Whispering_Jack

TALKING POINTS | 2024 AFL Draft: Night One My own key takeaway was the slow start to the night’s selections but once it got going, the selections moved a reasonable rate. I’m a bit more pessimistic about how things will pan out tonight. It could be a slow trudge to the finishing line with the predicted volume of live trades.

That's the current list, noting that some clubs will be passing because they may have an excess number of picks or want to use the picks for the supplementary draft.

A club by club look at the picks left for tonight:- Adelaide: 58, 74 Brisbane Lions: 46, 47, 49, 56, 59, 66, 69, 95, 99 Carlton: 40, 55, 63, 64, 67 Collingwood: 45, 48, 53, 61, 78 Essendon: 37, 39, 43, 60, 91, 97 Fremantle: 34, 62, 77, 85 Geelong: 42, 50, 70, 80 Gold Coast: 57, 90, 96 GWS Giants: 36, 93, 98 Hawthorn: 35, 65, 71 Melbourne: 75 North Melbourne: 54, 72, 82 Port Adelaide: 33, 38, 94 Richmond: 28, 89 St Kilda: 32, 51, 76, 84 Sydney Swans: 41, 52, 81, 87 West Coast Eagles: 30, 44, 68, 73, 83, 88 Western Bulldogs: 29, 31, 79, 86, 92

It all starts again at the same time tonight (more or less). Twenty-seven players already know their fate. It’s been estimated that between 35 & 45 more will be selected tonight. UPDATE: Here are tonight's selections - ROUND TWO 28 Richmond Thomas Sims (Northern Knights/Vic Metro) 29 Western Bulldogs Lachie Jaques (Geelong Falcons/Vic Metro) 30 West Coast Eagles Jobe Shanahan (Bendigo Pioneers/Vic Country) 31 Western Bulldogs Josh Dolan (Sandringham Dragons/Vic Metro) 32 St Kilda James Barrat (Bendigo Pioneers/Vic Country) 33 Port Adelaide Jack Whitlock (Murray Bushrangers/Vic Country) 34 Fremantle Charlie Nicholls (Central District/South Australia) 35 Hawthorn Noah Mraz (Dandenong Stingrays/Vic Country) 36 GWS Giants Jack Ough (GWV Rebels/Vic Country) 37 Essendon Kayle Gerreyn (West Perth/Western Australia) 38 Port Adelaide Christian Moraes (Eastern Ranges/Vic Metro) 39 Essendon Angus Clarke (Glenelg/South Australia) 40 Carlton Harry O'Farrell (Calder Cannons/Vic Metro) ROUND THREE 41 Sydney Swans Riley Bice (Werribee VFL/NSW-ACT) 42 Brisbane Lions (BID MATCHED) Ty Gallop (Brisbane Lions Academy/Queensland) 43 Carlton (BID MATCHED) Ben Camporeale (Glenelg/South Australia) 44 Geelong Jay Polkinghorne (Norwood/South Australia) 45 St Kilda Hugh Boxshall (Claremont/Western Australia) 46 West Coast Eagles Tom Gross (Oakleigh Chargers/Vic Metro) 47 Collingwood Joel Cochrane (Sydney Swans Academy/NSW-ACT) 48 West Coast Eagles Lucca Grego (Western Jets/Vic Metro) 49 Gold Coast Suns Cooper Bell (GWS Giants Academy/NSW-ACT) 50 Collingwood Charlie West (WWT/South Australia) 51 Western Bulldogs Sam Davidson (Richmond VFL/Victoria) 52 Geelong Jacob Molier (Sturt/South Australia) 53 St Kilda Alex Dodson (Sturt/South Australia) 54 Carlton (BID MATCHED) Lucas Camporeale (Glenelg/South Australia) 55 Sydney Swans Riak Andrew (Dandenong Stingrays/Vic Country) 56 Collingwood Will Hayes (Claremont/Western Australia) ROUND FOUR 57 North Melbourne Luke Urquhart (East Fremantle/Western Australia) 58 Richmond Jasper Alger (Oakleigh Chargers/Vic Metro) 59 Adelaide Tyler Welsh (WWT/South Australia) 60 St Kilda Patrick Said (Calder Cannons/Vic Metro) 61 Essendon Rhys Unwin (GWV Rebels/Vic Country) 62 Western Bulldogs Luke Kennedy (Sandringham Dragons/Vic Metro) 63 Fremantle Jaren Carr (South Fremantle/Western Australia) 64 Hawthorn Cody Anderson (Eastern Ranges/Vic Metro) 65 West Coast Eagles Hamish Davis (Claremont/Western Australia) 66 Geelong Lennox Hofmann (Sandringham Dragons/Vic Metro) ROUNDS FIVE TO NINE 67 North Melbourne River Stevens (Geelong Falcons/Vic Country) 68 Melbourne Aidan Johnson (Werribee VFL/NSW-ACT) 69 Geelong Keighton Matofai-Forbes (Western Jets/Vic Metro) 70 Essendon Zak Johnson (Northern Knights/Vic Metro) 71 GWS Giants Logan Smith (GWS Academy/NSW-ACT)

