RalphiusMaximus

Interesting to see whether Morton plays back or wing. They've been working with him in the back group, so you'd think that Neeld would want him to play there.

In general I agree that The Devil has done a good job in the business side of things for the AFL, although I think that GWS is going to be a black hole draining cash from the competition until it folds or relocates. The issue I have with him and his administration is the way they have messed with the game itself. The non-stop rule changes that eave players, umpires and fans with no idea of what's going on. The overhaul of the tribunal system to produce the politically run MRP. The official "interpretations" of the rules that are issued to the umpires each year which often have absolutely nothing to do with the actual rule. The publicity-powered witch hunts which have seen the demonisation of "Sling tackles" and "tunneling" while other equally serious and injury-causing behaviour is shrugged off as not being worthy of the effort (see Sylvia's broken jaw last year). The guy may have done well in making money for the game, but he is tearing it's heart out to do it.

I don't think that this is the entirety of the gameplan, only the bit that we've been working on during the pre-season. Neeld is on record as saying that we already know how to attack and that he is going to teach us to defend. What we've been seeing is a lot of very defensive play all over the ground. We've been playing presses and contested ball scenarios. However, if you look at the Brisbane game again, you will see that in the second half he gave the players permission to use some attacking plays as well, and it was enough to win the night. I didn't bother watching the Hawthorn and PA games, so I don't know if the theme continued, although from the sounds of the coverage it did. Personally, I look at that second half against Brisbane and see that there are more tricks in his bag than he's been letting on. We made some blistering attacks off the fast switch that resulted in goals. What we haven't seen is precise passing to a leading forward, but I hold out hope that we will see this appearing somewhere in the next month or so as we really don't have the crumbing options to sustain the high bomb into the forward line as a primary attack.

I think plenty of players have just had a fright at the MFC. Activating the compo picks is a declaration that people will be moving on at year's end. We'll be using AT LEAST three picks (more likely 4-5) on drafting new talent, plus in all probability upgrading rookies. A lot of fringe players have to see the writing on the wall with this move.

This. We should have grabbed him while he was available. We have a desperate need of a pacy small forward and he would have filled the hole from day one.

Folau is now officially my favorite GWS player.

Was there Malice in Trengove tackling Dangerfield last year? In that case they took the supposedly serious nature of the injury into account and declared it illegal anyway. The same should apply here. This is yet another case of bias in the administration. Certain clubs get away with murder (or close to in this case) while others can't even breath on the opposition without being penalised.

The thing to remember regarding drafting in the Bailey era is that he came to the club with a huge reputation for developing young players. Our entire recruiting strategy was built upon this. We made a point of taking bottom aged players who were seen as having huge potential because we had a coach who was supposed to be able to mould them into great players. The failure wasn't in the recruiters but in the strategy they were instructed to adopt. Everything was built around what turned out to be a false expectation that Bailey was the man to develop these kids into elite footballers, a task at which he failed utterly. We now have Mark Neeld conducting remedial lecture sessions trying to undo the damage that Bailey's "Kid gloves and free games" strategy caused to these kids. The issue now is whether the kids Bailey got his hands on are ruined beyond hope of salvation or whether in a professionally run club with serious training and accountability they will be able to reach the potential the recruiters saw in them.

What happened to Wall?

So we send a medical report to the MRP right? That's how Trengove was suspended last year, and Dangerfield only missed one week. Butcher out for the season!

Why the hate for Fitpatrick? He's showing a fair bit already. Give him a few more years and you'll be screaming his name in adulation.

