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Bizarre that people are questioning this and again not surprised that it's the same individuals as usual. Same list management who's done this strategic for a number of years are also the same ones who have just built a premiership team by doing this. Some will never be satisfied.

I can also add that Luke is an outstanding fella with real leadership qualities. We are bringing a very high quality person into the Club. Welcome Luke.

We just won the flag. Some people really are a sucker for punishment, let it go.

I love this game. Keep going Demons and we could end up with pick 2 and put in a bid for Nick Daicos 😀

I must admit I'm a big wrap for this pick. Not only now but dating back to his draft year in 2013. At the time we had just signed up Paul Roos as coach and I remember he made mentioned that he wanted to bring in some strong contested players through the trade period and draft as he believed that ypu build from the contest out. At our pick 9 my two desired options were Luke Dunstan and Nathan Freeman. I remember watching his under 18's championships for SA and he reminded me so much of Ollie Wines. He was also captain of SA and I thought he was simply the perfect fit for what we desperately needed at the time. Even when he first started at St Kilda there was talk already that he was a future captain in waiting. To see Tim Lamb say, and I quote "cultural fit" into our side excites me even more. He was a contested midfield beast who was already playing senior footy for his SANFL club at the time and he had the body frame to slot straight into our midfield. Come draft night I was deeply disappointed we had overlooked him and Freeman (who I thought was a Luke Shuey clone) and instead chose some kid called Christian Salem. Fast forward 8 years and Christian Salem would now be rated top 5 in that draft and has become one of the games best half backs going around. What amazing humble pie I've eaten over the past few years!! To be honest I don't think Luke Dunstan is coming over here to fill in numbers for Casey. I genuinely think under our strong culture and leadership he could emulate the same pathway as what Jarryd Lyons has at Brisbane. The same criticism of Lyons was exactly what Dunstan is copping now. Slow, can't kick, and has no outside game. Dunstan is a big time accumulator who's had the horrid luck of playing at a club where they've had zero finals success, and a poor losing culture with no leadership. Also taking into account he was playing under a coach who's already been sacked in the AFL system before. Dunstan wants to feel valued like he said in an interview few weeks back and he's coming to a club where our mantra of "Just be us" has made our players being able to express themselves on the footy field and also off field. Simon Goodwin drives this culture alongside Max Gawn extremely hard I can personally see Dunstan thriving amongst this culture. He'll certainly have a chip on his shoulder to prove the doubters wrong.

If we miss finals next year, then our future pick will also be worth more if we trade it forward. Also, each year further into our flag window makes the pick less and less valuable because the player we select will have less and less chance to impact on our ability to win a flag. Look at Jamarra Ugle-Hagan this year .... how much impact does he have on the Dogs winning a flag? We're better off getting a good player (pick 17) earlier than a slightly better (pick 10) player a year later. That player will be playing his first year in 2023 and probably not make any real AFL impact until 2024-5. We are in a situation where we need to bring the draft value forward because we want our draft assets to impact on our team whilst we are still a top team competing for flags.

If Dunstan comes to us then he's backing himself in to be more than just depth. Good on him. Go your hardest son. Makes sense for us. Viney aside, we were KOTD with injuries to our starting mids this season. And after Sparrow & Jordon at 22 & 23 in the team, who is our next best mid ? Who can come in and play there immediately (don't say Melksham - he's not a mid) without us unbalancing our preferred line-up ? We don't have much now that a couple of our warriors have moved on Competition. Sparow and Jordon saw off challenges from the likes of Jones & AVB this year. They can't rest on that. Hopefully they read these reports & think "you're not getting my [censored] spot pal" and it spurs them onto be even better

I was arrogant and completely lacking in humility when we were crap, I am not going to change now!

If nothing else he can now tell his grandkids how close he was to a premiership in 2021.

To those questioning Dunstan's recruitment. If any of our midfielders from the GF were injured next week, who would you bring in from the list to replace them now that Chuck and AvB are gone?? There is not one true mid amongst the remaining 16 or so players on our list. It's a no brainer for mine.

To my mind the benefit of swapping next years 16-18 for this years 17 is that the kid we pick will have a year of growth and development under their belt. Taking Bowey as an example, we gained 6 games and know he'll likely be better rolling into his second year than a first year player...

We started with one red paperclip. Who can say what treasure we'll end up with?

Welcome Luke!

Three peat is on: Minor premiers, Premiers and trade premiers.

Welcome aboard generic ex-Saints player who looks exactly the same as about 10 other Saints players!

