Bring-Back-Powell said:

But Luke Ball is an absolute professional. If he nominated for the ND, he will give 100% to what ever club picks him up.

If he was the true professional, he would have realised before you have that if he nominates for the ND then he clearly does not want to be at MFC and if MFC has to offload pick 18 to get him then he has already screwed the club before he even slips on a jumper.

Its a crud way to get him given he could come to us through the PSD and we still save pick 18. A win win for both sides.

And I am sure we need more than a replacement for a player who was 11th in the Bluey this year.

  Bring-Back-Powell said:

But Luke Ball is an absolute professional. If he nominated for the ND, he will give 100% to what ever club picks him up.

If he goes in the ND the football department should treat him like an 18 year old. If he is still available by pick 18 and the best player left in the draft he should be picked up. He's 25 and got plenty of good football left in him. I'm sure an 18 year would prefer to play for a Geelong than us he should be treated the same.

I would like to know where everybody is getting all this "inside information" My Brother is in the know at St.kilda & he won't tell me a bloody thing!!

I am not aware that Luke has actually said anything yet about anything. I am just going to wait.

With Pick 18 & 1 in the PSD we are a big chance to snare him, & he knows it.

I have no Problem with his percieved commitment. If we are paying his wage, he will give his all.

After Draft Day his attitude may improve as well

Pick 20? Where are you getting all this "inside information"?

  Rhino Richards said:

Pick 20? Where are you getting all this "inside information"?

My apologies, i was being greedy!!! since rectified!!

  Whispering_Jack said:

If Hannibal's inside information is correct then I somehow can't see Ball nominating for the ND. He could not only end up at a club whose premiership horizon is as far away (if not further) as ours but he might have to move interstate to Fremantle, Port Adelaide or Brisbane which might be hard to take for even a consummate professional whose roots are in Melbourne. Collingwood would be a remote chance IMO.

If Ball doesn't like us then he might want to take his chances with a contract at St. Kilda who may not now wish to offer him a three year contact. That might suit him in the end because he might want to give Collingwood another try next year but who knows what their prospects will be at that stage?

I can't see Ball nominating for the ND either, as Hannibal alluded to, there seems to be too many road blocks before pick 30.

Your second point is an interesting one. The way I see it, if he has made up his mind on not going to back to St.Kilda during the cooling off period in NY, unless St.Kilda can coax him back with a reduced offer and a bit of TLC all roads lead to the Dees - that is, if he wants to play at Mfc of course.

I'm still interested to know though, how Mfc have "pushed hard and aggressively" on this.

  High Tower said:

I'm still interested to know though, how Mfc have "pushed hard and aggressively" on this.

I don't know more than I've already stated, but I suspect they've been pretty gung ho with his manager painting the club's vision and have made an attractive offer, or at least indicated their preparedness to do so..

  Hannibal said:

I don't know more than I've already stated, but I suspect they've been pretty gung ho with his manager painting the club's vision and have made an attractive offer, or at least indicated their preparedness to do so..

"gung ho" ... please I'm in the process of learning how to make "chocolate" cakes dont want the knowledge to turn to nothing ...

Now being serious I hope the "slush" fund is getting deeper - However, I hope you are right its about "the club's vision" that tips the scales.

I agree with a lot of other posters on the topic of Luke Ball.If he nominates for the National Draft then he doesn't want to come to the MFC.

If the MFC is not his preferred destination then we don't want him.All will be revealed before too long.

  Whispering_Jack said:

If Ball doesn't like us then he might want to take his chances with a contract at St. Kilda who may not now wish to offer him a three year contact. That might suit him in the end because he might want to give Collingwood another try next year but who knows what their prospects will be at that stage?

I'm thinking the same thing. If he doesn't like us, he can take a 1 year deal with St Kilda and look to go to Collingwood next year. Similar to what Essendon did with Lovett (though I'm not sure he was OOC last year, just that they agreed that they'd look to trade him this year).

titan by doing the 1 year deal it would also open up an alternative option for Gold Coast too. I am sure his manager would love that option too.

