old55

We have 19 players on our list who were 1st or 2nd round draft picks or equivalent (trades for *) and most of them are young and have plenty of scope for development and improvement. Jones, McLean, Bate, Frawley, Morton, Johnson*, Sylvia, Dunn, Petterd, Grimes, Green, Maric, Bell, Moloney*, Rivers, Wheatley, Watts, Blease, Strauss B: Petterd Frawley Wheatley Strauss Rivers Grimes C: Morton Moloney Blease Johnson McLean Jones F: Sylvia Watts Dunn Green Bate Maric I: Bell I realise that's not a guarantee of quality but it's likely that most of them can play and we've got a few late and rookie pick players who are OK.

We haven't exactly been destination of choice for players moving clubs - maybe 3 years was necessary to get him across the line. The question mark remains about the assessment of his capabilities but the contract term is not a problem from my point of view - especially if he's not on top dollar. Maybe the final dice hasn't been rolled on his career, just as the new centre bounce rules hurt White, the 4 boundary umpires might help Meesen get to the contest later in the match with his extra endurance and be the only ruckman at that contest and therefore win more effective hitouts. Altho it's possible speed may be the deciding factor and even tho he's still running, he still can't make the contest - and no ruckmen can. If this IS the case then it adds another nail to Phoenix's importance of ruckmen coffin.

I think he can play a defensive role in the forward line on the attacking half-back e.g. Hodge. He has good enough skills to hurt also.

I am surprised Richmond didn't rookie Art. I think the fact that Ben Cousins wasn't mentioned at his trial worked against him. That he doesn't have an association with Ben in a criminal or any other sense marked him, unfairly, as a small time player not ready for the rigours of the AFL. He might be a good fit down at TBO with the Saints 2s.

The argument isn't about what White did, it's about whether we could've traded him to our advantage at that time. There was enough uproar when we (correctly traded) Woey, there was no way we were going trade our reigning B&F in preference to Jolly unless there was a huge advantage ... Sydney - that's who we traded Jolly to!!!! Essendon - Already had Hille and they finished 2 places behind Sydney so the "huge advantage" would've been 2 picks earlier Collingwood - already had Josh Fraser do you really think they would've traded their 1st round pick for White? Geelong - traded for Brad Ottens that year!

Exactly who were we going to trade White to at the end of 2004?

FFS not this again - clubs trade for mature ruckmen when they think they are a chance to win the flag, therefore by definition they don't trade top 10 picks and they don't trade good players. There is no way we could've got a better deal for White than we did for Jolly. Who exactly were we going to trade White to? Campbell was 25 and Taylor was 24, Spencer is the same age as Renouf was.

Dunno, did you think Campbell, Taylor and Renouf would at the start of 2007. BTW "yes" is lying. It's great! One day after our list is finalised for 2009 the thread evolves to who we're going to delist or trade - how about we wait 9 months or so?

The fact remains that we've taken a speculative tall with our first available pick - how many would be enough for you? How about we wait until Sibosado wins the Coleman at Freo before we hang, draw and quarter BP? BP said we targetted inside mids at the ND but missed out on Redden at 35, the strategy to pick McKenzie and Healey has been consistent.

I gotta agree with the man "that's a sex machine to all the chicks". Mo's post is a new zenith of crazy. I guessing you've got a Ph.D in Hindsight. Want someone taller or more specualtive than Jurrah?

Assuming Cousins believes he's in a position to be paid more than say Gourdis - I think his market value is low on the demand side.

Some good analysis here relating to the impact of the age change in 2009: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=525306

I'm a McLean fan and would go for him in 2009. But it's understandable if his injuries, overseas escapades and burn-outs make it difficult for 2009. It's unseemly to use Bruce or Green as seat warmers - what's gonna happen when we need McLean to leap-frog them in 2010? So if it can't be McLean I'd go for Junior as captain with McLean, Green and Bruce as deputies. It's pretty likely Junior wont play 22 games so the other 3 will get a chance and I think the cream will rise.

FMD, only a crook or a moron could think what Richmond is proposing is reasonable. It''ll probably be approved by the AFL ...

Agree, I'm completely against this - it make no sense at all, there's already a rule in place to deal with this situation - they can put Polak on the long term injury list and promote a rookie.

I expect each of our 1st 3 picks in the ND to be a very good player, we're doing well if we get a very good player every 3rd PSD/RD. That 9x the hit rate.

True

I can't agree with that - senior full-time recruiter and team working all year on it - there's plenty of tiime to see enough of the 70 or so players drafted in the ND - there's no quick or uneducated decisions being made.

I'm not against that idea - but don't tell anyone ... 9 early picks in 3 years is half a team 2007: Morton, Grimes, Maric 2008: Watts, Blease, Strauss 2009: ???

I agree we're not as bad as we appear - it may take a little time but the seeds of a good team are there. I'm flexible with Garland because he adds flexibility, the spines: Garland-Martin-McLean-Watts-Miller (Emergency: Warnock) or Warnock-Martin-McLean-Garland-Watts (Emergency: Miller) both work for me, particularly with Rivers and Frawley; Dunn and Bate added. Plus Newton and Zomer with question marks. I'd love to get some better quality KPPs, but better ones than Miller, Martin and Warnock are likely to come at the pointy end of the draft not at pick 51, the PSD or the Rookie draft. We are likely to have an early pick and 2 in the top 20 in 2009. If the best players are an inside mid and a KPP that would start to round out our list nicely.

Strauss and Jetta add creative run. Frawley's got pace and is better kick than he looks, that backline has heaps of run except for Rivers and is definitely not top heavy. I'd rather have Grimes and Petterd in the midfield and Garland in the forward line.

Not sure about 2009 but looking further ahead Jetta and Strauss look like the right types in an area we are deficient, both have reasonable pace and are good users, particularly Strauss. Jetta is strong overhead which is key deep in defence. B: Rivers Warnock Jetta HB: Strauss Martin Frawley That covers most attacking threats and frees Garland to the forward line, I'm very optimistic about this area. Watts, Garland, Miller, Newton, Dunn, Bate, Sylvia, maybe Morton - there's plenty of options there as targets in the forward line if we can get our delivery right. I think our biggest deficiency now is winning contested ball - we need more better inside midfielders.

Untrue: 19.30 secs Usain Bolt (Jam) Beijing August 20 2008 19.32 Michael Johnson (USA) Atlanta August 1 1996 19.62 Tyson Gay (USA) Indianapolis June 24 2007 19.63 Xavier Cater (USA) Lausanne July 11 2006 19.65 Wallace Spearmon Daegu Sept 28 2006 19.67 Usain Bolt (Jam) Athens July 13 2008 There's a 3 course meal in there ...

Only 4 of the top 10 play for clubs that made the finals and none of them for the premier. The top 2 (by a long margin) played for the 15th and 14th placed teams. Just how important are rucks?

Good efforts there by Jack and Melon, both got the trifecta in their boxes - well done!