne in their midfield as an example you can see they won a premiership without too many Ablett types. This even has allowed them to play Hodge their most talented midfielder in their weakest area. I thought it was interesting and will be interesting if Bailey has the same approach. e.g if you had to cull some players and we will with more draft picks, would you rather keep a Bartram or a Sylvia? keep a Dunn or a Newton? Ideally you want both great talent and 100% team committment but in the abscence of both (and all teams face this) which do you go for? Interesting thought, I thought !!

winning 5 or 6 games would be ludicrous for us. You are suggesting to me we have enough young talent coming through to develop for a premiership push. Mate, lets join the real world. We need a forward line, but most of all we need another 1 or 2 midfielders who are at least A grade and basically we would like an elite player. Top players do not grow on trees and this is our chance to grab a couple of elite youngsters.

McDonald MAY retire year after next in 2011. Where would you put Petterd and who would you replace ?

you can see with 2 top picks we can become a very very good side.

Was a game breaker for us early on in the second quarter today. dished off a few as well. good game despite some late mistakes.

Yes

so can anyone enlighten us on Butcher? I can only see one youtube highlights on him and that contains very little to base a decision on.

Hawthorn 2008 - Franklin and Roughead Geelong 2007 - Mooney and Nathan Ablett West Coast 2006 - Lynch and Ashley Hansen like him or not Lynch kicked 60 plus goals that year and Hansen was PIVOTAL to their year. Have no doubt Ablett would have delivered the cats a premiership in 2008. Brisbane - Brown and Lynch Come to think of it we really will need another tall forward.

Hmmmm..nice to have both. Remember Watts plays a more Hird like role of lead up forward and can play up the ground when his opponent is beating him like Hurley last year. he will play midfield from time to time which will be an enormous asset. We will need a big bloke down there as a permanent forward. our midfield is not our biggest weakness, our forward line is. Don't overestimate blokes like Miller. We do require a gun in the midfield but we have some talent to come through...Grimes, Morton, Blease, Buckley to add some class and pace. Jones is playing quite well at present as well.

Agree with that...best available. We will know doubt get a late starter or two like Watts to throw into the mix. Sounds like there will be a midfielder or two of real class if Scully and Lucas are the benchmarks already. Scully has had two good games looking at the stats so far and was up there already last year as an underage 16 year old. He does look the goods. Melbourne would be happy with the best midfielder (or two) in the draft. I really do think we need to create at least one gun midfielder, then our other midfield stocks will star to rise. I also agree we don't need to obsess about a key forward if they are not that great. Thats the stance we took this year to recruit skillful runners after Watts. Why go tall for the sake of it? Who knows a gun ruckman may demand selection as well. I wouldn't mind a Vickery type going forward. Richmond have done very well there. like it or not, the TAC champs will be extremely important to our future given our best draft picks may actually be this year.

sorry copy and pasted that. it's fixed now. You can throw in blease but who for...Davey? the captain ? possibly Strauss. I just chose to leave him out as he will possibly the last in the queue of this years draftees in terms of development.

oh left out Davey,Aussie, Blease...and Buckley...might create decent depth there. Blease mainly will be the least developed higher draft pick by the looks of things. Buckley well I don't think he is quite there. Davey in hindsight should be in, probably for Moloney. Aussie for Jurrah is a fair call as well. guys like Bell may end up trade bait, if we feel these high draft picks will make it. The thing I like about this line up is PACE and foot skills !! Each line has genuine pace with the last line being the fastest IMO: each line also has someone you could argue as an A Grade kick. revised team is Frawley Martin Garland Grimes Rivers Bennell Morton Jones Davey Green Watts Robertson/Jurrah Maric Butcher Aussie Spencer Mclean Scully i/c Bruce Warnock Moloney McDonald emergency - Strauss Buckley Jamar Warnock

This would be our possible team as I see it this time next year... Frawley Martin Garland Grimes Warnock Rivers Morton Jones Bennel Green Watts Robertson Maric Butcher Jurrah Spencer Mclean Scully i/c Bruce Strauss Moloney McDonald emergency - Sylvia Dunn Jamar You can chop and change if you like. You might prefer two ruckmen but we would have tall timber forward and back to help out Spencer. What do people think?

If a player plays two bad games, he is not worth mentioning apparently. The bloke was second in the bluey last year after playing 12 games, but that stands for nothing in some peoples minds. Support on this forum is so fickle. Mclean is one of the few who tries his guts out and genuinely competes at AFL level. My god some supporters are fickle. He is not Judd but don't bag him for two games that were poor.

Someone please explain to me how our game plan differs from last. I see the same handballing out of the backline etc as last year, but our execution is vastly improved.

Yes that was the past and that doesn't mean the same for the future. this last draft especially has higher expectations, and I think we have more highly skilled players coming through. Only time will tell but already Grimes looks the goods and Maric shows promise. Hard to comment yet on the most recent draft picks though. I think this era shows more excitement though.

I am amazed at the different views from watching the same game. someone even bagged Frawley - did he watch the game? POSITIVES: - Backline - Cheney might win the rising star nomination in a hotly contested first round of new players. did everything right all day. Is a better kick than I thought. Frawley was BOG at half time for mine. great pace, contested well, was excellent thinking his way through the clinches as well. Suprised more have not mentioned him. Liked Bennells disposal when he was on the ground. Jettas knows how to play, where to run to, loved his endeavour, but little disappointed in his last couple of kicks in the forward line. Midfield was better, especially with contested footy and tackling. A function of most being fit and up and running for mine. Warnock and Bartram beating good opponents. NEGATIVES: - Forward line has no-one to really worry the opposition. - playing for full 4 quarters.

Won't be a problem if it is ONE month. But invariably when they say out for a month, it ends up being longer. I will be happy if it ends up being a month. we will hardly notice it in the long term. stress fractures doesn't sound minor though.

Hey we will be playing heaps of young players this year for you to look at. Class of 2006 and 2007 can be put on show now. looking forward to seeing Grimes Petterd and Spencer play. Lets not forget most of our back line is very young, so there are a lot of positions up for grabs. Anyone know when Maric will be back? People want to see Struss and Blease play, but remember he was around the same pick (2nd round) last year. With VCE over this is his turn to show us what he can do and attempt to play regular senior footy.

Sylvia looks the same as last year, so expect more of the same. He did turn it over today - I was happy with his fitness but disappointed in a few things. e.g I was surprised running off half back early and running to his left, he kicked with his right when he had to kick with his left in that situation. It was very awkward, looked like park footy and it caused a turnover. You would think a pick 3 draft choice after 5 years could kick on his left going 3/4 pace. I wonder if we do those extra things in professionalism. Having said that, the skills today overall were far advanced of this time last year. nothing exceptional but we didn't turn it over too often and players appeared confident to move it by foot.

Can someone who was there tell us how brock, maloney and bell went please? Brock was excellent in spurts, Moloney is clearly underdone and Bell looks about the same as last year and did ok forward late in the last quarter. Dunn was very good today.