Doggo

I'd like to see him rested also, for the rest of the season. If he is carrying a persistent injury that is affecting his performance, which does look like the case, there's no point playing him. You'd think his confidence is absolutely shot at the moment, as his body can't do what his mind is telling him to, and i'm sure he knows he's playing bad footy. In many ways, he's losing the respect and support of a lot of Melbourne fans, as well as the football-following community. I've heard many people, from being in pubs, to watching games at the ground, or just in general chit-chat with mates, say "he's an absolute hack" or something along those lines, this year. Now, for him to go from being widely respected as a quality footballer and future leader of the club, to having that be popular opinion of him, in the space of 2 years... something has to be up. And it can't be good for his confidence either. Get him under the knife, let him do a full rehab, and prepare him for next year's pre-season. Cue in the rack, Brock.

Maric didn't do enough IMO to deserve a call up. Granted he was injured early and played with considerable discomfort, he struggled to get into the match and made some silly fundamental errors (like kicking into the man on the mark when having a shot). I'd persist with Jetta against the Eagles for now. I thought he was one of our better players against Brisbane and showed a lot more than he has in previous games. His defensive pressure was great, and if he had kicked straight, would've made the bests. To drop him after his best showing to date wouldn't do his confidence much good, and elevating Maric after a mediocre performance can't be good either.

I would be all for it, absolutely. We'd be crazy not to! If they agreed to a straight swap of pick 2 for him, why wouldn't we take it? Because of "rumoured drug issues"? Pfffft! They would be crazy to not expect more than just pick 2, as is suggested here, and we'd be crazy not to take that deal. Buddy is an out-and-out gun, and despite his poor(er) form this year, has his best footy ahead of him. It's a scary thought really. A KPF who's guaranteed to kick 70+ goals in his "bad" years, who has already won a Coleman and kicked 100 in a season, is a premiership player, and is still only in his early 20's. He is EXACTLY what we need. And from a marketing perspective, Buddy is just about the most well recognised player in the league right now. Could potentialy add thousands of new young members. There is absolutely no way they would consider trading him at all. But if, in this fantasy internet world of hypotheticals, they were willing to entertain a trade, it would have to be pick 2, plus a considerable sweetener of some sort. The Hawks seem to have very little depth in their defensive key tall stocks, where as, believe it or not, we actually have a surplus in that department. You'd think Hawks would want at least pick 2 AND one of our young key backs, plus perhaps an upgrade of a later pick, for Buddy. So for instance: Pick 2 + young key defender + our 3rd round pick, for Buddy + their 3rd round pick I would make the initial offer: Jared Rivers + Pick 2 + Pick 33, for Lance Franklin + Pick 41 . See if they have a nibble at that, and work from there. Rivers works well in the trade because he is a proven player, still under 25, has won a Rising Star award, and despite being injury prone, is well respected in football and has a built a reputation as a courageous and talented defender. They know what they're getting with Rivers, who despite popular opinion on these boards, still has his best footy ahead of him. More realistically, they would likely target Frawley, or even Garland (despite missing a whole year). Stefan Martin could be a smokey, because of his huge upside, but that's more wishful thinking on my behalf than anything. I'd be shattered if we ended up trading Garland or Frawley (as they have superstar written all over them), and very disappointed if it were Rivers or Martin. But if it meant getting a proven, marquee player in his early 20's, that fits our specific need for a key forward, i think i'd be able to cope. Would you entertain such a trade??

