Ron Burgundy

Everyone here is in furious agreement about the state of our midfield. However, we should be able to address the midfield very effectively THIS draft period. I hope this will entail recruiting some very high quality junior mids and an established midfielder from another club. However, we cannot kick a winning score at the moment. This is not only due to our poor midfield - it's due to the poor state of our forward line. For instance, I think we had more inside 50s than the Lions recently and got belted. Mitch Clark has single handedly kept us in games this year. His absence has shown how important imposing talls are in a modern day forward line, and unfortunately also to our team in particular. And that's why the club is having a red hot crack at getting Cloke. If we landed him, literally overnight we'd have one of the most dangerous forward lines in the competition. But that doesn't mean the club won't also focus on the engine room. It actually surprises me to see any debate on this. At all.

That could very well be true. I am not at all knowledgeable on the WAFL or its players. Was simply speaking to someone who appeared to be in the know, and he simply said this kid could be a steal. Hence, just wanted to put his name on the MFC radar.

Cloke + Boak + 2 classy young mids with picks 3 and 12 + Viney under F-S + a great Misson-led pre-season in 2013 (Mitch Clark and others raring to go) = simply mammoth transformation of on-field performance in 2013. Unfortunately it seems Cloke will re-sign with the Pies shortly. Hope the club has a red hot crack at Boak. What other mature age talls could the club look to snare (assuming Cloke stays)?

I expect you know my views on young Tom, old dee! This kid however is apparently a team player. I was merely trying to emphasise that he has good character. Not for a moment suggesting he's another Boba Fett.

Whatever happens with Cloke, I love one simple fact. And that is this - we clearly have loads of cap, and picks, and the intent to get serious in hunting the quality players in the league. In short, we are becoming the hunters. Our offers now scare some of the big clubs. This is a lot different to previous seasons where we're either not taken seriously when big names are discussed or we have to pay 'overs' simply to retain our own senior players. Despite our ladder position, I'm actually enjoying this aspect of the year.

Apparently this kid has character in spades. Doesn't drink, doesn't party, lives with his parents - in short, a very humble young man. That said, this is ALL hearsay - I've never met him. I think he ranked in the top 5 for 400 metre sprints at the AFL Combine too - so he's not slow. And he's a ball magnet.

And you say I've got my head in the sand?

Could be our next Magner. Clearance specialist. Racking up possessions in the WAFL like nobody's business. Nailed the AFL Combine last year. St Kilda thought he lacked pace, but his stats suggest otherwise. Perhaps a potential rookie selection for next year? Mark HUTCHINGS (West Perth)

This is the worst post I have ever read. And that's saying something. Well done tonatopia.

I had thought the club rates Evans quite highly. He's been injured all year, so some of the assessments on this thread don't seem to founded on fact. Why do some people here not rate Evans?

It's clear to me that Neeld is a good coach. His methodology is there for all to see - in short, he has a disciplined focus on the fundamentals. He has a system which he will implement, but this will take TIME. Neeld has come into our club (less than one year ago - think about that), quickly assessed the list and the club culture, and determined what needed to change. He immediately recruited some mature, hard bodies (some of whom are already in our best 21). He changed the leadership group - fundamentally. It wasn't just about youth, it was about type - it's about building a professional club culture. He immediately secured one of the best fitness guys in the business in Dave Misson. He also convinced Neil Craig to buy into the journey/approach - and Craig was apparently fielding offers from left, right and centre. Craig's no idiot, so this in itself has got to say something. (And, for what it's worth, Malthouse also rates Neeld as highly as anyone - and he's worked alongside him, day and night, for years.) Neeld then convinced Mitch Clark to buy into the journey. And Rawlings. And Leigh Brown. I have never seen so many quality types come to this club in the face of competing offers from other clubs. And much of this can be attributed to Mark Neeld. This guy has the goods. Of that I am absolutely convinced. I'm not sitting on the fence with this 'only time will tell' stuff. We're bloody lucky to have him. And, as to all the holes that even Blind Freddy can see that so many people are cleverly pointing out here - cop a tip, I reckon they're very obvious to Mark Neeld and his match review committee too.

