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I did some researching and came across the Roosy pie night in August this year. Stole this quote from pitmaster who attended the night and practically got this from Roosy himself. We won't draft Wright even if available. Roosy did not exactly say this but he gave a very strong indication when the words 'won't take Wright' came out as part of an unfinished sentence. He was going on to say something else but stopped himself, but it was his comments about talls and the TAC that were most informative. He told us about the special rules for the TAC about no double teaming on talls, no players dropping back to flood and the fact that talls at that level often are mismatched for opponents. Mids on the other hand are matched evenly and it was clear he reckons a good mid at TAC level has a much higher chance of being a good mid at AFL level than a tall has of making the same progression. In other words TAC is so unlike AFL that it's not a good guide for talls. He explicitly said - "you can't judge talls in the TAC Cup". Plus he talked about the need for many mids - high half forwards who play as mids, half backs ditto, wings...you get the picture. Key message for me was we will draft mids and trade for talls. In fact I wanted to ask would he have drafted Hogan but did not get the chance, but given the Hulk's exceptional body the answer was probably yes. In summary he does not value draft picks the way some of us do: 'at Sydney we traded many draft picks because it's a lottery, the draft". Here is the link http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/topic/37144-roosys-pie-night-after-the-event/

That worked well during the trade period!

I will run down my street doing heel clicks and yelling yeeeaaah! if Staints take McCartin or Wright at 1. Imaging Petracca and Brayshaw in red n blue!

Good to hear and I couldn't agree more. Our improvement as a club will come with drafting and developing a functional, deep and dynamic midfield and half forwardline. Not from McCartin or any other tall at this draft. The power and North Melbourne's rise this year and last was a result of a fit, functioning and deep running midfield. Not from their forward line. In fact, I'd argue that we've a more dangerous forwardline than both of those clubs. We need to draft two mids who we will finally be able to develop into genuinely good AFL midfielders. It's of utmost importance. KPP are the cherry on top and are much easier to trade in. Forget McCartin, it's our midfield that needs to be addressed first and foremost.

Not worried at all about Jones re-signing. He will.

i wouldn't lower myself to respond to such crass gutter talk bbo oh! seems i have

I'm taking a wild stab here and predicting that Brisbane will take him at pick 44.

I haven't looked at any of highlight packages. Mostly because that is what they are, highlights. I have watched a lot of u/18s for about 15 odd years when a friend became an assistant coach at one club and another the coach of another. My nephews also played a few years each and a close family friend played for vic metro. I do not think I'm am expert on who will go where but I have a good idea on the players. The ones mentioned in this thread I think I can comment on. I have seen them all play more than a handful of times Lever in my opinion would have been the first pick if he didn't do his knee. He didn't play in the midfield as a 17 year old but a lot of 17 year olds don't really get that chance because the coaching can be based around 18 year olds trying to get drafted. He may well have played there on occasion this year if he had played if not more permanently. Not really different to petracca who also didn't play mid last year. Lever has however done a lot of training with the mids in his rehab. I think I would pick him at 3 but a serious knee injury has me second guessing. McCartin is very competitive and likes to bash and crash. He is strong and I'm not in the corner where people say he is so much bigger than the backs. Stronger yes, size maybe a bit, but guys like Boyd, daniher, Patton, even wright are/were much bigger than their opponents, mostly because of height. He had a lot of niggly injuries this year which prevented him from showing his best. A recruiting friend of mine told me just after the national carnival that the doggies rate him as a 10 year player and would pick him at 1. He has great hands and is quite quick off the mark so he can create distance and hold marks. He is strong like frawley was strong at the same age. I think he will play some games next year, like hogan would have played this year minus injury and Boyd playing some games for gws. It's not like we have some gun forwards keeping him out and Dawes will miss a few (just basing this on what might happen) and hogan won't play 22 games (I don't believe anyway). Brayshaw is a certainty. He is the best pure midfielder available. (Heeney goes ok). He works hard from start to finish and doesn't give up. He grinds his opponents if they try to go with him. He played on petracca late in the season and in my opinion got the better of him. Great tackler as he goes with his whole body instead of just his arms. He also is a goal kicking mid and we need those desparately. I don't believe stkilda will pick him at 1 but he could go 1. Petracca played midfield this year after playing as a forward last year. Watching him play he seems to go to the right places but I've been told he has worked very hard at this. Has good vision and always seems to get his hands free when tackled. Another mid who knows were the goals are. I think he will go at 1 but I'm hoping we get the petracca, Brayshaw double as we need mids. Laverde I have seen probably the most. He has tricks upon tricks and pace to burn. My issue with him at 3 for us is that I haven't seen him play as a pure mid. Wing, halfback,halfforward are the places I've seen him most. The kid can do anything though. This year watching him play he really reminded me of Sicily who was drafted by the hawks last year from the same club. Wright is big and can kick it a long way. I'm not sold on him for us. He doesn't go as hard at it as McCartin. He is an ok mark but that might not be the case at afl level against guys as big as you (Not saying it still wont be the case). He does have the ability to influence the game from the forward line and if its not working for him he can go in the ruck and influence the game around the ground. I'm not anti picking him if we do. My preference is petracca, Brayshaw the same as everyone I guess but I don't believe it will work out that way. Having watched recruiting from up close I believe we will get the best result we can on the information that is known now. I've had dealings with our recruiters in the past and I believe we have the right people as compared to the past.