From what i've seen, read and heard about Hughes since he first came to the club in '06, athleticism is one of his strengths (unlike Valenti). His leap is exceptional and he's supposedly one of the quicker guys at the club. Peter German has made note of his great endurance and ability to run opponents ragged a few times this season, so engine shouldn't really be a problem for him. Apparently he was sick with the flu all week and could barely train prior to the Williamstown match, so that may have taken it's toll on his stamina and pace on Saturday. His size is something more of an issue because, like Robbo, with his leap and strong marking, he tends to be used as a marking target a lot, despite being just 186cm. However, unlike undersized KPP's like Robbo or Bate, his agility at ground level is good and he plays small and crumbs as well. As you already pointed out, his defensive pressure and second efforts were outstanding, and he looks like he's always trying to get "into the game", with one-percenters, blocks, tackles etc, even when things aren't going well up forward. The major issues with Danny over the last 3 years have been his ability to stay injury-free, and a very light build when he first arrived at the club. He seems to have got his body right this year, gained some kilos and has the build to withstand the rigours of AFL, and is playing consistent good footy at Casey. Time to give him his chance now i say. I reckon if that snap at goal in the dying minutes had bounced the right way and he won the match for Casey, he'd be a shoe-in for debut this week. He's quite likely to have more of an immediate impact than JW or LJ, because he is no longer physcially immature, and Robbo to me looks like he's lost his 'spark'. I know i'd rather see Hughes played forward than Dunn or Newton, who've had opportunity in the past to perform at AFL level and failed miserably.

Whilst i agree with your point, just wanted to make note that Martin wasn't actually taken as a rookie. He was our #1 pick is the Pre Season Draft before the '08 season. Therefore, not a rookie, as, like Jurrah this year, he was on the senior list from the start of his career. Pedantic i know. Sorry.

It would take a massive turn of fortune for us to win 4 more games this year, considering the garbage we've served up in the last 3 weeks. I'll go on the record and say there's NO WAY we'll win 5 this year. Hell, i don't think we'll even win 4. Eagles beat us next week and it's pick 1 & 2 signed sealed and delivered! The Eagles players probably feel like they could win another few games for the rest of this year after beating the Hawks, and they've got the home games in the run home to do it. Winning last night basically tells me that the priority pick is not of huge priority to them anymore. Winning 3 or 4 more games and finishing with 7 or 8 wins this year looks more likely to be their goal now. Even if we beat them at the 'G (which i don't think we will). Relax dee-luded man, it's in the bag!

I'd rather see Hughes given a go in the forward line than Dunn to be honest.

I'm with you on this one. I fail to see why the club would give him a 2nd chance on the rookie list as a 21/22-year-old unless they thought he was good and would be seriously pushing for senior selection this year. This year's all about finding out about the capabilities of the players on our list. Many have been tried without success, others have shown they have a future. If Hughes doesn't get a game, we will never really know where he would have fit in. FWIW, i think he would be far more useful an option up forward than someone like Dunn or even Robbo. He's got pace, a good kick, strong mark and leap, and unlike Robbo, does all the defensive and team things a modern forward should do. What have we got to lose by playing him? I really hope he gets a few games before the year is out.

6. Davey 5. Bruce 4. Grimes 3. Sylvia 2. Frawley 1. Jetta Apologies to Brad Green.

I just wrote a long post summarising each players game, but when i went to add reply, it got wiped out. So [censored] off! Anyway, i'll try again: Bail looks like he won't make it. In the 3 games i've seen him play, i haven't seen anything to suggest why he was drafted. Skills poor, not particularly quick or creative, or strong in any area. As a mature-aged recruit, he should be ahead of where he's at IMO. Bell does a lot of good inside work, but doesn't present hard enough to find space. His poor awareness is evident even at this level. Bartram tagged Brett Johnson, did ok. Disposal was tidier than normal, but he mostly went unnoticed. Cheney got beaten by Stack. Took some courageous marks in the back line, but far too loose, especially early. Dunn played a typical game for him. Too good for this level, but limited in the AFL. A classic 'in-betweener'. Ditto Valenti, although together they were probably our best 2. Hughes looked pretty good, a lucky bounce could've made him the match winner. I hope he's the next to debut, he's a strong mark, quick, nice kick and applies good defensive forward pressure; would probably do better than Robbo has in the last month. Is a good team player, always looking to bring others into the game. Maric hurt his shoulder, but came back on and kicked a goal. Little influence on the match though. McKenzie looked off the boil and didn't attack the ball as well as he has in past games. Spent a lot of time on the bench. Newton kicked 3.3, should have had 5. Missed easy shots, got the hard one plus a couple of cheapies. Much improved defensively, but still prone to the odd brainfade. Needs to dominate in VFL and kick straight if he wants to make it. Strauss really is such a lovely kick. Great goal on the run from the centre square was the highlight of the match for me. Started slow but had a better 2nd half, though probably needs to play a solid 4-quarter performance before being considered for the Dee's. I've no doubt he'll play in red+blue before the years out though. Wheatley's disposal, and commitment, were shocking. Gave up on at least two crucial chases in the last, underdone maybe, but not good enough from someone of his experience. Needs to start planning for life after footy. Zomer reminds me of Nick Smith. Huge unit, not much of a footballer. Looks lazy, doesn't work anywhere near hard enough on the lead. Not sure if i missed anyone else. As a side note, Kyle Matthews is a gun, and his loss in the 4th really hurt the Scorps and basically turned the game. The little fella really is the heart and soul of that team. LMAO... He certainly has "filled out". Silvagni would just about be winning the Casey b&f at the moment, but 3 monumental brainfades in the defensive 50 cost the Scorps the game. Would be pretty down on himself i'd imagine, and I doubt he'll be doing too much kicking in for the rest of the year...

