WATTS ON FIRST?

[Demonland 65,367]

WATTS ON FIRST? by Whispering Jack

The American burlesque comedy duo Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are famous for their baseball name play skit "Who's on First?" which centres on a wordplay about the occupants of the sport's bases — "Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third."

Their work has inspired this coverage of the recently completed NAB AFL Under 18 Championships, an event lasting several weeks that provided we football aficionados with a true smorgasbord of young footballing talent from across the nation. It also left many unanswered questions as to their final destinations in AFL football although, for some of course, there will be no such destination at all.

So who's first?

Well ... possibly Watts, meaning Jack Watts, the Victorian key forward with speed, a good leap, marking power and seemingly, a mature head to go with all of those other assets.

Like Melbourne's 2007 first round draft selection Cale Morton, Watts won this year's Larke medal as the best player of the Championships. A 194cm tall bottom age player who will do his 12th year of schooling in 2009 when he turns 18, Watts first impressed me with his play in the first round against Vic Country at the MCG, capping off the game by kicking a match winning clutch goal; it was a really good sign from the youngster that he did it with such confidence. I was also impressed when I heard him speak briefly during a recent television news interview - again he exuded confidence and sounded self-assured. That all suggests that if everything else were to fall into place, he could one day even be a team leader at AFL level. But Watts also indicated publicly that he might not even nominate for this year's national draft.

So who's on first then?

I Don't Know!

Now before anyone says I Don’t Know is on third, let me announce who I think is far and away the best player in this draft on what I have seen in the games at the MCG earlier this year and then at Casey Fields and Telstra Dome last week. The Rich kid!

Who?

Daniel Rich — the blond midfielder from WA is a real gun; he has poise, is a good decision maker, has all the football smarts and is a powerful and accurate kick of the football. He will be ready to go in round 1 next year, Rich has Brownlow Medal potential written all over him. If clubs are true to their word and go for the best player available when they make their selections on draft day, this is a real no brainer. Rich is THE best player available.

The reason why I said I don't know if Rich will go first is the uncertainty as to who will have the first pick, the feeling that I'm not sure whether clubs really go for the best available or whether they fudge that call a little when faced with the special and the unusual. In the case of the 2008 crop, I'm talking about the unusual in the form of the player who everyone was touting as the # 1 pick because of his freakish, raw athletic talent – WA ruck sensation Nick Naitanui.

The young kid with a Fijian background, about 197cm tall (perhaps even taller if you add the dreadlocks), is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. He dominated the ruckwork at the championships and impressed with his speed and ferocious tackling. He didn't take many high marks for such a tall player, his kicking is a bit iffy (he uses a lot of handball) and there's a question mark on whether he has what they call "a football brain" but he will certainly go early. He will also provide some interesting challenges to the development coach of the club that takes him.

These are my impressions of names of the guns who will go earliest – there are also some good wraps on SA midfielder Hamish Hartlett, Vic Metro full back Michael Hurley and WA utility Chris Yarran. Then there's Vic Country boys Jack Ziebell and Steele Sidebottom, Vic Metro talls Tyrone Vickery and Shaun McKernan. Tassie's Aaron Cornelius and SA's Lewis Johnston look to be key forwards of the future and I was really impressed with the pace and aggression of Vic Metro wingers Sam Blease and David Zaharakis.

There are lots of other names and you'll find 101 opinions on each of them on the internet [there's a good overview of the leaders of the draft pack here - YOUNGSTERS SHOW CLASS THAT WILL WIN THEM AFL SPOTS ]and more will be bandied about over the next four months. I still have some misgivings however, about the depth of this draft and note that, of the three games I saw on the final day of the championships, the Vic Metro v WA game was played on a much higher plane in terms of its intensity. There will be players from elsewhere (particularly SA which showed good progress as the carnival continued) but I suspect the best will come from Victoria.

The other part of the puzzle is the question of the order of the clubs at draft time. The way some of the clubs are travelling at the moment would make us all wonder about Andrew Demetriou's definitive view that AFL clubs don't tank games to give them the early draft picks but who am I to question this great man's wisdom? For a dissenting view, read this!