Don't want to upset everybody but I am not convinced on Ball. He is allegedly a star yet he couldn't make his side often this year. He has little penetration with his kicks and is getting slower by the week. He has had a history of injuries including groins and that clearly isn't helping his pace or kicking. He is clearly at his best on rain affected grounds and they are becoming rarer. He is not tall nor a great overhead mark.

He is courageous without doubt and by all reports a leader.

We have another leader who in my opinion will struggle to get a game this year in Junior, do we need another.

If it came down to another Jurrah or Ball there would be no argument. Do we know that there is not another Jurrah out there and can we be certain that a better player won't walk out on his club after we possibly commit to Ball if he chooses us.

Are we doing this just to get a so called " marquee" player to choose us? Is it a marketing fix rather than a football need?

Just a few points for discussion.

If there is another Jurrah out there - would he last to the PSD?

In terms of marketing the club - Scully and Trengove will do that. Or whomever we pick at 1 and 2.

The $500k salary cap gap is a problem mitigated by Ball but is merely a bonus.

To get Luke Ball for very little in the PSD would be coup for the club, and and incredibly good investment.

In my mind it is St Kilda or Melbourne - I have no inside knowledge, only my interpretation of the circumstances and the options available to Luke.

Ball will not be the B all and end all. If he doesnt come to Dees it is not the end of the world. the fork posted the other liam on another thread for example, what is wrong with another martin or jurrah ? A young up and comer. When you are on a good thing stick to it.

  Grimes to Watts said:

titan by doing the 1 year deal it would also open up an alternative option for Gold Coast too. I am sure his manager would love that option too.

I didn't think of that. Makes that option a little more enticing, as you'd expect the Gold Coast to make him a sizeable offer if he's OOC at the end of next year.

  Redleg said:

Don't want to upset everybody but I am not convinced on Ball. He is allegedly a star yet he couldn't make his side often this year.

We're talking Melbourne, not St Kilda.

  Redleg said:

He has little penetration with his kicks and is getting slower by the week. He has had a history of injuries including groins and that clearly isn't helping his pace or kicking. He is clearly at his best on rain affected grounds and they are becoming rarer. He is not tall nor a great overhead mark.

The kicking got better as the year went on. The slowness is a problem, yes. Just because he's at his best in the rain doesn't mean he's inept in the dry.

  Redleg said:

If it came down to another Jurrah or Ball there would be no argument. Do we know that there is not another Jurrah out there and can we be certain that a better player won't walk out on his club after we possibly commit to Ball if he chooses us.

Are we doing this just to get a so called " marquee" player to choose us? Is it a marketing fix rather than a football need?

If there's another player in the PSD who's better than Ball, we'll take him. But there won't be.

People should stop intimating that there's a chance that there'll be another Jurrah in the PSD. That only happened through special consideration, and is the only instance of that occuring. It's only happened once, it's not going to happen again.

  titan_uranus said:

People should stop intimating that there's a chance that there'll be another Jurrah in the PSD. That only happened through special consideration, and is the only instance of that occuring. It's only happened once, it's not going to happen again.

Stef Martin? The PSD has been good to us. To pick up Luke Ball would be 3 good results in a row.

  titan_uranus said:

People should stop intimating that there's a chance that there'll be another Jurrah in the PSD. That only happened through special consideration, and is the only instance of that occuring. It's only happened once, it's not going to happen again.

Why not?

Harry Taylor and Aaaron Davey as examples, were overlooked for a few years and so were many others.

Do you honestly believe that there aren't talented players out there that haven't gone through the system. Many people would know a player that was good enough to have played AFL but wasn't discovered.

  Redleg said:

Don't want to upset everybody but I am not convinced on Ball. He is allegedly a star yet he couldn't make his side often this year. He has little penetration with his kicks and is getting slower by the week. He has had a history of injuries including groins and that clearly isn't helping his pace or kicking. He is clearly at his best on rain affected grounds and they are becoming rarer. He is not tall nor a great overhead mark.

He is courageous without doubt and by all reports a leader.

