there is a BIG chance we wont get the number 1 pick so I dont know why everyone are counting their eggs. At the moment, Carlton and Richmond have their hands on picks 1 and 2 unless they win some more games...

From June 4th:

In today's game vs SA, Naitanui was among the best and kicked a goal, don't know about stats though.

Not bad considering it was wet.

Not bad considering it was wet.

WA U18 are just belting everyone, no surprise really.

your all fools!! freo and essendon and west coast are our main competitio. not richmond or carlton far out!!! bloody essendon im the most worried about.

Western Australia 5.2 6.4 11.9 15.12 (102)

South Australia 1.3 3.7 4.9 4.13 (37)

GOALS

Western Australia: Olds 4, Yarran 2, Bennell, Naitanui, Daly, Pearce, Jetta, Marsh, Warner, Hill, Ross

South Australia: Hartlett, Mardling, Cahill, Redden

BEST

Western Australia: Hill, Pearce, Laurie, Jetta, Naitanui

South Australia: Johnston, Schoenmakers, Cahill, O’Keefe

yeh exactly, there are so many different variables resulting in us not getting the number 1 pick. its great now that carlton are out of the picture...but essendon, fremantle and richmond are all capable of losing every game for the rest of the year, carlton-style..so hannabal, i'm sure last year u would have thought that carlton would not have lost so many on the trot..but they did. personally, i'm not going to be analysing naitaniu unless we happen to lose to both richmond, fremantle and essendon.

If a 198cm one paced 18 yr old Irishman can learn the game and go on to win the Brownlow, then I'm sure that a 200cm athletic freak from Fiji can as well. BTW, Jimmy was a brilliant footballer and adapted beautifully to our game. With the attributes that NN possesses we would be crazy to pass him up. Add to that the marketability he brings to the club. I don't care if we also get Warnock. Having too many great ruckman is not a bad thing. Look at the influence Cox, Ottens, Goodes have when surrounded by a decent team. Apart from anything else, it would kill me to see NN running around with another club. Especially Essendon!

GET HIM I SAY!!!

yeh exactly, there are so many different variables resulting in us not getting the number 1 pick. its great now that carlton are out of the picture...but essendon, fremantle and richmond are all capable of losing every game for the rest of the year, carlton-style..so hannabal, i'm sure last year u would have thought that carlton would not have lost so many on the trot..but they did. personally, i'm not going to be analysing naitaniu unless we happen to lose to both richmond, fremantle and essendon.

You should receive a diploma in stating the obvious. Of course we may not end up last, but I believe that it's more than likely we will.

As I said, you have no reason to visit this thread until later in the year.

Tata

yeh...i dont see ur point hannabal..whilst i stated the obvious..it was the first time mentioned in the thread. why dont we just look at next years draft in case we happen to trade with the southport sharks for the number 1 pick?...its so far fetched.

Naitanui had another good game, Rich another poor one, so those who have been saying that he is the obvious safe choice to you still feel the same after two sub par performances?

If a 198cm one paced 18 yr old Irishman can learn the game and go on to win the Brownlow, then I'm sure that a 200cm athletic freak from Fiji can as well. BTW, Jimmy was a brilliant footballer and adapted beautifully to our game. With the attributes that NN possesses we would be crazy to pass him up. Add to that the marketability he brings to the club. I don't care if we also get Warnock. Having too many great ruckman is not a bad thing. Look at the influence Cox, Ottens, Goodes have when surrounded by a decent team. Apart from anything else, it would kill me to see NN running around with another club. Especially Essendon!

GET HIM I SAY!!!

Agree 100%... probably the best post on this topic.

I'd say melbourne are 95% likely to win the spoon.

why you ask?

Well.... We have lost our only 2 goal kickers. we are in a phase where all our players are either past their best or WELLL before their best (Morton,Jones,Wona etc). And in general we just have no many holes in our team that we are unlikely to be able to beat any teams for the rest of the year. just look at how we were dismantled by Stkilda last week- who are pathetic.

Also....

Essendon- Will win a few games in the next few weeks. play all the bottom sides on the run home, and with Lucas and Llyd in the forward line, Fletcher, Michael in the backline and McVeigh in the middle, they simply have too many STAR players to not get some wins.

WestCoast- should have beaten sydney. they have a few games in perth and they also play essendon next week, so could notch another win there. They aren't as bad as us.

Freo- Purely and simply they aren't that bad. they are losing sure, but when ur so close to winning each game its safe to assume they pull it together with a couple of wins soon. they have alot of talent in their team. if they come last it will be tanking pure n simple.

So..... the point is.....

it's very reasonable to look forward to the number 1 pick. and i hope we use it on Naitanui, because if you guyz hadn't noticed, our number 1 ruckman is 32 years old in his second last afl season and we have no potential number 1 ruck to replace him. (Nb:PJ will always be a number2 ruck who can play forward,back and wing).