I've posted occasionally and been avid follower of Demonland for a number of years. A number of posters have good insight and, from time to time, provide excellent intel.. However, it has to be said that the poster 'Goodwindees' has been 'Poster Supreme' when it comes to news scoops and reliable inside information. In fact incredible!!!! Let's take a look at some amazing stories that he has allowed us to be privy to in the last couple of years. Keeping in mind that he often publishes first on Demonland prior to any media reports: *Posted that the Demons were first to speak to Dan Hanneberry long before it was public knowledge. *Let us know re AVB's depressed fracture of the cheekbone prior to the club having knowledge. * Petracca and Oliver's contract extensions. *The Demons presentation to Cerra and genuine interest. *Tarrant to Richmond. *And, of course, the most recent being Luke Dunstan to the Dee's before anyone could even had imagined it transpiring. Huge!! No doubt I've missed some gems, however, the aforementioned list is indeed commendable and I for one look forward to more 'Goodwindees' offerings in the future. Keep up the great work. 'Goodwindee's' gets my vote for number one Demonland poster!!!!

Doubt that there’s any logic in chasing pick 17 to get a Mac Andrew in this draft. Let me reiterate that it’s no reflection on him as a player but my assessment is that he’s one of a number who would fit in the mid-20s in this draft. From where he’s come since the start of 2021 that would be flattering but he’s been heavily hyped to the point where some people who consider themselves to be good judges are even putting him in top five contention. If that’s based on information dropped by someone on an AFL club’s recruiting staff, then good luck to him. My own assessment is that he sits around pick 25. If someone bids at that range I would be happy to see us match the bid. If he comes to Melbourne it would be terrific for him to learn the ropes as an understudy to Max Gawn, Luke Jackson and Majak Daw. It would be a great environment for him to learn the trade. From my observations, I wouldn’t use pick 17 to secure him because there are others who will fall within that range who can play midfield or in key positions and who are far more developed as footballers, some of who will be right to go in season 1.

If it all blows up in our faces, you'll all have a flag to dry your tears on

Anyone criticising our list management / draft strategy / trading has rocks in their head! Recent years efforts are nothing short of genius, and has won us a flag! Be grateful and have faith. look forward to seeing who we pick up with 17.

What do you mean no room to make up ground? I swear someone posts the equivalent of this every year. "I don't like this! What will we do next year?" We'll do what we do every year. We'll trade our future first. And then some Demonlander will come on here again and worry how we're going to get it done again the next year.

Good midfield depth for us and a free hit under free agency. He’s no superstar, but can clearly fill a roll if required. Strange the Saints let him go as he’s clearly better than a lot of other mids on their list. Their loss is our gain in this case. Importantly Tim Lamb said in interview that Dunstan was a “good cultural fit”. We know how important culture is now!

I'm calling it.. a steal! Another feather in the cap to @goodwindees 👏

Name a year it’s come back to bite us so far… We have a very young list and are eyeing off a top 4 finish for the next few seasons. We won’t be giving up a top 10 pick. It’s not a big risk.

I think Gary should just do something else after what he said last year

Wow!

Harmes's disposal 'terrible'? Harsh. Superb kick in the 3rd in the GF put us back in the game.

Anyone remember his debut In the opening round of 2014 for St Kilda against Melbourne. They got hold of us in the third quarter and Dunstan was one of their best, earning AFL Rising Star nomination that night. Depth is a thing you can’t have too much of these days and we could be getting a player who picked up a swag of Brownlow votes.

Jason Taylor and Tim Lamb are absolute artists. Several years in a row trading up the draft. Most recently for Bowser and Laurie and before that for Kozzy and Rivers. I recall Taylor's excitement 'we're gonna get the Riv; we're gonna get the Riv' before the cheeseboard appeared.

Pretty much every move the football department has made in recent years, whether players, picks or both (in or out) have netted a positive outcome. Very proud to say they've earned our confidence and justified their salaries! .

If this goes through he is simply insurance should injuries occur. We have retired VDB and Jones at 29 and 32. Dunstan at 27 would give us 2-5 years as a serviceable player, which is all that the other two could provide in Season 2021. If he provides more, then that is a bonus.

MFC is the “Best contested footy” side in the league. We just bought insurance to make sure this continues.

He will be a great addition. I think now we have won a premiership many are over-rating our current list and the fact that we had vitually zero injuries to best 22 players. Harmes, Sparrow, Spargo, ANB, Brayshaw, JJ, Tomlinson, Petty all got hammered on this site at various stages. This is a guy who would push Harmes, Sparrow and JJ for a spot round 1 and will add some oomph. An injury to Oliver, Petracca or Viney and our depth would be tested with no VDB/Jones. Would be a great pick up....would play many Senior games for us. To those saying they don't want him replacing a Sparrow/Harmes / JJ.....I Get it....But ultimately they can still develop at Casey and form will dictate where they play. To have strong list we need pressure on all positions of the ground. Hopefully we have a lot of hungry players next year that are wanting more success!