I hope Hughes has a big game and pushes for promotion. As a mature-age rookie, it's now or never.

Yep.

He's such a strong mark for his size, that DB just had to try him out as a forward. Played a blinder in round 1, but his inexperience as a forward was clearly evident in the few matches after. Agree that HB/Wing seems his natural position, but because his disposal is a mixed bag, and he's not the quickest player, guys like Bennell, Grimes and Cheney are all ahead of him in that role. Not sure what his engine is like, but if it's pretty good, a run as a tagger might be the way to go for his further development. Think he has a lot to offer in the future, but in what role, i'm not 100% sure yet. As much as i like him, i'd be open to do a trade to the GC for anything under pick 30 at this stage. I think it's fair to say he has stalled somewhat, and is probably capable of more than he has shown this year.

I'll go on the record and say that i really like Cheney, and think every team needs players like him. Strong, hard, courageous and uncomprimising. A real no-nonsense type footballer. His skills and pace is adequate without being exceptional, but its his attitude towards his footy that has impressed me most. Reminds me a lot of someone like a Glenn Archer, or an Andrew Welsh from Essendon. His overhead marking and spoiling is great for his size, and he never takes a backwards step or squibs a contest. Will never get the wide recognition that his other more highly-rated teammates do/will, but will get his job done every week, and is likely to improve a whole lot over the next 2 to 3 years, without too many people noticing. Will take Wreckers spot for the next 10 years IMO.

The fro-mullet! Nice...

I actually agree with you. I want pick 1 as well, but the point i was trying to make was that, should in the unlikely even that WCE finish below us, it's not the end of the world as we'll still have 2 & 4. Maybe not Scully, but two of the best 4 youngsters in the country. There's a lot of hype around Scully, and from all reports it's completely justified. But he's just one player, and as i said in my earlier post, speculating what could happen in 3-5 years time is pointless really because of the unknown factor of injury, and improvement/drops in form, etc. What if Scully is injured for majority of the next 5 years, and the players that went at 2 or 4 are ripping it up? Drafting and list development is an imprecise art, even when the best player is streets ahead of the next. But back to my original point, a win against the Eagles. Even if we do beat them, it's extremely unlikely that they will beat us to the spoon, even if winning does help open that possibility up. Make no mistake, i'm on the same page as you re: Scully, will be a gun, and i want him in red and blue! But there is still light (and hope) without him.

Off the topic, but I wouldn't take too much notice of the "official" listed heights and weights. Speaking with Chris Connolly earlier in the season, he said Frawley had grown a couple of centimetres and was now officially 195cm, yet the club had no intention of updating the website or list details in that regard. Also that Morton had grown to 194cm. I think the "official" listed heights and weights are more of a guide than anything else. I mean, and i can only speculate an insiders perspective, but if a player has grown a couple of cm's or gained however many kilos during a pre-season, would u really want to let the rest of the football world, including your opponents, know?

