Earl Hood

Look here is an idea. Could we just have Roosey coach for a three year contract and if he wants out we look at the next best coach available at that time? Radical idea I admit but after what we have endured can't we just do this coaching thing well and by the normal formula. Succession plans are great but do they always give the best outcome? I think the jury is still out on this one, after all you may have groomed an apprentice to take over in a year when Ross Lyon is available. Why are we in our poor position playing these games?

I agree with you Song. Voss has the right credentials - I cannot believe the way Brisbane gave him the big A just when he was starting to come good. In any event I'd like him around the place to assist in the development of Viney and Toumpas.

However we are seeing a lot of young players wanting out and rumour of Voss, Brown and Black being very insular and blokey. Who knows but something wasn't right up there however they did win a lot games late in the season. But why do these kids want out?

I was either going to put Crouch or Sloane, but thought putting Crouch was a bit too cheeky.

Agree. Adelaide may be desperate to get some picks and therefore some of their older midfielders may be available for a trade but not Crouch, this guy is a superstar in the making I am sure they can see that. I have seen him play in what 2 or 3 games and been gob smacked.

why can't we snaffle one of these guys in an early pick? If you Manage to do that once or twice and add a bit of luck and suddenly you are in the premiership window. A la the Hawks in 2001 pick up Hodge and Mitchell then 2004 you go back and pick up Buddy, Roughy and Lewis. Then add on Cyril and Sewell and you have the recipe for a flag. Oh hold on we can then have a long debate about player development versus pure talent picked in the draft.

Not unreasonable.

The other thing for Adelaide to consider is they don't have any top draft picks and Vince is a free agent next year. A decent draft pick in hand is worth gold for them this year and is probably better than the compensation pick they'll get if he leaves next year.

If the development of Sloane, Dangerfield, Kerridge, Grigg and Crouch go as expected and a few others then Adelaide will probably be tossing up between Van Berlo (capt), Scott Thompson (signed a new deal) and Vince for game time. Might be best for them to trade him now.

Agree so surely we can play with the upper hand as they need draft picks big time and they have ample mids and perhaps we have a key forward they might be interested in to get a deal done?

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-12/swans-lock-in-dew

There goes Dew. Re-signed for 3 years with the swans..

Roos doesn't seem to all that popular. Candidates aren't rushing the doors for a spot under the master. Nathan Bassett anyone?

That converts to about an E grade

As I have posted recently our midfield has no system, it doesn't work together as a team. Individually they may have a rating but as a group they rate a 3 or 4 because they are competing against well oiled clearance machines like the Hawks or The Cats. These guys hold the ball for nano seconds before it passed off by hand to another who gets it out to an outside runner, who spears a pass forward to a half forward who presents for the pass. In comparison we have MFC players battling for the ball as individuals. If they get hold of the ball and get some space don't expect anyone to lead and present. Where's Brett Ratten as mid coach when you need him?

We may have some power mids already at the club and maybe they just need a plan and some development/coaching/encouragement, a bit of sheer class sometimes helps.

I wonder if you are on to something here. I look at the top clubs and the way they rapidly move the ball at stoppages. The likes of Mitchell and Lewis barely have the ball for a second before it is passed to someone else. You can't tackle them because the balls moved on. You don't need leg speed just clean and quick hands to get the ball and move it rapidly to an outside player. You need a system and a group of players who instinctively know how it works and where they need to be. You also need a couple of inside ball magnets. You could argue we have some of the basic ingredients but no systems.

For years we have watched Jamar and co win the tap outs to Maloney or Jones who grab the ball and take on the tacklers before we end up in another ball up. No sharpe movement of the ball at all, no system.

The point that a few seem unable to grasp, is that a small fish in a smaller pond, seems proportionally more important than a medium size fish in a whirlpool. This is where Colin has been living. Let me put it in plainer terms, the damage done to Melbourne by Colin leaving is greater than the damage done to Colliewobbles for Daisy leaving, they will be able to cover the loss, Melb less likely so, therefore (ipso facto) CS is a more important player (not better) than Daisy.

You have come from a different angle but I think we end up in the same place. Daisy equals Col in terms of compensation taking into account our different situations. Tha AFl formula should be able to handle this. Again I say it is very difficult to shine consistently in a bottom side but it is eaier to shine in a dominant team.

