Whispering_Jack

It all starts again at 2.30pm tomorrow at Goschs Paddock ~Pre-season slog begins as 10 clubs return to the track Note: This thread is for training discussion and is not a place for posters to demonstrate their immaturity by throwing tantrums and launching personal attacks on other posters - or the players.Thank you.

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.

Another phantom draft from Jourdan Canil ~ Bound for Glory News Phantom Draft. He joins Brett Anderson in predicting that we will take Charlie Curnow with our first pick. Here's an quote from Mr. Canil from early on in his preview of Cornow ~ Yep. I'm sold * [* where's the sarcasm metre when you need it?]

Yes and possibly a different man might have succeeded with that approach by better informing a partly alienated playing group about his strategies. He didn't get them on board and he failed.

Former Don takes club, AFL to court over supplement documents If so, one would expect Hird and the senior players involved to have some knowledge of the substance injected as part of the programme.

Aren't we straying somewhat away from topic?

Revealed on Facebook today that Petracca will wear the #5 guernsey next year. The other number brought him bad luck.

It might sound as if I'm flogging Inside Football but the pre draft edition is always good value and I would like to direct you to an interesting article written by Brian Waldron on why he loved trade time. He points out that he was always most comfortable with recruiters that were open and honest in their dealings (specifically mentioning Craig Cameron as one of these) and I think our current people are in the same category. This year's dealings suggest they already have a good rapport with the Suns and if Prestia, who will be out of contract this time next year, wants to leave and we want him, then I don't think a transfer will be difficult to arrange. In fact, I don't think arranging a transfer will be a major issue if we wanted to secure Prestia when his current contract ends.

For that to be the case we would obviously have to have Prestia's agreement and also have some good intelligence about the health of his knee and his ability to come back after the injury to at least the form he was showing last year before those issues emerged. It's always possible but I'm skeptical.

Disclosure: I'm a proud sponsor and confident that Max will rise to the top four of AFL ruckmen to which he's aspiring:- Max factors himself into elite ruck calculations

Me too personally DD. And on what I've seen of the two (as I say elsewhere that's a lot less than the recruiters) I struggle to work out why we would go to the cost of securing pick 3 to take Curnow over Parish.In the same edition of Inside Football and in different articles, the Geelong Falcons' coach, Andy Althorpe and regional manager, Michael Turner are both quoted as describing Parish as their team's best player. In other words, they put him ahead of Curnow who was injured and missed the Australian championships this year. When he came back later in the season, I don't think he did anything special and he was unremarkable in the losing semi final I attended at Princes Park. I can understand us making sacrifices to get pick 3 in order to select Parish but it's not cut and dried that Curnow would not have been available to us had we kept 6 and nor is it any certainty that he won't be there at 7 anyway. If I'm wrong, it's because I haven't seen enough in Curnow that would place him ahead of a two time All Australian who also promises to bring to the table some of the things we're lacking in at the moment.

Inside Football's Brett Anderson has been a consistent proponent of Charlie Curnow as Melbourne's first pick and he has Kieren Collins down for the second at 10 after three academy players are taken under the bidding system. Here's the top 20 from this week's special draft edition of IF:- 1: Carlton, Jacob Weitering 2: Brisbane, Josh Schache 3: Sydney matches bid, Callum Mills* 4: Melbourne, Charlie Curnow 5: GWS Giants match bid, Jacob Hopper* 6: Essendon, Darcy Parish 7: Essendon, Sam Weideman 8: Gold Coast, Clayton Oliver 9: GWS Giants match bid, Matthew Kennedy* 10: Melbourne, Kieran Collins 11: Carlton, Harry McKay 12: Brisbane matches bid, Eric Hipwood* 13: Adelaide, Wayne Milera 14: Carlton, Aaron Francis 15: Richmond, Callum Ah Chee 16: Adelaide, Ben McKay 17: St Kilda, Rhys Mathieson 18: Hawthorn, Riley Bonner 19: Brisbane matches bid, Ben Keays* 20: Gold Coast, Ryan Clarke * academy selections

Looks like we're not interested at present: Brisbane Lions: Jackson Paine (Brisbane Lions) Collingwood: Tim Golds (GWS) Essendon: Will Hams (Essendon), Nick OBrien (Essendon), Ariel Steinberg (Essendon) Port Adelaide: Kane Mitchell (Port Adelaide) St Kilda: Blaine Coates (Sandringham), Charles Kelso (Sandringham), Elliot le Grice (Sandringham), Josh Saunders (St Kilda), Dylan Weickhardt (Sandringham)

If do go for a "tall" then I would like him to be Kieren Collins. Impresses me almost as much as Weitering, is at the bottom end of his year agewise and yet looks like a mature footballer. Gary Buckenara rates him very highly.

We already have. We've won our last two in a row against them

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.

Yes, it's official ~ Pre season starts on MondayMonday 9th November, 2015 at 2.30pm Gosch's Paddock For all first to fourth year players. Older players return a fortnight later. Maroochydore is on the cards for the preseason camp.

Sure enough, everyone loves a smokey and we're interested in this one ~ Smokey in the mix for upcoming draft

Turning to some interesting articles on prospects from the VFL, SANFL & WAFL AFL National Draft 2015: 10 VFL players who could be picked up AFL national draft 2015: Eight mature-age WAFL players who could be picked up AFL national draft 2015: Seven mature-age SANFL players who could be picked up

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.

No doubt Terlich may well harbour the desire to stick around but let's be realistic for a moment. As a listed player with his age and experience, he failed to get a senior gig once this year while others around him who have subsequently been delisted managed to get game time. With the list expected to be stronger in 2016, I can't see any of the coaches reassuring him about his prospects of playing anywhere other than in the VFL if he remains. I know there is an argument for not breaking written agreements and avoiding the stigma of a club that dismisses its loyal servants summarily but negotiating the early termination of inconvenient contracts is part and parcel of commercial life (and how often are we told these days that football's a business?). I'm of the opinion that in all probability, negotiations are going on that will result in a mutually acceptable payout of Dean Terlich's contract which will be announced at or before the next list lodgement date. Viv Michie might also be a casualty as well. In the end, the club will have pick 50 restored and it wouldn't surprise if it kept another pick to pass on and perhaps even go into the season with five rookies (one of who might be a father/son). Sometimes, funny things happen behind the scenes at this time of year.

I agree that the consequences of Essendon taking the advice have been appalling and extremely damaging to the club, its players and the game but it can be argued that these were unintended by both those who gave and those who took the advice. The initial aim was to defend the club, its players and officials from serious charges relating to an alleged programme involving the use of performance enhancing drugs. The club was sanctioned for its poor governance (an inevitability since nobody at the club knew the nature of the drugs ingested by the players and no records have ever been found) but three years later, the matter remains to be determined and, unless a settlement agreement has been/is about to be reached, it still has the capacity to drag on interminably even after the CAS proceedings are over. Meanwhile, the number of Essendon listed players involved dwindles and if sanctions are eventually applied, the effect of the quasi judicial process itself is certain to be limited. The real damage is the financial and emotional damage done to the institutions and the characters involved. As Sir Walter Scott (no relation to Chris and Brad) once wrote: "Oh what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive."

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.

I would have thought that the old adage of best available was the principle to adopt early in the draft but everyone seems to be addressing needs instead. That could be very dangerous and would be a worry if the likes of Weideman and H McKay were taken too early. Still, if the recruiters think Harry's best available then it won't hurt to have an agile 200cm KPP/second ruck somewhere in the mix.