drdrake

Is a 199cm ruckman worth having? A kid that size will dominate at their under age competitions. I would rather pick up a fast skillful midfielder with our first pick and then look to see if there is a 205+cm ruckman avaliable later in the draft. Ruckman are over rated, all you want is someone that will give you a contest. The theory that a ruckman gives you first hands on the ball may be right for a small percentage of ruck contests but really its the midfield being able to read the contest that makes them look good. Would Cox be so highly rated if he didn't have Judd, Kerr, Cousins and co at his feet, look at Spider Everate one of the best tap ruckmans for years, no sucess at St kilda, none at Hawthorn and Sydney have gone backwards this year, so does having the best ruckman win you a flag, IMO No, the midfielders around him do. We are two quality fast midfielders away from having a midfield good enough to compete with the top teams midfields. Then we need to find a tall defender and CHF but it may not be this draft. Our main priority is to inject some explosive pace into our midfield, look at Mclean, Jones, Sylvia, Bruce, Green, TJ, Moloney all are one paced with no explosive speed of the mark, they receive the ball and in a contested situation can't accelerate out of the congestion. I'm not talking about how fast thy can run 100m its the first 5-10m thats important.

IMO it is down to two, Sheedy and Connolly, I get the impression from the clubs comments that they still think our list can be up there challenging for a flag over the next 1-3 years. Personally, I think we are a long way of winning a premiership and although a rebuild is well under way we are still 4-5 years away with our younger players to be a real threat. Saying that though if Sheedy or Connolly can get our best 22 on the park and playing at their best we should be able to finish 4-6 on the ladder in 2008, and hopefully our younger players continue to improve we inject a couple of KPP and a ruck in in 4-5 years we are ready to win a flag.

Do we even know if Col was drinking, he could have been sober and Mcphee deserved to be hit.

White has been bad all year, he plays for himself, hit outs he does win usually are ineffective, hates the contested pssession and loves standing on the wing be himself.

Bond is a worry, at AFL level as a Player or coach has he had finals success, or been at clubs with big winning cultures. That is what we need a winnimg culture at our club hen losing is not acceptable. Sheedy comes from a club that he instilled tgis and Mckenna has been around it at the Eagles and now the Pies. Connolly didn't have it a freo and it was his downfall in the end. So, IMO the choice is down to two, Riley is ND mark 2 so we need either Sheedy or Mckenna

I thought TJ with Jones were the only midfielders that played well in the first half, when he came we looked a better side. Why would you start Brock, Sylvia and TJ on the bench, our two best midfielders and a hard footballer, then have Jamar in a forward pocket, one thing is for sure Riley will not coach us next year, he is to much like ND

Proud of what, the fact that with 22 players fit we didn't show anything and out two best midfielders started on the bench. One half of footy doesn't make me proud of the performance.

Jones is a good footballer, but he is not superman, he needs to learn which he will that it is sometimes better just to kick it blindly forward than try to break a tackle. Jones, Mclean, Mcdonald and TJ had good nights even better considering our two ruckman got smashed by two very average ruckman. Jeff White has to have a good hard look at himself and stop playing for Jeff White and easy stats. Jamar is gone. Why did ND and now Mark Riley want to end Neita's carear, this bloke is a super strong player that is never outmarked, play him closer to goal, tonight he was starting from about 30m out like a second CHF, play him out of the goal square with a leading Newton, if you cant hit the lead kick it long to the top of the sqare and get players front and square to rove, neita will mark it or bring it to ground, but kick it long and move it quickly. Bate wasn't fit got a hit early and stuggled for the rest of the night, the question needs to be raised why rush him back, a fit Miller would have offered more

Two out of Biz, Ferguson, Holland and Warnock will go, Biz is a dead certainty to go, Warnock is struggling at Sandy and Ferguson looked OK last night. Holland although good isn't getting any younger and a shoulder to a big man could be the end.

