DRAFTING FOR THE NEW, NEW AGE by Whispering Jack

The AFL's decision to revert to the practice of announcing the top ten draft picks in their proper order at the national draft has prompted me to make a decision of my own. This preview which looks at the draft from Melbourne's perspective at the beginning of the club's "new, new age" will be done in true contrarian fashion. Despite the AFL's stance, I'll be announcing my fancies in reverse order.

Well ... not exactly in reverse order but I'll meander my way around the club's recruiting selections and end with its first pick which, subject to the whims of the AFL's version of the KGB, should still be number 4 overall.

The draft itself will be held at the Gold Coast on 22 November which in itself, is an ominous date for Demon fans now living in a state of paranoia over the tanking inquiry. Surely, it's no coincidence that this was scheduled to take place on the anniversary of JFK's assassination, an event foremost in the minds of conspiracy theorists the world over?

Matters have not been helped by rumours of listening devices in the players' locker room at AAMI Park, the sighting of an Age reporter walking her rottweiler near the club's training facilities rummaging through nearby bins searching for scraps of evidence for her next big exposé and the pronouncement by the club's defiant bootstudder that despite four sets of interrogations during which he was subjected to waterboarding and bamboo under the fingernails torture, "they" would never force him to confess that the players ran out in that fateful game against Richmond in 2009 wearing boots that were several sizes too small.

The fact is they're breeding everybody tough at the Melbourne Football Club these days. This applies to all of us in the club's new, new age, be it the fans (who were this week described as "ferals" for the first time in history) as well as the board, officials and the players.If you hadn't noticed, we're on a war footing. We're ready to face and conquer the enemy and that's reflected in everything, including the club's new recruiting policy.

The new, new age is not about peace, flowers, harmony and understanding. That's the old, new age of puny little underweight nancy boys running around the wide open spaces of the MCG that was adopted immediately after the demise of the great Norm Smith. That was a completely different "new age" back in the late 1960's which coincided with the end of the club's golden era, a new age that we were seduced into embracing with near fatal results:

But that's over now. Done and dusted. The new, new age Demons will be pushovers no more.

To understand this, let's now look a little closer at the forthcoming draft.

For the sake of everyone's sanity I will proceed as if there's no investigation, nothing will happen in the next 1½ weeks and the draft will proceed more or less as planned give or take a pick or two that Adelaide might lose given its admission of wrongdoing over Kurt Tippett's contract.

Actually, the reason why I'm using the reverse order is because some of Melbourne's drafting has already been done via the events of October's exchange period when the Demons managed to pick up some rare gems a month early.

As always, I rely for assistance on the judgement of our resident draft expert Stevo and the pen pictures of players from that magnificent publication Inside Football.

The club started off its 2012 trade activities with a major coup when it snared Jack Viney under the father son rule with a second round pick (#27 overall) after the Giants and the Suns opted not to nominate the son of Todd at the risk of losing their early picks (1 and 2 respectively).

Here's his pen pic:

Jack Viney
Oakleigh Chargers, Vic
DOB: 13/4/1994. Ht: 178cm. Wt:80kg.

Jack is the son of former Melbourne star Todd. He has already gone to Melbourne as a father/son; he's an inside midfielder who's a great competitor, strong over the footy and uses the ball really well. He runs well, has leadership skills and is a very driven, well-balanced kid who is good at school and embraces the footy. He'll be a terrific AFL player - Justin Wenke, Oakleigh Chargers coach.

Enough's been said of Jack but I will add that I've been of the view since watching him devour the opposition in last year's TAC Cup Grand Final when a bottom ager that he's the best thing going around since sliced bread. He's tough and he's driven and looks the type who can help introduce the hard edge that's been missing around the place for a couple of decades. He could well become Melbourne's symbol of the new, new age.

The Demons followed that up with a trade that saw them collect a youngster who shone in the draft combine testing and another considered the best young key position prospect in the country.

Dominic Barry
North Ballarat Rebels, Vic
DOB: 7/3/1994 Ht: 183cm. Wt: 78kg.

Dom is an outstanding story of success for the Rebels and St. Pats College. He came down to Melbourne on an Evonne Goolagong tennis scholarship at 15 years old. He has endurance and a great turn of speed and has a great kick in him. He performed really well at the national championships for NT and is a leader for his community and a real role model. He needs to put on size, as he is pretty slight - Phil Partington, North Ballarat Rebels region manager.

Jesse Hogan
Claremont, WA
DOB: 12/2/1995 Ht: 193cm. Wt: 91kg.

Jesse has been taken by Melbourne as the second mini draft pick and has plenty of talent. He could play either centre half forward or centre half back, has great hands, loves the contest, is hard at it and can seriously play. It is a pity he'll have to play VFL next year because I reckon he'd be ready to go right now - Darcy Coffee, Claremont talent manager.

The rules mandate that we must wait until 2014 for Jesse Hogan but the wraps on him are great and suggest the wait will be worthwhile. In keeping with the new, new age policy of recruiting, he's tall, he's tough and he's mean.

This is what Brisbane Lions national talent manager Rob Kerr said about him in http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=150840'>Lion's Share

Prior to the trade period we had determined that if we could not bring Tippett into the club, we would seriously pursue Jesse Hogan via the 17-year-old mini draft.

Jesse, who played centre half-forward for Claremont under 18’s and Western Australia, was identified by our WA scouts very early in the year and we followed him closely throughout, both before and after the Under 18 championships.

