Ouch!

Totally agree. ...... if GC and GWS are prepared to have Viney on their list instead of Whitfield, Toumpas, Grundy etc. Viney was rated about 6-8th recently. GC and GWS have to get the best pick for their club, there is no point taking Viney if they aren't prepared to have him with that pick. Daniher is different, every club would nominate him, because he is rated as a top 2 pick easily in this draft, it's a no brainer and each club would jump at the chance. GC and GW are more concerned with their own draft, than what pans out for the MFC.

haha, not the strongest defence, but better than what Heath Grundy tried at the tribunal last week

Kinda agree that he isn't essential as a backman, But I actually liked him as a forward, he isn't going to kick bags of 6-10 like a Reiwoldt or Franklin, but he is capable of 2-3 and is a good foil up there for Clark, at least until some forwards are found/developed.

Umm... not sure if you are taking the [censored] out of yourself or not... If not I am more than happy to !!!

.... DB is 'holding onto a story' Heck even hutchy could figure that out some of our players are not happy, I'll admit DB ain't much higher up the food chain, but its not THAT exciting.

Thing is... We aren't exactly exciting news. Everyone already kinda assumes that our players are not that content atm. Why would we be newsworthy in terms of this?

I don't really care if Neeld or the players are warming to each other, so long as the players respect him, and buy in to the game plan. I don't think that many players would have 'warmed' to Northy, Allan Jeans, Pagan etc. but I am positive that their players respected them, trusted the game plan and they got results. After this trade period I am pretty certain that there will be no doubt with who is left, ... and the phrase 'Buy In' will be not required any more.

Once we hit 200 posts on the thread.... expect to see Kim Hagdorn all over it!

Nice one Tex Double spacing really gives your rant more ... .. .. emphasis Oh, and can you provide a link for this? (Oh and Petterd on the verge of superstardom? Damn, he was getting a long bloody run up then!)

I agree with this but I would go further to say Melbourne and even the Gold Coast are in the same boat. Neeld and McKenna doesn't want to wait another year any more than Port or the Dogs. They will be in contract negotiations won't they?

See I wouldn't have a clue like a lot of people. If I did, I wouldnt' be typing about it here I'd be getting paid the big pies like Ol' Poppa Scully!! I do get a little concerned that people see the mini draft as a prize in itself, and that it's something that we beat the other clubs too... it's like one of those cartoons where they give someone the choice between a million dollars, or '***the mystery prize***'. Ultimately, we have the chips to buy in some talent in 2013, hopefully its the right talent for our team, and the football department is in a position to develop these youngsters. If that happens, I'll be a happy boy!

True, but Tom Swift (at one point as a 17yr old touted as a potential number 1. Jake Stringer too, I think he'll be a talented player, but not top 3 as was thought last year... Your comment about a lottery is very true. Higher the pick, higher the stakes,... more certain we need our drafting team to be!!!

Mind you in saying that Billy.... what else are they going to get that is better? Melb have 3 and 4... play hard and force them into a lesser pick being the priority pick. Its not about what they want, its about what people are prepared to give up to them as an offer. They just get to choose the best option. Theoretically GC and Melb could say not interested.... then the best GWS can hope for would be pick 5 or 6 from WB, GWS have to use the 2 picks this year, so it's not like they can roll them over this time like they could last year. Pick 4 got O'Meara to the GC last year.... and he was/is touted as an absolute gun, are Hogan and Martin expected to be better than him? If he was able to progress into this draft would he be rated better than Toumpas? Whitfield? Grundy? Viney? Pick 3 for the second pick this time around? Are we that confident of a superstar?

Hmmm, the mini draft is responsible for giving the GWS an unfair advantage, not those that participate in it. It would leave a bitter taste in my mouth if things aligned to enable GWS the top 3 picks in this draft. I know we wouldn't do it without it suiting our needs, but that wouldn't change the way I felt about it. I think that possibly this is because the intention of the mini draft was not to hand over more friggin picks to GWS, but it was supposed to be used to facilitate additional player trades in return for a mini draft pick. But again it is something that the AFL didn't draft up too rigorously, and we have already seen the GWS try and manipulate it to their own advantage last year.

