Satyriconhome

Ok I will be the devils advocate, we get Dal Santo and we want him to play a year, using the vernacular used on here, whose spot does he take Midfield 3 or them were in top five of B&F, Oliver, Petracca, Trengove, BenKen, Bugg, Kent, Harmes, ANB Half back, Salem, Hibberd, Melksham, Hunt, Wagner, Lumumba, Vince, Jones I can't see a place for him

Some are posting as if the academies are rolling out a fully formed team of 22 each year, I said the academies are overrated, others think it is giving the teams with academies an unfair advantage when it comes to identifying young talent, there isn't really a point, just differing opinions

Founded 2010.......6 years academy graduates Brandon Jack; Lloyd Perris; Sam Naismith; Dan Robinson; Isaac Heeney; Jack Hiscox; Abaina Davis and Jordan Foote and Mills, 3 in six years

Yes but the young academy players play junior footy as well, and if you are a bit of a star it will be all too easy, being aligned to a professional environment albeit on a part time basis may assist, but you are still a teenager, if you say defence to any young player it is the thing that goes around de house

Yes I also understand that, but we get a new crack at it every year and what is past is past, the poo we were in was all self inflicted, we have actually learned some things from the teams like the Swans (from an obvious source) and GWS and we are actually implementing them, so next seasons crack might be louder

Just another point, and I agree it happens with other sports as well Heeney was playing Rugby League mostly when spotted by the Swans and Mills Rugby Union so yesthey have been lucky to have an academy, but they have also worked hard to create two AFL standard players........just find the 'spilt milk' syndrome that occurs in a lot of Melbourne supporters a bit tiresome

That's being a bit harsh on both the APS teams and the TAC Cup. It also still means it is a matter of them developing as well, Sydney are looking at about 600 youngsters at any one time, and they are also playing junior footy as well

The Swans took Heeney was 12 and Mills when he was 13, so they took the long view, and no guarantee of success

I thought all the media either emanating and/or sanctioned by the club was bland, no win situation?

No I meant we can develop young players properly, Hawthorn have been doing the same thing at Box Hill for the last few years, Roos recognised this and has developed Casey accordingly. The academy is overrated as far as I am concerned, it is just where young players are developed, we may hear about the success but not the failures, similar to the soccer academies in Europe, they are satisfied if they get one a year making the grade

Keep up the work today WJ, used to do this myself until I got bored with retirement, at work again!!!!

Casey is our academy, no need to rush youngsters in, think we are also going to astutely use the B class rookie to develop left field options, we are getting it right slowly

Nobody is getting excited about GWS getting into finals on here, I just think it is rather humorous with all the talk about fixing and conspiracy theories, people were laughing on here 4 years ago when GWS were getting smashed every week in front of a few thousand.............as they were doing everything right, we were doing everything wrong........(I look after my money the old way, I spend everything I earn). As for the Gold Coast, I think they are in a mess and will need a couple of more seasons to sort themselves out

The hand wringing concerns me because, Geelong, Sydney, Hawthorn, West Coast, Adelaide who are still consistently playing finals all saw the Gold Coast/GWS expansion was going to happen and did something about it.......we didn't....we are now trying to Tyson is getting better and better and so is Frost, I don't regard them as scraps

Gold Coast seem to be having a good try, I remember the same angst about them on here Oh please, we were bailed out of the financial hole we put ourselves in

I suppose it all rests on whether the rumours on Freo and Spencer are true and whether Pencil would want the move and whether MFC want to move him on, all big men are speculative, no matter the age, I would prefer us to get the 18-19 yr old and develop, if Spencer moves then we need a 'developed' back up for Gawn, and they are very few and far between

Personally I don't think he is looking, but that's my opinion

As above, still think we may go for a youngster, ie 18-19 yr old, to develop alongside Mitch King

My point is, yes they have had assistance, but they also worked to get everything right, it shows what can be done from rock bottom to the top in 5 years if everybody is on the same page and you get everything right. We are now three years into the same type of trajectory, Sheedy/Roos has gone, new coach schooled properly, a recruiting and development department that has hardly had a fail in the last couple of years. We are looking at being active in the trade period again, we have already taken the risk with the first round pick this year The thrashings have stopped, we have young players playing with confidence, we have sorted out the experience we don't and do need etc etc Let's talk optimistically about us instead of whingeing about something that has already happened

Not when I spoke to him at the end of the season, but as discussed previously I may have got a straight bat, told me he was very happy with the situation and was just looking forward, like some of the others, to having a crack at the VFL flag I still think we will get a youngster, if we get one at all, I assume we are looking at increasing the depth everywhere

I beg to differ, absolutely delighted that Gawn has stood up, but I compare Spencer to McEvoy, who seems to get games from Clarkson, you change tack on how you play, it may impact a bit, as our team develops we should be able to react to any circumstance like the Hawthorns and Geelongs, if we can't then we will never compete with them

and Gold Coast? they made a habit of falling dramatically to the canvas this season

I put this in the AFL Finals thread All this hand wringing over GWS. Yes they got high draft picks, but you have to develop them properly and have them working as a team, we at MFC know high draft picks is no guarantee You have to get the right coaches You have to get the right experienced players, Gold Coast have shown it can go wrong You have to do real business on the trade table, they have shown they were willing to take risks, they let Hogan and Tyson go, we should be grateful for that (at the moment), and Bugg to a lesser extent, and Boyd to the Bulldogs We [censored] up in the last 10 years all by ourselves, GWS had no part in it, and Hawthorn seem not to be affected in the last four or five by the so called bias from the AFL Suck it up kiddies

Ruck depth, so a young ruckman in the draft maybe to replace Max King, how do you convince an AFL/State League ruckman in his early twenties to sign up to be number 3 at the club for at least a year?

All this hand wringing over GWS. Yes they got high draft picks, but you have to develop them properly and have them working as a team, we at MFC know high draft picks is no guarantee You have to get the right coaches You have to get the right experienced players, Gold Coast have shown it can go wrong You have to do real business on the trade table, they have shown they were willing to take risks, they let Hogan and Tyson go, we should be grateful for that (at the moment), and Bugg to a lesser extent, and Boyd to the Bulldogs We [censored] up in the last 10 years all by ourselves, GWS had no part in it, and Hawthorn seem not to be affected in the last four or five by the so called bias from the AFL Suck it up kiddies