Lord Travis

With the amount of young players we have, and the lack of experienced midfield talent, I'd say we almost have to trade the pick for a proven midfield gun. At this rate the club will be dead before the youngster we picked at 1-3 even came on, if he ever did. We're just awful at developing talent, so trade the pick for one that's already developed. Get Dale Thomas through free agency, and then trade our top pick for another established midfielder in their mid 20s.

Geelong are a phenomenal football team. The fact they are producing like this after 7 years is a credit to the environment they have at the club. They're able to bring young kids and recruits in and make them a part of a successful development system. They breed success and instill confidence from day dot. To think back in 2006 they missed finals and we made the semi finals. Completely reversed from there! Geelong are definitely the greatest club of the modern era. Hopefully we learn from them and can build to some sort of success.

Bit optimistic...

Osteitis Pubis.

Hopefully this rumor is true, though I doubt Roos would leave his current commitments to come coach a basketcase. What's becoming clear is we are unable to run this club without aid, and without the AFL's assistance we will go under. Here's hoping the aid they give us bares fruit.

Getting Crouch or Dunstan would be good. We should chase Dale Thomas under free agency to inject a quality midfielder into the team without sacrificing a high pick for a trade.

He clearly had/had Osteitis Pubis. He has no strength when he pushes off to run, and he can barely kick 40 metres these days. He has/had O.P. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong. It's unfortunate because it's a bad thing to develop for AFL players. Happens a lot with youngsters who try to take on a higher work load than they can handle. It turned Luke Ball from an explosive All Australian midfielder to a tortoise who scraps amongst packs. Hopefully Trengove can overcome it and become the player he is capable of being. It's his body letting him down at this stage

It is confusing and shocking. After more high draft picks than any other club in the last 6-7 years (maybe bar expansion teams) we still have an absolutely pathetic midfield. Worst in the league. Unarguably. With forwards out injured this week, it's going to be ugly 100+ ugly. I just hope the boys put up some form of fight and keep it under 100 points. It's sad that it's come to hoping to lose by less than 100 points. I should be hoping to win!

This year may wind up being worse than last year somehow. What a hole this club is in at the moment. Let's hope Dawes can come in and provide a consistent target. We'll need him performing well since we barely get it down there as it is!

He's had a poor start to the season no doubt. Only lowers his trade value. I think he's attainable and would be a good get for our woeful midfield. Adds both inside and outside.

Bad luck to Rich. Helps our chances though as Rich and Henley are two of their key movers! I still think Rich would be a good trade target for us at the end of the year. He's experienced now, solid body, can win his own ball and has one of the best kicks in the league.

Lucky for us he has been offered a week suspension. If he takes that then it helps us greatly, as you said he killed us last year, and has been good again this year. He's a real key for the Lions. If he takes the suspension then we don't have to deal with him.

He needs to learn to beat his opponent defensively first. He's been smashed thus far this year. Opposition coaches are singling him out and getting him one on one with his opponent and it works a treat. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as he's come back from injury and may need a few weeks to adjust, but at present he is more leaky than the Titanic. Of that list Evans was good the weekend and has upside. If he can manage his back and continue to build up his core strength, he will be a good midfielder for us. He has pace, can kick goals, and has a good work ethic. Matt Jones has been solid since debuting. He adds depth but I'm unsure he has much upside, being nearly 26 already. Kent looked good in the preseason. I look forward to seeing him play in the red and blue this year. Taggert has showed promise in a few VFL games but is injury prone and inconsistent. I'm not sure he will make it, but would love to see him step up. Terlich has been decent thus far. If he cleans up his disposal then he will play for us for many years off the half back flank. Magner is a battler, and while I admire his work ethic he won't make it.

I'd take it and move on. You can't hit a player in the head, so even if not intended, he collected him. He left the ground and got him in the head and it was unlucky he got him in the head. If he got him in the arm/shoulder it would've been a free/50 metre penalty for being late, but since he got him in the head he's penalized. Take the 2 weeks and move on.

