sylvinator

I'm sure the swans agree with you. It probably kills them that they only have Jolly, in the top 4 ruckman in the afl, and not Lynden dunn. A trade for a first round pick can, in certain circumtances be extremely clever. BTW... Judd (the best player in the afl, or at least top 3) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Masten, Kennedy and Notte Anyone who thinks otherwise is mad

Demon Desciple... you are a fool. pick 18 is a lottery at the best of times. In this draft, pick 18 has the true intrinsic value of a pick 30. I would take Shaun Burgoyne for pick 18 + a player in an absolute heartbeat. We are no more than 2 years away from pushing finals and top 4. We will need quality players and expeirence. Burgoyne is an All Australian quality player, and if fit would no doubt be our number 1 best player at the club. How you could say that is remarkable. Clearly you don't know much about footy outside Victoria

After this draft I believe we will have stregth in 2 important areas: Key position backman and Midfield STREGTHS: 1. KPB: Warnock, Frawley, Garland, Rivers, McNamara and Martin* (Martin is versatile enough to play ruck and forward, but also key back if injuries) 2. Midfield: Scully, Trengove, Grimes, Morton, Sylvia, Davey, Mclean, Moloney, Jones, Blease, Strauss, Green and Bruce However, I believe we still have some holes to fill... luckily I don't believe there is any gaping holes anymore. HOLES THAT NEED FILLING THROUGH TRADING AND DRAFTING: 1. one more defensive minded small defender- the only 2 we currently have in Bell and Cheney... I don't rate either very much 2. one more quality key forward- Watts, Jurrah and Bate are a great start, but we really do need 1 more quality one 3. one more quality crumbing forward- all our smaller forwards are more flankers than crumbers (Pettard, Jetta, Maric, Wona etc) 4. one more ruckman- I actually like Jamar, and Spenser and Meesan have potential, but the bombers showed how catastrophic it can be having no good ruckman 5. one tagger- To take over post McDonald... a Picken type would be ideal The good thing is, that apart from a quality key forward, all the other 4 are relatively easier to mind (compared to quality midfielder and KPB). Small indigenous forwards, small defenders, ruckmna and taggers are often found via low draft selections and rookie picks. I think our recruiting staff has done exceptionally well. They are building a team, and have done so by stocking up in the 2 most difficult areas to build a team- key backman and midfielders. We are on our way

can't reveal source for obvious reasons.... but it is a source from an important employee within the club It is almost certain to be Scully and Trengove pick 1 and 2. obviously draft camp can always change things but unlikely

I rarely have inside info... but this time i actually do! MFC at this point in time is set to take Scully and Trengove as their first 2 picks. Something extraordinary would have to happy to change this current position

If we got him it would be awesome. He would automatically become the best player at our club. He's a certain All Australian this year in my opinion... we dont' have a player that is currently in the top 50 players in the afl.

If Panos is available at 18 I would take him. I believe he could be the missing link our forward line needs. Obviously its no certainly Panos will turn into the player he promises to be... but if he did then, we'd have a really awesome mix of different types of forwards. Tall Forwards: - Panos: traditional leap up forward who can play out of the goal square, but is agile enough to venture out to CHF. A traditional lead-out of the forward line type who has a good goal sense, a strong mark and a straight kick for goal. - Watts: the super talented, tall and agile forward. I invisage playing a more CHF type role but switching deep forward. can also kick straight and has good goal sense - Bate: the work horse CHF. Hard worker on the lead. Plays his best around 60-70m out from goal, but also has a good nack for kicking 2 or 3 goals - Jurrah: the X-factor! we love him! The good thing about that is that they are all different types of forwards and none of them are hopeless once the ball hits the ground so it is not top heavy either. Add Wonaeamirri, Pettard, Jetta, Maric, Sylvia and Green through the forward line and it actually starts to look dangerous

