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Just watched Michael Clarke's press conference. I have always respected him but that respect level has just soared. What an amazing captain. He has probably just been through the most traumatic few days of his life and is obviously so shattered. He has spoken so well all week but the tears were falling today. He has really held that team together. This sort of tragedy shows what an amazing captain he really is.

"I spoke to him at training...".

We don't need depth. We need some players to become elite.

You could see the confusion on the Dees table when pick 40 was called, with Oscar there to grab, but a player they rated far higher in Neal-Bullen , also there. Roos made a face, as if he was saying, oh well we will lose Oscar but get a much higher rated player. When 53 came, they couldn't read out Oscar's name quick enough. I think they were shocked to get the last two. Taylor said the week before that he thought Oscar would be long gone by our pick 40. We had a good draft.

"In Roos we trust." Gives me the shytes.

Melbourne scored a coup this week when it drafted Christian Petracca from the Eastern Ranges but the Casey Scorpions also did well to sign Petracca's teammate, captain and club best and fairest winner at the Ranges in Luke Hannon.

Remarkable form of respect shown by both teams.

Thought this was worth sharing from Adam Burnett: It’s a tragedy of circumstance that’s left our game in tatters, A happening that makes us ask just how much cricket matters. A young man lost so suddenly without a rhyme or reason, How does one accept that Phillip Hughes has played his final season? But with the grief and sadness there’s also cause for celebration, For a life that scaled lofty heights and charmed this sports-mad nation. For a gift that burned so brightly, that was raw and hard to tame, For that cheeky grin, ubiquitous with mention of his name. From early doors they pinned him as a legend in the making, Macksville locals soon lost count of records he was breaking. The whispers grew, the rumours flew, the tales did the rounds, Of a cacky-handed run machine whose talent knew no bounds, A homespun style, an eagle eye, a focus few could rival, The simple traits that paved the way for this country boy’s arrival. Because despite the rural passion that defined him til his last, For Phillip Hughes the path was clear, his cricket die was cast. To Sydney with a bullet he flew straight down the Pacific, Within in a blink, while still a teen, his numbers were prolific. Here was a kid, a prodigy, who had to make his mark, The youngest man in baggy blue since a certain Michael Clarke. The youngest gun to make a ton in a final of the Shield, A bush technique honed on the land found gaps in any field. And as the hundreds piled up, we knew greater things awaited, Sure enough, to Africa, where a champion was created. The story now is folklore in the history of the game, With a pair of tons in Durban, Phillip Hughes had made his name. Cutting, slicing, arrowing, he took South Africa apart, He was 20, he was brilliant, he was playing from the heart. But what goes up, it must come down, a fact each player knows, With the glory and the triumphs come the failures and the lows. Four times he lost his place in his beloved Test match side, Four times he vowed to fight again, and he wouldn’t be denied. Until that fateful day when he would play his final innings, A knock that promised greater things, suggested new beginnings. We were clueless to the scale as the accident unfurled, Had no idea this tragedy would rock the cricket world. But in our darkest moments we cling to things that make life brighter, And the sport has been united by the memory of a fighter. And while the flashy blade and diamond studs could well have fooled a few, There was never any argument, he was country through and through. Because beyond the adulation, past the thrill of Test match battle, There remained a constant yearning, for his home, for Angus cattle. For the undivided love he knew from father and from mother, For that familial connection to one’s sister and their brother. So raise a glass for Phillip Hughes, put out your bat with pride, Let’s salute a little character who took life’s hurdles in his stride. The nation mourns, the cricket stops, but never be in doubt, That somewhere far above us, he’s still sixty-three not out.

From Inside Football: "Alex is probably the pick of our bunch at Glenelg. Played half a dozen senior games as an inside midfielder after having an outstanding carnival and I was surprised he didn't get All Australian. I'd expect him to go in the first 25 picks. He's a bit Pendlebury-like because he's not blessed with pace but his ability to get out of traffic and use the ball is outstanding. Had 25 possessions in one game at senior level and is just a great character kid in terms of maturity." - Glenelg football manager Matt Lokan

One thing I am absolutely certain of is that if any draftees debut in Round 1, it won't be to appease fans. It will be because they have trained hard and have done enough in the coaches' minds to warrant selection.

