Demanding Success

Storm in a teacup.

Chatted to jones, Tomlinson and Hannan today. Looking at main group in the next week for Jones and Tomlinson. Hannan about 3 weeks.

I’ll add Sharp to the list. Possibly still there.

Sam Philp. 186cm mid. Missed state selection and was very disappointed. Had a great year at the Knights. Can play inside and outside. Tested amazing at the combine. Very good kick, very quick and very good endurance. Not mentioned much in an phantoms. Got invited to the combine so someone is interested. Kicked 9 goals in 14 games playing as a mid.

Split it and hopefully 3 of Kemp, Stephens, Weightman or Taylor.

25 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

I wonder what he was trying to hide, it wasn’t game day so they don’t test for cocaine and weed.

Well Willie clearly wasn’t trying to hide his willy in the hole he was supposed to.

I don’t mind that we took Lockhart but I think we only picked him because we lost Nietschke. This basically gave us an extra pick. Our club is very good at forward thinking these days and I’m of the opinion that we will be focusing on a kid that maybe wasn’t picked in the draft this year. The kid might be in a VFL system or even playing u18s again as an overage player that applied for the draft this year. It could be a way of getting a kid that possibly might move up to a top 20 or 30 pick for free. It’s how I would use the extra list spot.

His comments are fair enough. He still sounded confident we are a huge chance this year. He also thinks we will be better next year and better again the year after. 

May, KK and Pruess would already be training if they were at their old clubs. I think they will be there. They have had their time off.

Pies 2nd round next year for a cat B rookie who hasn't played a game and swans 3nd round next year. I've been laughing for 20 minutes. Have a read on pies big footy on this trade. Funniest thread I've ever read.

Richmond have no injuries and could pick almost every player this weekend. Casey was limited by who had qualified.  Casey tried everything today. I'm not unhappy with that performance. Some ordinary kicking for goal early cost them the game but they had a crack. Those saying Richmond have more depth are wrong in my opinion. Not one of you is angrier about Melbourne's big head issues this year than me. The Dee's get massively ahead of themselves for no reason, in my opinion. The club can say what they want but won't change my mind. Richmond had 6 or 7 players that would struggle to get games in other teams but they are committed and front up to play. The Dee's could learn from that.

A mate of mine has a son who has been talked up as a ten 10 pick. I'm not naming names as it will give him away. Anyway they had a sit down visit with GWS. They asked why they wanted to talk when GWS doesn't have a pick until much later. The reply was that GWS thought that they might have 2 first round picks. Not sure on the exact wording. Seems to me that someone is leaving and decent. Could be 2 leaving I guess.

He has plenty of speed. Pretty good mark too.

He is coming off a pretty good year, had a pretty good VFL grand final and played pretty well on the weekend. I'm not sure about having Spencer with Gawn already there and docklands is a quick surface. I just think Smith will be in the selection conversation.

I think Tim smith might get a look in to replace Hogan.

8 hours ago, DubDee said:

slightly off topic, but does anyone know more about this 17-5 proposed fixture that might be implemented?  or care to speculate?

I like that they are thinking of ways to make the draw fairer and keep some interest in the late rounds but it raises many questions,

• if you finish in the top 6, are you garenteed to make finals?  if you lose your next 5 games can you drop out?
• what do the bottom 6 play for? draft picks? this might punish the really terrible teams or encourage tanking by trying to get into the bottom 6 if no chance of finals
• does the middle 6 use their existing points tally?

I read when this was first suggested that the top 6 play finals. The next 6 are competing for the last 2 spots. There was even a suggestion that the finals could be expanded in terms of teams. Like a top 10. The bottom teams get to see there sides against other low clubs to try and win some games.  I like the idea compared to what is currently in place.

 

Chris25 posted his latest phantom draft shortly after the article in the opening post was put up. At present, you can see the effect there of academy bids up to the end of the second round - 2016 Young Talent Time. He will probably load more shortly but based on his PD, I can't see #47 coming in earlier than around Picks 48 - 50.

I just had a look at the GWS list and how many picks they have which have a points value. They currently have 7 list spots available and 11picks which have a points value. All of them before our pick 69 and 6 of them between our first 2 picks. I think there are about 5 academy kids that they will want (I could be wrong on this) but it's what I heard. They could all go on the 1st 30 odd. Plus if they pick McGrath at 2. They may even go into points deficit for next year depending on bidding.  Under the rules they can only use the first 7 picks for points anyway. Our picks will move up. Especially pick 69. They also have 3 or 4 more kids for next year. They may chose not to match a bid on one of the academy kids this year, and still go into deficit.

Just my opinion, but I think we are the first club to get our head around the points system for draft picks. We seem to just get it done and improve our list since the points were allocated. The AFL even changed the rules because of what we did last year. Mahoney is a very good operator is is learning from Jackson. 

Hibberd just on trade radio confirming the Dee's.

2 hours ago, Mach5 said:

 

Dont underestimate the chaos ball into the forward 50. It can be a very effective weapon!

...but yeah, he fluffed it majorly and we were lucky with the result in that instance.

Vince's chaos ball not long after worked out well as well.  2 straight from ordinary kicks. 

7 minutes ago, Wadda We Sing said:

Mentioned during the match and also on Bigfooty,..... Afl number 1 Ruck/rover combination, Max Gawn/Tyson, number 2 Max Gawn/Viney, number 3 Gawn/Jones. Totally amazing if correct.

