nutbean

I get that. - we also get so excited about these boys when we see the packages. The packages should excite us - These are "best of" packages - they have two years of footage to draw from. They are not going to drop footage in their of dropped marks, missed tackles and out on the full kicks. I could make a "best of" Cale Morton highlight package from his time with us that make us all lick of lips with anticipation ( well.. maybe I couldn't)

I don't subscribe to having players back at our club purely because they are ex players. They need to have the skillset. I also think to be more rounded players need to get out of the environment they have been in 10 years or more. Happy that Brad Green is at Carlton learning under Malthouse and Neita will be at the Hawks learning under Clarko. Hopefully they turn out to be great coaches and do come back. Would I take Neita today in the development of youth role that McCartney just filled ? No way - we pick the best and being an ex Demon is a not a pre-requisite IMO.

As long as it isn't one of your cars parked in Rosebay

Most of us can only go on what we see in these video packages but the difference in disposal between the two packages is really stark.

meh - Jack Martin looks the goods so far 185cm talk and 71kgs.. You can either play football or your can't.

I thought someone may bring up Martin. There are some on that maintain their rage as to why we didn't take him. He was clearly not rated in the same rankings as Scully and Trengove ( you know what I think of ratings) and whilst he was a risk on attitude it was not that held him back as being in the class of the other two - from my reading, it was purely based on that analysis that he wasn't as a good a footballer. Darling is the other that comes to mind and he definitely dropped in value due to the perceived problems.

Where exactly are you getting this from ? So have a look at last premiers - here is the coaching staff Chris Fagan - General Manager - Football Operations Alastair Clarkson - Senior Coach Brendon Bolton - Assistant Coach Cameron Bruce - Assistant Coach Brett Ratten - Assistant Coach Adem Yze - Assistant Coach Damian Monkhorst - Ruck Coach David Rath - Head of Coaching Services Damian Caroll - Football Academy Development Coordinator John Wardrop - Opposition Analyst Rob McCartney - Development Coach Andrew Russell - Head Fitness Coach Phil Merriman - Rehab and Conditioning Coach Luke Boyd - Strength and Conditioning Coach Nikki Smart - Data Analyst Ric Sprake - Team Manager Jason Burt - Football Administration and Player Welfare Services Manager Cam Matthews - Player Development Manager Nicky Couston - Player Welfare Mentor Daniel Napoli - Medical and Conditioning Coordinator Kathryn Buick - Contract and TPP Coordinator Chris Nanni - Football Operations Coordinator Anthony Klarica - Sports Psychologist Not an ex hawk amongst them On their board they have one ex player ( Andrew Gowers). So would you suggest that the Hawks have the same problem as you perceive we have ? So whilst there are not many ex Demons working at the club ( three in the football operations area) how do you know that ex players have lost connection with the club ? The players certainly haven't lost touch with each other - as the recent support to Danners shows. Can you provide anything to support your argument that players don't feel a connection to the club. ( Steven Stretch is a perfect example to actually counter your argument - read articles about Billy and himself and his "connection")

I have aim of next year my club going on a roll and winning every game of the season except for the last game ( the wake up call we need to have) and then going through in straight sets to win the grand final. ... Sometimes the best of aims don't eventuate.

This was on bigfooty from a Saints supporter and made me laugh. After I stopped laughing I figured out he was 100% right. "In 9 hours, we find out if Petracca is a very driven, highly talented gun and McCartin is a fat, one dimensional lump, or if McCartin is the second coming of Plugger and Petracca is an arrogant [censored]!"

We disagree with the amount of talent Sylvia has. What we don't disagree on is Sylvia's attitude and his willingness to work his arse off to be the best he could be. I hope anyone we draft possesses the trait to be the best he can possibly be. I am on record as saying that Jones is not an elite footballer however he is my hero as does what it takes to extract every inch of talent out of himself and be the best he can be. I think that Sylvia has more talent in his little finger than Jones but it is no contest to which one you would take every day of the week.

