Bang Bang Bang

Richmond in 2004 had five picks in the top 20 and used them on Deledio (1), Tambling (4), Danny Meyer (12), Adam Patterson (16) and Dean Polo (20). They also picked up JON at #8 the following year. Whoever their recruiting manager at the time might be challenging Prendergast for his crown. It's little wonder they were awful until recently when their drafting improved a lot.

Matt Jones did crack it for 9 games this year, nearly half the season! if getting Melksham helps decrease that figure to 0 in 2016 then I can see the rationale. It's a fairly weak argument though.

I can normally rationalise and mount an argument for any player we're linked to at this time of year, but I can't even begin with Melksham. Would be up there with drafting Gary Moorcroft all those years ago.

I guess the majority of players that have done their ACL in the past have made full recoveries, but there's still a fair chunk of players that have done it again, and again (Menzel, Alex Johnson, Morabito, Patton and Clay Smith are five recent examples). Fingers and toes crossed that Petracca falls into the former category.

I don't think so. Pendlebury got up and kept playing. Had he been concussed, then Jack would be looking at weeks for sure.

Turning into a gun of a footballer. I really like the unsociable side to his game - heckling Williams and Swan with a minute or so left in the game. He's really doing his bit in turning the club's 'soft' culture from earlier years around.

He had a pretty good strike rate last year with Melbourne-related news. He was the first to tell us of Hogan's back injury, then the setback with the injury, then Mitch Clark's stunning decision to seek a trade. He's a [censored], and his 'opinion' articles are horrendous, but I don't doubt he has good sources at Melbourne.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet.

Rockliff had 14 touches. For some perspective, that's his lowest possession tally since Round 9 2011 where he also had 14. Round 6 2010 was the last time he had less. Not only did Viney negate his impact, he was able to get 23 touches himself. We're not talking about a Simon Godfrey tagger here, we're talking about one that do damage the other way. I'd be shocked if he didn't get maximum votes in the Coaches award.

Viney is almost the forgotten man of our young brigade. Has looked good from game 1 but he has also steadily improved with each season, they way you expect it to be. 28 touches to Selwood's 16 is a complete annihilation. He's never going to be an elite kick but his decision making has definitely improved. I don't panic when he gets it anymore. Gun.

Don't underestimate the degree of difficulty with that tackle. I've never seen a tackle as good as that on a "Don't Argue". I'd honestly rate it as one of the best, and comparable to Nathan Carroll's tackle on Gehrig back in 2006. It's just a shame it still ended up in a Saints goal not long after it.

I bet you're a happy camper tonight! Time will tell how good Petracca becomes but if he is anywhere near the Wines/D.Martin hybrid like he's pumped up to be, I CANNOT WAIT to see him in action.

I don't agree with it. Dustin Martin would probably have trouble spelling his own name, yet is one of the best players in the league. He is just one example. I feel like recruiters are trying a bit too hard these days. Could we make their jobs a lot easier by raising the draft age to 20?

We could have easily signed him and gone to the draft with pick 40 (and even pick 52 as well) with better list management.

He'd be a pretty good get, IMO he doesn't look an out-and-out star though, more of a very good meat-and-potatoes mid. Sort of like Trengove, but better.

This sounds about right. We rated Salem at 3 (said by JT at function some posters here attended, late last year), and wouldn't have taken Kelly at 2 so that probably reads 1. Boyd, 2. Billings, 3. Salem. So we "sort of" got Tyson for free. Great trading.

Seriously one of the worst football articles that has ever been written. I would place a wager the quotes from the article are completely made up. There's no way any recruiter worth his salt would have watched Tyson in 2011 Championships and seen anything but 'class'. Yep, the quotes and these 'unnamed' recruiters aren't real people. I'm sure of it.

Can't remember the name of the function, but soon after the draft was complete, Jason Taylor apparently told a small group of diehards at said function that they rated Salem at 3. My guess is they had Boyd at 1 and Scharenberg at 2.

His lack of size (173cm, 68kg) would have thrown the recruiters off, I think. What we've learnt from JKH so far is that there's no substitute in this game for class. IMO, it won't be long before these types start getting drafted in the first round again.

At the moment, he reminds me of a poor man's Simon Black, with a touch of Scott Pendlebury. Now I don't expect him to reach the level of either (we are talking about two of the best players this century), but he's playing exactly the way you hope a Top 3 pick would. I'm a big fan.

Just something else I was thinking about before... the aftermath of our win over the Bombers. While it was a good win at the time and DB can be forgiven for showing a bit of emotion afterwards... I don't think we'll be seeing a repeat of those antics under Neeld. As I said, it was a great win but I saw the aftermath of it recently and watching us strut around like we had won a GF was kinda cringe worthy in retrospect. Hopefully under Neeld we should expect to win this games and celebrate the victories appropriately. It's these little things that I want to see change in 2012.

I don't normally buy too much into fluff articles quoting coaches over the off season, but this article is REALLY pleasing to read. No more gifted games and skulking around for cheap kicks in 2012 Aaron, if you don't put in the hard yards you don't play. Names and reputations mean nothing to MN. For too long (Bailey and Daniher eras) name players could do as they pleased. Not anymore! Still, it's the players that have to put the ball through the big sticks. I've been super impressed with the coaching team we've assembled, but it doesn't necessarily mean success is imminent. 2012 will be a very interesting year.

Chris Johnson is a nice guy. Likewise Daniel Bell.