On ya way...

[Fairtex09]

what do you guys think. Should we move McDonald, Wheatley,Robertson and Whelan on there merry way or decide to keep them for another year. I guess it's a similar situation to Yze and White last year. None of them are playing terribly,(either was White). But would Bailey be going against his word if he did keep them?? I personally think we should get rid of Wheatley and whelan and maybe Robbo. We will probably be having this conversation about Bruce and Green in the next couple of years. Thoughts??

 

[Karl Pilkington]

Robbo has another year anyway doesn't he? Offer him as trade bait I guess. Carlton would probably go for it.

Would like to keep Jmac as well because he's performing well.

 

[Dez!]

Wheatley is a definite.

Whelan we probably should, I'd love to keep him around but age and he's extremely injury prone.

Robbo, FFS people it was one bad game and Watts needs Robbo to further his development. If we had Watts/Miller/Bate forward line combo I could see opposition teams sending their best defender to Watts because Miller can be beaten with an opposition's second or third best defender and he doesn't kick bags of goals. Robertson is capable of kicking a bag and thus earns the best defender, Watts will need Robertson for this season and next.

Junior, he'll probably retire this year and I'd love too see him go around again next season but we do need to get rid of some of our older players but it's just so damn hard*.

*Besides Wheatley.

 

[RandB]

Wheatley is a definite.

Whelan we probably should, I'd love to keep him around but age and he's extremely injury prone.

Robbo, FFS people it was one bad game and Watts needs Robbo to further his development. If we had Watts/Miller/Bate forward line combo I could see opposition teams sending their best defender to Watts because Miller can be beaten with an opposition's second or third best defender and he doesn't kick bags of goals. Robertson is capable of kicking a bag and thus earns the best defender, Watts will need Robertson for this season and next.

Junior, he'll probably retire this year and I'd love too see him go around again next season but we do need to get rid of some of our older players but it's just so damn hard*.

*Besides Wheatley.

I go along with all of that.

As far as Junior goes it would be a tough call but one I would respect if he was not kept. If we did keep him surely it would be for depth only. We can't keep putting the same 4 out there as a starting core group too much longer. Our inside 4 are our achilles heel - too slow - not enough quality. This effects the whole team as well. We need to inject young talent ASAP but Junior for depth for 1 more year is ok with me. Gone are the days of having a good core group of 4, these days it is more like a good core group of 8 and we are no where near this which is why keeping Junior on for 1 more year wouldn't hurt us as long as he is used sparingly - of course he may retire though.

If we don't put our inside midfield under the microscope before next year then we will pay for it in the long term.

It sounds like a copout but it is hard to nominate other players until the end of the year, still 13 weeks to go for players to show something.

 

[Flashhh]

Of the four guys mentioned....

Wheatley is first to go. For many reason really, age is one while his position of running backman is the most replacable in football. Add to this the fact that Grimes and Bennell are coming on and it doesn't look good for Wheatley. Not 100% sure of his age (28-29?) but would like to see him traded to maybe a Collingwood or Sydney for a late pick, otherwise its retire/delist.

McDonald should retire. Would be a fringe player is he wasn't skipper. Should never have been named captain in the first place, that decision is looking more and more like an underserved honor every week.

Whelan as much as I love him needs to go. He's well past his best, very injury prone and looks to be taking games off a Bartram, Cheney or McNamara to gel with our other young backs.

Robertson I would is the one I would keep. When watching the first few weeks of the year when Robbo, Wheatley and Whelan were out, I was wanting Robbo out there wheras the others I didn't even notice were missing. You can pencil him in for two goals a game which you can't do for any other MFC player/

 

[w00dy]

I think it depends how many draft picks etc. we want, but I could easily see all 4 of Whelan, Wheatley, Robbo and Junior all moving on from the Red and Blue... Will be a sad day, but a day that will have to come.

 

[Grandmaster_B]

We are going to lose a LOT of experience. We could be the youngest list in VFL/AFL history next year.


For sure we will lose Junior, Robbo, Whelan and probably Wheatley.


