Earl Hood

1 hour ago, demonstone said:

Good on the club for their stance on this issue.   Nobody should have to put up with that nasty rubbish.

No doubt some will be sneering, accusing us of being "woke", "triggered" and "virtue signalling".

You forgot “gaslighting”. I had never heard of woke until last week when the term was used by Barack Obama, since then I keep hearing it from numerous right wingers re The Deputy Prime Minister and his woke inner city lunatics. 

7 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Turned up at 10:45, 15 minutes after the advertised start time.

Training finished after a minutes silence at 11.

My report: it was sunny. 

Yes me too! This the second time I have attended at the advertised time 10.30 for them to finish up at 11.00. They are starting at 9.30 or earlier why advertise the wrong time repeatedly? 

Jamie, very talented just couldn’t find his own ball enough in a poor side as I remember. More talented than Neville but playing as a small forward his opportunities were limited in a poor side.

Great to see him putting back in for young indigenous talent.  

3 hours ago, JakovichScissorKick said:

Assuming we take Young at 3 which is likely, Id like to see this team though its very early days of course

B:       Jetta               May              Hibberd

HB:     Hore             Lever             Young

C :    Langdon         Oliver             Harmes

HF:   Melksham     T McDonald    Petracca

F:      Lockhart           Fritsch          Petty

FOLL:   Gawn           Brayshaw      Viney

IC:     Salem     Tomlinson    Hunt    Hannan

 

And let’s hope AVB and JSmith are pushing hard to get into that first 22! 

3 hours ago, daisycutter said:

zachary

Were you referring to Ed Zachary disease DC? 

Love his name but! 

21 minutes ago, Deeoldfart said:

I remember him as an outstanding wingman, whose career was cut short when (stone cold sober) he fell through a plate glass door.

He fell through the glass working as an apprentice builder I think. You know in the days when players had weekday jobs. 

As long as we are not playing the Suns in Darwin as the away team! 

1 hour ago, olisik said:

Pick 15 yes, pick 8, no

If we are so hellbent on Weightman then let us hope we can split pick 8 into a pick 15 and a second rounder with someone. But really let’s just pick best available with pick 8 and forget so called needs. We have heaps of needs, but we have a half dozen so called small forward types on our list and there are a few recently delisted that we could work on. Meanwhile our key position forward stocks are as thin as! 

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

Interesting to hear what people think is his best position? Forward or back?

Interesting idea. First thoughts for me are third tall forward but I think Fritsch has taken first dibs on this position, that is as a half forward, with Melk/Tracc/Harmes on the other flank. So maybe a fit Joel looks to play half back or back pocket. He will need to work on it. But for what it is worth his dad made the swap from high flying, mercurial forward to dependable full back in my memory re 1992/3? 

11 hours ago, adonski said:

Didn't they specifically say they're looking for a small forward in the draft? Hopefully if that's the case they split 8, not 3. 

Another one? To go with ANB, Lockhart, Spargo, Chandler, Sparrow, Bedford, the Wagners, Dunkley, how many do we need on the list? 

1 hour ago, Dr.D said:

no idea why stretch was even drafted. I literally knew the first time I saw him play that he was never going to make it. his ball drop is disgusting.  I wish the club didnt persist with guys when its clear as day. 

The AFL stats for Billy’s 47 games has his kicking efficiency in the elite class! So that disgusting ball drop must have worked most of the time. 

Re the 2020 midfield rotations does anybody have any insight into Dunkley, can he morph into something like his ball magnet brother at the Dogs after a full preseason? We played him as  yet another smaller forward option in the second half and he did OK as a part time newby. Is he a potential midfield asset? 

24 minutes ago, kallangurdemon said:

I found this years trip to Darwin particularly pleasant and i was looking forward to a trip in 2020  .The weather is beautiful that time of year and the people hospitable .We play the stadium better than we play most grounds and despite the heartbreaking loss to Adelaide this year we ,in my view anyway ,had developed a  genuine home ground advantage .I doubt the final decision was ours and was a result of the demise of the Northern Thunder .The AFL  are concerned with the drop in draftees from the NT and saw a need to align NTFL with a geographically  closer club .I understand the members support of  moving back to the G and the reasoning  of the AFL is generally sound but I am still a little saddened by the news

As per my #292 post earlier in this thread, our Darwin game was dumped after the AFL announced their rescue package for the Suns. They now have first dips on the Darwin zone, we were effectively sent on our way by the AFL and thanks for your help. Perts announcement of listening to our fans calling for a MCG game is just so much corporate weasel word spin, we were always leaving, at least I hope so! The worst outcome would be for us to be playing there as the away team. 

13 minutes ago, loges said:

This would be so Melbourne, time for an attitude change

On SEN this arvo Martins manager admitted MFC had made enquires but the manager said Martin was not interested and was determined to get to the Blues so if you add that to his inflated salary demands I can see why we might move on. Not sure what hard ball pick exchange deals we could do with the Blues to make them earn this freebie. 

52 minutes ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

And that's his choice - but just like any draftee, he goes to whichever club selects him.

