Demon Disciple

what's with all the Caddy love??? Seriously, he is doing stuff all in pretty much all of his games. He is definately not worth a first round pick the way he has played in his games to date. Massively overrated on here and in the AFL community.

One of the main problems with drafting these hulking forwards is that they are playing against small bodies, once they hit the big time it's a different matter. If we were to get Hogan, he would at least have a year to train on bigger, AFL seasoned bodies and develop in the VFL as well, making the jump to AFL less daunting, he'd be better advanced than if he were to transition from juniors to AFL in the space of 6 months. Then there is the issue of his kicking. Butcher apparently had these problems, Cloke continues to have these problems as does Franklin, Hawkins is only just starting to shake off his own. 3 of these 4 forwards are considered to be the premier KPF's of the AFL and Butcher is advancing nicely. ipso facto, goal kicking can get sorted out. The ability to take the contested mark or lead successfully, and creating a continual bruising presence is the main need for KPF's.

replace garlett with kennedy and your on a winner

after being stunned by the Lions, and playing for a top 2 finish, i expect the Crows to come out breathing fire. Will be good to see what we are made of, even though i think the Crows will be too good and get over us by about 30 points.

If we got a boak or caddy with pick 13 + extra, i'd be willing to take Kennedy at pick 4, behind Toumpas, provided we are able to take Viney with our second rounder.

Ben Kennedy in this years draft is one that i am red hot on. He has pace, explosive pace, has great disposal, can find the footy, is a natural small forward and is very capable in the midfield, both receiving and extracting. The only thing holding back from definite top 5 is his height. Would love to get him at pick 13, but if we are able to snag Viney with a 2nd rounder, i'd be very willing to bring Kennedy to the Dees with pick 4 after getting Toumpas with pick 3. Leaving pick 13 for us to draft another kid or trade to bring in another mid. We've already got Sam Blease, but we could definately do with another of his type, one in the middle and one in the forward line!

i think he's getting mixed up with some new rule that's a part of free agency.

sure we could have picked player A over player B, etc. But would have player A turned out half as good with us than with their respective teams? Given the development of our young brigade so far, i think not.

I bet this weekend that Serhat Temel will also bob up and kick a lazy 10 for whoever he plays for now

Neeld loves his contested ball winners, but we also desperately need pace and skill. Apart from Cloke or some other experienced players through free-agency, i wouldn't go trading away any picks in the top 20. Now we can all dream of getting Viney in the second round, it's less likely to happen, but our luck is bound to turn around some time soon! Sure it's all speculative and i'm sure i did this only 3 years ago coming into the 2009 draft, but anways: pick 3 - Toumpas pick 4 - Wines/??? tough inside player with good disposal and speed (not break neck) pick 13 - Kennedy (about as likely as getting Viney in the second round) pick 24ish - Viney Our midfield problems should*** be taken care of from this draft if it were to pan out this way Getting Cloke through FA would be the cherry on top. The impact won't be immediate, as we'd still be very young, but given that mids take less time to come on than KPP's, our new young mids should be starting to have an impact, just as our young talls begin to establish themselves at AFL level.

Cam Schwab's mantra recently is for the club to aspire to be 'elite', by his own notion, he should be more than happy for us to at least see if there are any potential CEO's out there that would be considered a greater chance of getting the MFC to such 'eliteness', compared to CS. I want the best CEO we can get, if that's CS good, if it's someone else, then i'd want them.

He is still very green, so no doubt experience will help in the long run, yet as you say Jose, his disposal and Decision making aren't all that flash at the moment. Hopefully with experience and a few more pre-seasons, he will be able to correct/improve these. They are rather large/important areas to improve in, but should he do so, then he will be able to take the all important next step from a 'could' to an 'is'.

i'd be looking to head down this path!

The problem is though, our club is so bereft of talent, we need to grab it any way we can find it, and make no mistake, Connors is a good footy player, he knows how to find it, and uses it very well by foot! Give me 2 players that can do that in our team........... hell give me one that consistently uses it good by foot!

i'd be willing to pick him up if there is no-one better in the PSD or possibly a rookie pick. Sure he has stuffed up countless times, and he would be a massive risk, but if we get him for basically nothing and have him on a 1-year, minimum wage contract, why not? Neeld and Craig will not tolerate any crap and he'd be gone straight away should he even look like playing up. He finds the ball at will and has a great kick, something that our list, but in particular our back-line severely lacks. He would also free up Grimes to move into the mifield, where he seems to be better placed than on the HBF. Stick Connors there to act as the sweeper. The positives far outweigh the negatives, imo.

Howe cannot kick a goal to save himself.

There is a limit to how big a sponsors logo can be for both the front and back of the jumper. The big red webjet signage was bigger than what is acceptable, but i reckon the AFL would have allowed it as a temporary measure, given the unfortunate situation we found ourselves in.

I wouldn't mind trying Cook down back. He played a few games for NB in the TAC cup at CHB, plus we desperately need a few more players with good decision-making and disposal by foot, as we are currently seriously lacking in these departments.

smokescreen, yes and no. Obviously we're trying to inflate his price and put pressure on the Pies salary cap, but at the same time, should the Jurrah situation take a turn for the worse, then i think we will really ramp up our bid and try and bring Cloke in to replace Jurrah should he not be available to play for the Dees any longer (i'd prefer Jurrah to get off and not have cloke, allowing us to make some plays at decent mids).

Bail has been very lucky in the games he has played imo. Many times he has tackled an opposition player and continued to hold onto them and taken them out of the play, Trengove is in the same boat (just less often). If i was umpiring, i would have penalised him much more than he has been (if at all) and as such continues to get away with it.

There is one group that for too long has gotten away from any real criticism over the past year and that is the playing group. Sure the coaching group has to be accountable, but they cannot make players chase and tackle and give a damn. At least half our list is not AFL standard, tough decisions need to be made at the end of the year, although they are really simple to me. I don't care if Neeld loses the players, i want him to return to his uncompromising heart on the sleeve self, because the players have lost me and have lost many members too. Supporters are the constant, players come and go, and hopefully many go at the end of the year. Big names need to go, to be made an example of. Moloney, Sylvia, Garland, Petterd, Davey, Garland, etc some of these names need to go and hopefully the rest get the message.

I agree with this. Part of me says you don't trade players who bleed for the club in Moloney, and one's who have an integral role in the team (Jamar), but realistically, both would have retired when we seriously push for a tilt at a flag. It would be very foolish not to consider the advantages (as well as the disadvantages) of moving players with currency on, who simply will not be there at the end of the day (you could almost throw SYlvia into this category too).

The way i see it (if we finish 3rd last), we will get Viney then a choice of either Toumpas or Stringer (at this stage), plus an early teens pick (good outside mid - maybe O'Rourke but who the hell knows), then we'd be able to nab a good small forward with a second rounder (possibly one of Kennedy or Garlett). Sure it's not as good as say Whitfield, Toumpas/Stringer, Outside mid and Viney, but it's still pretty bloody good!!!

Wojo (however you spell it) looks like he'll be suspended on 2 fronts. The first being the breaking of Viney's jaw/cheekbone, the second for punching Viney in the head (which can be seen on the afl.com.au highlights).

we are seriously advantaged in the 1st and 3rd quarters as we aren't competing against the massive gap in the grandstand.