rpfc

I'm baulking at it. The way the 'experts' talk up these kids belies the fact that the junior footy infrastructure has never delivered players further away from being ready for AFL then they do today. The gulf for these teenagers to bridge is so massive that I really do struggle to get excited by the so called 'best players' that we have access to with ND2 and ND3. We just don't know what talents we are getting. I am hopeful, but the hype makes me nauseous...

It is hard to believe that adults, whose job it is to judge the abilities of children, have trouble doing so. Yet here we are.

Maybe the kids that say "Are there any real questions?" get extra marks...

http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/ols/auspat/quickSearch.do?queryString=petraccattack&resultsPerPage=

He's a kid. If he earns it, then great. Personally, I hope he doesn't play AFL in 2015. I want Pedersen to continue his form and give us something over and above what a teenager could give. And I want that teenager to learn how to play against men in the VFL.

Is he better? Or will he be better? Pedersen would be his little play thing for a couple of years if they went head to head. You say Pedersen and Fitz are depth? I say McCartin is depth too - until he proves himself to be more than that. We are a terrible team with a compromised list - there are going to guys being gifted games, there should now be an emphasis on properly preparing talent before exposing them to AFL. All I will say is that McCartin will earn his place in the 22 because Roos has a history of not playing kids simply because they are 'supposed' to be better than the journeymen that are currently in the team. I can see a team with Gawn, Hogan and Pedersen as tall forwards in Rd 1 being the best combination the list has at that present time.

They are not coming from the same base. Hogan has been at the club for two years now and had even had a season against men. McCartin will not be training until December and is straight out of juniors. He's excluded because that is what good clubs would do - they would have no need to throw the pressure of being a part of an AFL forward set up 4 months into being a player. If he plays Rd 1, my flabber would be gasted...

If Pedersen, Gawn, Hogan, and Fitzpatrick are available - I don't see why we would bring in McCartin. I have no doubt that he is a talent but he will not provide more than any of those four in his first game. He would have to have an exceptional pre-eason tournament to play Rd 1, even with Dawes out. I am sick of gifting games to kids.

Then pick the Talia / Fyfe / Gunston or Sidebottom / Beams / Hannebery of those effing drafts then... I feel like we have the most players to choose from and the least at the same time....

No. We have said he is to be promoted and he will be promoted on ND day with our last pick.

That, or a contract... And, really? Not using ND40 on some teenager and you are done? Roos thinks we have enough kids - that's why they targeted Newton.

ht, I get the desire to take a ruck/forward at ND3. But the time it takes for him to come on would be better spent scouring the second tier leagues for a 22-24 year old, or trade for a known AFL commodity, who we know can contribute right away. If predicting the future of 18 year old small player is troublesome and haphazard - predicting the future of an 18 year old ruckman is a Demilitarised Zone, patrolled at night to keep people out of. If Roos allowed this selection, I would be stunned.

We are in a position to pick any two players after the player St Kilda picks. If the club 'reached' and chose Dangerfield over Morton - would this place have gone into meltdown? Yes. Would it have been a ridiculous, pointless, and wrong reaction? Yes.

...in 6 years time.

I am usually all about 'best available' but these talls do not look like they are in Hogan's company. We need mids and we have an opportunity to get two right now - midfield talent is hard to poach as we just found out, this is our chance to get two midfield talents. I think McCartin as the third best talent is just groupthink amongst the armchair experts. Two mids.

Pick the 2nd and 3rd best mids in the draft class. Do that and you will have two very good players. I completely understand the desire not to 'reach' for players - but we have the 2nd and 3rd picks in the draft - we should be able to secure 2 fantastic mids. They should back themselves to know who they are. If it is Laverde or Lever plucked 'early' at ND3 then so be it.

I am intrigued by this Lever kid as a midfielder. Could be another Bontempelli... If Saints go tall, it will be moot I would say but I am keen to get the two best mids in...

You have got to get in your head that Pick 9 is far better than Pick 22 and when it comes to any metric - a top 10 pick will be exponentially more valuable than a pick in the 20s. We also got Hunt and GWS passed on the later pick we exchanged in that deal if you are purely being pedantic. I even heard that Viney and co. had Salem at 4 and we were delighted when the trade effectively meant two top 5 talents for 1 top 5 talent and a second round pick. If you don't think we got value just say so - because that is all we are saying - that we maximised our position at the top of the draft and got a couple of young guns who look likely. More of the same this year, please.

Pick 2, Tyson, Pick 9, Pick 22. Which one is the outlier? It was a 2 for 1 for pointy end talent.

One addendum: The sky is blue and it WILL change overnight. It's up to the person looking up at any given time, at any given place, and it will be blue again. Well done P-man.

Ruthless Rooth-less adj. 1. Attaining something in an impossible scenario. 2. To get something worth something, with nothing. 3. To expect an unrealistic happenstance.

Give us a plug in player instead of one of those picks and I like it a great deal. Matt Shaw? May? McKenzie? 4 and 24 for 11, McKenzie, and 31. I hate doing this stuff...

Please take this the best way possible: I just threw up in my mouth a little. If we had only two teams to deal with we could do a deal but it's a bit hard when it is the entire league...

I don't follow the youth football. I can just say that clubs think about these things and they will make sure that there are no 'freebies' given. Clubs will make us pay what we are willing to pay.

It's not about where teams 'think' he should go - it's about where teams think the Demons will match their bid. If they think we will pull the trigger at 24, then a team will make us pay that. These are not automatons making these decisions - and nor are they working in the best interests of anyone other than their own - if a club thinks we will take him with 24 - they will make us take him with 24.