Ron Burgundy

Bloody hell. I hope this is not the case. He was pick 12 in a good draft - I hope he turns out not to be another Molan selection.

It'll be interesting to see who Neeld ultimately puts in the leadership group. I expect there will be some changes. For instance, will Davey make it? Is Jones an outside chance for Captain? Jamar looks a chance of being elevated, as does JT. One would think Neeld will use the leadership group as the next statement to the list and externally. We'll see then what Neeld actually thinks of Watts and Davey.

Mark Neeld is the best appointment this club has made since Norm Smith.

Completely agree with your post - although I'm not sure Bennell and Gysberts were that left field. I had thought we essentially stole Bennell from West Coast who wanted to pick him up with the very next pick in that draft, and Gysberts was also being tracked by Sydney and Geelong - just not the 'in the know' folk on Demonland.

Really good read - thanks. Despite being an ugly, frustrating season, I feel as though the club has ended 2011 in much better shape than it entered 2011. Garry Lyon seems to have been the major architect of the changes that needed to be made, and the person with the ability to attract the quality of people we needed to have at the club. I now have high expectations for season 2012, and I suspect Neeld would want supporters to feel that way.

C+ doesn't sound great. However, I seem to recall that Rohan Bail was considered to be a bit of a surprise pick for us, even though he was pick 64 and our final pick in that draft. To my mind, our picks this year have a similar feel to the Bail selection (ie, bit left field, harder, more mature bodies etc). Presumably, those same recruiters who expressed some surprise at the MFC picking Bail at the time would now think he's turned out to be a pretty good pick. Some of those recruiters presumably also thought Sellar was a bargain when he slipped to pick 14 or so in the national draft that the Crows picked him. Now they seem to think we went wholly left field in picking him at about 54 in a weak draft. I also recall that Maric was considered by some to be a bargain when we picked him up at about 21. We just de-listed him. It's all over the shop IMO. I think Ascobar has summed it up - 'time will tell'. That said, it'd be interesting to know who Prendergast had his eyes on in this year's national draft.

Mark Neeld could trump Neil Craig, but I totally agree that getting Neil Craig was a simply massive coup for this club. I recall Paul Roos saying On The Couch earlier this year - shortly after Craig resigned from the Crows in fact - that all of the coaches in the competition rated Craig as an absolutely elite coach who enjoyed the respect of everyone without reservation. Roos said, in his time coaching the Swans, the Crows were amongst the most consistently professional, well drilled teams in the comp - and this simply reflected how professional Craig was/is. IMO Neeld + Craig + Misson will prove to be an amazing trifecta for the MFC.

IMO we now have an elite set up in terms of coaching staff, fitness staff and facilities. Unlike previous years, we now have games plugged into many of our younger players. We have also plugged some of the gaps on our list, not necessarily with great players, but with mature, hard bodies who will provide a decent contest. We have a pretty good draw, and the supporters are really behind the club and excited about 2012. To say, definitively, we will not play finals in 2012 at this stage in the pre-season, particularly given the recent developments, is not cool. I don't think anyone, including the Oracle, is saying we're certainties - but we're definitely in the mix for a finals birth. It beggars belief to suggest otherwise.

Great assessment, Oracle - thanks. I put 200 bucks on Sylvia to win the Brownlow at the start of last season (2011). He let me down. Notwithstanding his suspension in round one, and his innate ability to promise heaps and deliver a lot less, I am still going to put another wad of cash on Sylvia to win the Brownlow in 2012. So I hope you're right. I agree with your prediction as to where the MFC will finish too. The radical overhaul of our coaching and fitness department seems to be delivering much needed momentum. Also the new-found commitment to mental and physical hardness (including the addition of several more mature, hard bodies) will hopefully ensure a more consistently competitive outfit next year. I think we may turn a few heads - hopefully we get off to a really good start to the season. I also think North may be in the mix. Their midfield is starting to look elite, and Scott is a good coach.

Absolutely agree with every single thing stated above. To suggest Green doesn't put his head over the ball is a disgrace. In 2010, he was arguably the bravest footballer in the country.

Just saw the thread about Davey. Perhaps he will be the small forward Brown needs. Is he training with the forward group? Also, anyone able to give an update on how Lawrence is coming on? Could he play an effective role in a big forward line at AFL level in 2012?

