I listened on radio, because it's a better coverage and only just watched Foxtel - taped. How happy was Jimmy "the Gun" Toumpas ? I doubt I've ever seen a new draftee as excited and as exuberant.

Love him already.

Is there a reason GWS would select O'Rourke instead of Toumpas other than the secret handshake / would prefer Vics?

From what I understand they are not all that dissimilar, or are they? You convinced me about GWS having the luxury of filling roles, surely Toumpas and O'Rourke would play a similar role, and it's generally accepted that Toumpas is the better player.

Or is the Hogan handshake a real thing?

And the big Kent.

And the Taggert.

Both good kicks on them and real competition for places. Bring on season 2013.

Looks the goods does Kent, doesn't he 'Ben'

he is a massive risk and looks soft, i dont like him at #4

Oh Jesus.... Jimmy 'The Gent' Toumpas..........

was it really necessary for OCD mods to merge the threads - I was at dinner stealthily trying to get the result and the first post on this thread goes back to june 30.. now I have to navigate through to find the comments after 7.20 tonight, seriously what is the point of that? I know I sound like a dick but surely it is obvious that this type of organisation, though well intended, actually reduces the efficiency of the site.

anyway, 1200 people are on the site so it is running slow, very hard to re-construct the story - is the general feeling that GWS' pick 3 was out of left field and therefore we unexpectedly snapped up Toumpas instead of Wines? There was a huge roar (Grimes like) when his name was called out.. how come? The kid looked ecstatic at selection, was this because he assumed he was going to the soulless hole of GWS, or is there another reason his demon selection was significant?

PS did anybody else chuckle when they talked about the elite company that Whitfield keeps as a Larke medal recipient? Cale Morton says hi

Is there a reason GWS would select O'Rourke instead of Toumpas other than the secret handshake / would prefer Vics?

From what I understand they are not all that dissimilar, or are they? You convinced me about GWS having the luxury of filling roles, surely Toumpas and O'Rourke would play a similar role, and it's generally accepted that Toumpas is the better player.

Or is the Hogan handshake a real thing?

Whatever happened we have had a pretty impressive trade and draft period. Damien Barrett and his mate Greg Denham can go ......

Viney

Toumpas

Barry

Hogan

Dawes

Pederson

Byrnes

Rodan

four young guns and four badly-needed experienced role-players, I'm giving us an A+

Damn it, I've totally missed all the hype, drama and celebrations being at work for the last 14 hours.

But from all the limited highlights I've watched of all the "potential number 4's", his was the one that stood out the most.

Although I am no Phil Scully when it comes to recruiting, this is exciting.

Also an official welcome to my new favourite player (because Mitch Clark is my favourite human so it doesn't really count)- Jack "son of a gun" Viney.

Pretty wrapped he slid through to 4. I said in another thread that I didn't think it would be possible to get him at 4. Happy to be proven wrong.

Big talk is that GWS have headhunted Victorian based players who have played together from the U14s.

They are deliberately getting all the mates together so they can build a family up there. Clever for them, but just peachy for us.

Also i accidentally pressed the 'Bold' button and decided i liked it so i kept it.

The word "Toumpas in Greek actually means..."Best player in the draft who slid to 4"

GWS is not tanking its just tom $cully$'s dad doing the picking for them, he is probably trying to get guys who wont show up his boy.

Good one

Scully being recruited ( for the northeners) as a coup is exceeded only by the success of the Israel Folau experiment

Looks like Viktor Krum from Harry Potter and Goblet of fire, Google it.

(Inner movie Nerd) Random Useless fact.

What joy....finally a Greek and has joined our team...and his has the Greek name of Jim !!

Acropolis Now Quotes

Effie Stephanidis: Ey, have you seen my cousin Jim, is he here? My gorgeous hunk of a cousin Jim, is he here?

---------------------------------------

Effie Stephanidis: My fantastic cousin Jim...

Jim Stephanidis: Oh no, what do you want?

Effie Stephanidis: I want to be in the beauty contest.

Jim Stephanidis: You?

Effie Stephanidis: Why not?

Jim Stephanidis: Because stupid, it's a beauty contest, not a horror movie!

Who loves ya baby...........

Pete Sampras?

was it really necessary for OCD mods to merge the threads - I was at dinner stealthily trying to get the result and the first post on this thread goes back to june 30.. now I have to navigate through to find the comments after 7.20 tonight, seriously what is the point of that? I know I sound like a dick but surely it is obvious that this type of organisation, though well intended, actually reduces the efficiency of the site.

anyway, 1200 people are on the site so it is running slow, very hard to re-construct the story - is the general feeling that GWS' pick 3 was out of left field and therefore we unexpectedly snapped up Toumpas instead of Wines? There was a huge roar (Grimes like) when his name was called out.. how come? The kid looked ecstatic at selection, was this because he assumed he was going to the soulless hole of GWS, or is there another reason his demon selection was significant?

