nutbean

I'm with you - I want the best at our club - if they happen to be ex MFc then well and good. I also think that we get a distorted picture on how good assistants really are - firstly we have little to no insight but secondly how much easier would it be to be the midfield coach at the Hawks compared to the Dees ? For that reason I really rate Clarkson as a coach as he took an ordinary Hawks and turned them into a powerhouse.

I will meet you three quarters of the way. Once he put his talks on hold ( like Cloke) he was not committed to staying and was signalling " let the games begin - I am up for a move"

I asked posters who had him signed up at Geelong etc why would he do that. It was obvious that he had multiple suitors from the get go - according to the media they all raised the hands and said yes please, Scully (who snuffed out all my childish naivety) had one suitor who offered him Fort Knox - that he signed very early on ? Probably yes. Why would Frawley sign early when he had been average for two season yet clubs were still clambering to get him ? You would let the dutch auction go on until the very end. I am in your court TDI. The only thing I do think is that his thinking early on was that he was going - just not sure to who.

That only works when you are achieving slightly more to start with. First comes success, then salary cap squeeze, then asking players to take slightly less to keep the team success coming. You don't ask players of the second bottom club to take slightly less to keep the dream happening....

not so interested in size - has anyone put on any skill over the break ?

I actually like him down back but I would like to see him have the occasional run up forward when needed. I was surprised last year when a few games were really tight at the death knell that he wasn't switched forward as that is perfect for a one time lob the ball high - take a screamer and kick a goal or two to win the game.

Well done to him - He is one ex - Demon that I have care factor zero about and I am not even sure why.

Not sure I agree with that - My understanding is that he was looked at because of his very good finish to season 2012 where he was most impressive in his last three games ( his first year) and then after a long injury lay off finished off the last three games in 2013 with his last game being very good. The concern was more about his injuries than his form - he had shown he could go at AFL level. ( however as I said before - it was still a risk as his he was still a 2nd year player with not a great deal of exposed form)

I have hijacked the thread - I gracefully retire from this thread.

you keep shifting the goal posts !! Sylvia has not had one AA year or close to it. Frawley came on in leaps and bounds 2009/2010. I would take a Roos coached Frawley from an 18 year old over a Sylvia. But it is interesting that you suggest Sylvia was a better player than Petracca at the same age ! Reminds of Dame Edna who quipped "As a little girl I looked exactly like Kylie Minogue which gives you some sort of idea of what Kylie will look like when she gets to my age".

Lachie Hansen - no Sam Day - maybe - hasnt shown enough yet ( not to say he wont) Lachie Whitfield - same as Day Martin - torn better talent and [censored] Would you trade Frawley for an year old Mastin Ellis or Sylvia ?

Actually I would like to revisit my comments I would like to see him take 9 marks a week leading out - hands in front of the face.. and.... one mark of the year each week. It is why we go to the football.

Yup -and after it was apparent that Frawley was going I was happy to receive pick 3 as this was the best we were going to get . But the point I am making is that I have a strong preference for trading out pick 1 and pick 3 so we know what we are getting. I am not going to celebrate pick 3 for Frawley until I see what we get in chooklotto.

So you are assessing their careers against half of Frawleys ? - how does that work ? For the record Bennell has stalled sinced a great 2011, Cotchin hasnt hit the heights of his 2012 season, NikNat has gone backwards since 2011/12. Who else a great 2010 and has gone backwards since ? Frawley. The difference being that Bennell and Cotchins team have gone forwards and so did the Eagles in 2013 but Frawley has been playing in the worst team in the AFL.

Because we have no idea what pick 3 will bring ? If we had on traded the pick for a Dylan Sheil then you can pretty much make the call now that it was good thing. I can't fathom how anyone can suggest how wonderfully we have done to have lost a footballer to a mechanism that our end result is a tattslotto ticket. Granted - we may have been given a system 15 ticket rather than a system 7 . I will hold my calling this a great result until i see what we get To draw the best analogy - we all bemoan what transpired to land us pick 1 and 2 in the 2009 draft. Would we still be moaning if we hand picked Nat Fyfe/Jack Gunston and they produced what they have produced for their respective clubs.

