SaberFang

Maybe I've become desensitised but I didn't find the video all that spectacular. Surprised it made the official AFL website. Frankly, it should be taken down immediately and the kid protected from all media scrutiny. We want him with our last rookie pick!

What sane list manager would pay more than $500k over 3 years for Kreuzer? In no universe should that be band 1 compensation.

Doesn't pass the "no [censored] policy" Roos is trying to enforce.

I have no problems with them getting priority picks if they're purely to secure their Academy talent (after all, the new rules were designed to punish Sydney from getting another Heeney on the cheap). And frankly, it serves the competition best if they're taking local kids that live there and want to stay in Brisbane (where nobody gives a [censored] about AFL). However, if they're just getting gifted priority picks to secure BOTH Academy AND general draft talent that other lowly clubs desperately need, it's not on. Frankly, ignoring the elephant in the room will solve nothing. We have players walking out publicly stating they don't like the coach and, despite the denials, Rockliff's off-field demeanor is clearly disliked.

"Blowout" apparently.

A lot of commentators now talking up a tie. Two chairs setup in the press conference room. Yep, they've orchestrated a tie I reckon.

Haha, you could've shaved Jesse. Looking smart though. Do their families get to attend the ceremony as well? Hopefully they all flew over from Perth.

Yep, win our last game, jump from pick 4 to pick 6, now more likely to be pick 9 (or pick 12 in a pure draft, considering the superb Academy talent that Sydney and GWS get on a silver platter).

And nobody will be surprised. The AFL created this mess, and the more they bend the rules the harder they make it for themselves to get out of it. The whole thing needs an overhaul. And the most pathetic thing? In 10 years after GWS have won their premierships and fall into a heap, they will once again require AFL assistance to remain viable. The entire thing is an exercise in futility.

You almost wish Howe was a free agent. We'd get pick 7 for him under the compo rules; far better than anything we'll get in a trade.

According to SEN this morning, the AFL (realising they were in a huge bind with picks 1 & 2 now likely heading to Carlton) are in talks with Brisbane about giving them pick 1 as a priority pick, to ensure they get Schache. So the possible new draft order for everyone paying attention? Pick 1 - Brisbane (PP) Pick 2 - Carlton Pick 3 - Carlton (FA compo) Pick 4 - Brisbane Pick 5 - Brisbane (Leuenberger compo) At this rate, our pick #6 is more likely to end up around pick #43.

How exactly do they reveal the votes? By one player at a time (from the least voted for to the most) or by revealing each judge's ballot until all 10 ballots are revealed? The latter makes it impossible for any judge to get away with giving Cripps or Hogan a vote other than 4 or 5. They'd be showing their hand then.

West Coast apparently.

Guy who pouts and whinges when the coach doesn't play him in his preferred position. Um, sound familiar? Pass.

We'll take whatever Port give them for Dixon.

Hogan now the bookies favourite (in suspended betting). $1.60 to $2.20 for Cripps. It was a dead heat last night, so the bookies know something we don't!

Factoring in free agency compensation and Academy concessions, our pick 6 suddenly looks a whole lot more like pick 10-11. We still desperately need high-end draft talent coming through the doors to succeed long-term; however, the AFL have created another new rules system that again reaps benefits for teams that lose and punishes teams that win. Gil's 17-5 fixture actually had a lot of merit; force the bottom 6 teams after 17 rounds to play each other for draft picks. It rewards winning. Outside the box, intelligent idea. For this reason, it obviously has no place in the AFL.

The AFL made an almighty mistake last year. Pick 3 was obviously a priority pick in disguise because it was simply an unpalatable PR situation giving us one outright, but nudging up our compensation for Frawley allowed them to help us in stealth. So what's the problem? They've now cornered themselves into a situation where lowly clubs are better off pushing out their free agents and rorting the compensation because the threshold of band 1 now has a lowly precedent. $500k will be peanuts for clubs in a few years. All and sundry now discuss compensation for Brisbane and Carlton as if pick 2 and 4 are a fait accompli. Disastrously for the AFL, they desperately need Brisbane to get the kid who Carlton will now take with pick 2 compo if, as expected, they push out Kreuzer (Carlton withdrew their contract to Kreuzer upon hearing what money other clubs are offering him, realising the likelihood of getting pick 2). So once again, the AFL are caught with their pants down, and their inability to be transparent in their decision making has created yet another rort for clubs to legally exploit; if clubs sense a free agent is leaving, it now benefits teams to sink on the ladder for a year and secure two high draft picks before climbing up again. This is worse than the old priority pick rules (two seasons at the bottom) which no modern club would willingly do just to get one extra first rounder. The problem is, while pick 3 was overs for Frawley, their only alternative was a wholly inadequate end-of-first rounder for a club in dire need of help. But surely we're past the point of farce if Carlton can get pick 2 for Kreuzer and Brisbane can get pick 4 for Leuenberger. The most pathetic irony of the situation though? Carlton tanked to get Kreuzer and are now rorting the system once again to get compensation for his departure. Another absolute farce of a situation created by the geniuses at AFL House who should've been transparent in the first place about our compensation for Frawley. Surely the most logical solution here is to limit band 1 compo to begin after pick 10, so the first pick after the year's non-finalists. With these 10 teams all striving to get up the ladder, and the negative ripple affect that compensation has inside the precious top 10 picks, it's simply too detrimental on the numerous struggling clubs in desperate need of high-end talent. The AFL were forced to change the PP rules because teams found out how to exploit it; well, it hasn't taken them long to discover how to exploit this. The rewards for losing are once again becoming far greater than the rewards for winning.

Is Howe for Bennell, all things considered, a reasonably fair trade for all parties? They want to move him on and he comes with risk, with Howe you know what you're going to get.

That's frightening if true. Imagine if Hogan was getting the kind of delivery Roughead gets at the Hawks, Pavlich at Freo or Cloke at the Pies. Granted all three players sat a few games out, but the point stands.

Yep, proves that top picks aren't the panacea. Plenty of duds at the top.

You don't exactly gain a year of playing experience when you spend the entire year sidelined though. I hate hearing this argument from foaming Carlton fans. And 2015 is Cripps' second playing year, ironically.

Yep, like the sickening request from O'Rourke to go to Hawthorn. As Roos says, the players don't need free agency! The system works already, and clubs don't get screwed.

Think this is what Roosy was referring to on 360 tonight. No other player has achieved what Jesse Hogan has in their first year.

If he really is testing the market at $700k, good luck to him and whatever club takes him. They'll need it. We'll be within our right to demand a first rounder if he's seemingly so valuable.