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Craig Cameron drafted Matthew Warnock, on to the rookie list, and he managed to eke out an 87 game career over 9 seasons. Pretty hard to be critical of that.

This may be more suited to the 'differing opinions' thread - but you know what JR, this is what Demonland needs - a little self deprecation. Everyone's become a [censored] expert on this site. We should have a confession thread. I'll start: I too thought Toumpas would be good. I thought Lucas Cook would be part of the answer to our forward line problems and I was staggered Dom Barry wasn't at least a poor man's Cyril Rioli. I am now thinking Curnow could be fools gold and Weideman may be the next Pavlich. Go Dees.

Parish and Weideman would be a pretty strong get for mine. My preference is Weideman over Curnow if both were available as I do have a concern that the latter could be a jack of all trades, master of none. I'm generally wrong.

The fact that he supports Richmond, not Collingwood, is the best thing I've heard about him. I'm a lot keener on him now.

Me too personally DD. And on what I've seen of the two (as I say elsewhere that's a lot less than the recruiters) I struggle to work out why we would go to the cost of securing pick 3 to take Curnow over Parish.In the same edition of Inside Football and in different articles, the Geelong Falcons' coach, Andy Althorpe and regional manager, Michael Turner are both quoted as describing Parish as their team's best player. In other words, they put him ahead of Curnow who was injured and missed the Australian championships this year. When he came back later in the season, I don't think he did anything special and he was unremarkable in the losing semi final I attended at Princes Park. I can understand us making sacrifices to get pick 3 in order to select Parish but it's not cut and dried that Curnow would not have been available to us had we kept 6 and nor is it any certainty that he won't be there at 7 anyway. If I'm wrong, it's because I haven't seen enough in Curnow that would place him ahead of a two time All Australian who also promises to bring to the table some of the things we're lacking in at the moment.

The only aspect of Satyricon's training reports that had any merit was when he outlined who was in the main group, who was walking laps and who was in modified training. That's it. Everything else was cringeworthy. Such as him saying to vandenBerg after he missed a goal on the run, "you took one too many bounces", or telling Salem that he "trained about as well as his soccer team" that had just lost. He reckons, "Tyson asked me how I played against Freo. I told him". It was the pits. In any other workplace they would have got a restraining order. The players must have thrown a party when they heard he'd landed a job. Mind you, if he spent less time accosting players and more time looking for one he wouldn't have had to spend his life blaming Abbott. In one of Joeboy's preseason "3 word" threads he lambasted the "noisy minority" for not having Grimes, McKenzie and Bail in their best 22. In March he put out his own best 22 and left out Viney, because he'd had a poor preseason. Naturally, the opposite was true. Yet idolaters hung on his every word. They kept asking him about selection and game plans. It would be laughable if it wasn't true. I just hope the players can rock up on Monday free from his ineluctable presence.

I am sold on this kid and really hope we select him with our pick 3. I know that taller midfielders are all the rage at the moment and some think that Parish is too short. Cast your eyes over this list of current players that are within 2cms of Parish or shorter and hopefully it will allay any fears; Rory Sloane: 183 Marc Murphy: 180 Steele Sidebottom: 180 Lachie Neale: 176 Joel Selwood: 182 Jaeger O'Meara: 182 Gary Ablett: 182 Dion Prestia: 175 Stephen Coniglio: 181 Dylan Shiel: 181 Sam Mitchell: 179 Nathan Jones: 180 Jack Viney: 178 Andrew Swallow: 182 Brent Harvey: 167 Travis Boak: 183 Robbie Gray: 183 Jack Steven: 180 Leigh Montagna: 178 Dan Hannebery: 181 Kieran Jack: 178 Andrew Gaff: 181 Luke Shuey: 183 Not too shabby a list that!

Numbers mean jack [censored]. Just my opinion..

RTG, I bow to your superior [censored] ups, my friend.

My immediate reaction is that Collingwood is playing tricky buggers.

We always bring out the best in Darling. West Coast beat us by ten goals+, he's too strong for Garland, too quick for McDonald and has a field day with his defensive pressure against our under pressure and poorly skilled backline. Combined with his draft position and Lucas Cook I doubt there would be a group of supporters who ranks Darling higher than we do! So whilst he's a very good footballer (despite his poor grand final) I think Curnow has a few aspects better than Darling. He looks like he has long reach in the air. His endurance could become first class given the families athletic ability and he just seems to have an x factor with the way he reads the play as a forward and in his decision making. No doubt he has more rough edges than Darling as well and I'd gladly settle for a Darling start to his career for Curnow as pick 7 (a marking forward capable of 40 goals next to Hogan would do wonders) I see enough potential for Curnow to be every bit as good as Darling if not better.

