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I've been groupthunk in to wanting Lever. Just putting this out there so when we don't draft him and he turns out to be a gun I can bleat about it repetitively, even though I actually have no idea about the juniors at all.

Its diabetes... He's not a lepper. I've played footy, cricket, raced motorcycles and raced in marathon mountain bike events with type 1 and its only skill that stopped me doing anything professionally NOT diabetes. Being a professional athlete is the perfect environment for micro managing T1D. Great fitness, nutrition and medical staff watching your every move. His diabetes is less of a impediment to his personal future playing success at AFL level compared to drafting a kid with a previous hip, knee or shoulder injury.

My inside mail says the same thing. If St. Kilda take Petracca, we'll take McCartin. Personally I think this is a good choice. I understand we need more midfielders, but of the other potential Pick 3s, none of them are true mids. Laverde = Half back/forward flanker Lever = KPD Weller, Ahern, Duggan = all rated a level below McCartin in overall quality. If there was another stand out midfield option, I could understand taking them over P-Mac. But there's not - in which case we should go the best available, and that means watching the McCartin and Hogan tag-team rag doll defenders for the next 10 years.

i bet he didn't even wait to digest lunch. he could have easily got a stitch and drowned. somebody do something!

...and he will sew it on sideways so it's all mystical and whatever.

Nev Jettas tackle on Westhoff!!

I am completely over all this. Just play guys......nothing magic in numbers, guernsey or draft for that matter.

Seen this photo on Jeff Whites Instagram. Brings a tear to my eye. Seeing all these ex players keeping touch such a good bond they must have. Can you name them all?

I must admit I get more nervous seeing a question punctuated by an exclamation mark, rather than a question mark. Don't you!

Good luck to the kid. Too many red flags for a pick 3. Easy pass.

Dale Weightman Date of birth 3 October 1959 (age 55) Original team - Mildura Imperials Debut - 1 April 1978, Richmond v. Carlton, at MCG Height 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) Weight 69 kg (10 st 12 lb) Playing career: 1978-1993 Richmond 274 games 344 goals. Career highlights: Richmond Premiership player 1980 Richmond Captain 1988-92 Richmond Best and Fairest 1986, 1987 Victorian Representative 20 times Victorian Captain 1987, 1988, 1990 All Australian 1985, 1986, 1988 EJ Whitten Medal 1986, 1990 Simpson Medal 1985 Tassie Medal 1985 Richmond Team of the Century Richmond Hall of Fame inducted 2002 Australian Football Hall of Fame Member It might be baggage but some players can carry it pretty well. You would hope we do due diligence on this if we are considering McCartin. I am sure we would have.

We know McDonald is fit, he can now spend the rest of the preseason in the gym and working on his kicking.

WJ my point is that if I were the player, any "guarantee" the club made me wouldn't be worth the paper it was written on, when it had only very recently "guaranteed" me a spot on the senior list. All trust would be broken. If they can backflip on the contract they can just as easily backflip on their promise to make him fully available at all times. There's just no mechanism to give him the same deal on the rookie list that he has on the senior list, he can only get a one year deal for a start. This is entirely a situation of the club's own doing, it's not some unforseen circumstance that has happened by luck. I don't see why Neville Jetta, who is clearly a best 22 player and has busted a nut to get there, should be the one to pay for the club's seemingly sloppy list management.

I think the problem is that an iron-clad guarantee for promotion at the end of next year loses its force somewhat if it means we've reneged on a similarly iron-clad guarantee this year.

i want 17 left empty so brett lovett's son can have it when we get him next draft. i'd really like sos in 18 as well, but perhaps he'll start with a high number, then take it over once cross retires?

Would've come first if his legs weren't broken and he didn't start his run from North Fitzroy.

Is this a dick measuring forum or a place where ideas are treated on their merit (or lack thereof)? Please. The best way to drive away new posters (and hence new ideas) is to play the 'shutup n00b' card. It's childish. Really, really childish.

That fact that you considered it in the first place leaves you in the category of 'NFI'.

Yes I have.

Watts ran a really quick one, so that stat is dead to me.

Can name most of them, but more importantly, great to see them supporting Neale. Wish him all the best.

If you would like to view a scientific review on athletes returning from ACL injuries from 2010 check this link out. It basically says that from evaluating 5770 athletes, keeping in mind that these aren't specific to AFL, around 90% returned to normal (or close to). Seems to think that the recovery rate (high) and return rates (lower) seem to suggest that there is a psychological link to those that make it back compared to those that don't. In other articles - much high risk in young female athletes and some risk factors are muscular imbalance at the knee joint (hamstring/quadriceps). Another study states a significantly higher rate of return for athletes younger than 30. Overall the scientific community still have a ways to go to understand ACL injuries. From everything I have read and from the recent medical statement on Jake Lever, it looks like he will make 100% recovery if he hasn't already and given the quality of training staff in the AFL, should reduce risk of recurrence even further. After doing the research, I am all for taking Jake Lever in the draft. And word inside the club says they rate him very highly.

