G-max

The shield is so terrible. A classic case of design by committee. There's a trident, a football, a scroll, est 1858, a southern cross, the MFC emblem, the red V, some signatures in the background, and there's even an unnecessary "flame" type thing above the M in Melbourne. There's way too much going on and I wouldn't buy merch with that logo on it. I also am a graphic designer, so there's that...

This is the right kind of trouble to be hearing about at this time of year. Love it.

I would happily lose that bet if it meant Hogan was our leading goal kicker.

Just posted on the Saints Twitter: Not sure if these are fresh highlights or not.

Serious analysis: St Kilda have tweet about McCartin and Petracca in the last three days. No mention of Brayshaw... yet.

Are there betting lines for the draft? I did a scan of the major players and didn't find anything but I don't have an account.

Garlett is currently paying $3.00 to lead Melbourne in goal kicking. Given his history and our supreme lack of goal kickers this sounds reasonable.

Random note: SportsBet have Lumumba at $17.00 to make All-Australian.

Good pick up, here are all of his tweets:

Stoked about this guy after watching those highlights. You can see those skills translating. We traded a lotto ticket for a promising, developing player. My immediate reaction was "overs" but the more I reflect, I realise it beats picking a similar player in the draft and waiting to see if he develops. GWS continue to be a post-TAC breeding ground for young talent. Jaksch, Whiley, Frost, Boyd, and that's only this year's crop. Plus they've got 4, 6 and 7 in this year's draft.

Totally agree on Howe - "natural footballer" is exactly how I would describe him. The highlight reel marks might lead the average fan to think he's more impactful than he is, but don't let them fool you, he's not just a one-trick pony. Defensively he's got work to do but he's got great disposal efficiency (80.6%, good for 45th in the league among players with 150+ disposals) and found the ball plenty playing in the backline (9 games with 20+ disposals in 2014).

Speaking of Greenwood, I prefer our off season to North Melbourne's. Started with a bang by overpaying two injury-prone free agents and followed up by getting a poor return on Greenwood.

Once again, some cause for hope that we have something brewing - the last day of the trade period is always the biggest: https://twitter.com/Goalsneaker/status/522334613352357888

I would look at it like putting in a bet or a tip. Just a bit of fun. Apparently I'm doing this wrong and it needs to be a riddle or a "club informant" that I know of. For what it's worth, I heard very early on that Watts would be shopped. Parker is obviously a stretch but the Kennedy rumours made sense because they can't add players and we have multiple draft picks to make it worth their while parting with a quality midfielder. GWS now enter the mix for that but they probably have their eye on pick 1. Isn't speculation what this thread - and most other threads at the moment - are about? Dangerfield anyone? Kennedy perhaps? Hell, some noodles even talked about us trading for Beams and Griffin after those players had explicitly stated their preferred destination.

So come up with something better...?

My predictions for today: 1) Watts and pick 23 to Adelaide for Pick 10. 2) Pick 10 and pick 3 to Sydney for Luke Parker and pick 39. Fully expect to be wrong about this. Any other predictions?

I'm gearing up for a self-harm Thursday.

A glimmer of hope: the final day of the trade period has historically always been the biggest. https://twitter.com/Goalsneaker/status/521987526865588224

Obviously we've been burnt in the draft in recent times but by all accounts we have better management in place this time around. There's a lot of talk of getting a mature-bodied player in while Roos is still HC but the other side of the coin is that now's a good time to play the draft while we have Roos' expertise on our side. On top of that, we're short on elite young talent. Tyson is a bright light and Viney looks the goods but in terms of more tangible measures, in the last two years we've had only Viney receive a rising star nomination (and he only in round 21 in his 11th match), and had no players in the AFL's 22 under 23. Tyson was stiff to miss out on that list and to be fair, Dom received a rising star nomination in 2012 with GWS. Point being, we desperately need elite youngsters. We need a lot of things but if we go to the draft with 2 and 3 and snare Petracca and Brayshaw, I'm excited about our future. They will take time but I'd rather that than more 27-30 year old mature players. Wouldn't mind Luke Parker for pick 3 though.

Has Kennedy still got that weird tippy-toes run-up when he lines up for goal?

Some "navicular bone" insight from the NBA. Recent no. 2 draft pick Joel Embiid is currently sidelined and there's a history of tall players (~7'0 feet) having their careers derailed by a navicular bone injury (Yao Ming, Bill Walton, Brendan Hayward). On the upside, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Kevin McHale both continued their careers after the injury. Smaller players seem better equipped to recover, both Kevin Martin (shooting guard) and Michael Jordan broke their navicular bones and came back better than ever. On the other hand, it can be a tough one to shake, as we're seeing from Trengove.

Here are the combine numbers with Nakia highlighted: Great to see Stretch's name plenty of times too.

No kidding, but Stretch looked like a spud in that vid. Why wouldn't the club show him at his best? It's laughable to show a player kicking a behind in a highlight vid, especially off a set shot.

There's a pretty big difference in the quality of Billy Stretch's highlights in the initial vid (Sep 9). Notably Stretch is shown kicking two behinds: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2014-09-09/dees-to-nominate-father-son-prospect He looks much slicker in the vid released (Oct 6) after we've secured him as a father-son selection: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2014-10-06/billy-stretch-highlights-2014 Did the Dees management release dodgy highlights to keep his value down? Or were they just saving the good highlights until we eventually secured him?

Anyone read this yet?