Dr.D

for me, its his kicking. can you play a guy who cant kick straight up forward?

the losses against hawks, rich and collingwood were due to our midfielders inability to work both ways. gaff is the worst of that lot. At the end of the day his efforts last year were close to putting him in the wafl. he is much improved this year but i haven't noticed any changes defensively.

he has a rat tail. yikes!

lol. you clearly have no clue re: harden. he literally has compilation videos on his poor defence. proof on gaff? ask any west coast fan. they didnt think he was best 22 last year after some of his efforts. i also had him in my fantasy team so i watched him like a hawk and he was extremely poor defensively.

Because he is from there and decided to not sign a long contract last time. You'd be naive not to think that there is a risk of him leaving with todays free agency culture. Very naive.

mate, brownlow is a midfielders medal. He is an accumulator for one of the best teams in the league. just because you accumulate possessions offensively doesn't mean you are not a liability defensively. It's like getting James Harden to improve your defence, the guy is a spud defensively. And similar for Gaff, he is hopeless at the defensive stuff. Have you not seen much of him play? Geez, don't get sucked in by the numbers mate, look at his defensive work. Which is what we need.

A slow outside receiver that is poor defensively is not what we need. I don't care how many brownlow votes he gets or how much of the footy he gets, he is terrible defensively and that is definitely not what we need. you've seen us against teams like richmond and hawthorn etc that beat us on the spread. Gaff would make us worse in this aspect.

Once again, you're missing the point. Hogan decided NOT to sign a lengthy contract with us. It's his right. It will also be his right once he becomes a free agent to go wherever he chooses. It's definitely something worth considering if he is likely to go back to W.A.

I think people have missed the point with Hogan. I'm not saying trade him because he isn't good. I personally just feel that he will want a return to W.A. So I'm not sure why people are skimming over this quite possible fact. I'd rather get full value from him than to lose him to free agency. As for the guy that said maybe trading guys like Stretch/Kent etc. will get us the likes of Sam Walsh, a possible top 2 pick. LOL. Try pick 45 son. Also, packaging Dom Tyson with pick 31 would probably get us pick 20 or something around there. 2 averages doesn't equal good on the trade table. Otherwise I'd give up stretch, kent, tyson and pick 31 for buddy. Some people just don't understand how the draft works. Some Watts lovers were spewing when we gave him up for pick 31. Dreaming. He isn't playing regular senior football as I predicted and Fristch is a 200 gamer :)

At this stage our first pick is at pick 31 in a draft that is stacked with talent and suggested to be the best since 2001. Lady luck wasn't on our side with Lever doing his acl so trading our first rounder away this year for him has back fired. But I think Jason Taylor and Josh Mahoney will try and trade their way into the first round. I think we could package our pick 31 with our first rounder for next year to get a pick around pick 12. Alternatively, we get on the front foot and trade out players. Trading hogan out to freo or west coast would be something I would entertain. As i think he will go back anyway, so may as well cash in now. Freo have pick 6. So hogan to freo for pick 6 and their next season's first rounder sounds fair to me. I wouldn't like to trade Hunt, but goodwin doesn't rate him and he isn't getting a game. Hunt may even request a trade. He would net a 2nd round pick. These are the only ways I can imagine getting back into this years draft and mark my words, we will definitely attempt to.

cant see us playing finals. i actually think after what happened last season that it was a disgrace that supporters even mentioned finals, let alone top 4. it was laughable. i think we'll finish on 12 wins at the best which i don't think will be enough. norths win tonight hurts us a lot.

man i mentioned petracca months ago. why are demonlanders so late to the party with things?

im talking about now. he gets pushed off the ball far too easily. ben brown rag dolled him but most key forwards dont find it hard to outbody omac

sorry mate i disagree here. port are a good team. we played well tonight. sure it wasnt easy to score but what do people expect. its a top 4 team at their home ground. the noise of affirmation is real! id say a legitimate 4 goal difference.

