Earl Hood

Who was it got the corky in the buttock late in the game... Vince? How did he pull up?

Moving well at training today, should be OK, I think.

10 seconds into this clip suggests otherwise...

Gee put in a blinder in that game. Would like to see more of that playing for us.

As for Watts, I'll back him in to turn it around.

I know faith in him is low, but he'll never be a bullocking midfielder.

Gradually he'll start doing the things required of him.

And eventually he'll be the bloke that can play anywhere, a la Goddard.

The way we bring the ball into our forward line won't help is cause but I hope you are right. However if he doesn't click up forward this time, the only position left for him is "left back".

Strewth, how did I miss that? I was down at training this morning, actually that is me in the background of one of the photos, the guy at the back wearing a bike helmet. Obviously focussing too much on Garland. He took part in everything and looks to be moving well. He did a couple of drills where he and T Mac had to jostle with Chip and Dawes as balls were kicked high to them. Garland looked very good in that drill. Is he ready though after so much time out?

Spencer walked a few laps and disappeared. Fitzy, Pedo, Max and Jamar did a lot of ruck drills. Max played well in the magoos but Jamar went OK last week, so could we afford to take Max in as well?

The others were split into 2 sides and were doing a lot of drills where the ball is moved constantly by foot to leading players who must get clear of there opponent to get a mark. This is what we would like to see more of on game day, players moving and presenting all over the field ahead of the ball carrier.

Mitchie was training well and Riley was in everything, he could be a chance. Tapscott and Blease both look like can play, if only they would!

For a change just about everyone was involved in the drills, there were no groups doing laps etc. Had to leave early unfortunately.

If this Government introduces a Deficit Levy/Tax they will lose the next election in a landslide; I will vote against them as will many others that are forced to bear the brunt of Government incompetence. It seems as if I not only didn't get a plasma, I have to pay for those that did.

This is a grab for cash and a rather poorly thought out one at that, it punishes their own natural constituency and will be their downfall. Like a lot of others in a high income bracket I pay a heap of tax already and have for years and I don't appreciate Tony telling me that we all have to pitch in and get the budget back in order; what about looking at some that are on the disability pension because they are too emotional to work any longer or have some minor injury that prevents them ever working again. It's not the collection of money that's a problem it's how they spend it.

I watched Bolt the other day, first time in many moons and ex NSW Labor treasurer Costa was on and he said this is insane they need to fix the structural problems with the economy not just grab a few $$$'s here and there. When will they learn.

Robbie I basically agree with your line of thought. But there is a basic structural tax income problem for the government. Outgoings are rising but taxes are falling. We have to raise extra funds from somewhere. Australia is a low tax country by OECD standards and we have to manage an entire continent. Taxes will rise but where from? I would be happy with a financial tax of a few cents on every share transaction, that would raise money on a useless, speculative activity. We could also remove the concessions on Super that is just a tax dodge. I read somewhere recently if you remove all these concessions, you can raise your income with an across the board 15 % tax rate on income.

There is a huge backlog in infrastructure expenditure needed in the next 10 years to keep us functioning so Governments need funds to rebuild Australia. It must come from Government, not the private sector, they are far too expensive in raising funding. Goverment's must be willing to go into debt to fund infrastructure construction to maintain our productivity levels. Our Super Funds should be forced to always have a % of triple A government bonds as their base capital requirements for their license.

I think the hun rated him 117th

Scully, poor development or just a case that this number 1 was a good, average footballer at best? I think Scully is a good example that it is more about the cattle, than the development. I think Scully has tried to tick every box in his personal development, that is part of the reason he got the hell out of MFC as soon as his Dad could set it up. At GWS he has had every chance to develop but at the end of the day he is a super fit accumulator. What are his weapons? Not explosive speed or size, power, strength etc. He is a good accumulator of possessions without a laser like kick.

It just seems to me that everytime we have been down the bottom and in line for the early picks, there has not been that much there. Morton, Scully, Trengove, Watts for example and we could go back to 2003 re Sylvia. It could be development but I don't buy it, except maybe Sylvia who did have potential X factor skills but never applied himself.

I think it just shows, that there is often little separating players in the draft, especially at the early stages.

The deigned "number 1" pick may only be 2% better than pick 3, if you have some magical "talent worth counter".

Sometimes you might have 5% difference between picks 1 & 10, or picks 5 & 20.

In the end it's a raffle, and all the kids drafted early should have what it takes.

But you never really know until you get them in the system and see how they flourish.

But, as rpfc pointed out, you're talking about priority picks still.

And I'd be all for a priority pick at the end of the 1st round.

It's odds-on to provide as much value as a top 5 pick, and it's about getting that 2nd bite at the cherry.

Roos understood that, and it's why he traded pick 2 for Tyson & Salem.

I believe Luke Shuey was an end-of-1st-round priority pick.