We had met with and interviewed Jesse in WA and through our discussions he had become quite happy with the idea of coming to Brisbane next year and learning his craft under the tutelage of Jonathan Brown.

We had offered our pick No.8 to GWS prior to the trade period in order to keep us in the race. In fact we were growing quietly confident that we may well land Jesse as we had made the most prominent bid in the early stages.

However, when Jack Viney was not bid on in the father/son bidding process, we felt that hurt our prospects as it left Melbourne with picks three and four to trump us. We understood that the Bulldogs preferred Jack Martin, while Port Adelaide had expressed no interest in Jesse.

Once Jesse tested so well at the NAB AFL Draft Combine in the shuttle run we knew we were likely to be trumped. In anticipation of that we offered pick 8 and 24 - but the next day Jesse ran an exceptional 3km time trial for a boy of his size.

While his football talent had been clear to us, the combine emphasised his work rate and determination. That display certainly seemed to be enough to prompt Melbourne to offer their pick three and 13 (which later became 14) and our hopes of bringing Jesse to Brisbane were dashed. Nevertheless we wish him well in his AFL career.

The club then went through its busiest trading period in years, picking up Shannon Byrnes (a free agent), Chris Dawes, Cameron Pedersen and David Rodan and, as we speak, is still working on a possible delisted free agent selection but it won't be Brisbane's Cheynee Stiller who was given permission to train with the club but has announced his retirement from the game.

The jury is still out on Melbourne's trading but the club has to be given an A for effort in its quest to get itself out of the mire. It jettisoned a number of players who didn't suit Mark Neeld's blueprint for the future, brought in some solid citizens and some of the best young talent in the land. Of course, that wasn't enough for some media nuff nuff who tried to write it all off without any justification other than that it was a "scattergun approach".

So what of the big event on the Gold Coast?

I'm assuming that the Demons will leave a pick for the Pre Season Draft in December which could see them with only two or three "live" picks on draft night - picks 49 (and maybe 53) and 4 - which won't make it such a big event after all.

Stevo wouldn't even hazard a guess at who might still be available at 49 or 53 if we decide to activate the pick. My hunch is a more mature aged late starter from one of the State Leagues on account of the fact that Mark Neeld emphasised the specific role of Kelly O'Donnell as a spotter of talent from these competitions. This fits in well with picks in the 40's and 50's which are good spots to strike from if you have a smokey or two hidden away in your kit bag.

And that gets us front and centre with pick 4. Much depends of course on who the Giants go for with their picks at 1, 2 and 3 but Stevo believes the Dees will go for a midfielder and he reckons it will be one of these three:

Jonathon O'Rourke
Calder Cannons, Vic
DOB: 21/4/94. Ht: 183cm. Wt: 75kg.

Jonno is a classy midfielder who makes great decisions and has been a member of the AIS Academy. He has good leg speed and endurance and is elite in his football skills. Jonno is very good at nearly everything but he has the capacity to be even better and have an impact on games for longer periods of time. He should be a very early pick - Ian Kyte, Calder Cannons region manager.

Jimmy Toumpas
Woodville-West Torrens, SA
DOB: 2/1/1994 . Ht: 183cm Wt: 77 kg.

Jimmy actually had hip surgery as soon as the Under 18 championships concluded so that he could get himself right for the pre-season at whichever club drafts him and having done that he's probably a chance to play Round 1 next year. He played in the winning grand final for us in 2011 and was captain of the State Under 18 side this year and made All-Australian. He's probably more of an outside running midfielder with extremely good footskills and a fantastic workrate. As early as late last year people were talking about him being a top two or three pick and I'd be surprised if he doesn't get drafted top three. He runs really hard, his kicking skills are good, he's an extremely good decision maker, his leadership qualities are outstanding and he's just a really good lad. We are very proud of him - Shane Grimm, Woodville-West Torrens talent manager.

Oliver Wines
Bendigo Pioneers, Vic
DOB: 7/10/1994 Ht: 185cm. Wt: 83kg.

Ollie has done everything right this year and you couldn't question his effort. He is a bit like a Jobe Watson where once he gets into a club environment and loses that puppy fat, he will be a very good inside player as well as out. He is a great team player and we think he will go high - Ray Byrne, Bendigo Pioneers region manager.

All three are quality midfielders, albeit each with his own qualities. It's good to know that there's a strong chance that one will be a Demon within the next fortnight.

The jungle drums are beating loudly that it will be Wines and http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-two-of-us-viney-and-wines-20121006-276ao.html'>what a wonderful fairy story that would be for our club after the shellacking it's been getting in the media lately?

Viney on Wines:-

''I don't know anyone more competitive than Ollie, or anyone that hates losing as much as he does. That's when he cracks the shits, when he loses. He goes nuts and would do anything to turn things around."

The two have been mates since their pre pubescent days on the Murray River close to where Ned Kelly and his bushranger mates used to ply their trade. Even in those times, they were plotting the downfall of the AFL's big guns and, with blokes of the calibre of these two in the side, we know that the new, new age Demons will no longer be an easy target both on and off the field.

FOOTNOTE

Historically, the Melbourne Football Club made a dreadful error when it embraced the new Age of Aquarius back in the late 1960s. In doing so, the club ceased to be "shocking and awful"; it lost its hard edge and it's heritage of toughness. Now, as the new, new age sweeps into the club, it's back to following the lead of the subject of this interview who it forsook those many years ago: