Mick Malthouse has two main qualities as far as I can tell. Firstly he can coach a bit. Secondly he is a douche.

When you deal with Collingwood it's important to take those two factors into account.

Take someone like Leigh Brown. Good honest player at Fremantle, much derided though because he was taken as a high pick. He goes to Collingwood, where Mick runs a tight ship, and the combination of a disciplined team and the Collingwood factor turns Leigh Brown into a quality player - at least the perception of him.

Now, statistically he was probably better at Fremantle but you see it everyone. Clement and Medhurst - same deal. They didn't play any better at Collingwood but they are perceived to have become better.

They are the players that, as Fremantle supporters, we have seen both sides of. There are a lot of other players who we've only seen one side of - the Collingwood side. That's the side that over inflates a performance because of the wave of Collingwood promotion and the lack of obvious scape goats in Mick's teams.

When Mick does scapegoat a player though - think Davis, Medhurst, Fraser and Chris Tarrant, the perception of them swing the other way. They become useless because Mick is such a great coach that he should be able to make them perform.

My long winded point is that the good players and the bad players at Collingwood lie somewhere in between where you think they lie and it's too hard to work out which players will survive outside the Collingwood/Malthouse bubble so it's best just to give the whole place a wide berth.

Fair enough, the Pav... but you're forgetting the Anvil did time at the Kangaroos before getting trapped in Mick's sticky clutches.

I would put it to you that he played at a similar level at the Kangaroos as he did at Fremantle and Collingwood and the theory holds up quite soundly.

It would be fantastic if we could get Krakouer next year, but could someone give me a trade week scenario that sees him in our midfield next year. With the draft so ridiculously compromised and The Scum having pick #3, I reckon you can write you own ticket about it

I agree entirely...

they should be sent away somewhere... preferably, every second week of the footy season.

How many different types of liaison officer would the West Coast Eagles need to hire to accommodate themselves to Krakouer?

Edit #1 - looks like post I responding to was removed

Usually I try the softly softly approach on here but trading Palmer would be a moronic decision:

Palmer is 21, 22 in Feb, he's played 38 AFL games and he's tough. He's a first round draft pick and won a rising star and while some of that group haven't gone on to greatness none of them are duds (except maybe Brett Deledio but that's becuase he's a bit soft not becuause he can't play).

Not everyone on our list is going to have the class of Hill, or the overall games of Mundy and Barlow, or just be a freak like Pav ... few years back people were saying trade Duff ... look where he is at now.

It's the blokes at the bottom half of your 22 that truly define where you finish and if you'll win a flag or not.

Palmer in 2010:

- recovering from knee surgery, had a year out of game, destroys his football fitness base
- Barlow comes in and is a revalation, other new kids and Hase stand up = feels pressure to gain and then retain a spot
- Media harp on about him being a carp kick, it's not great but it's not as bad as people make out
- Unfortunate collision with Barlow, irrespecive of what people say (club, media, Rhys, etc) must have played on his mind (he wrote #21 on the strapping tape on his wrist for inspiration)
- had a shocker against North @ ETI and quite rightly got dropped as a sign he needs to improve decision making/disposal

Haselby has retired there is potentially a role in our side for an in-and-under midfielder to feed some of the quicker players and better users of the ball ... (Hill, Mundy, Mora, etc) or a blocking role to again free up some of these blokes like half the cats team do for Ablett (or at least used too)

391 - whilst I don't necessarily disagree, I think it is harder to find quality big men, than it is to find quality mids.

Clark is contracted - therefore will be forced to pay overs - and you have to give quality to get quality.

gero, I think you'll find eagles have pick #4 not #3

I agree 391, it's easy to be hard on Palmer, done it myself...but no question he needs another year before we jump to conclusions.

palmer stays - end of story. tough little bugger that wins his own footy, and will grow another leg when barlow gets back.

clark? yep he is worth a first round pick to us for sure. full forward and a back up for the resting 211

that leaves us a replacement for tarrant. the more i think about it, the more it hurts us to not have him. kepler being a hard nosed competitor i am sure could be given the job down back - do what tarrant did and spoil anything he can reach.