I tried to take a deeper look at forward lines of the premiership contending sides... Geelong: 9 goal kickers over 20 goals Mooney, Stevie J- 40ish Hawkins, Chapman, Stoke, Byrnes- 30ish Gary Ablett, Matt Rooke, Varcoe- 22ish StKilda: 4 goal kickers over 20 goals Riewold- 68 Kochitzki and Milne- 45 Shnider- 30 Bulldogs: 8 goals kickers over 20 goals Akermanus- 40 Johnson, Hill and Hahn- 32 Higgins- 27 Gilbee, Welsh and Gia- 20ish Collingwood: 7 goal kickers over 20 goals Anthony- 48 Davis- 34 Lockyer-30 Medhurst, Cloke, Dick and Didak- 20ish Hawthorn- 3 goal kicker over 20 Franklin- 67 Roughead- 50 Rioli- 21 Adelaide- 4 goal kickers over 20 Porps- 51 Tipett- 51 Knights- 42 Walker- 23 ------- There are 2 major types of teams... equally effective. 1) One team relies on 2 forwards to score almost all there goals... this type of team is risky if one of those forwards goes down... e.g. Brissy with Brown/Bradshaw, Hawthorn with Franklin/Roughy, Stkilda with Reiwold/Kozi, Carlton with Fev. 2) Other teams spread their goals more evenly, but still have at least 2 players capable of kicking 40+ goals... see Geelong, Adelaide, Bulldgos and Collingwood. The point i'm really trying to show is that is doesn't really matter what type of forward it is kicking your goals, they can be 184cm tall (Porplesia) or 198cm tall (Kozi)... what is far more important is how many players you have on your list that are capable of kicking 20, 30, 40 or even 50 goals per season! Melbourne's forward line potential- (in my opinion) Potential 40+ goal a year players- Watts, Jurrah, Bate Potenital 30 goal a year players- Pettard, Wonaeamirri Potential 20 goal a year players- Sylvia, Davey, Trengove*, Jamar, Jetta? Maric? this, in my opinion is what people should be thinking about when looking at how to develop our forward line. We don't necessarily need another big giant forward (butcher?)... what we do need is probably 1 or 2 more players capable of kicking more than 30 goals per season. A guy like Brett Ebert could fill that role, a Panos type? Just bc they aren't 6ft6 doesn't make them any less effective as long as they know how to kick goals. Do we currently have the forward line to kick big scores? I personally think we do, as long as they are getting great service. If we can develop a super super midfield, which gets it into the forward line 60 times a match, then our forwards will kick the goals in my opnion. Bc our current midfield only gets the ball inside50 35 times a game, our forwards was always going to struggle this year. Thoughts?

I believe it would be a big mistake to trade ANY of the key defenders and an even bigger mistake to trade Jamar. Firstly on Jamar- most ruckman take until 25 to mature. Jamar is now a capable ruckman who at least breaks even with almost every senior afl ruckman out there. He is good with his tap work and can take a clunk up forward. We also have no one in the reserves- PJ will probably be delisted this year, Meesan has played 2 afl games and who the fark knows, and Spenser is raw as hell and not even on our senior list. Do NOT trade away our number 1 ruckman. On Trading Rivers or ANY of the KPB- does anyone realize how lucky we are to be in the position we are in. We have 4-5 good options down back, but more importantly all play a different role. Garland and Frawley can play on tall and small and provide run from the backline as well. Warnock takes to big power forwards. Rivers is the general of the defence, the glue that sticks it all together. He is still capable of beating fowards 1 on 1 and reads the play well. Martin is versatile enough to play in the ruck and up forward, but can also take any Key defensive role if others go down injured. Rivers is the most important player in that back line. Do not put our one major strength at jeapardy for a draft pick. Even pick 9 is still a gamble! What if we get a David Trotter or Luke Molan... it happens every year! Let's keep all our defenders and create the best defence in the afl. If you want to see how important key defenders are, look what happened to Hawthorn when Croad went down, and how the cats struggle when Harley or Scarlett isn't in the team. Key defenders are crucial. Do NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT trade them for picks.

When any possible trades are bantered around, one important thing must be considered. The ussual draft pool consists of youngsters from a block of 12 months, unless they are mature age picks. This draft, due to GC17, only consists of a pool coming from a block of 8 months. Therefore the draft is 1/3 weaker than the ussual draft. Thus, pick 24 in the this year's draft is equavalent to a pick 35 in any other year's draft. I would be extremely hesitant to trade for picks in this year's draft pool unless it was for a first round pick. ... PS- why would we trade Jamar, who is an extremely compitant ruckman who can break even with almost all rucks in the afl at least... for a draft pick of some unknown player in a weak draft... especially when we are light on good ruckman. Silly. I would not trade Jamar!

People can list the 20 minfielders we currently have... all it does is get in the way of the truth. The truth is that our midfield is AVERAGE AT BEST! Our midfield has been beaten week-in week-out. We get the fewest inside 50 entries in the afl. We are poor at clearences and we don't have even 1 star player in the midfield. An A-grade midfield is what will win us a premiership. An A-grade midfield makes good forwards look like great forwards. How do you think Cam Mooney would be playing if he was a demon? I'll tell you. CRAP. Our forward line needs bolstering... true. DO NOT pass on the best available player simply bc you like the idea of a 'twin towers'. The one common denominator of every premiership is that they had absolute gun midfielders and at least 2 star midfielders (star= top 20 players in afl). Having a 'twin towers' combination is NOT a common denominator of all premiership teams. Just ask Cats, WCE, Sydney and PortAdelaide. If Trengove is the second best player in the draft we'd be insane if we didn't take him. Full stop.

I disagree! I understand the desire for a 'twin towers' combination up forward in Watts and Butcher... it is mouth watering... HOWEVER I think there is an important and common misconception on this forum. The misconception is that it is easier to draft star midfielders than it is star key position players and therefore we can just hope to draft a star midfielder later in the draft. Well guess what! It is not easy to draft a star midfielder. In fact, I don't think the demons have had a star midfielder in the 10 years I have supported the club. Proof of this is that the demons only 'midfielders' to make the AA team in the last decade was really only McDonald on the bench and Yze on a wing. Premiership are won from top quality midfielders! That is a fact. Look at the last 7 years premiers FFS! Geelong, WCE, PortAdel, even Syd had Barry Hall as their single key forward. It is possible to win a premiership without a 'twin towers' combination. Therefore we should pick Scully and Trengove, who also happen to be the best available at those picks. We've got a gun backline. Let's create our gun midfield. Our forward line is also coming together... Watts, Bate, Jurrah, Pettard, Sylvia, Wonaeamirri, Maric, Jetta... that's some serious talent. Just because they're not all 197cm, doesn't mean they won't create an extemely potent forward line.

Scully is the only lock. The other choice will be out of Butcher, Trengove or Morabito The choice will depend on who the footy department rates the highest i guess. My personal choice is Trengove bc I see our midfield as being our major weakness. Apparently Butcher is in redhot form and making a big shake for pick 2 over the last 2-3 weeks. We could do worse than have a potential Reiwold/Koschitske twin tower combination in Watts/Butcher.

Very close to mine... I think there are some pretty promising players who haven't made the team Players you haven't included who could come close: Pettard, Martin, Cheney, McDonald, Dunn, Bennel, Jetta, Maric, Of that list I believe Pettard, Martin, Bennel and Maric will play most games next year. The rest of the players who wouldn't even come close at this point in time bc of crapness or rawness: Bartram, Newton, Buckley, Bell, PJ, McNamara, Strauss, Bail, Blease McKenzie*, Spenser*

BUMP! The season is now over for us, the draft is coming up and this is the most important topic we can discuss. To win a premiership you need a complete team. What do we need to add to our current list?! My analysis: Small defenders: Cheney, Bell Running defenders: Strauss, Buckley, Bennel, Bail Key defenders: Warnock, Frawley, Rivers, Garland, McNamara, Martin*** (Martin to be the versatile gap-filler, back/forward/ruck) Midfielders: Mclean, Moloney, Morton, Davey, Bruce, Green, Jones, Grimes, Blease, McDonald, Bartram, McKenzie ® small forwards: Wanaeamirri half forwards: Sylvia, Pettard, Jetta, Maric Key forwards: Watts, Jurrah, Bate, Miller, Newton Ruckman: Jamar, PJ, Meesan, Spenser ® _______ imo, we have been massacred in the midfield all year. We get the fewest inside50 entries in the afl! That is the midfield's fault. Ussually the team with the most inside 50s tends to win. We need quality in the midfield. Needs in order or urgency: *2= star quality midfielders (getting our midfield right will go along way to our climb up the ladder) *1= key forward (Miller and Newton are shite... Watts, Jurrah and Bate could use another key forward) *1= small forward (I'm thinking in the mould of Betts/Milne) *1= small defender (Bell is crap, Cheney i don't rate that much... we need a stop player to take the opposition quick forward) *1= Ruckman (Jamar is good. The others probably won't amount to much) *1= tagger (I'm thinking in the mould of Picken) Therefore I would: Pick1= Scully (midfielder) Pick2= Trengove (midfielder) Pick18= Lewis Jetta (small forward)/ Panos (key forward) pick 34= If went small forward with pick 18, then KF with this pick. Visa Versa PSD 1= Best available uncontracted player Rookie picks: - Look for a tagger and a small stopping defender. These guyz can be found in the Rookie draft because they do not need to be super talented. they just need to be very good at their role in the team. - Pick a ruckman... good ruckman can be found in the rookie draft