Just been consummately proven to not really understand what you're talking about, illustrating that you're just jumping at shadows and skewing an argument because you favour McCartin. You might prefer McCartin over Lever, but you're going to have to come up with a better reason if you're gonna convince anyone...

no sunblock,no hat. very disappointing .

Just had a look at the actual numbers in prior years of graft ruptures at afl level. 2014 hasn't been released and 2013 discussed 2003 - 0 2004 - 2 2005 - 1 2006 - 4 2007 - 2 2008 - 4 2009 - 1 2010 - 0 2011 - 4 2012 - 1 Which gives my Off the top of head number was way way over, real average of recurrences at AFL level at 1.9 per year. In other words f#%k all

The jump is fine, not quite sure about the "Jones" tramp-stamp though...

In decision making hopefully. That's about the only real knock I've got on the bloke.

Not upgrading Jetta is not an option IMO for the "iron clad guarantee" reasons discussed above. The possible options are to delist Trengove, McKenzie or Evans with the promise to re-rookie them, But there has to be something in it for them. There's definitely not more security of tenure so I think the only other thing MFC can offer is more money. We could offer them a big pay increase on this year's contract. I know a player can name a contract price in the ND but can they do the same in the RD? If they can then I suspect they'd have to put it on for both the ND and the RD and that would restrict their options to be picked up by another club in the ND - I think DFA is over so the only way they can get to another club is through the draft. If they can't name a price in the RD then the risk for those guys is that another club rookies them before our RD19 at the standard Rookie rate - we'd have to commit to picking them at RD2 to make it work. Not sure what the AFL would think about us throwing money around like that though. I'm not burned up like everyone else seems to be about passing on pick 40 when I weigh it against the cultural implications of enabling it to be used.

Lever article on the AFL website. The so-called "injury ravaged"* defender has shown in scans to have a fully entact ACL, with no damage around the area. Pick him at 3, if he's still there. I'd laugh if McCartin went at 1, and Petracca ended up falling to pick 4. *so-called by those who don't actually have any clue to his injury status.

As the name suggests, the Federal Court is a court of federal or national jurisdiction. It is separate from the Supreme Court (of Victoria) which is a state court. The Full Bench means a court constituted of usually three or more judges. This appeal is against a judgment made by a single judge sitting alone in the Federal Court (in this case Middleton J) and is being heard by a panel of three Federal Court judges (the word "full" does not refer to their state of sobriety ) If one of the parties is aggrieved by the decision in this appeal, they might get leave to appeal to the High Court. I don't think that will happen based on my reading of the arguments but some funny things do happen from time to time in our legal system.

Nobody is suggesting "puling a contract out from under a player' and I don't see a previous iron clad guarantee that anyone is reneging on. To the contrary, the contract is for the employee of the MFC to play for the club over a period of time at a rate of pay and under set terms and conditions. None of those would change at all.Our football department is charged with putting out the best team on the ground every week. Our players should also have the same aim in mind. If the FD doesn't set out to achieve the best list possible it's not fulfilling its aims. One way or the other, I'm sure they will do what's reasonably necessary to secure a pick at 40.

He's been managing it all his life. Shouldn't be a big deal.

And the difference with your insane love for an unproven, never played-an-AFL game 18 year old? The more you attack Toumpas, the more you undermine every argument you have re McCartin. Though the only problem with that is that you don't see it.

Collingwood supporter who has good connection to dees says 100% Melbourne will get Mccartin under the assumption that Saints will take Petracca...so don't worry Mccartin fans!

I'm sorry, Gmax, but part of me wants to keep it purely to teach young Demons that sometimes busy clubs should have busy emblems. Those 'signatures' are the rules of the game, written by the bloke who founded this game, concurrently with founding this club. The flame is taking ownership of the city that hosted the Olympics - an ownership some would love us to continue. It is our name... The southern cross is supposed to be an elegant shout out to the indigenous, the trident is the demons. You don't have to like it, but know what is going on in there and why others take some level of pride in the clubs achievements, no matter how ancient.

I'd prefer to keep Evans and only use picks 2 and 3. Roos’ record in developing late draft picks is overrated. He is a master of getting the best out of players but he doesn't necessarily develop depth or turn draft picks into good players. I can see why he prefers to trade in players. Look below, his strike rate is poor. (I have left out at least 15 rookie selections in this time). 2002 Traded pick 21 for Nick Davis (good pickup) Pick 5 – Jarred McVeigh (brilliant) Pick 34 – Dempster (father son, ok player) Pick 50 – Josh Thewlis (who?) Pick 64 – Nick Malceski (great pick) PSD 3 – Craig Bolton (Handy) 2003 Pick 16 – Josh Willoughby (WHO?) Pick 29 – Tim Schmidt (WHO?) Pick 45 – Redrafted Amon Buchanan (decent) Pick 47 – Andrew Eriksen (WHO?) Pick 69 - Matthew Davis (WHO?) Rookie Picks – None of note 2004 Traded pick 15 for Jolly (Serviced a need but Jolly was a backup ruck) Pick 31 – Jarred Moore (OK Player) Pick 47 – David Spriggs (Irrelevent at Swans) Pick 61 – Heath James (did nothing) Rookie picks – pick 2 Heath Grundy has been a good pickup 2005 Traded picks 19 and 50 for Ted Richards (Paid overs but worked out well) Pick 51 – Matthew Laidlaw (who?) Pick 54 – Kristian Thornton (who?) Pick 59 – Ryan Brabazon (who?) Plenty of wasted rookie picks Rookie pick 58 – Kieran Jack (worked out well) 2006 Traded pick 33 for Peter Everitt Pick 15 – Daniel O’Keefe Pick 49 – Daniel Currie Pick 65 – Peter Faulks Pick 79 – Jesse White Rookie pick 15 – Nick Smith (AA defender now)

