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I find this thread pretty pointless. Same rubbish article the AFL does every year on us before the draft. Go watch Nathan Fyfe under 18 champs video and see what an absolute dud he looked.

Please let it be Toumpas. How I'd love to see his critics have a nice slice of humble pie shoved down their throats.

They must be a tough thick skinned breed at Ocean Grove. They thrive on the being bullied approach it seems. Not like AFL princesses.

LOL McCartney against draft aid for Demons

Still think Watts has done as much or more than Nic Nat. But that's another argument (or poll) that's been done to death here.

Geeze, really? AFL.com are clearly running out of ideas if they are still crapping out articles about Melbourne's fictitious alternative best 22. Can only marvel at overlooking Robbie Gray now being considered a huge blunder. Rewind one year and he never would've rated mention. At 25 he was considered a wasted talent. At 26 he is considered an A grade superstar. That's how fast things can change in this game. An article like that really should burn in the guts of the players. How more insulting does it get than basically dismissing your worth as little more than a wasted pick? It would certainly motivate me to prove them all wrong. The football world continues willing our players and our club to fail. To forever remain an example of what not to do. It needs to end. As of now.

He coached Ocean Grove to four premierships ... oh hang on ...

Was just thinking maybe replacing Stone...

Nathan Brown makes the top three of my list of ex-footballers whose opinion I don't give a stuff about.

My hope is Spencer. He just tries so hard I want him to succeed.

You should be watching the A League Derby. It's exciting and it's a game that Melbourne can't lose.

Thanks for following me on twitter Jay Clark! I know you can see this

Missing South Australians? Look in the barrels.

This is a fantastic news! His development of younger players is right up there in the best in the AFL. You have to see the likes of Libba, Macrae, Stringer, Dallhouse and so on and its pretty impressive. The way they treated him was an absolute disgrace.

I'm way, way beyond pretending I know whether or not support staff are good appointments or not. I thought Chris Connolly and Neil Craig would be great appointments who would surely help our rookie coaches stay on the right path. Good luck to McCartney all the same.

Depends which way you're facing.

I'd give Prendergast a tick for going to Carlton

Stupid pointless article and you could do the same for any team

Bert and Pattie must really be hoping he can make a go of it this time.

AFL recruiters seem to have lost sight of the fact that the kids need to be able to play. With all the tests of pace, endurance and agility, a great football brain and instincts seem to have taken a secondary place. They are looking for people who fit the athletic profile in the belief that they can be turned into footballers. There is no way a player like Tom Rockliff should have slipped to the PSD, but he was a pure footballer who didn't fit in the athletic profile clubs thought they needed so despite his excellent year he was overlooked. Likewise, Melbourne repeatedly drafted kids with specific athletic attributes without looking at the whole package and wound up with Morton, Bennell, Blease, Nicholson etc. All runners with question marks on their ability to play, but it was assumed that they could be taught to play. I think it's clearly time to re-think the priorities. If we can get a kid who fits the athletic profile and can play, great. If not, get a kid who can play the game first and foremost.

I don't know why people speculate that either Essendon, or their players would get a reduced sentence for cooperation. They have been the opposite of cooperative. If anything, if they get as far as WADA and the COAIS, they will be severely further punished because of their obfuscation and delaying tactics while blaming others, especially ASADA, for the delays. In my view, this has been no more than I piggy bank for the legal profession, with advice being supplied more in the interests of keeping the gravy train alive than coming to an advantageous settlement. Their legal and PR advice has been appalling. Little should know better. Hird is the captive of Tania, and their respective sociopathic personalities. The upshot though, is they have positioned themselves to receive optimum penalties, not minimal penalties. WADA in particular do not take kindly to being manipulated like this. Their fate is sealed, and IMHO the penalties will be a lot higher than many are expecting.

How crass. Cancer is the body attacking itself. These people gave their time and put their money where their mouth was and you sit behind a screen and call them a cancer. This club is not big enough to hold so much hate against each other.

Glad I've never made any silly statements.

