Goodvibes

Says the poster with almost 10,000 posts specifically about football to his name. Interesting.

Essendon also made the call on Austin Lucy and he was cut after just one year. Ruthless.

What chance Menzel sliding to 20? Even with pick 4 being used on Toumpas/Wines/O'Rouke and pick 20 on another midfield with line breaking ability, I've got 3 holes left in my MFC jigsaw - one more quality mid, a tough, hard lock down back pocket with a reliable kick and suitable pace and finally, a mercurial forward pocket. Menzel might fill the last hole fillied with the potential of adding to our midfield mix in the future. With obvious concerns over his history of knee problems, clubs may be reluctant to use their first pick on him and it's only looking like GWS and Collingwood might have more than one pick before twenty. If he slid, I'd grab him.

Sounds like Scully might become the most expensive back pocket in VFL/AFL history.

The following, from the official MFC site, doesn't do much to douse the rumours about this deal being done yesterday morning and being held off in the hope of avoiding draft tampering allegations: "The Dees now have Hogan, picks No. 4 and 20, Jack Viney (via the father/son rule at No.26) and Barry from the opening day of the trade period."

KOTD.

Can you also keep a tally of how many times Demonlanders make reference to the kid's father shirking a contest in the 88 GF.

The more I think about the mooted Dawes and Wellingham for 4 or Dawes for 13 trades the more I'm hoping it's a very elaborate ploy by the MFC to show the rest of the comp that we're genuinely prepared to trade our highend picks hoping that other teams will think they can offer us something better than Dawes/Wellingham. Please let this be the case. I'm definitely in the hang on to all our first 4 picks and then secure Dawes or Pederson another way (Rivers/Moloney compo, Martin trade, third round, later rounder upgrades etc . . ) camp. For the record, my dream draft/trade period (everyone else is doing it!) is: Pick 3 - Toumpas Pick 4 - MD pick (Hogan) Pick 14 - Stringer/Kennedy/Wines/O'Rourke/Garlett/Menzel/McRae/Vlastuin (in other words - the' slider', in the order listed) Pick 26 - Viney Pick 45 - Towers Pick 64 - Tipungwuti Pick 82 - James Ives (I'm biased because I know the kid but genuinely think he deserves his shot. To complement the addition of Byrnes I'd be keen for us to use our Rivers/Moloney compo to secure Dawes. Pedersen as the next option. I'd keep Martin. Easy.

10.00am.

Should we run a Demonland fundraiser? Perhaps a 5 buck entry fee - guess the number of people who'll be on Demonland at 10.00am tomorrow. Winner takes half the pot and Demonland pockets the other half. Really hope I log on (whilst teaching a class) tomorrow to discover hundreds of Demonlanders simply posting, "KOTD".

I'd like to nominate this little gem from WA for the article of the week award. It combines ridiculous hyperbole with a blatant and critical mistake and some sloppy expression. I'm impressed. http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/afl/15050807/demons-viney-poser/

There's going to be some very upset Demonlanders when they wake to read that article in the morning. I'm not one to question our Footy Dept but surely not. Emma Quayle has a really good rep but she's been putting her name to some very speculative articles this trade period.

Lions have gone public claiming that their 5 year offer to Tippett was more than generous but couldn't compete with Sydney's salary cap concessions. The irony is beautiful.

The only thing I can add about culture from my experience is that it can take a long time to build but can crumble very quickly if you forget what you stand for and your work ethic dwindles.

Nice post Dr. We should never underestimate the value of a self-perpetuating myth, particularly if that myth is built upon concepts such as teamwork, courage and hardness. At some point the myth becomes a reality. But it has to start somewhere and as H has said, it's usually the senior players. Trengove, Grimes, Jones, Clark, Frawley and Viney will be pivotal.