Back in the present, Whispering Jack discovers the cure for the club's ailments ... A HIGHWAY OF DEMONS by Whispering Jack CHAPTER TWELVE - THE DELISTING OF JOE BTFSPLK "Well I'll be damned Here comes your ghost again But that's not unusual It's just that the moon is full And you happened to call" ~ Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez It was the day of the AFL National Draft. I ventured out into the crisp morning air for a light jog to clear the head after what had been a hard week at work. With no particular course in mind, I simply ambled along in a random direction followed by the silky white clouds of misty breathing. At the end of the road, I discovered that I had stumbled by accident upon a place full of long forgotten memories buried deep in the past. It was my old school bus stop. There used to be a petrol station on the corner of North Road and now it's a fire station but the seating outside where we waited for the bus remains in place with a new roof so that today it provides shelter for travellers who sit in patience waiting for their ride. I was in the very spot where I alighted the number 10 bus every school morning and the memories of 1964 came flooding back. I was a young teenager holding the Sun News-Pictorial open at the comic section where my favourite was Li'l Abner by satirist and artist Al Capp. I recalled the many famous characters of the comic strip, whose images has been hidden from mind for more than half a century. Abner Yokum and his sweetheart Daisy Mae, Mammy and Pappy, Moonbeam McSwine, Sadie Hawkins, Earthquake McGoon, Rotten Ralphie and other residents of Dogpatch and the dystopian Lower Slobbovia. There were also assorted other characters like Fearless Fosdick, Senator Phogbound, General Bullmoose and the controversial Joanie Phoanie who sang revolutionary songs of class warfare like "Molotov Cocktails for Two". Capp had bitingly and unfairly used the character to parody singer/songwriter Joan Baez. Somewhere at home I had an album by the real Joan singing sweet songs of peace and freedom and it was close to my heart. Suddenly, he appeared in my mind's eye: the iconic Li'l Abner character whose image best describes the sad condition that has infected my football team during that long gulf in time that separates then and now. Joe Btfsplk was the world's worst jinx, a man whose very presence caused instantaneous bad luck to befall anyone unfortunate enough to be in his vicinity. Joe had a perpetually dark rain cloud over his head and despite the fact that he was well-meaning and friendly, people avoided him like the plague. I realised then and there exactly what had to be done. I turned around and with heat pounding, I made my way home running faster, yet more smoothly in stride than I had done in many years. Thoughts bounced through my head all of the way back and when I got there, I went directly into the study where I found a large sheet of white paper, a drawing pencil, crayons and some ink. I worked feverishly, drawing rectangular boxes, sketching characters and scenes within them and after an hour, withdrew to view my work. Modesty prevents me from describing it as a masterpiece. The first box portrays the scene in an office where a Christmas tree adorned with festive decorations sits in a corner next to a calendar showing the month of December 1964. A newspaper of the day is visible showing a front page picture of Melbourne Football Club hero Ronald Dale Barassi wearing a Carlton guernsey. The two men standing in the office appear to be in shock, their faces ghostlike. They are Stormin' Norman Smith and Jumpin' Jim Cardwell, leading figures in the most successful football team over the past decade. The next box is a close-up of Jumpin' Jim with a dialogue balloon that says, "Water under the bridge Norm. He's gone and there's nothin' we can do about it now!" Moving to the right we see Norm and his response, "I suppose you're right. The silver spoon mob destroyed any chance we had to keep him and now, we have to move forward ... Did I hear a knock on the door?" Norm's hearing is good because in the next frame we see the unmistakable figure of Joe Btfsplk standing before them with the customary dark cloud hovering over his head. Then another Jumpin' Jim close-up, almost identical to the last, but this time a touch of red lights up his chubby left cheek. "Sit down Joe and thanks for coming. Norm and I have been talkin' and ... er ... well, um ... we think your future here is limited. We're moving you on. You've been delisted. Oh, and on your way out, can you ask that young Alves feller outside to come in please?" The following scenes show thunderous storms surrounding the M.C.G with heavy rain lashing the old Grey Smith Stand doomed to fall soon under the wrecker's ball. The 1965 season is well under way and Stormin' Norman has just been sacked as coach. The Demons are on the other side of town playing the Kangaroos under stand-in coach Checker Hughes and are on their way to defeat. A week later, Smith is reinstated but the team keeps losing and slips out of the finals for the first time in more than a decade. I sensed that the hand of Joe Btfsplk was behind this despite or perhaps because of his delisting. But something more still had to be done so I spent the rest of draft day trying to come up with a solution. By mid-afternoon, when I thought I finally had the answer, I went back to the drawing board and kept working away for a couple of hours until the stroke of seven o'clock in the evening and my work was done. Just in the nick of time. This time the first box is dominated by the hulking figure of Abner, all 191 centimetres of him (or 6' 3" on the old scale) with hat in hand, and next to him stands the diminutive Joanie Phoanie, the sad-eyed lady of the lowlands. "Joanie, Mr. Capp probably won't agree with me sayin' this but on behalf of the good citizens of Dogpatch, I want to sincerely apologise to you for the hurt, his nasty attacks caused you. We're sorry." The following box features Joanie, her eyes now lit up, placing a gentle kiss on Abner's cheek and the ones that follow show the modern municipality of Dogpatch bathed in sunshine. The swamps and the piggeries are gone, the streets are clean and green and the townspeople all look happy. Joe Btfsplk is standing in the crowd but the storm clouds no longer sit over his head. They have been replaced by a rainbow halo. The next strip contains vision of a scene at the Gold Coast Convention Centre and it contains five rectangular boxes, all of them depicting the same white haired man and the five balloons above him bearing the following words, "Player number 214953 Jubilation C Petracca ... Eastern Ranges, Beverley Hills Junior Football Club", "Player number 215163 Available Angus Brayshaw ... Sandringham Dragons, Hampton Rovers", "Player number 214809 Smilin' Alex Neal-Bullen ... Glenelg, Klimpton Football Club", "Player number 215424 Stupefyin' Billy Stretch ... Glenelg, Henley Sharks Football Club", "Player number 214991 Oscar Colossal McDonald ... North Ballarat Rebels, Edenhope-Apsley". The bad luck that inflicted this football club for so long is gone. We're over players killed in tsunamis, tanking sagas, footballers involved in machete attacks, sacked coaches, mental illness, parents killed in car accidents, dodgy sponsors, merger talks, drunken players in jail, outside casinos and urinating in bars, lazy and incompetent officials, disgruntled players, presidents, club legends and coaches dying before their time, salary cap breaches, debilitating injuries and bungled drafts. With the ghosts of the past buried and the curse of Norm Smith gone with it, the picture should be clear. We're ready to take on the world.

