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I still recall in Kozzies first season, sitting behind some feral Carlton supporters, who stopped short of racially abusing him, but at best, kept calling him Cyril. I just couldn’t understand why you would knock a first year player. Anyway, after Kozzie kicked a great goal, I jumped up screaming “go Cyril.” Then again after his second goal and every time he touched it. It drove the ferals mad. They went very quiet and we won, a good day at the footy.

Agree with this, JT has a proven record and I think Jefferson is the safe pick for the Phantom draft selections as we need a key forward, but JT and his team will be looking beyond that. For mine Pick 13 is best available because the talk of next years super draft is based on the depth of key talls. I like the idea of taking a Hewett, Allan or George with 13 and based on the highlights reels if one of Lemmey or Foster is there at 37 then we take them, although I do like Gilbey if he lasts that long

Agree. Serious chance that someone like a Harry Lemmey is there at 37. Was touted a genuine top 5 pick at the start of the year but his ratings dropped due to poor championships and form. His upside for a 200cm key forward is enormous in my opinion. Other options I like and really hoping we select is Phoenix Foster. 197cm CHF who's got huge work rate that works up and down the ground. Contested marking another of his biggest strengths. Kicked 26 goals in 11 matches for SANFL under 18's, so he is a goal kicker. Can actually swing into the ruck and use his leap to his advantage. In fact, in one game in the championships SA ruckman Harry Barnett was late withdrawal which mesnt they had to swing Foster into the ruck. It was a strong performance and i think thats whay recruiters then took notice of his versatility. This is the kind of versatility that will appeal to JT. Thoughts @ChaserJ

Poor judgement on Gus again. For a multiple position choice player of 3 or 4 years a star in our program and AFL and one injured in between why class him as a "lesser" player at our Club. You will vote his disposal I know as a demerit which is exagerated when compared to some of our other top players. Major issues is where we get the best team wise out of Gus ie wing half back or in the middle?

Don’t think it will be Gruzewski, as I believe GWS want him and it will be their pick 18-19 we will probably target/need, to get the players we want, if we are going to trade picks. As I said earlier, I could see us trading 13 and 37 and a F pick to GWS for 15 and 18 or 19 or just trading a F1st and 37 for 18 or 19. Could be an interesting time for us, late on Monday night, just after pick 17 by the Swans is used. If we draft George and Jefferson, as Phillipou will be gone, we would be drafting for the future, rather than for immediate reward, which is fine by me.

On the membership numbers, obviously a lot of our attention is elsewhere at the moment, but it's one of several topics about our team & club's future with AFLW that I'd really like to hear others' thoughts on, especially since this site is the main hub of men's members. I suspect that's an area where we're perhaps not getting as much conversion as other clubs. Will try to remember to re-visit this after we've all finished celebrating/commiserating!! This time in 48 hours... I've already got butterflies 😬

Word is that it’s for either of him or the Pou, yep! We wanted a top 6 believing (through own mock draft I presume, which would be likely 90% accurate) that one will be available at pick 6. Surprised as heck no one bit tbh… possible still one may come to party and are just posturing right now, for me — I’d of thought Hawks wanna load up next year but our picks are likely 12-18 so not exactly Uber attractive HOWEVER — next year draft depth is massive and picks 16-22 are like pick 6-10 this year in many people’s view!

If that’s the availability at our pick I want us to take the upside gamble on Allan or George in that order. I think we are more chance to not go key with our first pick and try and bring forward our second to land Barnett and develop him as a forward/ruck initially or Jefferson if he falls through the first round. At pick 37 there should still be some speculative talls to consider if we rate the potential of one otherwise leave it to address in 2023.

