big tuna

Mundy has been very impressive in the Freo games I have watched this year. He will be in high demand so will cost big dollars and I am not sure we will have room in the salary cap next year with all our front-ended contracts in place.

tough job picking that side.... couldn't even fit Carey in the side as i considered most of his best footy was played before 2000

Keep the current system. On a related matter... why did Geelong play in white shorts against Saints last night? Geelong finished higher on the ladder and even though the game was played at the MCG it was still their home game. Shouldn't they have worn their navy shorts and Saints wear their alternative strip?

Agree, it is all subjective... I thought the rest of the players you named will be core players in our next flag (fingers crossed/touch wood). I just offered my opinnion on Morton and Bennell because I see them as more fringe players (if still on the list in 3-4 years) and not 'vital' to us winning a premiership. I think next year and beyond Bennell will get forced out of the forwardline by a fit Wonna who provides more forward pressure and gets just as many kicks and goal assists. Morton has more upside and hopefully just had a poor year because of injury... but he will no longer just be given games for development and will have to earn his position(where ever that may be) as Tappscott, Blease etc are introduced.

How can you include Morton and Bennell as 'Flag Core Players' when they haven't nailed down a position yet? Most supporters and probably the players themselves are confused as to what role they play from one week to the next. Morton has shown glimpses of talent playing in defense, attack and in the middle but if he continues this years form he will not be on the list in 2013. Bennell has played all year in a forward pocket but has plenty of competition there and may be asked to play a rebounding defenders role in the future. Still plenty of people not sold on either of these guys... myself included.

Well done Ewok... nice pseudonym Connolly/Schwabb/Bailey/Stynes or whoever you are

I have never rated either Bate or Dunn particularly highly (even when in form) and always considered them a stop-gap solution until we recruited a talented young CHF. But Dunn has been very impressive since his return to the seniors and gone past Bate for the moment. Dunn has shown he can take a mark over head, create pressure in the forward line and negate his opponent, kick long goals from a set shot and even kick a few magic/lucky goals from nothing. But what I like most is his energy and in your face attitude he seems to have developed lately (almost bordering arrogance) which I believe is required for most players to reach their potential. Dunn does tend to have a brain snap occasionaly that cost us certain goals... think it was against Adelaide when he played on 40m out right in front and dribbled the ball along the ground. In contrast Bate has plenty of flaws which need improvement. He lacks agility, is poor when the footy is at his feet, struggles to stick a tackle, and doesn't have a big leap and rarely takes overhead marks. Bate does have a long kick and is reliable in front of goals but don't know if this makes up for everything else. Hopefully he just needs a good pre-season and a fresh start next year to regain his place in our best forward line set-up.

If the MFC thought they could get a pick 13 for Bruce the entire footy department would skip the B&F and be wrapping his china ware in butchers paper as we speak.

You have managed to misunderstand a pretty simple question stuie.... he is asking about best 22 in 2012 not in 2010. He would be in my best 22 unless a Gysberts or a yet to be recruited inside midfielder displaces him. If it came down to a choice between Moloney and Jones I would pick Moloney because he is able to extract the footy from tight situations and win those crucial clearances on a more regular basis. Jones gets caught holding the ball too often and I don't think his pace or foot skills are significantly better than Beamer.

I think you have the top 4 spot on. Sylvia deserves to be at 5 on the games he has played but he missed about 6 or 7 games from memory and I can see Bruce and Moloney finishing above him. Jizz should finish above Newton and probably Jetta based on only 3 games

Anyone who wouldn't take the Kozi for Warnock swap is kidding themselves. Warnock may be too good for VFL standard but he is a surplus defender for MFC who was beaten soundly by a pretty average full forward in Schultz last week. Its great to have him in case of injuries but would much rather have Kozi as key target up forward and 2nd ruckman. Even if he was not rejuvenated by moving to a new club and his output didn't improve on this year... at a bare minimum he provides much needed depth in the ruck and in the tall forward department. Imagine if Jamar gets injurred next season(touch wood)... Spencer/PJ cannot carry the ruck duties by themselves so we would have to play both meaning we are down a midfield rotation. This trade will never happen because the Saints are not stupid enough to accept such 1 sided trade.

People always get confused with articles and rumours because they hear the word 'Melbourne' and think Demons when it really means a Victorian team. From the sounds of that article he is not very happy with Brisbane after last year shopping him around... so he is chance to nominate for the draft with a price on his head just to spite his old club. Could be good for us.