If he wants to behave like a free agent, he needs to earn that right through another contract with GCS.  If he wants to enter the draft he can:

a) Go to the club that selects him.

b) Play a couple of years in the local leagues, then try again.

 

I'm not just saying this as a Melbourne supporter - it is akin to draft tampering to attempt to scare away other clubs.  The integrity of the draft depends upon honest engagement with the process.

Didn’t Luke Ball do just that to get to Collingwood? Ball should have been charged by the AFL at the time but they looked the other way. SEN talked to his manager this afternoon and he said MFC had already been in contact but Martin wants Carlton. He will put a ridiculous price on his head to scare us away but doesn’t that mean Carlton has to pay that price? 

9 hours ago, Redleg said:

Turning 31 in a few weeks.

I would pass. We can do better.

Well I would have hoped we worked him into the deal for Frost! We ended up with jackshyte for Frosty in the end when we should have worked Isaac into the deal. A 2 year deal gets us an experienced player who still has ability.

It is interesting how easily we could have moneyballed this draft to fill some obvious gaps for minimal cost while we still played the main game for first round draft picks. Think Isaac Smith for the wing, Jenkins/Bruce/Ellis, up forward, Dougle Howard down back? Oh well let’s go to the draft for a small forward and what else? 

24 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Meh if all we missed out on was Membery I can live with that. 

I would have made a big play for Bruce myself but hey do we really need a tall target for not a big price? Someone who can actually take a contested grab and I believe can kick straight from a set shot more often than not. 

9 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

Same position up forward as last year again. Can't see us contending for a premiership at all. We'll have enough trouble making the 8, but we all know it's premiership or failure every year from now on in..

Yes it is all quite puzzling for us supporters. What was the 2019 stat I saw on Demonland? Yes the worst conversion rate for scores versus inside 50 entries ever recorded (i.e. since the mid 90’s). The forward line was totally dysfunctional most of the season but the club doesn’t rate that issue as a current personnel problem! Inability to take a contested grab, no crumbers, no forward tackling pressure added to an appalling and morale sapping inability for forwards to convert set shots for goals from inside 40m. Oh and forward X factor rating was next to zero with Jeff being our only small opportunist forward when not injured, who could also apply inside tackling pressure but he has been delisted. 

On the positive side if everyone is fit game 1, a decent forward coach should be able to develop a functional forward unit out of TMac, Weid, Petty, JSmith as talls and Melk, Tracc, Fritsch, AVB as mediums along with a 2019 small forward draftee. But get a few injuries and it all gets problematic, I believe we need some more forward depth.

And the other issue is our game plan up field that makes being a forward at MFC a nightmare but maybe that changes next year! 

Isn’t all this just Pert putting positive corporate spin for the AFL dudding us with the Suns being given priority over the Darwin zone? Weren’t we always leaving Darwin once the AFL announced its rescue package for Suns? 

7 hours ago, picket fence said:

Lets revisit during and at end of season and see how much is Hyperbole and how much will be reality!??

I think the Frost trade to the Hawks, under the tutelage of the world’s greatest coach will be facinating to watch next season. In my opinion Frost’s learning curve is still on the up, as he is a great athlete not a natural footballer, so needs time which we had run out of. With us I thought under immense pressure he learnt to play within his limitations with short kicks to position when he was running forward and free but yes turned it over when facing the wrong way. And he at times punched the ball back into the corridor but a lot of this goes back to our coaching I think. 

The Hawks defence is much more composed than ours and as I rank the 2020 Hawks as very likely to finish top 6, I suspect Frosty may shine. It will be interesting to see how they cover his deficiencies and play to his strengths. 

1 hour ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Nietschke has been injured for a full year; however, he was displaying some real competitiveness, movement skills and presence at the ball prior to that injury - mainly in a training scenario - and came to the Dees with a positive reputation to match. If he has overcome the injury and is able to resume a full training agenda, the young man could be very handy indeed.

As Nietzsche said to me as he ran past at rehab training earlier this year, what does not kill us, makes us stronger! So am expecting a big year from him next season. 

3 minutes ago, GCDee said:

The bloke is a dead set liability if the ball hits the ground and he rarely leaves the goal square. 

If we get which I REALLY hope we don't I would be happy to eat my words if he can perform but I really cant see him being anything more than a list clogger which could potentially limit Weid's development. 

GC I haven’t seen him play much but he is often described as a 200cm flanker not a KPF so I assumed he doesn’t kick all of his 2 goals a game from taking pack marks or manhandling KPB one on one, but just as often when the ball has hit the deck in the forward line. Also being 200cm would give us a ruck support option as well. 

Averages 2 goals a game. Can he kick set shots for goals from inside 40m consistently? If so go get him in my opinion. 

2 minutes ago, 4_Kent_Watts said:

Sam Murray I'm all for trying to get as he was in the Pies best before he got done but Harley Bennell I wouldn't even think about, his body is in worse shape than mine.

Re Bennell the talk is that they have got to the bottom of his soft tissue problems and they have been rectified and he is now more mature and asking for a chance. We know he has exceptional skills that we don’t possess and that is why some here have suggested he train with us over the preseason to test both his physical and mental resilience before we would take him on. Seems a low risk possible high reward approach to me.