warren dean

Not quite correct. The Bombers have a preseason draft pick which we don't. I think you'll find Hird is talking about taking him before the rookie draft in the preseason draft.

A bit of extra spice in the round 1 match - Viney v Wines!! Can't wait.

I hope thats not true, we do not want an in/under mid with a case of the fumbles.

Mids must have great hands first, great footy brain, & foot disposal next.

The problem with all of this stuff is the focus on what these players can't do or do wrong. These boys do a helluva lot right. There are problems/issues with just about every player if you look deeply enough into it. The perfect player hasn't been invented yet. If we get Wines or Toumpas (or O'Rourke) we will be getting a potentially excellent player. Who turns out to be the best will come down to a multitude of factors, some of which the club has control over. I will be happy with Toumpas or Wines and I'm sure both will turn out to be very accomplished players.

Might as well post this here. Whitfield new AFL number one

I know its Hagdorn but more speculation that Toumpas has slipped.

Still has us getting Wines.

I'd given up on the thought of Toumpas, as he is a class above Wines, but I'd say clearly top 3.

Last night on SEN they discussed the draft & Mick Ablett (shifter's protege) said GWS is very likely to overlook Toumpas and select Whitfield, Plowman and Menzel, leaving Toumpas for us if we don't stick with Wines.

I really can't see how we could choose Wines over Toumpas.

Romanticism aside, it's the pertinent decision.

Agreed we should take Toumpas ahead of Wines if he is available to us, but what I want to know is why he would be available to us? In my opinion he is clearly the second best prospect in the draft (and not far behind Whitfield by the way) so why wouldn't GWS want him? Is his hip injury worse than first thought? Anyone heard anything about that?

Was down at training today and thought I would share a few insights. The wind was so strong I should have just held a kite and floated there from my house.

....

The second group was Sellar, Byrnes, Viney, Jetta and another bloke who no-one seemed to know. I think I heard him being called Tommy but it was a bit unclear. They ran continuously around the boundary and were absolutely stuffed by the end of it.

My brother was at training. The player was Tom Gillies apparently.

EQ on SEN this morning implied that GWS would take Whitfield, Toumpas and Menzel at 1, 2, 3, with Grundy to slip as far as 7. She stated that Menzel had the potential to be the best player in this draft as he can break a game and that a team like GWS with so many high picks would probably see him as worth the risk.

This makes sense. Inside Football had O'Rourke going at 3 and Grundy slipping to 7. I can't see GWS taking Wines. They have a lot of this type already and they can't play them all.

I think Morton had close to 30 touches and 2 goals also, Goodes was good but i remember that game and Morton actually did well following a quality guy like Goodes around the park.

Morton had 14 and Goodes had 17 http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/2009/111620090726.html

Morton did quite well on him. We were never in this game. Four goals down at half time and lost by 18 points.

I'm surprised nobody is talking about Rivers and Garland playing forward this year and yelling TANKING!

FFS you can never prove that positional changes are an act of tanking, because for every dumb move, there is one equally genuine move that works. Or at the very least makes sense.

We scored our only legitimate win of the season when Garland was moved forward!

Those of us old enough to remember the 1984 Grand Final will recall Sheedy winning the Bombers a flag by putting his backline forward - Duckworth and Weston virtually won the game for Bombers as forwards when they spent most of their careers as very good defenders. And you are right Jaded, this was when Sheedy was first hailed a genius. Blight often shifted players around - sometimes to great effect (Shane Ellen!!) As Martin Flanagan pointed out, we certainly didn't play any worse when Bailey made those moves against Richmond and we were in front at the final siren. People talk about Miller moving into the ruck in that game. I can recall quite often during 2004 - when for the majority of the year we were near the top of the ladder, Miller often relieved White for 5 or 10 minutes on the ball. I think we can easily justify the positional moves.

This is my big fear for the draft - GWS go Whitfield, Toumpas, Wines and then we end up taking Grundy.

We have enough KPP/rucks we need midfiedlers goddamit! I'm sure the club will take the best available ready to go midfielder and I'm hoping it's Wines - but hopefully they're not tempted with Grundy.

If Grundy is still there at 4 he'll be going to the Bullies. I still think GWS will take him, but if not we'll take whoever is left out of O'Rourke, Toumpas and Wines. If I was Silvagni I'd be calling out Whitfield, Toumpas and Grundy. Out of Wines and O'Rourke, both are great prospects but Wines is more what we need right now. I still think O'Rourke will be a beauty though. Grundy too will be a great player, but we are relatively well served for ruck stocks into the mid-term future. Most of the current elite rucks are originally from the rookie list (Cox, Sandilands, Jolly, Jamar to name but 4). The only really high picks spent on rucks have been Kreuzer, Naitanui, Longer and Leunberger in recent times. The rookie listed guys stack up pretty well. For us, it will be a midfielder - just which one?

