Goodvibes

You're probably right about who will be picked. I simply picked my 'best 22'. Although I'm tipping ANB and Stretch will surprise some come round one.

It is. And you've clearly given up on him as have most of the posters I respect around here. And the impression from the Footy Dept, if you believe the rumours of him being shopped around, is that they've basically given up too. Yet people like me still have hope. Do you think he'll even be named in our round 1 team or has a line already been drawn through his name - "only select in case of injury to others"? The hope I guess, is based on the view that he showed signs of working harder without the ball and taking the game on more with his pace for a period of 4 or 5 after he was given a second chance this year. The hope is also based on the belief that the natural improvement we're expecting across the board should benefit a player like Watts who we consider to be more the cream than the substance. With Hogan and another key tall (Pederson, Dawes, Weideman, whoever...) plus Petracca and vandenBerg as well as Garlett, there appears to be a role for someone with his skill set. The question of course is whether we can compromise our team values to include someone who has so routinely failed to compete. My simple thinking is that he has been loyal to us. He signed when he could have gone elsewhere. He's contracted for this year and therefore if he has a good pre-season and plays to the level he did in the middle of this year, he is at least deserving of a chance at the start of season. And for some reason, with very little evidence to date, I feel like he'll take that chance. Can anyone offer anything more substantial and tangible in their defence of Watts? In regards Weideman, I like the way he moves and I like the way he links up with team mates. And I like key position players who can snap goals on their non-preferred side! Seems to have good vision (like Hogan) when high up the ground but also a strong presence when the target deep. You can easily imagine the two rotating between FF and CHF.

That's a fair call but listing 'Best 22' teams with the same bunch of guys who've taken you to the lofty heights of 13th on the ladder is a little boring. This time of year a 'Best 22' should have a slightly fresh feeling to it given the excitement of a recently completed draft and trade period. For the record, my 'Best 22' at the beginning of the 2015/2016 pre-season is as follows: FB: Jetta Frost Dunn CHB: Melksham McDonald Salem C: Stretch Tyson Vince CHF: Petracca Hogan Watts FF: Garlett Pedersen Kent Foll: Gawn Jones Viney Int: Brayshaw vandenberg Neal-Bullen Oliver Dawes is out of favour with me. Watts gets one more chance. Pedersen gets the nod until Max King or Weideman emerges. I'm bullish about ANB and think Stretch is required for his outside run. Grimes, Garland and Lumumba fall short of my best 22. I think this is a good thing. Melksham is the only member of our three traded players to get a spot and Trengove will have to prove his fitness. I'm not going to be optimistic enough to place him in a best 22 team just yet but hope to be able to do so in the near future. If Petracca and Kent can prove their fitness and Salem gets through pre-season without a setback I think we're looking pretty good. I've listed Hogan at CHF because, quite simply that's where I envisage him playing in the near future and for team balance I think Pedersen plays his best football deep. I've thrown Oliver onto my bench for the pure excitement of seeing him and Petracca debut together. It's a young team but a tough uncompromising team with a healthy amount of skill and x factor. I'm not even going to try to quell my excitement levels. I think we're in great shape to push for the finals.

And now it seems half those TAC kids play for Carlton.

Viney, Brayshaw, Tyson, Salem, Petracca, Oliver. Just wanted to see what that looked like in black and white.

All I was saying is that Quayle, Twoney and Anderson all sound like they're making educated guesses. This is what Landsberger said on the morning of the 2012 draft: After SuperFooty revealed this week GWS would pass on SA gun Jimmy Toumpas with its first three picks, the Dogs suddenly had the option of taking Bendigo Pioneers captain Ollie Wines. But it seems Wines, touted as possibly the second-best player in the draft pool, could slip as low as pick seven - and even then he creates a headache for Port Adelaide, which is also keen on home-grown talent Sam Mayes. And Jay Clark said this last year: ST KILDA will crown Paddy McCartin the No.1 draft pick, believing the full-forward is the man to lead its list rebuild. The Herald Sun understands the Saints have settled on the 194cm goalkicker, who has been likened to Hawthorn spearhead Jarryd Roughead. See how the language is far more definitive. That's what I mean by making their picks with 'authority'. They happily suggested they had the inside word and they did. Not so this year.

When St Kilda overlooked Petracca and GWS took Plowman instead of Toumpas there was strong word in the last 48 hours before the draft that a change in thinking had occurred. This year it feels different. Not one journalist has listed Oliver as our first pick and done so with any authority. I wouldn't be surprised if they were using the meeting mentioned in the article above as the basis for their selection of Oliver. I still think we'll pick Parish.

I love Demonland. We all can't wait for draft day so Demonland helps us out by speeding things up and enters Tuesday a little early. Thanks Demonland!

