sylvinator

GC17 have the first 5 picks in the Rookie draft. Pick 50 in the National draft > pick 6 in the rookie draft. This is great list management. Newton and Meesan both are very outside chances of becoming quality AFL players. Meesan more likely, but he is injured with stress fractures. Drafting them in the rookie draft means we still these the possibility of them making it and the demons benefiting from that! Plus, now we get 2 more picks in the ND

I cannot wait for Ball to end up at a club like Essendon. He'll play 2 solid years of footy with them, they'll finish 6-8th during those 2 years. Then in 3 yrs, the demons will storm past the bombers and be the most exciting and talented list going around. And i'll flip Ball the bird and he'll be wishing he'd had a little bit of foresight! Anyone with any sense could realise the demons have ammassed a rediculous amount of talent. Ball's addition to our list would only slightly quicken our rise to the top. However we'll still get to the top without him.

He looks ordinary from that footage. Very small and a poor kick. Doesn't even look to use his pace that well. Not sure about young Boomer Harvey

Meesan would make a little bit of sense. As i posted in a separate threat, I saw him down at Albert Park a few days ago. He was walking while the others were running. He said he still hadn't recovered from stress fractures and had had a set back, meaning he has to walk for the next 2 weeks. Now, I have no idea how long it takes to fully recover from stress fractures, however the club might not believe he will be available to play till round 10 or something, in which case dropping him to rookie list makes sense

Swift did look great in round 22, however I would think the recruiters would still choose Strauss over Swift every time. Swift is not a great kick of the footy. He turns it over and is not particularly penetrating or accurate. Strauss on the other hand is a perfect, strong, penetrating and accurate kick of the footy. That is what our recruiters are basing their selections on. Unfortunately Swift doesn't have that important quality.

I'm not sure where Tapscott will go, but I agree with the sentiment that we should be going for best available at pick 11, particularly if we believe Thorp can get his body right and be another option as a key forward for us. If I were our recruiter, there would be only 1 key position player who is good enough for pick 11- John Butcher. The other 2 who are borderline worthy of pick 11 are Tahlia and Black (wouldn't be unhappy if we picked either of those 2 guyz) If Butcher is gone by pick 11, then I would pick whoever I rated highest out of Jetta, Tapscott, Sheppard, Lucas, Rohan, Melksham. All these guyz are worthy of pick 11 and one of them is bound to still be available at our pick. Then at pick 18 I would pick the best available KPF- essentially one of Black, Griffiths, Troy Taylor, Panos, Carlisle. One of those 4 is bound to be available at pick 18 and all 4 would be worthy late first rounders. That way we stregthen our midfield (Trengove, Scully and pick11 to add to Grimes, Strauss, Blease, Morton from recent drafts). We also strengthen our forward line, with Thorp and another KPF at 18. I think the reason Tapscott is so enticing is bc he fits perfectly into our team- he is a dynamo kick of the footy + is a goalkicker as well. Imagine these 3 goals kicking midfielders in our team- Sylvia, Trengove and Tapscott... our midfield would suddenly be very dangerous!

Thorp seems a logical pick at PSD1- a classic boom or bust pick. But bc it's in the PSD you're not taking much of a risk. If Thorp shows the form he did in underage level he could be a superstar CHF. However, if he's an arrogant [censored], then I wouldn't touch him. Thorp training with us will give us chance to have a really good look at him

Demons training around Albert Park this morning. Injury updates- Colin Garland came out of the moonboot 2 days ago John Meesan- very frustrated man. Still hasn't recovered from his stress fractures. Had a set back and will be walking for the next 2 weeks. Will then resume running. McNamara- in high spirits. Looks good physically. Could be one to watch for.

I believe Black might be available at 18. John Butcher would be ideal at pick 11. Pick 1-4 are set- Scully, Trengove, Martin, Morabito. pick 5-6 are set- will be either Rohan then Cunnington, then Cunnington then Rohan pick 7 appears set- Lewis Jetta Pick 10- will be a midfielder bc Essendon lack midfielders and have publicly said they will take on here- Jake Melksham, Koby Stevens or Kane Lucas the most likely. Thus, the only thing in the way of Butcher is Port Adelaide! However, considering they need a key forward replacement for Tredrea, I fear they will pick Butcher.