In many ways, the very choices at draft time is going to be easy – the big challenge of recruiters is to find hidden gems deeper in the draft. As all that is still four months away, I'll leave that to the experts to ponder on the vexing question as to who's on first.

ABC GRANDSTAND INTERVIEW WITH JACK WATTS

NATIONAL UNDER 18 CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS - 2008 DIVISION TWO

Round 1

NSW/ACT 2.2.14 4.4.28 8.5.53 11.8.74

Northern Territory 3.0.18 4.1.25 5.1.31 7.4.46

Goals

NSW/ACT Breust 4 Foster 3 Duryea 2 McNeil Wilson

Northern Territory Farmer Gugliotta Hale May Shannon Rioli Sibosado Tungatalum

Best

NSW/ACT Breust McMahon Klemke Ediriwickrama Reed Foster Wilson

Northern Territory Ah Chee Taylor Wooding Hale Rioli Heenan

Tasmania 4.2.26 6.4.40 7.5.47 12.5.77

Queensland 2.3.15 3.6.24 6.10.46 7.11.53

Goals

Tasmania Mihocek 5 Cornelius 2 Cox Groenwegen Harwood Hislop Robinson

Queensland Reid 2 Dixon Haberfield Holman JamesMyers

Best

Tasmania Mihocek Groenewegan Trevena Salter Robinson Hislop Cornelius

Queensland Thomson Myers Beams Haberfield Holman Bevan

Round 2

Tasmania 3.5.23 6.7.43 10.9.69 11.11.77

Northern Territory 2.1.13 5.1.31 5.3.33 10.4.64

Goals

Tasmania Cornelius 3 Mihocek Shade 2 Brakey Cox Hislop Salter

Northern Territory Rolfe 5 Hampton May Sharples Taylor Tungatalum

Best

Tasmania Robinson Harwood Salter Cornelius Shade Hislop Milne

Northern Territory Rolfe Sharples Hale Heenan May Ah Chee

NSW/ACT 2.3.15 4.4.28 6.11.47 9.13.67

Queensland 2.1.13 3.3.21 4.5.29 5.6.36

Goals

NSW/ACT Foster 3 Duryea Gordon 2 Clisby Ediriwickrama

Queensland Fowler Myers 2 Keefe

Best

NSW/ACT Ediriwickrama Gordon Reed Duncan Foster Clisby Wilson

Queensland Thomson Daye Myers Beams Haberfield Fowler

Round 3

NSW/ACT 1.1.7 5.3.33 6.6.42 8.7.55

Tasmania 2.1.13 5.1.31 7.5.47 13.6.84

Goals

NSW/ACT Duryea 3 Breust 2 Foster Gilchrist Gordon

Tasmania Cornelius Hislop Robinson 2 Cox Crichton Groenewegen McCulloch Michocek O'Brien Symmons

Best

NSW/ACT Ediriwickrama Breust Stubbs Duryea Duncan Kirkwood McNeil

Tasmania Cox Williams Robinson O'Brien Groenewegen Allwright

Northern Territory 4.3.27 9.4.58 13.6.84 14.7.91

Queensland 1.3.9 3.3.21 4.4.28 5.7.37

Goals

Northern Territory Farmer Rolfe 3 Sibosado Tungatalun 2 Gugliotta Heenan Phoenix Schaper

Queensland Green Myers 2 Fowler

Best

Northern Territory Sharples Rolfe Sibosado Heenan Farmer Hale Ah Chee

Queensland Beams Holman Myers Thomson James Stanley

The Division Two Hunter Harrison Medal was won by Mitch Robinson from Tasmania.

The NAB MVP Awards were awarded to Luke Breust [NSW/ACT], Mitch Robinson [Tasmania] Patrick Heenan [Northern Territory] and Matt Thomson [Queensland].

