Slartibartfast

No faith in Roos Dazzle. Who would have thought.

Does anyone know the contract status of Jayden Hunt. I think he's out of contract and if they wanted him you'd have expected him to have signed along with White, Stretch, ANB and King. What are people's thoughts?

I'm in the minority that think this will be a good decision. Now I'm on record.

Wrecka what attributes does he have that would allow him to transfer his form at WAFL level to AFL. For example Vanders had pace and clean hands whereas someone like Adam Fisher, although prolific at VFL level didn't have the pace to succeed at AFL level. That's what Taylor will be looking for - AFL attributes. Does Menegola have them?

I'm with you but sadly we don't get a say.

Does anyone know the format of the B&F count? If points are awarded to every player when they play that will not do Jack any good. If it's top 6 getting votes he could well surprise. He's been outstanding in my view.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

I've been trying to imagine what sort of player Christian may turn out to be. I saw he train last year a few times and the best two comparisons I can come up with are Colin Sylvia and Jack Darling. For those that saw him at junior level how would you characterize him and what role do you see him playing immediately and in the longer term?

Stretch was never involved in Hollywood boulevard, that was more the precinct of Lovett G, Stynes and Tingay along with the others you mention. The people involved were very good players but I hope we never see The Boulevard again.

I never used the word in this thread. Jabber used the word "group-thinkers", I didn't.

Thanks for your input. Can you show me where I used "groupthink" in this thread? Frost went from someone we wanted to a terrible trade because we paid too much to someone who was really good all pretty much following what happened. The point I was making was that as The Saints are now rationalizing McCartin over Petracca we did pretty much the same with our picks and the Frost thread is a good example. You really need to stop telling me to drop groupthink particularly if I don't use the word or the concept in a thread. I accept that you don't think groupthink exists here. I do. I can live with our differing opinions.

Yes. http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/topic/37395-welcome-to-the-melbourne-football-club-sam-frost/page-9 And onward. I'm surprised you couldn't do this yourself, but then again, perhaps not.

That's about as fickle as the Demonland thread on Sam Frost. He went from someone that wasn't worth a trade (we'd pick him up in the PSD for nothing) to someone who was better than James Frawley.

Ever thought of picking/not picking him on form? Roos has form on this. JKH. That would overcome this rather brainless discussion of whether he deserves a game round 1 and your premise that "good clubs would do". Good clubs would pick him if he was in the best 22. If he's in ours he plays.

What ever impact he makes in his first year it won't live up to Demonland expectations.

I've just watched the highlights. Makes me realize how difficult it would be being a recruiter. McCartin mauling kids much smaller than him and looks terrific. You'd never get to see the kid play on big bodies and that's who he'll get in his career. Players like Fergus Watts come to mind, Nic Smith, Hanson, Thorp, Dowler and Robbie Tarrant never turned into what they were supposed to be. Then there's Roughy, Franklin, Henderson and Kennedy who probably did. How on earth would you know? Roos is spot on, picking talls is a mugs game and big bodied ones like McCartin doubly so. I'll watch his career with great interest, more so if we select him.

Let me try again. How many picks do we have in the ND as of today....

What am I missing? Roos says we have picks 2, 3 and 40. The Age says we have three picks (this mornings paper). Brett Anderson has us with three picks. With Newton we only have 2 ATM don't we?

If Chip leaves then two Tyson deals would do me!

I think if you read the posts I've made here my concern is that we don't make the mistake of taking a footballer who is not a genuine midfielder. I'm not saying Petracca isn't and that's why I asked the questions I did. In the past we made terrible mistakes by taking footballers who we thought would develop into mids - Blease, Tapscott, Strauss, Bennell and Jetta. And before that the classic example was Sylvia. From what I saw of Petracca, and I've acknowledged that it's only one game, he didn't look like a genuine mid, he looked like a tall flanker who's main attribute was his marking which I don't think is enough of an asset at AFL level. IMO we need a genuine ball accumulator like Sloane, Shuey, Redden, Rockliff and Beams to name just a few we passed on, who can participate in possession chains and has the agility to find space in tight and make and execute good decisions. Clearly the recruiting department will have the necessary information and do due diligence and I'm not questioning that. I'm just discussing the type of footballer we want and asking if Petracca has those attributes.

That's my concern. That won't cut it at AFL level. Think Jeremy Howe.

I get worried about players who rely on power at under age level. Also Trengove tested well but I always felt he was a tall in a small body. I want to see him play like a midfielder with a bit of class. I just didn't see it in that one game.

Can Petracca run? Does he get involved in possession chains? Does he have pace? Does he have excellent lateral movement (agility). How much of his game is built around high marking? Is he a dead set genuine midfielder? I don't know the answers to these questions as I've only seen him play against SA on TV in the champs where I couldn't judge these attributes. I liked Ahern.

Couldn't agree less. It may have happened for someone like Viney had a deal not been done but it wouldn't happen for someone like Stretch. Why would another team risk taking a player they don't want at that pick just so they might force us to take him with an earlier pick? They wouldn't because there is too much risk for them. I doubt other teams would be worried if we picked up Stretch for a "bargain". As for the pick this year I'd be dead against taking a "running HB" or a flanker type. We fell into that trap with Blease, Strauss and Tapscott. Good flanker types at TAC cup level often seem to struggle at AFL level. I want a genuine midfielder or a genuine KP player with our first pick. Leave the flank positions for later picks. It's a pity we didn't keep Bennell, he seems to be developing nicely at WCE and was always the type of player who would take time.

I don't revere Flanagan as many do here. I like him but he's as capable of ordinary articles as most. He rarely tackles difficult issues and most of his features are feel good topics. Pretty easy stuff and he does it well. I also like Caro regardless of her critical attitude to us during the tanking investigation. Murphy provides an insight into the life of a footballer and intelligent one at that. I'll probably learn more from Murph and Caro than Flanagan. Each to their own. It takes all kinds Binman!