This whole thread is agonising. Truly painful. I had even traveled up to Canberra to watch the draft camp (a fun experience in itself) and then come down to Melbourne for the 'Mates of Melbourne' draft event. Four midfielders in the top 20, all of them different types and all of them highly rated. That kind of injection should be enough to bring a club at least back to something competent. Scully and Trengove were the 'only a matter of which is 1 and which is 2' talks of the draft. It really blows my mind to think of the sheer scale of the failure. Has there even been a worse first round of the draft, 4 picks, and almost total failure*. * I still think Trengove can contribute, and Scully at least got us Hogan and screwed up GWS.

He'll be back in what will later be recognised as one of the all time great comebacks. Go Trenners you good thing.

I'm hardly a source of information either, but I was told at about the same time as the above post, very reliably, that Mc Cartney will be announced on Monday as our dev coach. it was from his work with Goodwin at essendon, that made him decide to come to the dees- he really rates him. Hird wanted him, but was rejected them for obvious reasons.

Awesome news. Jackson is a gem - how different this club would be if we had him in '07 instead of that [censored] Schwab. Both Geelong and Essendon rate Macartney incredibly highly in developing players - like Stone, probably should never have been a senior coach - doesn't mean he's not a superb addition.

St. Kilda are likely to take Petracca although they might continue to think long and hard about McCartin. They need to groom another key forward to replace Riewoldt when he eventually goes but I think they will conclude that can wait and, with picks 21 & 22, they're a chance to pick up Reece McKenzie from the Northern Knights. I don't think McCartin is in the mix for 2 or 3 at Melbourne. We have Dawes and Hogan to come in and we've retained Jack Fitzpatrick who will be interesting to observe on return to training in terms of how the fitness and conditioning guys have gone about working on his body shape. Paul Roos has made it abundantly plain that we need more work on our midfield and that's where the emphasis will surely be with our drafting. Brayshaw would have to be a lock and the third pick would have to be down to Jake Lever, a defender who some think might be turned into a tall (now 194cm) midfielder* after being out of action with an ACL in 2014 or Jayden Laverde who seems to have all the skills and can play midfield and up forward and is a good height at 189cm tall. * Knightmare ~ "Midfield potential I cannot help but think there could be some scope to possibly pinch-hit through the midfield down the track if a club wants him to. He seems to have the cleanness below the knees, aggression and attack on the ball and also some reasonable evasiveness. He can run and carry the footy and use it cleanly and offensively by hand, looking comfortable with ball in hand. So he ticks the boxes from a trait standpoint and at his height if he can put all those things together then he could have an impact."

I'm not sure Simon Goodwin will be too happy about this development.

I cant remember where or much of the detail, felix as it was quite early in the piece. The gist was that ACC has far reaching powers and can collect info from any source (eg bikkie gangs) via unusual means (eg phone taps), seizing computers and records, raids, commanding phone records etc but apparently there are strict controls on how that info can be used and how/when it can be shared with other gov't agencies. Edit: forgot to mention-I think ACC interviewed Danks very early in the process so have collected more 'facts'. Other DL's may be able to confirm (or otherwise) via there general/professional knowledge etc. Dees2014 seems well informed on ASADA/Ess subject so he might also be able to add to the info sharing thing. ps big fan of felix the cat

Would be a great pick up at 40 and good to have the brothers playing together.

Stupid, unoriginal, kick-a-team-while-they're-down article. Michael Rogers, you are a hack.

What a load of utter rubbish that article was. Forget our club, what about every other club that missed out on those players? Haven't people realised yet that the draft is largely a lottery. We're trying to put 80 x 17/18 year old's in a "proper" order when it's virtually impossible to do so. I'm forever amazed that otherwise intelligent people fall for this sort of stuff. Drafting 17/18 year old's is a glorified lucky dip and that's all it will ever likely be (unless some dramatic changes are made like lifting the draft age to around about 22 - by the way, that won't be happening in a hurry so we're stuck with what we've got) Re this upcoming draft ... out of Wright, Petracca, Brayshaw, Lever, Leverde and McCartin there is a high likelihood that 2 or 3 of those 6 players that won't make it past B grade level. 1 or 2 of them could be complete busts. Maybe 1 or 2 of them might be stars. At the moment, none of us know for sure how any of them will turn out. What is almost certainly true is those 6 players will not be the best 6 players that come out of the draft. If people believe that the draft is largely flawed then in all honesty those people forfeit the right to make criticisms of those making the selections. And if people believe that the draft isn't flawed then .....

