sylvinator

Their is no doubting the growing chorus of football coaches, players, commentators, analysts and supporters who want to get rid of the PP. Michael Voss the most recent. Certainly the AFL will have to eventually bow to public pressure and change the PP system, or even take away the PP. Maybe i'm being paranoid, but could the AFL change the PP system before this year's draft, leaving us with no PP even if we qualify for it? This would be grossly unfair, but with every day mounting more and more pressure on the afl to get rid of PP, it seems a worrying possibility! Please someone tell me that i'm being paranoid and this could not happen. Surely any change to the system would have to happen after this season?

Actually, our destiny is completely in our own hands. Freo did not gain a PP last season and therefore would only gain a PP AFTER the 1st round if they qualified for it. Thus, even if Freo do not win another game for the year, and assuming we only win 4 games and thus also quality for the PP the draft would look like this: Pick 1- MFC's Priority pick Pick 2- Freo draft selection 1 Pick 3- MFC Basically, the only advantage of Freo winning is for MFC to have pick 1 and 2, instead of pick 1 and 3. Tom Scully is not in doubt unless we win more than 4 games this season

I agree that the coaching staff played players well out of position today. This is definitely a form of tanking. Noone however could ever argue that the players didn't try their very hardest to win

One form of tanking is not picking the best team to win. If we were picking the ebst team to win, Sylvia would be picked before Jetta

Disagree......... draft picks are often gambles, especially third round picks of lower. A clever trade for a player for a pick outside the top 10 can work out very well. Examples: - Darren Jolly for pick 14---- pick 14= Lynden Dunn, struggling to make the bottom team's starting 22, Jolly superstar ruckman probably All Australian for 09 - Farren Ray for third round pick - Ryce Shaw for 3 round pick... Shaw currently in all australian form and gets a tight tag every week these days I'm sure there are hundreds of others

no! THIS WEEK is the real danger game. North are a decent and competitive team. they will beat us. We will beat Freo they are really that terrible. Thus we absolutely MUST lose this week!

From my perspective, it is COMPLETELY irrelevant what other clubs do. We want pick 1, because there is one absolute standout in this years draft- Tom Scully. If our next pick is pick 2, or 3 or 4 is doesn't really matter, because it is arguable who is better out of Butcher, Lucas, Trengove etc. Pick 4 could just as easily be better than pick 2. To get Scully, we essentially have to only win 1 of the next 3 games. I think we'll definietly beat Freo and I think we'll lose to North. Thus, basically the priority pick comes down to this week vs the Tiges

I don't think teams tank. Players AND coaches are often playing for their careers and livelihoods, particularly the players. We say the demons tanked, but at the end of the day, injury are injuries and Green cannot play with a broken wrist! I mean honestly, think about it logically. If the demons, or Freo or WCE are totally crap and can't win in the first 16 weeks of the year, why in the hell do people think they are any more capable of winning in the past 6 weeks of the year! They continue to lose because they are no good that year! Thus, the real problem comes down to perception of the general public and football fans and supporters. Supporters do NOT want their team to win in the latter half of the year. This is bc supporters are long sighted and feed on the 'hope' that can come from a top draft pick, hoping he will become the 'missing link'. It is disgraceful that football supporters should be barracking for the opposition! I personally barraked for Sydney today and I hated it. It undermines the competition if footy fans don't want their team to win. It is simply counter intuitive. Since it is the supporters and footy fans that make the game of afl great, for the sake of the game, this alone is reason enough to get rid of priority picks (or at least a lottery system).

Cheney, along with Jetta, excite me least of any of our young players. The basic reason is that they do not have any standout qualities (not great pace, not great skills, not great marking, and not great footy brain to compensate for the lack in other areas). This leads me to think they will only even be pretty good/ average players.... this is the type of player MFC had always attracted and it is this type of mediocre player that have characterised the MFC teams over the past 10 yrs. On the other hands, our other youngsters have some absolute ELITE attributes

This is going to be very important in allowing us be financially viable without requesting any money from AFL. The only other thing that will ensure this is a good draw, in good time slots, with a reasonable amount of Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night games. I think the draw will improve when we improve onfield and demand some prime time games.