NSW/ACT and Tasmania progress to Division One

NATIONAL UNDER 18 CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS - 2008 DIVISION ONE

Round 1

Vic Country 2.2.14 4.3.27 8.5.53 11.7 73

Vic Metropolitan 4.0.24 7.1.43 9.3.57 12.4 76

Goals

Vic Country Rockliff 4 Young 3 Heyne 2 Christensen Suban

Vic Metropolitan Watts 4 McKernan 2 Banner Lisle McGarry Martin Purves Shuey

Best

Vic Country Rockliff Suban Heyne Hooper Young Sidebottom

Vic Metropolitan Watts Zaharakis Hurley McKernan Lisle Gotch

South Australia 17.6 108 d Tasmania 9.9 63

Goals

South Australia Johnston 4 Broadbent 2 Cahill 2 Hall 2 Hartlett 2 Mardling 2 Blesing Lane McAdam

Tasmania McCulloch 3 Cox 2 Allwright Cornelius Hislop Robinson

Best

South Australia O’Keefe Cahill Blesing Martin Broadbent Hall Armstrong Jones

Tasmania Allwright Robinson Salter Hislop O’Brien Harwood Crichton Milne

Western Australia 4.2 8.2 10.4 15.7 97

NSW/ACT 1.0 2.0 3.3 4.3 27

Goals

Western Australia Daly 5 Bennell 4 Walters 3 Garlett 2 Marsh

NSW/ACT Kirkwood McNeil Ruffles Sleeth

Best

Western Australia Walters DeBoer Lucas Hill Daly Bennell Pearce Mather Warner

NSW/ACT Clisby Ediriwickrama Klemke Fenaroli Bryce Gumley McNeil Frail Kirkwood

Round 2

NSW/ACT 3.1 3.1 9.5 11.6 72

Vic Country 2.3 7.4 8.6 10.7 67

Goals

NSW/ACT Foster 3 Breust 2 Frail 2 Reed Kirkwood Ediriwickrama

Vic Country Butcher 4 Rockliff 2 McKenzie 2 Ziebell Stevens

Best

NSW/ACT Ediriwickrama Duryea Frail Klemke Clisby Reed

Vic Country Butcher Sheahan Hooper Ziebell Sidebottom

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

Tasmania 1.0 1.1 1.5 1.7 13

Vic Metropolitan 6.3 7.4 12.5 12.8 80

Goals

Tasmania Mihocek

Vic Metropolitan Lynch 4 Purves 3 Watts 2 Joyce Gilchrist Stanton

Best

Tasmania Robinson Salter Crichton Davies Hislop Milverton Allwright

Vic Metropolitan Lynch Banner Shuey Sloane Hurley Strauss

Ladder after Round 2

Western Australia 2 0 310.9%

Vic Metropolitan 2 0 181.4%

South Australia 1 1 87.9%

NSW/ACT 1 1 60.4%

Vic Country 0 2 94.6%

Tasmania 0 2 40.4%

Round 3

NSW/ACT 2.2 5.4 8.7 11.8 74

Tasmania 2.2 5.3 7.4 9.8 62

Goals

NSW/ACT Foster 3 Gordon 2 Clisby Spiteri Ruffles Klemke Duryea McNeil

Tasmania Robinson 2 McCulloch 2 Harwood 2 Cox Archer Milne

Best

NSW/ACT Bryce McNeil Frail Reed Foster Kirkwood Klemke

Tasmania Salter Williams Allwright Crichton Symmons O’Brien

Vic Country 3.3.21 8.3.51 8.3.51 11.4.70

Western Australia 0.0.0 1.1.7 4.4.28 6.7.43

Goals

Vic Country Heyne 3 Browne 2 Bucovaz Christensen McKenzie Rockliff Roughead Sheahan

Western Australia Daly 2 Hill Rich Walters Yarran

Best

Vic Country Heyne Sheahan Ziebell Browne

Western Australia Naitanui DeBoer Jetta Daly

Vic Metropolitan 4.1.25 9.3.57 12.4.76 17.5.107

South Australia 2.0.12 3.1.19 8.3.51 8.6.54

Goals

Vic Metropolitan Watts 5 Joyce Shuey Scully Vickery 2 Fitzpatrick Hunt McKernan Zaharakis

