rpfc

Any more comments like this and there will be hex on the kid... Repeat after me people: Non-Demon friend (trying to have a chat about footy and being nice enough not to mention this season) - Hey, that Hogan looks good! Will be good next year! Dees fan: Yeah, he looks alright. Hopefully we can bring him at some point in 2014...Need to improve that midfield though. CHANGE SUBJECT TO MIDFIELD ISSUES. Let's not hex the kid. Remember, this is Melbourne. If we like something enough it will be taken from us.

This sounds like you agree with me. Development is an issue but it is dwarfed by recruitment. Morton, Maric, Gysberts, and Cook were too slight or lazy or both. Strauss was a bit of a reach (picked ahead of where he should have been) and Tapscott and Blease have been ruined so far by hip and leg injuries respectively. But Morton, Gysberts and Cook were all top 12 picks that were utter failures that cannot be left at the feet of development. We picked the wrong teenagers. In no way should we buy into the meme that because we picked the wrong teenagers we don't require help to get out of our current mire.

I agree, and can I just pick on one thing: Every team's "pain" is self inflicted. Does anyone think that the Bulldogs never-ever-ever deciding to replenish their forward line properly after Johnson and Hall left is hurting them? They will need Draft Assistance soon. Does anyone think the Saints trading away picks for role players and constantly topping up during Lyon's years hurt them? They will need Draft Assistance soon. We had the ignominy of picking the wrong 18 year olds. Forget this 'ruined our kids with bad development' spiel the media has brought up. It may be a small issue but nothing turns Morton into Dangerfield, nothing turns Molan into Riewoldt. Our recruiters misfired, and Daniher went searching for a flag. That is why we are where we are. None of that is reason for the kind of animosity some have shown toward us getting Draft Assistance. We are in a socialised competition and we are crap, we should receive some assistance and I will be disappointed in Jackson if he cannot secure it.

What is quick about drafting a good teenager? And can posters stop equating 'tanking' to asking for draft assistance? No-one is advocating losing, I hope we win the 7 games that some poor Dees fans think we can get to. But it is irrelevant and I fear we will see how far away we are from Sydney and Geelong in the next two weeks. But we are nowhere near the middling teams - as Jackson has oft-repeated - we are a drain on the AFL right now. We need some assets to move for good midfielders. Give us some low picks to trade for some young midfielders. Draft Assistance is an equalisation measure and that policy should kick in for the MFC after our record over the past 6 years - 35-2-109. JAckson has asked for it - frankly I am amazed people on here can't see why he has asked for it.

Yeah, I was about to say - at some point a small forward has to be able to kick straight.

Happy Birthday Swooper!

Source?

Not only that; you seem to be posting random thoughts.

Jesus H Christ I hope The Yarra and Webber are right.

Monfries was traded as a RFA. I am not certain that Hawthorn would have enough guaranteed contracts during trade week to not have the room for Franklin. I think it is possible.

That's hardly vitriol either.

Did ok against Hawthorn. Byrnes and Rodan, and by extension Neeld, have been catapulted into the Realm of Reasons our List Is Terrible and it isn't fair at all. The draft, trades and FA allows a certain amount of potential or actual A or B grade players to come onto your list. Nat Draft top 50 picks, PSD top 3 picks, about 4 or 5 FAs, and a few trades can get those players. Once you get past that point you are looking at what you can do make your list better for that next year. We went older with the selections after that: Terlich, Matt Jones, Dawes, Rodan, Byrnes, Pedersen, Clisby and Gillies were targetted for that reason with the outlay being: ND Picks 20, 45, 70, 88, RD Pick 19, Martin and Gysberts. IMO: Dawes is worth the outlay of 20 and 45. Jones was worth Martin. Terlich was worth Pick 70. Rodan and Byrnes were worth the spot on the list ahead of whatever speculative player that was out there. Clisby was worth RD Pick 19. I don't know whether Pedersen was worth Gysberts - frankly neither look like making much of an impact on the AFL. Gillies was not worth the outlay of an early PSD pick (which is what we gave up when we signed him as a DFA). Our list is thin for mids because of decisions made in the past.