And four teenagers will replace them.


Daniel Bell will most likely be delisted.

 

[master bate]

I don't know about at the end of the year who goes and who stays

But right now Robbo, Whelan and JMac deserve their spots in the side (unless Robbo plays like he did yesterday more often). Robbo takes a huge load off the other forwards, and lets them develop. Sure throwing them in under pressure sounds good, but with the delivery they are getting they need at least one old head to help straighten the team up. Whelan and Junior set a standard in hardness and work rate for all the others to follow.

 

[Pipefitter]

I think Wheatley will be kept as depth. Hes not out of form or anything. Just injured. Id say whelan and mcdonald will be gone this year.

 

[lose]

pretty sure we'l see whels and junior retire, wheatley delisted... robbo has to stay, cant kick goals as it is and we dont want watts thrown to the wolves that drastically...

 

[00Stinger]

Of the four guys mentioned....

Wheatley is first to go. For many reason really, age is one while his position of running backman is the most replacable in football. Add to this the fact that Grimes and Bennell are coming on and it doesn't look good for Wheatley. Not 100% sure of his age (28-29?) but would like to see him traded to maybe a Collingwood or Sydney for a late pick, otherwise its retire/delist.

McDonald should retire. Would be a fringe player is he wasn't skipper. Should never have been named captain in the first place, that decision is looking more and more like an underserved honor every week.

Whelan as much as I love him needs to go. He's well past his best, very injury prone and looks to be taking games off a Bartram, Cheney or McNamara to gel with our other young backs.

Robertson I would is the one I would keep. When watching the first few weeks of the year when Robbo, Wheatley and Whelan were out, I was wanting Robbo out there wheras the others I didn't even notice were missing. You can pencil him in for two goals a game which you can't do for any other MFC player/

I agree he has to go but geez he is only 27-28. Not exactly what you would classify as old

 

[Clean Heels]

Robbo will help boast the profile of the club, he is pretty much the
only public figure that we have in the side - and he works the media
very well, actually fantastic, so on that alone, Id keep him around for
another year, and yes - just on that alone I would keep him..

Id move Wheatley on, he has always been a tease - and has more than
had his chance to become more of a player than he has become.

Whelan is alright, good for the young aboroginals, that alone gets my
vote to keep him on another year..

Id move Junior on, his position is filled - in each and every aspect of
the game..

 

[Capt_Concussion]

Keep Whelan and Robbo, perhaps Junior. The reasons why have already been discussed.

 

[chopper41]

Keep Robbo for another year or 2. He's not keeping anyone out of the side. We have now forwards. The others I'd say can move on. All been great servants of the club but like Yze and White, it's their time to step aside.

 

[saj_21]

Robbo is a keeper for another 2 years at least. He is still only 30 and hasn't had to many injuries (minus the achilies) so his body will hold up. He is so important for the structure of our team we have played some of our best footy since he has been back in the side what a difference a forward target can make.

As for the others Jamc, Wheels and to a lesser extent Bell and Wheatley some will stay some will go but we can;t lose all our experience at once.

 

[Karl Pilkington]

Yeah even though Robbo is a tool, and I hate even speculating on who we're going to draft, but for next season he'd still be in the forward structure:

F: Wona Butcher Robbo
HF: Bate Watts Maric

That would be the group I'd want to see. Obviously Maric and Bate will rotate with Green, Bruce, Davey and Sylvia.

 

[On the bench]

JMac & Whelan will probably retire,keep Robbo but put him on notice any clowning around on the field in the future spells the end,Wheatley can't see a future for him!

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

(I promise I'll leave you guys alone soon enough).

Presuming you've made the call you aren't finals contenders at the present time, work from your bottom up (ie most potential, starting with youngest first).

Put your best 'potential' players where they will gain maximum benefit. Whether that is getting exposure to AFL via a flank/pocket/wing position, or playing in their 'future' role at VFL.

Do the same with the rest of your younger players.

By the time you get to your oldest (say) dozen players - you should have most spots filled in VFL, and a substantial portion of your AFL side. Plug the holes as required from your older players.