South Australia Boras 3 Cahill 2 Mardling O'Keeffe Shannon

Best

Vic Metropolitan Watts Shuey Zaharkis Scully Hunt Sloane

South Australia Clarke Shannon O’Keeffe Armstrong Hall Broadbent

Round 4

Western Australia 3.6.24 7.8.50 10.12.72 14.16.100

Tasmania 0.0.0 3.3.21 4.3.27 6.4.40

Goals

Western Australia Marsh 4 Walters 3 Yarran 2 DeBoer Duncan Jetta Lucas Rich

Tasmania Crichton 2 Cornelius McCulloch Salter Shade

Best

Western Australia Yarran Lucas Naitanui Fiegert DeBoer Rich

Tasmania Robinson Crichton Allwright Cornelius Weller Salter

South Australia 5.4.34 8.7.55 11.12.78 14.14 98

Vic Country 1.1.7 3.3.21 4.5.29 9.10 64

Goals

South Australia Tapscott 5 Cahill 3 Speight 2 Hall Hartlett Johnston Schoenmakers

Vic Country Rockliff 3 Butcher 2 Browne Roughead Sheehan Ziebell

Best

South Australia Hartlett Tapscott Hall O'Keeffe Speight Cahill Shannon

Vic Country Ziebell Suban Sidebottom Sheehan Rockliff Roughead

Vic Metropolitan 4.6.30 6.8.44 10.12.72 11.14 80

NSW/ACT 1.2.8 3.2.20 3.2.20 4.5 29

Goals

Vic Metropolitan Lisle Scully Watts 2 Banner Fitzpatrick Gilchrist Hurley Lynch

NSW/ACT A'Vard Foster Spiteri Wilson

Best

Vic Metropolitan Watts Gotch Lisle Hurley Vickery Scully Blease

NSW/ACT Klemke Reed Kirkwood McNeil Duncan

Round 5

South Australia 6.3.39 12.6.72 13.9.87 20.12.132

NSW/ACT 1.0.6 2.0.12 7.2.44 8.4.52

Goals

South Australia Johnston 4 Tapscott 4 Hynes 3 Cahill 2 O'Keeffe 2 Davoren Hall Hartlett Schoenmakers Speight

NSW/ACT Van Muers 3 Bryce 2 Gumley McMahon Spiteri

Best

South Australia Hartlett Johnston Tapscott O'Keeffe Hynes Hall Schoenmakers Blesing Redden Stanley Wilson

NSW/ACT Duncan Reed Kirkwood Klemke Van Muers Bryce

Tasmania 2.3.15 4.3.27 6.3.39 6.4.40

Vic Country 4.3.27 7.4.46 14.6.90 22.6 138

Goals

Tasmania Cornelius 4 Mihocek Symmons

Vic Country Butcher 5 Hughes McKenzie Sheehan 3 Blair 2 Browne Hooper Jones Martiniello Rockliff Young

Best

Tasmania Robinson Cornelius Allwright Williams

Vic Country Butcher Sheehan Sidebottom McKenzie Hooper Suban Heyne Hughes Jones

Vic Metropolitan 5.1.31 8.3.51 11.6.72 14.9.93

Western Australia 2.1.13 3.4.22 5.7.37 9.10.64

Goals

Vic Metropolitan Vickery 3 Banner Blease McKernan Watts Zaharakis 2 Lynch

Western Australia Yarran 3 Hill Jetta Klause Lucas Naitanui Rich

Best

Vic Metropolitan Vickery Zaharakis Banner Blease Hurley Shuey Scully Gotch

Western Australia Rich Hill Pearce Walters Jetta Yarran Naitanui

FINAL LADDER

Vic Metropolitan 5-0 187.1%

Western Australia 3-2 152.1%

South Australia 3-2 110.6%

Vic Country 2-3 125.2%

NSW/ACT 2-3 68%

Tasmania 0-5 43.6%

Larke Medallist Jack Watts (Victoria Metro)

MVP's for Each Team

Vic Metropolitan Michael Hurley

Vic Country Andrew Hopper

Western Australia Clancee Pearce

South Australia Rhys O'Keefe

NSW/ACT Kade Klemke

Tasmania Mitch Robinson

[LeBron James 41]

Wow, Watts got BOG 3/5 times for Vic Metro. Watts all the way

[joeboy 2,793]

Wow, Watts got BOG 3/5 times for Vic Metro. Watts all the way

Yes WJ I certainly agree on Rich being the standout , with Zaharakis being a major talent.

