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He's outside attributes are very attractive. All I want to know when it comes to Laverde is whether or not he has the desire to fight nail and tooth to win the ball when it's there to be won. If he does, then I'll be happy with the pick. I want all of our picks to have that desire. That competitive streak. It's we're we've fallen down in the past. Even JKH standing at 174 or so cm doesn't shy away when the ball is there to be won. It needs to be inherent in their game before they come to our club.

I trust Saty implicitly. Maybe because he looks like Santa Claus. Only he brings the gift of training reports for the good little children and moral condemnation to the naughty.

I thought Sam Newman wore a Sam Newman mask & wig.

It's not staggering. We are realigning the list after so many failed years of drafting poorly. We hardly had anyone good between the ages of 20 and 26 when Roos took over. The fact that we have brought in 9 players (plus Jetta) onto the primary list with AFL experience is a good thing if you don't want to wait for those draft picks to come good (if they do come good). I think we will delist a contracted player and rookie them and use ND40 but I don't hold much hope for that pick.

I like everything saty brings to DL.reports,inside mail,common sense and brevity. Plus that beautiful style of upsetting people by throwing thier own mud back at them. Almost forgot,his love for the mighty Dees. We love our Devil Inside.

I would prefer to fill the lack of class and mongrel void rather than worry about positions.

Never seen a player fumble a ball on the first day of preseason before...

Sadly I've only got a handful of these from around 1982 (I wish there was a 30 year rule where documents were made public a'la the government), but here's another one of my favourites - the great Kentucky Fried Chicken swindle of 1982.

Well said, Howey... http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2014-11-05/maia-made-a-genuine-impact-howe

I'm not too upset with only using 2 picks (plus Stretch) in the draft. In this off season we have picked up a 40 goal small forward a premiership half back/wingman a full back (a downgrade on Frawley, I agree) a highly rated junior midfielder we look likely to get 2 gun mids (I'm ignoring McCartin after Roos' comments that he can't trust TAC Cup forwards output) plus two rookies So while we aren't active deep into the draft, we will have added up to 6 players who should walk into our best 22. Give me this over four extra speculative draft picks any day.

Yep. Depressing that we are a "bottom two team" and we have so limited list room. Odds are very low that pick 40 and 50ish will be good players let alone stars but I like those odds over Evans and Matt Jones.

It's knee jerk RP We need class full stop all around the ground. We have mids (most are undercooked), we will continue to draft them and trade for them. I don't want to forego a Matthew Pavlich for a Brock Mclean if that's what it came down to. Conversely i don't want to lose a Selwood for a Jack Watts. And yes I know that drafting is a very inexact science, but making these judgements is what we pay Taylor to do......

I hate to rain on the parade kids, but the training gear last year had the MFC logo rather than the shield, I'll ask when I am in the club next week, what is going on, if anyone is that really interested

This is actually incorrect and this is fact Fyfe played as a forward with Claremont colts and showed a bit and at the time Mark Harvey seen changes in footy and was heading down the track of having a big bodied midfield. He had moved Mundy into the midfield targeted Barlow because of his size, looked at giving Mayne and DeBoer more midfield time and really set their goal at getting a strong midfield who would stand up in finals footy. When the recruiters came to him advising they were looking at Fyfe his main question was can we build a tank with him and can he play in our midfield. That is the only question he wanted answered because he knew he was a competitive beast and had the ability to win contests. So Fyfe was drafted purely and solely with an eye to being a midfielder, had they not believed he could have built a tank they would have passed him over for someone else

A new career for Mr H

I have no problem with this. I love the monogram. It is a logo, which is perfect for branding on shirts etc. I also quite like the emblem which I think had its place in a formal context ie letterheads. Why not both?