Bit harsh on TJ, I thought when he came on he worked his backside off and was one of our better players. White and Jamar got beaten by to very average ruckman tinight, Jeff White is one of the most selfish footballers at the MFC, would be nice if he put his body on the line like our skipper does week in week out and not just get easy touches standing by himself on the wing.

Mclean will play, Frawley won't we wil have enough talls to cover Rocca and Cloke, Ferguson will get Cloke and Carroll to Rocca, Bode to Davis, Wheatley to Thomas, Bell to Didak(if he plays) and Green back there again, therfore my line up Bode Carroll Bell Wheatley Ferguson Green Johnstone Jones Sylvia Pickett Holland Robertson Newton Neitz Davey White Mcdonald Mclean Jamar Dunn Brown Bruce Smash them in the midfield and we don't need to worry about their forwards.

We haven't had many games when our best back six have played together IMO these are Whelan Carroll Bell, Wheatley Rivers Bartram. Also our best Midfielders in Mclean, McDonald, Bruce, Sylvia, Jones, Green, Johnstone, Moloney, Bate haven't been on the park together this year. Our two best forwards Neita and Robertson haven't been fully fit since the Hawthorn game. I still believe if we can get our best 22 fit and playing together we can beat any team,

Thats Byron's role if they do keep him, he needs to stay in the forward line and not in the midfield rotation

Isn't footy an easy game, we played last night a solid traditional game style. One on One, three talls up forward, kick long into the forward 50 and get our roving smaller players to the front of the contest. We had a lot less interchanges it looked like work your buts of and when you are tired come off. This is attacking style is what our current team does best, note to new coach please encourage our attacking style, don't try to make us something we are not. The midfield was good with two of our top tier midfileders out, add Bruce and Mclean to what we saw last night, thinks are looking good, someone with a bit of speed would be nice as well.

I agree with getting Warnock a 200+cm ruckman but he would cost us a lot more than Murphy who is playing well at WAFL level. I don't think he is worth a early second round pick though, should be able to get him with our third round pick.

Our midfield and forward set ups are crap, Neita should own from 25m to goal line same as Alistar Lynch did. The problem Neita has is the forwards around him run towards him and clog his space and Neita always has a couple of defenders and usually another MFC player jumping all over him. Our forward line is always crowded and our ball usage and spedd we move the ball is the worst in the AFL, I would hate to be a forward at the MFC right now.

We can't go in with Carroll, Holland, Feguson, Miller, Frawley and Jamar. You would expect 2 of these to come out or one to play forward.

Miller lost his attack/aggression, he was a lead up chf that wasn't afraid to through his weight around, but since he got reported a couple of times his attack at the contest has died. He ran in straight lines and made players get out of his way, demanded the footy and until he finds that toughness again he is going to struggle. He is a shadow of what he was whether it is a ND thing or a Miller mind set thing he has to sought it out or his AFL carear will be over if not this year next.

Not a bad spine Frawley, Rivers, Mclean, Bate/Dunn, Newton. Good midfield Mclean, Sylvia, Jones, Moloney, Buckley, Petterd, Bartram, Bell. Three of them also will make good defenders in Bell, Bartram and Petterd We all know what we need A key Foward, Defender, Ruck and a fast highly skilled midfielder. I don't think CJ or Warnock will be around when this group is at its peak in 3-4 years.

What do you expect from a young player, when the senior players around you are the weak and soft, Neita and McDonald are exempt but the others have been soft for years and getting worse. Bate will be a good lead up HFF, he doesn't have the strength mentally yet to hold down the key CHF role.

Questions needs to be asked of our conditioning coaches, we hire a sprint coach and we are the slowest team in the AFL, our injuries whether soft tissue , joint our bone has been huge this year. I know that footy is now a running mans game but you still need to have a physical pressence about you. A few of us raise serious concerns when we appointed the new conditioning coach and these concerns have been justified. You need someone who can condition a footballer to play football, not to be a sprinter or a long distance runner to do what these guys do best condition them to win the footy and to do the 1%ers. We get tackled to easy, we aren't strong enough to break these, we don't accellerate when we get the footy, break away from the contest with a burst of speed, we win the footy and get held up for another ruck contest until our opposition get their hands on the ball and run away from us.

