Whispering_Jack

You never played against either of them did you?

KPF compared to Cloke ~ in the event those stories about Mitch Clark and Tex Walker don't turn out. Reece McKenzie

We would have to come up with an attractive trade deal. A player and a good draft pick?Would he be a free agent next year?

Whilst considering our bad drafting record over the pre Roos decade, you might want to also consider our trading during that period ~ virtually non-existent. The combination proved lethal.

You do realise that we have a board dedicated to draft and trade discussions?

Well done Demonlanders on emulating the club's coaching group and voting Nathan Jones as the Demons' player of the year for the third year in a row. The final standings weren't far off the mark in reflecting the views of the coaches.

And over at Adelaide, Daniel Talia takes the Crows' b & f highlighting what I have always considered one of our biggest drafting blunders.

Geelong to play the winner of North Melbourne v Essendon and I suspect the Cats might not survive past next week.

In other news, a shock result in the Giants' B & F when hot favourite Tom Scully missed out on a place

Preview: Geelong Falcons v Dandenong Stingrays Preview: North Ballarat Rebels v Dandenong Stingrays

From Knightmare of bigfooty:- Christian Petracca (VIC – Mid/Fwd) Height:186cm, Weight: 92kg, DOB: 04/01/1996 Recruited from: Eastern Ranges Draft range: 1-3 Best position/role: Rotational midfielder/forward. Strengths: Front half talent –Petracca can play both deep in the front half as a marking target and off a forward flank to a high standard when playing forward. Deep in the front half Petracca provides strong scoreboard impact and is an imposing marking presence with his 1v1 strength, overhead marking ability, marking on the lead and superior ability to read the drop of the ball. He can deep in the front half also win the ground ball. Petracca can also play off a forward flank and have a big impact, he can on a forward flank accumulate the footy in bunches, do damage with his footskills, present as a strong marking target, provide strong scoreboard impact and push up the field. Midfield talent – Petracca is an improved midfielder this year having improved his endurance and decreasing his skinfolds. He’s got a nice mix between inside and outside game. He’s a very good contested ball winner and stoppage player and these areas of his game can continue to improve given his size and strength. He’s a strong ground ball winner. He’s also got a rare power to him not only with his strength to bully guys inside the contest but some real explosive power where he can burst through a contest, come up with the ball and break away from the contest at speed. He’s also got excellent evasiveness and can sidestep guys and burst away with some real explosiveness. Outside the contest Petracca shows that he can find the footy but also use it really well utilising his damaging footskills and vision allowing him to find damaging targets up the field. Scoreboard impact – Forward or through the midfield Petracca provides strong scoreboard impact and is capable of kicking multiple goals and breaking games open with his scoreboard impact in any given game. Strength and power – Not many 92kg midfielders going around and even fewer with the explosiveness and power of Petracca. He wins his own ball and can either burst through the contest or run around you with ease. He stands up through tackles and has the strength through his core and hips, he can shrug tackles and give a strong don’t argue. In the 1v1 contests he can take advantage of anyone who isn’t key position sized. Versatility – Petracca because he can play not only through the midfield but also on a forward flank or deep in the front half as a marking target gives you options and this versatility should also help him receive on any team immediate senior games. Footskills – Has an excellent mix between footskills hitting his targets around the ground with consistency, vision allowing him to find some really damaging targets in great position, decision making with his ability to choose the right options but also he’s got the finishing ability and set shot goalkicking to allow him to provide the scoreboard impact. Marking ability – Few if any medium size types have the marking ability of Petracca. He’s got the 1v1 marking ability, contested marking ability and ability on the lead to take his marks and he’s got the strength overhead to take them consistently. He also reads the drop of the ball exceptionally well and uses his body well in the contest allowing him to effectively protect the drop zone making him incredibly hard to defend particularly if he can isolate a smaller player defender deep in defence. Weaknesses: Endurance – His endurance is building and has improved significantly this year to an extent where he can now play full games through the midfield but if he hopes to eventually become a full time midfielder further work is still required. Skinfolds – Like with his endurance his skinfolds have reduced but his skinfolds still appear relatively high and also need to decrease. What I expect will improve: I expect Petracca to continue to improve his contested ball winning and stoppage work and take that area of his game from good to eventually excellent. I also expect his endurance and skinfolds to improve. Whether his endurance and skinfolds improve to an extent where Petracca will be played as a full time midfielder that is the question I still have. Who he can become? I anticipate Petracca to develop into a player largely similar to Dustin Martin but without the personal issues. I see Petracca mostly playing as a damaging forward flanker who will at times push deeper into the front half and will split his minutes between playing through the front half and midfield with those midfield minutes increasing as his endurance improves. When will he be ready to play? Petracca is season one, round one ready to play. He’ll start off season one mostly playing in the front half and by season two or three likely play more a split between forward and midfield minutes. How to best utilise him? Petracca today is best utilised in the front half because he’s just so damaging forward of centre. The hope will be that he becomes more a midfielder but I’d look for him to split his minutes between the midfield and front half long term. Interpretation of his numbers: Petracca well and truly has the performances on the board and is one of if not the best performed player in this draft class based on his form these past couple of seasons through the TAC Cup and U18 championships. He’s finding the footy but also providing heavy scoreboard impact at both levels which such suggests he’ll provide both a strong immediate impact at AFL level but also that he will become one of the best to come out of this draft with those high production power midfielders who can provide heavy scoreboard impact of strong value to teams.