Maybe it was me but I had complete faith that he would put them through from the boundary line but any kicks 40 metres out on a slight angle or directly in front ..ewwww

How many of these are one season wonders or highly inconsistent ? Maybe some of the past few year draftees would be consistent but geez - day, Martin, Hill and Griffin are yet to prove that they can do it season after season. So swapping an average Frawley for an inconsistent Hill or Griffen - everyone is a loser. Thomas - a couple of good seasons - probably one more than Frawley. Ask Carlton people how happy they are with Thomas. Bennell has me salivating - he needs to do it consistently ( for the record i think he will be a fabulous). Even WCE people dispair at NikNats week on 3 weeks off approach to his footy.

true but both options are far from certain. I am hoping to pop champagne corks over the Frawley trade - but I need a couple of seasons to get the champers nice and chilled and ensure it is a good vintage

He takes a LOT of unbelievable marks. But I would prefer to see 10 marks a week leading out hands in front of the face rather than 1 mark of the year every two weeks. I thought the move to defense was good in that he saw a lot more of the ball and was more involved. He did some fine spoiling and intercepts. But he still has a way to go.

Too funny - nearly ever article you read has some under 18 footballer compared to some modern day superstar. This is to give the uninitiated an idea of how he plays in the under 18 competition. FYI - Bontempelli described as Pendlebury, KADE KOLODJASHNIJ as Grant Burchill, Dom Sheed - simon black, Patrick Cripps - Jobe Watson.Lewis Taylor - Brent Harvey ( I'll stop looking now)

I have no problem trading out a player for a high draft pick that we ontrade for an AFL seen talent ( DomTyson - still a risk but at least we had two years of exposed form at the highest level). I am a fan of trading a player for known talent. This slavish devotion to untried and unknown TAC under 18's has me scratching my head. Trading out Frawley because of his shortcomings - fine. But anyone telling me how fabulously we have done by trading a player for whats behind curtain number one ...well.. I just think we need to see two years of whats behind curtain one.

Interesting that you had to go back as far as Chis Grant - he was offered huge money to move ...wait for it.... 1996 - that's 18 years ago ! So for every one player that is loyal there are two more that are not ? damning statistic. (tongue in cheek post - but the sad truth is that there are very few Grants and Flowers in the AFL these days - its a business)

I think it is a throw away line that is made by players who have either yet to receive an offer from another club and/or have not lived playing in a poor team year after year. Two things keep a player at a club - most importantly it is success and $'s. It is easy to aspire to be a one club player if you consistently playing finals. The equations are pretty simple - most players are lured out of successful clubs by money Most players are lured out of unsuccessful clubs by the chance of success not necessarily money.(Rivers is a prime example of a player leaving for success at reportedly less money than he was to receive with us). Most players are lured from an unsuccessful to another unsuccessful club for money - Callum Ward and Scully. Then you have the last two categories - fall outs with a coach (Richetelli) and trade to another club for more opportunity (Petterd). Aspiring to one club is a warm and fuzzy notion that is fluid depending on circumstances.

This notion/idea is a fairy tale. Let's go to actual data Billings/Plowman/Tyson/Day/Martin/Hill/Masten/Hansen/Ellis/Griffen/Sylvia That's 11 years of draftees at pick 3 - I know that it is too soon for the last 3 years ( although many on Demonlanders are prepared to make a set in stone career prediction on some footballers based on one season). A total of one AA nomination for Griffen in 2013. That is out of 66 chances - meaning the strike rate over the last 11 drafts that the player will be AA standard is a whopping 1.5%. I conservatively hope that we get a week in week out solid player - looking at the bunch above it looks like we traded in the best pick 3 in Tyson ( arguments can be mounted for an inconsistent Hill and Griffen). I dream of getting an AA standard player. Edit - interesting I just researched pick 2 Kelly/Orourke/Coniglio/Bennell/Trengove/NicNat/Cotchin/Gumbleton/Thomas/Roughead/Walker Lots of busts there as well - 5 all Australians out of a possible 66. One footballer who I would call an out and out champion - Roughead (Richmond would mount an argument for Cotchin). Does this explode the myth that we are "guaranteed" of getting guns at 2 and 3 ?

Actually I don't have a problem with what is written. He is almost guaranteed of being right about two of the five mentioned. The key is to make sure we don't get the two he is right about.