Brown has a hard job next year IMO. He obviously needs to implement a structure that accommodates Clark, Watts, Jurrah with Martin and possibly Jamar rotating through, but he has no obvious small forward (perhaps Davey) and a lot of mid size target type forwards to also use in an effective way: Howe, Petterd, Green etc. In short, it seems to me that he has a lot of potential targets, though no crumbers.

Season 2011 was clearly the season we had to have. Probably getting ahead of myself here, but with Neeld, Craig, Misson and the coaching team they've now assembled, it feels like we are about to enter a period of sustained success.

Travis Johnstone. That third quarter in the semi final against the Crows in 2002 was the best quarter of football I have ever seen anyone play. He was inspired - no other footy player in the comp could have done what he did in that game. Can't believe we lost it. But he went missing too often. So sad really because he had was a bloody good player. Should have remained a Dee all his career, and should've achieved much more than he did.

Nicholson. That said, I've no idea what the form of Couch or Magner is like. It seems to me that some of you think Magner and Couch are ahead of some of our national draft picks to get an AFL game. That being the case, it's interesting to see how the rookie draft is evolving. As an aside, how is Kelvin Lawrence developing? Anyone able to comment?

Good pick up IMO. He could literally rip a VFL game apart - just couldn't ever consistently bring that form to the AFL.

I agree with you Roost It. I only started this thread to initiate a discussion about the change in our list strategy - I know it's all hypothetical and, in every respect, it is what it is. The thing I find interesting is the clarity of vision that Neeld (and his new assistants) appear to have brought regarding the gaps in our list and the desire to plug them as quickly as possible. Given Prendergast's comments on Dee TV, it would seem that we would've recruited very different players this off season, but he received clear instructions from Neeld to bring in hard bodies. Prendergast suggested his team pretty well had to do an about face to accommodate the new coach's instructions and plan, which he said wasn't easy. Despite an ordinary season, I cannot recall a more exciting post season in all the time I've supported this club.

Perhaps I'd overlooked the fact that: 1. there have been some interesting and radical changes to our list strategy in the last two months; 2. this is a discussion forum; and 3. it is the off season. As an aside, I'm not suggesting for a second that we have a poor list - in fact, to the contrary I am very excited about the next few years. I suspect our list would look quite different though had Neeld been at the helm for a bit longer than the last two months though. I also suspect the blow outs wouldn't have occurred quite as often under this new regime. Neeld seems to have an aggressive focus on developing a hard edge (mentally and physically) - all speculation though, as we haven't kicked a ball in anger under the new regime yet. We'll soon see.

Coupled with the clear preference for mature, hard bodies this draft period, I found the interview with Barry Prendergast about the rookie draft (on the official website) quite interesting. Prendergast clearly stated that the coaching panel this year pretty well told him to recruit mature, tall, hard bodied players or tough as nails, hard bodied inside midfielders who could win their own ball. Prendergast all but conceded that it represented a clear departure from the focus of previous years. Perhaps it's because we have so many light bodied 'talented' players on our list that Neeld has sought to beef it up. However, it's also possible that Neeld favours a different type of player to the types we've recruited in recent years - hence, the focus on tough, big bodied players all of a sudden. Made me think - if Neeld was at the helm from, say, 2008 - how different would our list look now. For instance: - would we have drafted Hurley instead of Watts - would we have kept Junior (mature body) on the list for at least another year - would we have drafted Tapscott at pick 11 in that draft (I suspect Neeld would love Tappy) - would we have drafted Scully (skinny runt) over Dustin Martin or Gary Rohan (hard nuts) - clearly we would've drafted Trengove (he fits the bill for everyone) - would we have drafted Jack Darling over Lucas Cook Obviously this is all hypothetical and largely irrelevant now, but to me at least it's interesting to think how different our list may now look. That said, I reckon it looks a lot more imposing than it did about three months ago. Anyone thinking along the same lines?

There's no doubt Neeld is serious about making the MFC a hard team to play against. I've absolutely loved the post season this year.

Would be very happy if we pick up Tuck as a rookie. Would actually also be happy to see Valenti re-rookied by the MFC, particularly if it disrupts Essendon's plans.

You'd have to think so. He's been in the system for a while now, and he is getting older. I'm hoping for big things from Morton in 2012. Misson could be just what he needed at this stage of his career.

You little bewdy. Come on Jim!

Perhaps - but I don't think pick 54 and $60K a year would've got Dawes to the MFC.

Given the recent recruitment of Clark and Sellar, and the number of young talls already on our list, I'd like to see the club stack up on pacy midfielders. It seems you can never have enough of them these days.