Andrew Mc Qualter

[mbogo]

GCFC - do you mean the Guild of Canadian Film Composers????
Or the possible Gold Coast Sharks?

[JohnE]

Hmmm, led the team in tackles on the night and all his 12 disposals were 100% effective. Looked bigger too... he'll be fine, there were others who would have to have a good look at themselves before Mini...

[vacuous space]

I'd love mini to prove me wrong, but IMO he was a waste of a first round pick.

The next five guys taken were Cam Wood, Ryan Willits, Dean Polo Tom Murphy and Jesse Wells. Not exactly household names. Of the 20 guys taken after McQualter, only van Berlo, Moore, Prismall and LeCras are best-22 players. It wasn't much of a draft, and McQualter stacks up pretty well against most of the guys taken after him.

My recommendation: Delist him asap and chance our hand in the next draft, even if the best will be snapped up by the GCFC.

Gold Coast have no picks in the 09 draft. They can't take any of the 09 kids from outside of Queensland.

Personally, I'd give him a chance to show what he can do in 09 before throwing him away. I thought he played a reasonable game on Saturday night.

[kosifantutti23]

My recommendation: Delist him asap and chance our hand in the next draft, even if the best will be snapped up by the GCFC.

Why bother waiting until the end of the season? There's already been one pre season game in the wet at Carrara. Write him off now.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

Mini's been a long term project... I wouldn't give up just yet, but of him, Armo, Eddy, and Geary, I'd be surprised of mroe than 2 of them "made it".

Mini strikes me as a soldier at AFL level, don't really see him ever being an elite tagger to tell the truth, but will look after his man, lay some tackles, and get under the packs, so he can go head to head against other in and unders. He needs to win more ball to have more impact, and the hope would be that he can take his AFL game forward in '09 as he did his VFL in '08.

I wouldn't imagine his head's on the chopping block going into round 1, but he'll need to show progress and win and cement himself a spot in the 22 or that could easily change by EOY.

[meher baba]

McQualter is a tough player with reasonable pace and who has very good disposal by hand, and by foot over shorter distances.

Posters on here go on and on about how he has been disappointing for a "first round pick". But he was pick #17, and any analysis of the history of the draft shows that the long-term success rate drops away steeply beyond pick 10 (or earlier in some years).

After four full seasons, McQualter has played 35 AFL games, is still on the senior list of the club that originally drafted him, and ran onto the field for a PF last season.

I reckon that this is about a par result for a pick 17 in a relatively poor draft. For example, He has achieved significantly more as an AFL player than picks 8,10,11,12,18 and 19 of the 2004 draft or, to pick another year, picks 9,10,14,16,17 and 18 of the 2003 draft.

He's highly unlikely to turn into a superstar, but he's ok.

Personally, I'm much more worried about Armitage.

[NoMore]

I think the big problem most have with Mini is that even when he gets the ball he has no influence on the game. He handballs most of the time and his kicking is shorter than Balls at the height of his OP dramas.

He is wasting space on our list in my opinion but u can only delist so many players and i am thinking that there will be a few that follow him out the door at the end of the season.

[St DAC]

Yet his disposal efficiency is high. When he passes to a teammate he generally hits them. His handball is very good too. I agree with MB and BAM that he would be a better player by winning more of the pill, but saying he has no impact is just not right. Tackles always have impact; in and under work is always useful. He's often been in the possession chain that end in a goal, but tends to go unnoticed when he's not the bloke kicking it.

I'd rather 10-15 quality possessions than 25 indifferent ones; turnovers in today's footy kill you.

[CURLY]

I think the big problem most have with Mini is that even when he gets the ball he has no influence on the game. He handballs most of the time and his kicking is shorter than Balls at the height of his OP dramas.

He is wasting space on our list in my opinion but u can only delist so many players and i am thinking that there will be a few that follow him out the door at the end of the season.

Didnt realise we were back in the 60s and hand ball was all but a novelty. Handball is a very important part of attack. Also players of Minis style win a lot of contested ball were only a handball is optional.

[NoMore]

I think the big problem most have with Mini is that even when he gets the ball he has no influence on the game. He handballs most of the time and his kicking is shorter than Balls at the height of his OP dramas.

He is wasting space on our list in my opinion but u can only delist so many players and i am thinking that there will be a few that follow him out the door at the end of the season.

Didnt realise we were back in the 60s and hand ball was all but a novelty. Handball is a very important part of attack. Also players of Minis style win a lot of contested ball were only a handball is optional.

We are not back in the 60's however with our forward line quick movement of the ball is nessecary. I do see what you are saying about where he wins the ball. But in my opinion if he is not in our best 22 after 5 years it is time to move on.

Maybe a handy back up but i can't see us winning a flag with him in our side. We need at least 6 ball winning mid fielders to challenge for a flag and if he is keeping a young play out of the side he is holding us back.

[St DAC]

If amongst our young players there's a better option then he certainly should be replaced. That's the call of the coaching staff. But positions need to be earned; merely being a couple of years younger is not enough, in and of itself, to displace him.

[WayneJudson42]

Mini has a role to play. The question remains if there is someone who can do it better. You've got Baker returning, and now possibly CJ vying for the tagger's role.

[Batnoe]

ok. in terms of footy how dumb are some people?

oh no we are playing a handball game, Geelong had the most possesions last year again, check out their kick to handball ratio, it frees people up to run in straight lines

people like MCQ and Ray will be handy as they can dish the handball off to a running player like Gram or Fisher

Although people think our game plan is ugly, dont you remember we really did try to play on at all cost? we will be better at it this year, that is the new brand and to play on you need a runner to handball

[Little Dozer]

McQualter has never shown anything to justify his first round selection.

