13 minutes ago, deespicable me said:

I say NO to this prospective deal, but I said NO to Grundy, NO to Elliot from pies, NO to getting rid of Hogan, definitely NO to Jack Watts going and was even upset when we passed on Gysberts.

So I've had a crack and got a pretty terrible strike rate, so unfortunately I am banned from having an opinion "in this space" 

Or, you could have the opinion and try to keep this non strike rate going! Just as impressive as getting them all right imo. 

Remind me about Matt Rowell. 
Wasn’t he similar? 
9 Brownlow votes first 3 games then injured. 
Only a “good ordinary player” now. 
Please correct me if I’m wrong. 
 

All in on an unproven kid.
Sheesh - I go back as far as John Tilbrook. 

I hope we have two in the top ten and take the best two when our turn comes. 
 

54 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Don’t recall the name after Watts and before Swallow.

I do. I think of him as the one who helped us land Hogan, who helped us land May, who helped us land a premiership 🤩.

That he never remotely experienced onfield success makes it all the sweeter. 

I have Hawks, WC and North as bottom 3 in no particular order.
The  next 3 again in no particular order looks like being GWS, Suns and Freo. You could make a case that all of the 3 bottom teams would be interested in splitting their picks and 3 teams below interested in moving up. 
Really hope Suns finish ahead of Freo as they will def want to move up to pick 2-4 to get a pick ahead of their academy prospect. 
It’s already shaping up to be a very intriguing draft. 

Edited April 27, 20231 yr by Colm

1 hour ago, Little Goffy said:

I'm okay with Segway at pick 5 and Fanagle with 17. Would bring us a combination of sustained speed and craftiness. Hopefully one or both of Savvy and Wiley will still be available at our later selections.

 

There are plenty of not-pick-one good examples of gun kids arriving and making a potent difference in a team breaking through for a premiership. Selwood (Pick 7) and Rioli (13) in their first seasons, and I'd even say that Bontempelli (4) fits in that category with his 36 brownlow votes and a premiership in his first 50 games!

Then again, I'm the kind of person who gets irritated and avoids a movie is everyone is out there telling me how great it is. I'm profoundly hype-averse.

Still, if we were able to end up with 4, 7 and 13... I might go in for a bit of hype 

Sashay, also worth a look but unfortunately gets caught trying to dodge tackles.

Best thread I’ve read in years 

thanks JT 

I'm no advocate for tanking but imagine the following scenario:

If the wheels completely fall off for Freo and they are in the mix to go as low as Hawks / North / WCE,

In round 21 we play North at Blundstone Arena

In round 23 we play the Hawks.

Say we have top 4 sewn up (I'm not counting my chickens, this is just a hypothetical).  Imagine 'managing' a few stars or doing a heavier training load v North and losing... to the extent that it moves them above Freo on the ladder.  It would be tanking but not to get the lowest pick... it would be tanking so that our opponent gets a higher pick than Freo (who's pick we hold).  I don't think that has been talked about in AFL before.  

At the same time, North beat Collinwood last year and Collingwood were better than us last year and North are much better this year than last year.

 

Comparisons of previous draft pick successes are a folly. Drafts are a case by case, year by year proposition. What happened 5 or 10 years ago is 99.9% irrelevant to this years draft.

The key is that Taylor and Lamb are proven experts. What they get done will be the right thing for us, whether it be three x 1st rounders for Reid, or we keep the picks, or something in-between 

Edited April 27, 20231 yr by Stiff Arm

15 hours ago, DEE fence said:

Trust Taylor, I'm just about to tattoo his face on my leg I love that man so much. 

I'm in favour of needs, and I think we are most susceptible to age/injury down back. For me nothing has transformed our team as much as when we went out and built the league best defense (to some derision on $ spent). 

