Wiseblood

Good thread. Some were saying that he shouldn't be re-signed at the end of the year. Ridiculous claims that have been proven to be wrong. Roos was gave him plenty of praise for his commitment so far in the off season and that he came back to do extra sessions with the younger players.

Good idea in theory, but to me the women's team is still part of the Melbourne Football Club. This part of the forum is here to discuss the club, not just the team, and they are a big part of it. They don't need their own forum as we can still have plenty of discussion here and include them in that.

Joe did some good things for the club and he did some bad things as well. Such is life. He tipped in plenty of money, oversaw a Grand Final appearance and had a hand in hiring Daniher. He did things for his own benefit though and had to go for the good of the club, even though Szondy was bloody awful. There aren't many former Melbourne presidents who can say they were in charge when we played off in a Grand Final though.

Wines. Both of them have shown the ability to be a force in the midfield, but Wines comes without the injury baggage.

Comes across as someone we may have earmarked for the role Pedersen plays - 2nd/3rd forward who can give Max a chop out in the ruck for 5-6 minutes each quarter. Seems to have good hands, decent skills and he gets to the right places. Won't play this year you would think but is handy as a back up player.

True, but the beauty is that he has time on his side. We don't need him to play straight away. By recruiting guys like Melksham and Bugg, while also hopefully having a fit Petracca and Trengove to select from, we can give a guy like Oliver time to shed the puppy fat and build his endurance before he plays in the AFL. We don't need to expose him too soon. But when we do... look out!

Selection we had to make. Can play in the ruck and up forward. Played basketball as a junior, runs the ground well and is a good mark of the footy.

We've bid on Matthew Flynn! Will we get him... ?

What do we always talk about wanting to have in our side? Blokes who have a crack, win the footy, run both ways and give their all for the footy club. Oliver will bring all of those things in spades.

Bonner and Balic now gone in two picks! Damn!

You take the best available that late in the draft. Unless we have our heart set one someone you take a bloke like him. Can never have enough mids in the modern game.

Could we be that lucky.... ? We're never that lucky!!

One difference - going by how he presents himself Oliver is not a complete [censored] like Sylvia was.

He'll be even more gobsmacked when Sam and Jesse form the best forward partnership in the league in a few years time. Welcome Sam!

Olisik just had one of the all time great orgasms. Well done son. Oh, and welcome Clayton. I reckon you'll be a gem!

I believe the actual draft begins at 7pm.

I still don't think it's set we will take Oliver. I think it's still out of three - Oliver, Parish and Weideman. I agree with you that trading up to take Oliver doesn't seem to make much sense, although trading is done well after the TAC season is over and we may have earmarked him as a player we have to have. But it's still down to the 3 mentioned above for me.

Worked with Stringer though. I do agree with you though jumbo - both Weideman and Curnow make me a little nervous, but I trust that we've done more than our due diligence and I'll back the club with whoever they select.

I made an entire thread about this. Thanks for checking it out... Edit - Not only that but you posted in it a few times, so why you feel the need to link it here is anybodies guess. You're a weird unit, mate.

Fair point. I do wonder about our lack of pace in there as you wouldn't consider any of those guys as 'quick', but they will certainly win plenty of the footy for us.

And Cam Pedersen can play down there as well if need be.

Worth a look - she throws in a few names that we have supposedly been linked to, but at this point there isn't a whole lot here that is new. MELBOURNE In: Jake Melksham, Ben Kennedy, Tom Bugg, Joel Smith Out: Jack Fitzpatrick, Rohan Bail, Aiden Riley, Jordie McKenzie, Daniel Cross, Mark Jamar, Jeremy Howe, Jimmy Toumpas, Viv Michie Draft picks: 3, 7, 45, 49 TALL FORWARDS: Jesse Hogan, Chris Dawes, Jack Watts, Sam Frost, Cameron Pedersen, Max King (rookie) TALL DEFENDERS: Tom McDonald, Colin Garland, Lynden Dunn, Oscar McDonald SMALL/MEDIUM FORWARDS: Jeff Garlett, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Dean Kent, Ben Kennedy, Jayden Hunt, Joel Smith (rookie) SMALL/MEDIUM DEFENDERS: Heritier Lumumba, Neville Jetta, Dean Terlich, Jack Grimes, Mitchell White (rookie) MIDFIELDERS: Nathan Jones, Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince, Jack Viney, Angus Brayshaw, Christian Salem, Jake Melksham, Tom Bugg, Jack Trengove, Ben Newton, Billy Stretch, Christian Petracca, Aaron Vandenberg, Alex Neal-Bullen, James Harmes RUCKS: Max Gawn, Jake Spencer Melbourne and Essendon will play the biggest role in determining how the top 10 pans out, and the Demons get to go first. They seem set, first of all, to bid for Swans Academy player Callum Mills. From there? When you consider Melbourne have traded out their 2016 first-round pick and will be keen to move up the ladder and avoid making top five picks from here, it would make sense for them to take one of the key forwards. They might not get a look at another top-quality one for a while, but top quality is, of course, in the eye of the beholder. Sam Weideman was seeming more likely than Charlie Curnow this week, but the player linked strongly to both Melbourne and the Bombers is Clayton Oliver. His stocks have risen dramatically in the second half of the year and it would not be a huge shock if the Demons went ahead and grabbed the powerful midfielder at 3. Him, Viney, Brayshaw, Petracca would make a strong quartet. Weideman may still be there for them at 7 anyway - if they want him, and haven't been scared off by his injury history - and Harry McKay is another big possibility. Wayne Milera would be a chance at either pick too - the Bombers like him as well - and either Aaron Francis or Darcy Parish could also make it to 7. There's also been some talk linking them to onballer Harley Balic and, to a lesser extent, Sydney father-son Josh Dunkley and key back Kieran Collins. Pick 7 might end up being a touch too high for any of those last three players, though, particularly if Milera, Parish or Weideman sneak through. The Demons are one club who could look for a developing ruckman late, with Gach Nyuon and GWS player Matthew Flynn the pick of those available.

I'm almost convinced of it as well. Is it the right move or a risk we are taking in the hope he turns into another Ollie Wines?

I wasn't able to put the whole article and reasoning with his selections, but Sam made mention of the fact that if we took Parish then Essendon would take Oliver, or vice versa.

As some may not be able to read it I'll put below the order of Sam's Phantom Draft. 1. Carlton - Weitering 2. Lions - Schache 3. Swans - Mills* 4. Dees - Oliver 5. Scum - Parish 6. Scum - Francis 7. GWS - Hopper* 8. Gold Coast - Milera 9. Dees - Weideman 10. Blues - H. McKay 11. GWS - Kennedy* 12. Crows - Ah Chee 13. Blues - Curnow 14. Tigers - Gresham 15. Lions - Hipwood* 16. Crows - Burton 17. Saints - Tucker 18. Hawks - Rioli 19. Gold Coast - Balic 20. GWS - Himmelberg 21. Norf - Clarke 22. Lions - Keays* 23. Hawks - Collins 24. Blues - B. McKay 25. Dogs - Dunkley 26. Dogs - Bonner 27. Freo - Cole 28. WCE - Hibberd 29. Scum - Mathieson 30. Scum - Mitch Brown (mature age) As always it's a different take and worth discussion. Sam will get some right and some wrong like everyone else. So be it.