We started out with 3,4,13 and 26. We spent 3 and 13 (effectively the Scully comp) on Hogan and Barry as well as Dawes with the pick 20 (became 21) we had thrown in. So Scully got us Hogan, Barry and Dawes. We still kept 4, which I'm certain will be used on Wines. The biggest steal of the whole trade period was getting Viney in the second round. We traded out some guys who despite their lofty original draft positions were not in our best 22 (Morton, Martin, Gysberts). We added a bit of short term leadership in Byrnes and Rodan which cost us nothing and Pedersen who may or may not be any good, but couldn't be any less effective than most of the blokes wehave let go. I'd say we have done reasonably well, but time will tell. Our biggest loss was Rivers.

Good luck, Riv! A gutsy player who gave his all. A great get by the Cats!

Big Danny Hughes for me. Loved his battles with that [censored] Taylor.

Wines for me. From what I've read and heard about him he is a perfect 'fit' for Neeld's plan to make Melbourne "the hardest team in the AFL to play against" and I really like that plan.

Absolutely the perfect fit for what we need. If he's still there at 4 I'm certain we'll call his name.

He could lose a lot of value on the trade table, so we get nothing for him next year when we decide not to persevere with him.

Something now, or nothing in a year... I know which I'd take.

Unfortunately we have to make a judgment call on what is more likely in a year's time - him making it, or further lowering his value.

How much value do you think he currently has? Geelong have reportedly lost interest now they have Caddy. The most common trade re Gys I hear is Essendons 3rd rounder. I'd rather wait the 12 months unless, as I said in my earlier post, someone is prepared to offer something decent for him.

Give the kid a chance ffs.

If someone offers us a fair trade based on his potential, then we must conside,ie first round pick. Otherwise, let him have a decent crack at a season injury free.

I agree with this. We won't lose anything by giving him another year to show us what he's got, unless someone is prepared to offer something really decent for him. I'd like to see him off a full preparation. I think he could be someone very useful.

Geoff Walsh just said pick #20 won't cut it.

So, they recruit Lynch because Dawes was bloody hopeless this year and then in a meeting with Buckley Dawes is encouraged to look elsewhere, but he is worth more than a first round draft pick!! Gold!!

I am confident Harrington won't use 20 on Dawes. That is a frst round pick in this draft and Dawes is not worth a first rounder. I believe they are still confident Rivers and Moloney will go. Compensation for Byrnes and Moloney will cancel each other out. Rivers comp should be late second round or early third round. That should be enough for Dawes.

No I think it sounds about right. Depends a bit on what we do with 20. If we trade it for Dawes then we are paying overs, because he isn't worth a first round pick in my opinion. I'd go to the draft with 4 and 20 and trade whatever compo we might get for Rivers for Dawes, which is likely to be end of second round or early third round. If Rivers doesn't go then fine, we don't get Dawes.

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/uFXKTQNRkfn/2012+AFL+Draft+Combine/6u22hlS_H4W/Dominic+Barry

Some very impressive results at the combine.

I'm with you, but in all honesty I couldn't see them being silly enough to entertain it anyway. Another cheap headline to join the multitude at this time of year!

Had Dawes and Wellinham been in our side this year what would the difference have been? How many more games would we have won? Not many, if any. Wellingham is a capable second string midfielder and Dawes a moderate second/third tall forward. Both are worth second round picks at best individually. Pick 4 gives us the opportunity to draft a genuine future star - Hogan or a potentially elite midfielder. We may need to wait a couple of years for the choice to bear fruit, but we'd still be shizen next year with Dawes and or Wellingham anyway. I'd rather us take Viney at three, trade 4 for the mini-draft, utilise 13 and offer 26 and the steak knives for Dawes.

Don't fall for it. Obviously wishful thinking from Collingwood!

If you were GC what would you do? I'd be bidding for certain. It automatically improves whatever pick they get for Caddy when they trade him. Melbourne will take him at 3 - they have invested 2 years of development into him. He is universally rated top 10, and by most within the top 7. Stop worrying, he will be well worth it.

I was there between the FP and HFF on the Hawkins wing, at the end we were kicking to in the last. I was 17 at the time and should have been studying for my Year 12 exams which were about 7 or 8 weeks away at the time! It was absolute magic! The train ride home from Footscray was sublime. I remember chatting with a Fitzroy supporter on the way home (they had just been beaten narrowly by the Swans) and he was so pumped for us! The whole day was magic, as were the next couple of weeks. Without doubt my best experience as a Demons fan.