Whispering_Jack

Where's Redleg with his updated count? Isn't something major happening very soon?

I think Max and Mitch King need to have similar numbers to confuse us even more. Anyway, if we can match a few Jacks with a pair of kings, we could all clean up.

Rookie Draft Pick # 24 - Dedicated by the club for the return of Viv Michie except in the unlikely event that another club jumps in first.

Jesse Glass-McKasker (WA), Nicholas Coughlan (GWS Academy), Daniel Capiron (VIC), Nick Dodge (TAS) and Christopher Jansen (SA). Liam Jeffs (VIC) trained with us early in the season.

The Weideman family and Melbourne go back a long, long way. Grandfather Murray was one of Collingwood's all time greats and his relationship with Melbourne was particularly firey. There's a story to tell here (and I will tell it) but in the meantime, this is how Knightmare sees the next generation-

I'll admit that I had Parish ahead of him all the way ... but I hope Knightmare who had him second in the overall power rankings got it right.

Hulett puts his exhibition skills on show

Ruckman

Murray Weideman looks gobsmacked.

It seems that every man and his dog is tipping us to pick Oliver with our first choice and Weideman with our second.Here's one from Bound for Glory News

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.

Real bad luck and I hope he recovers. He was a real standout in the draft two years ago and I rated him more highly than Bontempelli at the time. Ironically, the Bont will be well over 50 games into his career before Scharenberg gets to double figures. Not as bad but Mitch Duncan at the Cats has to have another Achilles operation. Modern medicine says that you can be back training after that sort of surgery in about a month but it can be a nasty injury and it all depends on whether you have a good rehab.

And then going back to Knightmare, we find that his latest update has us taking both Clayton Oliver and Darcy Parish - Knightmare's 2015 Draft Interestingly, he places Oliver at second on his power rankings behind only Jacob Hopper. In his first version of the power rankings, Olliver was nowhere to be seen while Hopper started in ninth place. The majority of his highly rated power rankings players are from the academies which makes this the most compromised draft since the entry of the Giants.

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.

Change of thread title as a result of the announcement of the official draft order following the latest list lodgements - Final order for NAB AFL Draft

Some random notes from Thursday night:-Jason Taylor and Todd Viney covered most aspects of their roles in recruiting and list management respectively and shed some light on the decision-making behind the list changes to date and discussed the players in the mix for picks 3 & 7 for next Tuesday night including the rationale behind their thinking when weighing up who to select, what type of player and the attributes they look for - in the end it's always the best player available but we know that remains very much a subjective concept. The list management/recruiting is a job that never really starts or finishes. Next week, there's the National Draft on Tuesday and the PSD & Rookie Draft on Friday and soon after you're already immersed in what's going to happen next year with player contracts, with the next lot of young players about to come into the system and who you can possibly acquire from other AFL clubs or the senior competitions below. There was discussion on the list of players who retired and were delisted/traded. Viney was quite blunt about Howe. The club offered a contract, his manager wanted more. The situation became one where the decision was deferred till later in the season to show the club he was capable of performing to higher levels and in the end, he produced the same thing as he had done for four years. His ultimate contract with Collingwood reflected that the club's view wasn't far off the mark. Someone asked Todd if he'd like to revisit the selection of Jimmy Toumpas ahead of Ollie Wines and in return received the stare of a smiling assassin. Another word from him would surely have seen him turn into chopped liver. Obviously, the club would like to be perceived of as being a destination club for the elite types in the competition and we did try (and in some cases came close) to get the name players but we're not there yet and were not helped by some poor late season efforts. Instead, we did well to identify players like Melksham, Bugg and Kennedy who, although highly regarded when coming into the system, were not happy where they were or looking for better opportunities to develop into regular senior players. I made an interesting observation to Redleg when we first came into the room about how times had changed. Back in the old days, there would have been plenty of beer on tap for the punters whereas all we got on the night was plain water. There might have been an element of prescience there because the first potential draftee who's vision they showed us on the screen was at that very moment probably having his first drink for the evening and it should also have been water and not beer. I mean, I like Charlie Curnow but how stupid is the kid given that he's played in the TAC Cup competition for two years? Did he not take the time to learn a single thing about the message of the sponsoring organisation? I never thought Curnow would or should be the #3 pick even though we were told about his leadership potential compared with say, Darcy Parish who's "a bit of a lad" and "plays up from time to time" but it's 2015 so I still am prepared to forgive him (as the Hawks generously did with their skipper before winning the grand final) if we get him at #7. I've made my thoughts clear about who we should take first and since the club has no control over the selections in between, I'm prepared for and satisfied with the array that was put up for us to view - Curnow, Francis, Milera, Parish, Oliver and Weideman. Any two will do. Each has his own individual attribute or set of attributes that, if nurtured and developed properly will make our team a better side. One thing which I did think they let slip was that we were going to bid early for a Sydney player which means Callum Mills will be taken at #3 and our own first pick will become 4. We're also going to try to rookie list Viv Michie. Some of those back in great shape are AVB and JT (along with Petracca). Separately, I was told that Billy Stretch is in great shape and bulking up a bit and Dean Terlich has also worked hard on getting his body in shape for what must surely be his last tilt. My own view is that his contract has probably stood in the way of the club claiming Jake Lovett as a father/son prospect. Viney spoke of the difficulty of having to go to see him and the family to deliver the news that they wouldn't be drafting him under the f/s rule. There aren't many others in the category in the wings at present (an Obst maybe?). At the equivalent meeting twelve months ago, I left pretty well assured that we were going to draft Paddy McCartin and Angus Brayshaw - at that stage most of the football world was convinced that St. Kilda was going to go for Christian Petracca. I think we lucked out when they changed their mind. It seems that notwithstanding the Truck's year off, Simon Goodwin regards him in the same class as a former teammate called McLeod so to have him, Brayshaw, The Hulk and two more top 10 picks in the wings is a salvating thought irrespective of who we take in the end (geez, even Milera who nobody thinks we'll take would be enough for Bruce McAvaney to describe as "delicious"). Now 20 or so years ago, we could have capped off that salivating thought by wolfing down more party pies and sausage rolls than you could eat in a week but on this night, it was sushi and quiches (Redleg worked them over quite well anyway). Twenty years ago there would have been stories leaking from every corner of the room. I remember the day when I was told on the eve of a draft that we badly wanted a South Australian named Camporeale. Carlton took him with the selection before ours. On this night there were no leaks about who we are going to pick on Tuesday night. How times have changed?

Sorry, you'll have to wait till next year when I do 1976 but you're right about Ozzie. Very late in his footy career he was tried out at full back and he improved out of sight. He was very competent there in 76-77.He later worked for the NAB in settlements and I used to see him there often. They were terribly overworked in that department before the age of computers.

Just an interesting little aside from last night's meeting. Early in the evening, Todd Viney's iphone rang. The caller was Emma Quayle.

So no love for Parish? Was he with Curnow last night or something?

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.

Hi Chaser, There was lots that came out of the meeting but I need some time - I might add some thoughts over the weekend. I don't think it's a secret that Todd Viney is very forthright in his opinions - as he played, he doesn't take any sidesteps when asked about a player.

Nowhere near the worst but he hasn't quite got it right either. Easily the Worst AFL Draft Preview Ever

Much appreciated tasmanlvr!!!