Had a listen to the Alex Neal-Bullen interview, having read the transcript earlier. This in itself is quite sad. And I've stated earlier, I rate him. You could make the case that we have previously recruited footballers who are also 'good citizens'. ANB, however, comes across as a young bloke who wants to be part of something special and will do whatever it takes to make it happen. Big difference. He's a part of what I see as a group of young players with a pack mentality (that's what will move the club forward imo) Notwithstanding the physical attributes, I'm hoping whoever we recruit has the same mentality and gets on board with the likes of Viney, Stretch, Hogan and Salem. Probably, that's why I'm wanting Parish. My gut feel is that he plays like he doesn't expect to lose.

What a parasite. It finds a host, it feeds, it embeds itself and has to be removed, only to find another (stupid) host.

Yes great to see a forward line in our 2017 finals campaign as: Kent Weideman Vince Gartlett Hogan Petracca Weideman is good enough to be a key fwd in the AFL within 2 years

I've invested enough to be expecting Parish to be called out at #3, but not enough for wailing and gnashing of teeth if that doesn't happen. As has been observed numerous times before, it's different and strangely refreshing to be headed to the draft with two top ten picks, and not being overly attached to any draftees.

Well BBO I tried to but things turned out not as I expected today. After my business breakfast at Wild Timor Coffee House I was supposed to be met by my best man in a 4 tonne truck to drive out to Tullamarine Airport. But he when he didn't arrive I had to track him down and found him finally half cut in my Thifty rental truck and not making any sense. So there was nothing for it but for me to jump in the drivers seat and set forth for Tullamarine in the rain and peak hour traffic driving this unresponsive hulk of a vehicle, with Parker snoring beside me. I get to The freight storage centre gate but they won't let me in without Customs papers, so I have to reverse the beast with no help and pull into the car park and all I get is abuse from these appalling hairy men in singlets who drive big trucks! What is their problem, surely if they see a smaller truck with Thrifty written all over it, they know to steer clear, anything could happen. Anyway after being informed Customs would not be available for 2 hours I set off for a coffee at Maccas but then found it is impossible to park a truck in Maccas at Tulla so headed off on the freeway and found myself opposite Gladstone Park Shopping Centre in a Maccas! I ordered a latte to have here and was given a half litre mug of grey coloured milk, with a hint of coffee flavour, what is that about? Anyway I was definitely doing my bit and pressing the flesh with the ordinary people at this stage. Back to Tulla and finally Customs clears my consignment of cargo from Egypt, but not after he had a good look at the sarcophagus and the Greco Roman statues, all above board of course, really why do they waste our tax payers money and my time. I mean why even question my statue of Zenobia from Palmyra as if I am some antiquities thief! Really. Anyway in retrospect what a day it has been and Parker is still [censored] so must provide some constructive feedback at our next performance review meeting.

Saty was in the know about Salems breakfast and Trengoves puzzles but he never told me anything about Jack Watts' attack on the man.

Great article.

Here's an article on him as a bottom ager last year. You get the feeling that he and Petracca would enjoy working together up forward. http://afldraftcentral.com.au/2014/04/15/afl-bloodlines-weideman-wants-to-forge-own-legacy/

I think he still does some [censored] at Carlton. Where else. I'd employ him, ask him his opinion and do the exact opposite.

Thank you JR. I'm hoping to make some outlandish predictions totally without merit very early in the new year. They'll be mostly based around Max King.

Yeah. Numbers mean such a lot - how many "he wifi be an absolute gun" young players have borne #31 in the past 50 years...all going to be the next great savior. Ray Groom - his only Premiership was that of some hick island state to our south.....and one of the Cockatoo-Collins twins......Paul Wheatley was a very serviceable player but never the "next" RDB. And if numbers do mean anything, what was Ox wearing when he did his knee, did his knee, did his knee? Perhaps he is trying to exorcise a demon??

That would just be pure gold if after all this time Deeluded turned out to be Todd Viney!

It's all very complicated.

& to think I initially wanted Wines & Viney or Stringer & Wines, but got talked around as I hadn't done any spotting.

I voted for Toumpas - beat that!

who would carltoon prefer to have nowa days, Judd, or Kennedy?

I can't see us overlooking Parish. It just doesn't make sense to me. Essendon won't take both Curnow and Weideman, so I suspect one gets through. I'm also sceptical about the Prestia scenario, although I suspect the club already has a very good idea as to our likely chances of luring him.

