Whispering_Jack

It's also the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbour.

I'm starting to believe that the club thinks like we do about the rookie draft being far more important than the national draft. After all, why would they be uplifting Dan Nicholson and Michael Evans' numbers and leaving all of those important jumper numbers like 1, 23, 29, 31 and 33 available for the new rookies? I'm campaigning to give Freddie Clutterbuck the #29 made famous by Hassa Mann and Tom Couch has to be given #31 worn with distinction and pride by Seymour's Peter Garratt in 1976. But who will get Max "Tangles" Walker's # 1 and will someone get the number once worn by the GWS Giants' best midfielder James McDonald? Will they rest Aussie's number or give it away to someone else ... or even back to Aussie. By golly, I love rookie draft time!!!

Well, if we do draft from outside those training with us it won't be Brendan Fevola or Andrew Lovett. The stories of their demise has been well documented. I've heard that at various stages, poor old Kevin Sheedy was keen to get both of them across to GWS but the idea was swiftly knocked on the head by the powers that be who really run the club from AFL HQ. Sheeds wrote a book about giving sportsmen second chances and beyond and no doubt their presence would have helped him win the odd game or two. They would certainly have helped some of those young pimply faced 17 and 18 year olds learn the finer points of becoming AFL stars. Football in western Sydney will be the poorer for the edict that prevented these blokes from continuing their careers at one of the few places in the country where they would have looked right at home.

I reckon he might if he can score 17 first-class centuries including three in Tests in the next three seasons at that level.

I'm watching this and Pattinson's figures are 7-5-7-5. Incredible!

Now that it's really 9 days to go (and I'm assuming Redleg hasn't stuffed up his dates this time), I can let everyone in on the name of the ideal replacement for He Who Must Not Be Mentioned - SULLY LOOKS TO ROOKIE DRAFT Over the past two months I've been searching in vain for the right player to fit the mood of the person described in the song made famous by Adele. With this bloke, I think I've finally found the closest fit to that "Someone Like You" character.

The Nine Network has lost it. The camerawork has been ordinary and the last straw - leaving the game for the news at the start of NZ's second dig. Very ordinary.

Watching NZ bowl doesn't particularly inspire. I'm not a big fan of tricks like bringing on Vettori early. They've done it twice now in Australia's innings and in this case, it really indicates the ordinariness of their pace attack.

I think there's a fair amount of consensus around here that the rookie draft is more exciting and far more interesting than the national draft or the PSD and I think it should be promoted as such. How about us lobbying the AFL to become a bit innovative and to upgrade the image of the rookie draft so that it's actually held before the national draft? That way, the prestige of being the #1 national draft pick would be diminished and we probably would be spared some of those interminable daily self-serving propaganda pieces about He Who Must Not Be Mentioned fed to the media by the AFL and GWS desperate to improve the kid's image before he's nemed captain or vice captain () of the Giants. I think our very own Jordie McKenzie is a past #1 rookie selection and that's the image the game should be projecting. He's a nice, wholesome young lad. Honest and fiercely loyal to his club and teammates. The type of bloke you want to have with you in the trenches. How many days to go? Ten? It's worth the wait (I hope you haven't got it wrong this time Redleg)!

If that's Phil Scully then he's obviously not as bad as everybody around here is making him out to be. The moustache indicates he's gotten involved in Movember which is a worthwhile charitable pursuit. Good on him!

I think we need to start getting used to fresh new faces simply because of the state of our A+ side - age, injury and form wise. There's a young batsman named Hanscombe who is on the verge of selection for the Bushrangers who I'm told will be very, very good. He has all the makings - technique, temperament and the South Aussies tried to steal him away.

This is a major blow. What am I going to do for the next six days while we get back to 9 days to go?

Freddie has permission to train with us.

I would never forget Bobby Davis - a true legend. This is what I said in the Foxtel thread:- "I'm already looking forward to this with anticipation. I really did enjoy the last attempt by Fox to run a dedicated AFL channel. Clinton Grybas was a definite favourite along with Grumpy Old Men.They don't make them like Bobby Davis any more."

I've come to realise that for those of us who remember the good old days, it's the rookie draft and not the national or PSDs that holds the fascination for the true blue footy fan these days. Back in the days of yore we used to look forward to World of Sport on a Sunday morning and there were so many highlights even in the summer time. There was the wood chop, the tug of war, John Dobbie's lawn bowls report, Freddie Villiers doing soccer, Uncle Doug and the creme de la creme - the Bemm River Report with Lou Richards and the late Jack Dyer. They used to talk rubbish in much the same way as we do on this thread. The segment was mainly about football rumours of all sorts with a few little stories about which player was thinking of changing clubs. Most of the time, as is the case today, the rumours simply weren't true. Occasionally, there would be talk of a smokey from a bush town who was built like a brick schyzenhausen and could kick a bag of wheat over a silo - the prototype of the player you're hoping to pick up in the rookie draft. So I'm done with the national draft and the first 97 selections going to an evil new franchise and count me out of the PSD with its 3 only picks. Give me the rookie draft and a banana smoothie come November/December and I'm back by Bemm River with Lou and Jack hoping to hear some news about the recruit who can transform our football club from a sow's ear to a silk purse. That's what Waylon Manson/Aaron Hall etc. are all about - a 2011 rookie that one day will be the next big thing.

How many days to the rookie draft?

Why are you surprised at Demetriou's comments? Surely, it's logical he would say those things given he and the AFL were in on the whole scheme from the start?

Thanks for that H_T - just 372 days to go. I'm thrilled (although technically we get JV during the next trade week).

Is there a similar countdown site that I can consult regarding the time to go before the 2012 draft?

After so many years it's great to see the 49ers winning week after week. If I'm loving that, just imagine when the Dees start doing the same!

Agreed, it was a fantastic run chase and I suspect that many of today's observers of the game don't comprehend how hard it is to chase a score of 300+ on what was virtually the last day of a test, particularly away from home against a world class opposition bowling attack. That said, Australia has a succession problem with NZ, India and the Windies coming up. We have a few aging players in Ponting, Hussey and Haddin who are going to have to be replaced in the next 18 months and much of the batting line up is unresolved. Something's gotta give.

You're kidding? Yes. I have a more serious (ok semi-serious) question to ask the draft experts. Given that Mr. P. Ssssssssssssssssssss ... cully is now on the GWS recruiting staff, does he have a seat at the GWS table when the draft is conducted and, if so, do the Giants get a bigger table than the other clubs?* (*not really a fat joke - they probably need a bigger table anyway because of the number of picks they have).

Never in doubt with our batting team

Yes. I think we have ourselves an opening bowler if we manage him properly. Now, if we can promote one kid ... why is it so hard for others to get into the test side?