Natanui must be regarded as a player with serious deficiencies with a fundamental inability to read the play ,whilst having a super leap is not necessarily an advantage in the ruck any more - just ask Jeff White .

[Freak 100]

naitanui is a little bit taller than white though and can jump higher so i think he would overcome that. ruckman jump wayyy too early half the time anyway

[Hannabal 4]

Wow, Watts got BOG 3/5 times for Vic Metro. Watts all the way

In reality it's twice. I saw him at Casey V NSW and he wasn't in the best, let alone BOG. Other reports also didn't have him in the best that day.

[JACKATTACK 17]

He sounds like a bit of a character. Until I heard this interview I just figured he'd be a bit of a private school boy bore (Judd). But he sounds confident and has an edge of arrogance about him. Which may not be a desirable trait to draft but it's these types that get into the papers and really put the club into the media. Franchise player maybe?

I'm excited, so excited.

[DEES 0]

i also like the idea of picking up watts with our first pick, and it looks like he wants to come to us with his no leaving VIC policy. But check out MITCH ROBINSON for tassie, if he is still available with our 2nd pick we better take him. They say he is a classy mid like adam cooney, which could cpmpliment our mids pretty well .

[maximum bob 462]

Thanks for an entertaining and extensive report Whispering Jack.

Plenty of food for thought.

[Adzman 2,085]

You know what i like about this draft, the who is on 25th is likely to be as good as who is on 1st given the depth of this draft. Given our poo form this year, we could land 2 top 25 picks and really launch into the next generation.

I have been saying this for a few weeks now, I do not think the dees will finish last, so by pick 2 or 3, we will have to see who is on the cards for selection. Watts, Naita or Rich are great, so I would be happy with any of those blokes at pick 2 or 3.

[sylvinator 96]

When you think about it, superficially Watts fulfills our greatest need- a power forward.

However, looking deeper, it could be argued that midfield class is our real greatest deficiency.

in 2 years, our midfield will consist of:

Jones- workhorse

Mclean- workhorse

Valenti- see above

Moloney- see above.

Also, Morton (winger/flanker), Pettard (flanker), Grimes (workhorse).

We certainly have some young talented midfielders coming through, but we lack a dynamic, highly skilled, classy midfielder.

Maybe Rich is the answer?

at the end of the day, Rich is by far the safest bet. from all reports he will 100% become a gun midfielder.

Naitanui and Watts are way more risky, and arguably, Rich fulfils our greatest need

[DeeMfc 621]

WATTS ON FIRST? by Whispering Jack

Now before anyone says I Don’t Know is on third, let me announce who I think is far and away the best player in this draft on what I have seen in the games at the MCG earlier this year and then at Casey Fields and Telstra Dome last week. The Rich kid!

Who?

Daniel Rich — the blond midfielder from WA is a real gun; he has poise, is a good decision maker, has all the football smarts and is a powerful and accurate kick of the football. He will be ready to go in round 1 next year, Rich has Brownlow Medal potential written all over him. If clubs are true to their word and go for the best player available when they make their selections on draft day, this is a real no brainer. Rich is THE best player available.

When you think about it, superficially Watts fulfills our greatest need- a power forward.

However, looking deeper, it could be argued that midfield class is our real greatest deficiency.

in 2 years, our midfield will consist of:

Jones- workhorse

Mclean- workhorse

Valenti- see above

Moloney- see above.

Also, Morton (winger/flanker), Pettard (flanker), Grimes (workhorse).

We certainly have some young talented midfielders coming through, but we lack a dynamic, highly skilled, classy midfielder.

