Earl Hood

It was AFL Operations Manager Mark Evans saying a PP was unlikely because the rule was kept really to deal with some sort of player tragedy scenario? Huh, they make it up as the go. The wording of the rule makes no such reference. Then what is a player tragedy? A death such as Troy Broadbridge or if a player wrecks his knee in a match? Does Mitch C qualify? If the tragedy happens after the draft how do you give a club access to a priority pick? Evans is making it up as he goes.As the Executive advises the so called independent AFL Commission of Drones you can pencil in a big No.

No best to ask Eddie first if you want the right answer! Collingwood who have the fixture from Heaven minus a couple of Sunday night matches to maximise their income while we do the twilight Sundays against GWS and similar that starve us of income and sponsorship, they are the best arbiters of equalisation measures.

Happy that one is out of the way. We did not need a half committed Ling as our heir apparent coach. If he was interested in coaching he would already be into it full time.

Is it fear of failure that has stunned this group into inaction? If so why now

No it is not drafts it is about player development didn't you know! Obviously they were bad years for development right across the league. We are largely to blame here of course for the lack of developing the early picks in those years.

I reckon we go big time for Ablett, Roughead, Dangerfield, Talia and Fyfe. If we get those guys in we can be competitive Maybe. Although I admit we may have to give up something to get these guys, say Blease, Tappy, Strauss perhaps. Sorry I just woke up!

I think we have been there, circa 2007 to 2010. The blueprint was kids and more kids at the expense of older players. That was a disaster of 186 proportions! I think all we did was develop a crèche mentality for young draftees who were told too often success would just happen because they were the blessed. We then started to draft in a mix of older players and some raw youth and that has proven itself not much better I am afraid. Of course that outcome has been impacted by the Neeld effect, by the loss of Clark, Jurrah, the injuries to Hogan and on and on. Where to next I wonder? I believe Roos will try to flood the club with recycled players who can play a role but more importantly have demonstrated themselves to be mature, coachable, AFL standard journeymen. In the hope of making us middle rung competitive.

Unfortunately the commission are drones who swallow whatever AFL management serves up to them. We saw that under Andrew Dimwit often enough.

I wish Mark Evans would stop working from Eddie's script! The top teams are laughing, they all originally built their list from bottoming out in uncompromised drafts with one year of poor play, getting priority picks, or third round father son picks, etc. The expansion clubs and three years of compromised drafts plus Free Agency has locked in their superior positions. I am talking the Hawks, Pies, Cats of course and these are the hypocrites who now rail against any concessions to the strugglers and Eddie is their megaphone.

I heard the guys on SEN announce it, first response was no way of course. Rohan Connelly was adamant that we didn't deserve one. You should only get one if you are a serial poor performer he claimed. At that point I think the Ox nearly fell off his chair, eight years isn't enough pain it seems. The tanking allegations were brought up as usual, now 4 years ago. It is interesting how everyone argues against it based on we don't deserve it, we wasted our chances, we tanked etc, no one wants to look at solutions. Fact is we are a cot case, that is a liability to the AFL brand so it is in everyone's interests to get us competitive again. We need draft help and that could come in the form of an end of first round pick,; in fact struggling clubs need more shots at good picks as the draft is a lottery, you can't be sure exactly who will make it, only that the odds are better that a top 20 pick will make it versus a third rounder. I believe we need draft assistance to help restore our list to a competitive position.

So what is wrong with the majority of the current group? If we knew that we could maybe fix it. I will go with all the help we can get, an extra pick may help. In the end if we can get two or three more competitive beasts who have some talent onto the list we may begin to turn this ship wreck around. The lack of leadership in this group at the moment is just appalling!

Listened to the Roos pressed. A bit worriedn that it was all about them, the players and not about us the club, players and coaches.

Yet oddly enough Kent is a good kick, especially for goal, although he should have handballed off on the one where he hit the post. His efficiency was poor today but is that because he is trying to set something up as opposed to others running at 70% who do nothing but chip it around? Not sure just asking but to me Kent had plenty of upside in a better team that drives the ball quickly into the forward line. And that is not us by miles.

