All depends on whether they rate Melksham higher, which would seem correct. His TAC form post Championships/school footy was very good, and capped off by an excellent performance in the TAC GF. Tapscott spent most of his time splitting between PAC school footy and SANFL reserves where Trengove really took all focus from other potential SA draftees (as well as raised the bar for them as well). I can see Tapscott slipping to mid teens, where Port do have another pick.

I watched the TAC GF and Melksham was excellent, so if he was available at 11 I would love to have him but if Tapscott was available as well I would take him first. They are different players, Tapscott can kick goals and is AFL ready whereas Melksham is a bit light on and may take a season or two.

Brock was BOG in the TAC Final as well and that would have been one of the reasons we selected him.

On the subject of Thorp, he is training with us and if the club can straighten his head out why not, it solves a KP problem and will help us decide who to draft.

Edited November 7, 200915 yr by RobbieF

I watched the TAC GF and Melksham was excellent, so if he was available at 11 I would love to have him but if Tapscott was available as well I would take him first. They are different players, Tapscott can kick goals and is AFL ready whereas Melksham is a bit light on and may take a season or two.

Brock was BOG in the TAC Final as well and that would have been one of the reasons we selected him.

On the subject of Thorp, he is training with us and if the club can straighten his head out why not, it solves a KP problem and will help us decide who to draft.

would be interested to see if hardwick was interested as tigers have pick 2 in psd and he would know thorpe well.

If we don't take him in the psd not sure he would be there for rookie selections.

Thoughts?

You keep saying that - why?

I know he's from SA and has been placed at 8 or 9 almost universally on Big Footy Phantom Drafts.

Do you have more info than that? Have you seen him play? Do you have some inside info from Port?

Neither Emma Quayle or Mark Stevens have him going there.

Has Emma Quayle done her mock draft already? Could you post a link please, hers and the Burgatron one (big demon fan by the way) are the only two I really take notice of.

On topic, if Ball is available Thorpe in the psd would be a good result, especially if he gets his head right

Edited November 7, 200915 yr by Jarka

would be interested to see if hardwick was interested as tigers have pick 2 in psd and he would know thorpe well.

If we don't take him in the psd not sure he would be there for rookie selections.

Thoughts?

just thinking through I have to say I'm so happy thorpe is training with us. The best thing that could happen is he comes on board and sets the tone for our forward line. Aggressive, hard at it play! The other great thing would be to watch scully run off Luke ball And destroy the saints when we play them. moloney to iron him out to let him know he missed the really BIG window that's coming for the dees!!

I think we need a plan B for the PSD in case Ball is not available. If the best available are Joel Mcdonald, Welsh and Mcphee from the Dons, and Mitch Thorpe, then I would prefer Thorpe. He's a young tall forward and we have a may have a vacancy in the key forward position. I don't think we'd get him at 34 or the rookie list. Good move getting him to train with us. We can check if there are any issues with fitness and attitude. As for Ball, the papers indicate he hasn't re-signed with st kilda yet, and may still be considering his options. Does he have to decide by this friday?

Sorry 'vanlo', I cant see them taking him to GC-17, he's full of 'baggage'. Would be bad news for their young bears kids.

Hence why I'd only rookie him if he looked like changing.

they're going to have so many kids, they would be silly to ignore a player of thorp's quality in the rookie draft... anyhow, if we pass on him in the PSD, he's a massive chance to be snapped up in the psd by another club... if Ball doesn't enter the PSD, who do you suggest we use our selection on?

Going over some archives on Bigfooty re: Thorp, there's no doubt the guy has talent, but for mine it seemed that Hawthorn didn't let him settle in any position... Given that they had Buddy and Roughead dominating, they were trying to turn him into a backman, and it would seem he doesn't have the versatility to play down back (given his alleged personality type, that's not surprising, would Wayne Carey ever been a great backman?)... If he can stay injury free, and we continue too give him opportunities as a forward, then it could be an absolute steal, and definitely worth the risk... we're not going to get another LJ in the PSD, not very often that happens, so at this stage I think Thorp looks like the best fit for us...

they're going to have so many kids, they would be silly to ignore a player of thorp's quality in the rookie draft... anyhow, if we pass on him in the PSD, he's a massive chance to be snapped up in the psd by another club... if Ball doesn't enter the PSD, who do you suggest we use our selection on?

Going over some archives on Bigfooty re: Thorp, there's no doubt the guy has talent, but for mine it seemed that Hawthorn didn't let him settle in any position... Given that they had Buddy and Roughead dominating, they were trying to turn him into a backman, and it would seem he doesn't have the versatility to play down back (given his alleged personality type, that's not surprising, would Wayne Carey ever been a great backman?)... If he can stay injury free, and we continue too give him opportunities as a forward, then it could be an absolute steal, and definitely worth the risk... we're not going to get another LJ in the PSD, not very often that happens, so at this stage I think Thorp looks like the best fit for us...