Shots of him at the Combine suggest he's already toned down and well on the way to developing an AFL-ready body.

The Ah Chee inclusion for Gold Coast at 7 is interesting. If Twomey has the inside word there it means we get the choice between Weidemen, Milera and Curnow.

OK, I've made my decision. Parish at 3 and Curnow at 7. Can someone let Taylor know?

Some reports have him at 193cm. He has strong hands and has the tank to provide repeated efforts up the ground and back. Hogan, Petracca, Curnow, Garlett sounds like the basis of a good forward line to me with Kent, Watts and vandenBerg playing roles. I'm a fan of McDonald and Frost playing together in the same backline and sharing the second ruck duties.

He seems like a highly intelligent, natural footballer. And those types tend to adapt well but I can't shake a nagging doubt I have about his size/speed package. A well rounded midfielder (like I expect ANB to become) still has a place in the game but rarely do the elite mids that you hope emerge from the top of the draft succeed without size or pace. Mitchell might be an exception but he has amazing awareness and vision and is strong through the core.

Agree with your thoughts regarding the importance of speed of mind. Parish seems to be elite in this area. My comparison to Viney only involved his pace and in particular his ability to accelerate out of congestion. Viney does this through sheer determination and Parish seems to read the situation and know when to back himself. Both seem pretty quick in their first 6 or 7 steps. But I've never seen Parish live, hence my question.

Given the collective levels of trust we all now appear to have in our footy dept, I'm pretty confident whoever is called out as our pick 3 will suddenly gain greater credence. 'If Taylor thinks he's that good then he must be' mentality will be the prevailing thought process I would assume and with good reason. There's strong arguments for 6 - 8 players for picks 3 and 7 and the choices made will provide us with a great insight into the perceived strengths and weaknesses of our list and the style of play we're attempting to develop. Could we really be just one draft away from stockpiling the core talent that will eventual be pieced together to form our premiership jigsaw?

I'm seeing Parish's pace being listed by many as a much needed strength despite his combine testing only being average. Based purely on the footage he appears more in the Jack Viney mould in that his outside run and carry speed is only fair but he has pretty good acceleration and his first 6 or 7 steps breaking away from stoppages is pretty handy. Can those who've seen him in the flesh comment on his speed?

Tyson is 5th year right? Good to see if getting the extra sessions in.

This is my thinking too with one proviso though. The three talls you list must all be rated as top 10 talent. If our ranking list has Parish at 3 and Curnow at 6 and Weideman at 9 and McKay at 18 and Curnow and Weideman get snapped up by Essendon and Gold Coast, do you still want us to take McKay? Or do you back our full time recruiting team who have spent 2 plus years watching this batch of players and may well rate Milera at 5, Oliver at 7, Francis at 10 and Collins at 11? It's easy to talk about taking 'best available' but a scenario like the one I presented is a little more challenging particularly when our jigsaw is oh so close to completion. I agree, a forward who can ruck is a key need. I just hope the draft works out so that we pick an elite mid and in order to meet needs we don't reach too far. If Weitering, Schache, Curnow and Weideman are all taken, are we happy taking the 5th best tall when our rankings has that player outside the top 15?

I keep coming back to Mahoney's comment at the end of trade week. He suggested two mids or a mid and a tall. It felt like pick 3 was earmarked for a mid and pick 7 would require a little more thought. I'm in the Parish is a lock camp.

I could watch that all night on loop. We used to say we could build a club around a young kid like that. I reckon we can say the same about Viney, Hogan, Salem and potentially Petracca. Exciting times.

I'll back ANB to play round 1 and only lose his spot through injury. I was pretty impressed with what he achieved given his pre and early season setbacks. I like when kids just look like they belong straight up. They don't need to get a heap of it early on like say Gysberts but instead show clean hands, enjoy the physicality and adjust to the pace quickly. Viney, Salem and Hogan have all done exactly that in recent times. I'd add ANB to that list. He just looks a footballer.

The people I know (players and coaches) that have been involved in the program been pretty consistent in the view that we've been more committed to the concept and provided more resources for the players than the Bullies. I'm proud of this. Just not sure it assures us a license or whether we can justify the expense. The make-up of the teams (player-wise) will be completely different in 2017.

It will be the last exhibition game. National competition in 2017. The real question is whether Melbourne will be one of the Victorian teams to have a license. There's been no public word as yet but plenty of rumblings that Brisbane, West Coast and Adelaide will all have the first license opportunities in their respective states.

I'd rather have the best possible forward and entrust Frost or McDonald to play on the 2nd ruck when forward and then follow them into the middle when they're given the ruck duties. It worked well foe Port and Trengove in 2014.

Viney, Brayshaw, Tyson, Salem, Petracca, Parish. Just wanted to see what that looked like in black and white.