FlashInThePan

The problem is that 'destination club' can mean whatever you want it to mean. Players have been coming to MFC for quite some time, Clarke, Dawes, Tyson, Lamumba, Melksham, Bugg, Kennedy. Marchbank is no better or worse than those. Does that make us a destination club? I don't know. My sense, when Roos was using that phrase, was that being a destination club meant removing the club reputation as an impediment to trade and turning it into a benefit. So that 'All other things being equal' a player would prefer to be at MFC than another club. Since we in the public never REALLY know the details of any given deal, we will only ever be able to evaluate it as a general feel over some period of time. No doubt we look better from the outside now than we did 3 years ago. If we are to believe what we are told, and I have no reason not to, the club is stable, profitable, the players are happy and engaged, the list is solid, young and improving. All that remains is a period of sustained success. I am betting that is coming. We must be a more desirable destination than we were 3 years ago, that is a good start.

If he is at $800k Port would clearly have to pay some of his salary to offload him now. Unfortunately we don't have the picks this year to make a deal attractive to them, regardless of what we thought of him or what his eventual salary would be with us. I smell a deal with GCS in the air, they have picks to burn.

Really? This is a bit alarmist. Plenty of teams have dominated without having ultra quick mids, Hawthorn was one of them for quite some time as was Geelong. Good contested play and pin point passing will make other teams do the running, and make a team look quick. None of those you've mentioned are plodders, just not ultra quick and we do have Hunt and Garlett as well as both Frost and Watts who are pretty fast when they get on their bikes. I don't think speed is the big deficiency that is holding us back. We have been shown up against more mature, experienced, big bodied midfields. I actually think the future looks vey bright for this list. Another pre-season into Hogan, Hunt, OMac, Wiedeman, Clary, Brayshaw and Patracca will make a huge difference, both to their ability to stay over the ball and contest as well as their composure and disposal. Yeah, some extra speed might be nice but I think the recruiting over the past couple of years has brought in something better than speed: raw ability mixed with fighting spirit.