Naitanui had another good game, Rich another poor one, so those who have been saying that he is the obvious safe choice to you still feel the same after two sub par performances?

Don't subscribe to the conspiracy theories about him intentionally playing low-key and colluding with WA clubs?

I love all this banter.

Don't subscribe to the conspiracy theories about him intentionally playing low-key and colluding with WA clubs?

I love all this banter.

Actually he's been heavily tagged in both games and hasn't dealt with it very well. He's a junoir who has relied heavily on his natural ability to get him through, his reputation for not working hard enough has been around for quite awhile.

yeh exactly, there are so many different variables resulting in us not getting the number 1 pick. its great now that carlton are out of the picture...but essendon, fremantle and richmond are all capable of losing every game for the rest of the year, carlton-style..so hannabal, i'm sure last year u would have thought that carlton would not have lost so many on the trot..but they did. personally, i'm not going to be analysing naitaniu unless we happen to lose to both richmond, fremantle and essendon.

Nicknat's getting closer Freakster.

Don't subscribe to the conspiracy theories about him intentionally playing low-key and colluding with WA clubs?

I love all this banter.

The word amongst some AFL recruiters is that the west australian teams may have suggested that he doesn't get as fit as he could in order to be picked up by them?.

Nicknat's getting closer Freakster.

we will beat richmond..and freo will lose..and we will be off the bottom. enough said

we will beat richmond..and freo will lose..and we will be off the bottom. enough said

Freo will win this week

I tipped Freo, I bloody hope they will!

we will beat richmond..and freo will lose..and we will be off the bottom. enough said

After watching the 5th quarter and them talking about Sydney bring in Moore, Baird etc as young players suited to their game plan I've decided that unless we get a hold of the blue print of Dean Bailey's game plan and what type of player he wants in his side it makes guessing who will be drafted infinitely more difficult

I tipped Freo, I bloody hope they will!

Score 1 for Geddy...

I'm entirely with Hannabal about getting NikNat now. I went off to see sandy yesterday. We need a player who will be dymanic. Zomer looked lost. Meesen is a lost cause (he waits for things to happen and played dumb). Jamar we all know his strengths and weaknesses. We need a tall with brains. We all know they are extremely rare. Getting a key forward outside the top 10 in the draft has historically proven fairly hit and miss (my thanks to Axis of Bob for previous research). If Niknat looks as if he could play forward, then it would be unspeakably good to get him.

It seems the Rich bandwagon has run out of puff.

I'm entirely with Hannabal about getting NikNat now. I went off to see sandy yesterday. We need a player who will be dymanic. Zomer looked lost. Meesen is a lost cause (he waits for things to happen and played dumb). Jamar we all know his strengths and weaknesses. We need a tall with brains. We all know they are extremely rare. Getting a key forward outside the top 10 in the draft has historically proven fairly hit and miss (my thanks to Axis of Bob for previous research). If Niknat looks as if he could play forward, then it would be unspeakably good to get him.

There was an interesting panel discussion on 3AW yesterday about the forthcoming draft and the concept of "list management" and/or "tanking" by clubs in order for them to finish up high in the draft.

One aspect of the discussion revolved around the effect that this might have on the integrity of the competition. If a club sent some of its better players off for early season ending operations, this would not only affect where the club finished but also could have a major influence on the makeup of the finals. In these days where we have a jumbled up AFL schedule, it's possible for e.g. to play the same team twice in the last 7 or 8 rounds. If your team was in the running for a top 4 spot, its course would be made much easier by playing a team that had virtually given up on winning games. One of the commentators even suggested that it's about time the AFL had "the balls" to do something about it although one wonders whether it could do anything or even whether it recognised that such a problem even existed.

The other part of the discussion was interesting with the general consensus being that getting the first choice alone was usually not enough and sometimes counterproductive because these players were coming into clubs that didn't have the proper "culture" to develop. On the other hand, there was the view that players like Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer etc. would be establishing their own culture at Carlton with the assistance of Chris Judd who was also recruited in part through its lowly placing (read "tanking" last year and add $). I think it was Dennis Cometti who said he had seen some footage from some Under 18 interstate games and considered it would take a while for the three main WA guns - Naitanui, Rich and Yarran to become good AFL players. He didn't seem all that impressed.

On the other hand, closet Demon fan Mike Sheahan revealed that he met Paul Williams at last week's Nathan Buckley function and the MFC assistant coach told him he had seen Naitanui and was confident that he'd be the real deal in the AFL. I suspect that if we had first choice today we'd take him with open arms and without much hesitation although I'm not so sure that Axis of Bob would agree with the decision as he favours getting an elite midfielder.