It might sound as if I'm flogging Inside Football but the pre draft edition is always good value and I would like to direct you to an interesting article written by Brian Waldron on why he loved trade time. He points out that he was always most comfortable with recruiters that were open and honest in their dealings (specifically mentioning Craig Cameron as one of these) and I think our current people are in the same category. This year's dealings suggest they already have a good rapport with the Suns and if Prestia, who will be out of contract this time next year, wants to leave and we want him, then I don't think a transfer will be difficult to arrange. In fact, I don't think arranging a transfer will be a major issue if we wanted to secure Prestia when his current contract ends.

The following year's first pick.

Not a big wrap for Knightmare but i highly doubt Curnow will slip out of the 10 personally.

There are plenty of ways a young player can be a bust besides injury ProDee.

It's all very exciting, but I just hope we don't fall into the trap of drafting for need. The pundits seem to be under the impression that we'll be going tall this year with at least one of our picks - the same chatter that was doing the rounds in 2010. That year we had our eyes fixed on Tom Lynch, who was taken one before our pick. When we lost him we moved to the next best available TALL, rather than next best available player... Lucas Cook. We're all licking our lips at the prospect of either Weideman, Curnow or McKay (and now seemingly Collins), and I'm fine with that, as long as they are the best available PLAYERS available at those picks. FWIW I don't believe that Curnow or Weideman will make it through to our pick at 7, however I haven't seen or heard anything that proves to me that either of them is a better footballer than Parish.

It was sugested to me this morning that the only reason we might not take Parish is that we know we'll be getting Prestia in 12 months time and want to make certain of Curnow.

Casey Scorpions ‏@CaseyScorpions 24m 24 minutes ago Best of luck to Declan Keilty & Jordi Moncrieff who will be training with @melbournefc in the lead up to the national draft #AFLDraft

Disclosure: I'm a proud sponsor and confident that Max will rise to the top four of AFL ruckmen to which he's aspiring:- Max factors himself into elite ruck calculations

I don't like his filthy bloodline, you just know it's only a matter of time until Bucks ambushes him on an oversees holiday and convinces him to join Pappie's old club!

I don't know how much credibility Anderson has but I'd be a bit disappointed if we went with those selections.

we need to collect as much top talent as possible before we depart the bottom 6 on our journey up the ladder. If we don't then we are destined for a mid table destination. Lets hope the picks are talent based and not needs based.

In the HS today "After just one development season, Harry is tipped to crack the top 10 at this months national draft as Melbourne, Carlton and Adelaide eye the marking forward. Had Harry been born eight days later and ineligible for this years draft, some AFL recruiters believe he would have grown into next years No.1 pick" AGE: 17 HEIGHT: 200cm WEIGHT: 91kg CLUB: Gippsland Power POISITION: Key forward SUPERCOACH AVE: 73 (TAC Cup) PLAYS LIKE: Joe Daniher / Tom Lynch (GC) PROJECTED DRAFT RANGE: 5-15 IN THE MIX: Melbourne (7), Carlton (8/11), Adelaide (9), Richmond (12) This kid excites me more than Curnow, Milera and the others tipped to come later.

Player management is where they'd be getting in most of it from - they leak like a rusty sieve

Going to the simple question of : Is there a spot for Watts in the 22 ? supposes that he is or will be treated any differently to any other on the list. Whilst we may all ponder that might be the case I doubt it personally. Is there a spot for him ? is there a spot for "insert any other player " ? In reality its the same question across the board of all on the list. The answer is equally as simple imho. Its up to them. If they put the effort in and make their case ...they will play. If they dont, they wont..

Played against Sam this year when we played the Raiders twice. Was surprised to learn that he was only 18 half way through the year because he gave us a touch up. To finish 3rd in the leage best and fairest is an outstanding achievement considering its one of the strongest leagues in country victoria that featured the likes of Fevola, Kosi, Dean Polo, Setanta O'Hailpin, Kayne Petifer, Sean O'Keefe, Chris Hyde and many more. I also wouldn't compare him to Jayden Hunt at all. Hunt was a true blue smoky because he had hardly played any footy except for the odd school game where Murray has played against senior and AFL seasoned veterans. Could he adjust to AFL? Absolutely, but he would need to really knuckle down and work hard because he got cut from bushies due to lack of work ethic and poor endurance. We know that can all get fixed though. I would rookie list him first. I think the fact that he has played a whole year at senior level instead of teenagers can be a plus on your side for development. There is definitely huge potential there. The 2nd time we played wodonga we put all of time and homework onto Murray as he caught us off guard last time and dominated. Rarely do you put a tag on an 18 year old at senior level in bush footy but the kid is just too good for this standard. Good luck to Sam. Hope he gets drafted purely on the fact that we don't have to play against him..lol

Jack should stick to fixing up all the other things he's failed at, like stopping world hunger and finding a cure for cancer. He's done neither of these things since he was drafted and, frankly, I'm angry about it.

