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We had a deal ready to go with GC for ND3 for weeks before trade week. The desire to invest Howe into moving up 3 spots? We had and have someone in mind and the last month of pure speculation - and no footy - isn't changing that. As much as they may deny it - they will pick the kid they saw a long a way out.

'Perfect' mentor?

As great as Jared was for us - he needed better one-on-one defenders around him to be his best. Jared was a role player - a third tall - and you can get them at Pick 26. Literally, Pick 26.

I am partial to McKay at 7 so I would make sure we got the mid we want and if Weideman is off the board then McKay it is. Talls aren't the only ones hard to find - good mids are too - investing in top 5 picks has to get us good players, just pick who you think is the best one, Jason.

I will say that I prefer McKay to Weideman based on the (very) little I have seen. But I will say that - despite my 'crusade' not to assume our midfield is in any way set - that these two excite me the most out of the players probably available at 7. Possible exception of Mathieson. I do think the club came into trade week with a plan to get Parish and a tall and one of these two would be a good result. I prefer Mckay because he seems more comfortable up the ground and he can help Gawn in the ruck. Weideman looks like he could be Taylor Walker but doesn't scream out talent like Hogan did before he was drafted (although not many do...).

Once the fawning is done, should we close the thread?

They should have just made it dynamic and as soon as a team passes the order is revised with that team out. And clubs like us with no FS or Academy players can just be removed and not have ours hidden... It's just another illustration of the way they do things but don't think them through entirely. There is no Quality Assurance with Clothier and Keane, they think they are the smartest guys in the room and I bet they have to pick their rooms carefully...

That is the dumbest [censored] thing... The AFL cannot help themselves, for every 3 good decisions - they will just throw a stinker out there. Essentially, I was right about the list spots equating to the revised order, but I was wrong about those teams losing those picks - they are now 'hidden' picks to appear at a moments notice... FMD. They have already lost people because it is confusing so they make it more confusing...

I wouldn't be, but that is just my personal opinion of course.

Third defensive tall, Francis likens himself to be. I don't see Stringer in him, and I don't see Stringer as a third tall either in that forward line. Dickson would get the least attention of Stringer and Crameri.

No, you need to get over it. Point proven.

Size isn't a barrier if he wants it enough, if Goodwin has spent so much time with him this year and chatting to him, he must be able to get a read on whether he has that desire. Just put us out of our misery and leak it Melbourne!

Talented 3rd tall from what I, and he, can see but applying that any other position is not easy, and I am adamant that 3rd talls should not be taken in the first ten picks. If we get him we are picking on his talent being translatable and I hate when we make 'faith calls' like that.

I am pretty sure that is what has happened. I will have another look later.

Well said DC, it's not an equivocal 'Do not draft' but it would raise eyebrows, questions, and probably the time until he is taken on Tuesday.

Yes, well, playing in a GF 4 years after the Merger really brought out the best from Demons fans - there are still people that feel ostracised for backing the merger nearly two decades later... Some on here still gnash their teeth about it from time to time. The Hawks moved on but we love getting stuck in the mud...

I know why - they only have 5 available spots on their list! 395 points lost because they didn't realise they couldn't go into the draft with more picks than open spots in their list. GWS has lost ND64 (101 Points) and Sydney has lost what would have been ND66~ and ND69~ (139 points). So the final order asks how many spots are on your list and then allows you to have as many picks at the start that you have spots on your list.

As far as I can tell, the Lions had ND42 but now they do not. The AFL may have made a mistake with a trade along the way...

This kid intrigues me because if we went tall at 7 he looks capable of playing as a back up ruck but also playing outside of the 50 leaving you-know-who his room closer to goal.

He might slip to 7 now...

I hate it when we judge 18 year old character but this is not good for him and while I would still pick on footballing ability, the information on the 'back of the Recruiters hand' just got updated with drink driving on your Ps while running a red late at night... Charlie...

When has anyone said this? 'Pure figure'?!... Ironically, you are misrepresenting the views of those of us who are happy we have moved on from his leadership but that won't eternally damn him for it, and would welcome him back to the G to watch the club he loves.

Jnrmac has already outlined the issue with 'their role players are better than our role players' argument. As for the best teams and where they get their forwards: Kennedy with WC, Roughhead with Haw, Pavlich with Freo, and Stringer with the Dogs are dominant forwards taken in the top 10. They have created functioning forward lines with their 1 talented forward, by finding role players (of varying talent) lower in the draft, or in trades, or FA. And to mirror - jnrmac's last line - it's not that we are accusing each other of reaching past talent for a mid or a tall - it is this notion that our midfield is locked and loaded and ready to go. It isn't, and we know mids win flags - so all things being equal - the affirmative action of 'Best Available' must be toward a midfielder at both early selections.

We are saying he is a Demon. If you are not bitter then show it. This club is not big enough to hold grudges on our own.

I don't know if you realise what Hogan is. He is a bonafide star and fulcrum of a functioning forward line that will make lesser players play above themselves. The Forwardline doesn't need a plethora of talent to run through it like a midfield does. In todays game there is about 10 mids going through at any one game. Hogan will be everpresent as one of 6 and, as much as I love Viney and Brayshaw, in a different class altogether. Clubs can manipulate personnel in the forward line to create a working forward line, like the Hawks did when they lost Franklin and Freo have done with only Pavlich, like Geelong did with Mooney and a less dominant Hawkins, like the Saints did with Riewoldt. But if that midfield doesn't bat deep, it's all moot. And the experience of teams is that they haven't reached for talls and if they felt bereft - they found them later in the draft or in trades or in the rookie draft.