I disagree. I think we should play him every single game at senior level for the rest of the year. History has shown us that a player will only start making really big impacts at afl level after around 50 afl matches, even the most talented ones (see Murphy, Gibbs and Goddard as perfect examples of players who were contributing at first, but only really became influencial match winners until 50+ games.) We need to get Watts to 50 afl games as quickly as possible!!!! I believe it is time at senior level, rather than time in the afl system that is most important. People will always compare Watts to Naitanui. it is inevitable. We shouldn't shield him bc outsiders will think we made a mistake bc he isn't dominating at first. Remember, everyone was paying out Hawthorn for the first 3 years, when Ball and Judd were ripping it up at afl level and Hodgey had a slow start to his carreer as number1 pick. Now Hawks are loving life and Hodgey won them a premiership. Play the kid, even if it means he looks a bit underdone at times. it will fasttrack his development.

Agreed. When looking at the rebuild, we must consider the types we have drafted over the past 2-3 years, which has primarily been defence and forwards. This means that while our forward line is currently crap, we have the future forward line players on our list, even if they are not palying atm. Forward line 2 years time- Watts, Jurrah, Maric, Wona, Miller, Sylvia, To complete our forward line we need 1 more key forward (and possibly another small lightning fast small forward). This could be fulfilled with Butcher. However ALL the other picks should be focussed on improving our midfield. We started with Blease and Morton, but need 2-3 top picks to be filled by fast and skillful mids

WCE play Richmond, Freo and Melbourne in the coming rounds... whether these teams like it or not, someone has to win these games. imo WCE, Richmond AND Freo will all win 5 games this season. Especially considering they all play eachother in the coming rounds.

Today's paper, I was very interested to see Connolly speaking about our possible team in 2012. NB: he spoke about defenders, midfielders and forwards, so I have the positions in from that. FB: Garland, Martin, Bennell HB: Grimes, Frawley, Strauss C: Morton, McLean, Blease HF: Bate, Jurrah, Davey FF: Maric, Watts, Wonaeamirri R: Jamar, Sylvia, Jones Interchange: Rivers, Cheney, Warnock, Dunn, Jetta, Petterd, Spencer, pick 1 (Scully), pick 2 or 3 (Butcher), (+ possibly 5 other first and second picks we will draft between now and 2012) Players Connolly didn't mention, but imo could perhaps still be around come 2012: - P.Johnson, Miller, Moloney, Buckley, McNamara, McKenzie Do people reckon he's pretty spot on? Looks pretty good imo.

Completely unrealistic. Delideo and Cotchin are future superstars and would require trading pick 1. Dangerfield, Veszpremi, McEvoy are all top draft picks from only 2 years ago, and all 3 would be considered one of the most promising youngsters at their respective clubs. Trading Dangerfield for pick 18 would be like Adelaide suggesting we trade Jack Grimes for pick 18. Wells and Walker are former top 3 picks and the clubs would never even consider trading them, let alone for pick 18. The only chances we have on that list are - Armitage- don't rate him - Varcoe- small forward... we could probably use him, but do u want to waste a late first rounder on him. doubtful. prefer to see what we can get in the draft. - Gamble- dont rate him. and i don't understand why Richmond would let Delideo, their best player, a premier player in the afl and only 22 years old, go for free in the PSD?