The remainder of the 2024 AFL National Draft after Day One:- ROUND TWO 28 Richmond 29 Western Bulldogs 30 West Coast 31 Western Bulldogs 32 St Kilda 33 Port Adelaide 34 Fremantle 35 Hawthorn 36 GWS Giants 37 Essendon 38 Port Adelaide 39 Essendon 40 Carlton ROUND THREE 41 Sydney Swans 42 Geelong 43 Essendon 44 West Coast Eagles 45 Collingwood 46 Brisbane Lions 47 Brisbane Lions 48 Collingwood 49 Brisbane Lions 50 Geelong 51 St Kilda 52 Sydney 53 Collingwood ROUND FOUR 54 North Melbourne 55 Carlton 56 Brisbane Lions 57 Gold Coast Suns 58 Adelaide 59 Brisbane Lions 60 Essendon 61 Collingwood 62 Fremantle 63 Carlton 64 Carlton 65 Hawthorn 66 Brisbane Lions 67 Carlton 68 West Coast Eagles 69 Brisbane Lions 70 Geelong 71 Hawthorn ROUND FIVE 72 North Melbourne 73 West Coast Eagles 74 Adelaide 75 Melbourne 76 St Kilda 77 Fremantle 78 Collingwood 79 Western Bulldogs 80 Geelong 81 Sydney Swans ROUND SIX 82 North Melbourne 83 West Coast Eagles 84 St Kilda 85 Fremantle 86 Western Bulldogs 87 Sydney Swans ROUND SEVEN 88 West Coast Eagles ROUND EIGHT 89 Richmond 90 Gold Coast Suns 91 Essendon 92 Western Bulldogs 93 GWS Giants 94 Port Adelaide 95 Brisbane Lions ROUND NINE 96 Gold Coast Suns 97 Essendon 98 GWS Giants 99 Brisbane Lions

Confirmed that we are now sitting on Pick 75. Get set for several excruciating hours of wait time because the recruiters are getting their calculators ready for pick swaps galore.

Harvey Langford on Grand Final Night 2021

One of the changes we’re going to see in the very near future are the players’ jumper numbers. As things stand - 2025 Melbourne numbers — 1. Steven May 2. Jacob van Rooyen 3. Christian Salem 4. Judd McVee 5. Christian Petracca 6. Caleb Windsor 7. Jack Viney 8. Jake Lever 9. Charlie Spargo 10. 11. Max Gawn 12. 13. Clayton Oliver 14. Jack Billings 15. Ed Langdon 16. Bailey Laurie 17. Jake Bowey 18. Jake Melksham 19. 20. 21. Matt Jefferson 22. Blake Howes 23. Shane McAdam 24. Trent Rivers 25. Tom McDonald 26. Jed Adams 27. Marty Hore 28. Will Verrall 29. 30. 31. Bayley Fritsch 32. Tom Sparrow 33. Tom Fullarton 34. 35. Harry Petty 36. Kysaiah Pickett 37. Kade Chandler 38. Oliver Sestan 39. Koltyn Tholstrop 40. Taj Woewodin 41. Kynan Brown 42. Daniel Turner 43. 44. Luker Kentfield 45. Andy Moniz-Wakefield 50. Indications from early summer training are that the Kolt is going to move from 39 to 12.

Lasted 2 minutes. Goodbye

I tipped this!

That’s 5 minutes of my life I want back. They should have announced him straight away. They told the kid on Monday night!

Nathan Jones will be handing over the Demon jumper to the players we select tonight. Hopefully to Harvey Langford and Xavier Lindsay.

Hey posters - this thread is for our Round 5 pick currently 79.

A nice pictorial of Cal’s late mail Phantom Draft ~

ESPN's full, final Phantom Draft - every pick, every trade, every bid

Call it co-incidence if you like but today happens to be Alan Johnson's 68th birthday. Alan was the first player drafted in the very first annual national draft held by the then Victorian Football League in 1981. Recruited from Perth WA and renowned for his courage, he made his debut in the opening round of 1982 as a wingman and excelled in both that position and later in a back pocket. Johnson won the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal as the club's best and fairest player in his second season and again in 1989 when he was named in the VFL Team of the Year. He played in the Demons' 1988 VFL Grand Final and retired at the end of 1990 after 135 games (95 goals). He was made an MFC Hall of Famer in 2013. His son Chris, also played for the club from 2004-8. Happy Birthday Alan Johnson! Back in 1981, each of the 12 VFL clubs had two selections at the draft. Melbourne's other selection was Port Adelaide SANFL full back Danny Hughes, another 'Bluey' winner (1985) who was All-Australian in 1988 and who also played in the Grand Final that year. Two great servants of the club recruited in the first ever national draft - here's hoping that by the end of the night, we will have seen the advent of two players who with careers of at least the same quality as our two inaugural draftees.

The day of the draft is here and we will try to keep track of the selections here tonight (bear with us because this could get tricky with player nominations) ROUND ONE 1 Richmond Sam Lalor (GWV Rebels) 2 North Melbourne Finn O'Sullivan (Oakleigh Chargers) 3 Carlton Jagga Smith (Oakleigh Chargers) 4 Adelaide Sid Draper (South Adelaide SA) 5 Brisbane Lions Levi Ashcroft (Sandringham Dragons) 6 Melbourne Harvey Langford (Dandenong Stingrays) Midfielder, 191cm, 15/3/2006 A strong, big-bodied midfielder, Langford was a joint winner of the Larke Medal at the under-18 national championships this year. He's a contested ball-winning beast who has a penetrating left foot and can take marks and kick goals in attack. 7 Richmond Josh Smillie (Eastern Ranges) 8 St Kilda Toby Travaglia (Bendigo Pioneers) 9 Gold Coast Suns Leo Lombard (GC Academy) 10 St Kilda Alix Tarou (Gippsland Power) 11 Melbourne Xavier Lindsay (Gippsland Power) 183cm, 3/8/2006 Best afield in the biggest game of the year and won the Morrish Medal. Could this elite kick prove to be a steal? 12 Richmond Taj Hotton (Sandringham Dragons) 13 Essendon Isaac Kako (Calder Cannons) 14 Richmond Jonty Faull (GWV Rebels) 15 Port Adelaide Joe Berry (Murray Bushrangers) 16 West Coast Eagles Bo Allan (Peel Thunder WA) 17 Fremantle Murphy Reid (Sandringham Dragons) 18 GWS Giants Oliver Hannaford (WV Rebels) 19 GWS Giants Harrison Oliver (Sandringham Dragons) 20 Western Bulldogs Cooper Hynes (Dandenong Stingrays) 21 Richmond Luke Trainor (Sandringham Dragons) 22 Sydney Swans Jesse Dattoli (Northern Knights) 23 Richmond Harry Armstrong (Sandringham Dragons) 24 GWS Giants Cody Angove (Claremont/Scarborough WA) 25 Brisbane Lions Sam Marshall (Sandringham Dragons/Brisbane Lions Academy) 26 Sydney Swans Ned Bowman (Norwood SA) 27 North Melbourne Matt Whitlock (Murray Bushrangers) Live trades: Brisbane Lions receive: Pick 35 and 48 Western Bulldogs receive Pick 27 GWS Giants receive: Pick 34 Brisbane Lions receive: Pick 37, 56 and 73 Essendon receive: Pick 35, 37 and 58 Brisbane Lions receive: Pick 40, 46, 53 and 54 St Kilda receive: Pick 28 and 58 Essendon receive: Pick 32 and 47 Port Adelaide receive: Pick 15 West Coast Eagles receive: Picks 16 and 45 North Melbourne receive: Pick 27, 2025 second-round selection (Richmond) Richmond receive: 2025 future first-round selection

Rookie Me Central has us taking Langford and Tauru Rookie Me Central’s 2024 Phantom AFL Draft

Permit me to provide a summary - Gippsland star out to prove a point in VFL return * Ace Gippsland League midfielder, Riley Baldi, 23, who played 19 games for Casey from 2021 to 2023, wasn't gone long but is back in the VFL after winning both the Moe club and Gippsland league best and fairest double. He was also selected in the league team of the year for the second year in a row. *Weekly Times writer David Johnston named Baldi at No. 5 in the best country league players of the year, noting he "began strongly and maintained a high output right to the end" while Leongatha coach Trent McMicking thought him in the No. 1 player in Gippsland. * Baldi says he still wants to prove himself in the state league, which he believes he didn't do previously at Casey. He says: "I did love my time there but I probably did struggle to find a bit of the balance between footy and work and study," he says. "That's why I made the decision to go back to local. Moe were going well at the time too, chasing that first flag in many years. "I'm a bit more settled now and age has brought me experience and with experience you get stronger in the body and more mature. I know what to expect. I'd like to prove myself at VFL level and try to play some good, consistent footy... When I was here before I would say I didn't live up to the standards I hold myself up to and what I wanted to get to, in terms of week in, week-out footy against the best. "I'm going to dip my toes into some coaching stuff at Casey as well, so that's a good opportunity, to build on some skill-sets." * Baldi was with Gippsland Power in 2019, represented Vic Country at the Under 18 championships and attended the AFL state combine but his progress was checked by Covid. * At the moment he's having a run with Nightcliff in the Darwin competition. * Other players eyeing a move to Casey are:- + Leongatha's Jensen Garnham who kicked 53 goals this year and was listed at full-forward in the Gippsland League team of the year. + Another Leongatha player, Patty Ireland from the Ellinbank league is also keen to join the Demons after booting 111 goals from 20 matches this year for Buln Buln, including six in the grand final. There were also bags of 14, 13 and 12. + Tyson Sruk, who was on Carlton's VFL list this year and who earned attention when he had 37 possessions for Eastern Ranges in the 2023 Under 18 grand final against Sandringham Dragons. He was restricted by a broken collarbone this year; he played a dozen matches at local level for Rowville. + Chance Doultree, 22, from the Footscray VFL list who figured in Traralgon's Gippsland league premiership this year. He previously had a stint with Norwood in the SANFL. * Players leaving the Demons are captain Mitch White (signed at Rosebud), Ryan Valentine (Coburg), Ned Moodie (at Frankston) and Mitch Szybkowski has headed to GWS.

I received the identical package today as did my wife (who I expect will continue to be a rare attendee). And it came in a red and blue box.

2024 AFL Draft Preview: Melbourne Demons

The Shamrock Spitfire is a movie of interest now showing at Palace Cinemas as part of their British Film Festival. The film tells the real life story of Irishman Brendan Finucane who flew the elegant Supermarine Spitfire, a British single-seat fighter aircraft and led the 452 Australian Squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. The extra lure of the film for me is the fact that one of the squadron members and a character in the movie was Keith 'Bluey' Truscott, after who the award for the Melbourne Football Club’s best and fairest player is named. Truscott was one of Australia's best-known flying aces of the War. Before that however, he played Australian Rules for Melbourne's premiership team in 1939. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940, trained in Canada and joined No. 452 Squadron as a foundation member on 5 May, 1941. Flying a Spitfire, he destroyed at least 11 German aircraft, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and was made a flight commander. In January 1942 he was made acting squadron leader before being posted back to Australia in March. Late that month he was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross. At that point he was the most well-known pilot in the RAAF. In Australia, Truscott joined No. 76 Squadron in Bankstown which was redeployed to Papua in July 1942. Before leaving Australia, Truscott played a last game for the Melbourne football club; lacking match fitness, he was unable to keep up with the play and found himself exhausted. He did manage to kick a goal but, after the game said that his career was over. He said the game was, "too dangerous." He also saw further action against the Japanese in Darwin, lifting his tally of hits to sixteen before he lost his life in a training crash over the Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia on 28 March, 1943.

A pretty harsh list analysis of Melbourne’s 2024 season from John Ralph appeared in recently in the Herald Sun ~ I don’t mind some tough analysis and it will be worth revisiting this at various stages of the preseason and again during 2025 to see if some of the critical areas were addressed.