Whispering_Jack

Off to the Pies. I think North Melbourne might come to regret the way it's handled the exodus of some of its greats of recent times. And Collingwood - do they have a recruiting strategy in place?

You have to love this time of year when the one thing that you can affirm is the fact that telling lies is the second language of the AFL. Take the conversation here about whether or not Sam Mitchell is being pushed out of the Hawthorn team. There seem to be two opposite views and then you listen to the interviews and almost come to the conclusion that Sam was not only happy to go but that he was the instigator of the decision. Then this tweet from NAB Trade Radio quoting his manager Peter Lenton:- "I think Sam himself was a bit blindsided by it, but understood it as well." ?

Today is the day for the AFL National Women's Draft which makes it the important day to date since the women's competition was announced. The Draft will follow a ‘snaking order’ after the first round (the first round will proceed as follows): 1. GWS Giants 2. Brisbane Lions 3. Carlton 4. Fremantle 5. Western Bulldogs 6. Collingwood 7. Adelaide 8. Melbourne Melbourne has the following selections:- 8, 9, 24, 25, 40, 41, 56, 57, 72, 73, 88, 89, 104, 105, 120, 121, 136, 137, 152

A fairly good run down of the AFL Draft Combine ~ Road to the Draft podcast: Who dominated the combine?

Law graduate Chris Kaias responds to some of Robbo's "arguments" on Twitter - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CufL2mkUIAA5j7i.jpg:large

Watson has been found by the Court of Arbitration in Sport to have used a performance enhancing drug during the season in which he won his Brownlow. How is it possible for him to keep it?

The Swiss Court has ruled in the case of the Essendon 34 - Essendon players' final appeal fails Swiss court dismisses Essendon 34's appeal against doping bans The Court said that the players accepted the CAS decision that the hearing before it was de novo. They did not challenge the de novo hearing when they should have done but in any event such a challenge would have failed. In essence, the appeal was a waste of time but perhaps that was exactly its purpose from an Essendon perspective. Another nine months have passed, the players concerned served out their suspensions and the Bombers have emerged without further penalty and a greatly enhanced draft position with the AFL deciding that the club should incur no further penalty other than the three year old governance punishment. I find that incomprehensible. No penalty for creating an environment for drug cheating and no consideration given for the fact that the team's lowly ladder position had something to do with it going through the season without a dozen of their best players as a result, giving them the #1 draft pick next month. I have a problem with Jobe Watson retaining his Brownlow Medal given the outcome of the doping case. Given that the AFL has acted in such a kindly manner to the Bombers and the way it has dealt with other important issues, I would not be surprised to see the AFL wriggling out of making a decision to take away the Brownlow.

Swiss adventure over ... the fat lady's singing.

Don't believe a word about Carlton being blindsided by the Bryce Gibbs announcement that he wants to go back to SA. My mail from a month ago from a Blues supporter with connections to the club was that they were trying to set up a trade to get at least an extra top ten draft pick. Looks like that plan might work out.

Who did well at what: The AFL Draft Combine wrap

Josh Mahoney spends a whole minute to tell us that nothing's happening. Trade update: Josh Mahoney

I'm not sure if that's right. Firstly, we took Liam Jurrah with first pick in the preseason draft and Rockliff went to the Lions with the fifth pick in that draft. Had the Lions taken a different player, then we would have picked him as a rookie with first selection. Secondly, I've never heard it said that Rockliff had been promised anything or that he was resentful of Melbourne for taking Jurrah in the PSD ahead of him.

Well done to Jordie on his b & f but I'm not a fan of giving the coaches award at a club to the b & f winner. The b & f is essentially the coach's award. Spread them around I say.

Had to have a laugh about the Sunday Herald Sun's front page headline ~ "Dane Swan's shock confession - I TOOK DRUGS" Really? It would have been more of a shock if he said he didn't take drugs ?

Precisely. There's definitely a place for him but so far there's been no indication whatsoever that we're an interested party.

There are only 18 or so picks in the first round but at least double that number have been mentioned in despatches. I guess that means that we need to end up with at least one pick in the second round after trading to end up with at least potentially very good player. You always need an element of luck in your drafting but given what I think we're going to end up with at draft time, we will need it big time this year.

Would want to talk with him and also get some background from those around him - former coaches, teachers, family - to ascertain whether there's a potentially strong go home factor.

The results are out for the first two days of the AFL Draft Combine:- Combine results, day one: Father-son prospect Jarman the early standout Combine results, day two: First-round prospects star in beep test Just off the top of my head I don't see as many outstanding results compared to previous years. Tests results from the 20-metre sprint and the beep test seem to be well below the best standards from the past. The highlight for me is Ben Ainsworth from Gippsland Power who played one game for the Casey Scorpions and impressed with a couple of goals. He was in the top group in the sprint test and agility and I believe not far away from the top ten in the beep test. That sort of athletic ability is what you would be looking for in recruiting. Of course, from Melbourne's point of view, Ainsworth is completely out of reach because our chances of getting the top five pick needed to secure him.

As you would know, I support the current TAC Cup premiers, the Sandringham Dragons having had a minor role in their early days as Central Dragons and later the Prahran Dragons. Like the Bulldogs, this team achieved their premiership success coming from outside the top four and making the grand final and winning the flag by playing four sudden death finals. The Dragons should produce at least four top 20 draft picks in November and this bloke could easily be the fifth. His is also a pretty heart wrenching story - Oliver Florent will miss his father forever but is inspired by him too

You can still trade out a player under contract, can't you? I think it's fairly clear that Spencer will only get his opportunities as an understudy to the AA ruckman. At this stage of his career, he might aspire to be more than that so if another club offered him the opportunity, he might agree to be traded out. On the other hand, Minson is as close to the end as you can get and he might be happy to play second fiddle (given that he's the only AFL player who can also play the violin, it would be a great fit) for a year or so. If this happens, then Melbourne wins in the trade because it would get a draft pick or player in exchange for Spencer and Minson would come for free as a FA. Whatever the case, we would be looking to draft another younger ruckman to develop along with Mitch King for the future (I can't see us hanging on to Max King after three years as a rookie).

Is it too late for us to apply for special assistance? After all, I'm pretty sure you'll find that, despite our improvement this year, we have won less games in the last five years than Brisbane and on that criteria we deserve a priority pick as well. I'm prepared to take an end of first round selection like the hypocrites Lions (and trade it for Tom Rockliff if the AFL insists). PS: For the benefit of the nannies out there, the above is tongue in cheek apart from the fact that the AFL is so conflicted and lacking in integrity that if it's love child GCS applied with that story, it would probably get one.

Emma Quayle's AFL National Draft Combine Harvester is always a fantastic resource when referring to the leading draft prospects. And Kevin "Shifter" Sheahan discusses who Melbourne might be interested in with pick # 26 (except that it's now pick # 27 thanks to the AFL's gift to the Lions and there's every chance we'll trade it anyway).

Get ready for a mind boggling few days of funny statistics from the Draft Combine - NAB AFL Draft Combine Preview

Irrelevant. The AFL has made a statement today (as it did with its decisions over Essendon's treatment earlier this year) that certain clubs will receive different and special consideration. The AFL's draft is totally compromised and it's integrity in tatters. For the record, Melbourne won 10 games between 2012-14, the Lions won 14 between 2014-16. Try making sense out of that!

Mentioned in the first line of the summary.