Fat Tony

Hird and Pendlebury both had/have similar lackadaisical styles, both favouring balance over the space that can be created from a burst of speed. However Hird and Pendlebury both fumble less, are both stronger and braver and have better decision making. In saying this, Watts is faster than both and should be using his pace.

I think Watts is 7-10kg shy of his ideal playing weight and that he will be one of those players that takes a long time to reach his zenith. His game on Saturday was just fair apart from his two great goals. He needs to be instructed to take off every time as soon as he gets the ball.

Frawley

I cannot see an established player worthy of pick #2 wanting to come to Melbourne at the moment. I think we need to go the youth route and build a team around Hogan, Viney, Watts and Toumpas. In saying that, generally the top few prospects in any draft are overrated (because it is unknown how they will adjust to AFL intensity) and clubs would be better of splitting high picks down the draft order. For instance #2 might be able to be split into #8 and #10. Given clubs have different orders of priority, this would potentially give us our sixth and eighth preferred player for the cost of our second priority. In this draft, where there is one ‘LeBron James pick’ (Tom Boyd) and a dozen or so high quality mids, this should be strongly considered.

My thoughts on Peter Jackson and the interview: Jackson was reasonably impressive in the interview and he has made some good/tough early calls. However, I would also say the key calls have been fairly easy/obvious (i.e. sacking Mark Neeld and asking the AFL for assistance). While I think it is all well and good for Jackson to rubbish the club’s culture and the previous administration at the beginning of his term, I would be disappointed to see it continue for much longer, as I think enough is enough and we need to move forward. Once the decision on the Priority Pick is announced, I hope we don’t hear words like ‘impediment’ come out of his mouth anymore. Jackson’s comments about our older leaders, where he was referring to McDonald, Bruce and Green, were spot on. I think he is largely wrong in apportioning significant blame for our current position on our player development. I think we have just drafted players without the talent to cut the mustard. For instance, I don’t believe the argument that Jack Watts and Colin Sylvia would be much better players at other clubs (although it might appear that way because they are playing in better teams). Conversely, I don’t think we would be here if we called Dangerfield, Darling, Martin and Naitanui in previous drafts. Jackson’s comments about Chris Connelly were fair, but I thought he could have been a bit more diplomatic in answering the question. My view is that we need to move on from the tanking episode with fresh people and he could have said that he “believes the best way to move forward was with a fresh start”. I am not as anti an untried coach as the majority. Given his comments, which have really locked us in, I hope we can get a first choice candidate (Roos, Williams or Eade) and we don’t need to go for a B grader in Ayres or Knights. Overall, I am more circumspect about Jackson’s appointment that the majority here on Demonland. So far Jackson has done a lot of potting of the previous administration (and mostly justified) and I want to see him give us a little more reason for hope/excitement going forward.

I am not tearing my hair out with Toumpas, but surely we are allowed to evaluate the success of our drafting, even early on.

It isn't about impact this year so much, it just that Wines has now proven he can cut it at AFL level. I think Toumpas will be okay eventually, but Wines is already a good player. To say that means nothing is not considering all the evidence.

If the draft were re-held today, Wines and Mayes would be taken before Toumpas, Ploughman and O’Rourke, and possibly even Whitfield. But recruiters don’t have the benefit of seeing players under AFL pressure before they are drafted and things can change significantly as players mature from 18 years old. Given Wines and Mayes are not at Judd, Selwood or O’Meara’s level, it is too early to conclude that Toumpas was a mistake, although it looks probable at this stage. This is particularly so given Toumpas is coming off an injury interrupted preseason.

I think Blease should be played in the backline. His best stretch of games was under Viney.

The last coach played a big part in creating the list.

Correct. Our best bits of play yesterday were Dunn's kick out down the guts from full back and Blease's long run through the middle. Starting the game with a loose man was an overly negative move.

Does he run well enough to play AFL? I have seen him play a few times in the VFL and he doesn't get near the ball often enough. He isn't all that quick either.

Be careful what you wish for. A new Chief might not be as supportive to the MFC.

I doubt either will prove you wrong, but I think we need to give them both one more chance. I would consider giving Strauss a go as a tagger. Davis is poorly skilled in the VFL and would be out of his depth in the AFL. Two of Davis and McDonald in the backline leaves us too unskilled. And Taggert needs to do more in the VFL to justify a promotion. He was playing in the VFL Seconds last week.

I didn’t gain too many positives out of the game. Viney was excellent and was the major highlight out of the night. Fitzy, Howe and Watts also showed bits and pieces and Frawley was back to playing very good footy again. Trengove has battled for two years and definitely needs a good preseason so he can get some zip back. I wonder whether he has suffered from Misson’s program which reportedly has been focussed on longer distances. I think he should only do 10-50m sprint training over the next preseason as he naturally has a pretty good endurance base. While 12 tackles was a good stat, it also shows that he is second to the ball a lot. Blease doesn’t work hard enough and is not clean enough. I think he should be developed as a defender as he played his best footy when Viney was coach. Toumpas had an ordinary night. While he will be an AFL player, I doubt he will be a star because he lacks the pace required to be a top outside mid. I hope to be proven wrong. I would like to see us experiment more for the rest of the year and I think Strauss and Pederson (as a defender) need to be given more games to make assessment on.

