On 3/15/2019 at 10:33 AM, Good Lord George said:

Jay Lockhart has filled our last list spot as a rookie.

"The AFL introduced a Supplementary Selection Period for the first time this year. This allowed teams to add players to their rookie list up until todays date,” General Manager of Football Operations Josh Mahoney told Melbourne Media.

“By passing on our last pick in the rookie draft we had a spot available and today we have added Jay Lockhart to our rookie list for this season.”

The 23-year-old is Tasmanian-born but made the move to Victoria in 2018 in a bid to chase his AFL dream."

https://m.melbournefc.com.au/news/2019-03-15/melbourne-secures-jay-lockhart-as-rookie

 

Without looking/reading any further, the young fella, Jay Lockhart, appears to be the epitome of all that is Tasmania - small, a fast trip coast to coast, learned to kick from a mule, and tough as a south-western mountain ash. Welcome, Jay. Could be the ideal type for a forward pocket, leading out and with that kick, able to successfully turn a 40-metre screw snap post high. Jay has the look of intent like an early Colin Sylvia, too.

Edited March 16, 20196 yr by Deemania since 56

On 3/15/2019 at 1:59 PM, ickey_11 said:

Bradke will play as much ruck as the King twins

The King twins have only just been drafted.

Presumably you are referring to the two Kings we had?

And anyway, you base your premise on what?  The fact he hasn't played much footy, only basketball?  What, like Mason Cox for example?

On 3/15/2019 at 12:53 PM, DeeZone said:

Maybe the coaches were reading Demonland last year where Jay received a lot of favorable comments throughout the year.

Well done Jay.

PS(What is his height / weight)

177 cm 75kg

Looks and sounds a bit like another small, tough Tasmanian...

On 3/16/2019 at 12:10 PM, Redleg said:

There is no real basis for that statement. 

There is no basis at all to say that he will actually achieve a game either.He's a guy they want to play in U18s,yet hes over aged & weighs 90kg,i was that at age 15 & only 180cm.He is as stick & will be another 5+ years of pre seasons before hes even physically strong enough to compete at that level. Lots of guys who have had a better footy upbringing than him who have never achieved a game so im just being realistic 

2 hours ago, Demon from Sydney said:

There is no basis at all to say that he will actually achieve a game either.He's a guy they want to play in U18s,yet hes over aged & weighs 90kg,i was that at age 15 & only 180cm.He is as stick & will be another 5+ years of pre seasons before hes even physically strong enough to compete at that level. Lots of guys who have had a better footy upbringing than him who have never achieved a game so im just being realistic 

You should get a job above Jason Taylor, you're such an astute judge of talent

The club hasn't done much to sell this pick.

Last day of bidding: “The AFL introduced a Supplementary Selection Period for the first time this year. This allowed teams to add players to their rookie list up until todays date,” General Manager of Football Operations Josh Mahoney told Melbourne Media.

And rather than having some wild untapped potential, we happened to know his name: “When we were considering how to use this position on our list, it made sense to add a player who knew our system and had played under our coaches.”

Underwhelmed accordingly.

Edited March 17, 20196 yr by Skuit

24 minutes ago, Skuit said:

The club hasn't done much to sell this pick.

Last day of bidding: “The AFL introduced a Supplementary Selection Period for the first time this year. This allowed teams to add players to their rookie list up until todays date,” General Manager of Football Operations Josh Mahoney told Melbourne Media.

And rather than having some wild untapped potential, we happened to know his name: “When we were considering how to use this position on our list, it made sense to add a player who knew our system and had played under our coaches.”

Underwhelmed accordingly.

I'm not quite sure what you were expecting. "Wild untapped potential" would have been snapped up in the draft period. Lockhart is being selected effectively as the last rookie pick in our draft. What's there to sell? If he makes it, well and good. But the odds of him becoming some sort of star player are long. Any attempt to "sell" this recruitment would be just setting him up to fail in the eyes of supporters.

On 3/16/2019 at 12:06 PM, Redleg said:

Now I am not sure. You could be right, we might be able to put Nieta on the LTI list and have another pick.

That my understanding. 

We left a spot open at the draft to be flexible and be able to use a selection at the mid seaosn draft if required.

