Whispering_Jack

Is that Oscar the muppet or Oscar the pist?

If that's a veiled reference to a certain departed player and the royalty who replaced him, let me express my disappointment about you holding up the general standard of this thread.

The first of the AFL's series on high draft hopefuls ~ Going places: When draft young gun Christian Petracca said yes to footy and no to an NBA dream I thought you really had to be exceptional to make it in the NBA (even as a point guard) if you were only 186cm tall.

@theagesport: CRICKET I Windies abandon India tour over pay dispute | http://t.co/GOPiQ81q3C The way the Windies have been going lately I'm surprised they were getting paid at all.

One thing I noticed about Paige Cardona's latest phantom draft is the lack of South Australians. She has more Western Jets players in her top 20 than players from the winning state in the National Under 18 Championships. Sam Durdin makes it in at #10 and her next player is Alex Neal-Bullen at 23. Harrison Wigg (39) is the only other Croweater in her top 40. Sturt's Dean Gore doesn't even make her list. Knightmare rates him as a "high level difference maker". Either the coach of the SA Under 18 must be a genius to have put together a winning team from the material he had at his disposal or we are grossly underestimating the ability of youngsters from that state in favour of our own. I commented about the lack of love for South Australians in another thread. I hope our recruiting people are on to this - I'd hate the SA clubs to benefit from the Victoriacentric mindset that some people have towards this draft.

Paige Cardona's Phantom Draft has us taking Angus Brayshaw and Paddy McCartin with picks 2 and 3. She has Jake Lever going to GWS at pick 6 but I have a feeling that he will be a strong contender for our pick 3.

It's always worthwhile coming back to this thread from time to time to see how certain players were looked upon at the start of the year before the draft manouevring began. With the regard to the Prospectus 25 some of them have already been taken as father/son or academy selections, some remain high on the radar and a couple have dropped off. Interesting.

More importantly, how many hours to go to the end of trade week?

Pakistan choke with a 2 wicket maiden final over from Glenn Maxwell. You wouldn't bet on a result like that, would you?

Looks like we have Pakistan's measure ~ Glenn Maxwell blasts Australia to a series win over Pakistan in Dubai

Redleg can forget the daily countdown to the draft now because the way we're going we won't have a pick.

Anyone know what's happened to James Muirhead, the promising leg spinner who played well in a couple of International T20s last year but is now back playing district cricket only?

I must confess that I don't recall previously coming across Luke McAlister's work but his comprehensive phantom draft makes good reading ~ Luke McAlister's Phantom Draft He has Christian Petracca going at # 1 and here are his pen pictures of the players he thinks will go to us if we retain # 2 & 3:

Phantom form guide: October update Swans' academy selection Heeney is highly regarded. Petracca, McCartin, Brayshaw and Wright are the ones most fancied to fill Melbourne's current leading selections at 2 & 3 (assuming we keep them).

The greatest player ever to wear that number for the club, without a shadow of doubt

Top AFL Draft prospect Christian Petracca proves his midfield credentials

Shifter believes there are four prospects worthy of a #1 pick in the draft ~ Four players worth No. 1 pick in AFL Draft says Kevin Sheehan This probably won't deter us from seeking a trade of our top pick if the right player is presented but, on the other hand it would be tempting (if we knew we were going to get them right) to pick up two very elite youngsters if we managed to get # 3 for James Frawley.

I watched bits and pieces of the game and was impressed with Lachie Weller (brother of Maverick) who is a definite top 20 prospect at the coming national draft. If Melbourne does another Tyson/Salem deal this year, then I can see him as a possible prospect along with Oakleigh Charger Jordan De Goey or Calder's Paul Ahern. The other player who stood out among the potential draftees was NT's Nakia Cockatoo who has been injured for most of the year. .In all probability Cockatoo is somehow related to the Cockatoo-Collins twins who were at Melbourne in the 90s. Cannon's midfielder Nick O'Kearney who has was a ball magnet for them in the TAC Cup finals starred for the AIS Academy as did Sydney's likely academy pick for next year Callum Mills. Now that the AFL has ruled out special assistance for struggling clubs I regard it as an obscenity that the Swans can have free access to a player of his quality and I believe the clubs should fight against it for the coming year. Sandringham Dragons key forward Harley Balic looked good and kicked a couple of goals for the AIS.

Some of the best deals are hatched and executed much earlier in the season and at good clubs are kept quiet until they are announced during trade week. Buddy Franklin is one example.

But they look like getting Mitch.

Here's an emotional post from a Collingwood fan qldmagpie 67 on Nick's Bulletin Board which explains the human side of the story.

A 4 time premiership coach with Bell Post Hill ~ congratulations @AlexJOates11: Four-time @BPHPanthersFNC premiership coach Brent Grgic has re-signed with the club for another season. @Gdflvic #addyfooty

Paddy?

Having watched the TAC Cup grand final, I would have to say that it we traded our top picks for quality players and ended up with a couple of mid first round selections then getting the likes of Paul Ahern and Jordan De Goey, that wouldn't be bad going either.

We all know full well that the Roos philosophy is about trading early draft picks and are mostly happy about the 2013 outcome although the final results won't really be apparent for some time yet. Assuming Frawley goes and we get pick 3 then there's a strong possibility that we would do the same again. However, it goes without saying the deal would have to be right. If the Saints take Petracca then Brayshaw and McCartin provide us with a good start to our list improvement based on some of the advice I've received from some sound judges.