leucopogon

Cheers, but I think I blew my golden opportunity. Has anyone else noticed that cocksuredness Kent oozes? Like most here, I'm hoping like hell he becomes a genuine A grader. I wished Ben Newton the best of luck on what is going to be a big year ahead for himself and the team. He seemed like a good down to earth bloke, as did Viv. Chris Dawes and Col Garland were having a right old laugh about something during the stretching. Jones is all class, his set shots are timed so well, all his kicks just ping sweetly off the boot. Hogan was looking deadly from anywhere inside 50 and from all angles, slotting set shots, snaps, the works. Dean Kent and Jeff Garlett likewise Didn't get a great look at Salem or Lamumba as they were mostly training up the other end from me. Aaron Vandenburg looked nervous out there, hope he's not overwhelmed by the enormity of the opportunity that's in front of him. Dunn was kicking torps from 70-80m out at the end of the session, one made the distance...just. Impressive, maybe an NFL punting career beckons. That's about all the random observations I can recall.

McQ did you notice Toumpas' set shots how he waves the ball around during the run up, didn't look very orthodox.

So what do all those hangers on do besides collect balls? Must be nice being part of the MFC entourage. I'm absolutely pumped for tomorrow's game, can't wait.

Cheers McQ, I must have been right there next to you, because Newton was just in front of me also. I ended up being the unofficial ball boy to that kick of Dawes that went over the net and stand. A couple of other balls went over as well. Had a very brief chat with Dom Tyson (nice fella), Jesse Hogan, Jay Kennedy Harris and Jack Grimes. Missed out on Dean Kent's autograph (my son will be spewing). Got some good photos of him practicing grubber bananas from the boundary with Viv Michie. I don't mean to sound age-ist but what's with all the silver foxes being ball boys for the team? Surely thats a job for younger crew like myself, how do I get a gig? Can't wait for the game tomorrow.

All over, was a blowing out the cobwebs session nothing more. No drills, just shots at goal and kick to kick.

Kicking it around amongst each other, very casual start, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get Kent's autograph for my son.

Jones doing a media interview, boys just walking back out now

They just arrived, headed into the rooms to get changed I guess. Coaching group out on the field talking it up. Edit: Ross Lyon out there chatting to Roosy and the other coaches.

Boys still haven't run out to start the session, handful of patient dees fans waiting eagerly to see them.

Sitting in the old stand at freo oval waiting for the boys to start training. Anyone else from 'land here?

Yes, I predicted a score for every game of every round. The lengths you go to in December for your footy fix hey?

cheers

This from my season prediction done before the New Year, haven't had a recent look at it. Team Wins Losses Draws % Pts Port 18 3 1 132.23 74 Haw 17 5 0 133.33 68 North 17 5 0 116.48 68 Syd 16 6 0 124.85 64 Frem 16 6 0 124.03 64 GCS 14 7 1 103.76 58 Geel 13 9 0 104.62 52 Rich 13 9 0 103.52 52 --------------------------------------------------------- WCE 11 11 0 109.27 44 Bris 11 11 0 99.19 44 GWS 9 13 0 97.55 36 Melb 9 13 0 83.82 36 Coll 8 13 1 95.84 34 Adel 8 14 0 93.32 32 Ess 6 16 0 84.86 24 WB 5 16 1 77.07 22 Carl 2 19 1 73.66 10 StK 2 19 1 65.44 10 Have us with a shocking start (0 wins 7 losses) but with a very optimistically strong finish to the year hopefully wins predicted against: Bulldogs (Rd 8) Collingwood (Rd 10) St. Kilda (Rd 11) Essendon (Rd 15) Brisbane (Rd 16) St. Kilda (Rd 17) Bulldogs (Rd 20) Carlton (Rd 21) GWS (Rd 23)

Any details on that training session McQ? I'm in Murdoch and wouldnt mind popping down as well. I'm taking the young fella to the game on Thursday, he and I are both pretty excited. Hope its better than the loss to WCE last season.

reckon he'll go close to lifting the "Bluey" this season

Go and watch his performance against the Crows, he's not over-rated, he'll be more than solid, just needs more development

Reminds me of Shannon Hurn, this kid could be a great player, love the left peg.

Looking at Saty's twitter photos, I'm simply gobsmacked at the size of Petracca, if this kid can develop a tank, he could be anything.

I think we're fine in the ruck, overated position anyway, Pedo can compete there FFS, and he's only in the low 190's for height. I reckon they'll wait to see if Max King can lift his game this year and if so, he becomes the next hope, if not, I think we'll look to trade in an established ruck and/or rookie another long-term prospect.

Oscar's disposal coming out of defence (if that's where he plays) could be a weapon. I noticed this season, that opposing teams would give TMac space when we brought the ball out of defence, and quite often it would end up in his hands and half the time his questionable disposal would lead to either a) a direct turnover or b) the loss of any rebounding momentum. We need as many elite disposers by foot coming out of the back half as possible. Really stoked we got Oscar.

Let's hope we don't Petrucc-it-up!

you've summarised what my original post was driving at

pick 2 - De Goey pick 3 - Cockatoo/Garlett pick 40 - Langdon/McDonald pick 53 - ? rookie 2 - Caleb Daniel rookie 20 - Tapscott Prediction of which 2 will be the best players from this draft class in 3 years time: Heeney & Cockatoo 2015 rising star: Heeney

Lets revisit this thread in 3 years time.

I'm officially going on the record to say the following players will be busts: Brayshaw (a year older than most of his TAC cup teammates who didn't have the distractions of yr 12 last year, will also be found out, I fear he could be the biggest bust of the whole draft if he goes high) Petracca (a man child that I think will be found out playing with real men) Laverde (not sure why, call it gut feel) Wright (not competitive enough) McCartin (dunno, the diabetes thing maybe an issue) Lever (already done knee, risky proposition) As picks 2 & 3 are likely to come out of this crop, I think our trend of dud high picks will continue this year. Bring on picks 40 and 53 though!