With Nieta injury it opened up another spot. We decided to use one now and it still leaves the option of one free to use mid season if required.

so what is he? web search has come up with 176cm, 177cm, 180cm and 183cm. is he rubber-man?

I'm ok with it. A ruck would have been nice but best to play it safe with the last rookie spot. 

8 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I'm not quite sure what you were expecting. "Wild untapped potential" would have been snapped up in the draft period. Lockhart is being selected effectively as the last rookie pick in our draft. What's there to sell? If he makes it, well and good. But the odds of him becoming some sort of star player are long. Any attempt to "sell" this recruitment would be just setting him up to fail in the eyes of supporters.

Fair enough. I suppose signing Jay on deadline day suggests he wasn't our first option, and as such there's a natural sense of disappointment that we missed out on something else. This of course might not be case.

16 hours ago, Skuit said:

Fair enough. I suppose signing Jay on deadline day suggests he wasn't our first option, and as such there's a natural sense of disappointment that we missed out on something else. This of course might not be case.

If he proves to be a 'goer', as reported, we need another one of 'those'. A nasty one, who is tough as nails, rebound-able and who takes no sheet from Mainlanders. He is not too young either, and has played 'some' footy before...just like Vanders.

22 hours ago, Skuit said:

Fair enough. I suppose signing Jay on deadline day suggests he wasn't our first option, and as such there's a natural sense of disappointment that we missed out on something else. This of course might not be case.

I imagine he was our first option but we waited until the deadline to see how the list was shaping up and if there was someone who suddenly appeared on the radar by having a drastic preseason overhaul or dominating the NTFL. You'd have to do something pretty special between Nov and March to really standout as suddenly being a draft option.

The Hawks added a developmental ruckman, the Swans a young tall, Gold Coast a young kid who missed out in the drafts and the Saints added Sam Rowe from retirement and Jono Marsh to fill specific key defensive needs. There wasn't a splash signing in any of that lot.

The only thing I might've done differently is either had Lockhart or another kid train with the team over summer - although I assume there's a cost issue as well as tipping our hand. I think the Tigers were smarter than the other teams by getting Sydney Stack to train with them before committing to him. I'd be on the lookout for similar players in future years.

Will debut this week according to this article.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-03-28/former-vfl-star-set-to-make-debut-15-days-after-signing-with-dees

Early by some training accounts but well done, young man.

Edited March 28, 20196 yr by Lucifer's Hero

Wow!!!

head-scratcher!

good luck to the kid, but what role will he play??

Lockhart is a seriously good player. Plays very well both on the inside and out with good speed and superb skills. I didn’t really notice him for Casey on the weekend but he must have played inside most of the day and it’s hard to tell watching live who is doing well in there.

Some of his games last year were pretty incredible so I’m expecting a lot from him. Good luck Jay.

Edited March 28, 20196 yr by Drunkn167

Just now, Drunkn167 said:

Lockhart is a seriously good player. Plays very well both on the inside and out with good speed and superb skills. I don’t really notice him for Casey on the weekend but he must have played inside most of the day and it’s hard to tell watching live who is doing well on there.

Some of his games last year were pretty incredible so I’m expecting a lot from him. Good luck Jay.

Speed and good skills. There's the answer as to why he has made such a rapid rise.

5 minutes ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

head-scratcher!

good luck to the kid, but what role will he play??

His role will be to be sprayed with Gatorade at the games end.

Congrats, Jay, on living the dream of many, especially posters on here.

The next question then falls to who he will be replacing.

I still like him better as a defender but my guess is May and KK will be added to the defensive mix to boost them up and Lockhart will play forward (that's where he trained a couple of weeks ago) with possibly some time on the wing.

As to who he replaces: ANB, Spargo, Sparrow, C Wagner, take your pick really.

Sparrow probably isn't ready but he did well so I expect he gets another go. C Wagner wasn't too bad. My guess would be Spargo but it wouldn't be my preferred option.

Great effort!

Best of luck

4 minutes ago, The Chazz said:

Congrats, Jay, on living the dream of many, especially posters on here.

The next question then falls to who he will be replacing.

My guess would be Corey Wagner.

1 minute ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

My guess would be Corey Wagner.

You would imagine that he would be either Wagner, Sparrow or Hore that could make way, unless there's an unknown injury to someone else.