PS did anybody else chuckle when they talked about the elite company that Whitfield keeps as a Larke medal recipient? Cale Morton says hi

FWIW I'm not a fan of mega-threads either and it's especially bad if you're using the mobile skin because you can't easily paginate on that skin. I also find the site is slower on my phone than it is on the PC, and that's in general not just when it's under siege (which it was tonight, users online record broken by a lot - the site's never in its whole history been hammered as hard as it was tonight). I don't know that having a million threads on the same topic is better though, which is what happens. I might have a look at the mobile skin at some point and see if I can improve the pagination on it.

To answer your questions - I doubt the club was surprised that Toumpas was available, there have been rumours circulating in the last week that this would happen. GWS even took the players a few people mentioned they would. Also, the rumours that we were taking Wines were just hype built up by the media and footy supporters, I wouldn't assume them to be fact. In the end we'll never know who we would've taken if Toumpas was gone.

The roar was because he had an army of family present at the draft. And there's an article on the MFC website where he explains his excitement:

Jimmy over the moon at joining Dees

Some snippets:

"To be given an opportunity by the Dees is unbelievable. They have shown faith in me to Draft me … so it means a hell of a lot. I grew up playing for Lockleys Demons, so I had this [red and blue] guernsey on as a youngster at my home club in SA. The history of the club, being the first club, [which] invented the game - it’s a huge honour.”

He was ecstatic that we picked him up. I seriously love this kid already.

Pete Sampras?

Garry Lyon

Jimmy T

FWIW I'm not a fan of mega-threads either and it's especially bad if you're using the mobile skin because you can't easily paginate on that skin. I also find the site is slower on my phone than it is on the PC, and that's in general not just when it's under siege (which it was tonight, users online record broken by a lot - the site's never in its whole history been hammered as hard as it was tonight). I don't know that having a million threads on the same topic is better though, which is what happens. I might have a look at the mobile skin at some point and see if I can improve the pagination on it.

To answer your questions - I doubt the club was surprised that Toumpas was available, there have been rumours circulating in the last week that this would happen. GWS even took the players a few people mentioned they would. Also, the rumours that we were taking Wines were just hype built up by the media and footy supporters, I wouldn't assume them to be fact. In the end we'll never know who we would've taken if Toumpas was gone.

The roar was because he had an army of family present at the draft. And there's an article on the MFC website where he explains his excitement:

Jimmy over the moon at joining Dees

Some snippets:

"To be given an opportunity by the Dees is unbelievable. They have shown faith in me to Draft me … so it means a hell of a lot. I grew up playing for Lockleys Demons, so I had this [red and blue] guernsey on as a youngster at my home club in SA. The history of the club, being the first club, [which] invented the game - it’s a huge honour.”

He was ecstatic that we picked him up. I seriously love this kid already.

thanks Nash for the response, you're a good egg and I appreciate your efforts on this site. I only raise the point, because as you say, it is clear that on occasions like these it is obvious the site traffic is going to skyrocket.. maybe this time next year there should be a left-field strategy like just limiting all discussion to one thread, lock everything but one, so everyone knows there is one focal point, or something...

thanks for the clarifications, for some reason I thought plowman was a bit of a smokey, i thought Wines already had his locker - guess I got sucked in by the self-procliamed experts. In any case, loving the look of Toumpas, we are looking at a seriously good midfield in the making ... hopefully

Can't believe we got him, had my hopes for him earlier in the year but had settled on Wines when we traded Pick 3 for Hoges. Can't recall which Demonlander it was but pretty much thinking right place right time.

Welcome aboard Jimmy T looking forward to seeing you light up the G

Just watched the interview with Toumpas on the MFC website. Never seen him play. Virtually my favourite player.

Welcome aboard Jimmy - and don't contain your excitement in future. Ever. It's infectious. I hope you play 300+ games for this club.

"To be given an opportunity by the Dees is unbelievable. They have shown faith in me to Draft me … so it means a hell of a lot. I grew up playing for Lockleys Demons, so I had this [red and blue] guernsey on as a youngster at my home club in SA. The history of the club, being the first club, [which] invented the game - it’s a huge honour.”

A demon through and through! Lucky us!

Beneficiaries along with whoever snags Brodie Grundy. I can't believe that some people are tipping he could slide as low as 14. He is a better prospect than Kruezer in my eyes.

And don't you just want to spew to think he went to 17 and was picked up by the pies.

F*cking ecstatic to land Toumpas at pick 4! We've got a winner here everyone! I gave up on getting him after we traded away pick 3, but we are super lucky he slid to us. He has a fantastic work ethic and is a real talented leader.

Also, watching his interview on MFC.com is gold. He is so excited to be part of our club. Look at that grin and when he describes running down the wing of the MCG passing to Mitch Clark! I haven't seen anyone that excited before. Really heart-warming to see and I reckon he's gonna be a star for us.

WELCOME ABOARD JIMMY!!!

And don't you just want to spew to think he went to 17 and was picked up by the pies.

The only downer of the night!

was it really necessary for OCD mods to merge the threads - I was at dinner stealthily trying to get the result and the first post on this thread goes back to june 30.. now I have to navigate through to find the comments after 7.20 tonight, seriously what is the point of that? I know I sound like a dick but surely it is obvious that this type of organisation, though well intended, actually reduces the efficiency of the site.

I agree...pretty annoying stuff.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Thats all.