I, like many others, have always felt annoyed and disappointed that we won 5 games in 2007. Essentially, winning 5 instead of 4 games that year cost us pick2- Nick Naitanui- in the 2008 draft. Even though we probably could have won 7-8 games that year (the North and Bombers games come to mind, when we lost being in front with 3 minutes to go) it still hurt knowing what we lost from winning that last match against Carltank. Now to 2009. We finish the year with 4 wins. We are not that bad! We could have probably won 6-7 games this year had we been playing with the same motivation to win as Sydney. The fact that we finish with a PP, pick 2, is probably a little undeserving. For me, gaining pick 2 in this years draft is an added bonus that we didn't really have coming. I believe this cancels out the lost PP in 2008 which we probably did deserve and did have coming. I am now officialy over the fact we lost NN and I officially have closure. Do you guyz agree? (NB: I say we only lost pick2- NickNaitanui- bc imo the difference between Morton (pick4- future superstar) and Cotchin (pick2) is negligable. Also, the extra PP pick, pick 20 2008 (Strauss), is equivalent to the lost PP pick 20 in 2007, so those picks cancel eachother out. Therefore, the we only really lost pick2 2008 from winning 5 games)

Bailey has expressed stated that we will add 5 players to our list during the off season. Thus, pick 1,2,18,34 and PSD pick 1. This could change if we trade

I also heard Watts has grown to 197cm. With his undeniable athleticism, when he bulks up he will be an absolute superstar

Our forward line is coming together nicely. With Scully and Trengove coming in, Green will be able to play more in the fowrard line also. HF: Bate, Watts, Pettard FF: Wona, Jurrah, Green That, with Maric, Jetta, Sylvia, Davey and Martin/Garland going through. We are really starting to get some talent into this club.

Lucas is being criminally underrated in this exercise. In his prime he was an absolute superstar. I'll never forget his 7 goal last quater v WCE in hird's last match

I dont' know who you're handing out with... but from my personal experience Sylvia and Bruce and not maligned by supporters at all. Sylvia this season has been talked up as having his break out year by demons supporters and other supporters as well. Bruce is regarded by the huge majority of demons supporters (including myself) as being in our top10 players at the club. and from non demon supporters is generally regarded as our best player. Just bc one [censored] on this forum doesn't rate him doesn't mean he's our scapegoat

Unless you're Liam Jurrah, of coarse. He missed the dead line to nominate for the national draft and got special consideration to be considered in the PSD, where he was picked up pick 1. ABSOLUTE MASSSIVE STEAL

We need to open up 5 places for draftees + upgrade Spender. This is bc the draft is very shallow this year due to all 17 yr olds that ussually would be picked going to the GC team. Pick 1,2,18,35,50 PSD pick 1. Retire- all players over 28 who aren't pivotal to our team - Whelan - Wheatley - Robertson - McDonald Delist- - Bell That is 5 very obvious options. If we decide to use pick 66, then the next in line to delist in Newton imo. NOTE: Valenti, Zomer and Hughes should be delisted off the rookie list, though they don't open up spots. McKenzie retained.

Also no Lewis Jetta... at pick 18 could be an absolute jet. Looks like the genuine crumbing forward who is lightning fast that we need!

Love this analysis! This is how I see our list--- Tall defenders: Warnock, Frawley, Rivers, Garland and Martin Small defenders: Cheney Utility/ flankers: Morton, Pettard, Dunn, McNamara, Buckley, Bail Midfielders: Mclean, Sylvia, Davey, Jones, Moloney, Bruce, Green, Grimes, Bartram, Bennel, Clease, Strauss, McKenzie* Medium forwards: Bate, Maric, Jetta Small forwards: Wonaeamirri Tall forwards: Watts, Jurrah, Miller, Newton Ruckes: Jamar, PJ, Meesan, Spenser* From this I would see our most urgent issues (in order of most important to least important): 1) A gun midfielder, idealy 2 gun midfielders. Our midfield lacks any outstanding prospects. 2) A power tall forward to complement Jurrah and Watts. 3) A small defender, capable of playing on the oposition gun quick forward 4) A true small forward who is quick and can crumb (ala Betts or Milne) 5) A quality ruckman... we can get by with our current group, but nothing special IMO---- Pick 1 & 2: two gun midfielders Pick 3: best available tall forward pick 4: best available small defender pick 5: best available indiginous small forward pick 6: best available stopper defensive defender