Whoever posted that on Big Footy is an idiot. When Mitch played with us at North Launceston he was a forward and a backman and when he played for the Tassie Devils in the VFL he was a backman who could play forward so he is more than used to playing backman. The reason he got [censored] off is in the AFL this year they tried to make him into a ruckman and he hated it.

Whoever posted that on Big Footy is an idiot.

here! here!

If he can stay injury free,

Massive if ... spots on your senior list this year are very, very important ... sorry IMHO you cant take risks of this nature with the GC & GWS coming.

Unless he absolutely trains the house down and we would be confident we will get 15+ games out of him.

IMHO the safer option at this stage would be us looking to rookie him ... However, that may change with more information.

He's certainly worth a closer look, which is exactly what we're getting by having him train with the team. I'd be happier if we had a couple of other young prospects training with us as well so there is some basis for comparison and possibly to let him know that he's not a certainty. If the powers that be think he's worth the effort, that's enough for me. They have the track record for me to back their judgment. It would be great to see him playing for us in round 1 if he can pull himself together (physically, mentally or both ;p )

It's a risk, and I guess it'll be a possibility if Ball stays at St Kilda.

He's probably the best available to fulfill our needs in the PSD if Ball doesn't come and we'd be crazy not to use PSD pick 1, as it doesn't come along too often.

It's worth a punt, there are always players who are picked early in the draft and don't make it, but there are a few who make it at another club. Look at Ray for St Kilda last year.

considering that they have now paid him out, there must have been absolutely ZERO interest.

hawks would rather have traded him for pick 90something than have to pay him out like they have.

judging by that he has no hope of being picked up by anybody, full stop.

Did you think that maybe given hawks may want to clear some salary cap room?

Now with Burgoyne on board, with a host of others Hodge,Franklin,Roughead etc i am sure they would of been keen to offload someone was on the outer anyway...this way the hawks have 5 selections in this years draft..

wouldn't totally put it down to how 'unwanted' he was..

I was under the impression that he had asked to be delisted so that he could get some senior games somewhere else.

I would have thought that, provided we get his demeanour/attitude/headspace fixed up, he'd be the obvious choice. Of course, there's no certainty he'll fix himself up, but if he does I'd consider him before Ball anyway.

Did you think that maybe given hawks may want to clear some salary cap room?

I would have thought that if they paid Thorp out then that would take up cap space for next year anyway. Happy to be corrected though.

if he was too be picked up by us i doubt it would be via the rookie system, if his talent is what it is said to be, the coaches would want to utilize his talents straight away (round 1), rather than have him sitting in the magoos on a rookie list

Pickering is his manager who is a massive Melbourne hater. I think if Thorp had another option he would take it. I'm clearly only guessing but I would say we are his only option.

Pickering is his manager who is a massive Melbourne hater. I think if Thorp had another option he would take it. I'm clearly only guessing but I would say we are his only option.

Melbourne hater?

On SEN yesterday he said he thought Luke Ball would be a good fit for Melbourne and the Dee's will be playing finals in two years.

What a hater ay?

Melbourne hater?

On SEN yesterday he said he thought Luke Ball would be a good fit for Melbourne and the Dee's will be playing finals in two years.

What a hater ay?

Probably said that to get Thorp on the list.

Pickering is his manager who is a massive Melbourne hater. I think if Thorp had another option he would take it. I'm clearly only guessing but I would say we are his only option.

I reckon Pickering is one media commentator who is anything but a 'demon hater', always seem very supportive to me, but hey maybe this occured in isolation.

If we don't end up getting Luke Ball in the Pre-Season Draft I think Mitch Thorp MAY be a strong possibility.

However, it will depend on his attitude, his fitness and how well he has recovered from his injuries.

I wouldn't rule out Jesse Smith either....

Played Tassie U/18s with Garland, could be a good influence on him at Melb?

Has talent and is a very good kick, not the quickest player around but his football awareness is very good, he is fit to do a full pre season too which could mean his first real shot at playing AFL footy.

Oh good a reject from another club. If he was good enough we all know they would have tried to keep him, but they didn't.

The odds are low for him to do well and step up at AFL.

Edited November 8, 200915 yr by Mr Morton

Oh good a reject from another club. If he was good enough we all know they would have tried to keep him, but they didn't.

The odds are low for him to do well and step up at AFL.

Don't worry I am sure our facilities are substandard and we're not contenders so the bloke will just knock us back and retire at 20

Oh good a reject from another club. If he was good enough we all know they would have tried to keep him, but they didn't.

The odds are low for him to do well and step up at AFL.

Hawthorn wanted to trade Sewell for Ryan Ferguson and the deal only fell over because Ferguson didn't want to leave us and was contracted so we couldn't force him. They also gave away Zac Dawson and found themselves short a defender when Croad went down, so they have made some pretty ordinary decisions in the past few years.

This may be the next one.

Hawthorn's loss, Melbourne's gain. It would be an absolute steal nabbing Thorp in the PSD.