To me the possible trade we do, is with GWS and maybe involves us giving 13 to GWS to get them ahead of Sydney and then maybe we get their 15 and 18 or 19 for our 37 and a F pick. If the clubs can agree to not take who the other wants, then there are advantages for both clubs. For example if we took George with 15, as I don’t think Sydney would take him that high, given other available players and their needs, we could still possibly get Jefferson at 18-19. If we do a side deal with GWS on who we take, then they could even give us 18 and keep 19 to start the next night. That will allow them more dealing and still get who they want. I still believe they will take Gruzewski and won’t want Jefferson and Cadman. I think Sydney would want Barnett, as he is a need for them, or will grab a slider who they can’t resist at their pick. Anyway we will know all in a few days.

I’m tipping Demon by 20+ points going away in the Grannie with Bannon and Harris both playing blinders. The perfect introduction for the men’s 2023 season where they will be unstoppable with their elite All Australian ruck combination……..

Everyone is "elite" in his eyes.

you'd rate cyril ahead of flash defensively? i reckon if flash had played in a good side he'd be, rightly, regarded with a lot more fervour than the 30% winning rate in 180-odd games he garnered

Have the sense of feeling after hearing Jason Taylor talk on radio that we'll go best available with pick 13. Hopefully a good slider from the top 10.

Hey @dazzledavey36, Foster does look like he’s got some traits that should translate at AFL. His skills for his size are impressive and really strong hands overhead. Looks like had a really solid U/18’s season at Norwood, and he looked good for SA against the Allies, so not sure why we haven’t heard his name mentioned more. Possibly needs to build his running capacity, but if we go with a smaller option at 13, I wouldn’t mind Foster later on. Apparently used to be Harry Perry’s neighbour and was quite close to Petty, so we might already have some insight. Lemmey looks a million bucks with his size, athleticism and skill, but there have been persistent question marks on his competitiveness. Given how important that trait is to our recruitment philosophy, it may mean we pass in the national draft. It’s probably a big factor in his slide in rankings. At some point he’s worth the investment, but not sure whether we’ll pull the trigger.

What do we reckon Faris-White's shoe size is? If you put those shoes on me I'd look more like a clown than I already do.

If someone told me this was a picture of Byron not Koz I would not question it.

I’m buying Christmas farkin presents and we haven’t had the draft yet?!?? throw us a bone!!

Paxy has been brilliant this season, I’ve loved watching her play

Not a knock on Flash, he changed the game with his run down tackles and paved the way for a generation of tackling smalls. But then he became a midfielder. Cyril had more physicality to his tackling and maybe a touch more ability to come from all angles, where as Davey was the kind of the chase down. I agree, if Davey had the luxury of playing forward in a winning side his entire career he'd be rated higher.

I wouldn’t be relying on what Sheehan says, he is often off the mark. I would be listening to Cal instead.

Do you want kids to be compared to retired players only? These kids don’t make it, not because they have undue pressure, but because they are not good enough, or not ready to be a professional or due to injury. Personally, I would have a minimum age of 20 to bring kids onto a list but that will impact the quality of our league to do that. Recruiters require comparison as a tool to select - even our lord and saviour Jason Taylor recently mentioned that in a pod with Cal Twomey. Therefore, those around the game covering it and developing it need to support that if we are to provide opportunities to those kids that will excel.

The media will also always use star players as a comparison because they're the players that people know. The comparison that Sheahan was previously making for Jefferson was Harry Jones. It's no surprise that they're now using Max King as the comparison, since most casual fans would say 'who the hell is Harry Jones?' It's why every year some slowish player with great composure is compared with Scott Pendlebury but not many compared with Harley Balic or Dom Tyson. It's more about giving the casual fan a general idea of the player's style, rather than their quality.

The team sheets would have to be produced in landscape format!

Recruiters often talk about 'types' of players rather than saying he is the next Buddy or Cyril If you saw Kozzie and said he plays in the same style as Cyril you would immediately know what sort of player he was without suggesting he was going to be as good or better.

