READING IN THE DARK

[titan_uranus 23,143]

When I read Emma's article this morning I at first thought it was a mock draft, which surprised me because I saw Rich at 9. But then I read the article properly, and I like her analyses. I also noticed that, for last year's draft, she had Tom McNamara in her top 25 (23rd maybe?), and we got him at 66.

[torpedo 33]

Unfortunately it's only her rating of the players, not a mock draft.

I actually prefer Quayle's approach of rating the players 1 - 25 rather than trying to get inside the heads of each club, it provides a more thorough analysis of the draftees rather than just pure speculation on each club's recruiting approach, which is more often than not based on reasoning an 8 year old kid could come up with such as 'Melbourne needs to bolster its forward stocks so they'll go tall with this pick'... if any of them actually had insider knowledge on each club's draft day approach i'd be interested but they don't, the recruiters themselves say the whole process is clouded by secrecy and accordingly they have to prepare for each & evey scenario.

Many of the mock drafts I've read have us picking 2 tall forwards & a ruck or 2 tall forwards & a mid with 1, 17 & 19 simply on the basis that these are areas where the Dees are lacking, which just seems ridicolous considering our policy has been for several years to take the best player availble with early picks & Prendergast has been quoted several times stating 1, 17 & 19 will not be used on a 'needs' basis. Based on that I find Quayle's analysis far more informative and interestingly her ratings were closer to the mark last year than any of the mock drafts I saw, rating Morton, Grimes & Maric 3, 13 & 20.

I also noticed that, for last year's draft, she had Tom McNamara in her top 25 (23rd maybe?), and we got him at 66.

I also found this quite interesting, he seems to have gone under everyone's radar a fair bit being such a high pick, hopefully he can grab our attention in 2009.

[Chelly 759]

Her smokey at 25 would be an ideal player to have present for our VFL alignment announcement (whenever that may be)!

That would be right. The word "sibosado" means "scorpion" in Greek.

[LeBron James 41]

That would be right. The word "sibosado" means "scorpion" in Greek.

He doesn't look too bad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e630UcTE5fE

[Mousey 47]

He doesn't look too bad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e630UcTE5fE

Does not look too bad at all!!!!

[Late Draft Pick 48]

Really appreciated the youtube address. He looks (and from everything Emma Quayle says, is) like a taller Michael O'Loughlin.

[Chelly 759]

Really appreciated the youtube address. He looks (and from everything Emma Quayle says, is) like a taller Michael O'Loughlin.

And now looks like our best option at # 1 in the PSD now, doesn't he?

[H_T 2,941]

And now looks like our best option at # 1 in the PSD now, doesn't he?

Looks good. Wonder why he got overlooked? Him and Rockliff are both two good options.

[Bails 0]

stupid i know but am i the only one that is frustrated that we are the only club that has not yet had a pciture of all our draftees taken as a group???

its really starting to annoy me... every other club has displayed their draftees together except us!!!!

not even on the webiste......

sort it out MFC

[Geddy Lee 582]

stupid i know but am i the only one that is frustrated that we are the only club that has not yet had a pciture of all our draftees taken as a group???

its really starting to annoy me... every other club has displayed their draftees together except us!!!!

not even on the webiste......

sort it out MFC

EDIT:

They arrived on Sunday night.

[e25 5]

stupid i know but am i the only one that is frustrated that we are the only club that has not yet had a pciture of all our draftees taken as a group???

its really starting to annoy me... every other club has displayed their draftees together except us!!!!

not even on the webiste......

sort it out MFC

Really not a concern for me.

Edit: There's actually a photo of all 6 of them in today's Herald Sun.

[mo64 5,280]

Getting back onto the topic, for those interested in sports books, there's a fantastic book called Moneyball. It's about the drafting and recruiting of the Oakland A's baseball team. In the early 2000s, their GM Billy Beane, realised that they couldn't compete with the bigger clubs like the Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox, whose salary costs were about $60m more than the A's.

In short, Beane devised a recruiting scheme which flew in the face of what was considered modern convention. He recruited purely on statistics of college or minor league players, and ignored the athletic prowess of the player. He uncovered numerous champion Major League players, who normally would never have been given the chance. Under Beane, the A's went on an American League record winning streak.

Unfortunately for the A's, once the player becomes an established star, he usually goes to the bigger clubs for more money. But Beane's recruiting scheme has now been adopted by many other clubs who don't have the resources.

I found that there are similarities between the A's and the MFC. If we are to compete with the big boys, we need to think outside the square, rather than trying to emulate the previous year's premiers.

[Bails 0]

Really not a concern for me.

Edit: There's actually a photo of all 6 of them in today's Herald Sun.

Website has been the same for a week now!! just think considering the year we had that the MFC would take the opportunity to give the supporters some info/pics on "our" own website and not rely on the herald sun!!!

[e25 5]

Website has been the same for a week now!! just think considering the year we had that the MFC would take the opportunity to give the supporters some info/pics on "our" own website and not rely on the herald sun!!!

Check your email - the member's email sent out today has a picture of all the boys - less than 24 hours after they were finally all in the same city.

Quick enough for ya?