LIFT

How far back is Big Max ? and where is Wattsy ? #Bluey16

Yeah I am a big Morton Fan. I much prefer him as an attacking winger than a "4th Tall Defender". I have visions of him running forward and kicking goals for us in 2008 and 2009 (maybe that was because there was so few goals in those years). I think he is a match up problem for other teams as he could take his smaller midfield opponent forward and out mark them and kick goals. I doubt he could be as good as Goodes or Goddard but fingers crossed. He does not kick the ball as well as Goddard and I agree with 1858s post earlier he does not have the power, explosiveness or quick burst to win clearances like Adam Goodes does but possibly this can be developed. I am sure he kicked 3 goals against the Cats too. I also think settling him down on a wing would be good for him. Anyone see any of his best footy as a Junior in WA and could comment on why he was taken as a number 4 draft pick in that year? I think he holds up as one of the better players in that year's draft. More impact than Cotchin, Masten and Palmer however due to injuries to those players possibly too. Thoughts?

Any idea what has happened to Gysberts? He was listed as injured with a 2 week back injury a few weeks back now? Hopefully this is not a Jack Grimes type injury back when he first started????????????? I need to know for super coach and for a bet I have going. I think with him Scully, McKenzie and Trengove we have a nice young midfield nucleus coming through. We are still missing Warnock, Gysberts, Grimes and James McDonald from am arguable best 22 for 2010 remaining.

Sure Dunn has his issues but I would have him every day ahead of Miller. He wants the ball in his hands, is a much better kick and has some goal sense. Worst for me were Bate and Cheyney today, would love to drop both of them but Bate can play. What is the go with the inside 50s we have copied Geelong's style of play but they get it in there 60 times a game and we do it 30???????? In Sylvia, Jurrah and Bail. Out Grimes inj., Cheyney, N. Jones (not an A Grade mid and never will be. Did he tag Dal Santo? I thought Dal was one of the best for them) Nate Jones while he tries his guts out he is a little like Natanui does 2 - 3 things that you love but not a lot else) Joel MacDonald will be needed to help cover Grimes abscence but gosh can he make some howler errors............would have liked to pick up a kid with PSD 1 to be honest in hindsight. Morton should be played as an attacking winger that can float forward and use his height and endurance. Not as a back pocket. B: Bartram Frawley McDonald Bruce Rivers Garland Davey Trengove Sylvia Watts Bate Bennell Dunn Jurrah Green Jamar Moloney McKenzie Spencer Scully Bail Jetta GET IT INSIDE 50 QUICK GUYS!!!!!! I HATE THE BOMBERS.

Brother go and get yourself out the movie Sin City - Jessica Alba is smoking in this bartop dancing scene amazing. Love these draft hind sight debates. Both great players just happy Chippa did not turn out to be a Luke Molan. Riewoldt's kicking is a little Matty Richardson like. I reckon you could almost argue Dustin Martin could have gone 1 or 2 also. Don't get me wrong love the look of Scully and Trengove but Dustin was awesome last night.

Newton is expendable in the ruck and it is ok to place him at risk of injury there. Sylvia is not. Miller is also expendable but I want to give Newton sufficient opportunity to be delisted at the end of the year. Bigger leap on Newton too which should help with rucking too.

