old55

If we REALLY wanted him we'd have found a way. The way he has left is indicative of the reasons why that mightn't be the case. I wish Cam Bruce all the best - he has made a pragmatic decision in keeping with his history of looking after his interests - who doesn't? It's not lose-lose IMO, hopefully it's win-win. Cam get more years, more opportunity and with a bit of luck a flag. We get an opportunity to get games into other players and $600K+ to spend elsewhere in the FD.

Yes a hypothetical ...

THIS year ???

Quite frankly there's either a liberal dose of bullshitting in these phantoms or they're somewhere beyond tragic into the creepy. It just can't be healthy to watch enough U18 football all over the country to be able to make an informed assesment of 100 players - just for "fun".

Headline does not match content. Bailey just said we'd consider him - we should consider every player.

Does 22 games into Gysberts and Tapscott outweigh finals experience for all of Jones, Bartram, Watts, Frawley, Trengove, Morton, Sylvia, McKenzie, Dunn, Petterd, Garland, Moloney, Jurrah, Rivers, Scully, Wonna, Jamar, Bennell and Bail? It's not clear cut for me.

Looking at the McDonald and Bruce discussion one point brought up in favour of them leaving is that they open up a spot in the 22 and give a young developing player a chance to play 22 senior games and gain valuable experience that they would otherwise have been prevented from experiencing by the presence of the better credentialled veteran. I think we might be farly close to the 8 in 2011 - what if the presence of the experience player made the difference between 8th and 9th? What about the relative value of a finals game for all 22 players? IMO Junior and Cam would have increased the likelihood of us playing finals in 2011.

You just don't get it but at least you're consistent. Brucey and "the 3rd most successful finals-bound team up until that point" - that's a match.

Colin Sylvia's 25th birthday today. Happy Birthday! That gives us 8 players 25+ Green, Davey, Jamar, Moloney, Warnock, Macdonald, Rivers, Sylvia With Martin next more than a year younger.

The prosecution rests, your Honour

Better get used to this sort of thing happening. In 2012 "Cam Bruce" can go to the club of his choice via Free Agency - we do get a compensation pick though. http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=89809

And he'll still call you dad?

Yeah but is it accurate? That's all that matters. "A" for effort? - here's 50c. Here's his 2008 effort, that's the earliest available on BF that I can find even though he goes back further - it's still early to make a definitive call on a lot of these players - make up your own mind about his assessments http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=518477

What's he going to say when we've been firm on a one year deal. "We've offered Cam 1 year but who knows whether that's good or not and what he'll do" So what are you suggesting, that if Cam Bruce did sign on the 1 year deal we tell Junior this week that he's no longer required???? .

Bate and agile? I'm struggling here ...

It's a massive read. It's good that he lists the players in the order he likes them - that's what you should try to do in a phantom. In the big picture it's not how close you get to the actual draft order, it's how you rate the players - club recruiters can get it wrong too. The important thing to look at when rating these phantoms is to look back at the player descriptions from previous effort and see how they panned out. Something I can't be bothered doing and seemingly neither can anyone else. Look at his 2007 effort and see how it panned out, that would be the best indicator of worth. There's a lot of fawning over detailed description on BigFooty and elsewhere ...

Try east.

No kidding!!!! If two players are equally rated we'll go for the one that suits our needs!!! Well FMG, I never would've thought of that. Bailey has said he wants a tall forward, so if a mid and a tall are rated equally at 12 we'll go for the tall - that's a big IFFF. And that's not what you said, you said "we'll almost certainly go a tall forward with at least 1 or the first 2 picks, based on some of the quotes coming from Barry Prendergahst" and that is a completely different statement. Still love to see the quotes BTW.

I'm fine with Cameron Bruce leaving. MFC offers players over 30 a one year contract and Bruce doeesn't warrant an exception. Bruce gets a 2 year offer elsewhere. MFC is planning to win a premiership in future years and will make selection decisions with that in mind. Bruce gets more assuranmce of a role at another club who is now in premiership contention. Cam Bruce had a great 2nd half of 2010 - I always feel uneasy when players who are soon to be out of contract do this. Maybe the headline should be "Cam Bruce goes when it's his turn"

I'd love to see those quotes. I saw someones else posting that we are going for the "best available tall forward". I find that very hard to believe. Yes Bailey said he wants another tall forward and that's where we went after Hale and despite his denial are interested in Thorp. But IMO there's no way Barry will go for anything other than who he thinks is the best player, full stop, with pick 12. And the odds are overwhelming that will be a mid.

Good point. Maybe GC with 9 of the first 15 and 7 before our pick 12 will go a bit left field too with the later of these picks to our advantage. If GC don't like Gorringe for some reason and WC, Brisbane and Richmond take Heppell, Gaff and Polec as widely predicted, and with Essendon in dire need of a mid and Hille and Ryder there - Gorringe may be available at 12. I wonder if we like him?

Yeah, yeah ... But what supporting evidence do you have for this direct statement: I given you the pertinent Collingwood example which doesn't seem to support your "opinion"

FMD, I wasn't comparing the season result, I was comparing the experience of the coaching panel! .

It's a good post Sylvinator. The thing that stands out to me is how drafters opinions divide later on in the draft - we got Gawn (rated earlier than 18) at 34 and Fitzpatrick (rated earlier than 34) at 50. That just shows how valuable this year's picka at 32, 49 and 52 can be - again we could get access to players we rate in the top 20-30. It show why trading out Kyle Cheney for an extra earlier pick and making the hard decisions on Junior, PJ and TMac can pay off more than the seem to on the surface.

Yes but it doesn't have any reference point - how about a comparison with the experience of the reigning Premier's coaching staff: Malthouse, Neeld, Buckley, Watters, Hudghton, Gavin Brown (replaced) Aside from Malthouse's massive experience is there a big difference between their assistants and ours?