sylvinator

One point worth making. This is a compromised draft because of GWS. First 2 picks might be pick 16 and 36, which the next pick in the late 50s. I wouldn't be surprised if we only drafted 2 players in the national draft, maximum 3. We can also easily keep Evans and Nicholson on the Rookie list for one more season so won't need to delist anyone for them either (even with a promise to promote them if they deserve it ala the Jordie McKenzie arrangement). Basically my point is we might only delist as few as 2 players this year, maximum 3 in my opinion.

Elite speed and endurance combination. Not perfect kicking skills, wouldn't be surprised if he plays tagger early in his career. Midfield depth is critical in modern footy, add Evans, Nicholson and Blease to the midfield + get Trengove, Grimes, Morton, Scully and Davey back up and running and our midfield will be much improved

$4m of assets - by far the least in the AFL- was embarassing and put our long term existence at risk. Step 1 was getting rid of debt Step 2 is increasing asset position. Assets increased by $9m, with the prospect of a profitable business and regular extra income from 2012 and beyond once the pokies laws come into effect. Can't complain with that... got to take on some debt to make money and that debt , as was explained in the article, should be paid off purely by income produced from the asset.

Agree. I've also been super impressed in Bailey's decisions to drop Bennel, Morton, Petterd already this season. All 3 of those players needed to be dropped because they were playing too soft and needed to go back to Casey to realise the important of tackling pressure and hardness. Can't help injuries, but Bailey has made good calls for what he can control

Under free agency, MFC has the option to match any salary being offered by rival clubs. We would be stupid not to pay him full market value, he's pretty much the most important player in our team, and is the only genuine option we have in one of the most important positions on the ground

How about we don't trade our best and only ruckman, our 2nd most important player (behind Frawley), who happens to be an All Australian, and in the top 5 ruckman in the AFL. do people even think before posting anymore.

Having thought about it... I think it would be unfair to Gawn and to MFC to play Gawn now. If he plays this season he'll be getting single digit disposals and will be monstered by stronger and more experienced players... teenage ruckman VERY rarely impact straight away unless youre a freak (Kruiser?). Let the kid develop for another 1-2 years at Casey I like the sound of bringing in Howe, Blease and Strauss, these guys need to be tested this season to see if they're up to scratch for when we start our dominance

The indigenous boys invented forward tackling pressure and 1%ers (shepards, smothers, blocks) that keep pressure on the opposition and continue to lead the competition in this aspect of our game. Don't let facts get in the way of your story. Jurrah is kicking goals, pressuring where he can and is playing well considering we get very few inside 50s compared to the rest of the comp. I feel sorry for all our forwards actually, would be the hardest forward line to play in in the afl considering low inside 50s and poor delivery inside 50. In fact, we probably have one of the best inside50-goal ratios in the league

The Watts bagging on this website was disgraceful the last 2 years. Watts will continue to improve and I'm confident will become a great AFL player, just as the more patient among are predicting It should go as a reminder for anyone writing off KPPs too early in the future... but we all know that demonlanders will not learn and will continue to write off KPPs too early. While I've been reading this website... - Garland- written off by many as a dud in first 1-2 years - Frawley- written off by many as a dud in first 1-2 years - Watts- written off by many as a dud in first 1-2 years Cf - Miller- hailed a superstar 10 year CHF after very promising first 2 years - Rivers- hailed as a superstar 10 year CHB after a very promising 2nd season - Bate- hailed as a superstar 10 year CHF after a promising first 2 years Good things come to those who wait. a long 12-year career > bursting onto the AFL scene in our development years Just a quiet reminder for those already hailing Darling as a superstar CHF and Cook as a dud

Develop Watts, Cook and Fitzpatrick

At least now we can all accept this year is continued development! In: Blease, Strauss, Howe, Morton Out: Tapscott (Inj), Bate, Newton, Davey

We would be a better team with Russian, Trengove, Scully, Grimes, Garland, Bail... even Wona and Bennel

Bring in Howe instead of Newton. Would love to see some youthful enthusiasm in the forward line. He's 20 years old so isn't a teenager should be able to impact early on Newton has been [censored] for 7 years, never played a full good game

