ChaserJ

Culture wise, and team fit wise wouldn't be a good investment. No thanks. I'm plumping for Maric.

Ideally a FF/CHF (Watts), a speedy midfielder with good skills (Walters and/or Blease please) and either another tall (Jordan Lisle, Cornelius, or Johnstone if he slides) or best available midfielder (Swift, Suban). High chance of Tom Swift being available, and he is definitely worth a punt. Rated higher than Rich before injury kept him out of Under 18 champs, and is just coming back from injury on a half back flank for Claremont's colts side. Great inside midfielder who racked up some phenomenal stats in the state Under 16's comp a couple of years age. Probably will slide because of knee injuries (maybe due to a 7cm growth spurt, now listed as 190cm), but no more severe than Vickery and Lynch (who both had solid carnivals) and both will go high.

Id be stoked with that. Anyone think we would we take a punt on Tom Swift? Tore it up in the u/16 carnival, but has been unlucky wth injury this year.

Not just the no 1 pick at stake here, but the highest possible second round pick. If West Coast win, both Freo and WC would just need to win one each (they both have a realistic shot at winning one of their last four) to rule themselves out of a priority pick. We could be looking at 1, 17 and 18 if Freo and WC finish ahead of us on 5+ wins. That would be (draftwise) extremely advantageous to the Demons going forward.

Just before Jimmy was officially appointed president, I had a quick chat to him about the hows and whys of him taking the job on. At the time he was pretty strong on getting 'football' people to run the club. I shortsightedly thought he was just referring to the board at the time. Guess there was a bigger picture which is only playing out now. Important times for the club.

Rich didn't have a fantastic carnival. If it wasn't for the hype and a very good last game, he probably wouldn't have made the AA team. Struggled with a heavy tag at times, but doesn't mean that he is rated below the other four. They were just viewed to have performed better at the champs (Rich would have received far more opposition attention than the other four). Trent Cotchin also struggled in the Championships last year, doesn't seem to have affected his performance at AFL level.

Beat me to it.

Blease or Walters would be exceptional gets with our second pick.

His chase downs and tackling was sensational in the win against Brisbane. Hope he stays in the side and continuies to progress.

Yeah definately interesting listening yesterday. Ox seemed convinced West Coast would jump on him, but there certainly have been a lot of doubts raised about how much of that potential will be realised. Brucey seemed to echo Cometti's thoughts that teams were hoping that someone else would take the risk first. Watt's and Rich are starting from a good football base (awareness-wise) and Nick Nat has been playing catch right from the start. The big question is will he catch up to the rest, and if he does, wil he surpass them. High risk, high reward? I'm still leaning towards Watt's.

Would've been there but ruptured my achilles and had to prep for surgery Saturday. Needless to say I'd rather have been celebrating with my fellow Melbourne fans...

I liked what Walters, Hill and Jetta brought to the game today. Tom Lynch looked a very good player too. I'd be happy with any of those or Lewis Johnston with our second pick.

That's usually been down to a lack of quality available. Smith and Molan were speculative picks when we drafted them. Watt's is being touted as a legitimate no 1 pick on his performance and abilities. His actions are elevating his status, and it's not often that you get the chance to select a KPP who is quality. Their usually the ones that turn out to be a little bit special. It says something that we did use up decent draft picks to select speculative big's over mids who were perceived to have greater talent.

Would be nice, but Melb/Sandy have taken the 'slowly, slowly' approach with bringing players back from injury. The standard has been three weeks in the ressies for guys returning from long term injury. Probably a bit longer for Grimes given the amount of time he's been out. But that write up has me smiling. 18 touches in a half? Can't wait to see this kid.

He has that basketball 'hang time' when he jumps for a mark. He's at the top of my wish list. If we get Watts and say a Walters or Stephen Hill with our second, I'll be grinning ear to ear.

He was a sensational player before his knees went. I just watched a dvd of the Collingwood v Melbourne clash from rd 20 in 1992. Schwarz in his headband days and Jako kicking 7 in a 9 point win at Vic park. It'd been a while since i'd seen footage of him, almost forgotten how great he was. Was swung onto Sav Rocca (who was a big lump even then), who was starting to dominate. From full back Schwatta picked up 20 touches, 9 marks and dominated Rocca to get the 3 votes. I remember being absolutely crushed watching him being carried off at the G in his second match back from the first reco.

If it has been posted here, I haven't seen it yet. Thanks mate, much appreciated.

July 9th dude. Next week.

Sound reasoning. I would look beyond last week to the last five or six weeks. There has been a steady improvement in the intensity and defensive accountability of the side in that period. The defensive pressure and tackling display on Sunday was light years away form our insipid early performances (v Hawthorn, Bullies and Kangas especially). Apart from the St Kilda abberation, the Dee's have shown some improvement in every game since the Freo win, including goalkicking efficiency. Given where the side started from this season, and where they are now (a competetive side week to week) I'm currently very optimistic of the direction Dean Bailey is taking the team.

That was a definite highlight of his game on the weekend. His tackling and enthusiasm was stood out as well. Actually, the tackling and defensive pressure was a major feature of the entire team. Terrific to watch.

It may be natural development, but I always felt that ND was always a little apprehensive about throwing the young guys in and giving them enough time to develop. I guess understandable when we were often pushing for a finals place and senior guys were more likely to give more immediate results, but probably put us back in the long run. I guess bottoming out takes the pressure off just going with youth. Still, kudos to Bailey for getting something positive out of the kids.

Good to hear he's recovering. Shocked when I first heard about it. It's about 200 metres from my place, and that's my tram stop. Media wolves have been disgusting, but all the best wishes to Graham, hope he gets back to 100 per cent.

Dream scenario for me! From Shifter's wrap: "Jack Watts – A key position player, Watts has shone up forward, taking 16 marks and booting 11 goals. He also has demonstrated his team orientation on a number of occasions highlighted by an exceptional assist in short passing (with great vision and skill) to teammate Tom Scully to seal the match against SA. With 5 goals already on the board that game others may have been tempted to look for a 6th." I'll take one of those tanks.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...5012432,00.html