Keyser Söze

Yeah, they've rejected us. Mainly because they are high profile players, accustomed to winning, and the idea of coming to the wooden spooner is not that appealing. Whether it be MFC, Brisbane, Collingwood or Geelong. The simple fact is that we've been finishing on the bottom of the ladder. If a player is weak-minded enough to not want to look at the facts before deciding to come here and instead go by the often-wrong perception of the general football public, then chances are he is not the player who is going to help us succeed. Collingwood is perceived as a successful club? is it? Ever heard of the 'colliwobbles'? Maybe financially. or in terms of supporters. But these things aren't perception, they are reality. I don't see how publicly declaring our desire to get him is damaging for the club. Maybe for your own psyche. Other supporters may use it as ammunition now, because they can, but in 2 years' time it will either be forgotten or irrelevant as we beat the pies et al. Winning changes everything. For now, we are managing to still get our name in the papers every couple of days. No such thing as bad publicity. Collingwood prove that to be true.

It wasn't my draft, I was just commenting on your assertion Patrick would be gone by pick 50. I don't believe this is true.

You don't have to bottom out, but sometimes it is necessary to have a list clean-out and start again with fresh players. By being at the bottom you just give your club the best options of kids to rebuild with. This is what we have managed to do.

Good to see Bailey obviously using the money provided to him for furthering his coaching education, as I vaguely remember him not using it last year and returning the money to the club. Whilst that was a great gesture, I think trips like this are essential for the development of any good coach and I think the benefits far outweigh the costs involved.

Yes. Well & truly. The love affair with Liam Patrick on this forum is out of touch with reality.

Who cares what the public perception is of players wanting to come to MFC? I don't. I care about building a list and winning games. Everything else will follow in good time.

Even if his arguments are wrong, how on earth does that affect rhino's ability as a moderator? You continue to make less and less sense... The personal tuff is tiresome - take a step back for a while. Back on topic... I have always rated Enright. I fail to remember a time when he was a lesser footballer than Moloney. Granted Tenace has not shown to date that he is a capable AFL player, but 12 months ago Dawson and Farren Ray were in the same boat, in my view. I doubt he can do it, but I'm willing to concede I could be wrong.

Not sure what you're referring to...

I think the MFC is also. Having spoken to someone close to the board yesterday, it confirmed my hopes that we are very unlikely to select Luke Ball. Instead we're hoping to bluff and push up his price for another club.

I agree with this appraisal.

You really think Brisbane will be that much better with Fev? I think considering the shake-up their list has had it will take them some time to gel. I don't think their forward-line will function as well as they'd hope. But for me, Bris have no hope of making top 4. We shall see.

I know a kid who played falcons this year and is very close mates with Cal Bartlett and asked him about him. He said Cal had recruiters and the like telling him at the end of last year he'd be a top 10 pick, but then he did his ACL. Interest cooled until it could be seen how he recovered from injury, but it looks now like he has recovered a lot better than originally expected and is well ahead of schedule. Now he's having a lot of recruiters getting in to see him, all hoping the others have forgotten how good he is, hoping they can get the steal of the draft. I've spoken to a few others about him and looks like he won't be around for our pick 34. Rightly so.

I agree - Cousins without the issues and slightly better. I was amazed and pleased to hear he has already had 'severe osteitis pubis' by the age of 15. With a runner like him this would be my biggest concern, but he's obviously learnt the valuable lesson of not over-training and learnt how to deal with a problem like OP. Can it be true? The only other thing I think you could ask of him is for a bit more height...

I think I'm in the same boat. I see something in him and I'm just yearning for him to take that next step, but somewhere in the pit of my stomach I feel like he may never do that. Edit: But, considering some of the 2nd-rate players we still have on the list, he should get ample opportunity to develop. I expect us, like many teams, to make the minimum number of changes for the next 2 drafts after this one and so far he's better than at least 6 players on the list.

My point was that should all the "good talls" be gone come pick 18, then the remaining "utility types" are far too good to pass up in favour of a project player, relatively new to the game, with no defined position. I honestly don't care if we create a team of gun utility players and then have to trade a few of our smalls to get a decent tall. Worked perfectly for Geelong.

That's incorrect - Moloney was definitely in the best 22 at Geelong when he was traded. Unfortunately for him it was a necessary evil to trade a player of his calibre to get a decent ruckman in return. Fortunately for him (and us) he was being sent to the team he supported growing up. Prismall was only just scraping out of the team. Moreso for team balance than anything. He would've made the top 22 of a list of Geelong's best 22 players.

If Carlisle, Vardy, Butcher, Talia, Griffiths and Black (don't rate Panos a top 30 pick) were gone come pick 18, I'd take the best available. If these kids were all gone you'd be sure to have decent prospect still around that I rate better than Majak Daw, whether a tall or not. Best available. It would mean most of Tapscott, Lucas, Jetta, Gysberts, Koby Stevens, Melksham, Rohan, Andrew Moore, Sheppard, Mitch Duncan, Jasper McMillan-Pittard, James Craig, Fitzpatrick, Troy Taylor, Christensen et al would still be available. I'd sooner take one of these kids before Majak Daw, among others. What about Serhat Temel? wasn't he supposed to be flavour of the month in september? Now nobody brings up his name... for good reason.

There's merit in the idea what Port might take him. It has been reported they are chasing tough types for their midfield (chasing Jordan Lewis hard in the Burgoyne trade). I just pray one of these teams does take him that early. Maybe I undervalue Luke Ball, but I don't want him at the cost of a top 20 pick.

blah blah blah ... fear mongering ... noise ... insecurity ... blah blah blah ... hopelessness ... why don't we just concede defeat and de-register the club?

Ridiculous notion that we would waste pick 18 on such a raw project player when there will still be so much talent left on the board. Majak Daw may look athletically like he can hang with the best of them, but the game is played between the ears. There are so many other facets to an AFL player that he does not yet possess.

I think for MFC its more a case of "he doesn't want to be here, why use an unreasonably high draft pick on him?" If North could use a pick that late on Ball, I don't see why they'd blink. Take him in a heartbeat.

I'm praying for Essendon at 10 or even Port at 9. Would help our drafting no end. I hope to god we don't touch him now that he's in the ND, as he'll be gone by pick 34 where I'd start to consider him.

I honestly thought you were smarter than that. My mistake.

Daw??!? at 18? You'd have to be be joking...

Richmond, Port Adelaide, West coast, Carlton, Brisbane. Possibly Freo, North or Sydney too. Even essondon are over-rated in my opinion. Not saying we definitely will finish above these teams, but I don't see a reason why we shouldn't be able to.