rjay

Who's saying they "fluked it", the fact is they picked him up with a 2nd round pick and picking up Gaff, who I agree looks to be a ripper goes along with the "best available" policy that all clubs wheel out at draft time, same goes for Geelong with Smedts and every other club. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it's just that every club passed up on Darling in the first round.

Not quite, they got him with their 2nd go. Even they passed him up for Gaff, not a bad player either by the way.

Thinking and typing similar thoughts, sorry to duplicate.

Are players allowed to be signed or even talk with another club while still under contract (apart from the GWS, Gold Coast windows)? To me it makes more sense that no discussion with or signing to another club take place until the end of the season. Yes I know there will be under the table stuff go on but the AFL should come down heavily on this, although their past history with $ doesn't guarantee they will. Then there are no anouncements that need to be made mid season and players are committed to their clubs whilst under contract as they should be. The NRL system was shown up badly last year with the problems at Manly and to a lesser extent with Bennett leaving St.George. Coaches, granted but players were in the mix. I don't think this system works well at all despite what many in the media would have us believe.

As silly as moving the full back of the century to full forward.

He may not have the depth of kick that Tapscott has but the kid can kick. I went to the $ Casey game last year where Strauss' kicking was a feature and one of the primary reasons he got back into the senior side. Sometimes his decision making at senior level is not great but he has only played 11 games.

Mark Kneeld

If only Fev were a team player he would still be at Carlton.

Sometimes I think it would be better if all clubs sacked their recruiting departments and just followed Emma Quayles draft order, it often seems to pan out that way. Think of the money and time that would be saved. It seems in the recruiting circles there is a consensus about how the draft will fall, particularly in the top 20 and this is why Darling was picked up in the 2nd round. I think we have made a few outside of the square decisions in the last draft with Sellar and in the rookie draft with Williams, let's see how we go. I would have loved us to pick Darling, I would have loved us not to pick $ but that's the draft. I think we have a pretty good list that will be enhanced over the next few years with Viney, the compensation picks and some good coaching.

Not a lot of clubs, every club passed him up in the first round. West Coast were lucky they had another shot.

I think you will find both Ricky and Howey rotating through the mids at times.

Every club passed over Darling in the first round of that draft and every time I see him play it really p... me off that we went with the pack and Emma Quale and missed him (I'm sure there are a bunch of supporters at other clubs that feel the same way), it seemed the conventional wisdom at the time was "he is trouble". We didn't do to bad picking up Howey and lets see how Tommy Mc comes through. As for Cook, well time will tell.

If you mean the 2010 draft thenHowe looks a good prospect to me and Tommy Mc is coming along pretty well, Nicholson is a good rookie. Cook is too early to tell, the kid uses the ball well, not overly quick and needs a good 10kg so lets see how the next couple of years are for him. The 2011 draft, lets see these kids play before we cast judgement, all I know is that Taggart is a beig kid at 188cm and 87kg and from his highlights he takes a strong mark and kicks well. If only drafting were an exact science.

...he wasn't on his own in that game or last season as a whole. It was a disappointing season all up and Morton's form reflected the list, very few could hold there heads up after a year like that. I think he has a huge up side (shown in the Sydney game) but it is up to him to show it now and be a consistant performer.

I haven't seen most of the players on that list but apart from Viney 2 that may come into contention for us are Matthew Haynes (tall quick mid, good kick) and Jimmy Toumpas (mid forward, good ball use and decision maker with a premiership at senior level SANFL).

I enjoyed the interview and always find Mark Neeld interesting to listen to. As he says Jack Watts is a developing 40 game player, if he plays 20 games this year then he is developing well. The message is that you need to earn your games no matter who you are and what potential you may have, no one will be given a game.

The last 2 seasons Morton has come in carrying injury, I wouldn't be so quick to write him off yet. He has shown glimpses in the past and along with a few of the guys this could be a make or break year for him. Injury free and with a new coach let's hope he steps up.

I remember him being matched up against Goodes a couple of years ago and whilst Goodes came out on top Morton really took it up to him, it was a great duel to watch. The kid can play but has lost all confidence, let's hope he gets it back. of he does he could be one of the recruits of the year.

Agree with you on this, I need to see Brent playing good football against the good midfields (Hawthorn, Geelong, Collingwood, Carlton) and not just beating up on the others. If he is to be a leader he also needs to look at using his team mates and not trying to barge through packs and or bomb the ball, he gets away with this against the younger sides but really struggles against the strong more mature midfields. If he continues to play football this way then he would not be a definite starter in a Neeld side if the Collingwood mids approach (work for each other and pick the best option) is anything to go by. I think it is going to be a big challenge for him this year.

Mitch Clark has sizzling on the track, Tom who? yeah Tommy Mc has been killing 'em......Scully who?????????????

As I've said earlier, the coaches will know if the time is right for Trengove but if they want to go to a senior player then Mark Jamar would be a good choice for me, he has really come of age over the last few seasons. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/dee%20tv/tabid/8667/default.aspx#playvideo#playvideo#playvideo#playvideo

Both outstanding prospects; maybe Trengove a year or two short on experience and I know we would all love to see Grimes spending more time on the ground. The coaching panel will know if Trengove's development will be enhanced by the leadership or not and I suspect if Grimes had not missed so much football the job would be his.

This is not just a Bate issue or sport science, it's a bit like why the drop kick has gone out of the game and the torp has almost gone the same way. Coaches encourage, in fact demand players get on to their natural kicking foot, this goes back to Alan Jeans and is all about less margin for error. It's very rare for any player in the modern era to kick on their non preferred foot, some players like Sam Blease kick really well off both but it is not the norm. Back in the good old days at training you were always encouraged to kick on the foot you turned on but if you go to an AFL session these days you will find more often than not players move on to their natural foot.

We picked up Jeremy Howe at 33 and Tommy Mcdonald at 53 in the same draft so I reckon we may have done pretty well even if Cook doesn't come through.

Jordie Mc is not a skinny kid any more and will be one of the solid bodied mids. I remember him as a very effective kick in season 2010 but maybe lack of confidence in his body led to the over use of handball in 2011. Liam is deceptively tall and will give any opposition defence real problems with Clark, Watts, Howe, Petterd and co. sharing the load. He like Bate the year before suffered from the expectation of being the focus (the pea) going forward, yet he still kicked 40 goals in what was considered by many as a poor season or at best average. Let's see what happens if he has a good year. The Russian is just a big unit. An injury free year from him will set us up well.