Vogon Poetry

rjay I haven't read all of this but I read your first post and then this one and some of the replies so apologies in advance if I'm missing something. Some good number of years ago I was chatting with Craig Cameron about evaluating players. He related a story about Simon Black from way back in 1997. Simon as many will know went on to win a Brownlow and play in the 3 flags for the Lions. He was a magic player. Craig said that at the beginning of 1997 he loved Simon and thought he would be a champion. But as the year went on and he spoke to other people instead of looking at what he could do they started to talk of his shortcomings. He was slow, not a particularly good kick and so on it went. They picked him apart. In the end with all the negative talk Craig went off him and instead drafted Travis Johnstone (1) and Troy Longmuir (22) ahead of Black (31). Simon clearly wasn't a star at U18 level so was never in the hunt for our first pick and at 31 every other club saw his faults but he was right in the mix at pick 22. Craig reckoned it was one of the best lessons he learned. Never forget what players could do, be balanced when evaluating and recognise your gut instinct. Every player has weaknesses. IMO your opening post has reflected the CAC experience and you've focused too much on a players weaknesses rather than what they can do. Frost is a perfect example. He is fast, agile, has good hands, great closing speed, big and brave. That's not a bad skill set. He makes mistakes but they are not deal breakers. Frawley makes mistakes but won the Hawks the GF last year with his shut down job on Kennedy. Our advantage IMO is that we have so many young players playing and learning together. Much of our team will be the same in 6 to 8 years time as it is today. McDonald x 2, Hogan, Salem, Watts, Petracca, Viney, Brayshaw, Gawn, Tyson, Oliver, Stretch, Kent, Frost, Weideman and Hunt - that's 16 players - have a very realistic chance to be there over the journey. That's huge. In 3 or 4 years time they will be right in the window. All have their weaknesses but what you ignore, or perhaps haven't said, is the benefit of being together over the journey will be a massive advantage over other clubs with perhaps only GWS better positioned. There's not one dot of pessimism here. We are beautifully placed for the future, better than we could have hoped. And with Jason Taylor's track record on recruiting, McCartney on development and fast becoming a destination club what is there not to like? Remember the final product is much greater than the sum of the parts. People should realize this is a journey and although we didn't like yesterdays stopover this trips itinerary is pretty bloody good.

Cheap shot. You're better than that. For what it's worth I've been so wrong on so many occasions this year I just keep my thoughts to myself. It's saved me from being the laughing stock of Demonland!

I don't get the changes - but I haven't got them all year. I mostly been wrong.

I was quoting you saying "others". I was actually posting in support of your view. I agree it was ambiguous.

Are we sure he's eligible?

Amazing how fans can turn on their favourite player after a few games below his best. A young player in his second season playing the hardest position on the ground against the oppositions best defender, often drawing a second player, now becomes the target because the punters are disappointed. Yes, he's missed a few goals - go look at Gunston against us - yes he's still learning and yes his body language is not ideal but those close to him say it's his disappointment in himself, not his team mates, that this reflects. Look at the replay last week and the thumbs up to players who looked for him and he failed to mark. The kids a gun, the punters are sadly misguided and calls for his demotion laughable.

Disappointing that the game hasn't been put on the MFC site.

Carry had had a significantly better year than his Demonland votes indicate!

I bought in, I was wrong.

Pot, kettle, black.

Makes sense to me.

Yes, Dexter.

So help me here Angry. Collingwood have a better list and have won the same number of games as Richmond and yet the coach with lesser tools who has performed as well as those with better tools needs to go. That doesn't make sense to me. I agree Richmond's list is poor which makes Hardwicks performance over the last few years very good. I'd be looking at Gale, Richardson, the recruiters and development coaches myself.

I doubt we'd ask for anything.