When I was a kid I thought defense was so boring, was always about the power forwards, 70's (wasn't much of a tactical observer it must be said), 80's (fully into wanting a messiah), 90's (happy to not be merde, but anguish that Balme never got a great run with injuries), 00's (hoping to pinch one but always aware we had gaps). Anyway when I look at these teams, with many players I dearly loved, none of them were as tight defensively as what we have now. For sure a Wight, Whelan, Walsh, J.Rivers or Lovett would make it into the current team, but in the big defender department we had Ingerson, Carroll types, who had their (with respect) limitations. The best big defender I could think of was Shanahan who was a bit cooked and cameos from Nietz.

I think our midfield will be set for awhile yet, and midfielders are more common, even if every new one makes the press wet themselves. Also I'm in favour of multiple options in front of goal, but what I really want a settled defense with new Lever/May types coming through. Petty also gives away a few too many frees for my liking in defense(if he was sneakier he could stay a defender). Petty might become a Lever type, but like Tmac, I think he's best suited forward, going straight for goal.

Re Reid, he could be a superstar mid, but I'm pretty happy with the superstar known quantities we have right now. And I'm not basing this just on May's last few games, been thinking this for a while, Jetta had Hibbered take over his lock down role, I can see McVee replacing that. Salem is a question mark, Bowey is good but not Salem game breaking good yet. But Lever and May both seem fragile, and they are the pillars that everything else works off. More defenders please.

I would even trade a picks to Carlton for Weitering, to take over from May and be our 3rd tall defender. 

 

Gee Dee fence, just noticed where you reside. I thought you might have a other priorities to at the moment rather than MFC’s draft strategy? But I agree with your thoughts. Good luck over there. 

The recruitment team seem to target 1-3 players at each range. If they appear, we will go for several e.g. Jackson + Koz. 

Or we will target a specific type e.g. bowey, Laurie.

Or, if they have found their man, they will be hellbent on getting him e.g. Lever + may. If they deem Reid to be the man, so be it.

Edited April 27, 20231 yr by MrFreeze

1 hour ago, deelusions from afar said:

I'm no advocate for tanking but imagine the following scenario:

If the wheels completely fall off for Freo and they are in the mix to go as low as Hawks / North / WCE,

In round 21 we play North at Blundstone Arena

In round 23 we play the Hawks.

Say we have top 4 sewn up (I'm not counting my chickens, this is just a hypothetical).  Imagine 'managing' a few stars or doing a heavier training load v North and losing... to the extent that it moves them above Freo on the ladder.  It would be tanking but not to get the lowest pick... it would be tanking so that our opponent gets a higher pick than Freo (who's pick we hold).  I don't think that has been talked about in AFL before.  

At the same time, North beat Collinwood last year and Collingwood were better than us last year and North are much better this year than last year.

 

Wouldn’t happen as you don’t want to mess with form going into finals as it has the potential to backfire.

But I get your point and I would hate my team to do that…. It’s akin to cheating in my book.

Edited April 27, 20231 yr by Gawndy the Great

1 hour ago, Earl Hood said:

Gee Dee fence, just noticed where you reside. I thought you might have a other priorities to at the moment rather than MFC’s draft strategy? But I agree with your thoughts. Good luck over there. 

Thanks mate, I bugged out and am currently ‘live’ in Abidjan, Cote de Ivorie, working remotely on Sudan. I notice you reside in Fitzroy, my spiritual home, used to love walking to the G when I lived there with one of the Mario’s from the cafe, who is also a Demon tragic, then a beer at the Napier after the match.

4 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

That was a trap by the esteemed author of the HWSNBN thread 🙂

Love ❤️ you Luci!

But can this kid kick?
We need elite disposal.
Which we don't got.

 

 

To play along with this hypothetical a bit further, this is the current state of play from the 'Contracts' thread.

19 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Contract news updates:

• Chandler:  In negotiations to stay Kade Chandler
• Hibberd:  Will decide at year end whether to retire  See @roy11 report above
• Jordon:  Deferred to end of year.  Has suitors. James Jordon
• Kozzie:   In negotiations to stay.  🙂❤️💙🙂 Numerous reports
• Neal-Bullen:  In negotiations to stay  Neal-Bullen

This leaves Dunstan, Melksham and Woewodin senior list players to be decided. 

