Dappa Dan

There is no way they'd take pick four for a future superstar like Murphy. The kid is worth pick 1-3 + a second rounder in this draft. But gee wouldn't it be nice to get him...

Yeah. The Mahoney one has me a bit twitchy. When Williams was hired I was happy enough, but I didn't like the direction our midfield went in this year (and I don't mean towards the medical room). I'm not sure what mahoney brings to the table other than greenness. Tee Hee... I expect all and sundry to love and hate him many times over in the coming year.

- Demon_magik was a name that was getting me confused with Davey_magik, since I joined later I decided to change my nickname to what it is in real life (A reference to a movie quote). It's called decorum, maybe look the word up. What makes me tick? Mate you don't know me from a bar of soap. You wanna know? ask around. Need I remind you you've been here a heartbeat? Hardly surprising that the infantile little jerk misses the point of my post is it? I was referring to internet forums. EVERYONE on here is unaccountable. You can join, put up any name you like and the worst you'll EVER see is more words posted in opposition, or in your case, as an insult. There are a select few here who KNOW all we have within this site is our online persona, and there are even fewer who would like to be taken seriously and be HELD ACCOUNTABLE for what they say. I am one of those. You are not. Fact. He can. He never does. He knows twits like you are incapable of understanding what it is he is trying to do. Note that no-one ever said he was the BEST poster. Only that he's the most entertaining. Oh for the love of.... Is that supposed to be a threat? Could you come up with more ways to sound like a complete tool? What are you going to bring into disrepute now? My lack of grammatical etiquette? Mate, I dunno if you've been on 'land and not posted, but this is the way it works here... and everywhere on these things. You wanna take exception to something I've written by all means do it in a PM, if you know what that is. If not, stop wasting people's time. Fair dinkum, there are some d%&ks on this forum, but at least they stand up and try to argue a point with sense... go and get an education, or run along to puntroadend where they eat their own or something... There's one every couple of months isn't there...

Que?

Aaah. I think you misinterpreted. I think what I meant was that I'm annoyed we put six years into a guy who won't be as good as we'd hoped. I still think he could be Perrie-like... he certainly has the work ethic... but when you have the potential he had and you have 6 years and end up going backwards, it's just a sad state of affairs. This is true. I think I expected him to just say nothing. It's the required player part that surprised me. Yes, we get a second rounder for a late pick, that all sounds fine and dandy, but we're also trading a KPP player that we developed for 6 years. Effectively we're giving them a known entity, and a grown man... I think the trade is fair personally. KPP players that have played the footy Miller has are thin on the ground.

How do you expect to be taken seriously writing that? Y_M has been around for donkey's ears, his behaviour is well and truly established, yu've been accountable as GOF for only about 5 minutes. And since we're "judging each post on its own merits..." You come on here and within 10 posts call 'land posters cretins and fools. Why even turn up? Y_M stirs the pot with OUTRAGEOUS fabrication because he realises that there is zero accountability on these sites and plays up to it. He is spoken about, positively or negatively, but he very rarely crosses the line and attacks anyone but public figures... you are simply making him feel better by creating discussion on him. Isn't that part of the fun? Watching people get sucked in sometimes? And you're asking everyone else to pull their heads in? You've got some cheek...

Holy crap! Well this is just... Um... Holy CRAP! There's another team that wants him? I kind of understand that Roos saw him at his best when he played on Hall, but still... I'm fascinated by CAC's response that he's a required player. If we could get Buchanon that'd be great, but we'd have to give too much in terms of picks as a sweetener. I'm not happy losing 6 years of development in a KPP just to get pick 11 in a shallow draft. We'll probably end up with another Miller, only in his teens. This'll be an interesting one.

