The Oracle

I don't think we've had many results going the way we would have liked so let's hope we get through tonight.,

Heaven forbid they make us go to Cairns. What do I call the match preview? Further north of the border? Enough, please.

Going a bit early, aren’t we?

Press conference in front of Bill Ponsford’s statue. Please leave the statue alone.

Since we are due to play both Essendon and Sydney in the next few weeks, one would expect Goodwin watched the game closely. I hope that he’s worked out a forward strategy that doesn’t involve us in constantly kicking to a one on two situation in front of goal where we constantly cough up the footy time and again. I didn’t see much of that in the game at the SCG or anywhere else other than our forward line over the weekend. This has to be fixed.

Thanks. I was going to apologise to Linda for any responsibility in her being pregnant but it didn’t read well. Fixed anyway ... and apologies to both ladies. ?

It’s out ...

Good to see that Preuss has been working hard during the off season so far. This time last year there was a lot of talk about the respective roles of he and Max under the new 666 regime but in the end, he spent a lot of time at Casey and with our KPF’s falling down, it all unravelled. Could his fitness be the key to a renewal of hope for the set up we expected to do so well for the team 12 months ago?

There’s a lot of talk round here that Melbourne should split its pick 3 with the GWS Giants and take pick 6 and something else but I’m suspicious of this because in car dealing language, the pick is a lemon ?! Check out the chart from the AFL Draft Guru site Historically, players who have been selected at 3 have played an average of 132 games compared with 57 for pick 6. At pick 7, the average is almost more than double at 133 games. Pick 6 is jinxed - we tell GWS no to that pick. https://www.draftguru.com.au/

I was in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda this morning and to my horror, I happened on the Gatwick which appears to be undergoing some change. Who allowed this and where are the former residents?

The Trade Period runs till Wednesday. The Free Agency Period is now officially over.

Apparently returning to his local roots. Wishing him good luck for the future - nearly two seasons out with hamstring issues is no fun.

Well, the official Free Agency period has come and gone and the world hasn't come to an end. There hasn't been all that much activity with Tom Lynch being the big fish among free agents. There were some other fish caught and nibbles for a few others but it wasn't all that much of a big deal in my book and there are 10 free agents left without a deal. The next lot of free agents on the menu are the delisted free agents but they don't come into play yet.

Pretty sure it’s Bugg’s turn to play the senior emergency role.

Check out WJ's post of 29 July in which he discusses Murphy on this thread.

This is the full list of 2017 AFL Draft Combine Invitees:- Vic Metro Noah Balta (Calder Cannons) Andrew Brayshaw (Sandringham Dragons) Tyler Brown (Eastern Ranges) Adam Cerra (Eastern Ranges) Nick Coffield (Northern Knights) Charlie Constable (Sandringham Dragons) Matthew Day (Oakleigh Chargers) Lachlan Fogarty (Western Jets) Joel Garner (Eastern Ranges) Sam Hayes (Eastern Ranges) Jack Higgins (Oakleigh Chargers) Hayden McLean (Sandringham Dragons) Dylan Moore (Eastern Ranges) Nathan Murphy (Sandringham Dragons) Trent Mynott (Eastern Ranges) Patrick Naish (Northern Knights) Tom North (Eastern Ranges) Ethan Penrith (Northern Knights) Jack Petruccelle (Northern Knights) Mitchell Podhajski (Calder Cannons) Cameron Rayner (Western Jets) Ned Reeves (Oakleigh Chargers) Ed Richards (Oakleigh Chargers) Jackson Ross (Eastern Ranges) Jaidyn Stephenson (Eastern Ranges) Ryley Stoddart (Eastern Ranges) Angus Styles (Sandringham Dragons) Will Walker (Sandringham Dragons) Toby Wooller (Oakleigh Chargers) Vic Country Aiden Bonar (Dandenong Stingrays) Jordon Butts (Murray Bushrangers) Hunter Clark (Dandenong Stingrays) Oscar Clavarino (Dandenong Stingrays) Brent Daniels (Benigo Pioneers) Luke Davies-Uniacke (Dandenong Stingrays) Tom De Koning (Dandenong Stingrays) Aiden Domic (Greater Western Victoria Rebels) Paddy Dow (Bendigo Pioneers) Kane Farrell (Bendigo Pioneers) Ethan Floyd (Geelong Falcons) David Handley (Geelong Falcons) Bailey Henderson (Bendigo Pioneers) Changkouth Jiath (Gippsland Power) Jordan Johnston (Greater Western Victoria Rebels) Harrison Jones (Murray Bushrangers) Matthew Ling (Geelong Falcons) Tom McCartin (Geelong Falcons) Matthew McGannon (Gippsland Power) Lloyd Meek (Greater Western Victoria Rebels) Gryan Miers (Geelong Falcons) Lochie O’Brien (Bendigo Pioneers) Ben Paton (Murray Bushrangers) Angus Schumacher (Bendigo Pioneers) James Worpel (Geelong Falcons) Western Australia Brayden Ainsworth (Subiaco) Oscar Allen (West Perth) Callan England (Claremont) Kyron Hayden (Subiaco) Tim Kelly (South Fremantle) Ben Miller (Subiaco) Aaron Naughton (Peel Thunder) Jake Patmore (Claremont) Brandon Starcevich (East Perth) Sam Taylor (Swan Districts) South Australia Charlie Ballard (Sturt) Callum Coleman-Jones (Sturt) Darcy Fogarty (Glenelg) Jordan Houlahan (Sturt) Nathan Kreuger (South Adelaide) Alex Martini (Glenelg) Andrew McPherson (Woodville-West Torrens) Harrison Petty (Norwood) NSW-ACT Jarrod Brander (Bendigo Pioneers) Brendan Myers (Wagga Tigers/GWS academy) Jack Powell (Ainsli/GWS academy) Nicholas Shipley (St George/GWS academy) Charlie Spargo (Murray Bushrangers) Queensland Connor Ballenden (Wests Juniors/Brisbane Lions academy) Brayden Crossley (Labrador/Gold Coast Suns academy) Jack Payne (Noosa/Brisbane Lions academy) Northern Territory Zac Bailey (Southern Districts/Norwood) Adam Sambono (NT Thunder) Tasmania Hugh Dixon (Kingborough Tigers) Pie father-son prospect among Combine invitees

If you think the 2017 draft is going to be good, what about 2018? Is your future now? Clubs weigh up picks ahead of 2018 'super draft'

Tweet from Paul Amy who writes mainly about the VFL in winter sports and is a well respected journo - "Won't be a surprise if @CaseyScorpions forward 'Bull' Smith gets an AFL listing at age 25. At least two clubs are talking about drafting him"