I am not sure this is entirely accurate based on our compensation for Rivers and Moloney and Byrnes's worth.

I wonder what compensation the Crows would get if he left. And if they would be inclined to let him go given they have no picks?

Worth considering but might be too old for us. At the least the benefit would be bumping up his contract to stretch the Crow's salary cap.

And #20 in a thin draft pool is not?

I wouldn’t call Jordie McKenzie a ‘big bodied mid’ given he weights only 82kg. While McKenzie’s inside work/hands are ok and his tackling and discipline are excellent, I doubt he is dynamic enough to play a more attacking role at AFL level. This is because his kicking is poor and due to his lack of dare – both in terms of playing on (i.e. taking the space in front of him) and in terms of too often taking the easy option with respect to decision making. Even though not his strength, I think McKenzie needs to play with more confidence when he has the ball in hand, playing a bit more like Blease and Nicholson and trying to foot pass more to the open man (even if the free player is in the corridor).

Firstly, I believe that the best forward setups going forward will probably tend to include two gun KPF and a mobile third tall. It is also important to have a genuine key forward that can play as second ruck within this mix. Surrounding the KPF needs to be a mix of midfielders or crumbers (and I think Carlton has shown you cannot really have three crumbers). This type of setup provides enough space for the big forwards to operate and ensures enough forward pressure is able to be applied when the ball hits the ground. At present our midfield is stuck in the Third World and we have an abundance of KPFs which we won’t be able to fit all into the one side. While many will consider our depth in this area to be a good thing, I think we also have to consider the option of trading out a KPF at the end of the year in order to boost our midfield. And this is before any potential Priority Pick #1, which would likely be used on Tom Boyd if it is kept by MFC, because by reports Boyd is the standout #1 in the draft pool. However, a problem we would face with this approach is that most of our key forwards would not reap there full market value at the trade table at this point in time. This is where I see our KPFs currently at: Mitch Clark is coming off a bad injury and therefore would not be in high demand. And I doubt we would want to ever trade him if he can get back to fitness. A fully fit Clark also provides some flexibility because he can play in the ruck. Jesse Hogan looks to be a genuine top 10 AFL player of the near future and will play immediately next year. He is the most valuable player on our list and is untradeable. Jack Watts is finally starting to show his ability at AFL level. Watts has some versatility, in that he can play forward and back (as well as potentially on the wing), but I think he is likely to play his to play his best footy as a third tall forward. I am pretty confident that Watts will improve as he gets stronger/older and I don’t think we would get his full worth at the trade table at this point in time. Jeremy Howe also has some versatility in that he can play through the midfield as well as forward. With his marking ability, however, he is really best suited to playing in the forward line. We may get somewhere near Howe’s value if we put him up for trade. Jack Fitzpatrick is a long-term project who is starting to show some good signs. Fitzpatrick is also flexible in that he can play as a second ruckman. I think Fitzpatrick has a lot of talent given his pace and size, so I would be reluctant to trade him at such a young age in the absence of an exceptional offer. We won’t get anywhere near good value in a Fitzpatrick trade unless he continues his recent good form for the rest of the year anyhow. Provided Max Gawn can stay fit he will likely be our first choice ruckman going forward. Gawn doesn’t have the biggest tank and has shown ability to play as a deep forward. While his ability to play on the ball will improve with a good preseason, I still think he will have to spend good periods ‘resting’ in the forward line next year. Chris Dawes is our least flexible key forward in terms of position (possibly along with Hogan) and he has shown that he is not really able to play as a second ruckman. Dawes displays strong leadership and his form has improved since transferring from Collingwood. Dawes is reasonably mobile for a man his size, he takes a few paces to get going and is no Lance Franklin in terms of forward pressure. Dawes trade value has potentially improved with his form since last year. Dawes is 25, so is approaching the peak of his powers. He also commands a high salary/level of salary cap space. Given this summation of our position, I feel we may have to consider trading Dawes at year end. While this move would be highly unpopular, it may also significantly improve our team, particularly in three years when we hope to become a contender. Carlton, Brisbane, Gold Coast and the Bulldogs are crying out for a KPF at the moment. Some potential trades could be: Dawes + #20 + #40 -> Bryce Gibbs + #50 Dawes -> Pearce Hanley Dawes -> Tom Liberatore Dawes + #20 -> David Swallow I am not strongly advocating this move and the trade would have to be fair, but I think it may be necessary to improve our chances in the future.

While I would marginally prefer Mark Williams as coach, I think Roos would provide a wonderful uplift for the club. I also think there is a good chance that the terms of his appointment will include draft assistance, which I will be the real boon. Roos knows the AFL want him to coach MFC and he knows that success will only come with an influx of on field talent. If Roos is smart he will use that leverage to our advantage.

I think Rodan on another year is a better option.

He has played good footy on the wing this year, so he is a midfielder.

We also need to bear in mind that spots on our list will be an issue given the disastrous list management of Neeld & Co.