Am pretty comfortable with the RIvers situation. as an unrestricted FA, he is perfectly entitled to look at the market to see what is on offer. I have no doubt that the club will offer him another contract, and he would have a pretty good indication of the length and amount. I don't think Rivers is disillusioned or angry about being played out of position, in fact I think he has actually relished the opportunity to go forward. Can't see any bad blood between him and the coaching group either. MFC won't want to lose him, but won't be forced into paying overs if it came to that.

Wishlist (This is based on trades/free agency, not the draft btw) 1. J Kennedy - Syd (I can dream cant I!!) 2. C Young - Haw 3. B McCaffer - Coll I think we need to bolster the midfield as everyone has said. Kennedy's inclusion speaks for itself, Young has superior footskills and a bit of pace to boot. McCaffer is an interesting one, purely put in there because we don't really have much left in terms of medium forwards. I thought about Lynch from WCE, and Wellingham, and some others, but figured as mature players to come in and bolster the side these would address some of our deficiencies (along with whoever we get through the draft.)

Nothing new here but I still think that Darling 'Tanked' his draft combine. He had 2-3 incidents that made him look unappealing to other clubs leading up to the draft, probably sold himself as a high risk to head home if he left WA in his interviews etc, and I reckon it was all arranged beautifully between him, his management and the WCE who knew they would have no chance of hiding Darling as a talent given his 2010? national carnival so the only way to fashion things to suit them was to make him look unappealing .... and remember all the guff about him being undersized as a forward option, where did that come from... Probably RR (I jest here!!!) Meh, all done and dusted now, but in hindsight I think WCE managed to sublimely fool a lot of clubs with his help. After all how many players would be actively trying to undersell themselves in front of other clubs..... You would imagine every kid at the draft combine doing their utmost to be seen in the best light possible.

Can you point me to the last game where he performed well (got in the best players for the MFC)? I am not trying to shoot you down, but I reckon you will be going back a while. I think the club is going to BE a joke if it doesn't make some tough decisions and make them this year. If not Petterd who do we delist? I won't be suprised to see Petterd play better elsewhere, but I think it's doubtful he can resurrect his career here. BTW Petterd as a mid sized forward is listed as taller than Green @ 184cm. Green managed to show something in this last year that Petterd was not able to. Green got dropped for form and came back, got injured and came back.... each time Petterd got a game based on form at Casey he showed nothing for the Dees.

4 gone I reckon another 9 might go 13 for me

Pffft cors it wasn't real. Moon is made of cheese, rocket ships couldn't land on cheese Rjay!!!!

Okaay, now in my opinion Beamer has not been much of a noted goal kicker up until now, so you think the smaller ground will automatically make him an attacking weapon capable of kicking those goals?

The whole team is part of the problem, no use isolating people. How many people do you think the MFC will use to rotate through the midfield RR? sounds a little lower than the number that I envisage. Probably why I can see Jordie in there for a little while yet.

I agree with Chook, you need to read it a bit more carefully. Also think that the 'loser' comment is a bit poor form... even for you RR.

I actually agree with the context of the article, but sorry the above bit of yours I quoted is just crap, since when has Neeld been deplorable in the media? and who says he doesn't inspire confidence? that sentence is just crap sorry. If you agree with the article that Carlton is taking the easy option and again dumping a coach prematurely, dropping Neeld for Ratten would be less of the easy option, but one of the more stupid things I have heard recently. Bailey was terrible in the media, I actually like the way Neeld handles the media. Lets rate Neeld in another 4 years before comparing him to Ratten. (and no that doesn't mean I am advocating having him for a longer contract than he has,... but you can't compare the two until then either.)

Must admit I choked on this bit. Cos I didn't see too much of it here recently, mainly just finger pointing. Port are expected to face competition for Moloney but Kaider, of One Management, suggested the 145-game veteran could be tempted by the prospect of "nurturing an exciting, young group of footballers". Not fussed if he tests the market or not TBH. If he goes he goes.