KingDingAling

Absolutely, Francis is the player of the draft this year. If we could land him, would be a great result. Not often I go early, but Francis looks an absolute stand out for mine.

Young Lovell looks a real player. He is accumulating a lot of the ball - and hitting targets.

Ironic that Luke Hodge's name should come up as a great leader - in a drugs thread. I'm not disagreeing that he isn't a great leader either - he is. But he is no clean skin himself. Does Ablett have a hollier than though attitude in general? Perhaps, but I would be surprised if he did in regards to drugs ( he has lost family members due to drugs).

I'm not against what Mitchell did. It is a well known fact that Essendon received penalties for governance issues (over injecting players). I don't see how Mitchell should be looked upon a perpetrator here, he is merely pointing out that Essendon injected - which they did. Sam Mitchell is an AFL footballer, he has the right to be a little bit annoyed that those around him have resorted to gaining an unfair advantage - through injections. Mitchell should not have apologised, but in apologising he has saved himself a sh*t storm.

The AFL is a business first - a sport second. And as a business, it cannot afford to be perceived by members of the public, as participating in illegal activities. Any matters AFL related is everyones business. This is a mass market now, media, etc. People have mouths to feed, that's the reality of it. It is not going away, there is no point hiding anything anymore. Sam Mitchell understood this on the weekend, James Hird could learn a thing or two from Mitchell.

Actually, I think it comes down to cost analysis. But you make a good point about Bali, not that I would agree with the harshness of capital punishment, but at least Bali have some deterrence measures in place, Australia doesn't. Offenders will be lining up to go to prison is things start getting tough economically.

Fair play to Mitchell. Essendon did inject, they were pinged for over injecting, so I don't really see a problem with it. I see Mitchell got on the front foot about the issue, I wouldn't have.

I agree, they'll have a chance of stringing 3-4 flags together at some point - providing they keep their list together. Fair headstart the amount of first round picks on their list. They basically get a free hit at a few flags. The AFL has made sure of that.

Fair call. Hogan and Brayshaw are both top 5 of the first year players. I think MFC and the Dogs will be the 2 younger sides to eventually separate themselves from the others. I wouldn't classify Richmond as a young side, but I think we are a long way ahead of Carlton, and will be a long way ahead of St Kilda in the next 3 years. Brisbane have problems with their spine, and a lack of key position talent coming through, and Gold Coast have stagnated. So I think we are well placed as a top 4 side down the track, probably 2017-18 onwards.

Good comeback by Richmond, they saved the game. Prior to that it was a boring spectacle being ruined by over umpiring.

There isn't a player in the league near Nat Fyfe. As good as Hogan is - and might be - he is no where near the level of Nat Fyfe. And quite frankly, no one is at the moment. Fyfe will probably break the record for most votes polled in a season.

I expect St Kilda will regret not taking either Brayshaw or Petracca. I don't really understand clubs taking forwards early in the draft, more often than not - it doesn't work. Sure, there are some exceptions, but the large majority of forwards taken early have failed.

I think Brayshaw stood out before the draft as that ready made player. I thought he was a safer bet than McCartin and Petracca IMO. McCartin was a relatively secure pick for a forward, Petracca logical high quality draft - with that X factor and upside that list managers look for, but still some risk attached. Brayshaw was exactly as you see now, quality kid, rounded game, dual sided player, contested ball winner, on field leader, he ticked all the boxes. I will never understand why guys like Wines, Martin, Brayshaw, Selwood, get overlooked for forwards, or X factor types. There is no way in a hell I'd of taken McCartin before Brayshaw, that was a mistake by St Kilda, while the debate was ongoing about Petracca Vs McCartin, St Kilda ignored the obvious. I think Brayshaw is a future brownlow medal winner, at the very least.

Brayshaw having 10 disposals in a match, would be more effective than Matt Crouch having 20 disposals. I wouldn't put too much weight on Matt Crouch having a lot of the football, because he has been largely ineffective. I would be very surprised if we look back at the end of Crouch's career - and kick ourselves for taking Bernie Vince ahead of him, Vince is effective, that is what we need. The amount of benefit our young brigade will receive, having Bernie Vince out there, cannot be measured. Out of all the kids we could've taken with the Sylvia pick, there is only 1 player that would outweigh the Vince trade. So 9.5 times out of 10, you would take Bernie Vince. This isn't even taking into account that amount of improvement that Vince could have in him, he is in career best form, is a 'footballer's' footballer, and could play till he is 35.

Not in juniors he didn't, anything but slow. I might've over exaggerated comparison's to Chris Judd (speed wise). But Trengove did have good speed, he certainly wasn't slow. It was only after a couple of seasons at MFC that he looked slow.

I will admit to thinking ANB was not ready, not even nearly, but it appears to be an astute decision to play him. He didn't look up to speed last week, but backed up with a great game, made the most of his opportunities. Fantastic for the club - and fans - to have ANB and Stretch out there. Our list potential is massive.

Yeah I didn't think so.. I thought he was explosive, power through the hips, well balanced. Not dissimilar to Chris Judd. Probably not he top end speed of Judd, but certainly the same power through the hips.

Trengove was the most impressive junior we have on our list, he was an absolute stand out, had all the qualities you look for in an elite AFL player. He was strong, explosive, classy, clean, well balanced, great decision maker, good leader. I've never really understood how he lost his pace. As a junior he had Chris Judd explosiveness, yet as a MFC AFL listed player, after a few years in the system - he was no quicker than Brock McLean.

I could feel his pain. Very touching. Unbelievable to think Patrick had to learn english, learn how to adapt to a different environment - and also be expected to play football at the highest level. To then have to deal with racism on top of that. No wonder Patrick walked away, it is just a game football. We (fans) often forget that.

Yep, Viney has harnessed his aggression this year. He is being rewarded, having a fantastic year. Good to see that Viney has fixed this part of his game. Kid must listen and learn - which is a great sign. I think McCarthy is doing wonders with this group.

He is in AA form. I think Vince/Jones would be neck and neck for the bluey atm.

Our list was always better going forward. Players don't think ahead. Clark was silly to leave, we have a great young list.

How good is this!

Cats kick 2 and then they are in front. We've dominated all game. Too defensive of game plan when that can happen.

Yeah, he is going to struggle next year. Can't see him starting ahead of Nath Jones, Brayshaw or Viney. He'll up competing with Salem, Petracca and Toumpas. He'll have to lift.