- I think he may make some use of Miller, but we won't see GRAND improvement from him as I'm not sure he's got an All Australian jumper in him. Also Bate and Dunn are of that age now that they will start really making inroads. - I agree somewhat that he may find something in CJ only because he's come at the perfect time to see it happen with him in terms of his career. Indeed if we see nothing from CJ next year we should delist or find him another home. - Juice, as much as we all love him, STILL has a lot of improvement left. If Bails is a good judge of talent I hope he really gives Juice a hard pre-season and as much game time as possible. - Moloney is in the right age group now to start being the veteran the coach relies on. If his OP stays away, I reckon Bailey may look to him as one of his more experienced midfielders and rely on him moreso as a consequence of this and his maturity and body size. - Sylvia, and we all know why. - Rivers, only cos he's been injured. - Wheatley may be important, but is limited IMO. But all these are small fry. TJ has the most scope for improvement, and if the coach has a predilection for project players he may consider Trav the key to keeping his job beyond his first contract. He has been for quite some time the best footballer at the club. Most importantly though, out of all the factors we may consider, there are a number of players on the list who have never known life on an AFL list under a coach other than ND. It's when the players get a new message that they may become inspired. Players like JMac, Trav, Wrecker, Green... these guys have never known a different coach. Now you couldn't ask for much more from Wrecker and JMac, and Green's improvement and importance has not wavered in the last 5 years... so I reckon Trav is the one to keep a sharp eye on. I hope Bailey doesn't give him any slack. Work him into the ground. He'll play better with Bailey's foot on the back of his skull, pushing his face into the grindstone... and he'll end up loving him for it.

Meesen is top of my list given the fact he's halfway here already. Dunn: Maybe. For the right price. Tenace: I don't rate him very highly, but I'm conscious of the fact that I LOVE what he has in terms of pace. If the right price is on the table I reckon he could be a VERY good pickup. He strikes me as an outside player who needed more time than most, and I'm all for looking at him, but only as a part of a bigger deal, and for an early third rounder at the most. Polo: I'm interested, but not THAT interested. I don't know that he's destined for greatness. At the best he could be a skinny player who plays above his weight division, but is still not a champion. Buchanan: Absolutely. Pick him up if we can. No doubt. Adcock: Doubt he'll come, but sure. Sherman: I LOVE this guy. To get him would be huge. And he fits well in terms of what we need. Murphy: I like our tall forwards. But I feel as though we could fit this guy in. The trouble is, with Bate, Dunn, Juice and Garland I wonder where he'd fit in.

Diablo.... Making a name for yourself on 'land... That's one of the funniest posts I've ever seen, just at the right time too...

Yeah, I went through my 24 hours of having my heart broken... but there were a couple of things that just never sat right with me. We would have had to give up a lot of good stuff to get Judd to the club. And really, we would have been taking advantage of the training and mentoring he'd had as an Eagle... In any language it was a quick fix, and I'm not sure it was the recipe for sustained success... Don't get me wrong, I would love to have him at the club, but now I just reckon we're back to where we would have been without all the Judd talk. We have to work hard, and in the end when we prove successfull, and we will, it'll be all the more satisfying. All we had to rely on before was ourselves, CAC and Bailey.... and that's fine by me.

I'm working in the US at the moment with a whole lot of Canadians and yanks, and I just showed them juice's mark... They said it was "meh." I couldn't believe it. I knew the yanks wouldn't get it, but Canadians? They know their sport...

I'd keep Petterd despite the fact he's not a KPP... Just oozes class and I think he's closer to being a matchwinner than Chip... But yeah, they're among the last players I'd want to lose.

Nice DD...

Mmmm. Probably right. I think what I'm trying to say is that given the wide array of info these days, and the relative transperancy of the recruiting game, I feel as though I can conservatively judge the recruiters based on their INTENTIONS more than the outcome of trades. ie, I was unhappy that we weren't more aggressive with last year's trading, I think if I was Freo I'd have been very annoyed my club had traded such a high pick for Tarrant... etc. etc. But yes, I take your point, the goal here is not to have your heart in the right place, but to use your powers of prediction to secure better players... when you look at it like that I suppose the only ironclad evidence is games/premierships/goals etc etc... which all take time to accumulate.

That's a random assortment of names... Juice is still very green, Wheatley is just plain odd, Frawley's played only a handful, Chris Johnson could probably consider himself lucky to still be around.

As far as the Brown part is concerned, I think you draw a VERY long bow. The real clincher there was the pick 6 part. The pick 20 was probably more of a sweetener, albeit an attractive one. But I take your point. The fact that Brown has played relatively few games, and had restricted effect, given his talent... And the fact that Dutchy has probably proven more effective than he should have... Yes, it seems the scales are tipped more to our favour than you would have expected 4 years ago... But I feel as though the point is moot. Really, you can only judge a trade on the landscape that existed at the time of the trade. You could NEVER have predicted wrecker would have done what he did. It would be absurd to suggest the footy departments of the dogs, demons or toiges factored in a future break of that leg... so I'm not sure you can credit anyone with the favourable outcome we see today.