I was told that Gawn/vince is number 7 as well.

Yeah our forward line has twice as many attempts to kick goals but it's our back mans fault. 

There is an article in the age. He looks like he is staying

7 hours ago, Baghdad Bob said:

I would imagine the replay will be put up on the MFC website in due course but I thought I'd give a quick run down and my impressions of the game for those that are interested.

 

The Conditions

They were awful.  The condition of the ground was good apart from the centre square which was a bit boggy but the rest of the oval was in first class condition.  There was a very strong wind blowing pretty much straight down the ground and this made any sort of possession chain footy almost impossible to play.  It was not a day to judge game plan or see players roles in any meaningful way as it was a crowded game with numerous stoppages ( I reckon there would have been in excess of 100) and it was just a slog.  It was one of those games where there were 30 players within 15 metres of all the stoppages and looked like the school playground type game.  

I spent the first half of the game in the grandstand which was as far away from where the majority of the play was but in the second half I went to that pocket to get a closer look.  Accordingly my impressions are mainly from the second half because it was very difficult to see much from the stand in the first half.

Oscar McDonald - Didn't see him in the first half but in the second half and particularly in the last quarter when we were defending he was very good.  He read the ball pretty well in the air and kicked and handled it with confidence.  A solid without being outstanding performance.

Clayton Oliver:  I thought he was very good.  Found the ball easily, has an uncanny knack of being able to keep his arms free in a tackle and regularly finds a very good option.  His found some space when others couldn't and was one of the more effective players for Casey.  He's too good for VFL footy and I'd be very surprised if he plays for Casey next week.

Max King:  Shared the ruck work with Pencil but didn't do much against Jamar.  He competed well but it really wasn't a day for big men and he struggled to have an impact beyond competing in the ruck.

Jack Trengove:  Solid and unspectacular performance where he accumulated possessions in close and took good options as you'd expect.  Was run down in space in the first quarter which worried me a little but the game was such that it is impossible to judge his pace.  Took a few nice marks and judged the conditions better than most but it wasn't a game where he banged the door down.

Liam Hulett:  I've seen him 3 times now and he is getting better and better.  He took some good contested marks and he kicks the ball very well.  He is getting more and more involved in the play and appears to be getting more confidence.  Having said that he is only now becoming a consistent performer at VFL level and IMO is nowhere near AFL standard.  I be surprised if he played senior footy this year but he is certainly making good headway and is a chance for the future.

Mitch White:  I'm a big Mitch White fan but confess to be a little surprised at his numbers because he didn't seem to be that involved in the play.  With what I did see he was good by foot where others struggled and clean by hand.  He also is tough.

Jake Spencer:  Quiet and struggled a bit early but started to do better as the game went on.  Jamar is still a good opponent and Jake contested well in the ruck but probably lowered his colours there a bit but did well around the ground.  He took some good contested marks and kicked a good goal after marking in the goal square at the beginning of the third.

Billy Stretch:  Was a bit of a surprise packet for me as I've always thought of Billy as an outside mid but he excelled in close with clean hands and fast feet.  He found the ball consistently and used it very well in both tight and open situations.  Provided our best bit of line breaking run in the third where he took the ball at half back and ended up just missing the goal after a few bounces.  I thought he was our best but I'm a big fan so my view might be bias.  But he did find the ball inside which I haven't seen all that much before and it was not a day for outside runners so his performance was great.

Dean Terlich:  Got it, spent it, does a lot of good things until he kicks it.  He's a very good VFL player who turns it over a bit.

Viv Michie:  Lots of the ball and used it well.  Played off half back.  It was his sort of day with lots of stoppages and his strong body stood him in good stead.  He's a very good VFL player but needs show he can do it at AFL level.  I don't know where he fits on our list with clearly a few mids in front of him and as a HBF he's competing with Hunt and Wagner who seem to be flavour of the month. Hope he gets a chance because his form has been consistently good and it's hard to see how he could do much more.

Angus Brayshaw: Concussed early and was very very wonky walking off the ground.  You almost feel he needs a month of training and should just reboot for the second half of the year.

Ben Newton:  Solid contributor mainly on the outside and a beautiful kick.  A solid game in conditions that don't really suit him.  Like Viv it's just hard to see where he fits.

ANB:  Workhorse type game.  Strong at the ball but doesn't have the pace or lateral movement to find space and make the most of his opportunities in a crowded scrap.

Jack Grimes:  Didn't notice Jack much but the stats say he got it a bit.  Wouldn't have thought he pushed his case for a call up all that much but I may have misjudged his game.

Colin Garland: I thought he was good.  Defended well, took some good marks, clearly is trying to take the game on more and his kicking was good. It was a good Garland game.

 

I went as well and agree with all of this, which actually surprised me.

I thought stretch was very good. Almost kicked a great goal, were he run 50 odd with a guy right behind him and kicked a 60m bomb. Just bounced to the wrong side. His hands and lateral speed were great. Tackles well and often. 

Oliver ran out the game better than I thought he was capable of. Watching him play I think they made a mistake not picking him. He is going to be awesome with fitness.

Hulett surprised me more than anyone. Has strong hands and showed leadership in slowing down the play late in the game after some very good marks when we were into the wind.

king was well beaten by Russian in the ruck but competed well in marking contests. Way off as a ruck but mobile, marks and kicks well.

I'm surprised at how short the saints will be. They have hardly any talls in that side, especially their backline. Plus no one to go up 2nd ruck. Strange team for them.