Nice summary of draft, proposes ... "This is the dawn. This is the resurrection of the once proud, and perhaps one-day formidable Melbourne Football Club." Demons dominate draft for the second year running

"Engaging in groupthink" - used often here as a pejorative to attack other posters by people who aren't able to put forward a valid opposing argument against those with who they disagree. (I'm sure that most posters here agree with me)

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but how good was the Frost trade taking into account draft night? Going by the AFL site's phantom draft, we effectively traded pick 23 for Frost, pick 21 and pick 25. Bonzer.

So this morning I decided to go down to the Paleo den cafe after my gym work out to check it out. And of course I saw a bunch of the boys there enjoying their paleo diet. Viney, Salem, Toumpas, Petracca, Brayshaw, Frost, Newton and Stretch were all there. Seem like a good bunch of guys.

They actually call him "Truck" or sometimes "Trark", as in Pet-trark-a.

We would have to be the hardest football side to quantify at the moment. Anything could happen.

matters not how....just that

Tweeted earlier that I believe this two for one deal won't get as much coverage as the Tyson deal, but could be another significant trade win for us.

So for pick 23 we got Frost, Neal-Bullen and Oscar. Have to be rapt with that.

I see the 2015 team as an improvement on the 2014 team. If not, we are [censored]!

You have to think we'll play a little bit different with the help of :

This is a problem. When they had glasscox at least we could see them coming.

Which of those 3 (Pedersen, King, Fitzy) do you find inspiring? If you could combine Pedersen and Fitzy you'd have a heck of a player. But as it is Pedersen is a solid fwd/ruck but he's more a stop gap in the ruck and honest forward. Fitzy is a steady VFL player, he can't mark and has poor skills, but every now and then he does something brilliant. Unfortunately I don't think he does the basics well enough to be a regular, it's a big year for him. Max King, lovely kick, but needs a few preseasons to even get to AFL standard and we've seen so little to tell if he can mark, ruck and otherwise be effective. It's clear all 3 when compared to Mitch Clark are pretty uninspiring options.