That he's headed for the national draft not PSD tells me he doesn't want to play for us Well Geelong have pick 55. We have pick 53. We've been playing nice for a long time. If he's the best available and still there well welcome to Melbourne.

Yes, but they can use it in the AFL tribunal who will initially rule (probably lightly). Then WADA will take it to the CAS where it also can be used. Essendon are stuffed. It is getting to the point where they are running out of options to hide.

Cale Morton had the same build as The Late Robert Flower. Just couldn't play footy with the same panache.(Few could) Your body shape is irrelevant in Aussie rules.

The proof is in the pudding. Would've , could've , should've doesn't cut it with me.

EFC is filibustering till they won't care if their by-then ex-players are suspended - just as they have not cared about the welfare of their players throughout. If the AFL and ASADA or WADA don't utterly destroy the EFC for their flagrant, uncaringly arrogant and unrepentant lawlessness, then I sincerely hope that over the next few years, once it finally sinks in what's been done to them, the 34 sue the EFC out of existence. Clean sport cannot stretch to include the EFC. All your own work, Hird, Little and we-have-yet-to-find-out whoever else it has been - you most loathed people in all the history of Aussie rules football. For your own gain, you cheated and now hack open all the loopholes you can, letting out into the league what absolutely has to be hunted and eradicated lest its temptation seeps into other weak-moralled and pragmatic officials' thinking. The journos and lawyers try to fluff this up, but what EFC have done is and has been throughout a strike at the very heart of sport. EFC must be seen to have been totally deleted, and quickly for preference. The greater disaster still to come is if EFC are seen to have benefitted at all.

can't you do that for any team?

The sight of James Turd makes me physically ill. Like Christopher Pyne....

Want. Kid is a ball magnet. Had had a ruined career thru injury early then lack of opportunity, but has had a solid two years in the SANFL. Would be in our midfield rotation no problem.

I am not in the head of Jason Taylor, but for me he only has to believe that one player has a better chance of being that great talent over another to pick that player. Skewing your selections in favour of the best midfielder is dumb. You speak of picking a "transcendental" talent as if it is an easy thing to do, (and besides if players want to wear ladies clothes in thier own time that is thier business). As for Toumpas, Riley and Michie. Riley and Michie have been at the club 5 mins with the former having done no pre-season after a badly broken leg, and Michie has shown something. Toumpas is a kid and clearly needs to lift but...is a kid. Pick best available or risk losing a star.

Someone is no doubt tearing up the track, someone is having his first proper preseason, and someone is fully fit after carry a niggle all year but they'll roll their ankle in mid Jan and miss 2 - 30 weeks.

I'm struggling to resist looking forward to season 2015. The MFC is like a wayward girlfriend, who just needs to wriggle her hips and I come creeping back. Only, 5 months of hip swinging to go...

Horrible coaching, horrible culture, inept administration ( infighting and schisms), zero development, no ethos in the club that hard work is required for success - and we wonder why so many picks have failed. There is something to be said about the characters of some of these footballers as the likes of Nathan Jones has improved despite the obstacles thrown at him (the major one being the way our club was run in every facet) because of his character and determination to succeed. If we could only bottle what Jones has inside him and distribute it to all at the club.

By the way I found it strange Tapscott hasn't got the chop yet. And he did seem to have more chance than Strauss and Blease last year as well as more injury niggles. He'd be the ultimate Jetta rebirth if he went back to the rookie list. Unlikely, but never say never I guess.

You really are relentless in your negativity. Given saty is not posting I feel obliged to respond to your nonsense post. What bad habits? The only reason jetts was the rookie list was his wretched run with injuries. He has always been a top trainer, played his role and a player who is 100% commited. He was terrific in the vfl when there and forced his way back into the side with his incredible consistency and by don't of hard work. If you think he has suddenly come good after being average you are clueless

Good pick up Moonie. Dont forget some other brothers over the years Steve and Shaun Smith Brett and Glenn Lovett and, of course Kevin Dyson whose younger brother Tom is currently wearing the number 12 for us

And Aidan Riley and most important his mate Simon Goodwin.It certainly does help.

Don't disagree with most of that. Gawn hasn't proved himself as a ruckman to me so far. Fitzy could still make it. I think he needs games and confidence in his position in the team.