ChaserJ

Have seen him play a couple of times and his marking and judgement of the ball in flight stood out. Was highly competitive too. Caught the eye as a key back, even while I was watching out for mids & fwds (I figured we were more or less stocked in that area). Perhaps we're also covering the spread with both McDonalds OOC at the end of next season.

Even in this draft, Hamish still feels like one for the rookie draft. Probably doesn't have the tricks to compensate for his lack of pace at the highest level. Has a big body, is competitive and can win his own ball (was an over ager this year), is handy overhead, but haven't seen the standout trait that puts him ahead of others I think would be available at 47.

Toumpas now re-signed: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-11-10/former-demon-toumpas-among-six-power-resignings

For the time being. Out of contract, but guessing he stays at it looks like Port have made their cuts. Three former Dee top5 picks at Port next year. Super happy for Trenners.

Would be pretty happy if one of Ling, Walker, Ed Richards or Garner fell to our picks. Your boy Petrucelle might be a chance. What were your thoughts on Domic and Kane Farrell?

Still room to admire a player who isn't playing for a club we don't like yet. Yep, Jack's a gun. A little bit of Nick Riewoldt about his style of play. The early tip for pick one, with the King twins right on his hammer.

There's was a suggestion somewhere that Melbourne might involve one of the northern clubs in the Lever trade, particularly if they had academy players making a bundle of picks attractive than a single higher pick. Brisbane have Ballenden coming through, and even though he's not tipped to go as high, he's probably the most valuable northern academy player coming through. They also have been linked with Charlie Cameron. With GWS being excluded from the first round, Brisbane's 2nd round pick has moved up to pick 18, which I can see being used in any potential deal. There does appear to be some form of clear path if the clubs are willing to work with each other.

No worries, just hearing a lot about Aiden Bonar playing well after coming back from injury. Might be a value pick at our second round selection, was hoping you'd had the chance to see him first hand.

Heya STMJ, have you seen much of the Stingrays lately?

Surely nothing wrong with having the discussion regardless of what triggered it. Melbourne, like every other club in Victoria, would have at least asked the question. Kelly would make every team better for his inclusion, and if a player like that becomes remotely available, you ask. My feeling is we wouldn’t be best served entering into any bidding war this year, teams like North, Saint Kilda and Carlton do have a fair amount of leverage in terms of money and tradeable assets, and each have a future to sell. Our best chance to get Kelly may well be if he re-signs with GWS and we spend the next couple of years working out what assets we need whilst clearing the decks sufficiently for a run at a player like him. We would have our own story to sell to him, particularly with one of his best mates in Salem at the club and the brand of football that is being built. It might come down to timing.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2017/08/08/mcclure-stands-by-lever-meeting-report/

Good stuff WJ. Fair to say he's already on plenty of radars with his APS form. Only recently gave indications that he may go with footy over cricket.

You've heard correctly GT. Depth this year is non existent. Still some quality around where our first round pick would land, but most clubs wouldn't place a whole lot of value on our 2nd rounder, so could see our 2018 first being demanded in any deal for Lever. If we couldn't get away with this year's first rounder and a player, then I'd try to bundle this year's first and next year's second rounder. Absolute fall back position '17 & '18 first round picks, but with Adelaide's 2018 2nd rounder to come back in return.

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Sam McClure saying we are front runners along with the Bulldogs on SEN Breakfast. Lyon was asked whether he knew anything about it and he said 'no' while smiling and nodding.

Thanks mate. Petrucelle definitely catches the eye. Reckon if he cleans up his ball use a little and has a few more high possession games in the back end of the season, he'll jump right up. Has some very exciting traits.

Thanks PSD, good stuff. AFL.com have profiled mature age prospects out of SA as well. A familiar name in Dom Barry makes an appearance: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-12/worth-a-look-sanfl-players-pushing-their-draft-case

Nice. Any thoughts on who might be around the mark just beyond the top 10? Someone like Matthew Ling maybe? I reckon there's currently a clear top 2 (Rayner & LDU) and then a group of around 7 or so players (Cerra and Sutherland could push up from that pack). Then throw a blanket over the next 10-15. Chook-lotto territory beyond that. I previously liked Garner or Coffield for our picks, but both are likely to be out of reach now.

Matt Balmer from AFL Draft Central with an update of his rankings post champs: https://www.afldraftcentral.com.au/2017/07/10/matt-balmers-2017-afl-draft-july-power-rankings/ And a little primer on possible mature age draftees who are running around in the WAFL. In a draft pool with shallow depth, we might see a few more from the state leagues getting the call. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-11/worth-a-look-wafl-stars-pushing-their-draft-case Any thoughts on these guys @Pennant St Dee?

A general analysis on where the pool sits after the Championships from Twomey: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-07/draft-analysis-whos-moving-up-who-needs-to-lift-no1

This article suggests that we've put forward a similar offer: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-06/jake-wants-to-be-at-the-club-we-want-jake

Looks like an attempt to recoup some cash for games where low attendance is anticipated. Isn't that the opposite of how it's supposed to be used? Smells like fanspoitation to me. #lawofunintendedconsequences

This probably isn't reality, but I'd also like to think that Melbourne are aware that supporters have been subjected to some pretty terrible viewing for the last 10 years. To jack up prices as soon as the team starts performing would be a fair slap for supporters that have stuck with the club in tough times.

This season’s taught us that looking too far ahead can be fraught, but the assumption would be that Hawthorn’s pick next year would be quite high, so you would have to offer a lot for them to do the deal. Similar situations with Brisbane and probably Fremantle I suppose. I’d be surprised if we threw in players that are genuinely rated highly enough to net us those sorts of picks in return (even when bundled with our pick this year, which looks like it’d be a pick around the fringes of pick 10). I’m not sure if the list management team is as pick focused these days and I suspect we are well into the phase of supplementing the core of our young team rather than targeting high draft picks. If we were chasing a high pick, we’d probably have to take a punt and bundle our first round picks from this year and next into a package for next year’s first from a team we’d don’t expect to go well. Would probably look a lot like what St Kilda achieved in their trade with Hawthorn, so maybe if Kelly decides to leave (and doesn’t come to Melbourne) we could do well as third party facilitators.

Similar thought crossed my mind post QB win. It can’t hurt to pull out those sorts of wins in big games in front of big crowds while there are players interstate working out which Victorian clubs they would be happy to move to. Especially when equivalent clubs in the market like, say, St Kilda or are Kangaroos aren’t quite performing. Would equally hope that Melbourne's management of player welfare (eg Jesse Hogan in difficult times) is noticed by managers out there too.