old55

Whatever Brad Miller's limitations as a footballer his leadership and presence are well documented. He would have been the dominant force at training when the forwards get together. Now that he's gone there's room to step up.

Agree driving on Parramatta Road is no fun, but Linley Point or Hunters Hill to Blacktown via the M2 is an entirely different stoty.

Agree - it's not all about money there are many other factors. But we'll have to pay heavily to retain him - any money gap must be able to be mitigated by the other factors. I agree it's not worth worrying about because it's out of supporter's control, but I expect MFC management is working very hard on it - someone better be worried about it. As for compensation - the bands are already set. Band 1 is the highest and that's: - 1 pick immediately after your 1st round pick + 1 pick immediately after all non-finals teams 1st round picks (e.g roughly mid-1st-round) You can use the picks in any of of following 5 years and they don't have to be used in the same year. You have to nominate the year of use before the season starts (unless you use them in the year they're given). Both are tradable - Geelong traded one of the Ablett picks this year to GC for pick 15 and took Smedts with it (because of the GC concessions this year Geelong's compensation pick was relatively later than it will be in future years). It's not satisfactory compensation for a #1 pick but that's what it is - it would be inconsistent if it was increased now and Geelong would rightly complain, but the AFL is not known for consistency.

Indeed, Hawthorn train in Mulgrave after all ...

Have you ever bought a lottery ticket?

Agree with that. Blacktown is 40km from Sydney CBD, less than an hour via the M2 going against the traffic which would normally be the case. Sure driving from Manly or Bondi is not on but there's got to be plenty of desirable places to live between Blacktown and Sydney. HT could probably provide some recommendations.

The only live pick after Tom McNamara was the Swans with Eugene Krueger, there were also some NSW Scholarship listings but they don't count http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_AFL_Draft#2011_Rookie_Draft And I'm not sure that Eugene counts either because Sydney passed twice before taking him so he may be some sort of pre-listed player from the NSW zone.

I'd be surprised and bitterly disappointed if he's already signed a $6M 6 year contract with GWS but equally "nothing to see here" is ostrich material. It's a certainty he'll be offered a massive contract by GWS and we'll have work to do to retain him.

It would be great if HotGod and Jack have their analysis somewhere and can re-post them. Thanks again to all the judges for their great efforts. I'll run it again next off-season with 18 teams.

Need final team listings from Trengove, Deez Nutz and The Master.

I think that makes 6/10 final team lists posted. With the D'land server change and downtime we might need to extend the teams deadline to midday Friday 17/12 and the judges deadline into next week say Tuesday 21/12 midnight. .

I've PM'd all the "captains" (outside of RR and HT who have already done it) requesting that they post their final teams in position with justification. The judging deadline is Sunday midnight - it would be helpful if all the teams could be posted within 24 hours of now (the usual rule) i.e. Thursday 16/12 2:30pm. Missing that deadline will jeopardise your ranking with the judges.

Yes the deadline is for the judges. Yes Range Rovers presentation of his team is an excellent template.

As I wrote I think the journey is more important than the destination in this but ... Can all drafters please post their final line-ups in position with player name and first initial and club (and any reasoning/excuses) Judging: - Official Panel: Nasher, Mr Reims, Titan Uranus, Whispering Jack, Baghdad Bob, Axis of Bob - Criteria: Win 2011 flag - Voting: 5-4-3-2-1 with explanations - Deadline: midnight Sunday 19/12 Hopefully much correspondence will be entered into. DA's dreamteam idea is a good one. Thanks for playing! As posted I'm off OS on Friday for 3 weeks so I leaver the pie fight to you guys ...

