Demon Disciple

If they come out and say as much, then we'll be heading for a loss. How long now have we come out and talked the talk, and have failed to follow it up with actions? I'm sick of talk, from anyone at the club. How about shutting up and doing what is expected from them for a change, for more than 1 week at a time?

How is it, that after a whole off-season, our injury list is larger than the end of last year? How long do some of these blokes need? And more importantly, when will the heat be turned up on Misson, who seems to be escaping being held accountable for his department and lack of effectiveness?

Now why would he want to go and ruin his coaching career, by coming to us?

I think it's a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. Just don't sit on the fence, otherwise you'll end up like many of our players, waiting for someone else to make the decision for you

Exactly. Once out on the park, you are 100% fit, even if you are not. The thing going for Fitzy, is i don't think even he knows what he's going to do, so maximum unpredictability. So long as he has an effect on the game (which he doesn't).

Agree, he would not be the first i would target. The one thing he needs to work on during this season, is his willingness to take body contact. I'm not saying he should go looking for it every time he goes near the ball, but he gets pushed off balance too easily. If he is able to take the hit/contact yet keep the ball to his advantage, he will be an immediately improved player. As for positioning, it is much harder to be an outside player than inside, as not only do you need to predict where the ball is going to be and keep up, but also which side of the pack the ball will fall, as opposed to the inside mids, who just need to follow the ball.

Agree, everyone has their own standards/criteria for which players' are being picked, but the one thing we all agree on, is that there are very few MFC listed players' that are of AFL quality.

It's about time that the real problem is focussed upon, and with it the responsibility and blame go towards. The playing group. It doesn't matter if you have all the best coaches with an unlimited amount of $$ to spend on development, if the playing group as a whole have the wrong/lazy/ignorant attitude, nothing will improve, the cracks will just be painted over. This football club needs to become extremely stringent, so much so that even before players' walk in through the door, they know they have to earn every dollar of their contract. These players are getting paid premium dollars, yet they are continually putting in sub-standard performances. Since when is putting in less than 100%, or their absolute best 100% of the time, less than adequate? If they were in any other industry, they would have been shown the door long ago. I know it's wrong to single out one player, as many are guilty, but i'll use Frawley as an example. He is going to be demanding quite a contract come years end, but does he deserve it? No. He continually chooses when to put in a good game or bad game, or whether he will put in 100% or not. That simply isn't good enough. This is the highest level in the world where a person can play aussie rules. Nothing less than there absolute best is acceptable! Do they not realise that it's a privilege to play at the highest level? How many people try to get on to an AFL list, and how many actually make it?

i did say cynical. I'd even go so far to say Mitch Clark shouldn't be on that list, as he hasn't really played for 2 years now.

Not having a go directly at you Scythe and Sassy, but having Tom McDonald listed as 'keep' or 'yes', is a big part of our problem. He lacks the 2 most important skills of being a decent (not great but decent) AFL player. His decision-making is abhorrent and his disposal is even worse (i wouldn't even consider it VFL standard). Sure certain areas can be improved with development, but there needs to be basic talent there to improve on. Unfortunately for Tom, he lacks so much of both. It's not his fault, he just isn't good enough and no matter how much development goes into him, the return on investing so much time and effort would not be worth it. Sure he can run all day, but he lacks the basic skills required to play football at the highest level. I'm sure he's a great bloke, but he is simply not up to AFL standard, along with about half our list.

I'm going to do this with a very cynical, yet realistic, point of view. 1st/2nd year players are not included, as they have yet to establish themselves. The following players are of AFL quality: Nathan Jones, James Frawley, Mitch Clark (when fit), Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince. Some other players are borderline, but they aren't included on the list, because they either lack the basic skills of football that their position requires on a regular basis, or are just too inconsistent (such as Grimes and Watts). Quite damning really, but it indicates why we are where we are, and why we have been there for so long. As for developing young talent. How can any young player have a realistic chance to become a decent player, when there are so few role models to learn from at the club.