MELBOURNE Matthew Bate (ankle) - test Sam Blease (leg) - 2 weeks Colin Garland (knee) - test Max Gawn (knee) - 6 weeks Liam Jurrah (shoulder) - 4-5 weeks John Meesen (ankle) - indefinite Ricky Petterd (shoulder) - season Jake Spencer (knee) - 4 weeks Luke Tapscott (hip) - 4-5 weeks CARLTON Dennis Armfield (quad) - test Paul Bower (quad) - test Ryan Houlihan (hamstring) - test Chris Johnson (wrist) - 1 week Kane Lucas (hamstring) - 1 week Simon White (knee) - 2-3 weeks Chris Yarran (thigh) - 2 weeks Yarran willnot play. Waite and Houlihan should come in. Maybe Bower and Armfield too. I thought Rivers was poor for us v the Cats and has been shown up a few times one out this year. However Blues may have Henderson, Waite and O'Hailpin to match up on so we will probably need 3 key backs if Garland does not come up. Joel MacDonald worries me too, he does some good things but his mistakes are very costly and he is not exactly a first choice option for us at the moment which is a shame given we used PSD Pick 1 on him. In my opinion Bruce, Rivers, Joel MacDonald and Cheyney are all probably competing for one maybe 2 spots. Would love to bring Newton in and use him as the second Ruck and up forward as Jamar is starting to show fatigue. I do not think Miller should be in the side. His 5 goals in Darwin were great but a little opportunistic and his true form is below that. However the inside 50s last week were 57 Geelong 37 Melbourne so none of the forwards got much of a chance. Out: Rivers, Joel MacDonald, Miller, Garland (Rest him if not 100%), Woenamarri (STIFF but cannot have all 3 of Bennell, Jetta) In: Scully, Bate, Trengove, Newton, Cheyney Team: Bartram Warnock Cheyney Bruce Frawley Grimes Davey Moloney Scully Sylvia Bate Bennell Jetta Watts Green Jamar Junior MacDonald Trengove Gysberts Jones Morton Newton Must win the midfield and tag Gibbs, Jacobs and Kruezer are going ok and Jamar needs a hand. Bartram to Eddie Betts. Cheyney or Bruce to Garlett.

Anyone Know????????????????????????????????????????????

I was staggered by the game of Miller. Does this bloke have incriminating pictures of senior people at the club or do the people just love looking at his wife at club functions. Why Robbo, our leading goal kicker, was not retained over this guy blows me away. Please Gold Coast, take him off our hands. Bate was probably under done but he was soundly beaten by a novice in Suckling for Hawthorn. Please Lift. In fairness to Strauss on debut, he is very inexperienced as given his injury he had limited time playing against men at Casey last year. However it was interesting to see the form of Luke Shuey (pick 18 between Blease and Strauss) do so well in Brisbane for the Eagles last night. Which is the real worry. Is our club just incapable of developing our players to get better and reach their potential. Maybe Frawley, Warnock and Grimes have improved under Dean Bailey. I have real concerns over his ability to coach and win games. Hawthorn clearly run a good program. Look at what they did with Carl Peterson. Nowhere at Richmond gets into the Hawthorn System and he plays brilliantly on debut. Hawthorn had senior guns in Croad and Crawford in their premiership team, great 2001 draft with Hodge, Mitchell, Ladson and Brown great 2004 drafts with Buddy, Roughy and Lewis and then filled in the side as required 2004- 2007. God I hope our recent drafts can bare the same fruit. Scully, McKenzie and Trengove looked great. Hopefully Jamar can stay on the park this week. As the season develops we can hopefully get Sylvia, Watts, Garland, Woenamarri, Jurrah and Morton back into the side. Make no mistake Hawthorn are a seriously good confident team hungry for success. With a bit of luck Round 1 is bedrock for our 2010 season and it is only up from here.

Nah Nasher's side has Stefan Martin at Full Forward, I like him as a defender only. He does not want the ball. Classic athlete/body playing football. Cant kick for goal either. Jordie McKenzie I think will play a bit this year but I am not sure he is a walk up start, not an attractive or terribly effective footballer. Has his pre season form been epic or something in the NAB Challenge? It is a bit sad that, in your opinion we have 3 blokes who should not get a game in 2010 on our list without a meaningful ball been kicked so far this year. I think they need to be thrown in the deep end a bit and told SINK or SWIM. Bate is a good player isn't he, quite like him. Carna Dees lets win some this year......

Mate, The point I was making was Bate, Dunn and Meesen are all top 15 draft picks in 2004. Obviously Deledio, Buddy were picked ahead of this group and are way better players. If you look at some of the reports from the Casey game Newton and Bate went quite well all be it in a VFL praccy match. My point is more along the lines of, these guys Newton (form/lack of opportunity/goal kicking issues) and Dunn (played out of position) really need a go in the forward line. If they do not cut it, given ample opportunity, they have to be seriously looked at for a trade or delisting. As they are really clogging our list at their current standing in our side. Do you agree Rhino? What would be your ideal forward line for Round 1 and in a perfect world in 2010 with no injuries?

