Ouch!

Agree with Moon and Old on this! ... unless Pia Miller is an option :D

Perhaps a little confused as to the title referring to pressure, are we talking about pressure for spots? or forward pressure as a tactic? Seems like the former... anyhoo.. There is an interview on the MFC site with Jack Watts stating that he is is expecting to play forward this year again. Mentioned that he could spend time both deep in attack and high on the half forward line. It fits with the first definition of forward pressure... perhaps not the second so much :D But his disposal of the footy can't be faulted, and another year on, hopefully he has a bit more body strength and is good for some goals up there.

given he was injured for the last 8 weeks or so of the season I'd say the latter....

...unless we hear the results from the Geelong time trials.

In no order, and based on the fact that these are the players that remain on our list and may still have some lingering 'issues' that prevent them playing to their best potential: Garland: Need him to find the consistency that he had prior to injury. I think if he can, it releases Howe to play forward or wing Grimes: Needs to take the 'no pressure' blunders out of his disposal to secure his role in the team, similarly enables Howe to go forward, or for Grimes to be valuable in the midfield rotations. Watts: Another year of getting consistency under Roos, and needs to demand the ball more when in space (the number of times he works to space and is ignored) Garlett: We need goal kickers that can kick 30-40+ in a year. Point to prove after being dumped Howe: Another year to learn the craft, get more consistency but to get a defensive edge that will be valuable if we are able to push him forward. Midfielders have got the depth of players in their rotation, I think that gives them the generic improvement as a unit. Also resisted putting Hogan in here as I think we need Gawn, Pedersen and Fitzpatrick to shoulder the load for the next couple of years to give him time to learn to play at the highest level, expectations still way too high on him.

I understand the premise of the post, to try and look at things fresh. However with that said, you can't look forward without knowing where you have come from either. For mine, I'm attempting to read the training reports without too much excitement, ad really hoping that the all the players and the team as a whole improve... Also happy to place faith in the coaching and footy staff to get the team trending upwards. Other thing is... it's the nature of a forum that people come together based upon a common interest to talk, vent, argue, discuss, [censored] and moan with whats going on. Notion of a clean slate kinda sterilizes that for me!

On that photo, and I'm not saying that he isn't solid in the legs, but it's also worth while taking a look at the other leg, I think that image is a bit deceiving, and if you have ever seen a super slow mo video of how much movement occurs in a muscle when people/animals etc run, it could be a result of the photo playing tricks. I'd like to see a stationary image of him before judging

I think that the two way running, and the endurance side of things is a very good test, however as you say, it's only one part of the equation. I would like to see something where we are able to test the endurance and repeat running skills of a player and incorporate decision making skills into the equation too... I agree that players like Nico and to a lesser degree Grimes were super when it came to endurance running and the like, but the question mark for me on Grimes is skills under pressure etc... I also think you are being a bit harsh on Bail, I thought his season last year pretty solid. At least the first half of the year anyway, tapered off in the second half. Build a beep test that has a tackle bag up one end, and a coach about to fling a ball at you with an instruction to kick or handball to a target at the other... Test not only the endurance of the player, but their disposal skills under fatigue and pressure.

I have to agree with this, I think the issue with these players at the MFC have been more that the weight of expectation that these kids were shouldering the load to success for us. Each draft we have the next 'savior' coming into the club. Roos is attempting to allow the development staff to work with the kids to allow them to adjust the life of an AFL footballer, to shield them from the expecations both internal and external that from game 1 they have to be the messiah. PaulRB, I think your comments re Toumpas and Watts are not quite right... Toumpas did't develop the hip issues after joining the club cos we pushed him too hard if I recall. He had surgery on the hips prior to joining us, it was the hamstrings and appendix issues that affected him. But the expectations upon Watts were what has stiffled his development I believe... and the coaches each with their different ideas of his best role etc... Stronger clubs allow their players develop by being introduced to the game and don't have the pressure of being the number one midfielder, or being tagged, or they can play on a flank allowing them to learn to adapt to the speed and physical nature of the game, watching their more experienced team mates, and indeed the stars on other teams and how they go about things. After the 2-3 years as you suggest I think they are then starting to develop the maturity and physical strength and conditioning to take the game on.

Whilst I agree and applaud Grimes for making this call to focus on his game, I am not 100% convinced that this means that Jones will captain in his own right next year. It will be interesting because I can't recall too many teams coached by Paul Roos where there was a sole captain at the club, perhaps the early days with Stuart Maxfield. But that quickly changed with him being in favour of having co-captains, and it seems as though its the leadership model that he prefers. Roos does appear to favor having a captain/senior leader on each line of the ground, and for that reason I wouldn't be surprised if we see players like Dawes and Dunn elevated. Jones has a young family, and I am not convinced it is his interests to take the role on exclusively either.