Maybe Rich is the answer?

at the end of the day, Rich is by far the safest bet. from all reports he will 100% become a gun midfielder.

Naitanui and Watts are way more risky, and arguably, Rich fulfils our greatest need

Good point sylvinator.

Although I would be more than happy with any of the 3, if we took Rich we would get that gun mid who could stick it on the chest lace out from 60m.

We are lacking a big target up forward but I think Stef Martin could be our answer ??? If not Garland is learning the defensive side to his game, but came to us as a forward.

I'd still be very happy with Watts if we went that way though.

[woe31 0]

i also like the idea of picking up watts with our first pick, and it looks like he wants to come to us with his no leaving VIC policy. But check out MITCH ROBINSON for tassie, if he is still available with our 2nd pick we better take him. They say he is a classy mid like adam cooney, which could cpmpliment our mids pretty well .

He was the oldest player in the carnival at 19 and in the one round of matches I saw looked more developed than most. A real talent no doubt, but may not have the scope to improve as much as some of the other players that will be available at that stage.

Was most impressed with Vickery in the WA game and hope that he lasts until our second rounder. Should be able to play next season as a tall, albeit skinny forward with scope to develop in to a very good ruckman. Blease is another one I'd like us to take a long look at for either of our second rounders (assuming we get a priority pick). He looked tiny out there, but was fearless, pacy and skilled.

[Roost It 1,434]

I'm starting to lean toward Rich.

"Warnock wins the tap ripped out of the pack by Mclean, quick hands to Grimes, Grimes steps around Bartel gives by hand to Rich, one bounce runs to 50 and kicks a GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL . This kid is burning it UP!

[deeflog 679]

what about the go home factor, im sick of losing players we pick from interstate and we get stuff all for them

[Whispering_Jack 27,999]

And now for those who have never seen it before - WHO'S ON FIRST. This one was filmed before I was born but I must have seen it at least three times in the late 50's and early '60's. I don't think it was ever particularly funny but it always used to have audiences rolling down the aisles. Enjoy!

[The Great Pretender 430]

WATTS ON FIRST? by Whispering Jack

Watts also indicated publicly that he might not even nominate for this year's national draft.

Well ... despite that Watts is favourite with Sportbet to be the first draft pick -

2.10 Jack Watts

2.50 Nicholas Naitanui

4.50 Daniel Rich

21.00 Hamish Hartlett

26.00 Jackson Trengove

26.00 Aaron Cornelius

34.00 Michael Hurley

34.00 Any Other Player

34.00 Shaun McKernan

67.00 Jack Ziebell

101.00 Matt De Boer

[dee-luded 2,958]

When you think about it, superficially Watts fulfills our greatest need- a power forward.

However, looking deeper, it could be argued that midfield class is our real greatest deficiency.

in 2 years, our midfield will consist of:

Jones- workhorse

Mclean- workhorse

Valenti- see above

Moloney- see above.

Also, Morton (winger/flanker), Pettard (flanker), Grimes (workhorse).

We certainly have some young talented midfielders coming through, but we lack a dynamic, highly skilled, classy midfielder.

Maybe Rich is the answer?

at the end of the day, Rich is by far the safest bet. from all reports he will 100% become a gun midfielder.

Naitanui and Watts are way more risky, and arguably, Rich fulfils our greatest need

Finally people are starting to tweak to the Idea, you can't win a flag without some real class alongside the mid workhorses.

However you can win flags with workhorse forwards, see W/C, see SYD', remember Robbie Walls, Mark McLure, Phil Baker.

Hawthorn didn't win with Hudson, St-Kilda didn't win with Lockett, Geelong didn't win with GAblett snr nor with DWade.

We do need class but we could take either a Midfielder with Pick1 & then 2 or 3 even tall forwards after. I'll be satisfied with Watts, Rich or Hartlett or other mid if the recruiters know better..

