Whispering_Jack

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

At this point we have 40 primary list players and therefore won't have a selection in the PSD (unless there's a late delisting or retirement). We have four vacancies on our rookie list. This means we have four selections for the rookie draft starting with 2, then 20 etc.

Rookie draft preview: Who will earn a second chance?

The No T$ No B$ Thread

BTW ... did anyone notice the number called out by the Bombers when they announced their first pick. It sounded something like ... Selection 26 Essendon: "Player No AOD 9604"

Which corner? There are four of them. The pharmacy, the chicken shop, the bakery and that place on the other corner. Which one is it?

Always good to read a report from a closed training session. Keep up the good work.

It's quick but it's all relative. After completion of the heats, Hunt missed out on the APS Division 1 race which was won in 11.04 secs by a runner from St. Kevins. Hunt ran a wind assisted 11.14 secs to win Division 2. The race record is 10.62 secs. So yes, he's quick and probably would beat Freeman in a sprint race but he's a few metres below the real elite of his age and he'll never be an Usain Bolt who I reckon is "electric".

Names mentioned in despatches who weren't drafted:- Todd Banfield Nathan Batsanis James Battersby Jake Best Paul Bevan Nick Bourke Richard Bourne Chris Cain Charlie Cameron Darcy Cameron Ben Cavarra Aaron Christensen Campbell Combe Cameron Conlon Aaron Cornelius Bradd Dalziel Nathan Drummond Steven Edwards Nick Favretto Fraser Fort Mitch Gent Michael Gibbons George Hampson Khan Haretuku Aaron Heppell Louis Herbert Darcy Hourigan Neville Jetta Blaine Johnson Ben Kearns Kane Lambert Jay Leonard-Shannon Clayton McCartney Will Maginness Ryan Matthews Chris Michaliades Isaiah Miller Josh Miller Liam Patrick Jake Pitt Marlon Pickett Luke Reynolds Jared Risol Alex Saunders Tom Shanahan Ben Sokol Alex Spina Matthew Sully Eli Templeton Matt Thomas Mitch Thorp James Toohey James Tsitas Travis Tuck Kayne Turner Tom Vandeluer Erin Wasley-Black Francis Watson Zac Webster Maverick Weller Dallas Willsmore Dwayne Wilson Michael Wood I will add if other names come up

Poms just got on the reality bus?

Anyone see this coming?

What a great idea by Hardtack to start this thread way back in August?

Not quite electric but close. He represented an APS school in the open 100 metres sprint which means he's fast.

The circumstance of being a coach of a highly successful club determined Roos' recruiting strategies. In his position, he was often confronted with situations where he knew he wasn't going to benefit from early picks so he and his team created their own particular style which worked beautifully because, on top of having a good eye for talent, they were also very good at developing that talent within the culture that existed at the club. I'm hoping he achieves the same now that he's with us.

The OP might be a joke today but if Freeman gets picked early for the Pies, the doubters and naysayers will be out of the woodwork quicker than you can say Kade Koloda ...

Not sure that making a young player co-captain of your club can rightfully be described as "disgusting". I don't believe at the time that the depth of the problems with the list and Neeld's inability to deal with them were understood. Many years ago, North Melbourne gave the honour to David Dench at a young age and it worked. I don't think Dench was affected by injury as JT was during his brief tenure as captain which IMO had more to do with his form worries than the leadership. As an individual he has nevertheless impressed me with the way he's handled himself during those difficult times with class, style and maturity. I think the experience will ultimately be of enormous benefit to him and I look forward to him blossoming under Roos in the future. I don't believe Green as captain post 186 was a viable option. He was a great player and a nice bloke but he the mantle of captaincy was too much for him in what was probably the worst of circumstances for a team leader.

And the number 29's vacant too!Trivia fact 2: Jayden is a descendent of five-time Collingwood premiership player Harold Rumney, who was part of the Magpie era when they won four successive flags from 1927-1930.

More Phantom Draft Info SCPaige Footy Tragic

It's a proud moment for me as a life member of the South Metro Junior Football League. A number of lads from the competition were drafted tonight including #2 Josh Kelly and of course two of the three players drafted by Melbourne - Christian Salem and Jayden Hunt. BTW Hunt is an athlete blessed with pace and for those worrying about us missing out on Nathan Freeman and his burst of pace, Hunt is no slouch and he definitely has an enormous upside. When I saw the playing list for the VFL Young Guns game, my interest was piqued noting his age and where he came from in comparison to the others on the list. He played a couple of games with Old Brighton Grammarians Under 19s late in the season and featured both times in their best players. The quintessential smokey!

I had a conversation with one of our players at a function in the latter part of the season (after Neeld was sacked) and he candidly told me he hadn't enjoyed his football at the club during Neeld's tenure. I was surprised because he was one of the better performed players over the past two years but he then added that he wasn't necessarily blaming Neeld for all of this but rather because of the fact that there were some members of the team whose negativity had been stifling in its character. Of course, a good coach should be able to recognise this, deal with it and turn things around but the indications I got was not that the entire playing group had problems with Neeld - just a smallish but possibly influential group. I have a feeling that this element is no longer involved at the club and won't be missed. And I can't see Paul Roos tolerating such a thing if it becomes apparent during his time at the club. * I should add the conversation was not with the player who I sponsor.

Holy Moses. I was driving this morning listening to SEN and I heard Denham say that he no longer regarded us as the Melbourne Bears. The man's been possessed!

Yes, this is definitely the biggest issue of the draft but we have full faith and confidence here at Demonland in Nasher's ability to ensure that the site stands up on draft night at least better than the top order of the Aussie batting. Of course, if the recruiters use pick 9 to select a dud, a spud, a crock or a convicted criminal, we might be stretched to the limit ...

The OP raises some interesting issues worth discussing and debating and hopefully, posters can rise above the groupthinking dislike of Mark Neeld spurred in the main by his epic failure as a coach at the Melbourne Football Club. To judge the decisions made by Neeld and the football department of the time you need to consider the condition of the team and the list when Neeld's tenure began. He inherited a team that was inconsistent, described by their opponents as "bruise-free" and contained a group that included some disgruntled older players whose attitude to the pre season obligations was said to be poor. Neeld opted to share the responsibility of captaincy between two young players and, in hindsight, the weight of their responsibility was too great. I'm not sure that even Roos would have dealt with the leadership issues much better than Neeld although most certainly, his experience and his football acumen would have given him the scope to deal better with the issues that were dished up to Neeld in those 1½ years. This shouldn't be considered as either a Neeld bashing exercise or an attack on Paul Roos. Roos, PJ, Bartlett and co are all still going through their "honeymoon" period and we're trusting them to make the right decisions. Some of those decisions are being made easier by the recruiting and list culling that necessarily took place in the past two years. We were in a dark place as a club as a result of 186. Neeld and Craig were on a hiding to nothing when they came in and the task proved too much for them. We're still in for some pain and I believe the worst is behind us but we would be foolish to believe that simply because of the changes made at the top, life for the club is going to be a bed of roses from now on and that no mistakes are going to be made in the future.

Without question - it's a long term commitment and if we can develop a team that plays attractive winning football then we have an opportunity to cash in with a substantial increase in membership numbers.

We know that the doping investigation isn't tied to any particular date for determination but one would have expected a greater level of urgency given the dramatic announcements when the news broke back in February. It's now December and with no final ASADA report and no interview of Stephen Dank in sight, the issue of infraction notices looks likely to be on hold until the new year. This slow play by doping authorities seems to be a world wide phenomenon - Wada's waffling is threatening the very credibility of athletics.