He'll be playing in the middle on Sunday in the TAC Cup semi final for Sandringham Dragons v North Ballarat Rebels at Visy Park (2.15pm)

I don't think we should underestimate Angus Brayshaw who many consider the best midfielder in the field for the November draft. Although we're hearing that Paul Roos is likely to be prepared to swap pick 2 (and 3 if we qualify for some form of compensation either through FA or draft assistance) he could do worse than taking this kid. This is what bigfooty's Knightmare has written about him:- Angus Brayshaw (VIC Mid) Height: 187cm, Weight: 87kg, DOB: 09/01/1996 Recruited from: Sandringham Dragons Draft range: 3-10 Best position/role: Midfield on the ball. Strengths: Inside game Brayshaw has shown dominant contested ball winning ability through both the TAC Cup and U18 Championships. His stoppage work is excellent and he is a strong clearance winner. Hes got clean hands and is clean below the knees and by hand. He stands up through and shrugs tackles well and has real strength over the ball. His inside game is at a level where he can play right away. He accumulates strong numbers through the midfield and excellent tackle numbers. Hes also an excellent height and size for an inside player at 187cm, 87kg. Footskills Hes a damaging user of the footy on both his right and left sides and is one of the rare few on-ballers who can use it cleanly and consistently on either side. Hes an excellent decision maker with ball in hand and has the vision to find targets in dangerous positions making him a real playmaker. From the midfield both in space and in traffic he also has a rare ability to find and hit the leading forward 50 targets and get it to where they want it. Hes also an excellent finisher around goal and can convert from his set shot opportunities. Marking ability - Hes a strong mark overhead. Hes got the size and strength to beat his opponent in the 1v1 contest but he also reads the flight of the ball exceptionally well and has shown that he can either push back behind the play to take an intercept mark or push forward and be a marking threat on the lead or 1v1. Work ethic Brayshaw is a hard worker and has put the time and effort into his game. Hes developed the ability to use both sides of his body by hand and foot. Hes developed his strength and inside game and this past offseason has put the work in athletically to improve his endurance and pace and I anticipate hell continue from year to year to put the work into his game to achieve that continued improvement and development of his game. Weaknesses: Improved but still only an average athlete Brayshaw is an improving endurance athlete and has pretty good ability to cover the ground. He has to his credit also improved his acceleration this year and has more of a burst of speed to him which he can use over 10-15m in game with ball in hand identifying it was previously an area of weakness. Hes not overly evasive or agile so hes not going to run around or sidestep you. Overall Brayshaw is good enough athlete and shouldnt have any problems at AFL level but its not an area of strength for him either and I imagine know that its an area hell continue to put the work into. What I expect will improve: I expect continued improvement in Brayshaws endurance to allow him to cover more of the ground so that at AFL level he can be a full time midfielder. I also expect Brayshaw to continue to improve and expand his inside game and become a more dominant contested ball winner and clearance winner than he already is. Who he can become? Brayshaw I see as a slightly less dominant Oliver Wines. Hes that similar tall, strong bodied midfielder who can do damage by foot and have an impact right away and be a key pillar through the midfield long term but his production I feel in looking at his numbers will be slightly but not significantly lower than the production of Wines. When will he be ready to play? Brayshaw is round one season one ready to play. Hes got the size and production to suggest he can have an impact right away. He can also be a starting midfielder right away but I can see him also receiving some minutes on either a forward or back flank during games as his endurance isnt yet quite be up to a level that would allow him to sustain full games at AFL level through the midfield from the outset. How to best utilise him? Brayshaw is best utilised on the ball through the midfield. Interpretation of his numbers: Best performed TAC Cup midfielder in this draft class. Hes finding the footy both inside and outside the contest. Providing good scoreboard impact. Good tackle numbers and is taking plenty of marks. Has performed strongly through both the TAC Cup and U18 championships. So the indicators are strong and suggest hell play right away and have a long, strong future in our game.