I have to admit I’m torn on this whole stadium debacle. On the one hand Brisbane fair and square won the rights to host by just pipping us at the post for percentage. On the other hand this venue seems grossly inadequate to be hosting a grand final of a professional competition (which is what they keep pushing for). I would almost have said play the game in Sydney at Giants Stadium, that way it’s not being played at an undersized venue and incomplete ground, and the Lions aren’t playing away. I get the decision not to host it in Melbourne, much as we would’ve loved it to be here.

All of them ate Vegemite for breakfast?

Toumpas is a clone of Nick Daicos. They have extremely similar attributes and physical makeup. The only differences were that Toumpas was brought into a rabble of a club, played his first year under Neeld with a limited pre-season due to groin issues and the weight of supporter expectations clearly got the better of him too. Can you imagine if he was brought into the side now? He'd have been given the entire first year to develop at VFL level due to his limited workload, he'd be given a defined role in a top two VFL side which has a fantastic culture and he would have been brimming with confidence coming into his first game. I often think of the amount of high end talent we had during those years, and how different it would have been had they been brought in to our club now. Not saying all would have gone on to be superstars but clearly they were at such a shocking disadvantage as soon as they stepped through the door. The comparison to where we are now is crazy.

Jim Furyk

This is the article Dee-liverance! A nice balance to the rest of the stuff we have been reading about the Lions. Interesting that Lion defenders like to play high up the ground. Normally, I would think this would help us 'out the back' or down the flank with our ball movement and running speed. But because the oval is so short (5om line touches the centre square) their defenders won't have as far to run back to position to cut off our attacks. All the politics around the selection of Springfield aside from a straight football point of view they should play the GF on a 'standard' sized oval in its key dimensions.

There is a great article on the AFL website detailing how we can take down Brisbane . A good read ! Also another article regarding AFLW membership & it was so disappointing to see our membership no’s considering we are a Foundation team & have progressed to be one of the most exciting teams to watch. The membership is not expensive so let’s hope a lot more supporters jump on board regardless of the GF result!! If everything aligns on Sunday …I have no doubt we’ll be holding up the cup. It would be ironic that if the girls do win …then our men’s & women’s Premiership’s would have been won interstate with very little Melb support ..

What do you want him to compare players to? Some of those players will reach, or surpass, those comparisons. It’s fine, as long as the comparison is enlightening an aspect of their skill set and not just “They will be as good as star player X”

Rumours in Adelaide suggesting we will be playing Geelong at AO during Majic round. As long as we dont play them at their dunghole I would take that.

Phoenix Foster looks good in the highlights and maybe there at 37?

Did we miss a hot day here in melb? Six-packs and guns aplenty on show.

Struggling to concentrate on work. Can't wait for this game

I bet we would take Allan before WC, and I’d be happy with the result.

When every single phantom draft has us selecting Matt Jefferson because key forward etc etc..

From the 2021 grand final side we’ve already replaced Jackson with Grundy which might mean one spot opens up pretty soon. Hibbo doesn’t have much left. Gawn and May won’t go on forever. Pickett not locked in long term. McDonald and Brown both big watch and see guys. And there’s a bunch of lesser guys from ANB, Harmes, Sparrow, Spargo, Brayshaw, even Rivers and Bowser who I wouldn’t say are 100% locks for best 22 at Melbourne in 2024 onwards. Im not trying to be negative I’m just saying teams change so quickly these days. If we draft good players they’ll play games in years 2-4 post draft. Whether they’ll highly talented skill guys or more role players still developing their upside. If they’re good they’ll get games once they’re physically ready.

I have looked at the analysis by Kevin Sheehan and found he compares players to current champions without them playing a game of AFL football. I have watched football from the early 1950's and have found that players who have been compared to great player have such great expectations on the potential that they either reach their potential or like Colin Sylvia find the pressure too much physically and mentally that they under perform. These so called experts should not do this, but talk about their foot skills, pace, agility, marking, endurance, goal kicking, awareness and handball skills so they know were they need to improve to make them into the player they need to become to play AFL football for a long time.