[Whispering_Jack 27,999]

Fox Sports 1 (Channel 501) is showing the following programme today at 1.00pm

AFL: Under 18 Championships Wrap

AFL. Matthew Campbell and his panel of experts discuss the recent Under-18s championships and look at which young footballers' lives will be changed forever when AFL clubs sit down in November to select players at the National Draft.

[Bates Mate 3,889]

Fox Sports 1 (Channel 501) is showing the following programme today at 1.00pm

AFL: Under 18 Championships Wrap

AFL. Matthew Campbell and his panel of experts discuss the recent Under-18s championships and look at which young footballers' lives will be changed forever when AFL clubs sit down in November to select players at the National Draft.

Will be worth a look to see what the so called experts say about Watts , Rich etc

[Bates Mate 3,889]

Watts for me looks like he has all we need both on and off the field.

How good did Banner look with his pace and skill?

Probably won't last till 16th pick though.

[Whispering_Jack 27,999]

FROM SHIFTER'S WRAP: UNDER 18 ALL-AUSTRALIAN TEAM

Backs Nick Suban (Vic Country) Michael Hurley (Vic Metro) Clancee Pearce (WA)

Half Backs Stephen Hill (WA) Jordan Lisle (Vic Metro) Rhys O’Keeffe (SA)

Centreline Mitch Robinson (T) Matthew Deboer (WA) David Zaharakis (Vic Metro)

Half forwards Hamish Hartlett (SA) Lewis Johnston (SA) Tom Scully (Vic Metro)

Forwards Tyrone Vickery (Vic Metro) Jack Watts (Vic Metro) Michael Walters (WA)

Followers Nick Naitanui (WA) Jack Ziebell (Vic Country) Ranga Ediriwickrama(NSW/ACT)

Interchange Daniel Rich (WA) Shaun McKernan (Vic Metro) Steele Sidebottom (Vic Country) Kade Klemke (NSW/ACT)

Coach David Dickson (Vic Metro)

Assistant Coach Danny Stevens (NSW/ACT)

[Geddy Lee 582]

They all tipped Ziebell to go pick4, bit of a surprise for me.

[Nicho 1]

Jack Watts was a guest as Liam Pickering, Matthew Campbell, Kevin Sheehan and the Geelong Talent Scout on Fox Sports Under 18 Championships wrap today. The panel discussed some of the better players.

Watts spoke well but is still deciding weather to nominate for the draft this year as he is only a year 11 student and stills wants to focus on his studies!!!However he must know he's a fair chance to end up at the Demons!!!!

Anyway we have to take Jack Watts with our first pick regardless of what it is....He is a genuine tall forward with a great kick.

We cant afford to win more than 4 games as we will loose and priority pick and the end of the first round but based on us finishing 14th with 4 wins we should see West Coast take Daniel Rich with #1 and Fremantle take Natanui with #2.. Im assuming that they would take their local boys over Watts.

Whatever happens we will get a good player but im just a little worried that if we take one of the WA boys they will turn their back on us and wanna return home at the conclusion of their first contract, much like Scotty Thompson did!

What does everyone think???

[Gorgoroth 12,328]

Finally people are starting to tweak to the Idea, you can't win a flag without some real class alongside the mid workhorses.

However you can win flags with workhorse forwards, see W/C, see SYD', remember Robbie Walls, Mark McLure, Phil Baker.

Hawthorn didn't win with Hudson, St-Kilda didn't win with Lockett, Geelong didn't win with GAblett snr nor with DWade.

We do need class but we could take either a Midfielder with Pick1 & then 2 or 3 even tall forwards after. I'll be satisfied with Watts, Rich or Hartlett or other mid if the recruiters know better..

However brisbane won 3 with Lynch and Brown, Essendon with Lloyd and Lucas, Ports with Treadrea, Hawthorn with Dunstall, Brereton

easy enough to conjure up things to prove forwards or Mids are the more essential.

[ChaserJ 3,964]

However brisbane won 3 with Lynch and Brown, Essendon with Lloyd and Lucas, Ports with Treadrea, Hawthorn with Dunstall, Brereton

easy enough to conjure up things to prove forwards or Mids are the more essential.

Beat me to it.