Just gotta use it well.

Machsy

I think you are echoing what I was trying to say (perhaps poorly worded). Struggling clubs need more picks in the first and second rounds of the draft, not necessarily a priority 1 pick, to increase their chances of improving their lists in what you have described as a raffle. in the draft raffle about all we have some confidence in is that there is more talent in the first 25 picks than the next 25 picks.

And yes this is exactly what Roos tried to engineer for us last draft.

Most of the guys we have drafted have been rated by all and sundry in their draft years. How can a guy like Toumpas be rated top 1 or 2 all draft year, lead his state physically and spiritually, play an integral part in their team, play and really contribute in a senior SANFL Grand Final with best on ground rating? How can a guy that has achieved all of this with absolute belief in his ability, come to our Club and flounder so badly. There have been some good performances, but how???? It has happened too often to be as simplistic as just picking the wrong guy. The culture of the MFC is infected and I believe only PJ, Roosy and his Coaching group can change this. They will need time. As a supporter base we have to stop cultivating and feeding this cultural embarrassment that is our Club. Give PJ and Roos the time that is desperately needed to change the last 50 years.

I am with you Sambo but I do think we have simply picked the wrong guy in too many but not all instances. First round draft picks are potential gems but we have burnt too many over the last 10 years to make us competitive.

Like Hurleys? He seems to have stalled as well.

Good point. Is it the supplements or the fact he had been thrown around a bit or is he just a limited talent? The jury is out.

The talk in this draft is Beam at 29, Hanners at 30 and Sloane at 44.

Sloane is the one that got away, apparently we'd promised him we'd take him - then picked Bennell.

I remember I was at work at the time, my cousin rang me and said you guys taken Bennell - I said, was Sloane gone? He said no, he went to Adel at 44.

I hung up on him when he said we also overlooked Shuey.

I would've taken Watts at no 1 though.

It was Rich Vs Watts for mine, Rich was the safe pick, I was in WA that year, he was killing WAFL.

But, I'd of still risked and taken Watts, it was a risk, it hasn't paid off, but I am not mad at the club for that pick.

It is the later picks that have killed us, it is overlooking leaders.. Leaders like Shuey, Parker and Sloane, that have killed us.

Strauss was an outside bit player when drafted, taken far too early... Blease was a speculative X factor type - taken ahead of a Vic Metro captain in Shuey, even a great ball user then.

It is not development that has killed Melbourne, it is the fact we drafted unproven, speculative players.

Gysberts, Cook, they weren't proven. They were ordinary picks and we have payed the price.

Back on the 2008 draft, I agree NO ONE in the top 10 has really killed it, but that isn't what has killed us either.

Watts isn't what has killed us, it overlooking our needs that have killed us. We needed leaders and ball getters - and we taken speculative stick figures.

Very good summary of what has been driving me nuts. It is at best 20% development, it is mostly picking the right cattle in the draft if it is there. And we have made a mockery of the whole process. However you can only pick what's there and many of our drafts often didn't have a lot in the top 10. We and the AFL assumes pick one is better than pick 12 or pick 18 but history indicates this is not true. So the equalisers are not in place as much as Andrew might wish and Eddie never stops telling us otherwise.

If we get pick one, two or whatever it will still be a lottery. One of the pillars of the AFL's belief system is that the draft is an equalising force, while the salary cap keeps a lid on the powerful clubs. In theory the draft should be an equaliser but is it? Ignoring the expansion clubs excessive draft gouging of recent years if you look at drafts in the early to mid 2000's, the bottom clubs didn't always get the best talent. Selwood, Rioli, Darling , Dangerfield, Shuey, Fyfe, Rich, the list goes on.

My point is the AFL lives on the concept the draft order provides more than enough equalisation in talent. I say no because it is still a lottery in the top 20 odd picks, it seems. I think the lower sides just need access to a greater number of first and second round picks. Forget priorities, just talk an extra pick say mid round 1 and an extra early 2nd rounder if you have failed to win 4 games for the last xxx years for Gods sake!!! Is this asking too much?

When has it ever been any different ?

This has been the problem on both sides of politics since the time of Noah playing fullback for the Jerusalem under 10's

Nutbean this thread has had me thinking. I mean we all know politicians of any colour will always say one thing in opposition then contradict themselves in government, it is part of the game that surprisingly a high percentage of supposedly educated voters will fall for every three years for their entire life! But there you go.

No but what has got me really thinking is if Noah played under 10's how many games did he knock up? I mean if he started that young and lived to be 950 years old as is recorded and we know he had his first child when he was 500 years old, how many games do you think he played? Now he could have played 490 seasons minus say one or two missed to build the boat and another season cancelled for wet weather. That leaves around 485 seasons, not sure how many games played a season but anyway even without records going back that far I reckon he would have Tucky's record covered!