I’m sorry what? Is that because we are rebuilding and we have to get games into the kids?? FCS - the window is open and if Sparrow and Jordon get a game it will be because THEY deserve it. I am greedy - I want to win more.

I already have my eyes set on Josh Rachele from the Murray Bushrangers with this pick Small forward/midfielder with A ton of X factor about him. Think of a Toby Greene/Alan Didak

I think we have to accept that you need to give to get. We got the trades done that we knew we needed to get done. One trade in isolation doesn't matter, it is the balanced list you build overall. What we paid for Lever looks to me like peanuts when I see what that back line has done for our confidence over the year.

Bowey was a pretty decent consolation...

Harmes certainly has up and down quarters or even games, but I'm not so convinced by this idea that he's completely up and down. Most of his variance comes from the role he's been asked to do. If you play him consistently as a midfielder and with a mix of defensive assignments ranging from hard tag to occasional minding at stoppages he'll give you pretty much the same outcome most weeks. Great tackling, lots of hard run, some much needed line breaking and some occassional dodgy disposal/decision making. Play him as a 4th midfielder with a bit of half forward and wing he'll contribute very solidly there just as he did in finals. Play him too much half forward and it won't be as pretty, he doesn't get the time and space to run and decision making is harder there. Play him down back and we won't talk about that... Overall though he can step in to a full time midfield role at any time and can also step back to splitting time on a flank and wing and providing run, aerial contest, pressure and tackling there too. As a full time mid he's only better than Dunstan due to his pace. As an overall player he's more valuable because he can move around. Brayshaw gets a lot of credit for selflessly taking a team role on the wing. Harmes giving up a lot of centre square time and deferring for Viney and then being rotated through positions in the finals deserves similar praise. We won't be in any hurry to move him on until our half forward and midfield depth is a lot stronger than hoping Laurie can play and signing Dunstan.

I rate Chandler - more than any of the other players listed above. I really hope we keep him

Every time I argue with an opposition fan (unless they’re St Kilda) I know it’s inevitably going to come down to “when was the last time Melbourne won a premiership?” I’m really curious to see what they’re final argument will be now

I agree with the first paragraph quoted above DS, but with respect, I think your last paragraph is well of the mark. We are the best contested team in the AFL - the numbers and watching us tell us that. Winning contested ball is arguably the very foundation of our game plan and goodies philosophy. It's just that as you say it is now about less players at the contest to win them. So Oliver has to beat 2 or 3 players to win a contested ball. As does every other player, even smalls like kozzie and spargo. Compare us to the dogs who also have a model based on winning contested ball. A key difference is they win lots of theirs by creating an outnumber at stoppages. And on top of the need for players who can beat 2 or 3 opponents in a fight for a contested ball, winning post clearance contested ball is critical to our model. As is the fact we are happy to kick for territory, as opposed to hitting a target, so our games are always going to involve lots of contests and the ball being in dispute a lot - particularly in finals. All of which places an even greater emphasis on the need for players like Dunstan who can win contested ball. I suspect it is why Sparrow got the nod ahead of JJ come finals.

God we are good

One major positive is that bringing in a ready to go mid keeps pressure on those in the team to perform. It was a big reason we had a successful year

I love how we don't faff about at trade time!!!

I'm not the best at working out the pros and cons of pick swaps but we're effectively receiving pick 17 this year and giving up pick 18 next year yeah?

I’m all about being the side that has the best depth in the league as this years injury run was pretty much unprecedented and won’t be repeated. Dunstan addresses this criteria. Happy to have him onboard if it eventuates.

People seem to forget that we were very lucky with injuries this year. Chandler impressed in the pre-season (kicking 2-3 goals against the reigning premiers the tigers) and was unlucky not to be in the side round 1. The team's forward pressure was consistent all year and after winning so many on the trot, you couldn't drop any of Spargo, Kozzie or ANB. Probably better for his development to leave, but I feel if he does, he will be one of those players that people will say "Gee hasn't he come on - if we knew he could do that we would have kept him". When in reality, the signs are there - lack of consistent VFL competition, our form and lack of injuries has disguised it.

I’m just here to remind you that we are the premiers

Oliver's goal at the end of the 3rd quarter. The athletic team grunt, spread and skill of Jackson, Viney and Oliver I know many people despise the channel 7 commentary, but the "Bang: bang, bang, bang" call from James Brayshaw was breathtakingly perfect. I was up off the couch, roaring and fist pumping. Best moment of my footy watching life (apart from the raising of the cup by Goody and Max). The right arm pointing of Clarry with a look of "we are gods" written across his face. And the look of absolute astonishment and frozen shock on the faces of Treloar and Bont as they tried to understand what the **** was going on. Close 2nd - Brayshaw.