Lets compromise and draft McCartin as a mid

B-ernie

First part of round 1 complete. 245 voters. 1. Robert Flower d. Ray Biffen 236-9 Clint Bartram d. Shane Grambeau 219-26 Sean Wight d. Nathan Carroll 225-20 Anthony Ingerson d. Greg Parke 181-64 Peter Walsh d. Dale Dickson 211-34 Henry Coles d. Matthew Warnock 171-74 Andrew Obst d. Kelly O'Donnell 213-32 9. Brett Lovett d. George Lakes 233-12 Stephen Tingay d. 12. Stan Alves 159-86 Alan Jarrott d. Shane Fitzsimmons 204-41 David Schwarz d. Shane Zantuck 241-4 Brian Wilson d. Ryan Ferguson 210-35 Darren Kowal d. Andrew Moir 197-48 Aaron Davey d. Paul Callery 222-23 Graham Osborne d. Anthony Dullard 132-113 5. Steven Febey d. Darren Jolly 233-12

I didn't have a chance to write down a definitive list. I don't see a lot of ball winners there, I don't think Toumpas is a pure mid, and I don't think much of Michie TBH... We can add Riley too. I don't think that list is very impressive. I just come back to the fact that star talent generally comes from the top of the draft, expensive trades, and difficult FA targets. If McCartin is that star talent, far above the mids of his class - then so be it. But if he is isn't, I can see a Roos led MFC making the strategic decision to 'reach' and select a mid with ND3. That is the sum of what I am saying.

I agree dc They thing that really worries me is the lack of game wins. The rest is running a long second.

Sorry to rain on your parade old chap, but spoke to Christian afterwards, he has put on a couple of kilos, and standing next to him he is bigger than last year, they want him to gain strength rather than more size, he and Jack Viney were hardly sweating, both enjoyed the session

Surprised to keep reading this. I thought we would have moved past seeking instant gratification with draft picks. The players we pick are not likely to fix our midfield in 2015 and I realise that this is not what you are suggesting. We have been making investments in the midfield for the last few years, we need to expect a return on them this year and for that retuirn to grow incrementally over the next few. Jason Taylor needs to pick the blokes that he thinks are most likely to become champions, and i think he will.

If we end up overlooking McCartin for Lever, are we picking up Lever because he's a lovely person who is as articulate as Jack Grimes or because the club considers him the third best player in the draft?

Melb select a 21yo left footed midfielder from the SANFL with pick 40. Has a solid body, good at clearance and won the port magpies B&F. Sounds like a great get at pick 40 to me!!!

We used to have a wonderful system of under 19's , Reserve grade and the Seniors. The kids would develop at under 19 level and if they were good enough would go on to the ressies and after a year or 3 would be physically ready for senior footy...... Strangely worked quite well ( with the exception of zoning). Strange concept of kids develpi g bodies for the rigours of league footy. I am all for raising the age and returning to an under 19s comp.would be a much better Indicator of who.is going to make it at senior level

I agree its highly unlikely we will take two KPP however your statement is incorrect. The club has said all along they will take best players available. Mahoney is even on record as saying that could be 2 mids, 1 mid and 1 KPP or even 2 talls. Despite them saying that there is no way they will pass on Brayshaw.

Paul Roos may like the kid but I think that I will go with the popular view that we will draft Brayshaw and McCartin/Petracca as the two best available. Either way, our list will be considerably improved.

why not indeed for exactly the reasons you suggest. Each has a place.

After next year it'll be called The Hogan.

His major issue in my eyes is obviously he made no forward steps under the one year of Roos. I do agree with CF regarding the toxic environment prior to Roos arriving, Under pre Roos organisation name me 10 players who thrived - I can probably name 3 with another 10 that probably did no more than simply survive and have average output. Build a structure where a player can thrive, can develop, has encouragement and support to improve then we can squarely point the finger at the player if this doesn't happen. No excuses. However this was not the case pre Roos. Blease was an example of the worst affected by that period however it is a combination of Blease's attitude and a rotten environment. Nathan Jones has an attitude that would see him thrive no matter what the circumstances. I gave every player a clean slate as soon as Roos arrived as I saw go about setting up a new structure and dare I say the dreaded "C" word - try and develop a decent culture that has long been absent. Some players took massive strides forward - some players took small steps - some like Blease did little to embrace the new world ( either wouldn't or couldn't) - thats why he is gone.

Arguing against yourself - Against Carlton we had 45 inside 50's - a long way short of the top teams ( and the mid range teams) - we didn't get the ball in more often that day - the volume of supply didn't improve - the QUALITY of the supply and the CONVERSION improved. I don't care how many forwards you have - if you don't get the ball in they are not going to get it. The one disclaimer is Roos himself admitted that he needed to teach the team not to leak as many goals and we were far better this year but that came at the expense of attack and Roos suggested the team needs a better balance between attack and defense - so the unanswered question is - will tweaking the game plan by itself mean more inside 50's or is the current midfield incapable of lifting that number ?