The Daniher sides between 2004-2006 were good enough to only be between 5th-8th best team in the competition. Not once in any of those years were we ever genuine premiership contenders. If we are going to model our sides on anything, we should model them so that they are moulded against premiership teams like Geelong. The only reason to try to emulate the Daniher era would be to try to become a finals team that never has a chance at a premiership. This new crop of players deserve better that than. Hell us supporters deserve better than that

For now, I see Jamar as our number 1 ruckman, with Martin as our number 2. Martin is great, bc in today's modern game you can't afford to have 2 lumbering 10 possession a game ruckman in your side. Jamar will break even in the tap outs against pretty much every ruckman, giving our smalls pretty good use of the ball. Martin will need to improve his rucking still, but with a bit of work there is no reason why he can't ruck for 5 minutes a quater. I remember watching Martin at Sandy before he was drafted and he made his name as an awesome athletic ruckman! The other plus for Martin is that he can plug holes in defence and play up forward as well, meaning we can use him as an extra rotation while he's on the bench. Spenser and Meesan imo are not competing for Martin's position in the team. Rather, they will be competing against Jamar for the number 1 spot. If either of Spenser or Meesan isn't deemed as good as Jamar, then they will probably be playing for Casey. We probably need 1 more developing ruckman on the list to replace Jamar who is 27 and probz won't be at the demons for more than another 2 years

I'm excited with Scully... i foresee him being a much more talented, faster and skilled version of Daniel Cross (who i rate extremely highly). I always thought Crossy could have been a top10 in the afl kind of player if he could kick the footy, n had sharper pace. Now I'll only have to look at Scully. Scully's in and under work and handpassing will be renowned as being the best in the afl in 2-3 years i reckon.

Love these 2. Even more impressive is that Scully's best attributes aren't even displayed in the video. It's his workrate and ability to get to so many contests and accumulate so many possessions. Also, it's his handballing from conjested situations that sets him so much apart from everybody else. One thing about Scully. When he kicks mid-range to a target, his kicking is very good. However I really don't rate it when he bangs it long. His kicks get way too much height on them and not much penetration. Does anyone agree with that?

I think it is fair to judge a professional footballer who knows he's idolised by thousands more harshly than a kid of 17 (when he committed the offence) who has grown up his entire life with poor role models and a area of Australia where crime is rife. He probably was led down the wrong path by hanging out with a bad group of friends. I personally judge a minor who comes from a difficult background less harshly than a ice-addicted 28 yr old role model

Funny... i actually love his kicking style for goal. Sure he could probably come in a bit faster with a bit more momentum, but his kicks are fluent and straight and he doesn't struggle with distance. The fluidity and smoothness of his kicking actually reminds me of Jurrah's set shots for goal. Alot of the aboriginal kidz just have really natural kicking styles, it's a pleasure to watch, especially compared to Newton and Miller

Finnally some footage of Taylor... he looks AWESOME i reckon. So similar to Jurrah it's not funny. http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.p...7227&page=2 I'm a big fan of Black at 11 and Taylor at 18. I know i've said it before, but imagine how versatile and dangerous it would be to have Watts, Bate, Black, Jurrah, Taylor, Wonaeamirri, Maric, Pettard and Sylvia in the forward line. Each of the those players mentioned is super talented and is a different kind of forward. A real nightmare for opposition!

I'm starting to really think we should get this bloke with pick 18. Pick 1 and 2 basically ensure that our midfield will be chockablock full of talent, along with Grimes, Davey, Sylvia, Morton, Strauss, Blease, Jones, Moloney etc. Our defense is basically set, with Rivers, Garland, Warnock, Martin, Frawley. The last piece of the puzzel is our forward line! If we went Aaron Black pick 11 and Troy Taylor pick 18, we will have a freakishly talented future forward line. Imagine with me for a second... Talls will be Watts, Black and Bate Jurrah and Taylor, at 191cm and 188cm respectively, will be the freakishly talented inbetween height forwards that are impossible to match up on. They can mark like a tall but crumb like a small. Then the genuine crumbers in Wonaeamirri and Maric. Pettard, Sylvia, Trengove and Jetta could be attacking midfielder/ half forwards to chip in with 1-2 goals each

It's a little hard to fathom the criticism Cheney has been receiving. I personally am not his biggest fan, but he played 12 games this year as a TEENAGER! How many times to people on this forum have to write youngsters off as one-dimentional, or 'not- classy' or 'not good enough' wayyyyy too early. People were saying the same about Garland being useless in his first couple of seasons. Back to Cheney- he has potential. He is a tough nut, fearless w/ compact skills. But most importantly, if he's good enough there is DEFINITELY a spot in the team for him. We are missing a small defensive minded defender in our defence to take the small forwards. Bennel is more an attacking HB, while McDonald is 34y/o, Grimes is poised to move into the midfield. The only players atm we have to take the oppositions best small forwards are Cheney and Daniel Bell (and god knows Bell won't be on the list next season). If we don't rate Cheney, then we should be looking at a guy like Sheppard at pick 18 this year. Either way, MFC should give him the best opportunity to succeed. At this point he hasn't set the world on fire but has shown promise. Don't write him off too early.