You bewdy.

Good games - Colin Sylvia and Jamie Bennell. Well done.

Will be stoked if we win this. Cannot see how we'll kick a winning score though. Clark is without doubt our most important player.

Would love to see Junior back at the club in some capacity. If we landed Ling, I'd be absolutely stoked - I don't think we could hope for a better midfield coach.

My thinking too Old Dee. I was slightly nervous about this decision when we delisted him - he appeared not to have been given too many opportunities under Bailey. Clearly we needed a small forward. Still do. I'm now hoping that will be Aaron Davey.

Why? As an aside, would Addam Maric be in our best 21 had we not delisted him?

Picking up a couple of Shaun Griggs' style players would be fantastic.

Dunno about that. Most of these guys have more ticker than I expect you/we think. Lack of fitness produces fatigued decision-making and affects skills badly. My point is in relation to players such as Cook and Bennell. For instance, I don't think the current regime would've picked Cook over Darling had they had the choice, but I suspect Cook is actually a far better chance of becoming a very good AFL player now that Misson has the reigns on the sports science department rather than the previous regime (ironically). Likewise Bennell - I think he has class in spades, but he goes missing all too often. Strikes me as having a decent character about him, so I expect there are other factors at play. Hence, it leads me to suspect that this may have something to do with his conditioning and development under the previous regime. It takes time for this to change, and I'm hoping he will. IMO he has the DNA of a very, very good AFL player.

Yep - thanks for the heads up on that.

The other thing to remember is that this list was a long way off the pace in terms of AFL standard fitness and strength less than a year ago. It will take about three pre-seasons to get it up to an elite level. That doesn't mean the list lacks talent though. Give Misson some proper time with some of these (currently) maligned players, and some of you may take a different view of their relative worth in a couple of years from now.

Anyone know how the pre-season draft order works this year? Is it simply commensurate with where teams finish on the ladder, or do GWS get a priority over and above their (likely) second last placing? For instance, if no deals with Boak get done during trade week and he nominates for the pre-season draft, would we be able to get him with pick 3 (assuming we finished third last on the ladder)? I expect it'd be unlikely that we'd get Boak with pick 3 in that scenario - but we might be able to land an okay mature bodied player in the pre-season draft this year.

Some of the comments on this thread are just fanciful. How does the club delist Davey for instance? I had thought he was contracted until the end of next season. Morton? Some people here may not rate him (I think he has upside still), but on any construction the club would try to trade him if they wished to move him on - why simply delist him? All clubs are now looking at the VFL for some effective, mature bodied depth players. Bate and Dunn, by VFL standards, more than fit that category - and that's why I understand Neeld stopped Bate being traded to the Bulldogs. They have a role IMO. Not everyone will be Buddy Franklin. The lack of evidence based thinking that often occurs here is as troubling as some of the performances of our players at times. It seems that some of you treat list management like a board game (say, a kid's version of Monopoly). I think it's a bit more scientific than playing favourites each week. I trust Neeld (and his crew) will have worked out the gaps in our list by now, will have assessed the relative merits of each of our current players, and will go into this year's draft period with a solid plan as to what and who we need. I expect the wish list would include classy mids (one established), a small forward and another tall marking forward. And, in this regard, I expect the mindset is more about how to get these much needed players onto the list rather than simply to exit 10-12 players who are currently on our list. The latter is merely a by-product of the need to get the new required players, and any trades I expect will be influenced by the deals needed to get that done.

The exact opposite to what Bailey was doing. You're not going to be competitive for 22 rounds fielding a TAC Cup team each week. I think GWS have recruited very well - hats off to them IMO. I had thought they'd be way off the pack this year, but they're not.

Mitch Clark. We actually had a lot of inside 50s yesterday. I reckon he would've kicked 5 or 6 goals. He typically kicks 4 or 5 with absolutely no good service and far fewer inside 50s.