I have a bad feeling today- all StKilda's out of form players dominating: Roo, Monty, Goddard, Milne, Gwilt, Gilbert... Why do we always play teams into form

If we want Howe and Blease to be influencing games significantly in 2013, we need to start getting games into them now... so I'd be happy to see them both debut and play plenty of games. Blease in particular would add some dash that we don't have at the moment in the team

I'm sorry but that's arguable. 6 weeks ago things were going swimmingly, the footy department had developed out list perfectly, we have a team chockablock full of talent. Suddenly, a couple of losses and some media attention and the sky is falling and the footy dept have stuffed us up. But looking at the big picture, nothing has changed from 6 weeks ago, and we are still on track to be a force in 2013.

No one can deny that a Brendan Fevola with a perfect attitude and more intelligence would be EXACTLY the type of player we could use right now. It's a shame that he's got an IQ of 4

One thing Cale has in his favour are elite physical and skill attributes. He now has to concentrate of his deficiencies and lack of physicality. His strengths could be elite - Heigh (195cm) - Running ability - Prolific winner of the ball - Overhead marking very much improved - Can kick the ball, though he sometimes can kick it like Bruce used to If he works on developing a bit more toughness and physicality to his game, he could become a really strong AFL player. What he really need to do is get to 100kg ASAP. Once he's at that weight, completely safe for a player his height, he should finally have the body to trust the physical side of his game

interesting article... seems to be a slight suggestion that he was dropped for not playing his role in the team properly in the last sentence... at least he acknowledges the importance of it. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/114190/default.aspx I think Cale should spend the next 5-6 weeks in the guts at Casey- playing at centre bounces and being forced to play an inside role. he doesn't have to become an inside player, but he has to start developing this side of his game or he'll never become a great AFL player

I actually wouldn't mind seeing him come in this week. When we start making finals it won't be as easy to blood the youngsters. This year we can still think about development. Get 5-10 games into Howe, Blease, Strauss, Gawn and Evans. Wouldn't even mind giving a taste of senior footy to McDonald, Cook and Nicholson even though they're all a few years away

I'd go further. Sack the board as well, since they hired Bailey. Sack Schwab, too much micromanaging, Connoley too. Definitely all the players. I mean it's absolutely irrelevant that we've carefully and impressively been implementing a long term plan to make us the 'team of the decade.' It's also irrelevant that we've stockpiled brilliant talent on every line of the footy field that should peak for us in 2013 and beyond. I mean, the smart thing to do is that at the very first obstacle, we should throw the baby out with the bath water.

Perfect example of 'the demonland over the top response'. Take off your (whatever the opposite of rose is) glasses. We will definitely win more than 7 games this season. Put your house on it. We're not that good a team, but we're not that bad either. We have already won 3.5 games without getting out of first gear and playing very ordinary football. Footy is a confidence sport and I have no doubt we'll get on a roll at least at some stage this year. We have plenty of talent in the side and only a fool cannot see that. In 4 weeks we'll get Bail, Trengove, Scully, Mckenzie, Jamar and hopefully Morton back in the team. We are on the right track and the sky is definitely not falling.

and if my aunty had testicles she would be my uncle. Juice will not kick 6 in a match, bc he only ever does the odd good thing in a match, and never consistently over the coarse of an entire match, let alone week to week. He's just not a particularly good player, I never understand why people want him in the team. I think it's just because he's out of sight at Casey so people assume every time that he's suddenly become a great player while they weren't looking. Newton is a stop gap that is filling space until Jamar comes back

Out: Bail (inj), Garland (inj), Dunn (dropped) In: Strauss, Rivers, Bate Positional changes: Move Green to deep forward, Davey back into the midfield, Tapscott not as deep in defence. Next week ins: Morton, Jordie McKenzie and Bail. Morton having spent 3 weeks at Casey should hopefully have worked on defensive pressure and come back into the seniors. he has too much talent to be left permanently at Casey

Classic 'demonland' response after a big loss. Stefan is a very adequate back up ruck option in this day in age, and has great versatility. I have really enjoyed Martin's improvement and am really hoping he continues to improve. Being in my final year of a law degree, I love that he's a smart kid studying law also. The kid is switched on, and i hope he continues to improve.