Jack's comments just add credence to the MFC story that we are genuinely considering not picking him at 3 if we don't think he's worth it. If Jack takes that seriously, then we're a bigger chance of Gold Coast and GWS doing the same. And if they think we're crazy enough to let the club slip and don't rate him in the top two then we're one step closer to getting him in the second round. I know there has been pages and pages about cloke and dagger dealings with the two expansion teams to encourage them not to nominate Jack but I don't think this is happening. Our strategy from day 1 has been simple - take every natural opportunity the media provides to give the impression we're genuinely weighing up Jack's value and furthermore suggest that there is a chance (albeit slim) that we'll pass on Jack if the others nominate him. All we need to do is create enough doubt in the minds of two clubs and he'll slide to the second round. The fact that supporters on this forum are unsure adds to the intended atmosphere of uncertainty. Harrington, Neeld, Schwab, T Viney and J Viney have all answered questions in the media that stress that Jack to Melbourne is not a done deal. Will it be enough to scare GC and GWS? I'm not sure but the only real problem that I can see is that Jack is so damn good that GC or GWS would be happy taking him in the top two and if that's the case, grabbing him at pick 3 will indeed be a steal. People need to relax. Jack will be at Melbourne. It's just a simple matter of whether it's pick 3 or pick 26. But seriously, continue as you are - bombard footy forums and social media sites with hysteria about Jack Viney - it all adds to the carefully constructed atmosphere of uncertainty.

I saw him play against the Brisbane Lions Reserves team in the NEAFL final a few weeks ago. He kicked two goals in two minutes late in the second term to bring the Thunder within a few goals at half time but did very little else for the rest of the game. Looked fitter than I expected but still some way off AFL standard. I don't think he wants it.

Chris Yarran won goal of the year for his first round effort.

Bang, Melbourne already under investigation for tanking, gets done for draft tampering.

That's how he has traditionally been viewed but Brisbane were grooming him as an on-baller and he was starting to impress some people as tall, strong marking midfielder who has a few tricks.

I saw him play the NEAFL grand final up here last week against the NT Thunder. He was very good. Lions mainly used him up forward but he's developing the tank to play more on ball and that's where he may be best in the future. It'd be a yes from me. What's his contract status?

BH it looks like you said pretty much the same thing on a different thread 5 minutes before me.

The Sydney/Moneyball approach is pretty popular right now but I struggle to understand the comparison with Melbourne. When people suggest we follow the Sydney model they rarely mention that Sydney has always had some genuine stars - Lockett, Kelly, O'Loughlin, Hall, O'Keefe and Goodes over the past decade. We haven't had a single player better than any of these six during that time. You could perhaps argue Neitz over O'Keefe or O'Loughlin but in terms of their position, they were elite. Having 2 - 3 genuine stars of the competition is the foundation upon which premierships are built. Most of the current stars of the game come from the top end of the draft. Of the newcomers this year to the All-Australian team, four were father/sons (Hawkins, Dempster, Kennedy and Watson). Hawkins in particular was billed as a potential number 1 draft pick. Nine of the remaining eleven (Dangerfield, Thompson, Naitanui, Rioli, Waters, McPharlin, Birchall, Cotchin and Deledio( were all first round selections. Of the remaining newcomers, Beams and Richards were second rounders. It is essential that we continue to trust the first round of the National Draft until we find the 2 - 3 stars that we crave. Obviously there is a role for recycled players and the All-Australian team with Richards, Dempster and Kennedy confirms that but history shows that these players can be obtained outside of the top 20. Kennedy and McGlynn were gained by giving up picks 39, 46 and 70. Richards was a little more expensive costing pick 19 and 50.The Saints got Schneider and Dempster with pick 26. Talk of giving up our first three picks worries me. We've been burnt over the past decade but we've got to keep going to the well until we find our next Robbie Flower. If we nab Viney in the second round and secure 3 very very good players in the first round and find a Jeremy Howe-like rough diamond later in the draft we'll be well on the way. A Josh Kennedy trade would be pretty handy just about now as would a Michael Barlow style mature age recruit. Let's hope the end of 2012 will be talked about in the future as the year we put together the magnificent 7. If we have any less than 7 new players in our team over the first half of next year, I'll be disappointed.

I heard he is actually eligible and available but simply not good enough to make the Oakleigh 22.