PSD pick1= Shaun Burgoyne!!! He is refusing to sign with PortAdelaide. Port have a history of sending players who abandon the club to the PSD (Nick Stevens) and considering the prime importance of draft picks in this years draft (future drafts raped by GC17 and WestSyd) noone will be willing to give up a first round pick for Shaun which is what he is worth. Plus, MFC are finally in a position to pick up a big PSD pick with top quality training base at Casey over the summer and Olympic park preccinct by next year. Imagine the diversity and excitement of this midfield: - Shaun Burgoyne (all round ability, huge pace and sublime skills) - Aaron Davey (huge pace and sublime skills) - Tom Scully (all round package, inside and outside) - Cale Morton (running machine, accumulator of possessions, when he bulks up will become a physical presence) - Brock Mclean (workhorse, inside player, will be awesome as the 5th best midfielder, instead of copping a tag) - Nathan Jones (workhorse, inside player, great agression and endeavour) - Brent Moloney (long-kicking, physical, accumulator) - Sam Blease (pure pace and kicking skills) Green, Bruce, Strauss, Sylvia, Grimes, Buckley and Pettard to filter through the midfield, but maily players on the flanks. It's amazing what 2 or 3 quality additions can make to a crap midfield. Mclean and Jones suddenly become the 4th and 5th best midfielders, don't get as much attention and then they become better players for it. Just see the Brissy's fab4's effect on players like Headland and WCE's fab4 had on Embly etc. Bring it on!

I like Miller. I think he straightens us up enourmously, and this was extremely evident in the Queen's bday game. He is strong, agressive and a good leader. He is even improving in getting the odd goal. He will never be a superstar, and he has many limitations in his game, HOWEVER, he would be a fantastic 3rd or 4th best forward. He is not good enough to be the number 1 forward, but in 3 yrs with Wona, Watts, Jurrah, Maric and Butcher ripping it up, we will need Miller's strength, agression, leadership and hard leading across half forward

Out: Retired: Whelan, Wheatley, McDonald and Robertson Delist: Bell Possible Delists (1 or 2 of these to delist)- Newton, Bartram, Valenti (upgraded rookie) 6 places- pick 1, 2, 18, 34, 50, PSD pick 1 Although this is a hard decision, I would seriously consider putting Rivers on the trade table. He would have huge currency being a 25 yr old (relatively young but in prime age being fully developed) past Rising Star who could slot into a key defensive post for any team struggling with this position. Teams like Hawthorn, Essendon, Carlton and even Geelong could possibly trade a late first round pick for him. All would be desperate for a good KP defender would can slot straight in and do well. I don't think Rivers is the player he used to be bc of injuries- and we have Garland, Martin, Frawley, Warnock (plus possibly McNamara) who are all equal or better players than Rivers. However, I am very cautious to rip our defence apart. we are finnally developing a good young defence, and I don't think we should sacrifise our one strength by putting Garland to Forward line and Rivers traded. If Rivers is traded, we should DEFINITELY keep Garland and Martin as super defenders and we should try to develop a forward line through Watts, Jurrah, Miller, Wona and possibly Butcher. Pick 14-18 for Rivers would be a good trade imo.

We have no one to trade that would get anything of value other than the draftees from the last 3 years, which we obviuosly wouldn't trade. IMHO the ONLY 2 players on our list which I could see traded would be Pettard or Miller to the GoldCoast (both from there) If we got a 2nd round pick for either of them I would take it... especially if we pick up Butcher this year... With Watts, Butcher, Jurra on our list, we probably won't need Miller. He would have really good currency

Fark i'm bloody excited for Jurrah to debut!!! Play Jurrah and Watts for 8 games this season... Play 18 games next season.... By 2011, when we are once again a top8 team, they will have around 30 games under their belt and ready to make huge impact on afl. 2011 forward line: Bate Miller Maric Wona Watts Jurrah PLUS- possibly Butcher

disagree- Sure, some luck is involved. E.g. Robbie Tarrant first round pick and 4 shoulder reconstructions, Judd apparently dodgy shoulders but is number 1 player in afl.... HOWEVER, very naive to believe 'luck is all it is

Sylvia has always had the attributes to become a star. Great overhead mark, strong tackler, good skills, inside and outside. He just needed to get his mind right. People on this site should stop writing players off too easily (though I have sometimes done this myself.) and btw Sylvia turned the corner last season, people were just too blinded by their unrealistic expectations of him to realize he was actually playing quite well and making steady progress. Just because Sylvia gets 18 possies and 1 goal, doesn't necessarily mean he's a dud. He's not going to get 33 possies and 3 goals every week. My worry is the Melbourne supporters believe that you should be a superstar purely because you're a high draft pick. Bookmark this: I am 10000% certain that people will start ripping into Watts in his 2nd and 3rd season at the club when he isn't dominating. DESPITE the fact he'll only be a 20 year old up-n-coming KP forward. And then, when he does become a champion at 23 years old, all those pathetic people will come crawling back. Same here with sylvia.

