tappysquads

Would a 4 + 1 deal with triggers to guarantee the 5th year be suitable?

Whatever he wants should be what suits! He's earnt it, showed his loyal, if the club stiffs him I'm going with. I'll be barracking for whoever jones plays for in 2016

Very impressive highlight real on the mfc site. Hadn't seen anything of him, now very excited to see him develop as our very own harry Taylor

Imagine if st kilda came to us during trade week and said "we will trade you pick 1 for pick 2?" Because according to just about every recruiter for 98% of the last 12months that's what they have done! Could not be happier with our drafting last night!

Love the fact we have picked up two sets of best mates....bodes well for building ateaam for the future. Are we moving to SA?

And the brother of one of our future stars! And a bloke named Jesse hogan

Locks tom in as a dee for his whole career you would think, that's a win on it's own

You can screen test all you like but in 20 years of footy the best players I have played with or against were mostly wild guys. Lacking that self preservation most of us have, aggressive, determined, competitive. Wether role model/leaders or not, a lot of these personalities would be getting weeded out of the system now days.

JV is an animal.... Hard to get the body to develop at his age, so just imagine how much of a unit he will be at 25

That's because our players are collectively sheep.

And we don't have the ball very often, looks silly shepherding your own teammate from tackling the opposition

Definitely not a once off

Love the subtle forearm resting across the face

Demonland groupthink.

Frawley can't play.

It just strikes me as strange that for a player not many here rate the brains trust of the two best clubs over the last 10 years or so fought for his services.

Heavens are they dumb or what.

Exactly what is it that makes frawley much better than average? His foot skills are not great, his creativity is poor, not a big intercept player, he doesn't look to break the lines. His strength lies in being strong, and spoiling. But so often in the modern game players receive delivery on explosive leads which can be unstoppable on a lot of occasions. So I see a key defenders role as minimising his opponents impact, and damaging him back the other way. At best Frawley will receive the ball , go back and kick long over his mark..... That's is 80's football. His work rate over the last two years offensively is embarrassing.

Also the fact that we are not going to be in any sort of a premiership window over the next 5 years leaves me very happy to cash in and bring in a player whose role can have greater impact on the performance than a full back (eg mid/fwd)

Also, as I said earlier, a key full back may be involved in defensive contests 10-15 times a game. At least 5 of those they will have no influence on, as pressure up the ground is the only thing that can stop a lace out pass. Plus offensively Frawley offered very very little that would damage an opposition as far as run or creativity from the def 50 in concerned. Without stats, so only opinion, I would guess Frawleys average involvement in scoring chains would be very low. A quality mid would have closer to 50 opportunities to influence a game, and for a bottum club like melbourne could have much greater impact.

Just my opinions, happy to be shot down, but I am more than happy to trade 26yr old frawley for 18yr old mccartin or brayshaw.

Lots of people have said to me we got overcompensated for Frawley.

I answer by saying at the beginning of 2014 we had Clark at FF and Frawley at FB. We've how got Lumumba and pick 3.

Tell me we're lucky. I'd take Frawley any day over pick 3. At some point we've got to get over the fetish of early picks and actually get blokes on the park that can play competitive AFL footy.

Losing Frawley and starting again shytes me.

A player who has managed very little football in the last 2 years, with huge question marks over his future, and a fb with questionable decision making, and a lack of run and carry with 5 or so years of footy left

And now lumumba, a line breaking premiership experienced former AA, top 5 b n f, played finals 8 out of 9 years, and pick 3, the opportunity to select a potential 12 year player who is at this stage the elite of their age bracket.

I'll take the 2nd option every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

First and only warning from me Theo. Never ever have a go at my skill set and knowkedge base when you know absolutely nothing about me. My whole work is based on evidence. And the evidence shows that ACL's happen, and afl level most likely they only happen once in a career. There is no place for attacking ones professional credentials on a public forum. You may disagree with me and that's fine but let's not get all personal here.

One question though and I will not be entertaining anymore on the matter. What would be your thoughts if we recruited Tex Walker who has recently recovered from the same injury?

What about the long history of hereditary weakness in some peoples ligaments, which strongly leads to reoccurrence or greater chance of the injury eg Menzel family

Or the science of core weakness regarding hips, calves or tight echilles leading to individuals being highly likely to suffer injury such as an ACL rupture due to there body not being capable of controlling certain movement ?