Howe is us supporters only excitement. Sometimes our only reason to go to the game. Howe has been terribly developed and I believe could be our best player. In a good team, he could be anything. He is god to my brained washed 6yo (I have brain washed him with guilt). He is to my son what Robert Flower was to me. Personally I am very happy he remains a Dee.

they're some pretty bad highlights right there. Methinks we steer clear of this one.

Tell you what these Peter Wright highlights are pretty darn good. http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-09-14/draft-prospect-peter-wright

I believe that a 4 year deal is imminent (ie: within the next few weeks). That is my Saturday golf club talk!

We will choose either Petracca (if available), Brayshaw or Lever. Forget about McCartin or Wright

I've been told from a credible source that we won't be taking Wright. Story goes that Roos was very unimpressed at combine interview.

Didn't we pick a player with dodgy hips? How is that working out?

Jones is gawwwwwn! No doubt about it.

Sorry btd, potent isn't how I would describe that forward line. Incomplete or weak are the words I would use. Gartlett improves the set, but the others are a mix of unprovens, injured or perennial disappointments. If Kent and Watts are good enough, they should be playing in the midfield. If Roos' Crew consider McCartin the best available at 2 or 3 then they'll do it.

The longer we wait to get a tall the longer we have to wait for them to be ready. mccartin already has the size to compete at afl level so i'd say if we picked him he'd be in for a debut at some point next year. i I like pickett too but i don't think he's what we need at the moment. we've already got outside runners in toumpas, kent, jkh, garlett, barry, stretch and even lumumba & watts. even if we did pick him i doubt he'd be playing much next year. hogan and mccartin would benefit our team more with viney, jones, tyson, vince, toumpas, brayshaw, kent, salem, watts, jkh, cross, michie etc feeding it to them than pickett would with an occasional run down the wing.

It says in this article on AFL.com "Three Crows headline the 2015 crop of free agents" the following "Already, Gray, Selwood and Melbourne captain Nathan Jones are understood to be in advanced contract talks with their clubs aimed at taking them off the free agency market". Hopefully this is correct. I know I read somewhere on the Dees site a month or so ago that they were starting negotiations with Jones. Unless he comes out and say "I just want to concentrate on my footy or see the direction of the club" I think he will re-sign. As usual nothing is concrete until it's in writing.

He will re-sign and should be rewarded generously, if anyone deserves it, he does. If that [censored] Clark was getting mega bucks then Jonesy deserves 100 times what he was getting. Love ya Nugget.

We all know how this will play out. One of the 17 players between 23 and 40 will turn out to be an A-grader, and some schmucks will declare that this means we blew our recruiting and we are all doomed. The other 16 in the range could all be spuds, but that wont matter to the MFCSS machine.

Don't disagree with most of that. Gawn hasn't proved himself as a ruckman to me so far. Fitzy could still make it. I think he needs games and confidence in his position in the team.