The end of the day our senior top line players are inconsistant and lay down when things don't come easy. I'm talking about the players that have been playing week in week out since 2000. We always have excuses 2001 we got ahead of ourselves these players that are still playing today thought they were better than they actually are, so did the club and the supporters 2002 no spine, no KPP defenders or CHF, whats changed? 2003 Injuries, but we still had the same core players going around as we do today 2004 Geez we looked good at round 18 top of the table to lose our next 5 straight 2005 How good are we we break our odd year drought to be knocked out first week 2006 Mid year flyers to only just make the 8 and we get happy about winning one final 2007 Injuries again but like 2003 we still have the same players who are not injured, they are selfish only worried about their own stats and demand high pay cheques from the club. Our current group of senior players have under acheived, maybe like the club these players convinced us the supporters that they are the real deal but everytime it gets to hard these players have gone missing for 7 years. It's time for the oldest sporting club in the world to stop accepting excuses and defeat. If we dont we will still be chasing our next flag in 20 years.

I think we have to assess whether we truely believe we are a premiership chance with our current list of senior players. Even if we had our best 22 fit and playing next year can we win the flag, IMO no we have a list that has the ability to play finals but not win a flag. Do we then accept finishing 5-8th over the next 1-2 years or do we start to build a team that is 3-4 years can have a red hot crack at the flag. Our core young players look good, Jones, Mclean, Sylvia, Bate, Bartram, Petterd, Newton, Frawley, Buckley add in Rivers and Davey thats 11 players that look to me as good solid players that should be playing at their combined peak in 3-4 years. I want the MFC to win a flag not finish bottom half of the 8 and make up numbers therefor we need to make some tough calls Trade Green Jamar and Miller(if someone takes them)or delist one Offer up TJ or Bruce see if we can get a top 10 pick for them Delist/Retire Bizz Brown Ferguson Neville Pickett Our picks will be at worse 4, 21, 24, 40, 56 at best 2, 18, 20, 36, 52 we should aim to at least get another second round pick or hope someone offers a top 10 fot TJ or Bruce.

Voss wont coach Melb. I would like to see Guy McKenna but I have a fealing that our board things our list is still capable of winning a premiership in the next two years and will go for a Pagan or Sheedy for a short term fix. Our list isn't that bad but with Neitz, Robbo, Yze, McDonald, White set to retire in the next couple of seasons plus Pickett, Brown, Ward, Holland, Bizell all 30 or turning 30 will also be gone. That nine players with a lot of experience we have to replace in 1-3 years. With three tried coacches two with multipul premiership success will the club go short term our take the risk on a current assistant or an untried coach. Personally you would have to question the desire of SHeed's and Pagan both around 60yo and have nothing left to prove. Compare that to a Mckenna, Rattern and co all hungry to catch and make a carrear out of it. Tough call but if I was a coach this wuld be my order of the clubs Fremantle, good list heaps of money great facilities will accept just making finals Melbourne, Ageing top end of list but IMO has better upside with the kids coming through, Money is tight Poor facilities, the club needs a flag Essendon poor list money to burn great facilities will always e compared to sheedy Carlton second worst lsit in the comp, besides a rich president the club has no money, supporters think they should always play finals My tips on how will get the jobs Fremantle- Sumich ex South Freo boy won a flag with them a few years ago Melbourne- McKenna my pick but I can see our board picking Pagan or Sheedy Essendon-Daniher Carlton-Voss

Maybe the club is under Salary cap pressure also. The club wouldn't of budgeted on so many players being used, you might find guys like Bizz, PJ, CJ maybe on low base but high per game rate. Could be clutching at straws but it may be a reason. The club is also trying to find a fringe player that other clubs may want. Key defender Ferguson, Ruck Jamar, give them some game time hopefully they show something and we can get a third round pick for them.