12,000. It will be an abysmal match by two of the worst football teams in decades.

Why was he an emergency in the first place? Either don't drop him, or play him at Casey to gain confidence. He now sits on the sidelines this weekend and achieves nothing. He gains no confidence or touch, and gains no experience or chance to redeem himself being out there in the red and blue. Awful management. Even blind freddie can see that!

So Watts isn't playing this weekend? I thought the point of dropping him was to send him back to the twos to gain some confidence and touch. What is the point in dropping him then likely bringing him back in without even playing at Casey? The whole team was rubbish last week, and though he was poor he certainly wasn't the worst. Why was he made a scapegoat? We have ruined him. Our club has no idea how to develop players.

Awful. No hope for this team. If it wasn't for Jack Viney there would be literally no reason to turn up anymore. Pathetic. We're somehow going backwards!

The quickest way to the goals is straight up the middle of the ground. A skilled team who attacks through the corridor is unbeatable. Unfortunately we do not have the skill to do that.

Just been watching some 2012 games on foxtel recently. Would love to get Daniel Rich into a Melbourne jumper! Tough, wins his own ball, has a bit of mongrel, calm and composed, shows good leadership, and has a superb long kick. I'd throw a lot at Brisbane to pinch him. He's exactly what we need going forward. Wonder what we'd need to trade to get him. First rounder and a player? We're better off trading first rounders for established players at this stage as we can't seem to pick/develop our own. Get Daniel Rich I say!

We have the worst midfield in the league IMO. Until we trade in midfield talent we are going nowhere. We can't keep banking on kids in hope. We've done this for decades and it's got us nowhere. It's time we took a hint from the Swans and go get some midfield talent from other clubs. If we can bring across a Josh Kennedy type then we get talent, experience, and skill. Until that happens we won't move out of the bottom 4, let alone challenge for a flag. It's bloody frustrating!

No worries. It's a shame, as he is exactly the kind of character and player we"d benefit from with our cultural shift and midfield issues.

As i thought, Lewis has signed on with the Hawks and should not be on the free agency list. It is noted in numerous articles recently, but gets lost amongst all the hype for Buddy. "Yesterday the Hawks struck back, revealing to the Herald Sun they had re-signed free agent Jordan Lewis, now in his ninth season, to a new deal." http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/hawks-would-lose-buddy-franklin-for-nothing-under-proposed-changes-to-afls-free-agency-rules/story-e6frg6n6-1226595082773 http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/afl/every-2013-free-agent-listed-and-every-club-rated/story-e6frexz9-1226594977631

I also thought Lewis had signed a contract with the Hawks recently. Perhaps the author of that article didn't check the list before they printed it. Wouldn't be the first time. I'll see if I can find an article about Lewis signing.

Betts would be a great get. He puts pressure on the defence, he creates and makes the most of opportunities, and most importantly he kicks bags of goals. You could rely on him to kick 40-50 goals a year crumbling for the talks we have up forward in Clark, Dawes and Hogan. He'd make our forward line very potent and have 5-6 years left in him. Comparing him to Cyril is a bit different. Firstly I don't believe Cyril is a free agent? Secondly Betts is a better forward IMO. He kicks a lot more goals than Cyril, and at the end of the day i'd take someone kicking his 2-3 every game than someone kicking a freakish goal one week then not kicking a goal for 2 weeks. Cyril is capable of more brilliance, and is more versatile, but he is injury prone and inconsistent. Cyril is more capable of pushing up the ground and taking a game apart, but he's honestly a bit like Sylvia in this regard. He's very inconsistent and is one of the most over-hyped and over-rated players in the game at present. How he got an AA place last year absolutely blew my mind. Shouldn't have even made the squad! He is very talented though, just inconsistent and injury prone. Betts would be the best value out of the small forward free agents, and it is a spot we need to fill.