rjay

Been saying it for a while now, Clark in the ruck gives us an extra mid.

That's where he will be damaging for us. A nice let out from defence to put it up to Howe around the middle of the ground. He was getting mauled in the forward line this year and not allowed to fly for his marks, up the ground he will be a very hard match up.

If Scharenberg was available he would be it.

I agree 'steve', it's going to be really interesting to watch unfold.

"A large portion of Crouch’s disposals are contested and he’s very good at reading the ball off the ruck taps and being the first person with his hands on the ball at the stoppage." This is why I say he is the best inside/contested mid of the 18's. In the game, and again I stress game that I watched him he used the ball pretty well and his handball to bring others in and clear congestion is good. Crouch is a natural footballer not an athlete, his attack on the ball is like Viney. They kill to get it. Can't see him dropping to #50 and we would be mad not to take him at #40 if he was there. Won't happen.

...and we get Sir Alex as the senior assistant.

I'm a bit gun-shy after the last few seasons...but I agree with you. I think we will surprise a lot of people next season.

You're right that it's limited viewing so I will defer to our guys to get this one right, he maybe the one Mahoney was talking about. I think the phantom guys are all over the place on him, but if he is the most complete mid in a mids draft then surely he would go at pick 2 and not 11 as one of them called. If we pick him at 9 I hope what you are seeing and the phantom draft guys have is on the money. He has a decent kick on him and he accumulates the ball (smart footballer), is he quick, maybe not but he is a deceptive loper so he seems to cover the ground ok. Good size, yep built to play game one but I haven't seen inside...others say he has it so you would think he does. I don't see his inside ability because in his 30+ disposals in that game the only ball he got that was close to inside was a centre bounce clearance that he got from a ruck hit-out and that was more outside of the contest running away, there was no real hard contested stuff you would see from a Viney or a Wines. Most of his possessions came from feeding off others or on the lead, smart footballer.

'Ben', I've seen nothing in Sheed that marks him as an inside mid apart from his size. This observation is only made on watching one game (his BOG) performance a couple of times and as others have noted his stats are good for contested possessions, so I may not be right. It's just I haven't seen this part of his game. I think he doesn't see the ball well enough in close to be a natural mid and doesn't read the ball well off hands, he get's most of his possessions off the spread. He certainly put himself in good position to get the ball (in that game) but he didn't generate the play. If it's the best grunt player we want then that's Crouch. He picks the ball off hands well, is very hard in close, sees the ball well and distributes well by hand (it's his kicking that has been a knock). He is the best extractor in this draft. If he was in the centre bounce with Viney and Tyson I don't think we would lose to many.

The one sure way to improve percentage is to improve the win column. Don't let the language confuse, it's no insight, this is Roos spin. He's looking for wins.

Looks very similar to one on the AFL site a couple of weeks back.

That's a big point of difference and it makes Dangerfield a very damaging forward like their ex skipper Roo was in his day.

The only problem is Freeman is really not like Dangerfield at all and the reason Scharenberg is compared to Goddard is his ability to play forward back or mid. I think Scharenberg is a more legit defender than Goddard but can play the other roles, if he was there at pick 9 you would take him. I still think he will go pick 2 to GWS.

I think he might have already with Michie, but I am really excited by Tyson. Our midfield will be more than competitive in 2014.

...and where is your defence? forget the other clubs, they have had some busts with a lot of wins. Apart from Watts, who probably should have been NikNat the others are all busts. BP was no good mate, for ....sake.

I agree with most of what you are saying but not this. Sometimes the emphasis on defence is to great whereas the greatest defence can be attack. If he gets on the scoreboard and kicks a couple of early goals I can guarantee you that his man won't be running off him.

Cook could play, nice kick, good decision maker, quick thinker, an ok mark for his size, a bit slow. His big problem was above the shoulders. Watching him play I thought yeah he's got something to work with but the first time I heard him interviewed I was concerned with him having the right mental toughness to play at AFL level. He was talking about spending time at Casey to develop his game, well that might be what ends up happening but it's not what you should be thinking about. I can't see Hogan thinking about spending time at Casey to develop his game, he's going to be doing everything in his power to play and rip the game up first game of next season. Cook was still ambling about developing himself at Casey when he was given his marching orders and when they came did he work his ....off to prove everyone wrong, no he ambled about for a year in Ballarat and now he's off home. I am a rap for Rory Taggert, got a lot of ability but one thing consistently bothered me with him and again it was above the shoulders. A few times I heard him talk of some of his teammates and how they are going to be guns as though they are above him as a player. It was like he was in awe of them. He has the talent himself but not the consistent application, it will be interesting to see if he pushes back to prove the club wrong or heads off into the wilderness and easy life picking up a few bucks in local footy wherever that be.

Star, champion....whatever it's called I agree that Flower is the only one we have had for a very long time.

This is one I will take 'Pennants' view on 'steve', he has watched a lot of local footy in WA and has a good handle on it. I don't think he is as confident about his abilities on and off field as you but I might be putting words in his mouth.

Yep, and we keep repeating them. Bring on the season, please.....and let us have a season not just one game to extinguish our hopes, please....

Makes interesting reading and shows the limitations of the highlights package. He has clean hands but after someone made the Silvia comment I was interested to see what his vision and awareness were like, unfortunately there was nothing to hook onto in the package.

The question is will WC take him ahead of Sheed.

The draft is still to come 'titan', but maybe it's time for a new all encompassing draft thread.

The basis is he has said 'On the Couch' that you need more than a small crumbing forward, they need to be able to work up the ground. Geelong don't have a specialist small forward, Stevie J does most of his work as a mid now and the others you allude to like Motlop, Stokes and Christiansen all work up the ground. The Alwyn Davey type small forward is obsolete, it's why the bombers have cut him. What we need and what we will have are forwards who can work up the ground, midfielders who can kick goals.

No, it's not party politics as such. I just don't agree with people blindly following any party line but I don't want to get into that here, it's not really the place. I do agree with 'Norms' view though. The middle is about getting elected and unfortunately not about a deeply held view. Peter Cook made a great film (satire) about this called 'The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer', check it out if you can find it. A very clever man Cook.