Mully don't go just yet. Are you Maynard G Crabbs or Gilligan? Can you confirm before you go?

I think it is Et tu Brute but what do you mean, that we were done in by those we thought were on our side? Hmmm yes maybe you are right!

Yes Jetta, Jones held their own and I thought Max tried hard and once he gets his hit out radar right he will be a great ruckman and he showed some agility at ground level I hadn't seen before. Salem showed he is likes a contest but needed to do more. Kent has potential as well as Tyson but that is about it for the glass half full view of that debacle. On a par with anything we dished up under Neeld given we where playing an undermanned side of full of kids. Actually it might be much worse because under Neeld no one knew what they were supposed to be doing, but under Roos they all have a well drilled role to play, yet could not execute. I mean these guys train full time but watching them today at times it looked like it was a scratch team thrown together for a social match. Where to from here AFL? This club needs draft assistance big time!

Oh and by the way have the Pies been tanking or something? How else do you get smashed by the Lions at the Gee unless you have developed a losing culture from tanking? That is what I was led to believe two weeks ago, by Paul Roos and Caroline Wilson. Perhaps with Collingwood its a hangover from the 2005 tanking for the Daisy Thomas pp!

Always liked Stefan thought he could be anything but always got an injury just as he looked like taking command of the first ruck posy for us. But there was no doubt he could play but there seemed to be issues with his attitude when Neeld came in. But then being an intelligent type he was probably appalled at the culture Neeld brought in and didnt conform to the requirements of the time. Mark it down as another stuff up.

Good point. Anyone know what Pedo did wrong to be dropped? I know team balance was an issue with Max coming in but Pedo had been in form and can play both ends.

It is not a case of maybe, it is obviously an above the shoulders issue. The kid has all the physical attributes to be a superstar, but mentally he just doesn't want to take on the physical contact, impact the contest that AFL demands. In my opinion he has good peripheral vision so he knows what is going on around him and who is doing what in a contest so I am at a loss to understand his total lack of ability to impose himself on a contest whether it be tackling, high marking, marking on the lead etc. All I see is a receiver with some delivery skills, when he has space.

Fingers crossed the Hulk gets through unscathed!!

I will be closely watching this game for any evidence of tanking from us at least. Having watched the antics of 2009 and in recent weeks come to fully understand the devastating and lasting effects of that Richmond game which we lost in 2009 that according to Roosey has affected players who were never there, I for one will be livid if I detect tanking like coaching! For instance if I see someone like Frawley playing forward and someone, say like Howe playing off half back I will know the "Petracca Tank" is on!

Interesting looking at last weeks side, of the starting 22, it included just 5 first round draft picks, the other 18 players come much later in the draft or have been drafted in after we got a look at their value, re Vince, Dawes etc. I think Roos will be doing a lot of horse trading at years end for players who have demonstrated some ability. Drafting these kids is always a risk. You could win big time or you could lose. Our record post 2007 is Shyte as in there was only one first round draft pick post 2006 playing last week. That is just appalling but shows us where Roosey is coming from. It is about playing the odds in a more conservative way. We may miss the chance of a Judd or a Selwood but we have more chance of avoiding the failures where we have picked kids who never played a game.

Hey Col Travis had his issues but don't tell me you wouldn't love to have him coming off half back or the wing with his silky skills and delivery by foot in amongst the dross we have put up with this year?

Yes I am still waiting for the blossoming Iraq democracy we were promised by the US neocons! You know the democracy that would be a beacon of light to the rest of the Arabic world. Something seems to have gone wrong with the theory. In fact Iraq is no longer a country, it has broken up into various ethnic, religious states or enclaves. I read today the Iraq's Christian minority is no more, they have been murdered and dispersed. Great outcome George and Dick! At least under the hated Sadam H they had some protection. Sad am was a tyrant but it seems that is what these country's need to stay intact. I personally would love to press gang Bush, Cheney and other NeoCons into service in Baghdad, in amongst the violence and the chaos, to try to realise their theoretical fantasy.