sylvinator

Miller isnt good enough a player to be captain. Brad Green Captain Mclean- Vice Leadership group- Miller, Bruce, Davey, Jones

We have 1---- Aaron Davey. We have plenty of young up-n-coming mids: Jones, Moloney, Mclean, Valenti, Grimes, Morton, Pettard + Bruce I agree we could use 1 or 2 more very fast midfielders, but this is something that can be easily fixed through drafting. it's not a dire situation. Simon Buckley could evn be part of the answer. We could easily draft a fast midfielder with pick 40. Plus Rich isn't even considered fast. finding a key forward is a MUCH bigger concern. 10 years of drafting and the closest we'v come in Brad Miller. So if we're going to draft based on needs, Jack Watts is the man.

i watched a few games of Mortons in the under18s, and he had the best skills of any underage player by a LONG way. he would slot goals from 55m out on the run regularly... u dont just lose those kind of skills. he has an awesome ability to find the ball. when he gets experience and confidence and a physcial attributes to play afl senior footbal he will become a GUN

21 possies today. continuously has shown he has a great ability to find the footy. sure he's an 18 yr old runt atm in his first season. he's bound to make mistakes. let him put on 20kg and 40 games experience and he'll be awesome. waayyyyy to much unwarranted negativity on this forum, PARTICULARLY against 18-21 yr old kidz who are just finding their feet. i find much promise in Morton

first game back since round 1, so a complete unfair assessment. give him a few weeks. im sick of terrible supporters who call for young players to be delisted after 1 game. it's actually pathetic. he actually took 8 marks today, all in very dangerous positions either within 50 or within 80m from goal.

Boyle is not the answer! we need to draft a key forward. as simple as that! the 2 main acqusitions at years end should be Warnock and Watts. fills 2 massive holes!!! pick 17 and 20 should also get a couple of quality youngsters which always helps. i wouldn't be totally against trading pick 20 for Prismal, but people shuld realize, if he was that good then he would have a place in the geelong team. geelong do not have 22 superstars. guyz like Varcoe, Byrnes and others get regular games ahead of him. 2009: Bartram, Warnock, Garland Green, Rivers, Grimes Moloney, Bruce, Morton Sylvia, Bate, Davey Robertson, Miller, Wonaeamirri Warnock, Jones, Mclean Int: Dunn, Bell, Pettard, Newton, P.Johnson, Wheatley, Frawley, Watts emg: Buckley, C.Johnson, Valenti, Jamar, Whelan up-n-coming: Maric, McNamara, Martin, Cheney, pick 17, pick 20, pick 36 delisted/retired: Neitz, McDonald, White, Yze, Holland, Carrol, Bode, Weetra

Every footy supporter i know knows who Cale Morton is and none of them are demon supporters. what kind of footy supporters do u know? clearly ones who dont follow very closely. neways.... id trade bruce for pick 10-20

im sure most of us hoped he'd become a superstar midfielder when he was first drafted... such is life.... however, if he can become a 40 goal a year mobile forward (ala Brad Johnson) with stints up the ground he could become a really good player. i'm sure we'd prefer him become a really good forward rather than simply see him fail as a less than mediocre forward. i'm satisfied with this move. future forward line= mobile forwards: Sylvia, Bate, Robbo Small forwards: Davey, Wonaeamirri, Maric Tall forwards: Miller, Newton If we added Jack Watts (future star key forward) we could have an extremely imposing and versatile forward line in years to come.

if we hadn't lost about 4 games when we were leading with 5 minutes to go in the last qtr we wouldv had 8 wins. time to get over it. btw we beat the bulldogs by 10 goals. its not like it was a 1 pt vicotry which we couldv purposely tanked in the last qtr

Miller has the leadership skills, but not the ability. i'm sorry but your captain has to be one of your best players. they have to be damn good footballers to lead by example on field. Miller is an average player.