BBO already writes scripts and uses some of the dialogue on this medium. He has written such blockbusters, You Me and a llama. Llamas do it with foxes. Biffs night in the "Hilton" All of his memorable movie scripts are available at all good stores.

Got to remember how much i earned in 2013 and what i was doing for work in 2014. And now they want to know where i looked for work. Im riding my tanna horse straight home after this last interview.

I think he'll show yet again that he's an inconsistent and one dimensional player. If he doesn't then he raises his value and we can trade him for something good next year.

Based on body of work as juniors, Hogan. Hogan's more versatile and has an incredibly good tank for a big bloke. Played well as a CHB and even stints in midfield for Claremont Colts. McCartin more a pure full forward, very good running patterns, his game is designed for leading out of the square. Doesn't have the endurance to play further up the ground, but good awareness inside 50. Could work well with Hogan I feel, especially if Hogan moves out to CHF. Having those two would ensure a bit of mongrel in our fwd 50, which is pretty appealing.

Dawes will be better as a trio rather then the main man. Howe isn't a KPP. Fitz is not good enough Gawn is a first ruck rather then forward. Pedersen was a solid fill-in but still a fill-in. Watts is a tall flanker. We need quality players. Big or small. I understand we need mids but not at the expense of a quality player/best talent available*.

Serious knee issues predraft really put the clamps on a young Joel Selwood's career...

He does it all, wins his own ball, gets it on the outside, can kick either foot. IMO we will take either Petracca and Brayshaw or Brayshaw and McCartin, depending on who St Kilda take. Got to go best available every time.

If he's available, Touk Miller would be a great get, then get his height deprived companion Caleb Daniel at pick 55. Gotta give the small fellas some love (maybe i'm biased, being 170cm myself)

I'm not sure what else we were supposed to pay anyway, given: - There is a high chance St Kilda would've dealt for Membrey if this trade didn't happen, and they'd have taken Frost in the PSD. - Late picks are worthless to GWS, so 23 was the only pick of any use to them - GWS returned their two earliest picks (other than one the one directly after it, which is spoken for) to us, meaning we got the best upgrade they could give us Whether it turns out to be a valuable trade depends on whether Frost is any good or not, but really this seems to be the only plausible trade. We wanted the player, so we paid for him. It would seem to me that people would only have been happy if we'd gotten him for free ala Garlett; that's not how this game works.

So we can at least expect him to be able to break through the banner.

Watch for the new AFL rule to stop it happening.

Pretty subjective as to who’s next in line after Petracca and Brayshaw. Some like Laverde, I’m a fan of Ahern, and think Weller would be deserving as well. There are questions on all of them, which is why there’s generally been seen to be a gap between the top 4 and the rest. Any of those could either go high or slip into the teens. For mine what Petracca, Brayshaw, McCartin and Lever have shown over the others is a very high level of competitiveness. Aggression and contact are natural parts of their game already, and Lever arguably is the one with the highest level of the lot. It’s an intangible that doesn’t necessarily override natural playing ability, but if the player has it, you can be confident that they are more likely to make the most of their ability. I’m sure it’s part of what’s impressed recruiters about Lever, and on talent he is probably around the top 5. It’s my one big question about Wright. He seems driven and is physically gifted, but he should have dominated at U/18’s this year, but he didn’t. Why?

Please, no more fool's gold.....we've had enough.

You're joking right? Because after watching this interview, I'd say you are the arrogant one. Draft for talent, trade for need. If Petracca is there at 2, I think we will take him. Not likely, as Saints will call his name at 1 IMO. http://youtu.be/VIfvQf7XXDg

We are in a total win, win. Saints take MCartin, we get Brayshaw and Petracca. If they take Petracca, we take Brayshaw and (hopefully) Mcartin. I have a boner already.

I honestly sometimes wonder why you guys actually bother logging in - are you actually supporters of our club? Do you have any joy in life other than carping here about "the hopelessness at our club"? Why don't you switch and follow Hawthorn or Sydney? Not enough to whinge about there?

