What will we do with our pick this year

[MadAsHell 4,215]

Don't forget that anyone we trade for has to agree to come here.

Given the year we've had so far how many superstars are going to want to come to Melbourne?

I reckon we'll have no choice but be forced to use our pick and chase established player through free agency with higher pay, like Adam Selwood for example.

[The Great One 99 125]

I would like to go after Sam Kerridge from Adelaide. I rate him, and if we get in his ear, we could get him.

[jumbo returns 6,741]

Realistically, so many posters filled out their perfect side last year and I saw sooooo many question marks for some positions.

I respect the time that these posters put into that scenario and I think it's at the same stage now.

By R18, we can start painting our canvas and let's see how many gaps need to be filled then.

Is someone happy to do one now? I, for one, would love to see it....

[mdemonski2 403]

Reading today's age, if the afl ever decide to use a priority pick it would be us this year. We might get a top mid plus trade for a topline established mid as well.

[jazza 1,323]

Yes, i 've heard some amazing young rookies. but its not worth having to raise another young player who may or may not become a player knowing our crappy development.

Get a ready made STAR!!!!

remember this coach was brought in to make sure young recruits werent ruined by to much early football in a underdeveloped senoir team. the fd is now doing this to make sure new players are getting game time and building up body strenght in the ressies. next year our fitness and player strenght will IMPROVE. so a young mid could fit into squad. i think they nmow have a better understanding of draft picks and will do the right thing for the better of the OUR team

[Guest]

Talking about Buddy, it's a long shot but remember...

While he is from WA, I think he barracked for us as a kid and his hero was Garry Lyon.

[Grimseyisgod 378]

Buddy Franklin would rescue us from the hell we are currently in.

Imagine this forward line

HF: Sylvia Franklin Tappy

F: Dawes Hogan Clark

unbeatable

[Grimseyisgod 378]

also Dale Thomas would seriously be worth a pickup... would conbine very well with M & N Jones and along with Viney and the Toump

[rjay 25,088]

You wont get Fyfe, at best from Freo you will get Barlow and a young mid or another player who can rotate through eg: Suban

I was thinking that Barlow would be the offer but whilst he is a good player he is not worth a key forward, and even with another player packaged would still be a no go.

I know that Fyfe would be a no go but that's what we we need to get the deal done, no deal.

[Roost It 1,434]

Realistically, so many posters filled out their perfect side last year and I saw sooooo many question marks for some positions.

I respect the time that these posters put into that scenario and I think it's at the same stage now.

By R18, we can start painting our canvas and let's see how many gaps need to be filled then.

Is someone happy to do one now? I, for one, would love to see it....

Round 1 2014

B Garland Frawley Draft pick 2(pacy back pocket)

HB Grimes McDonald Shiels

C Trengove Viney Watts

HF Sylvia Hogan Draft pick 1 (Mid)

F Blease Clark Dawes

R Gawn Toumpas Jones

INT Jamar M Jones Prestia Draft pick 3

EMG Terlich Barry Kent

If we could pull this off and restructure our club, find a new President, likely a new coach, a head of Football with Premiership success we would improve dramatically.

Pigs of course don't fly but here's hoping we can throw one off a cliff

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,909]

Buddy Franklin would rescue us from the hell we are currently in.

Imagine this forward line

HF: Sylvia Franklin Tappy

F: Dawes Hogan Clark

unbeatable

Not if we can't get the ball out of the middle in the first place.

[What 18,810]

no player will want to come to the MFC unless we can get Roos, Choco, Clarkson or Worsfold in as coach.

If we hire another untried coach then you can kiss any chance goodbye of us landing any gun players

[DeeSpencer 26,081]

Don't forget there is a huge crop of GWS mids coming off contract at the end of the year, including JV's mate Toby Greene

pretty sure they all extended their contracts including Greene.

[Ted Lasso 19,549]

Realistically we just about have to chase daisey, maybe Dal santo and corey too or something like that and offer them assistant coaching roles as part of the offer, that would prop us up for 2-3 years which our young mids develop

Getting hold of a gun from another team would be handy too,

Jack watts to Carlton for mitch robinson and a third round pick?

[mauriesy 7,357]

When are we going to get out of this mentality that a 'star' will save us? Only one thing will save us and that's an AFL quality midfield.

Here's my view on the whole issue of recruiting. In my mind it's far more important than changing the board, or the coach, or re-organising the football department. Don't get me wrong, these things need to be attended to and quickly, but the team itself is now a basket case and a long-term rehabilitation proposition.

The old Daniher-style idea that you needed a ‘premiership winning spine’, including a star forward, to be successful to me is out of date. I think it’s led Melbourne to concentrate far too much on the holy grail of Carey-like elite talls as the basis of team success. This idea has been disastrous as far back as Tilbrook.