oscar mcdonald has improved a lot but thank god the game isnt like the 90's where there was more 1 on 1s and not as much defensively because he'd be getting bags kicked on him each week

got plenty of the ball but had barely any influence on the game

i've made my point on Gaff before but a slow outside player that is poor defensively isnt what we need. was barely in their best 22 last season if we want to be honest about his form. tell me how in games against collingwood and hawthorn where we were exposed for leg speed that Gaff is going to help us

Why do you feel sad for players getting dropped? They still get paid hundreds of thousands to play and train. I don't feel too sorry for them. If it wasn't for melbourne having several coaches in jacks time then he would've been out the door 5 years ago but each coach wanted a chance to get something out of him. So whether he was pick 20 I don't think it would change anything. Are people here less critical of oscar mcdonald or harmes etc. because they were low picks? Nope. I don't care how many games he has played, he was gifted most of them and it was during a time when we were struggling. Each time he put on the red and blue jumper and didn't go hard at the contest, i took it personally. I'm a passionate dees supporter and when you see players play bruise free footy for years, that's a choice. And now we can enjoy the fruits of Bailey Fritsch and we can all learn a big lesson about being complacent. And of course it's the recruiters fault. It was quite a strong draft in the end with the likes of Sidebottom, Ziebell, Hurley, T.Lynch, Shuey, Sloane, Hanneberry, Zaharakis, Beams, Naitanui, Hill, Walters, etc.

I wasn't negative during the trade period. i was OVER THE MOON! i was pretty happy with pick 31 to be honest. It was only you guys like you that made it into a negative period saying Watts was going to make us pay and kick 50 goals etc. laughable. I think everyone needs to be reminded every now and then to call a spade and spade and not just like players because they are high picks and speak well in front of the media.

i think all of the watts lovers on this board need to fess up. There were hundreds of you. He has been soft as butter since he first came to the club and that's been his downfall. Not only did I say that Watts would be dropped at some point during his season with Port, I said that our recruiters would find a better player at pick 31 (Bailey Fritsch). Geez, how correct can one individual be and how deluded are the watts fans here. He is a fringe player at the very very best

i'm so tired of being 6 months ahead of you mob. I was shot down on this board for saying that petracca needed to improve on his speed and his foot skills to become a good afl footballer. so frickin tired

He's a gun. his work ethic is really high. I can't imagine that he'd come cheaply though.

What bothers me is he is a bit slow in mind when he has the ball and often gets caught holding the ball. People mentioning that he has no right foot I think are missing the point. Most left footers have no right to speak of. just look at buddy franklin.