Is anyone actually surprised by their recent results? Every man and his dog knew that after a great start to the year they would fall off the pace and crawl into the finals. Without Super Pav in their line up they lack real leadership or self belief. Todays game is just another example of a club that continues to make the wrong call everytime. Sadly MFC provided the Dockers with their only taste of success in finals... with that in mind I hope they add another unlucky club to that list this year so they can share the shame with us.

Did anyone else notice yesterday when Jamar was kicking for goal he held the ball side on to the goals? Every player I have ever seen take a set shot at goal at any level of footy has held the ball 'laces out'(laces of football facing directly at goal). Both goals Jamar kicked he dropped the ball with the blue logo facing the goals. I know this is a trivial thing to comment on but I was just wondering if there are any full forwards or accomplished goal kickers on this site that have used this technique... or have a theory as to why Jamar would?

Thought Bail was pretty good today ... with just 1 simple free kick costing us(even though it was incredibly soft). If Bartram was even just a mediocre kick we would be in the best most weeks... so frustrating to watch because you know the shank is coming. I didn't think Jamar was that effective in the ruck today against Renouf but took some nice grabs around the ground. Maybe I have raised the bar too high for TMR ... or maybe the Hawks on-ballers were reading it much better than ours.

48,650

Agree with the general vibe of posts so far. 1st half our defenders kept us in the game + fowardline efficiency when it got in there. 2nd half midfield started to get more hands on the ball at stoppages and our smoother rebound from defence got us over the line. Still plenty to improve on.

From memory that Watts goal was in front of the Tigers cheersquad(I think?). So did the goal umpire just appease the drooling morons behind him and avoid having coins bouncing off his skull for the rest of the day?

Garland does a better job than any other backman but I agree that Davey should take every kick-out he can possibly get to. Garlands biggest problem is his lask of confidence in hitting a shorter target inside 50. Once today he played on and hit it beautifully to Jones on 50 but I think it was a bit of helicopter that just happened to drop nicely between 3 Tigers.

Bail does some very good work but he gave away some dumb freekicks today. He provides plenty of hardness in tight and has pace with a nice long kick but just needs to get those simple little mistakes out of his game. Rivers was great today under the long bomb and helping out Frawley.

6. Dunn 5. Davey 4. Green 3. Rivers 2. Frawley 1. Jurrah

I have noticed occasionally Moloney giving a dangerous handball in tight (2 against Adelaide which cost us goals) but I would argue he breaks more tackles than actually stick... whereas Jones seems to get buried everytime. FFS do not rest Jamar this week in the 1st week of supercoach finals... my team is fragile enough.

Jones is unlucky to be dropped after playing a good game last week but I thought he was on the chopping block a few weeks back when he played some average games against Saints & Bombers. Bailey needed to drop another midfielder this week and Jones cramping after the Lions game was the half an excuse he was looking for. Jurrah was lucky to survive but Bailey probably figures he is 1 week closer to busting the game wide open.

When I started this thread I expected these negative responses to the 1st question... and I agree that the MFC should/would say no to trading for either player... unless the trade was heavily stacked in our favour(2nd or 3rd round pick). Remember Cox would only be competing with PJ (who was considered finished 3 weeks ago) or Spencer (who I don't think will ever make it but needs 2 more years to say for sure) for the 2nd ruck position. At 29 Cox would be perfect for 2-3 years backing up Jamar until Gawn develops. Kerr would be competing with Jones/Moloney/McKenzie and maybe Junior (if he goes on) in the engine room. He has better skills than all of those players when fully fit but it would disrupt the team harmony if it forced 1 of these players out of the side. On the 2nd question about trade value... I think Hawks would definitely trade an early pick and/or player to get Cox as no. 1 ruck while their premiership window is open. Essendon could do with him as no. 1 ruck to release Hille up forward and Ryder down back. Brisbane might as well trade an early pick for Kerr because Vossie has gambled on mature players this year and is stuck with Fev and co for the next 2 or 3 years... Black/Power/Brown are all getting old and getting more injuries. Its probably too late to turn around now and go for youth. Sydney have turned plenty of troubled players around before and will need a midfielder to replace Kirk. Adelaide are supposed to be losing Scott Thompson back to Victoria so they might want a similar midfield type in Kerr.

Hird and Sheahan were discussing On The Coach last night whether West Coast should offer up Kerr and Cox for trade. They seemed to think WC should trade for early draft picks (if the players were willing to go). Which got me wondering... 1. Should MFC trade a player or draft pick for 1 or both of these players? 2. What is the trade value of Kerr and Cox to other teams (especially Gold Coast)? I am interested to hear what others think.