The midfield is the absolute ‘engine room’ of any AFL team. It’s where you win contested ball, make clearances, defend when you don't have the ball, ‘run and carry’ when you do, and actually score more than half your goals.

Teams today are effectively one or two ruckmen, a couple of tall backs, a couple of tall forwards and 16 midfielders. That’s what the undefeated Geelong was last week: West/Blicavs, Taylor/Lonergan, Hawkins/Podsiadly, and 15-16 players who can play as midfielders, some in the back half, some in the forward line, and most everywhere.

Since 2003, Melbourne has had 19 draft picks in the top 20 (all drafts). Of those 19 picks, they’ve chosen talls (190cm+) over 50% of the time (with some of the rest being small backs). The only true, hard-at-it midfielders they’ve selected with early picks have been McLean (gone), Jones and this year Viney. A lot of the other 'midfielders' have been 'project players (e.g. Morton, Gysberts) who just aren't tough enough.

Melbourne has generally selected talls with early picks and midfielders with late picks, when I believe it should have been the other way around. What did Geelong pay at the drafting table for Lonergan, Taylor, Podsiadly and Hawkins? Apart from determining the true value of Hawkins as a father-son, you could quite easily argue they paid far less overall than we did for Frawley, Garland, Clark, Dawes and Hogan.

Between 2003 and 2007 Melbourne had 20 National Draft picks in total. Fifteen are no longer at the club. That’s a terrible retention rate and it’s not all lack of ‘development’ (remember that up to 2006 Melbourne fairly regularly played finals with established leaders like Neitz and Macdonald). Many selections have just been extremely poor picks. We just have to realise this as a fact and cease the pointless arguments about development and trying to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. You maximise your chance of an elite midfielder the earlier the draft pick. It’s also why Melbourne now lacks leaders with a couple of hundred games experience.

While they obviously didn’t work in isolation, Craig Cameron and Barry Prendergast ought to be called to account for their role in Melbourne’s downfall ... except they don’t work for Melbourne any more.

So the drafting disaster has led to Melbourne playing the Gold Coast Suns with a cobbled together midfield of Jones and Sylvia plus a quality but inexperienced player like Viney (6 games). The rest were mainly players who are either late draft picks or elevated rookies: Bail (#64, 41 games), Mackenzie (Rookie, 61 games), Kent (#48, 2 games), Matt Jones (#52, 6 games), Nicholson (Rookie, 24 games), Evans (Rookie, 9 games), Terlich (#68, 6 games). The rucks were Spencer (Rookie, 18 games) and Gawn (#34, 8 games).

How can you possibly expect that inexperienced midfield to compete? It’s Mark Neeld’s biggest nightmare and not all of his making.

In regard to getting out of this mess, I can’t see how it can be done other than to draft purely for midfielders in the next 2-3 drafts with every pick we get.

I tend to think we actually drafted quite reasonably for our midfield in the 2012 ND, with Viney and Toumpas as quality mids, then Kent, Matt Jones and Terlich as later low-cost picks. At the moment they’re just very inexperienced. It's a start, but we need 3-4 years more of it.

Please, please, no reliance on trading good picks for stars like Franklin. Let's get midfielders, midfielders and midfielders, either by selection, trade or speculative late picks.

If we use our first pick on a star forward in the 2013 draft I'll slash my wrists.

[mauriesy 7,357]

Jack watts to Carlton for mitch robinson and a third round pick?

The only thing that Robinson brings to a football team is kamikaze application and a punchable head. He is among the most wasteful users of the football I've ever seen. We can surely do better than that.

[Grimseyisgod 378]

Robinson would die for Carlton and never ever come to Melbourne.

Also i dont want him, the guy has a bad smell about him.

Either Franklin, Thomas or a star midfielder

[rjay 25,088]

Realistically we just about have to chase daisey, maybe Dal santo and corey too or something like that and offer them assistant coaching roles as part of the offer, that would prop us up for 2-3 years which our young mids develop

Getting hold of a gun from another team would be handy too,

Jack watts to Carlton for mitch robinson and a third round pick?

No way.

[DeeSpencer 26,081]

We need star midfielders. If by some miracle we can get the best out of Toumpas and Viney that helps. Evans looks a likely player. Besides from that we've got Jones and lesser guys like Matt Jones and McKenzie.

Sylvia is a proper forward/midfielder but not a real midfielder. Guys like Byrnes, Bail, Tapscott, Blease have to get better. Same with our small defenders.

If we did get a priority pick (or even if we dont we could do it with our second round pick) we could consider trading down picks for multiple higher picks. Ie. pick 20 for picks 30 + 40 and get some more players in with reasonable picks.

At the same time turnover the list and remove some junk.