Binmans PA

I've been very critical of him this year, mate. All he's got is the leap. What else is he offering? I really want us to be aggressive at the trade table this year. We obviously need to ensure that team harmony is in tact should we trade him, but it makes sense that if we can land ourselves a top mid for a flanker, you'd do the deal just about every day.

Look guys, we all know that you have to give up value to receive value. ie. Not Tapscott for Ablett. We need a midfield. I'd love to keep Howe up my sleeve for that extra bit of danger in the forward half, but the midfield is far more pressing than a flanker - as you rightfully point out, Tim. Howe is a great leaper, but has a tendency to drop the easier ones. If it came down to Howe or Watts, I'd be trading Howe every day of the week. Watts' disposal and decision making is just too damaging to overlook. If you get a midfield that can dish to the likes of Watts, we won't need a Howe with Clark, Dawes, Fitzy and Hogan. We'd need that extra little bit of x-factor in the forwardline, but draft someone with genuine pace to fill that role. Howe isn't quick. While he has perceived value, if we can get an experienced A grader, I'd pop him on the table.

Forget Wines, DF. I'd jump at him for pick 2, but Port won't trade and he won't look to leave within his first contract.

I agree with the sentiment, DA. We must be rigorous this draft/trade/FA period. If we don't fix our midfield, players of Frawley's ilk will leave and we will struggle to attract anyone. As obvious as it sounds, we simply aren't competitive with this midfield and although experience is important, I don't believe it is our entire problem. We lack the class that every other midfield has. I think we should be going really hard at an established player (Sydney's Josh Kennedy for example) and offering a 5 or 6 year deal at $800,000. Front load that as much as possible and then go hard at some B grade free agents. The following year go hard at a few Gold Coast and GWS mids coming out of contract. We go hard while we have the cap room to spare.

Trade Howe. See what we get. One of the most frustratingly one dimensional players we have. Made more infuriating by the fact that he has talent, just not the application it would seem.

It's not the list on the whole, rjay. It's the midfield. Without a workman-like midfield, it exposes every other area on the ground. That's not to say we don't have holes in the forward or back half, but no team will be competitive if their midfield rubbish. That's our predicament at the moment.

Craig's in a tough position, but has shown that he is only marginally better than Neeld. That says it all really.

I think we have to stop looking for saviours, WYL. Having said that, I think Roos and Williams are the best choices to dig us out of this mire. Williams clearly wants to coach again. If Roos says no, go with Williams. I still firmly believe Roos will be/is coming though.

Boom goes the dynamite, stuie.

I'd disagree with you on Hurley having a good footy brain, binman. He's a particularly dumb footballer for mine. That's one area Watts certainly has him covered. It's the different approaches to attacking the ball that may seem to place Hurley above, but he's just a rough, gruff boofhead really. Watts has vision and poise that Hurley would dream of, if his brain could work a little faster. Hurley's skills are reasonably average too. He can take a mark and he attacks the footy. He has size and that makes him dangerous, but aside from that very little else.

College suggests the basics need working on. Back to school we go type stuff. Calling it an academy sounds simply more prestigious. Perhaps I'm on my own there, but if I was a player, that'd be my line of thinking.

For starters, one is patronising, the other isn't.

It seems pretty clear that this is part of PJ's restructure. The article says as much. I like the idea of an academy, but we still need the right people in the right jobs. Agree though that it should have been in place years ago.

Totally agree, Tim. And the fact that he is playing in a midfield bereft of talent and leadership cannot be underestimated.

Let's just hope we can improve our midfield between now and then.

Good on you, Maxy. I liked this the other day.

Dawes will not be playing at Casey, RM. His onfield leadership is far too important. He straightens us up just as he did Collingwood. With our inexperienced forwardline he's even more important on the ground for us.If Clark returns we will shape up with Clark, Dawes and Hogan in the forward fifty, nothing surer. Watts will play between a wing and forward fifty, while Fitzy will have to improve his field kicking and ruck work to get a regular starting spot.

So he's out for the season is he?

It's the midfield, OD. We have other holes, but it's difficult to tell with the majority of our starting 22. Our defence has been a shining light again this year and our forwardline (with the injection of some fantastic leadership from Dawes) is slowly starting to look the goods. It's the midfield that consistently let us down. Jones tries hard and so does Trengove, but the rest, the work rate either isn't there or the skills aren't. We won't make the eight next year necessarily, but we if trade/FA and draft well, we could come close with a decent midfield. I agree with AJ. No wholesale changes. We need some stability. I can see a number of blokes (at least 8) who are either regular VFL players or yo-yo between VFL and AFL. It's not as dire as people think. Fix the midfield, midfield, midfield. I would hope we could fill most midfield holes within two years. Any other list holes (crumbing forwards, running defenders etc) will be fixed as we near a premiership window.

Jones still consistently turns back into traffic and gets tackled. He stamped this out of his game last year, but it has returned this year. It probably has something to do with the lack of space he has been afforded this year.

Disagree with this. Dawes worked hard and the kicking to him was atrocious, not to mention it was dripping wet conditions and tough to mark.

Thing is if we won the clearances (which surprises me) and still lost despite a bottom six worthy team having Brown and Black out, well that says that a loss is unacceptable. I'd usually be saying, yeah, look our midfield is rubbish and that killed us. If we're winning the clearances that is disappointing to lose to such a lowly side. With each week that passes I'm more assured that Craig will not be coaching us next year. We had a plan, but our turn overs simply kill us. We did play a lot of dumb footy too. Turning into traffic instead of out. Not enough risk taking when turning defence into attack. If we can get someone to stamp those errors out over a pre season (I'm not convinced Craig is the man), then we'll be a five to ten goal better team. I'll tell you what though. Fitzy is exciting, as is Viney. The latter made a few errors out there too, but he just knows where to go to win the footy. He also knows how to win a freekick too. We haven't had one of those for a while. A couple of our guys had absolute stinkers though. Absolute stinkers, but I won't name names here.

The basic errors come down to confidence and experience. If we're not experienced, it's hard for anyone to rectify those errors. I do concur with what you proffer though, jazza.

You're assuming that he'll keep his 2010 gameplan. Highly unlikely. Good coaches develop and try to stay ahead of the eightball. That's partially been our problem with the last two coaches. Outdated game plans. If Roos is to coach us, he wouldn't implement an outdated plan.

Really? How odd. They're obviously impressed with McLean. Jones'd great B grade, cusp of A grade with Judd and Murphy around him. Obviously, I don't we should trade him though. It follows naturally that if we could get an A grader or two alongside Jones, he'll be an important part of a bullocking MFC midfield. Personally, I think a few FAs are starting to open up. Sewell and Dal Santo could be perfect experienced big pay FAs and I'd throw the kitchen sink at Sydney's Kennedy and all of a sudden, you have a starting midfield of Sewell, Jones and Kennedy. That's looking closer to A grade than D grade. Dal Santo could then play across half back and play through the middle to give the others a chop out occasionally. Stick Trengove on a wing, Grimes on the other and you've got players that can play through the middle to support these A graders you've brought in. The message - we must be aggressive at trades and FAs. Even more so if we get a PP.