Whispering_Jack

Agree. I would have been happy to go with Parish and Mathieson to get a good mix of midfield talent with 4 AAs between them. I wonder if the reluctance to pick Parish has to do with the nightmares endured in the wake of the decision to take Toumpas ahead of Wines three years ago.

Parish might not test elite class for pace but he's quick. By that I mean everything he does is in super quick mode; his reactions, his thought processes and his decision making. They're all uncanny and instinctively move him to where the ball is so he appears to have more pace than he actually possesses (but he's not slow over the ground anyway). He's a footballer and my only reservation is whether he can bring that package with him into the AFL game. Toumpas who was a different type in many ways, couldn't bring his particular game to AFL level and before him, the same could be said of Blease.

Hey Redleg - was it Curnow who we were told was "leadership material"?

Never impossible - one of the candidates might blow it (and be replaced on the list) ... then again, he might not.

However, if you were in Jason Taylor's shoes and knew who your first pick was going to be, there are only five possible combinations possible. It would take some luck but the odds are reasonable for you to achieve the best case scenario i.e getting your two most preferred players from the six into the club. Remote.

Agreed, we're in a fortunate position. We get to pick what is effectively the first "live" selection given that Weitering/Schache are are foregone conclusion and then have some interesting choices for our second pick. Whichever way it goes, we get two of the best 10 young players in the country as at draft selection night.

I was at the club's trade and draft evening with Jason Taylor and Todd Viney and while there was a great deal of discussion concerning a variety of the matters relating to the club, I don't think anyone went away any the wiser about who the club is drafting at #3. We were shown highlight tapes of six players who the club presumably considers would be available within its range of picks #3 and #7. They are: Charlie Curnow, Aaron Francis, Wayne Milera, Clayton Oliver, Darcy Parish and Sam Weideman. I would suggest then that we will draft two of those players next Tuesday night and while the club has made up its mind as to who will be taken at 3, nobody is telling. Nor are they telling the player involved because they want the player to enjoy the occasion. So, the suspense continues although watching the highlights passage and combined with the more detailed games I've seen in the past, confirms in my mind that Darcy Parish is our best pick. My next two would be Aaron Francis and Charlie Curnow ahead of Clayton Oliver and Wayne Milera. I don't believe Sam Weideman is for us. Anyway, we'll know soon enough.

There are too many hypotheticals there for me to give you an answer as to what I would say after rolling my eyes at the suggestion if it ever was made (which I strongly doubt)..

Brett Anderson was interviewed on SEN yesterday evening and, in relation to the views he's expressed about who he believes Melbourne will take at pick 3, he stated that they were based on his analysis of this year's draft and that he was not taking in any mail whatsoever from the Melbourne Football Club. On that basis he's always thought Melbourne would choose Curnow over Darcy Parish but it could easily be Sam Weideman or Clayton Oliver - "I don't know if Jason Taylor would take Charlie Curnow".Since Anderson's views about us taking Curnow ahead of Parish were made public a few weeks ago, some Phantom Drafts have been put out there nominating Curnow as our choice - it's almost as if they were taking Anderson's strong views as being based on inside information. However, that position has now been dispelled. It could be Curnow, it could be Weideman but I still think Parish is the best available. Jason Taylor and Todd Viney are speaking at a draft function at the club tonight but I don't know if we'll be much better informed after that - it looks like the rest of the clubs are going to be kept guessing for a few more days. Separately, on the testing of Weideman, I don't think I've heard anything much absurd than the proposition that we're considering him to keep Jesse Hogan happy and at the club. I'm sure Hogan would be just as happy to see the club add some future elite midfielders who could pump the ball to him with precision no less than a potential KPP who has been injured and out of action since May.

No love for James Pattinson?

Princes Hill, Ivanhoe and Carlton North but today it must be Carlton, Albert Park and Hawthorn.

It was actually a good few weeks after he came back from the injury during which time he played in the midfield once for the Falcons and twice for Victoria Country. In that game however, he was given a defensive role and was therefore not in the play as much as in those other games. In the last game for the Vic Country team he was back at his best in the middle. So in most games when he plays in the middle, he's averaging mid 20s in possessions in games that are 80 minutes long with no time on - translating into high 30 possession games if it was an AFL length game. Not to be sneezed at.

Aren't we straying somewhat away from topic?

Firstly, on the vision, I think it's worthwhile checking them out - I've also found while doing some research on players that sometimes the links no longer work after a while. Secondly, the point about us getting the top three mids if we take Parish is the best three available to us so obviously, getting the best of the academy players is outside that range. The club is holding an information evening for one of the supporter groups which I'm in during the last week before the draft. There was a similar one last year where Jason Taylor and Todd Viney were as open and as frank as they could possibly be i.e "the best three players are Brayshaw, McCartin and Petracca [no particular order]. St Kilda will take one and we'll take the other two". I hope that they will be able to tell us something similar in two week's time.

I posted my concerns about the hair on Facebook last week. It certainly looms as a major issue in respect of the difficult decision the recruiting team is faced with over the next few weeks. My solution was that if we take him with pick #3 then Josh Mahoney's first task should be (preferably before they leave Adelaide after draft night) to take him to a barber for a #3 haircut. Problem solved. [PS: I've subsequently discovered that if we bid #3 for say Callum Mills and force Sydney to take that player in response to our bid, then our pick would be #4 and in that event, the blades to be used for the haircut would be #4.]

Hey Dazzle. Can I suggest you wait till you finish that three year course in Human Physiology before you answer any more questions on the subject.

Yep. Hope you're right - also I think the club has more resources and better personnel available to put into development and there's no hurry to bring on first year players these days. Things might well have been different for the Toump had he walked into the club in November 2015 instead of 2012.

He's certainly a favourite with me and even more so after reviewing the vision of his games for Vic Country in the national champs. I'm sure if he comes to Melbourne he will get a good grounding under the current coaching regime but I suspect that he won't end up as a defender. He's too good for that and besides, the only disappointing game I've seen from him is the one v SA at Simonds Stadium where he was played off half back and was rather subdued as if he had to contain his usual flair. He was kept down to 9 possessions and was brushed aside a couple of times by Aaron Francis but there were enough positives from his limited amount of touches to know that he is going to be a very good player. I haven't been so excited about a potential draftee since Jimmy Toumpas ... oh.

Settle down folks ... please stay on topic

Funnily enough, the bolded part reminds me very much of the words that a prominent person within the TAC Cup system once used to describe Cameron Ling back in his early days as a player with the Geelong Falcons. How did that turn out?

For the next 6½ hours it's still Saturday.Have I missed something?

Is he the bloke who sounds like he's been inhaling helium?

Finished 3rd and paid $2.80 for the place.When does it run next Redleg?

I spent two years between the ages of 2 and 4 at Elmore where the family had a textile farm so it's the place of my earliest memories. The bridge over the railway station and picnics by the river. How does it look these days?

Draft Profile: Darcy Parish