I think our foundation is pretty good... we are in better position to other teams who 'started from scratch', because unlike Carlton, we've been picking kidz from day 1 (and not wasting 10 picks on crappy recycled players ala Carlton). Thus we actually have decent depth, though our depth consists of pretty average players. The real issue imho is this: the only way we are going to become a top 4 side is if 2-3 of our players 'make the grade' and become truely A-Grade, awesome players... I mean players ATLEAST of the calibre of Montagna, Pendlebury etc. If we can't do that, then we'll once again come 5-8th each year. FACT: you don't win premiership without at least 2-3 players in the top10-15 players in the afl during the year of the premiership. If MFC cannot produce a player who is in the top10 players in the afl, then so be it... but we won't win a premiership without one. Morton, Grimes, Strauss, Blease, Watts.... i don't care who it is, one of them has to rise and become an A-grader.

Apart from the recent Collingwood game, if you look at the way we are playing (lose to Bullies, WCE by less than 3 goals), it might be easy to assume MFC could win most of these games. HOWEVER, I tend to agree that we will NOT win most of these games. Once we start getting a few injuries, with about 6 rounds to go we will definitely start managing our list accordingly. Any players that have ongoing problems will be sent to surgery so that they will be 100% right for the first day of pre-season. Youngers will be tried who will benefit from the games, but, like Watts, are too young, thin and inexperienced to have a proper impact at senior level. Look for Jurrah, Strauss, Bail, Tom McNamara, Jetta, Bennel, Spenser, Cheney, Buckley and Watts to play plenty of games in the second half of the year... i even reckon Hughes and McKenzie (pick 1 rookie draft) will be given a few games. With all these guyz getting games we will be MUCH less competitive than we are at the moment. And I think we can all agree that even ATM we are not very good.... Nonethless this season will be considered a success for the following reasons - much better onfield performances. Last year average 65pt losses, this year averaging 30pt losses... - Getting a full extra season of experience for Frawley, Morton, Grimes, Maric, Bennel, Martin, Cheney - our older players are now only fringe players who are not relied upon to play well- McDonald, Whelan, Wheatley, Robbo - a couple of youngish players have had breakout seasons- Sylvia, Davey, Warnock - a couple of youngish players have come back from long term injuries to show they are important to our future- Rivers, Moloney - we have had proper opportunity to give fringe players lots of games to figure out whether or not they are capable- Bartram, Dunn, Newton, Pettard- and realized now that they are going to be solid depth at best. No more wondering whether or not they are good enough. - we can look forward to the return of two key players in the latter half of the season who will be primed for 2010- Garland, Wonaeamirri - We will get 2 potential superstars at pick 1 and 2, plus pick 18 and 36, plus PSD pick 1, plus Blease, who will be like a first year player for us.

Newton's major flaw isn't his kicking, which is pretty awful and it isn't even his chasing, pressure and tackling, which is pretty average at best.... it is that he is absolutely hopeless below his knees. Once the ball hits the ground, Newton is out of the context, allowing opposition defenders to stream out of defence with ease. I have seen this happen countless times... many times a game when he has played for Melbourne in the seniors. In modern football, this is a cardinal sin and unfortunately, becuase of his lack of mobility, it is something that he will never be able to improve to a substanital enough degree. Don't rate Newton one little bit.... he simply doesn't have the attributes to become a good footballer. Newton is not similar to improved players like Frawley, Garland and Sylvia, who always had the attributes... tackling, pace, skill, marking, atheletisism etc... but who needed time and mental effort and who it was only a matter of time before it all clicked into place. I would delist at end of the year. I would play Miller, Bate, Watts, Jurrah and even Hughes ahead of Newton.