I agree - I already asked that but got a cryptic bullsh1t reply. Here's two improbable ways it COULD happen: 1. Richmond finish last and get pick 4, they trade their end of first round pick to GWS for pick 300 and in return GWS agree not to take Scully. This only works if Richmond finish last. 2. Even worse for GWS, Richmond don't finish last and trade their first rounder say 6 (like this year) and their end of 1st rounder to GWS for pick 3. GWS again don't pick Scully in their first 2 picks. Both completely far fetched - GWS would simply pick Scully, he's far more value than either of those two alternatives. Then there's the question of why would Scully go to Richmond ahead of GWS who could pay him twice as much or more than Richmond or MFC. It must be because he barracked for them I guess. It's not surprising that H007 is too embarrassed to make these suggestions for real ...

Prepare to be outraged if Scully or Trengove go to GWS. (Prepare to wake up if either go to Richmond - it's only a bad dream)

It depends what year you use them of course. The pick after our pick will hopefully keep getting later, the pick before the finalist will come back to pick 11 in 2012 assuming a final 8. Geelong traded one or other of these to GC for pick 15 this year - I think it was the BEFORE the finalists one. BTW I had the description wrong about the finalist pick - it's BEFORE the finalists - I fixed it.

I may have some mistakes in other finishing positions but the Blues finished 8th in 2010 and lost their first final so they finished 8th full stop. http://www.afl.com.au/ladder/tabid/74/default.aspx

The highest level of compensation is Band 1 which is what Geelong got for Ablett. There isn't anything higher. I agree it wouldn't be sufficient compensation for Scully or Trengove but that's what it is ... Band 1: 1st round pick BEFORE finalists (i.e. mid first round) + 1st round pick immediately after your 1st round pick [for Ablett] Band 2: 1st round pick immediately after your 1st round pick [no GC players got this] Band 3: Pick end of 1st round [for Bock, Harbrow, Brown, Rischitelli] Band 4: Pick end of 2nd round [for Krakoeur] Band 5: Pick end of 3rd round fixed the Band 1 description

2000 - S.Woewodin - Melbourne - 2nd 2001 - J.Akermanis - 1st 2002 - S.Black - 1st 2003 - M.Riccuito - 6th, A.Goodes - 4th, N.Buckley - 2nd 2004 - C.Judd - 7th 2005 - B.Cousins - 2nd 2006 - A.Goodes - 2nd 2007 - J.Bartel - 1st 2008 - A.Cooney - 3rd 2009 - G.Ablett - 1st 2010 - C.Judd - 8th 1st - 4 2nd - 4 3rd - 1 4th - 1 5th - 0 6th - 1 7th - 1 8th - 1 See a pattern? Unless you're C.Judd or M.Riccuito your team has to finish top 4 and in fact 8/13 winners or >60% have come from the Grand Finalists.

Judging panel starting to come together - will name them tomorrow or Wednesday. Voting scheme agreed 5-4-3-2-1 with explanations. Objective: Win 2011 flag

PM me if you want to judge, I'll make a selection - I've invited a few likely candidates.

Yeah but you haven't said who it is, why it's them and how they could do it. You haven't rated the GWS threat e.g. impossible, unlikely, possible, likely, probable, certain And you haven't rated your "dangerous player" threat It's pretty clear that GWS is a threat, why and how: - their ability to pay at least double what any other team including MFC and your "mystery (could be Richmond) team". - the fact that they have the first 3 ND picks and the first PSD pick. Yet you claim your Threat is more "dangerous". If you actually put up some reasoning then your position could be assessed. Currently you may as well be saying "I think a meteor strike on the Scully home is a bigger threat". Big on mystery - no substance. That's why I'm calling you on bullsh1t.

We're getting close to conclusion. I think this game is a more about the journey than the destiantion but I can see a few of you are destination oriented. I thought I might impanel a set of wise judges to vote 3-2-1 (or similar 10-9-...-2-1 to be agreed with the judges) for the team they'd enter 2011 and beyond with reasons. I reckon we might learn a fair bit from this analysis. Applications sought ... I'm heading OS for 3 weeks on Friday so hopefully we can get it done by then.

or this ^ incomprehensible babble.