These are things that are either unavoidable or take a long long time to rectify, and certainly aren't rectified during a 12 month rehab program, as the stress is way to high.

No professional, just things I picked up through my experience.

Also some peoples tissue is not strong enough to successfully create the new ligament during the graft, which leads to a very high rate of reoccurrence and can't be diagnosed until the rupture happens again.

Impressive video, love that he looks to sell candy and break lines.

BUT, this is a very important pick for our future, and having had 2 knee recos myself I know that you can do every little thing perfect and they can still fail for no reason. If the tissue slightly dies to early, the screw fails or the new ligament rips out of the screw your done for another year. You then have 2 dodgey ham strings as the second op needs to use the other hamstring. Also 2 years of being injured leads to things such as tilted pelvis or spinal issues. It's such a big gamble and one we can choose to avoid. Looks and sounds like a great kid, but this is business.

I'm a bit bemused by reports of players putting on an observable amount of muscle in the short 2 months between the end of the season and the beginning of training. I guess it is possible, even outside of the EFC, but I just wonder.

It is not difficult to make large changes to body shape and size over 8 weeks

I like the look of the team, but i think its too forward/back player first focused (a few more midfielders first in the team perhaps?). At the very least i would not have two talls (garland and pederson) on the bench & in the team (one has to go in my view for another midfielder (e.g. Cross from sub and one of the new draftees or Michie in).

Also I wonder how Garland will go this year, injury crippled his year it seemed last year..

On newton - apart from that last kick to wines in the video didn't see to much to really excite me yet. Bring on the practice games to see how he really goes:)

I have to agree in regards to that video. In saying that I know nothing about the player, only going on a brief highlight clip but it was not impressive in my opinion. Would love to hear or see otherwise though, and I'm sure roos knows the player and selected him based on that, so hope he turns out to be another solid mid

I can't wait to see jack run out for the dees again..... He is a great kid, and I hope his determination and hard work results in a great comeback. Probably wouldn't hurt for some positive vibes to get thrown around....

Anyone else see Dawes 2 grab a simple mark on the news just then? Cringe worthy

Yeah that Brent Harvey guy is terrible.

Harvey is the definition of a tank.... Built like a brick shthouse

Howe is only 78 games into his career, 24 years old. Reads the ball in the air at an elite level, runs, intercepts, and has a crack. He is the least of our worries, is progressing well and can now play almost any position on the ground. As melbourne improve, he will become elite in my opinion

I'd love to see this pick used to pickup pint-sized Caleb Daniel if he is still there.

That is a very impressive clip. Super clean hands, very creative and run and carry was sensational. I would be stoked to pick up a kid like CD. What are the odds that he will be hanging around still by the time we get a chance to get him?

Just watched the McCartin highlights, wasn't overly impressed. To me, and this is just from a 4min video, he just looked like a kid who is bigger than the opponents. Didn't see any real avasiveness or athleticism, or any kicks other than a set shot. I'd prefer a slick athletic mid

With regards to "first option looks to handball" isn't that what they are meant to do? Find the back flankers or mids dropping back for supposed elite disposal.

Yeh I know, I just hadn't seen him and was hoping he was the type who backed himself in to intercept and break. Just when he gives the handballs he isn't looking for that give-get back. Usually if that's the way they are it stays that way. Not a bad thing if they can shut down a key, I'm just desperate to see a backman at melbourne who WANTS to have the ball and break the lines and link up.

Looks good In the highlights, just made a comment

Might be on here already, sorry, but does someone have mccartins highlights. I know nothing about him? Ready to go? Or years away? Not a fan of taking keys that need work, too much risk, let another club develop them then poach them.

First option seems to be to always look for a handball.... Only a couple of clips but looks like he lacks confidence in carry and disposal. Other than that looks courageous, hard and quick. Welcome aboard frosty

Cross, Jones, Vince, Dunn, Jamar - we have a few who can lead by example rather than importing someone primarily for this reason. We also have a much better coaching structure than we have had for many years who also fulfil a mentoring role.

Cross jones yes,

Jamar rarely on the track, and is in no way a leader of the intensity required to become an elite mid.

Vince is not a leader, he is a gun, and trains well but would not be one to take a player under his wing and drag them to greatness. That comes from all reports out of Adelaide and what I witnessed at a lot of trainings this preseason

Dunn until this year would of struggled for a game at most clubs, yes he encourages and pushes hard at training, but his best efforts are again nowhere near elite

Kennedy is elite, and his training is elite from all reports