If we have 7 supporters, then I was making a riotously hilarious gag that you must have many accounts given that there are hundreds of people signed up here. Not funny, move along. In any event, I know plenty of Melbourne supporters. That said, many of these are connected to my days growing up in Camberwell. Moving around various other parts of Melbourne over the past 11 years, there aren't quite as many. I still think we have a lot more than gets reported. I know lots of Dees supporters who have busy work and personal lives and quite frankly can't be stuffed with it ruining their lives when the team is so poor. They're not likely to go online and fill out random surveys or ring talk back radio either.

You really needed to see him last year to get an idea of how good he could be. This year he struggled with injury all the way through. His game against SA u18's was a beauty, looked like a young Plugger and I don't care about the game has changed etc Plugger would be a great player now. Would be happy if our guys thought he was worth picking.

I think this Will be a preview of next years trading. First round pick plus Howe for either Treloar or Sheil.

By the way, look at the graph in this post. 23 and 40 compare pretty well. http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-history-of-pickflation.638451/page-4#post-35376498

I was on the Laverde train pretty early, but I've changed my mind a little bit since then. I'm not 100% sure he will ever be a midfielder, and his decision making off the HBF can be horrendous at times. At this stage he tends to rush things when he has the ball, almost as if he panics. That isn't to say he can't be moulded into an excellent footballer, the attributes are certainly there. One other thing I want to mention about McCartin is please try to hold judgement until you have seen footage of him unhindered by injuries in last year's championships. He was incredible for an underage player, and this "spud" talk is clearly coming from people who wouldn't have the slightest clue how good anyone in this draft can be. For now, I'm going to sit on the fence with pick 3 and back in our recruiting department to make the correct decision. All players in contention have tremendous strengths and glaring weaknesses, the deciding factor in who becomes the best footballer will be how well they are developed. But I will say this, if our recruiters genuinely believe Jake Lever can be a midfielder, they must take him. It is a big if, but he has the most potential of anyone in this class in my opinion.

Lumumba rumoured to be on $500k pa.

I suggest working backwards (with a bit of guesswork): Savings: - Clark $600K - Frawley $350K (because his contract had been front ended). - Delisted players $1.6m (8*$200K) - Savings from other front ended contracts eg Dawes/Trengrove but these probably offset by renewed contracts eg Dunn/McDonald Savings of approx $2.5m Cost of new players Frost $250K), Lumumba ($450K) , Garlett ($350K) = approx $1m; Cost of new draftees: $500K. Total New Costs approx: $1.5m Other variations: AFL allow pay't up to 105% of cap if offset in other years; sal cap will go up for 'inflation'; savings from contracted delisted players (if any) On the basis of this 'back-of-the-envelope' calc at least $1m for an FA (front ended so that it tapers off when our young players need to be paid more) Oh, forgot an additional cost: Big increase to N Jones when he signs new long-term contract but I would hope his is front ended into 2015. Hope this helps your thinking! ps couldn't open HS article so can't comment on it

Interesting that the most popular choice on here is a guy listed as a tall defender (the least required position on our list), has had a knee reco, and comes in at #9 on Cal Twomey's current phantom draft. Is Prendergastism contagious?

Just watched the last qtr replay of our epic win over the bongers for probably the 5th time.... Just because! I'm yet to tire of it!!!!

Just to put things into perspective, here's some successful picks from 2004 - 2010 for picks 35 - 45 (too early too tell for 2011 - 2013 drafts): Mark LeCras, Travis Cloke (father/son), Ivan Maric, Andrew Swallow, Alipate Carlisle, Alwyn Davey, Todd Goldstein, Josh P Kennedy (father/son), Tom Hawkins (father/son), Bachar Houli, Scott D Thompson, Chris Mayne, Jack Steven, Zach Clarke, Matt Broadbent, Steven Motlop, Rory Sloane, Sam Reid, Allen Christensen, Luke Parker, Tom Liberatore (father/son), Alex Fasolo. So there is a decent chance we can snare a great player at pick 40 especially with our current recruiting team.

I have no idea where people are getting this idea of Lever playing in the middle from. The bloke is 194cm and has been likened to a variety of backmen. I don't see him being a mid at all. McCartin would look good next to Hogan and Dawes, although I'm still hopeful that the Saints bugger it up and let Petracca slip through to us.

Classic