old55

Watts at 1! Next you'll be predictng we'll take Scully at 1 this year! I'll give you 2/5 - Strauss and Jetta very good gets ... but then Sibosado almost cancels them out.

Two round 4 players don't attract a round 2 pick when packaged. A round 2 pick and a round 3 pick wont attract a round 1 player when packaged. We can't trade PSD 1 anyway. Hangon asked for realism but didn't get much.

I think Richmond are in completely different hands now - Gale, Hardwick and Cameron - a pretty good team and they wont be looking back, just forward.

I'm a long term fan of "best available" but I acknowledge that it's very difficult to compare different kinds of players. I think we need to calibrate our expectations of who we might pick up at pick 2. The best way to do this is look at who has been picked up there in the relevant past. It's probably worth throwing the net over picks 2 & 3 to get a decent sample set. It's also probably unreasonable to include the most recent drafts because the outcomes aren't conclusive yet, so I've left Naitanui, Hill, Cotchin (looks like he'll be a gun but will his body stand up?), Masten. It's a toss up whether to include Gumbleton and Hansen but Gibbs and Leuenbereger either side are not fully established so I've left them out too. So I've gone 1997-2005 inclusive Pick 2 ==== Ottens Brad Longmuir Justin Hasleby Paul Koschitzke Justin Ball Luke Wells Daniel Walker Andrew Roughead Jarad Thomas Dale Pick 3 ==== Croad Trent Fosdike Nic Fiora Aaron Didak Alan Judd Chris Brennan Jared Sylvia Colin Griffen Ryan Ellis Xavier That's the sort of quality we're looking at. We need to compare the Butchers, the Trengoves and the Morabitos against that list and see whether we think we're getting value.

I think it depends on trade week - if we're able to free some list space by trading players - if we're able to upgrade some later picks - if we get a opportunity to trade someone suitable in

Lot of water to pass under the bridge - trade week and draft camp. Pity your wife!

You can offer your own odds on Betfair. But remember Barry Prendergast could clean you up!

Come off it ... We're convicted, self-confessed salary cap cheats and Carlton did nothing more in 2007 that we did in 2009. If Deledio wants to become special ambassador to the Reach Foundation we posters will be falling all over ourselves to see it happen. Let's just concentrate on wining that flag and forget the hypocrisy.

No it's decided by post finals ladder order, the premier gets last pick

I think 3 conferences of 6 could work. Each team plays each other team once = 17 Each team plays the other 5 teams in their conference for second time = 5 Rotation year on year of home ground. Total = 22 Top 8 based on ladder finish not conference finish. Conferences: 1. Blockbuster (+ promote game in Sydney): Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, Western Sydney, Sydney (5 interstate trips per year - one to each state and 2 to Sydney) 2. Derbies/Showdowns/Sunburns: WC, Freo, Adelaide, Port, Brisbane, Gold Coast (10 interstate trips per year - they get that now anyway) 3. Foundation teams: Hawthorn, St.Kilda, Geelong, WB, Melbourne, North (4 interstate trips per year - one to each state)

Defeated us by 80 in R22 last year - the wheel turns ...

True. But it doesn't happen. Contrary to fantasy a stale sandwich and a cold cup of coffee don't suddenly make a tasty meal, and 2 players each worth a 4rd rounder don't equal a 2nd rounder when bundled together, they still equal 2 4th rounders.

It was Steve da Rui. It happened right in front of me. Strawbs had a penchant for whacking people but he didn't whack Da Rui. It was a push to the face, very tame for the times (altho would draw scrutiny today) and Da Rui majorly over-acted to get a free-kick and came up laughing. Strawbs record didn't help him.

Predicted scoreline?

FMD Rumplestiltskin, I like Brad Green but he's only played 12 games.

Agreed, next year's results may be inconclusive and we'll need to offer more than 1 year extension. Bailey has shown quite clearly that he's willing to make hard decisions. Much cleaner to give a 1 year extension now so Bailey has 2 full years to fully show his wares. The contract after that is when our window starts to open up.

Daniel Bell

Hawks at $17 is value

Well done Robbo, the fact that his name is not out of place on that 10 forwards list post is a massive accolade in itself. Robbo's greatest achievement was the improvement he made in goal kicking reliability. He went from "look away" to "mark it down in the record".

They usually take one of two forms: Used soap on a rope + pick 66 for Pavlich OR Two first rounders for Shane Valenti

Rank these 10 tall forwards (alright some didn't play their entire career fwd but maybe that makes them rate higher) who have recently retired or are getting close ... Grant C Hall Lloyd Lucas Neitz O'Loughlin Richo Robbo Rocca A Tredrea

I rank them Robbo-Lucas-Lyon-Neitz-Lloyd but there's little difference between Lucas and Lyon, Lucas played 50 more games but Lyon offered great leadership. People are naturally biased towards their own players.

He's somewhere in the Robertson -- Lyon -- Neitz spectrum range.

Not sure about that Nasher, with 1/3 of the draft pool excluded pick 50 this year is like pick 75 any other year - that's pretty late. I think if it was last year Watts and Blease our first 2 picks would have been excluded from the pool. 1,2,18,34 and 50 are the equivalent of something like 1,3,27,51 and 75 in any other year if I've got my reasoning right.

just post your 10