Whispering_Jack

What is, is.

Posters are requested to observe the Code of Conduct as above. A couple are getting close to the line.

OK - tried to book for 4 people at Wongs but they're closed on Tuesdays - will book tomorrow.

By golly, you're right. I've made the change and apologies to my local fish n chip shop man. Cheers

Some great shots in there ... gee you wouldn't want to see Hogan bearing down on you at full pace, would you?

It's a nice touch that the players and coaches are all in attendance at Federation Square for the stand against violence against women and family. Another Roos initiative.

You should wash your mouth out with soap. Wongs is an institution in Elsternwick. Steven's parents opened it in 1958 and it's still going strong. I'll book for four unless we get a more runners by tomorrow morning.

Training today is at the Paddock (9.30am) and its open to the public. Hopefully, three new Demons out there for the first time and about to embark on long careers.

Sounds like a version of MFCSS. Perhaps AustralianXISS?

An interesting and intelligent insight into the draft system from a former player's perspective - Pull the strings

Ectomorph, schmectomorph. I don't care if his ancestors roamed the planet 100 million years ago but, whatever the case, this is a ringing endorsement of Salem that compares him with Pendlebury.

Redleg, hope you don't mind but next time we go out for dinner I might wear a Dees jumper with the number 10 on my back.

I read somewhere that Hunt trialled for the Dragons very late in the piece and missed the cut. O'Connor would have played a role in rejecting him so naturally, he would express surprise that the kid got drafted. On the other hand, his coach Robert Shaw is singing his praises. No reflection on either of them but from my previous involvement with the Dragons (a while ago now), the process is a bit fraught. There's a problem with the availability of the public schoolboys, you have some junior clubs pushing their kids forward and others hiding them away, you have kids with different personalities, some with behavioural issues and others, like Hunt, who have been injured, have late growth spurts or are simply late bloomers who get missed in the selection process (often minds are made up about players well in advance of when the final cut is made). I like the fact that the club is prepared to stick its neck out with this sort of player and work on his development. The rewards can be far greater if that sort of initiative with a pick 57 turns out.

2013 PSD/Rookie Prospects Part 3 2013 PSD/Rookie Prospects Part 4 2013 PSD/Rookie Prospects Part 5 ... and now we wait for a Phantom PSD and Rookie Draft. Anyone?

I missed his name but the English cricket "expert" from The Independent newspaper who was matching wits with Crash Craddock on Summer360 should make interesting viewing if he's invited back. Spent last week bagging the Aussies and might have some explaining to do about the performances of Warner and Johnson.

We always rationalise irrespective of what position we're in. I heard one of the Essendon recruiting people saying he was happy with who they got but really ... he would have been much happier if the whole peptide thing never happened and they never lost their picks.

Yes it's true that every club thinks it did well in the draft but one of the most idiotic exercises is the one where so called "experts" rate the clubs on a scale of 1 to 10. You can only really do that if you look at the totality of a club's recruiting efforts - trades, free agency and all of the drafts. In that respect, I think we're tracking well because we've made significant changes to our list and addressed our most glaring weaknesses. Now it's up to our coaching and fitness staff and the players themselves to put the icing on the cake.

This is what I think would make an ideal alternative strip under the AFL's current policy:- Just replace the maroon with our traditional red (& get rid of the Dragon logo) and it looks like a football jumper and not the imitation Swans kit we currently wear.

Satyriconhome, you and I have been around a long time but you're way off the mark this time with your swipe at inRooswetrust. I've been around junior football to have seen not only this poster playing but also I remember his father playing in an under 14s final. One thing we know about juniors footballers is that they grow and develop their games at different rates and different times. What inRooswetrust is saying is that in earlier times, Hunt was small physically and therefore limited in what he could do in his games. I'm told that he often was given tagging roles which means that his coaches saw some attributes in the kid despite his size because you would never send a really weak player out to stop one of the opposition's stars. In the case of Hunt, his athleticism and his growth spurt to his current height of 187cm is what makes him such an interesting prospect, albeit a speculative one. He has the athleticism; now it's up to Roos and the development coaches to turn him into a footballer. I think it's a brave challenge that the club's taking with him and on a par with Collingwood's late drafting of Jonathon Marsh. If it works then the recruiter gets hailed as a genius and if it fails, we'll get a 10 page thread on Demonland blaming someone involved with the club in the distant past who had nothing to do with the selection just to prove a point.