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/36819/default.aspx We have 4 of the most sought after players of the 2004 draft who have now done the best part of 5-6 pre seasons and are 23 -24 and should be entering their prime. Meesen, Bate, Dunn and Newton While I think our woes are predominantly due to game plan and midfield issues causing the ball to not go into our forward line (inside 50) enough generally I think we really need to experiment with our forward line until Jurrah, Watts and Woenamarri are ready/ return from injury. I think Newton can play. He seems to get the ball when he plays and his tackling and effort has improved despite his body language and general listlesness issues. His real problem is kicking for goal. Dunn was drafted as a Centre Half Forward with superb endurance and around 2005 / 2006, while admittedly playing in a supporting role to Neitz and co in a much better forward line with better supply, appeared to have goal sense and finishing ability. With his endurance he should be able to run many defenders of their legs presenting to our half back and midfield. Bate, of the 4, is probably the furthest away from being delisted, his long kicking is very valuable, just would love to see more of it along with some deep pack marks. I would tell the Bate, Dunn and Newton that they have responsibilty of carrying the forward line and will be given a 5 game run to prove their worth. They are good mates and I think they will relish the challenge. What have we got to lose? Otherwise, without good 2010, going into season 7 for these guys there future has to be in some question. Miller can help in the short term with his workrate. Maric was recruited as a deadly finishing forward so he should go here too and Petterd has bobbed up as a goal kicker in the last year and a half. Bruce and Green should definately rest in the forward line too to provide leadership and class in this area of the ground. Jamar too should rest here too given his goal kicking display against Carlton too. Garlands speed on a lead could also be experimented with here forward S. Martin does just not appear to have the aptitude to play the forward role, his best football has been played down back and he should return there. With Warnock, Frawley and Rivers we are probably ok for key backs that is why a trade should be sought for one of these 4 players to bolster a weak area e.g. Ruck or Key Forward. My round 1 team v the Hawks, (several injury and selection assumptions here) would be as follows: Bennell Warnock Frawley Joel MacDonald Rivers Cameron Bruce Trengove Moloney Davey Bate Miller Maric Petterd Newton Green Jamar Grimes James MacDonald Jones J. Spencer(relief ruck while Jamar rest forward or bench) Scully Dunn (Go Forward/ relief midfielder) Emg. Martin Gysberts Strauss Out of our best 22 I think are Morton, Jurrah, Watts (eventually), Sylvia We should have an edge in the ruck and without S. Taylor, Franklin, Bateman, Burgoyne, C. Young, Brad Sewell, Cyril Rioli (OP) and co we have to be a slight chance

Grimes did not play did he? He is probably our best player. Kerr and Cox are established AFL stars on their way back from injury. But yeah seriously not beating West Coast at Casey is not great form. Did I hear Sylvia went off early? What were the problems from those that were there? Still not enough inside 50s? Obviously horrendous finishing in front of goal early too. 34 scoring shots to 26 is not a huge blow out but it does not sound like our defence was terribly effective either. Obviously they need to give up on S. Martin as a forward and send him back to full back on the gorillas where he has played his best footy and then give Newton 5 games to save his career at Full Forward.

of our best possible 22 it would be nice to consider Bruce, Bate, Watts, Jamar and on their 2008 form Woenamarri and Garland for this game. The forward line relies heavily on the Jurrahcane..........probably Green will camp there for a fair bit too. I think in 2009 the forward line was quite efficient given the number of inside 50s the team averaged per game, now that the midfield appears to have been bolstered (see Scully, Trengove Grimes) maybe the forward line can score more from more opportunity. Would love to see a regular forward line of: Sylvia Bate Watts Green Jurrah Woenamarri Maybe get Morton resting there too.............