We have another leader who in my opinion will struggle to get a game this year in Junior, do we need another.

If it came down to another Jurrah or Ball there would be no argument. Do we know that there is not another Jurrah out there and can we be certain that a better player won't walk out on his club after we possibly commit to Ball if he chooses us.

Are we doing this just to get a so called " marquee" player to choose us? Is it a marketing fix rather than a football need?

Just a few points for discussion.

The Saints have been up there since 2004, Luke Ball would bring Massive knowledge to a very young & Raw Midfield.

His Slowness would be complimented by the speed of our young picks. Although i would expect a full medical.

If he is Fit enough to play we must try hard for him as you cannot buy his experience to a young side everyday.

  1858 said:

I think that the Port Adelaide pick at 16 is a massive risk to Ball and if his management don't appreciate Port's situation then they are mad. Ball (like many other non SA players) has shown aversiveness to moving to Adelaide but if he nominates for the national draft then it is fair game and Port are one club who do not give a toss about such issues anyway. The reality is that Port were pushing pretty hard to get a quality experienced player in return for Burgoyne, they know such a player is very important for them (similar actually to MFC). They tried for Lewis with pick 9 and then they thought they had Lovett only to lose him to the Saints. Port ended up with 3 decent ND picks but this is surplus to their needs/priorities from a youth pov IMO. Picks 8 and 9 will do them fine and then 16 (which they would have preferred Lovett to) will easily be parted for Ball. Port are an arrogant club and in desperate times will do what serves them and in context of the ND will laugh at any sentiments of Ball not wanting to play for them.

I agree rpfc that Sydney (14) could be touch and go but Port (16) is the clincher I reckon. Ball is dreaming if he thinks he has any hope of getting through to Collingwood.

Options look like Saints(re-sign)/Dees(PD)/Power(ND - if not Swans) IMO and I have a feeling that he will end up staying at the Saints.

I agree on all levels... no chance of getting to the pies (which i think is fantastic) and is more than likely to stay at Saints

He and his manager would have been well aware on friday the 9th of october if the collingwood deal did not go through what all options would be and MFC was clearly in the frame yet there has been no mention that he would consider playing for us..

For me saints are clearly infront how ever if he nominates for the ND "CLEARLY" he does not want to play for us so good luck to him and in 3 years he may be saying whatif??

Listening to SEN today and mark Robinson said he had been trying to get some info on Ball for over week and had called his mobile 4 times, his father, the club and his manager and has got nothing from any of them. The Manager Conners said that they will not be talking about it until he comes back, simple as that.

  RobbieF said:

Listening to SEN today and mark Robinson said he had been trying to get some info on Ball for over week and had called his mobile 4 times, his father, the club and his manager and has got nothing from any of them. The Manager Conners said that they will not be talking about it until he comes back, simple as that.

That's what i thought. Everything spoken about Luke Ball has been speculation.

We are still a big chance, If he had reconciled with the saints we would have heard. No news is good news....sit tight.

some progress with ball...we are meeting with him next week

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/demo...f-1225791493885

  Redleg said:

Why not?

Harry Taylor and Aaaron Davey as examples, were overlooked for a few years and so were many others.

Do you honestly believe that there aren't talented players out there that haven't gone through the system. Many people would know a player that was good enough to have played AFL but wasn't discovered.

That's not what I meant. I meant that there isn't going to be a high-quality, top-30 possibility, who isn't available in the ND, but is in the PSD. Jurrah was touted as being a possible top-30 selection last year, but obviously wasn't in the ND.

That kind of scenario isn't going to happen again. If we get a good young player in the PSD, it will be because the other clubs all passed on him. Just like our chances of getting a good player at pick 34 or 50.

Ball still wants to get to the Pies!

http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/st-ki...7615001590.html

To the Ball family and Collingwood. Be careful what you wish for. The prodigal son is heading possibly for an interstate destination and if nobody takes him ahead of pick 30 on draft day then he will come at great cost to a club in the last uncompromised draft and step into Antony Rocca's shoes. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.