I think it's too soon to tell if they were wasted in a lot of cases. BP had a habit of taking very young players who had a lot of development left before they were AFL ready. As a result we have Jack Watts who is still not physically up to it, Blease and Strauss who have hardly played due to a combination of injury and slow development, Jack Fitzpatrick who, like Watts, is still not built for it. There was so much planning for the future that the present was forgotten. 2007 Cale Morton - Skinny kid who showed promise. Was badly mismanaged by Bailey and Co. Confidence shot. If he can find his mojo again under Neeld he can still be a good player. Jack Grimes - Never had a break from his constant run of injuries. Should have 100+ games by now. Leadership shines through even with his terrible luck. Addam Maric - Showed the odd flash of class but overall poor work ethic and inconsistency has shown him up. Kyle Cheney - Tough player, but his disposal is some of the worst I've ever seen. Surprised anyone was willing to take him on. Tom McNamara - Average bit-player. Never really showed anything to indicate he could make it at the top level. Stefan Martin - Amazing athlete. It needs to click for him soon or he'll be past it. Needs to improve his hands and kicking to make the most of the opportunities he creates. Trent Zomer ® - Did he ever play? Austin Wonaeamirri ® - Was exciting, but never had the commitment. This is why we use the rookie list. Jake Spencer ® - Jury still out. He has the frame to be an imposing big man, but his skills are dodgy. Shane Valenti ® - Was a good in and under player when we needed him to be. I'm surprised that he isn't at another club 2008 Jack Watts - As mentioned above, he was taken very young and underdeveloped. The questions over his desire for the ball are valid. He needs to show that he has the mental tools to match the physical ones. Nik Nat says he'll be fine with a few more kilos on him. Sam Blease - Young when drafted and has suffered injury setbacks. He's showing something but there are questions over his work ethic. James Strauss - Was poor in contests early on. Has been improving this part of his game and showed good signs before breaking a leg. Kicking is as good as any. Jamie Bennell - Drafted on potential as a freak athlete. Sadly soft and unable to win own ball. Will struggle more under Neeld. Neville Jetta - A legitimate hard man with good body work and goal sense. He's worth keeping around. If things click for him he could be great. Rohan Bail - Running machine. There are questions over his skills and decision making. Liam Jurrah - A freak. Totally worth the use of a PSD pick. We have seen in the last year or so that his work ethic is in need of work. Hopefully with a better fitness base he'll put in more effort off the ball and become a more rounded player. Jordie McKenzie ® - Came good for us. He is a tackling machine who can win the contested ball. Needs better kicking, but he suits the new gameplan perfectly. Rhys Healey ® - NA Daniel Hughes ® - Had a bit of potential but never really produced when he was given a chance. Superseded by Howe. 2009 Tom Scully - I'm not entirely sure why he was rated so highly. He is a running machine and can rack up clearances with good service, but his kicking is a real weakness. He's a good player, especially if he can play the game on his terms, but in hindsight I don't know if he warranted the no. 1. Jack Trengove - Early days. He is a more well-rounded player than Scully. Had a reputation as a junior for match-winning efforts when his team needed them. Jordan Gysberts - Showed early on that he can rack up disposals and can hold his own with clearances. Another one who was underdeveloped when drafted and will need more time to get his body into AFL shape. Luke Tapscott - Like Grimes, has had a shocking run with injury. Early signs have been good. Has a good kick and is tough as nails. Max Gawn - Showed something in the few games he played. Questions over whether his knees can hold up are the only worry. Jack Fitzpatrick - Yet another development project. Still far too skinny and his development was hampered by his CFS. He is showing signs that he could turn into a fair player. Joel Macdonald - Was taken as a top-up to add a little muscle to the team. He played the role he needed to play, but is being rapidly overtaken. To me it looks like there is still a lot of potential there, but we really need to see them start to show some ability. BP's habit (no doubt under instructio from the coaches) of taking undersized outside players with good boots has hurt us in the contested game. We need those players to develop an appetite for the contest and start winning their own ball. If they can do that then there is a chance that we will look at these drafts in a few years and say they were actually pretty good pick-ups. I also note that while there are questions over the ability of our recruiters to nail the early picks that should have been slam-dunks, they seem to have had a gift for plucking good value players late in the draft.

Two men walk into a bar. You'd think the second one would have ducked...

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does this taste funny to you?"

Nic Nat? Seriously? I was willing to defend Mike's choices in general as it as, as stated a purely speculative list, but Nik Nat is not now and will not be at any stage of the year in the top 50 players in the competition.