Then examine the leftover older players and what they bring. Leadership? Training example? Commitment to the cause, etc.

 

[acuce]

I think robbo should get another year, he played one bad match big deal and still kicked 2.2, his our only likely multiple goal kicker week in week out. He is still a solid player in our side IMO.

Watts is still developing, Miller isnt a long term prospect and even if we get Butcher it will take him a couple of years to kick in like most key position players.

 

[easter31]

I know that a lot of posters we would like to keep JMac, Wheatley, Whelan, Jamar, Robbo and so on, however the AFL rules stipulate that we need to delist a minimum of 3 players at the end of the year. We can't delist the young recruits so we have to make the hard decision and delist players who are not going to assist us going forward in the medium/long term.
We will probably have to make room for at least one or two rookie promotions probably Spencer and McKenzie or Valenti/Hughes. This is Spencer's second year as a rookie so he must be delisted or upgraded. I would suggest that the other 3 would stay on the rookie list next year with Zomer being delisted. GC17 have the first five rookie picks this year which means we will more than likely have pick 5 or 6.
If we are to look to the future we must make the hard decisions and decide which players are on the way up or on the way down.

We will probably want a minimum of 3 selections in the National draft, which means we will have to delist between 4 to 6 players.

 

[easter31]

Garry Lyon calls them list cloggers. Players that perform well one week and are not sighted for two or three weeks. Then they play another good game and tease us into thinking they will continue to perform consistently, but they don't. You could argue that players such as Jamar, Bartram, Wheatley, Miller, PJ, Bell, Dunn are list cloggers. Would they consistently get a game with a top four side. I doubt it. Their skill base is very limited and their upside is questionable..
MFC have continually kept players on even when they are past there best. Even though I loved David Neitz and Jeff White but they should have been moved on at least one or two years earlier.

 

[AFL is Number One]

The all have at keast two years left in them. Playing good footy. We need experience around the club. Robbo, Macca and Wheats have all been great players for us and we need them around the younger guys.

 

[Den11]

I believe the first one we should be looking at delisting is either Jamar or PJ. It seems to be agreed on here that both are just second string ruckman so lets use there place on the list to try and find a first stringer.

PJ would be in front at the moment, though it might come down to if either can get us a decent trade, though probably neither.

Otherwise I would agree with easter and it is time to make a call on the list cloggers. Dunn doesn't have enough tricks, Wheatly had a very good year last year so why not play him second half of year and if he performs at last years level see what we can get in trade week for him.

Bell would be gone and it will be a sad day but i think Whelan and JMac might be finished also. I don't know why we need to keep them on list to lead the way when we really need the next group of players to step up now. Green and Davey are in the right age bracket to be showing these boys how it should be done, on and off the field.

 

[saj_21]

I believe the first one we should be looking at delisting is either Jamar or PJ. It seems to be agreed on here that both are just second string ruckman so lets use there place on the list to try and find a first stringer.

PJ would be in front at the moment, though it might come down to if either can get us a decent trade, though probably neither. quote]

Cant' agree with this, yes PJ and Jamar are not first rate i will agree wit that all the more reason to keep them until will find a genuine A grade ruckman we will probably take 3-5 years to draft and develop a kid.

Spencer i believe is on his second year as a rookie so a decision will have to be made on his future at years end, there will be room to draft another young ruckman if the club decides to. But doing this at PJ or Jamar's expense is not the way to go.

 

[Future Star]

I reckon next year we will have 3/4 senior ruckman PJ, JAMAR, MEESON and the SPENCE all on the senior list competing for 2 spots next year depending on Jamar's second half of the season. As well as this im hoping we add one more ruckman through the draft probably to the rookie list.
Meeson was told to prepare for next year so i reckon he is safe, the Spence has to be promoted been impressed with him. PJ tap work has improved this year and because of that he is now our number 1 ruckman.
Jamar is the unknown he has been our most competitive ruckman at centre bounces for a few years but has not offered anything around the ground, if he has a very good second half on the season i would keep him otherwise i think he will be delisted.