We've had plenty of South Australians play for us over the years, Todd Viney is one, and most have stayed, in fact apart from Thompson I can't off the top of my head think of any other.

We've had a history of drafting South Australians and some have come from famous football families like Aish but they have all pretty much stayed and had good careers with us.

I am still thinking Freeman as a power mid versus a nice outside mover.

Daisy has been a game cha

nger. Premiership Player.

Col is yet to have that Breakout Game...It's very easy to see where they both sit.

Not sure what you mean here. Col could never have been a premiership player, that was his lot in life. Yes he did not have a massive breakout year but I am noticing in modern football that if you are in a Shyte team you will find it very difficult to be a star. It is not impossible but it is less likely that you will be able to meet the metrics set out in the AFLs statics to get in the all stars. Daisy's been injured for some time and it is a few years since he played good football but yet he gets a rating based on what? His last good game or his last great game? It is looking all very subjective. And that is where the AFL tends to like to live.

Another example of wasted draft picks. I can see why Neeld used to get frustrated with Blease. He frustrates the hell out of me. Can use his pace for attack but not defence.

What I have seen of Blease I just think with more time, training, discipline and maturity he could be a very damaging player. You watch him at Casey in a competitive team and he can be electrifying, getting the ball at high speed on the wing where he is balanced, then delivers a low piercing pass to a leading forward that unfortunately is just as likely to hit an opposition player lace out on the chest as his intended target. What is that about? When he gets into the firsts he will have an occasional blinder that we all remember or else go missing completely or he gets injured yet again. All that said he has some obvious weapons that I would like to see if Roosey could develop.

Greg Denham this morning also mentioned we were shopping around Rohan Bail along with these two. I don't think we'll have to hire extra staff to handle the influx of interested parties.

I really think Bail should hang the boots up for his own good. Too many concussion episodes for my liking. Better to look to your future, I say.

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Me too!

Great news about young Stretchy. Father son may be our only hope to break through to success given everything else that has been stacked up against us in the last 10 years. Geelong has made father son an artwork but still claimed it is all about their coaching and development. Well yes but gee the genes go a long way to success as well you know. Lets face it you could not have stopped Gary Abletts developed, no matter haw hard you tried.

Well done boys!

Ditto. congradulations on a great win. But tell us was there any mid field talent there we can draft in? We are desperate.

Also were any sloppy handballs, floating in and under kicks into the 50 or anybody failing to go hard forward and back the other way? I would hate to hear there was given that we have zero tolerance for this on Demondland.

If we end up with picks 20 and 21 after we have traded pick 2 for an established mid and we have lost Col in the FA, is there any horse trading we can do to swap our picks down to 15 to 19 for example to try and get our hands on the likes of Dunston or Sheed etc. do we need to cough up a player just to get a swap down plus a lesser player etc? Just trying to think outside the square perhaps.

Very interesting to read all you're reviews and thoughts.

I have actually been privileged enough to play alongside Kelly & Freeman from u13s till now.

Being in the same team for a number of years, i have got to know them both very well.

Before i get onto them both, i'd first like to alert you that all these Phantom Drafts are rough rough estimates, as the national recruiting manager of Sydney spoke to us about how the Emma Quales & co want to know everything from clubs, except why would clubs tell them the truth. The players they rate in order so it can be public knowledge - this is these peoples profession they arent going to publicise their teams prized pick!!!

He even said last year a number of the players in the top 20 didn't even get drafted.

Both terrific blokes.

Freeman - is made for AFL. Explosive, powerful, competitor that from u13s day would tear the field apart. Get it from the centre, break the lines and kick goals. The beast inside him proves he has what it takes to make it in the next level.

Kelly - is a professional. Swift mover but very light frame. I for one, arent sold on him making it big time at the highest level. I can see a Cale Morton/Tom Scully all over. He is a runner!! but will take time to develop and dont think its what we can afford to waste our time with right now. I hope for his sake he makes it big time because he deserve. But for us MFC we should give it a skip. He is very silky and often finds time when he has the ball, but i can see how at AFL level he would get exposed!

You've sold me on Freeman already. Although Explosive and powerful are attributes we seem to avoid in our drafting and we definitely don't like beasts. Damned if I know why.