Yeah i don't mind it either, although being in the back row (x) on Friday wasn't great. I've gone to games against sides other than Essendon before and had great seats. Obviously it's no 'G, but the atmosphere in the place with the roof on can be electric, you don't get rained on, and it's easy as to get to. I've more of an issue with Essendon's need to fully ticket the fixture, than the ground itself...

What's your point? Speculating finals in 3-4 years time is a pointless task as so much can happen between now and then- with regards to the list, injury, form etc etc. Obviously having WCE miss out on a PP would be beneficial to us in the long run, but if they are really fair dinkum about winning less than 5, they'll make it happen somehow. For MFC, the difference between picks 1 & 2 (WCE win more than 4 and miss PP), 1 & 3 (WCE win less than 5 and get PP - the most likely scenario), and picks 2 & 4 (we finish 15th above WCE) in the grand scheme of things is minimal really. My point is that i'll be happy with 2 picks in the top 5. Period. In all likeliness, even if we do beat the Eagles, we will still probably finish below them (given their run of home games late in the season, and the fact they already have 3 wins and far superior percentage), and have picks 1 & 2 or 1 & 3 intact (dependant on whether they win less than 5). But if we somehow manage to be "out-tanked" and finish 15th instead of 16th, it's not the end of the world by any means. We'll still have picks 2 & 4. Can't complain about having picks 2 and 4, seriously?! This is stating the bleeding obvious, but the only worst case scenario in my mind is to win 5 games. We MUST NOT win 5 games, pure and simple. I honestly can't see us winning 5, even if we come away from the WCE clash with a win. I couldn't care less about what WCE choose to do, to be completely honest.

I think we'll win, and i'm fine with that. As many others have already said, regardless of whether we win or lose against the Eagles, there is very little chance of us winning more than 4 games anyway. I'll take the wins whenever we can get them, which in all honesty, won't be too often this year. Definitely not more than 4 times, IMO. If we are on 4 wins with say, 3 or 4 weeks remaining, then we can start to worry. But as it stands, we're on 1 (ONE) win, and another win right now won't really hurt our (drafting) position at all IMO. I don't care if we finish last or second last, just as long as we don't win 5, which i'm sure won't happen anyway because we aren't good enough. Pick 1 & 2, 1 & 3, or Pick 2 & 4, all sound fine to me really.

Brilliant piece of play that one! It was against Weribee, and the leading forward was Brad Miller. It was the highlight of the match for mine, along with LJ's form. I was impressed with Strauss that day. Sure he didn't get a lot of it, but he used it magnificently on every occassion, and surprisingly showed he is also capable of playing taller too (made a couple of great spoils one-out on Marty Pask).

You mean Casey?

Very nice article about the direction footy will be taking over the next couple of decades. I remember playing against Glen Eira in under-17's, a few years ago now, playing against a pretty good, cohesive young African midfield group. They definitely have the athleticism to make it, its just a matter of time before we start seeing guys like Daw playing at the highest level. I've seen Majak Daw play for the Jets once last year (i think he only played 2 games for them last season), and he certainly has the right build and athleticism to make it in AFL. Nice leap and good speed, and a big frame. Similarly built to Naitanui- good scope for growth. His kicking didn't look too bad either, a sign that he's been well coached in the basics. Although he's still learning the game and at times found it difficult to get involved in the play. But he looked capable of doing some amazing things, and took one very nice pack mark that i'll always remember. Apparently has been a regular for the Jets in '09, and is more than likely to get rookied, because of his x-factor. Whichever club he goes to will find themselves with a new African cult hero, and lots of new supporters/members from the Sudanese community.

Agree. That article was a fluff piece if i've ever read one. Absolutely no insight provided, and wouldn't have taken him more than 5 minutes to write. People on here put more effort into posting, i know i at least put some thought into it. Matthews merely feeding the uninformed masses what they think they already know, and what they want to hear.

6+ wins in 2010, and hopefully finals in 2011 is what I'm hoping we should be aiming at.