I will always be a member, but this is just rubbish. "Support" doesn't just need to be financial, it does help but saying that someone is just a "barracker" is arrogant and rude.

If you really want to know: - Hird's opportunity to be smashed by the Federal Court again happens next Monday - Challenge to the Board at AGM: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ron-gauci-and-jason-cunningham-to-run-for-essendon-board-seek-change/story-fnp04d70-1227113945695 The longer it goes on the more of their seasons get derailed. Suitable self-inflicted punishment! BTW our 'Dees2014' has flagged there is a lot more nasty stuff to come out!

Well, if you follow Sam's logic - he has only had 3 coaches... Nah, he only showed anything under Roos. I would still maintain that no matter how many messengers you have had, if you reject the messages, you will get nowhere.

And I think we are. I trust Roos and co. to look in the long term. Big guys take time to develop and he has shown enough that he will develop into something significant. Think Jolley, the Russian etc, except Fitz has genuine speed and is a fine kick for goal. His marking could be better, as could his consistency and intensity, but he shows considerable long term promise and I for one are happy we are persisting with him.

ok then Hogan and McCartin/Wright there you go Pick 2 on Brayshaw

I'm glad you brought this up. I didn't 'move a little bit', I was holding up a couple of fingers to remind Brian Peake how many votes I got against him last time we played. How many did you poll Seddon? That's what I thought.

Neither. Helmut.

is there any other kind ?

Frost is a monster. Look at the shoulders on him.

Salem is bigger, I asked him whilst discussing the Champions League, said he is now on new diet, less soccer more footy! Put on a couple of kilos. I noticed he looks more solid standing next to him. Newton was not at training (assume mixed up with one of the Casey guys), neither was Billy Stretch (he is back at school in SA).

Good afternoon, I was there for the whole session, Ruffles has covered the attendees, will be putting some photos on my Twitter account Demonpk, if anybody wants a look. There were four ring ins, I asked Todd Viney "they are Casey guys that have a lot of upside, we want them to experience AFL training", you can read whatever you like into that. A few observations, Frost is huge, Roh Bail told me he is also very strong, so has made a good impression already. Dave Misson is very impressed with the standards. The amount of ball work first up surprised me. The absentees were Grimes, Jetta, Garlett, Lumumba, Vince, Jamar, McKenzie, Trengove, Riley, Spencer. The session went for 2½ hours, including a Tan run for the 1 to 4 year players

Got there at 10:15 so obviously had missed a bit. Unsighted: Jamar, Spencer, Vince, Trengove, Lumumba, Garlett, Stretch, McKenzie, Riley, Grimes, Jetta. * Big Maxy Gawn doing his customary exit back to the rooms but didn't appear to be a problem * Dom Barry going off as well, did come back briefly later * Terlich just kicking a tennis ball around * Dawes, Garland, Dunn, Fitzy doing some kick to kick and a bit of one on one marking * Watts doing light running * Cross, Tyson, Jones, Bail doing some light clearance work, pretty much just roving a fake tap and hand balling off The rest of the lads were doing boxing. Standard rep stuff but also with the boxing coach and Brad Miller walking passed and giving them taps in the guts as they are boxing, short jabs from the coach, whacks with a spare glove from Miller. Then in the last of the reps it was jabs straight in to your partners abs. The coach instructing them to hit harder and faster. Roos seemed to be enjoying it. Pedersen (looking fit), Howe, Matt Jones mixed in with this group along with the young guys. Newton and Frost part of it. Evans in the group, looking fit but thin. 3 extras - think one was Ed Morris from Casey. Didn't look like Tyler Roos but might have been, not sure. Frost has a reasonable kicking action and it comes out ok, bit mechanical but you expect that from an athletic type. And he certainly looks the build and an athlete. Newton isn't overly tall or built, but he looks solid. Fit as well. Was kicking a lot on his right which is nice to see from a lefty. They did some light skills work before another rep of boxing. Then at 11 headed over to the tan. I went that way myself and it looked like they were going to do some running along the flat alexandra ave section not full laps. Jones, Bail, Garland and Cross were doing some repeat runs along the oval. Garland clear of Crossy but all keeping a similar pace which was good. Garland seems fitter than last year. Dawes, Watts, Dunny doing some as well. Dawes is certainly a different body to shape to the lump who played for Collingwood. Watts is thin. Anyone expecting him to magically bulk up after all these years, it's not going to happen. He'll have a body to suit the style of game he (hopefully) will play. Hogan, Kent,,,, Hunt,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,King stayed to do some running on the oval as well. 1 minute running, 1 minute walking possibly. Fair to say young Kingy is a long way off. Each comma in that ordering represents about 3 metres. Toumpas seems much heavier in the upper body. But not big bulky arms. It was noticeable last year that he came back looking very lean and put in some good efforts in the running. This year it might be that he's filled out a bit and so if he keeps improving his fitness he hopefully he plays with more power. Pedersen looks fit. Harmes looks stronger and more mature in the body, but has a horrible surfer style haircut. Frost is a big athletic unit. Hogan looks good and it's great to have him out there. Overall everyone looked fit really. We have a crazy number of coaches and support personnel. Roos in charge but not pushing anything too hard for the first day. Goodwin taking it all in. Involved with Benny Matthews for some of the midfielders stuff. They look pretty similar. He looks good in red! Brad Miller looking enthusiastic. Toilet watch and Crowd watch can be filled out later. I'll await feedback to see if the demand is there.