Where are we at as a club? Not as far advanced as we were when Neitz was playing. Somewhat ahead of where we were when we played Geelong last season. We have a new coach who has come in and said immediately that our players are too weak, not fit enough and lack proper gameplans and discipline. In this he is 100% correct and has set about correcting the deficiencies. As we all know, it will take more than a few months for the physical deficiencies in the side to be rectified, which is why we have drafted Magner, Couch and Seller, players who are better developed for the game we want to play. We have several new players showing serious ability. Howe is probably the pick of the bunch. We have several players who have never been able to string games together due to injuries and as such are still more or less unknown quantities. We have several players who have underperformed in the past few seasons and need to show improvement under Neeld if they are to avoid the axe. We have several solid B and C grade players who go about their business day in day out and will never be more than they currently are. We have a top line Ruck and a top line Full Back. I think that's about where we are as a team.

Too much complaining. Nothing constructive being said. How about people discuss the match? That'd be a nice change.

I think we're going to activate both picks. Whether we use them or trade them I have no idea. The next draft is rated as strong, so it makes sense to grab a few kids early with our picks (obviously Viney being one of those). I also think that after a year of coaching Neeld will be ready to clear out some excess baggage around the club. I suspect that there will be a number of players either traded for upgrading picks or simply de-listed at the end of the year. Don't be surprised if we use our late picks to upgrade several rookies as well. We could very well see us using three first round picks and possibly a second to get some good talent then upgrading three rookies with our later rounds.

SO. Positives. Blease looks to have had a decent game with two goals. Jamar is said to have dominated the ruck. Mitch again bagged three for the game. We'd all take a return of 60+ goals for the year from him. When Sylvia was hit, EVERY player got involved in the melee. See? It's not all doom and gloom.

In all honesty, I thought that was a pretty good look at our list. He may have missed a little by not mentioning Dunn, who is once again quietly going about his business and doing his job, and he certainly failed to touch on the lack of real crumbing players, but overall it was pretty good.

Bear in mind that this is Sheehan's predictions for the coming season. It's purely speculative on how he thinks players will go. I think it's laughable that he has Frawley at 48 and Jack Reiwoldt in the 20's given that Frawley has beaten him handily every time they match up. Anyway, the point is that it is not based on stats or past performances but rather on what he thinks might happen. It's interesting as it shows that he really doesn't rate us, but I will be more interested in his mid-season and end of season lists which will rate how players have actually performed in his opinion. I expect that Mr N. Jones will find his way into the list, Jamar will be a chance and Frawley will have improved his position significantly.

I can't be bothered reading the whole thread right now, but the official word is that Watts is being rested and won't be playing at Casey this weekend. Article

DB had a clear plan with his drafting requirements. He was looking for pace and good disposal. He was also planning for a long slow build, so we often went for bottom age players who were seen as having a lot of potential and met his criteria, but might take longer to develop. Thus we find ourselves with a raft of guys who look great when they can run free along the flanks, use their pace to burn off opponents and take their time to hit targets. When the opposition allowed us to do this (Sydney 2010 for instance), we looked golden. Unfortunately, too many sides figured out that we had nothing when it came to winning contested ball and simply refused to let our sleek running machines have those free possessions. Now we have Mark Neeld coming in and telling these guys that it's all very well being able to play a free-flowing attacking game, but they can only do that if they can get in there and win the ball for themselves. The question for these guys is whether they can learn to do the grunt work. If they can then our last five years worth of drafting will be fine, if not then we'll be trading them on and trying to get some decent hard players into the club.

I honestly agree with everything Malthouse said there. He's got us pretty well summed up. Our list has a huge amount of potential that has yet to be shown. We have a lot of talented players who have suffered either from injuries or just bad coaching (and yes, that is a Morton reference). If Neeld can get these guys playing real football then we will have a hell of a list. I suspect that if he can't then a lot of them are going to be shopped around as trade bait at the end of the season.

Quick point to people who are not overly happy here. Have a look at the other results today. NAB cup doesn't count. The results go all sorts of odd ways. Yes, we're being outplayed, but it's not like anyone takes this seriously.