"Sir Elton John stopped his concert in Germany on Thursday night to pay tribute to fallen Australian cricket Phillip Hughes. The singer, who confesses to being a huge fan of the sport, was saddened by the untimely death of Hughes and wanted to honour him while showing support for bowler Sean Abbott who delivered the bouncer that killed Hughes." Amazing.

No it wasn't, that answer is way too simplistic. There were many more reasons than just the midfield. For one even with a good midfield we had no quality forwards and would have struggled to kick goals.

I think he'll be better than Viney. Brayshaw is more dual sided, and harnesses his agression better than Viney. Jack needs to just slow it down a touch at times and not always go full pelt. From what I've seen of Brayshaw is that he is the smarter footballer.

Just interested why you think Cross's body will only let him play 15 games next year? He missed a few games due to a small break in his leg last year, but that should't effect him going forward. He seems to still be in good nick, and his body has held up over his career with no real history of injuries. I wouldn't be surprised if his body held up for another 2 years, and if he goes on after next year having more to do with how the younger players have developed and if the club feels they still need him around to help them.

Jamar, Gawn, Spencer is OK for #1 ruck. We've got a hole in fwd/ruck - Pedersen, Fitzy, King - it's uninspiring. Mitch bloody Clark ...

They are in the mix. Hell, for all you know I could rate them 6th and 7th best mids at the club. But I haven't seen them play at AFL level yet, and until then - we have 5 mids and a number of auditions...

Getting Neal-Bullen at 40 comes across as being a reverse-Gysberts and Oscar not only still being available at 53 but actually selected is a fantastic result. Petracca and Brayshaw always looked to be the best combination of the 'big 3', as far as I could tell anyway. I can't see how the draft could've played out any better than what it did.

http://boundforglorynews.com/2014-afl-draft-gradings/ Sorry if already posted, quite happy to read this sort of stuff over and over again!

Gold.

Yep and next season could easily be his last at the MFCI have said for some time that when he cannot get a game we will know we have improved. 2015 will be interesting on a number of fronts.

A lot on here berate our kicking out of the backline......If you look at what they had to kick to when breaking away you would understand that they had no one and therefore had to break momentum which causes indecision and turnovers, sideways kicking, handball backwards until someone was free. I think with a stronger forward line these deficenties will improve and our speed out of the back line will be more polished than it has been......

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-09-16/draft-prospect-daniel-capiron Hadn't seen much of him before, but he looks like the tall rebounding half back that we could use.

Thanks, Mrs Roos

Unbelievable scenes in the NZ v Pakistan test. "PH" under the fern on their shirt. No post-wicket celebrations. Some other great tributes included the retirement score in junior cricket this weekend being changed from 50 to 63. Never been an event like this. Will admit I've shed a tear today for someone I never met.

Vale Phil Hughes. #PutOutYourBats #63notout

One thing I see in Jimmy Toumpas is his passion and drive. Toumpas is hard on himself - and probably to a fault. But I don't think Toumpas will let these next batch of kids overtake him. I reckon these young kids in Petracca and Brayshaw will bring the best out of Toumpas. Toumpas is competitive, I see it in him, that competitiveness just hasn't quite transferred over to the field - but I think it will. To my eye, Toumpas looks like he has no core - absolutely none. I would be worried about this if he hadn't had crook hips - and had a fair run at things, but he hasn't had a fair run. Given an injury free pre-season I agree with you, I think Toumpas will be a gun.

off the MFC site This draft might help kick start a whole new gen of supporters !!

When we recruited Tom wasn't he mainly played as a forward in his junior days

It's made him taller!

I agree. What I was trying to indicate is that I reckon Roos has not only told them what type of players they should scout but where possible look for a player with an existing connection to other blokes on the list.

Interesting observation / speculation above that he could become a Westhoff type versatile quick tall swing forward - took him a while to develop from a skinny battler to a solid contributor That would be a very useful type of player to have on our list

"will be a (an absolute) gun" has been for many years a condemnation to disaster at MFC - how many times did I read this of Morton, Maric, Gysberts, $cully, even Cook, 426 etc etc. Hold your tongue until one can truly say "x is a gun"

Agree with Wormburner, That Petraccattack whatever it is, is rubbish. When you look at it all you see is Blur followed by CATTACK Way too close to Geelong - wrong team HH

You say that like it's a given.. The more likely scenario is that Toumpas will do his appendix again and one of Gawn or Salem will contract Ebola.

We won't make the 8. I predict 6 to 8 wins max, which will get us to around 12th or 13th.