OUT OF THE MOULD

OUT OF THE MOULD by Whispering Jack

Barry Prendergast dispensed with convention and defied the pundits at last night's AFL National Draft. His selections might be considered audacious and risky and many were taken by surprise, but there's little doubt that much thought and planning went into the Melbourne Football Club's recruiting strategy.

Those who have been reading coach Dean Bailey's lips would be left in no doubt that the Demons intended to load up on tall, marking forwards.

Prendergast's explained on the club's website that "[W]e had a slant towards talls, but we ... just thought that the players we picked were pretty much the best available at those particular picks". However, his choices were not those which others might have made in his position.

Take the club's first selection overall at number 12, Lucas Cook. The youngster from the North Ballarat Rebels stands at 196cm tall and currently weighs in at a light 81 kg but is a good reader of the ball in flight, has a big tank and his disposal is excellent. Many thought Cook might just scrape into the top 20. Some regard him as a mite slow but he's no slouch and I think the club has chosen a perfect partner for the pacy Jack Watts. Cook has the endurance and the credentials for early selection. He was named All Australian centre half forward after this year's National Under 18 Carnival ahead of Gold Goast recruit Sam Day who was named on the interchange. Tom Lynch, who was also taken by the Suns didn't even make the team.

The club's second pick in 192cm flying machine Jeremy Howe from Hobart was also a surprise for draft watchers. The 20 year old sometimes blond full-forward with a penchant for taking screamers is being billed as Melbourne's next Robbo but this guy apparently also chases, tackles and handballs. Throw him into a forward line with Liam Jurrah and there will be havoc.

The Demons have placed their faith in three Victorian country boys and a Tasmanian from a place called Dodges Ferry.

All solid, reliable stock.

Troy Davis from the Geelong Falcons is 192cm, 90kg and comes from Kerang. He's a hard, tall defender who is noted for his pace and strength and should eventually fit in well with his fellow Demon defenders in a division considered by many to be an area where the club is particularly advanced.

There was some hesitation before Prendergast called out Tom McDonald's name. The theory is that he had planned to pick Cameron O'Shea but was beaten to the punch and that the tactics didn't match the sound overall strategy for the draft. So instead, he chose another strapping country lad, the 194cm, 88kg North Ballarat Rebel who can play as a tall forward or a ruckman. He hails from Edenhope in western Victoria, best known as the home town of journeyman Phil Carman whose glittering career included a short stint with the Demons.

There you have it. No medium sized midfielders, inside or out. No half back flankers, wingers, clever little half forwards and no tall gangly ruckmen. And no clear attempt to cover for the departure of Cameron Bruce who is now a forgotten relic of the past.

I think back to what was one of the club's most disappointing days of 2010. - the home ground defeat against eventual wooden spooners, the West Coast Eagles when only five marks were taken inside the team's forward fifty (and one of them came from an opposition miskick).

I don't see that happening until a long time in the future, if ever.