Let's try and drag a good young mid into the PSD.

I am not so certain about that. I think that RFAs can be traded without the need for the former team to fit them under the cap. I would do a trade if I was Hawthorn. I would have done it if I was St Kilda last year too.

After his first 2 games in 2008 - there were immediate calls on here for him to be dropped (he was) and for him to delisted (he wasn't). I was one who couldn't see a future. He was slight, a little soft, his skills and decision making were below standard. His nickname for a number of years was Humphrey - for the bear - because he was so quiet and shy. When he had his foot injury a couple years back he asked to be involved in recruiting and helped research kids in the TAC Cup. From a shy, soft 20 year old with shoddy skills and no future, he has become a good decision maker, a tough defender, and a strong leader for the MFC. Take from his story whatever you like.

My point was that we will be coached by an experienced AFL coach with a flag or a winning record. That is not something we could have said in 07 or 11.

Yes, no-one deserves a PP or draft assistance. We need it because we have picked poorly. The Bullldogs will need itsoon because they don't have a forward line. The Saints will get it in a couple years because they topped up chaisng a flag and are seeing their stars wither and fade away. Draft assistance should be given because we have been terrible for years and the League requires us to get better quicker than we would by natural attrition.

Can I just point out that, ironically, our hiring of Neeld was the prime reason for this new rule. Eddie blew a fuse when we rattled their flag defence in 2011. Can't interview with other teams until their season is over. How workable is it? I don't know? How big are the fines?

Who says I want to bottom out? We are bottom. we have lost 109 games in the last 6 years - there is not much further down to go. We need a leg up to even up the competition. I cannot believe this is even an argument - we are terrible. Terrible teams get draft assistance in our socialised league. There is no more public threshold that we have to stay under - I would like to win a few more games but they would be irrelevant to how bad we are and how much we need help. Give us a couple of first round picks to trade for some mids. That's all I ask.

6 wins? Who cares about an extra 2 wins? We are not talking about our own stubborn pride. We have won 35 games since that final against Freo in 06. The coming loss to the Swans will be the 110th since that final. The competition needs to even up and we require draft assistance.

Let's not sell ourselves short here. There really should be a sliding scale of help to teams - my major issue with the PP throughout its short history was the qualification was 1 bad season, then it became 2 bad seasons with a end-of-1st-round-PP after one bad season. There should be a wait of 2 or 3 years of terrible seasons and then give picks in the second round, then first round, and then after an extended period of being terrible give a pre-draft PP that teams have to trade out. I want mid-1st round and end of 1st round. Let's see whether that flies. That's after we ask for Pick 1 of course...

They can't do that. They should base the decision on the evidence of this season in its entirety and previous years. And we will have had four years of less than 4 wins in the past six years. They should have their formula and have some backbone and follow their mandate to even the league up if there are teams that require help. The Bullies will need assistance soon, as will the Saints. I am not going to have my team worse off because of the perception of the day. They should tell the media September 1 that we will receive some draft assistance (does not have to be a PP) and on September 2 they should rattle their keys in front of the media to distract them.

While I agree that we should not get Blight-ed, we cannot 'interview' Williams or Eade until September/October so don't fear the wait - the wait is going to be there. We won't miss out. I am very confident that one of Roos, Williams, Eade, or Craig will be head coach next year.

Perhaps, but I think that Professor Diesel is putting forward the mathematical theorem that "Winning is equal to, not less than, or greater than, winning," in short "Winning = Winning." Hard to disagree with someone screaming the bloody obvious. And yet here we are...

I agree, but it's not just that. Instead of going to him and giving some spiel about how good he is and talk of the promise (and potential) of all these kids we have - tell him that we have changed things so that he can have an environment that will help him get the most out of himself professionally and personally. When I hear MFC officials talking about the future by reeling off names I cringe - talk about the culture you want to have, the environment that will be in place, the goals you have set for your football department. Thankfully, there has been less of that this year with Jackson as CEO and the fact that MFC officials are dropping like mid-tier actors in the movie Contagion.