Not sure if it was mentioned earlier in this thread, but I thought I read somewhere that Port players were on this diet for 2014? They were renown for being one of the fittest teams in the AFL this year, and if true, I am not against us trying this diet if that might have been a factor...

http://www.news.com.au/national/afl-phantom-draft-2014-jay-clark-and-sam-landsberger-predict-who-your-club-will-pick/story-e6frfkp9-1227132256899 The HS has also gone with McCartin going at 1, and Petracca and Brayshaw coming to us at 2 & 3.

Didn't WJ or another poster attend a session with Taylor and other recruiting staff and from that.. and it was effectively that the picks would be used on one of the three that everyone is talking about. Brayshaw, Petracca and McCartin. Mahoney reaffirmed it with a comment that it would be out of those three and Wright perhaps. I would imagine that with the structures we have in place in the football department, that the recruiting staff will be making the call on the list, not the coaching staff. I would be stunned if anything other than the three names mentioned above that the industry is talking about are not called out as 1, 2 and 3. The only interesting thing will be the order that this occurs. The main reason for this is that you look at the last x number of drafts, and the media has gotten it correct for the top 3-4 players called each year and thats even with GWS and the Gold Coast dominating the draft early. Even the relative suprise of Ploughman and O'Rouke by GWS was 'known' by the media. SImple reason is that as much as the AFL want to keep such things secret, there are a lot more people involved with drafting than just the players.... agents, friends, family, recruiters, coaches ... it's not that hard for the media to get a sniff in terms of these top picks... The draft evens out after the first handful of players, but the industry has been pretty clear that the top picks are a cut above for the last month or more... only players outside of the top three that would have been considered are Heeney and Moore who are both secured by the swans and the pies.

It's interesting that an article on the AFL site today has a quote with regards to who the saints will pick, Finnis says the only instruction he has for the recruiting department is that they should pick a player with the next 10 years in mind. In terms of the Saints, Petracca will give them an immediate boost in the next few years, but I think that the longer term view would be McCartin for the saints. Also saw that they mentioned that if they go with Petracca then they need to realise that they will need to stump up at least 500k for a quality forward in the future. (Given what happened with Boyd and Franklin over the last couple of years) TBH I don't think we can really lose out here, and neither can the saints really given that they drafted strongly last year with their midfielders and can afford to go with McCartin if they have an eye for the future. Looking forward to how it plays out on Thursday!!

I had a gut feel that this was going to happen, I actually made a comment about it a few months ago in one of the threads about the senior assistant roles, in that I thought that he might retire once the new assistant came along. I suspect that Roos and Stone had planned this as part of the succession plan when they came on board last year. Whilst its disappointing to see Stone leaving, it's fantastic that our players got to have even just one season with him. His knowledge of the game and what it takes both through his work at the Swans and Hawks will have been invaluable. We all know Roos rated him very highly, and the club would have been well aware of Stone's intentions. I don't know whether we will bring another assistant on, or whether Goodwin will assume the role this year, and they might look at the requirements next year as Goodwin starts to take on a more senior role.

Hmmm as someone above mentioned, I would have thought that Cross would get a spot. Not convinced that Frost is a walk up start for next year either... hopefully he is though. Also is it just me, or does the most vulnerable player at the moment out of that team look like Grimes... I know Salem, JKH and Brayshaw are likely to be fighting for a couple of places between them, but I really hope Grimes was carrying some sort of niggle, because I didn't rate his season last year at all.

I won't be surprised if pick 3 isn't moved on to a club with a player and pick around 6-11. West coast has been very quiet this trade period, but they probably feel that they are still in a good position to get Garlett. I still think the AFL sanctions on the Swan is going to force their hand this trade period. Unlikely that Kennedy or their stars will be on the move, but they really have no alternatives than to look to the draft. (Heeney is a good start though ) Personally still think we have improved the list, we haven't been as flashy as Brisbane or GWS perhaps so far in terms of the 'names' but Garlett and Lumumba are in the 22. Frost is perhaps still fringe at the moment.

so... a deliberate ploy to hold up other trades in case they get left out of the loop.... then yeah it's a joke. the other clubs should be filthy with the pies.

I am still confused why the Collingwood/Brisbane (working out the Beams trade) has impacted on the Clark, Lumumba and Varcoe bit... unless there are other minor trades/upgrade of picks involved. Why did it need to be a 5 way trade ?

agree... I'd like to think that we have spent some of the time wasted by the pies in this trade trying to squeeze more for Clark out of Geelong... Not confident though.

I know... Trade Radio said a meeting of all players in that trade including the MFC are meeting at AFL house @ 11:30... so hopefully something more than the crap they have been saying for 3 days

McKenzie? Terlich?

can you use it in context Redleg? I thought it was supposed to mean 'A piece of sh*t' or 'Annoying piece of 'Sh*t' but I'd need to see in context

Seems like the Deams thing is finally being sorted out in the next 15-20 min. Hopefully this is the damn trade that needed to be sorted out for the Clark, Lumumba trades to progress.

I agree ... Keeps us interested in something whilst nothing seems to happen @ the trade table day in day out!