I think posters are confused by other posters such as yourself, and my attitude to these draftees. Absolutely I am excited to be getting what is believed to be the two of the top three talents in the land. I am hopeful that this TAC talent translates in long and prosperous AFL careers. But the hype has in so many cases not turned into reality. The boys that are hyped as the best now have constantly proven themselves not be the best in 3 years time. I will pronounce any of our draftees as guns when they have hit the big stage and proven themselves to be guns. Until then - I am keeping my powder dry.

I have never had a problem with hope - I have a problem on sweeping pronouncements based on little. I am always excited about new players - it coincides with the preseason where we are burning up the track and are full of optimism for the upcoming season. However I stay well clear of pronouncements about how we have picked up "guns and superstars" in the draft before they have even kicked at ball at the highest level. Posters making such pronouncements have learned nothing from history. It is clear to me that this current regime has learned plenty from history and their other club experiences. The very expensive outlay on player development staff tells me that.

You would think after so many misses ( and not just us but by all clubs - but yeah..us in particular) that excitement would be tempered and posters with the habit of making bold pronouncements about the "guns"we are drafting would see how fraught with danger this habit is....apparently not.

We have been continually burned by the career reality not matching the draft time potential and hype. I'll get really excited when reality = hype. (I have allowed myself for the first time in a long time to get excited - Dom Tyson. Paid a big price for him trading immediate impact for potential "superstar" and he delivered from day one)

or conversely, he won't

I truly don't think anyone can pick (guess) who will be the best from the draft in five years time ( as history tells us) but I am prepared to settle. If Brayshaw/Petracca turn out to be Bartels rather the Abletts (Bartel in my opinion is a really good top notch footballer but Ablett is a superstar) - I am prepared to accept that. Up to now we have drafted what we thought could be Abletts that turned out to be Mortons.

Wasn't only posters - I recall reading in a couple of places that his disposal was iffy at times - but that hasn't really translated during his time at Port.

Who knows what his test results were - to me it is sounds like some fabricated justification by Saints supporters as to why they have switched when the reality is probably they can't split McCartin and Petracca but their need for a tall is greater. Behavior has not been touted as issue except in the last 2 or 3 days. Having said that there were a few on here who were really keen on Dayle Gartlett.

The two highlight packages are really polar opposites in terms of disposal - in the first he misses plenty of targets and in the second he doesn't miss a single target. As said before Scully as a number one draft pick has average disposal at best ( great hands though). There was a knock on Wines disposal but I haven't seen that at senior level.

I understand that Roos "says" that he only consults on drafting and let's the decisions be made by the recruiting staff however..... Roos is on record as saying ( and I paraphrase) " draft for mids, trade for talls". It would therefore be hard to see us bypassing petracca and Bradshaw if McCartin goes number one.

Most of the scribes are pretty spiot on close to draft time about what order they will be selected. None of the scribes are ever right when you compare the draft order they nominated as opposed to the output of the players.

Whilst I don't hold great store in the testing as these kids ( in the main) are far from matured, the testing would not be about if they were able to spell their names or not. It would be more about goals, aspirations and expectations ( expectations both from the players perspective and the club). The questions would try and tease out how much fire there is in the belly's and the lengths they will go to succeed. Imagine asking those sorts of questions to 18 year olds ! Tom Scully was meant to be the flag bearer for what you wanted from a player and would have been borne out by his test. Fanatical desire to succeed, fanatical desire to better himself and his junior years were very focused on him and his teams succeeding. He was a leader during his junior years. He would have ticked every box. Hence the reason I place little faith in these tests.

I immediately thought Travis Johnstone....

Reading Sylvia's bio and reading Petracca's - if we secure Petracca I would like to think he can become what we all hoped Sylvia would be - not what he turned out to be.

Get him to spell the band "ACDC" - for anyone who hasn't heard it - google "Spell ACDC radio contest" - it makes me weep for the future of this planet.