[vacuous space]

McQualter has never shown anything to justify his first round selection.

He's somewhere around 25th in terms of games played out of that draft. Once you take out the father-sons, redrafts and mature age recruits, he's somewhere around 17th. That's just how bad a draft it was for everyone. Unless you're Hawthorn or Adelaide, you have to be disappointed with what the 04 draft delivered.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

McQualter is a tough player with reasonable pace and who has very good disposal by hand, and by foot over shorter distances.

Posters on here go on and on about how he has been disappointing for a "first round pick". But he was pick #17, and any analysis of the history of the draft shows that the long-term success rate drops away steeply beyond pick 10 (or earlier in some years).

After four full seasons, McQualter has played 35 AFL games, is still on the senior list of the club that originally drafted him, and ran onto the field for a PF last season.

I reckon that this is about a par result for a pick 17 in a relatively poor draft. For example, He has achieved significantly more as an AFL player than picks 8,10,11,12,18 and 19 of the 2004 draft or, to pick another year, picks 9,10,14,16,17 and 18 of the 2003 draft.

He's highly unlikely to turn into a superstar, but he's ok.

Personally, I'm much more worried about Armitage.

I wonder if we're not missing the actuality of where he's at in taking the holistic view of his history with the Saints rather than viewing him as a reclamation.

He's being talked about as a dissapointment as a 1st rounder - I think that message probably got through to him when he was delisted. We're talking about delisting him in this thread a single game after his permanent elevation from the rookie list... the way he goes about the game now compared to his first couple of years is different in role, execution and quality.

He himself admits that what he used to think of as working hard was him convincing himself he was working hard - working hard is always trying to find a way to work harder.

Playing a role and taking every opportunity will lead him to keep improving. He's hardly in an untouchable position, and I don't think anyone's trying to pump him up, but I'm surprised at the hostility towards him.

[St DAC]

Nice work BAM. A voice of reason!

[Teflon]

McQualter is a tough player with reasonable pace and who has very good disposal by hand, and by foot over shorter distances.

Posters on here go on and on about how he has been disappointing for a "first round pick". But he was pick #17, and any analysis of the history of the draft shows that the long-term success rate drops away steeply beyond pick 10 (or earlier in some years).

After four full seasons, McQualter has played 35 AFL games, is still on the senior list of the club that originally drafted him, and ran onto the field for a PF last season.

I reckon that this is about a par result for a pick 17 in a relatively poor draft. For example, He has achieved significantly more as an AFL player than picks 8,10,11,12,18 and 19 of the 2004 draft or, to pick another year, picks 9,10,14,16,17 and 18 of the 2003 draft.

He's highly unlikely to turn into a superstar, but he's ok.

Personally, I'm much more worried about Armitage.

I wonder if we're not missing the actuality of where he's at in taking the holistic view of his history with the Saints rather than viewing him as a reclamation.

Not sure what that means BAM but I feel a whole lot closer to God for having read it.....that aside and while we are on acclamations of faith.....I dont have an enormous amount that Mqualter will make it.

I think what you are getting at is - we should judge him after a few games given now hes on his second stint at the club and maybe hes improved?

Fair enough but some fundamentals wont change. He'll never be a prodigious kick, goal scorer, ball carrier and right now jurys out on tagger able to hurt sides the other way.....but he does have god on his side...

[saintsRrising]

2008 Mini had an ok year (...and in the NASB game he was ok).

However his 200 form was till not quite what you want for the Saints to be a GF team....but certainly good enough to be given another year.

He is now just about 23 and with a number of years at the club, and so in 2009 he needs to provide more value though. But in this he is not alone.

We have a raft of players that need to improve to a new level if we are going to be contenders rather than just thereabouts again.

We need many to improve...whether that is say Dal to become a true elite player...or the likes of Mini to improve to be "ok" 22 players.

By improving Mini may hold his place, or if not others may push passed him. But again we need many to improve.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

McQualter is a tough player with reasonable pace and who has very good disposal by hand, and by foot over shorter distances.

Posters on here go on and on about how he has been disappointing for a "first round pick". But he was pick #17, and any analysis of the history of the draft shows that the long-term success rate drops away steeply beyond pick 10 (or earlier in some years).

After four full seasons, McQualter has played 35 AFL games, is still on the senior list of the club that originally drafted him, and ran onto the field for a PF last season.

I reckon that this is about a par result for a pick 17 in a relatively poor draft. For example, He has achieved significantly more as an AFL player than picks 8,10,11,12,18 and 19 of the 2004 draft or, to pick another year, picks 9,10,14,16,17 and 18 of the 2003 draft.

He's highly unlikely to turn into a superstar, but he's ok.

Personally, I'm much more worried about Armitage.

I wonder if we're not missing the actuality of where he's at in taking the holistic view of his history with the Saints rather than viewing him as a reclamation.

Not sure what that means BAM but I feel a whole lot closer to God for having read it.....that aside and while we are on acclamations of faith.....I dont have an enormous amount that Mqualter will make it.

I think what you are getting at is - we should judge him after a few games given now hes on his second stint at the club and maybe hes improved?

Fair enough but some fundamentals wont change. He'll never be a prodigious kick, goal scorer, ball carrier and right now jurys out on tagger able to hurt sides the other way.....but he does have god on his side...

I argue with nobody who wants more from McQualter. The greatest upside he has these days going with his need to improve is that he's got plenty of areas to do it in. Also on his side is that he has been improving. He's right at that great VFLer/average AFLer level... if he were 3 years younger, we'd all be big fans.

You pretty much got my gist - he's not really in teh first rounder great hope area anymore. Those who are still dissapointed in him for this are running behind by more than 12 months now. If he does amount to quality, it'll go down as a victory for the rookie system rather than patience being rewarded.