No doubt Paul Roos has reassessed where our list is at and has pinpointed our lack of depth, leadership and experience as one of the factors in our end of season fade out. If, as I suspect, we're going to have a fairly massive clean out, then the Lumumba types are going to be among the ones sought after. We are definitely going to also be short of players in the 23 to 25 year age bracket which is where I expect a major part of the cull will also take place i.e to replace those wasted and failed draft picks from 2008/2011. So we can expect to see the likes of Lumumba, Robinson and Garlett among the players we're going to be chasing whether people like them or not. However, getting these types won't be the end of the recruiting game. We need to recruit elite midfield youth like Petracca and Brayshaw and at least one other top level player. Our list is going to look very different again in 2015.

My table number from last night's b & f.

Well, it's certainly warming up Ryder & Carlisle To Make A Move?

Suggestions within the legal fraternity that D for decision day in the Federal Court is next Thursday.

Well that would be obvious from reading this thread alone.

Last night I had the pleasure of sitting at the same table at the club's Keith "Bluey" Truscott Trophy night with Frank Davis and his better half. Back in 1964, Davis was a first year player who was fortunate enough to play in a winning grand final in his debut season. He later captained the club and also won a "Bluey" in 1970. On this day in 1964 he played in Melbourne's 89 point second semi final victory over Collingwood in front of 93,010 fans. SECOND SEMI FINAL Melbourne 2.3.15 8.7.55 14.13.97 19.20.134 Collingwood 2.2.14 3.6.24 5.8.38 6.9.45 THE TEAM B: Neil Crompton Bernie Massey Bob "Tassie" Johnson HB: Tony Anderson Brian Roet Frank Davis C: Brian Dixon Don Williams Frank "Bluey" Adams HF: Bryan Kenneally Graeme Jacobs Barrie Vagg F: John Lord Barry Bourke Ken Emselle FOLL: Graham Wise Ron Barassi "Hassa" Mann 19/20: Ken Emselle Peter McLean Goals John Townsend 5, Bryan Kenneally 3, John Lord 3, Barrie Vagg 3, Hassa Mann 2, Ron Barassi 2, Barry Bourke 1 Best Brian Dixon "Hassa Mann Brian Roet Barrie Vagg Don Williams Neil Crompton Collingwood was confident coming into the game, having won eight games in a row and it started off on top leading kicking 2.2.14 before Melbourne troubled the scorer. After that it was all one way traffic as the Demons piled on the goals and coasted to what was then a record finals victory. Rover John Townsend announced himself to the football world with a brilliant five goal haul and Melbourne was on its way to the grand final.

Never ceases to amaze me that despite that fact that we've won so few games over the past few years, the supporters remain proud and stick to the club. The fact that close to 900 supporters turned up at a club function like this in times like these for the club is amazing.

Dead set. I turn my back for five minutes and you guys are turning this thread into Playboy Magazine.

I caught up with Max at the Bluey Night and he's upbeat about things even though it's only days since his surgery. Naturally, he's on crutches and while I was concerned about him going up on stage to collect his award, the reality is that with two ACL's and now this damage to his meniscus, he's used to getting around that way. The good news is that he won't be on crutches long and expects to be able to start running in four weeks' time. And if all goes well with his rehab, he will only miss one or two weeks of full on pre season training but hopefully will be able to keep his fitness levels during the period of recuperation from the injury. Apart from that, in keeping with the Paul Roos philosophy of not looking back and moving forward, the beard's gone and he's clean shaven. The speech he gave also showed a mixture of good humour and signs of growing responsibility. Let's hope that he can step up and become a top notch ruckman in the near future because we need one or two of them as the Russian moves into the last stages of his career.

Congratulations to Nicole Gawne, my fellow sponsor of Max Gawn (no relation) who also picked the first five players in the Bluey but actually had her entry drawn first. 500 bucks go her way. It's been a really lucky week for Maxy and those associated with him. His beard's gone too!

Keith "Bluey" Truscott Memorial Trophy Club Champion ~ Nathan Jones

If Nathan Jones win I have the top 5!