I'm still bewildered and absolutely staggered that he ran a sub 3 second 20m sprint at the 2009 draft camp. Surely the stop watch malfunctioned on his run. Trengove is of a huge concern to me. He had a great debut year in 2010, and followed up with an even better 2011, to the point where we were happy that it was T$ leaving and not Trenners. Ever since Mark Neeld got a hold of him, he has been in reverse.

Now returning to the purpose of this thread, the quality of their midfield is there for all to see. Then have a look at their forward line!!!! This one is going to hurt, but at least i'm a bit more realistic this week. Our best chance was for the weather to be wet, creating a congested slop of a game, where skills would be down (fitting us to a tee). Forecast is for sun and light winds and 28, not good. Though good weather to watch football (better pack the sunscreen).

Darren Glass, whilst a long-time quality defender, is more of a punch from behind or wrestling backman. He is not one who takes a heap of overhead marks in defence. Put Pederson on him, as he's probably the biggest and strongest body we have in the side. Have him go toe to toe all day with Glass deep in the forward line, and chances are, there will be a lot of spoils and balls dropping to the ground. Get at least 2 crumbers to rove the pack, and who knows how many goals could come from this. It's going to take a heap of forward pressure all day to keep the ball in our attacking half for as long as it can, the mids will need to help chase and congest and the backs will need to push up to at least the half back line, but almost flooding the forward 2/3rds of the ground when attacking, then moving/rolling that congestion to the defensive 2/3rds will probably be our best chance. Not that we have much of a chance, but we can all hope like hell that the warm weather sapped the weagles last week, and they stop to a walk sometime in the 3rd, preferably sooner (some time in the first might be just a little too wishful).

If Pederson remains in the team this week, just put him deep in the forward line and tell him to stay there. He's not going to be of any use to us around the ground extra numbers wise anyway. One thing Pederson has going for him is he is a big body. Tell him to throw it around, provide a contest when the ball comes in and have at least one small crumbing the pack.

I'd much rather Frawley stay, but there is upside for the MFC if he either stays or goes. If he stays, we still have our best KPD. If he goes, we'll get compensation (good compensation one would think) and it will open up many possibilities by either trade or through the draft. Even as much as we need to improve our midfield, whether Frawley stays or goes, i believe we need to start looking to bring in a young quality KPD. Frawley and Garland are both around 26 this year. By the time we're able to put in a couple of good years of development in said new KPD, Frawley and Garland will be heading into the twilight of their careers (unless they do a Fletcher).

Maybe if Bernie had kicked 4.1 instead of 1.4, he could have been that superstar we needed on the weekend! Just a thought.

We should have won the game anyways, with everything that did happen regardless. 6.15 is woeful kicking for goal. Vince kicked 1.4, Jones missed a relatively easy shot, so too Trengove, don't get me started on Pederson's miss (though Billings' howler was just as bad). St.Kilda didn't win that game, we lost it through our pathetic accuracy on goal and rule of handballing a million times before we allowed ourselves to kick it.

They have a much better midfield than the Saints, Much better rucks, much better backline and their forward line has way more targets. World of pain......................oh yeah, she's a coming (batten down the hatches)

And our turnovers contributed to at least half their score.

He has shown that his best is good, but his bad is worse. Needs to find more consistency, as he has had a few years on our list, and is overrated, imo. Sure he has a good highlight reel to date, but he has yet to stand up in a game when it matters. A player with his abilities should be influencing the game more than he does.

Go after a hesitant Ling. That way he'd need a few years under Roos before being ready to step up. So Roos has another 5 in charge, then over to Lingy!

turned 33 before the season started, so will be 34 before the start of next year, so too old for mine. Though i'd have him instead of Byrnes.

Had a great game, but i thought Jones was our best by a fair margin last night. He is seriously underrated in the AFL. If he was at a club with recent success, he would be seen as a definite star.

Agreed, played a very good game. Showed fantastic touch, as shown by his disposal efficiency and great awareness too. He was one of the few, if not the only one i felt comfortable with, when the ball was in his hands. A good start, and something to build on. Onwards and upwards Jack.