I think it's time this guy starts getting some recognition. Recruiting managers are vital to the prospect of winning a flag so lets have a look at it. Keeping in mind that it's easier to get the right pick with higher picks but as we all know you can still get them wrong (Cale Morton, Watts, Tapscott, Strauss, Blease, Maric etc.). Since Jason Taylor joined Melbourne he got off to a rocky start with a bar fight on an overseas footy trip but since has done the following (along with some help of Josh Mahoney at the trade table): Brought in: Salem, Hunt, Tyson, Harmes, Garlett, Frost, Petracca, Brayshaw, Lewis, Hibberd, Neal-Bullen, Oscar Mcdonald, Melksham, Oliver, Hannan, Fritsch, Spargo and Joel Smith. Potential Misses: Kennedy-harris, Stretch, Weideman, Mitch King, Hullett, Dion Johnstone, Oscar baker. Here is his breakdown: 2013 AFL Draft: Traded Pick 2 (Josh Kelly) for Pick 9 and Dom Tyson. Pick 9: Salem Players before him: Kolodjashnij, Aish, Luke mcdonald, Scharenberg. Players after Salem who we could've taken: Cripps, Zac Jones, Acres, Matt Crouch, Zac Merrett, Rory Lobb, Nankervis, Barrass, Ben Brown, Fantasia, Sicily. Pick 40: Jay Kennedy Harris Seems to be a bust so far. I actually like him the most times I've seen him but for whatever reason he hasn't made the grade yet. Pick 57: Jayden Hunt Players after Hunt: No successful picks after Hunt. Rookie Draft: James Harmes Players available after Harmes: Charlie Cameron and Jake Kelly were the only good rookie selections in that years rookie draft. A lot of busts. Draft grading: B Salem, Hunt, Harmes and Tyson are all best 22 players with Hunt just out of form and Tyson always having divided supporters. Overall, I think it was a mistake to trade pick 2 but his choices of Hunt and Harmes brought his grading back up. 2014 AFL draft: Brought in Jeff Garlett for pick 61 and 79. Brought in Sam Frost and pick 40 and 53 for the loss of Pick 23 Pick 2: Christian Petracca Proving to be a gun. Needs to work on his kicking but his overhead marking and spark around the contest is invaluable. Thankfully Stkilda took Mccartin at 1. Pick 3: Angus Brayshaw Took a while to get going with his concussions but is now proving his worth as an inside mid. Pick 40: Alex Neal-Bullen I love this guy. Is a competitor and works really hard. Pick 42: Billy Stretch. An outside player who can find the footy. Not a bad depth player. His kicking needs work but he could become a decent wingman if given the opportunity. Pick 53: Oscar Mcdonald: I thought the idea of another McDonald down back would give me a heart condition. His first season and a half was very rocky and his decision making and skills were very ordinary but his confidence is growing and even though he is capable of being a bit slow in mind and pushed off the ball too easily he is playing well this season and making the easy options. Rookie Draft: Pick 2: Vandenberg Pick 20: Mitch White Draft grading: A Got most of the picks right. Garlett has been a gun for us since being recruited and Oscar Mcdonald is progressing well. 2015 AFL draft Brought in Melksham for pick 25 Brought in pick 3, 10 and 43 for pick 6, 29 and following years first round pick 2015 AFL draft Pick 4: Clayton Oliver Taylor did place a bid on Sydney swan academy player Callum Mills but Sydney thankfully matched. Pick 9: Sam Weideman Pick 42: Mitch King Pick 46: Liam Hullett Rookie Draft: Pick 6: Wagner pick 24: Viv Mitchie Pick 41: Joel Smith Draft grading: A If it wasn't for Oliver I would've given this about a C but he got Oliver right and he's going to be a 300 gamer. He was a draft bolter with not as much exposure so it was a great choice. Especially considering the top 10 that year does not look strong: Schache, Aaron Francis, Ah Chee, Weideman and Weitering. And whilst Parish would have been tempting he hasn't set the world on fire. 2016 AFL draft: Brought in Jordan Lewis for next to nothing Brought in Michael Hibberd for next to nothing Pick 46: Mitch Hannan Pick 64: Dion Johnstone Rookie Draft: Pick 8: Lachlan Filipovic Pick 25: Tim Smith Draft Grading: A I'm giving this an A due to the trading and also for the selection of Mitch Hannan who i rate highly. Also, the first round pick we traded to boost up the draft the previous year were used on Will Brodie. 2017 AFL Draft: Brought in Jake Lever for the loss of 2 first round picks Got rid of Watts for pick 31 who was used on Fritsch Harley Balic for pick 66. Pick 29: Charlie Spargo Pick 31: Bailey Fritsch Pick 37: Harrison Petty Pick 48: Oscar Baker Draft grading: A Lever is going to be great for us for a long time despite the rocky start. Spargo is proving to be tough and smart with the ball and an accurate kick for goal. Fristch was brought in for Jack Watts which I think should have been given an A+ on that trade alone. I don't want to turn this into a Watts thread but Fritsch is already a far better player than Watts and shows that having a small frame is never an excuse for not attacking the ball or man. Fritsch has complimented our forward line in his first season at the club.

i haven't forgotten how bad gaff was last year. he was soft and uncompetitive and offered no spread. maybe he was injured i'm not sure