Spent a little time there from 10am on the way to the shops. There were a couple of groups at that stage, one of senior players kicking and marking and a large group of presumably the 1 - 4 year players doing boxing among other things. Among the senior group were N Jones, Dawes, Dunn, Garland, Bail, Cross, Tyson, Fitzpatrick. Terlich did laps and Watts rocked up later on and also did mainly laps. Among the large group were McDonald, Frost, King, Hogan, Hunt, Salem, JKH, Michie, Evans, Howe, Harmes, Kent, M Jones, Pederson, Toumpas and Viney. I think I saw Gawn across the oval at one stage but no sign later on. There were three players I didn't recognise though. I'm assuming one was Ben Newton but have no idea who the other two were. I'm pretty confident neither was Stretch but perhaps one was Tyler Roos? Garland, Dunn, Fitzpatrick and Dawes spent some time doing 1 on 1 marking and later on did laps and timed runs at a good pace. The main group also spent some time doing drills like ground ball gets, marking while being hit by a pad and just mark then kick rotations. Actually I saw Barry at one stage too, though I don't think he was out training most of the time. Roos was there with Goodwin along with most of the other coaches. The best thing was seeing Hogan getting amongst it!

With the recruitment of Newton, in bringing in Frost, Lumumba, Newton and Garlett, we have used the trade and FA period to strengthen every line. Bringing in Newton gives us another left footer to play in midfield alongside Salem and Viney. If we add Brayshaw, who is very good off both feet (predominantly kicks left footed in general play, right when lining up for goal), that’s a nice little group that we can bring through in a similar vein to Hawthorn. The other plus in the Newton signing is that it helps make up for our missteps in the 2010 draft. Whilst we missed with the Cook pick, we have now added Michie and Newton in addition to Howe and McDonald who have established themselves as regular senior players. If Michie and Newton become regular contributors, our list profile all of a sudden looks a hell of a lot better. Especially if the majority of our picks from 2012 (Toumpas, Viney, Kent, Barry) 2013 (Hogan, Salem, JKH, Hunt) & 2014 (Stretch + picks 2 &3) are developed well under the current regime. 2011 was a complete write off for us, but at least we’ve ended up with Tyson and now Frost from that draft year.

I can't resist making snarky remarks in response to Blease's recent public sooking. "Five coaches? I can't remember more than three coaches at Casey in the last few years." "Five coaches? So tragic that not one of them explained the need for endurance, defensive accountability and team awareness." "Five coaches? The way Blease counts them, we have five right now; Roos, McCartney, Viney, Rawlings and Goodwin."

I was reading an article today about a woman with a leech up her nose that grew there for a month. It got me thinking about the wonders of ancient medicine and I recalled that leeches produce an anticoagulant that will help blood to move to the area where they are applied. Now I'm sure JT has had enough parasites feeding off him for a lifetime but while he is sitting on the couch playing puzzles I think it would be a great idea to give these suckers a go. I recall hearing that slow blood flow is the reason the navicular takes so long to heal. If I am correct I expect to be hired as club Witch Doctor forthwith and i will put my mind to lifting the curse. Dr Biff,WD.

I'm not perfectly clear on the connection between the two. Please explain.

Stop that! I love Dawesy!