I'm stoked with Morton and Grimes... but i'd still take Cyril Rioli, Cotchin, Kruiser ahead of them. Still, if Morton bulks up and, according to his own words, becomes a dominant CHF/CHB, he could be the best of the lot. PS- Grimes is a gun, but 90% of those marks were sideways chips around half back

This would be brilliant. We are already such an improved team in 2009. Imagine how much better we will be next year with all these awesome additions! Ball, Scully, Trengove, Blease and Strauss will be 'new recruits' next year to turn our midfield from a weakness into a strength. Pick 11 and 18 will probably be used on a couple of promising tall forwards to go with Watts, Jurrah and Bate. Our defence will be a year more experienced and have played another year together to build cohesiveness and confidence. Plus Garland and Wonaeamirri, 2 of our best youngsters, will hopefully be like 2 new recruits

This is an interesting question. If Butcher is gone by pick 11, then there might not be a key position forward worthy of pick 11. If that is the case, we would be silly not to take the best availale midfielder. Imagine having a trio of gun midfielders if Lucas, Tapscott or Rohan, along with Scully and Trengove. However, even more troubling if that all the good key forwards may be gone by pick 18. Black, Carlisle, Panos, Tahlia and Butcher might all be gone by pick 18. This would mean we miss out on a ootential gun key forward altogether from this draft. This wouldn't be good since we really need a couple more developing key forwards to go with Watts, Butcher and Bate. Ideally... if Butcher is available at pick 11, we'd pick him. If he's gone by pick 11, i'd go... 1- Trengove 2- Scully 11- Lucas 18- Black/ Carlisle/ Panos 34- Temel... or another smoky key forward

We should all actually consider outselves quite lucky. Were it last year, then our number 1 desires choice would not be available (Watts who was 17 at the time). In this year's draft, our number 1 and number 2 desires both happen to be 18 yrs old! The only thing i'm lamenting is that if this were a regular draft, a guy like Rohan might've slipped through to 11. Looks unlikely now. Then again, you never know who might slip to 11. If lucas is still around at 11, we should take him.... We'd have the most talent packed midfield in the AFL!!! Pick 18 just take best available KPF

LOL.... we can only dream. I think you will find the players you mentioned with our first 5 picks will all be top 10 draft picks. Scully- 1 Trengove- 2 Butcher- 8 or 9 to Port who won't let him pass twice Rohan- 5 or 6. Kangas or Sydney will take hiim Jetta- pick 7 to the Weagles very likely. May slide to pick 13ish but not much further. Even Griffiths will be gone by pick 34 probz

IMPORTANT POST FOR EVERYBODY FOR READ!!! Swallow and Darling would NOT have been eligible for this year's draft even if it had been a regular draft w/o concessions. They are both too young. Under the regular system, you must be at least 17yrs and 8mths to be eligible. Including them in thoghts of what might have been in rediculous. Of coarse the touted number 1 and 2 draft picks for 2011 would stregthen the current draft. But it's a rediculous argument bc they are not eligible under any circumstances. The only player who would have affected this year's top 5 picks is Josh Toy. I still believe Trengove and Scully would be 1 and 2. The real way the 17 yr olds not being included affects MFC, is that about 5 of them would have been 1st round picks. This would mean that there would be extra depth in the first round. Thus, guyz who might be drafted at 10, could otherwise have possible survived until our pick 18. But it's really not such a big deal. Emma Quayle in an interview explains further: "I think it's definitely a shallow draft but having said that, there are good players in any draft. I think the lack of depth simply has to do with the 17-year-olds being removed from the pool with the draft age changing by four months. I spoke to a recruiter last week who said that if the 17-year-olds were in the pool, we'd be talking about how great the first round is, therefore pushing other players down the order. Josh Toy, Maverick Weller, Luke Russell and possibly Trent McKenzie and Brandon Matera would be likely first round picks, the first three in the top 10 region and Toy a possible top three pick" For Emma's full interview http://bigfooty.com/forum/blog.php?b=783

I really liked the way Bartram played in Round 21 and 22. He is always fit, strong and courageous. His pace is pretty good also. It's his decision making and disposal have let him down in the past. However in rd21 and 22 I noticed he was taking the most obvious option each time and executing the skills correctly by hitting a teammate in a better position. Ideally I would like to see Bartram played as a shut-down back pocket player who can provide a little bit a run from defence. People forget he's still very young.