I read somewhere else on Demonland that Nicholson is definitely contracted. I think it's too late in the piece to do anything with Byrnes. It's not a good look for the club, sets a bad example to the playing group and any payout might be deemed to attract salary cap issues even if the player was prepared to play ball. So it's going to be a bit costly and, in the circumstances reinforces the fact that the club must have been keen on Jayden Hunt.

The big question is where do we go from here? Since the end of the season, we've added the following players to our list:- ► Jesse Hogan (2012 GWS Minidraft) ► Daniel Cross (trade) ► Viv Michie (trade) ► Aidan Riley (trade) ► Dominic Tyson (trade) ► Bernie Vince (trade) ► Christian Salem (draft) ► Jay Kennedy-Hunt (draft) ► Jayden Hunt (draft) It's likely that we'll redraft Neville Jetta who has continued to train with the club. That leaves us with three players and I would have to say we probably take no more than one more midfielder as a rookie given the number in that category who we've already selected either by way of trade or draft. I would be looking at getting a key position player or two and a smallish defender to round off the list. I think we're OK in the ruck ATM. I would be putting a premium on experience here as well. I think we all recall the familiar refrain that came from Mark Neeld last year (one that he was IMO unfairly criticised for by some) that our list lacked experience and he backed that up with statistics that showed us to be badly deficient in this area. I don't recall the precise numbers but Neeld quoted us at being in the high 40s average per game played against Sydney at well over 110. To overcome this, I think we should go for some bigger bodied more mature players. For example, Mitch Thorp (who trained with us a few years ago and has by all reports both matured and improved considerably) and Joel Tippett who had a good year in 2013 in the SANFL and who tested well at the draft combine. If we decided to go for both, the problem would be that with picks 2, then 20 we possibly wouldn't get both of them. This then raises the issue of whether we can delist Dan Nicholson with the promise of then taking him as a rookie which opens up your PSD pick which guarantees you a player because that pick would be the first "live" selection on Wednesday morning. That gives you: ► PSD2 Thorp ► RD 2 Tippett ► RD 20 midfielder/small defender ► RD 38 Nicholson ► RD 56 Jetta Any thoughts?

Here's Mad Monday's take on the PSD/Rookie draft prospects:- 2013 PSD/Rookie Prospects – Part 1 2013 PSD/Rookie Prospects – Part 2 And some left of field potential selections:- Thinking outside the square. Pickett reminds me that I should add the perennial draft favourite Art Vanderlay to the above list.

Picking through the draft THE SMOKY Melbourne's recruiters would have spent plenty of time watching Brighton Grammar play this year. Not only did they have their eye on Christian Salem from a long way out, they needed to get a line on Josh Kelly before trading pick two to Greater Western Sydney. Jayden Hunt will be feeling pretty glad that they did. The onballer was the Demons' third pick at No. 57 despite not playing any TAC Cup or representative footy until an end-of-season young guns game. "He is speculative, but we did some research and we think there is enough there," recruiting manager Jason Taylor told the club's website. "We feel that, with time and the strong development program we've got in place, that we might have something there."

So we picked JKH although I'm told that the way he plays makes him more than just a crumbing forward. His bios are encouraging enough for me to conclude that we're going to be well placed with him in the side. Salem has also shown a capacity to bob up and do damage while playing forward. In fact, that's where I initially placed him after seeing him represent Vic Metro as a bottom aged player last year when he came on and played havoc with the Vic Country defence particularly late in that game.

Yes, as long as he hasn't signed a contract yet.