Watched most of that video. Think it's important to realise it's seemingly lost of his disposals not just highlights. I'm still a fan. He makes things happen. His athleticism is obvious, he seemingly has go go gadget arms and has strong hands in a contest, which of course is what you need at TAC level to be any chance at AFL level. He's certainly a long way off as a midfielder, the repeat efforts around a contest are lacking and his play below his knees is poor. His kicking is interesting. He takes risks and pulls a lot of them off. Ball drop is a bit high and therefore he doesn't lace it out but he certainly makes things happen and doesn't blaze away. Yeah he's a bit of a risky prospect with plenty of development to do but at the same time I think he has a heap of potential and natural ability. We've got Brendan McCartney for a reason and if he can't sink his teeth in to this bloke and make him a footballer then no one can. Pick 3 might be too high, but if he's still there at pick 7 I'd be keen.

Next year the coaching staff need to leave Watts inside the forward 50 and told he has 10 weeka to show why we drafted him as a forward. No more shedding weight in the expense of playing in the midfield. Club needs to just back him in one position and told be creative and kick goals.

Kinda funny approaching the draft this year ( for me ) . In past years its been the most interesting aspect almost for the year...that fleeting 15mins of hope etc. This year , however, I find myself strangely ambivalent. Yeah, great , we have 3 and 7 and hopefully that produces something of note as well it might but I now see myself finding greater hope in what we already have. This is new territory for me. I think I might not be entirely alone here either. Again I marvel at the dedication of some as regards following all the little tackers through the various under age comps and poring over the profiles etc. In past years I like many have had an opinion on this player or that and where we've come a cropper have been only to happy to add my voice if due and warranted to a chorus of disdain. Over the next seasons I will have to keep something of a back seat as to our selections this year for I really know very little about the choices. About the only thing that fuels a point of view is do we go the old line 'best available" or go for the "best-suited" Ive always really been a member of the best -suited camp and see little to dissuade me. I may differ with others simply for believing best suited means two good prospects at midfielders.. Time will tell I suppose. Given we have 2 in the top 10 I cant see how we can stray too far from teh path of getting someone(s) half way able. The trend at the club it to focus on core ability and footy nouse now. The "talent -athletic ability " style projects may be catered differently as per the Joel Smith situation. I've long held the suspicion that the Beep testing and all its associated mumbo jumbo is only just this side of selling snake-oil. How often do we see players and the commentary goes along .." he's not terribly fast but always seems to find space " How do these tests account for effective decision making ? The metrics for this convoluted stats makers are about numbers. That's all well and good but it strikes me as the same chasm of understanding between linear physics and chaos theories. This also goes to the idea of how we think which is organic in nature. The game of footy is as much about instinct as it is physical prowess. Im hoping the club will look to those kids who exhibit good football skills and playing styles Interesting ( to me ) that the only time Hogans name appears on the leaders sheets of the 2012 draft camp are on 4 occasions see http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results-2012.htm equal 9th beep /shuttle equal 10th on 3km trial He can run up and down and play for periods is what this tells me..has something of a tank.. thats actually useful to know Not to be seen on the kicking efficiency nor the jumping. He was amongst the heaviest ( whatever that can allude to ) and has big mits !! Also interesting to look at those lists and see how many of the top 10's havent really aspired to much..A few have bu I think like hogan its simply because they can PLAY FOOTY WELL and thats what Id like to see 3 and & used for ...two lads who can play footy well. So much else can be thrown at them in terms of resources etc but if you cant get the pill nor use it effectively nothing else matters. Ill be interested to see who we do select but I really do have a higher faith faith in the club at being able to determine our needs and find the footballers to assume that role. I Have misgiving in some others areas but as far as come 3 and 7...I really have no idea...nor care that much , in so far as preference or likings for any particular player. One thing i do expect is........to see very little of either in 2016 !! go Dees

Every once in a while Titus O'Reily delivers something brilliant, which is a welcome relief from the drudgery of AFL media in general. Mostly he just drops in a steady flow of routine humour on the basis of a 'lovingly jaded' attitude. Which is also actually kind of refreshing given the AFL media mainstream. Important thing to understand is that his main space is twitter, so his job isn't to make you rofl or even lol, just add a little smirk as you flick through all the other dross. He's only asking for half a second, don't expect too much back!

I wonder if he ever posts on here, or does he have one of those 'life" things people keep telling me to get.

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