The Watts v Hurley debate has subsided as well....

I wanted Hurley in that draft as he was big and loved the physical contest but to be fair he has struggled a bit too, not sure why.

Not a good draft year for many teams.

No it is all about development I am often told.

Gotta say those player reviews on the MFC website look very unimpressive for AFL listed players bar a small few.

Yes I hope Brett Allison is a perfectionist because it is not great reading but we know from the reports our boys were very average. We need leg speed but Blease is still trying to learn the same defensive lessons for the past 5 years. Barry is still learning to run to the right spots! Not holding my breath there. Hunt has speed, is playing down back but giving his man 3 to 4 meters space? dont these kids learn some basics in under age? Oh well a first year project player there.

Strauss sounds like he is coasting and Toumpas needs to work on his delivery!! A number 4 midfield draft pick should be putting it lace out to a target at VFL level surely? I will love it if Jimmy makes it big time but I am wondering what his weapons are. Not leg speed, not size and aggression and now not delivery. Anyway the spare parts cupboard looks very bare I am afraid. Boy we need some draft help to rebuild this list.

Nobody has called him the saviour

We are just excited by his debut and rightly so

Where is that lid?

What sort of impact caused it, if you don't mind me asking Lamashtu?

I remember Petterd was in a pretty serious state when he punctured a lung a few years ago.

I think Ricky had a burst cyst in the lung that wasn't allowing air to exhale, it was life threatening at the time. The doctor had to actually puncture his lung with a needle to let air out. A different situation I think.

Ahhh Anglesea, beautiful place. I have family down there.

Song can you do something about the weather? Every time I go down there, on a weekend, a cold front comes through and it stuffs up the surf. Despite that I too love the sea, the forests and the bird life.

I am getting some bad karma about all this. Fingers crossed I suppose but I am mindful of the worst case scenarios that we always seem to have to deal with at this club.

Ahhh yes, yes. That was a recording from his and my convo we had on air as i drove home Saturday night.

Autograph line starts here:

I dips me lid to you sir. I missed your conversation on SEN Saturday night as I trudged home depressed from the Anglesea pub on Saturday night. My television digital signal had earlier given up the ghost before the game at Anglesea so I had to head out to the pub to see the game.

Hard to prove that Franklin was staging because he did get a whack. Georgiou can look at it as a medal to pin on his chest and have a great conversation piece for the rest of his life. Many a laugh for the retelling of how Buddy fell like a sack of spuds.

Whack!! Try an unexpected touch, inadvertent contact to the face. Georgiou is very unlucky I think to get a similar finding to Gibsons full on hit from behind to the head. Reckless and high contact I think for Gibbo and should be similar to some of the bumps that have been judged to be too high but inadvertent.

By the way Machsy I reckon Georgiou is a positive, he has a real go. When you find a silky skilled half back to take his place let me know.

They talked about Watts on SEN this morning and Plough Wallace's thoughts were that the best option was for Roos to give Watts 4 to 6 weeks playing on the wing where he trained to be all season and see what he has to offer the team and tell him that is what you are doing. That is you have 4 to 6 weeks to demonstrate your worth. This seems a reasonable approach because the club has tried him in many rolls to try to identify his niche position. Most players are happy and willing to play the role they are assigned to.

This approach gives Jack some certainty of his near future and a sense of urgency that he needs to start to perform and a level of accountability as long as Roosey's expectations are made clear. Those expectations may be as simple as minimum tackle counts, pressure acts, defensive acts etc, all the stuff that anyone who is committed to the cause could do. All the things we don't see Jack do.

I would also have a sports psychologist working with him, some of those dropped marks under no pressure and handballs backward to anyone else remind me of someone who is not focused on the job at hand, devoid of confidence, thinking negatively about what could I stuff up next.

Watts should be renamed Volts - all potential but no intrinsic energy or power.

Maybe he will find the necessary Amps with a few weeks at Casey - hope so but currently just a flat battery.

I used to think Real Power was measured in Watts. Not anymore!

Watching us last night then watching the Hawks vs the Toigs, good heavens how far away are we? Light years I think particularly given we have made a dogs breakfast of many of our past drafts and trading, not always of our own fault. The talent in the bank is very limited. We have been cruelled by injuries to the likes of Jurrah, Wonna and Clark for example. They had talent but couldnt sustain it.

Much of that was beyond our control but we have gone past a number of good players and picked duds. Are the latest picks, the right talent, well let us hope.

JW will be out. And Howe.

Have to wait for tomorrow's results, but best case scenario is Garland, Riley & Kent in.

And what really shytes me is these two have the skills that the side is crying out for. We have a dozen hard working journeymen trying to win the ball, if only these two were there to receive it more often. It seems to me Watts is avoiding engagement. His confidence must be shot to pieces. Howe needs a run on the ball to get him involved