Good Point. And if Panos is an accurate kick for Goal he has something on Newton who we apparently have to 'Re - rookie". I would also like M. Thorpe ahead of Meesen if that was possible and his attitude and fitness were deemed appropriate. Hopefully the Gold Coast can rookie Meesen and Newton for us. Joel McDonald had an excellent 2008 and may enable Davey, Grimes or Bruce to play more attacking roles if he plays down back.

B: J MCDONALD WARNOCK FRAWLEY HB: GRIMES RIVERS JOEL MCDONALD C:MORTON MOLONEY BRUCE HF: WATTS BATE SYLVIA F: WOENAMARRI JURRAH GREEN FOLL: JAMAR DAVEY JONES INTER: SCULLY TRENGOVE GARLAND MARTIN EMG: PETTERD TAPSCOTT BENNELL

By delisting these two players and pledging to rookie them does this mean we have to take them with our first two picks in the rookie draft if they are not taken in the PSD? What if some club with mid to late picks wanted them in the Rookie Draft and we could use our higher picks on Mitch Thorpe, Dylan Grimes and Panos? I really would not mind getting some more young untried talent onto our list than these guys who have been given every opportunity in the last 2 years. Anyone have any ideas how this will work if say Hawthorn tells Meesen they plan to Rookie him?????

Who do you go for?

Talia I rate him but I don't think he is what we need which is a classy ruckman who wants the ball in his hands and a bullocking key power forward are what we need. I.e. Panos/ Mitch Thorpe and Vardy Talia looks very similar to Morton, Watts, Frawely, Garland etc Our backline is stocked Martin, Frawley, Rivers, Warnock and Garland can all play keyback and I will be very much looking forward to what they can do with a better than breakeven midfield! Need a forward or Ruck

1991 - 1993 A Jakovich 1994 The Ox, G Lyon 1998 S Tingay 2000 J Farmer 2002-2006 A Yze, T Johnstone 2009 Sylvia then Jurrah and Grimes

Miller, I would love to see him go, preferably this year but at worst next year. There is just not room in our forward line for him. Bate is a penetrating kick Miller is not, he presents pretty well across half forward as well. Sylvia is just as imposing from a hardness perspective as Miller and a thumping kick. We obviously want to develop the talents of Watts and Jurrah. Stef Martin or Mark Jamar will rest down forward so there is the risk we could become top heavy. His Kicking will never come good. Once you get to about 15 years of age your kicking action is pretty set. He is not a good decision maker as a result of his kicking problems and this leads to him being indecisive. He has games where he does very little. Essentially he is an athlete playing football with a big endurance tank and a pretty good attitude but we are kidding ourselves if he is worth having around still. Buckley I think is worth another year (quick and a long kick) to see if he can get his body right but he is pretty expendable too.

It would be interesting to see what the Russian would have produced this year if injuries had not stopped him from playing so much this year. When he has played he has been good. It would be great from a flexibility point of view if Mark Jamar and Stef Martin could rotate between Ruck, Forward Pocket and the bench and then play another midfielder. I think our first choice forward line 2010 would be: Bate Watts Sylvia Woenamarri Jurrah ?????? Davey if not needed upfield or Maric if in form could play there or if we wanted to go tall we could play Martin or Jamar there.

He is one of the first picked these days. Provided he does not do dumb undisciplined stuff on and off the field. Hopefully in 2010 he can go through the middle more as he gives our midfield something that Jones and McLean don't have .........speed. And then rest forward like a Brad Johnson. Onya Col.

http://www.contestedfooty.com/search/label/Draft I agree. With Scully and Trengove. We add two under 18 captains. It is like adding Ablett and Bartel like the Cats did in 2001. My only issue is the Scott Thompson type go home factor of Trengove. Need to get Rivers etc to get around him. Hopefully the club can move his family over and any missus he may have. Imagine the Jack attack with Watts, Grimes and Trengove! This is my MFC 2012 premiership team: Frawley Warnock Garland Grimes Rivers Strauss Blease Scully Petterd Sylvia Watts Bate Woenamarri Jurrah Maric Jamar Morton Trengove Inter (from) Davey McLean S. Martin Moloney Jones Dunn

Well said our midfield is a long way from St.k, geel, doggies and carlton.