A bit surprised there is no news on Woewodin as new draftees usually have their contracts extended fairly early. 

Among the Rookies: 

• D. Turner is contracted for 2024 when he will be promoted to the Seniors
• McVee ❤️ is contracted for 2024 as a Rookie and will be promoted to the Seniors for 2025

Aassuming Woewodin gets a contract extension, I see a maximum of 3 senior list spots being available - 4 potential losses: Hibberd, Melksham, Dunstan, Jordon less one known addition: D. Turner.

If we asssume we will take Kynan Brown that leaves a maximum of 2 potential senior list spots unless some 'in contract' players move on.

So I can't see us taking our two 1st and our two 2nd round picks to the draft as from what we currently know we won't have the list spots from 2023 OOC players. 

So we trade this year's picks up the order or cash some in for the 2024 draft.

Edited April 27, 20231 yr by Lucifers Hero

Harley Reid is available to line up for Carlton in his first VFL match this weekend due to his Coates League team having a bye. Let’s see how he performs for the Blues.

Also, Zane Duursma could be in the Casey Demons lineup to play Box Hill Hawks at Wonthaggi on Sunday.

 

17 hours ago, Nascent said:

Highly doubt we are in with a realistic shot at Reid unless Freo really fall off a cliff and hand us a top 3 pick. Even then, Hawks are tanking hard and the logical reason would be that they have their heart set on Reid.

Freo are teetering on the edge of a cliff it seems.  We need to draft as much class in a number of positions as we can Mids Outside KPPS

Wouldn't even think of trading 3 for 1

30 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Harley Reid is available to line up for Carlton in his first VFL match this weekend due to his Coates League team having a bye. Let’s see how he performs for the Blues.

Also, Zane Duursma could be in the Casey Demons lineup to play Box Hill Hawks at Wonthaggi on Sunday.

 

Big test for these boys!

1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Harley Reid is available to line up for Carlton in his first VFL match this weekend due to his Coates League team having a bye. Let’s see how he performs for the Blues.

Also, Zane Duursma could be in the Casey Demons lineup to play Box Hill Hawks at Wonthaggi on Sunday.

 

Everyone tune in to your television screens 

Won't happen.

1. Clubs at the bottom don't give up No 1 pick....it enables them to showcase themselves and their sponsors.  You don't get the coverage for pick 3, 4. 5 etc.

2. We are facing our own cliff in a short period of time. 

Gawn (32), May (31), TMac (31 ), Viney (29), BBB (31), Hibberd (33), Salem (28), Grundy (29).  This will in all likelihood be our only chance to select multiple top end talents at the draft, until these players retire.  One player alone at pick 1 does not produce Premiership success, you need multiple top end players close in age, as we have already proven.

Edited April 28, 20231 yr by george_on_the_outer

Given our relative lack of list spots I can see us trading up for a top 5 pick plus a top 10 pick but it may take several pick swaps with different clubs to get them. 

14 hours ago, freddy64 said:

Best thread I’ve read in years 

thanks JT 

Thats ok

Harley is playing VFL for the blues this weekend

21 hours ago, DEE fence said:

Thanks mate, I bugged out and am currently ‘live’ in Abidjan, Cote de Ivorie, working remotely on Sudan. I notice you reside in Fitzroy, my spiritual home, used to love walking to the G when I lived there with one of the Mario’s from the cafe, who is also a Demon tragic, then a beer at the Napier after the match.

Jeepers, I lived in Napier St in the 90’s, drank at the Napier and ate at Mario’s every Friday. Great days, will return in about 20 years

Edited April 28, 20231 yr by Roost it far

There's no way any club will trade the number one pick this year.

 

WILL. NOT. HAPPEN.