I'm not sure you can have it both ways. You can't say he was awful when he missed and lucky when he picked well. We also got Howe in that draft and despite the obvious resentment towards him he has turned into a good quality AFL footballer for a mid 30's pick. And Scully is now a really good footballer but at pick 1 you'd expect that. Prendergast was too smart by half and butchered 5 early picks - Strauss, Blease, Cook, Tapscott and Gysberts. But he was involved in Jetta, Gawn, Viney, Watts and McDonald and whilst that is a very poor return for the opportunities he had getting Jetta, Gawn and McDonald with late picks is invaluable to us now (Viney was always coming an Watts at no.1 was a gimme). It also must be said that the players he picked received the worst development in the AFL but I accept his record is poor. Having said that I still think Gysberts in a good environment could have been very good. He had the skills and just needed someone to guide him through the mental part of the game. But that's another discussion - as is this one probably!

Poor boy.

Casey against a very strong wind.

$80,000 spent on the ground. Thank heavens.

Well as I prepare to sit down and watch another Casey game on TV I shudder to think what I'll see. Casey is an awful place for football. I'm expecting to see a windswept ground where skill execution will be next to impossible and a mud heap where we see 1960's conditions. The ground and location make proper football development very hard. In the last few months Casey has played in some awful conditions where talls are cruelled and mids reduced to stacks on the mill footy. We need to ensure the Casey ground is upgraded and pray for some windless days (actually I'd love to dump Casey and play at Punt Rd or the Collingwood training ground). The reality is that our Casey players don't play in conditions they'll face at AFL level and can't practice the skills they need to play at that level. Both Grimes and White suffered from that at Etihad IMO. Anyway I hope I'm wrong about the conditions we face today and have a healthy dose of egg on face but if not it's as frustrating as hell.

I think I might speak for the silent majority who just can't be bothered answering every negative comment about Tom (and Oscar) but I'll post here every now and again for balance. Tom is a terrific footballer. He is fantastic one on one, he is a great mark both contested and uncontested, he is a fantastic aerobic athlete and most of the time he is a good kick able to make good decisions. He saves many many more goals than he gives away. But he also makes mistakes (like all players) that the haters jump on at every opportunity claiming each and every mistake cost us the game. It's rot. If Tom McDonald wasn't in our team we would be noticeably worse. He's being chased by multiple teams who are prepared to pay high dollars for him because they know that at his age you can build a backline around him for 8 to 10 years. He is in the top bracket of tall defenders in the AFL. I'll be bitterly disappointed if Tom leaves. He's a vital part of our future and that many can't see that surprises me. The concept of trading Tom for Tom Mitchell is mind numbing. A key position back who you can build your team around for a 3rd or 4th string mid who's disposal is poor and has been relegated to tagger on multiple occasions. Please stay Tom, you're a vital part of a very talented young group and to achieve what we all want you're required.

1. Jones 2. Gawn 3. Tyson 4. Viney 5. Stretch 6. Watts Watts and Stretch get in because every time they get the ball we get another possession. The rest are self explanatory. I'm surprised by the love for Kent. Great last half but he touched it 4 times in the first half and in addition tried to mark a ball in the square that was going through. If he'd reversed his half's he wouldn't have got much recognition. We desperately need him to get some consistency through games because he adds so much when he's on. He never inspires confidence with the ball and misses what many get. To me he's a very frustrating player.

I blame Misson.

Sometimes I really like your posts and your perspective on footy. Then then other times, like this, I don't. I'm not a Dawes fan mainly because of his inconsistency but he is capable of good key position forward play on occasions. I reckon the FD know more than us and would have played Dunn forward if there was merit in it. He played forward for the second half against Saints first time around and hardly touched it. He was "hidden" there because he couldn't play the new zoning defence. Onward and upward. Let's hope Hulett and Weed progress quickly over the preseason.

Great news. ProDee can keep his avatar for another three years!

Saty you are old enough and wise enough to know that no amount of debate will change the view of some on here regardless of merit. Let it go would be my advice which of course you can take or leave.