definitely reason for optimism! but i still think it will only be 2010 when we start our climb up the ladder- this is bc next year we will lose so much experience (Neitz,White,Yze,Holland,McDonald etc).... our young defence looks so promising. Garland, Warnock, Martin, Frawley, Rivers, CJ, Grimes, Pettard, Wheatley our midfield is developing nicely (but still needs a couple more guns)- Mclean, Jones, Valenti, Dunn, Moloney, Morton, Green, Davey etc. our forward line is thin, but also has some nice players developing well- Miller, Sylvia, Bate, Wonaeamirri, (Newton?) However i still think it's CRUCIAL that we stock up on young talent in the next 2 drafts. I am obsessed with getting 1 of Rich or Naitanui. They will be absolute superstars. i will be kinda dissapointed in we win 5 games this year and get no priority pick and pick 3-4. call me a tanker, but we need young talent more than any other team in the afl. it would be a crime if PortAdelaide got a higher pick than us coz they decide to drop every good player they have for a 17 yrold hack.

any word on the official crowd. Our ability (or inability) to pull a crowd is the biggest myth! Hawthorn got 27000 last friday night and they are in the top 2 and have 15000 more members than us!!!! Our crowds in general have been good considering our SHIZEN year. just goes to show that half of the Tasmanian Hawks members are probably signed up pets

with essendon winning today, they are definitely going to finish above us. Port Adelaide have a good % and 4 wins, so 99% probability that they too will finish above us, even if they tank and lose every game for the rest of the year! so that means we are guerenteed a top 3 pick. there are 3-4 absolute standouts this year---- Naitanui (gun athlete/ruck), Rich (midfielder), Watts (key forward) and Hurley (Key back). so whatever happens, we are guerenteed one of these upncoming stars. If we come 15th, there is also a high likelihood of WCE or Freo choosing Rich over Naitnaui, so we can pick him up anyways at pick 3. It would be a lil disspaointing if we got pick 3 only, because that means we miss out on Rich and Naitanui

Our under 23 team: Bartram, Garland, Martin Pettard, Frawley, C.Johnson Morton, Mclean, Moloney Sylvia, ??Newton??, Buckley Bate, ????, Wonaeamirri P.Johnson, Pettard, Jones Int: Valenti, Frawley, Grimes, Maric, Cheney, Bode Enough said really... add a top 3 pick at years end + pick18and 20 and we'v got some bloody great young talent. Miller, Bell, Rivers, Davey, Warnock, who are all under 25, and you have a good young team. sure, we need a serious injection of talent. and we'll do that at years end... but i can see the light at the end of the tunnel. we haven't yet even seen what Grimes, Maric (and Pettard) can really do so exciting times ahead

Miller was awesome. In the huddle before the quaters start, it was MILLER was was doing ALL the talking. showing great leadership. Players who have improved their footy dramatically since Bailey has arrived- Garland, Warnock, C.Johnson, Miller, Wheatley

our half back flankers are doing a good job racking up possesions. they could be using it better though... Miller and Sylvia looking really good up forward. Jamar and PJ been quite good in the ruck. midfield being competitive. Garland and Warnock doing a good job against quality opponants. 3 of Brown/Bradshaw's goals were from dubious free kicks

White is a better ruckman and player than Jamar. However, White is in his last season (maybe second last) and we need to look to the future. Peoploe may notice that White, Neitz, Yze, Holland, McDonald (inj), Robbo (inj) and Carrol are all not playing. Why? Because they are not the future. In fact, the only old players left in our team are Bruce (29), Wheatley (27) and Green (27) and all three have performed very well this year. Get used to it guyz. if a player is over 27 and isn't a CORE performing player, you will see them at sandy

Agree 100%. a budding Fullback cannot be expected to shine until he has 3-4 years of afl experience AND is atleast 95kg. Guyz like Bradshaw, Brown, Cloke, Fevola, Reiwold, Pav etc are all around or over 100kg. cannot expect Frawley compete with more experienced and much stronger opponents. However he continues to show that he has good pace, a decent punch, a strong mark and an effective (albeit ungainly) kick. With those attributes there's no reason he can't turn the corner one day (maybe next season, maybe the year after) and prove to be a 10 yr fullback. Warnock is only JUST NOW showing that he's capable of being a fullback and he's 24 yrs old. at 19, we should lower our expectations of him. How good do people think Darren Glass or Matthew Scarlett were at 19? fullbacks take time. frawley will make it

I'm happy with our coach. He is doing exactly what this club needs. This was the bit the leapt out at me while reading... "My responsibility is to look long term for the Melbourne footy club. If that means what I do now sets it up for the future, then I'll do that. "It would be ridiculous for me to look for some quick fixes." If you're pushing into your late 20s and underperforming at Melbourne, you have every reason to be worried. Out at year's end would have to be: Neitz, Yze, Holland, Carrol, Whelan 100% gone. White, McDonald 90% gone though might tough it out for one last season. We are at a serious rebuilding stage. At least we have 3-4 years of decent drafting behind us, so hopefully we can start our climb back up in 2010. Jeez the drafting this year (2008) and next (2009) (before the new team comes in 2010) are going to define how we perform over the next 10 yrs. GET IT RIGHT!