My information is that the top four picks are virtually set in stone. 1. GWS Giants - Aaron Cadman 2. North Melbourne - Harry Sheezel 3. Brisbane Lions - Will Ashcroft (bid matched) 4. George Wardlaw

I agree but the opposing argument is also valid. That being that we have a team that is already hard to break into with Bowey, JVR and maybe Turner, Woewodin and Howes etc wanting their chances, to pick up a kid who's upside is fringe at best seems like a waste of resources. Given our draft position it will be very hard for the 'class of 22' to have any impact on our AFL team in the next two to three years. If Taylor and co. get an AFL talent into our side in the next two years from this years draft they will have done a very good job.

I think it's fair to say it couldn't have gone much worse for Toump in year 1 but it was only 1 year before Roos/JT took over and our player development was immediately back on track. The Toump never got his hips right, including at Port Adelaide. And his kicking was nice but just not quick or accurate enough to be a half back weapon. Didn't show the contested ball ability to be a midfielder, where as even year 1 Daicos hasn't looked worried stepping in on ball. I think it's fair to say Jimmy was overdrafted as well as awfully developed in year 1. But Weid and probably Laurie are cautionary tales with this current regime. As are guys like Riley Collier-Dawkins, Cal Coleman Jones and Thomson Dow as top 21 picks to a Richmond program that otherwise couldn't do any wrong for 5 or so years there. Or Dyl Stephens being pick 5 to Sydney (if you want a high pick and a great club) and perhaps being the most poorly performed of Sydney's young mids they've drafted in recent years. 2 later first rounders to get up the draft is well worth a go. 3 is upping the risk and putting a lot of pressure on a player. No matter how slowly you develop them they'd still get the tag of being a guy who had 3 firsts spent on them. Suddenly you're back putting undue pressure on young kids again.

Not much given away from Jason Taylor on afl.coms draft stream today. However he did infer that it's highly unlikely we will be able to trade into the top end of the draft.

MELBOURNE Last year’s membership figure: 66,484* Next year’s target: 75,000 members What’s new: Physical membership cards are back for members who want them. Best deal: Members ages under 15 can get access to all home-and-away games in Melbourne and a member pack, including a mini Sherrin and lunch box with the Young Demon membership ($76). The Demon Seats Plus — Area membership offers a premium seat on the wing of level one in an exclusive member area ($49.10 per month over 10 months). It also provides the option to bring guests and priority access to a grand final ticket if Melbourne is competing. Club details: Phone 1300 336 667 or visit https://membership.melbournefc.com.au/ *Club membership record in 2022

- Proper mid year bye - Proper breaks between games more often - No more Thursday night games (Come get me)

So the usual complains that we pray to not have are Geelong at their pub ground and west coast in Perth. However, it is almost guaranteed we are gonna get the Cats twice and they wont both be at the G. Even if we have a home game against West Coast it will probably end up being in Alice so it will be 9 years where we don't get them at the G. My hopes are: 2 games at Adelaide Oval - we play that ground better than any other and its one of, if not, the best interstate trip Sydney at the SCG - Only played them there twice since 2013 and we need to learn how to beat them up there in case we get a final at the SCG (also last proper ground I haven't seen Melbourne play at) 15 MCG/Marvel + plus 1 in Geelong rather than the 14, 1 and 7 interstate trips we normally have. Breakdown on that being 3 MCG away games (13 in total) and 2 at Marvel. More Saturday 2:10 games - did not have a single Saturday red ball game at the G this year (only Sunday 1:10 against the Saints). QB/KB and Anzac Eve are our home games so hoping for double ups agianst the Pies and Tigers on Friday nights for exposure. Not [censored] North in Hobart with a ten goal breeze but that is also wishful thinking. Round 1 home game on a Saturday arvo against Essendon/Carlton/Hawthorn.

I will be happy if we for once don’t have to play Geelong in Geelong. Surely the AFL can give us one year off that trip in their fixture.