That's the problem with FA - clubs like ours will only ever be able to attract second rate players (eg Dawes) and never be able to attract the top line players (in this example Cloke). Whereas the stronger teams will take the best players from the poorer clubs (eg Goddard).

Dawes wasn't a FA. We payed overs in money and trade pick 20 as I remember it. But a deal worth doing at the time. That is our lot we will always have to pay overs and usually through trades. FA will burn us mostly. It is the rich mans and rich clubs rule of choice!!!

Either way my take on the FA trend so far is good players going to stronger clubs. Good players from strong clubs going to other strong clubs and good players from weak clubs going to strong clubs. There has been some movement of journeymen over 30 going the other way of course. And there are some compensatory picks at the AFLs discretion. You take our experienced, hard bodied, proven players and we get a second round lottery pick for an 18 year old with potential. This is not a great way to do business in a competitive market. And is there a more competitive market than the AFL?

Add to this that young players homesick or surplus to needs at GWS or Suns or any of the interstate clubs are openly saying they will only move to clubs like Geelong, Pies or Hawks.

AFL commissioners, I think we have a problem! But then they can't think through things without Vlad to tell them what to think.

If you knew who was actually in the Old Boys Club you would not be so smug.

Viney fell out with the oh-so-evil Lyon-Stynes-CC-Schwab Nexus and left the club for Hawthorn as a heralded Assistant Coach (if there can be such a thing), and then poached back to Adelaide before we got him back to run the Development and Player Strategy a couple years back.

At some point we are going to have to stop culling and start building and while there may be a hatred of everything related to the MFC at this club it doesn't mean you get to just lump Viney in there without more evidence than vague illusions of his various roles.

Not sure he fell out with the Lyon Stynes CC Schwab nexus? His profile says he left MFC in 2000 to coach Moama, then the Hawks etc. I don't think the CC, CS conspiracy was around in 2000.I am all for looking for culprits and conspiracies but Todd is not in the firing line. I don't see him or Greg Healy as part of the old firm problem that has all but destroyed this club.

Was lucky to get a third season in the first place IMO. I tipped him to be delisted at the end of last year and was surprised at how howled down I got. I doubt anyone's too surprised this time around.

Not a spectacular talent as we know but when I saw him in a few Casey matches he seemed to like to contest the ball, he was not scared of physical contact, to run and chase, and had the confidence to take the game on in defense, albeit at VFL level.

Hmmm, these are some basic attributes I wish our AFL team could display.

Whatever.

We still need people on the board with those qualities.

Perhaps it's not a bad idea to abolish the post given out results on the field in recent years.

That is interesting given what happened in 2010/11! A complete breakdown in communication lines between the player leadership group, the Board, the FD and the CEO. Absolute chaos. When Leoncelli moved on, Jimmy took on the Football Director and apologised for his failure to keep on top of things, given his dire health issues. As I see it this lapse allowed CS to fool the Board that all was well and the problems lay with some senior players. I think it is a crucial role. I hope the new regime has a suitable alternative so the Board can better understand what is happening at the coal face.

After three seasons we could have given him a game as a defender in the AFL just to check out what he might offer. In a season from hell we had little to lose and less to gain from trying to make him a forward. Whose idea was that?

Did Colliss arc up about our application for a priority pick? The level of hypocrisy among AFL club officials is quite astounding.

I don't think too much weighting is given to past contracts. Only the new one.

And Jara - FA is new, and it will hurt some teams that have talent. Nobody is immune and St Kilda, Hawthorn, and Collingwood are finding that out.

Dawes was a trade, he was not an FA. If a team does not want to come off second best in this environment then treat your players well, and try to make good decisions on players to bring in.

You have at least 8 years before they can just '[censored]' and it will not just mean that the best teams pick the bones of the worst teams.

It won't.

It's not the end of the world.

It sure looks like the beginning of the end to me. If the size of the new contract is a metric, the good players from top clubs will only move for big bucks while conversely good players at bottom clubs will go to top clubs for less money, chasing a cup.

Everything that has been going on the past 5 or 6 years is conspiring to extend the dominance of the existing 4 or 5 clubs. I'm talking about the new franchise clubs, compromised drafts, the same talent pool spread thinner and free agency, and good players just refusing to re-sign and walking to the club of their choice, usually a top club again, think Luke Ball. We are certainly working at a significant disadvantage as I see it.