Very harsh. 3rd in our B&F last season playing the entire season in the forward line. he must be doing something right. He has played well this year as a mobile forward and continues to impress. i liked him game against Sydney. I see him as a mobile CHF. Perhaps we could play dual CHFs with Miller and Bate.

Whilst i do agree with ur sentiment Diablo, i tend to sway between these 2 camps. After all, while we do need quality kidz at our club, there is NO proof to ever suggest number 1 picks translate to premiership. Saints failed dismally despite close to a dozen top 5 draft picks. How good would the hawks really be had they picked Sylvia and Farren Ray instead of Roughead and Franklin. Alot of drafting is about luck. We are guerenteed a top 3 pick this year, and a priority pick also. That is enough to get us some great talent. Pick 7 can get you Joel Selwood or Rys Palmer. Pick 8 can get u Jimmy Bartel. While pick 3 can get you Farren Ray, Colin Sylvia or Aaron Fiora (decent but not superstar players.) The point is... let's get some top draft picks!!! but lets not forget the big picture, that picks dont equal success. A win or two here or there is GREAT for the young players development

If we trade, it should be for a player that will fill a specific hole in our team. So, if we trade it should be for a key forward, or a fast midfielder. We should not even consider trades for Sylvia or Pettard, they are young with lots of promise. Trades i'd consider would be: Cam Bruce + pick 18 to Hawthorn---- Mitch Thorp + Hawthorn's Third round pick to Melbourne. My rationale is that Hawthorn are close to a premiership and Bruce would be great icing on the cake for them. Thorp is 2 years away from making their starting 22, and with Boyle,Buddy,Roughead and Williams ahead of him, he is expendible. Thorp is a budding key forward star and is exactly the type of young talent we need when we start our climb up the ladder in 2009/2010. Green or Bruce for a first round draft pick would be awesome, but with the new teams coming in i doubt other clubs would part with them, espcialy in a strong draft. Also, if Robbie Warnock demands to be traded to MFC (and we have pick 1 in PSD), then perhaps we can manufacture a trade like Jamar + pick 34 to Freo for Warnock... Sure, we're ripping them off here, but otherwise we can get him for free in the PSD so they will be forced to do the trade. Plus, atleast they get a back up ruckman. I wouldn't mind Mundy either. he's a good young player.

Interesting point. i saw both incidents. They were really bad. Especially the first one. If Dunn was a team player he wouldv put in the extra effort to help out his teammate. It was a selfish act. I thought Dunn played well on Goodes, HOWEVER, if Bailey is serious about transforming our football culture into selfless, rather than a selfish culture, then Dunn should certainly be dropped this week. if he were dropped for a week i would commend Bailey. Nonetheless, he is playing well as a tagger and this bodes well for him in the future if he changes his attitude.

How bout this---- don't trade anyone under 24! anyone over 24 is tradable because that's where we are at. no point trading pettard or Sylvia because they are young and talented. Bruce should be up for trade, even Green if a suitable trade rises (i.e. top 15 pick). Maybbbeeee Bell the only young player id consider delisting, because he might want to go home.

True, he's only 21 and was pick 8 in the draft. Ruckmen often take 4-5 years to develop so that suggests he needs more time. Howver, I've watched 3 Sandy games this year, and he's shown nothing in any game. I'd probably be more willing to give him more time if he was a skinny rake ala Robbie Warnock, or was severely under developed. The problem is that his body is big and strong. His running capacity is elite. The only thing that's stopping him is the fact he has no footy brain. He wanders around the ground like a headless chook and cannot find the ball. unfortunately this weakness is not something that can easily be remedied.