Evans has been training

You're that one friend everyone has Picket Fence, that when they leave the pub you go home scratching your head wondering how you're still talking. Every Melbourne selector would've told you that after 2 years Ollie would've had a better career so far comparatively speaking to Jimmy, we selected the latter because they believe he has the potential to be the better player. Rhys Palmer looked a great player for Freo in his first two years too, a far far better player than Cotchin in his first two years.. Didn't have the body shape or endurance to play permanent midfield but low and behold, at the prime of career the class has shown through. If we got that pick wrong, it wasn't the first and it won't be the last the club makes in the draft. Doesn't make your point scoring any less ridiculous though.

Likely that either Evans or JT will move to rookie list. IMO any of the following players like Gore, Drummond, Wilkinson, Langdon would be worth it.

It doesn't matter who it just matters that it happens! Evans, McKenzie, Fitzpatrick. Take your pick.

The bandwagon is at least roadworthy. The reality bus would be lucky to make it to the end of the street.

Like Stef Martin, for instance.

We now know the news of the signing of Sandringham's James Munro who with three other Casey players is training at Melbourne -Casey quartet train with Melbourne. In addition it looks like Shannon Byrnes will be coming on board as an assistant playing coach - Dual Geelong premiership player Shannon Byrnes appointed playing assistant coach of Casey Scorpions. Great appointment. The Scorpions have re-signed power forward Tim Smith but on the flip side, two players are leaving the club:- * forward Jake Best who had a disappointing 2014 after a great debut season the year before is returning to Leongatha, and * former Demon listed player Troy Davis.

But RPFC, in another post you spoke about how you can't see enough quality midfielders on this list come 2017. I couldn't agree more with you on this, and I believe we'll take Brayshaw and McCartin at 2 and 3, so where are the rest of the midfielders going to come from? We're going to pick into the 80's or 90's over the next couple of drafts? I would have thought picks 40 and 53 in a very even draft would be wonderful opportunities to add a couple of extra talented midfielders for McCartney to develop. I maintain that I would be staggered if a rebuilding club with the best development coach in the AFL only brings in 3 kids (Brayshaw, McCartin and Stretch) in an even draft.

I have a huge preseason planned, DA. I'm building a keg fridge on the back veranda for my homebrew and painting it Red and Blue. It'll be particularly useful for when I need to drown my sorrows (i.e. 20 minutes into Round One or following the first three catastrophic preseason injuries). I'm also training my kids up on profane language in preparation for the Round Two clash at Manuka Oval (Tom Scully Carnival of Hate). They're growing up in Queanbeyan so they already have a pretty good excellent swearing vocabulary, so I'm concentrating on grammar, context and combinations. " Nice one $cully you [censored] [censored] glass-eyed, soulless [censored]!" That kinda thing. Good times!

A player, most likely Evans, will make way for Pick 40. It's just a question of who we take with our three picks:- Brett Anderson's Mock Draft which is mentioned above could well be spot on as far as 2, 3 and 53 are concerned. Here are the relevant picks according to Anderson who is a Demon at heart which makes his selections well reasoned, logical and probably wrong

I'd rather just pay out his contract if it's Evans. There's no point keeping him on the list, he is a clogger (harsh, but realistic). Sure it's a lottery at Pick 40, but why not try our luck since we don't know what 'player 40' is capable of yet, we know what Evans brings ... and it's not much at all.

Likely either JT or Evans will be dropped to rookie list to enable pick 40.

Jetta (51 - 2008), Gawn (34 - 2009), Howe and McDonald (33, 53 - 2010), Kent (48 - 2012), JKH (40 - 2013). I'd say that's worth a shot. Much better than our first round pick record! Worth 200k to pay someone out if they are unwilling drop back to the rookie list

Outside i heard a bird chirp 3 times, which my dog barked at once. The bird then responded with 2 more chirps, which were met with 2 further barks from my dog. From this i can deduce that either Pe-tra-cca or Mc-Car-tin will go at pick 1. Bray-shaw will go at pick 2. There were no further draft whispers between the bird and my dog, so i am unable to decipher who we will pick at #3.