Just on Meesen condemned... Would it be fair to say he's chosen to come to Melbourne because he sees them (rightly) as having a very solid young list, particularly in the midfield, and that they have only 1 quality ruckman who has only a year or two left? Jeff could impart SO much knowledge on any incoming young'un... But most of all he won't have to wait behind a list of preferred options, like he has at Adelaide. Similar to Jolly leaving to Sydney... Am I speculating here?

Very concise Dean. Thanks. No surprises in response to the Miller part, but Jeez people have really gone off PJ haven't they? I missed the last 4 rounds for travel, but I had him on my keepers list. I reckon he's ok.

True that RR... These early years, and the role attitude plays in them is fascinating. As long as Juice's attitude stays humble, and he's able to learn as much as his mind will allow, then the sky's the limit. As you know I'm all but convinced already... so now what I hope is that he doesn't get ahead of himself. God knows if I could do what he could do as regularly as he does it, I'd be in danger of being a bit overconfident.

Hit the nail on the head both of you... So far he's done the right, but OBVIOUS things. Delisting Godfrey, Ward et al... and those presumably to come, lays down the law, sends the message that the list is his to do with as he sees fit. But really, the board was hardly going to crack the sads at the sacking of those players... His presentations have apparently been great. But except for getting Judd to the club I'm not sure how genuinely useful that is. Daniher was a wonderful coach... he was loyal and taught and developed some kids wonderfully. He excelled at getting the most out of ordinary players. DB will have to do a lot to prove as effective in this way... But in the end... It's all about match day. get the most out of Trav, Bruce and Green... players with talent that has perhaps not been mined to its fullest... and maybe get something unexpected out of players like Miller by using him more effectively... Then he'll have arrived... Until then I'm comfortably on the fence...

Mmm. I see... From what I've seen, yes the guy is tiny... but he's a class act in so many ways. Really a cut above his team-mates... and he's in and under, unlike CJ. I think it may have worked in his favour NOT being recruited at an early age. Had he been signed at 18 I reckon he would REALLY have gone by the wayside. Being mature now, and being hungry... If he was ever to be recruited it would be now.

Good question Deanox. Given what we needed at the time, and what we could control, you can't really question CAC here. CJ IS a good player, there's just something getting in the way. In all the ways a football scientist can dissect his game, he seems a logical choice, particularly as a F/S. Sylvia has tested our patience, but has at times thrilled us and shown us that retaining him is a DEFINITE. He is being talked about as a trade option, and you don't get that if you're rubbish. Even opposition fans rate him higher than what we have seen of him, despite the last few years of relative mediocrity. Before Brownlow Bruce gets on here and spouts some more sludge, you can fairly safely say McLean is the most proven player under 25 years of age at the club, even with the setbacks this year presented, with the possible exception of Rivers. (This is at least until the end of trade week ) Brock's reasons for struggling with heavy tags are numerous. - He hasn't had to deal with it before really. It's a learning process. - He had NO-ONE rated more highly than him playing in the guts all year. Jones was company, and McDonald has probably never been tagged. He's now prime meat for the run-with players out there. Come next year, with Bruce's leg healed, Jones becoming even more dangerous, Trav returning to fitness, Bartram back to be a thorn in opposition midfields' sides... the scales will tip in Brock's favour again. And I didn't even mention a certain player... Let's call him Chris J. .... Or better yet C. Judd. - He was hurt. As far as Holland goes, who did Richmond get for pick 20? Or did they on-trade it? Given what we needed, and what we got... coupled with the fact that Holland is one of the least talented players to rack up 200 games... He has been a very good player for us. He fulfills the role he's there for, and in the end, what more can you ask for?

Why do you say that? It's a weak draft year... Do you know something we don't?

Ok... He's a long way from being bona-fide just yet... But if he DOES get Judd, and keep our good guys along with dropping our dead wood, I reckon you should think about retaining a little bit of credit for the people who decided on Bailey in the first place, while overlooking some more high-profile people... But I digress... Bailey hasn't done anything wrong yet I guess...