Whispering_Jack

Victor Ergo. Gave up footy to write books unfortunately. Could have been a contender.

Looking through that list just confirms that I should never read anything from any so-called experts in the two or three months leading up to the draft. I'm sure there are several names there who appealed strongly when I read the various phantom drafts and other appraisals (some from experts in the game and others from the average Joe behind the computer screen). Some continued to appeal when I saw them in action both before and after being drafted until they eventually achieved the status of dud. In the case of Lucas Cook who was an All Australian key forward (but not quite top 10) and who looked good at times in his first six months at the club, I even thought he might make it - not as a "great" but as a handy key forward. I think I'll stick to picking Melbourne Cup winners (people can apply for my expert tips on Wednesday morning )

You're right and most of us were pretty happy with his selection at pick 4 in 2007 and subsequently, with his debut season. It all fell apart rather quickly after that and its difficult to attribute what happened due to one single factor. I do know it wasn't from a lack of trying on his part. What I do find churlish are the cries of "I told you so," and worse still the claims that he was gutless because of that stupid footage of him appearing to be running away from an opponent when he was in fact following the football down the ground. It's so easy for armchair critics to claim to be smart after the event by misinterpreting the past or by plain making up stories.

This one's my roughie because, although he was very impressive early in the season, I didn't hear a great deal about him after he played his quota of three games as 23rd player for the Casey Scorpions. Ben Kearns (b12 November, 1994) from the Gippsland Power 184cm, 79kg missed out on being drafted last year and came back this year as an over age player with his TAC Cup team but not before that three game cameo with the Scorpions which included a five goal hail against Frankston in the opening round. Although he didn't dominate possession in those games he certainly showed that he knows where the goals are. He only managed seven games for the Power which included two four goal games and I understand that he did get invited to a state draft combine screening. I don't know much about him but the goal kicking prowess he displayed early on might have earned him some appreciation from the coach and the Melbourne people associated with the club's affiliate and that makes him a roughie for a rookie spot in my opinion.

Moral of the story. Don't take players with pick 88.

Cross cannot be officially listed until 1 November when the delisted free agency period starts.At that time we will have three primary list vacancies and four rookie list vacancies.

Any recent news on this bloke?

That was also the year when we lost our first pick due to salary cap breaches. Imagine how good that draft could have been had we held on to the pick?

Today's delistings and a number of recent recruiting decisions actually indicate a more ruthless and professional direction over what we've had in the past. No need for handwringing and cries of "woe is us". Those who have gone don't fit the bill of what's needed to be part of a successful AFL team. Taggert might be an outside chance for a reprieve via the rookie list but I think otherwise those who went today and in the earlier delistings have had their cards marked for some time.

Said to have nominated the Saints as his preferred destination.

Thanks for that Macca. I also discovered after the event that the post match function was at the hotel directly opposite where we were staying and the keynote speaker was former champion SF QB Joe Montana. There's a big move to have a franchise either established in or moved to London. Problem is that the sporting media here is saturated with soccer followed by the rugby codes. NFL managed a couple of paragraphs in the newspaper I read here. In any event, I missed Joe and then I missed the storm that went through southern England last night. Slept through the latter and didn't know about the former until it was way too late. Forty niners are meanwhile in the middle of a five game winning streak. I wonder how long before I'm able to say that about the Demons?

What's this? People complaining about victimisation? Waste of time. The AFL owns us lock, stock and barrel. All we can do is close our eyes, recline and think of Mother England.

By sheer coincidence, I'm in London at the moment and so are the San Francisco 49ers. I didn't get to see the game but was wondering why there were so many fans with their uniforms and caps wandering around Piccadilly. The closest I got to the game was when we drove past Wembley Stadium on the way to dinner with my London cousins. Only discovered afterwards that we won comfortably. Did the televise the game on Foxtel?

From your mouth to god's ears. That would definitely be a sensational (although unlikely) result. Bring it on. We're fortunate that, even if it doesn't work out that way, we will still have a good range of players to select including at least one of the players you nominated in 1. to 7. and Christian Salem, Ben Lennon, Dom Sheed and Lewis Taylor (if our recruiters aren't put off by lack of height).

I've been to Old Essendon a few times as a visiting club supporter and can say without hesitation that they put on the best half time afternoon tea in the entire VAFA. For $5.00 you get real value and a superb spread. Puts my club to shame. I was at their new ground a couple of years ago and my only concern was that its so close to the airport that you have to duck your head every time a plane comes in to land.

My guess is that it was in accordance with his agenda to claim that he was being fed lies. Whether or not you're a CS fan, there was a substantial body of both correct and incorrect information put out about him and the board and those employed by it (including the coaches) during and since that administration, a great deal of which was never substantiated. Some of this will come out in the fullness of time while much has become the substance of urban mythology which I suspect never will see the light of day but will continue to be the subject of much speculation.Whilst it would be best for the club to move on, its history must be written at some time and this period will always be controversial and potentially explosive. We therefore need it to be written by people who are completely impartial.

That's well below elite level in terms of speed and endurance. One would hope he's capable of finding the football and delivering it with rapier like precision if that's where he stands in terms of athleticism.

Exactly 50 years ago, I played under 14s at East Brighton. My parents were against me playing footy so I enrolled in guitar classes but went to a mates place, left the guitar there and changed into the footy gear and we went off to the games. It was the same club Carl Ditterich had played with but he was a good bit bigger than me and a somewhat better footballer although I once kicked a lazy five goals drifting down from the wing (my pace was my forte in those days now sadly long gone). When the season was over, I went back to the guitar lessons because my folks were wondering why I could barely play one tune (Blowin' in the Wind) and even that was a poor effort. Then on a Saturday morning in late November, I woke up to the news of JFK's assassination. I felt so bad I skipped the guitar lesson and never went back. With that, two potential brilliant careers, one as a footballer and the other as a folk singer came to an end. I still played school footy (both the school team and yours truly were mediocre), I later tried out for the Law Faculty footy team but it was a tough team to make with several AFL players including Michael Green who became a premiership player with Richmond. Phil Rhoden was the team's best player - he later played a few games with Melbourne and was the best and longest kick of a footy I ever saw (two of my kicks barely made the distance of one of his). Missed out on the faculty squad so I tried out and played a couple of under 19 practice matches but wasn't impressed by the coaching or selfishness of a few of my teammates. Then I discovered I was short sighted so I gave up altogether though I remember doing kick to kick with the great Johnny Townsend on the beach at Cowes one year.

Interested in the year you played under 19's. I have some of annual reports with team photos.

And if my guess is correct, a stellar career in the ammos awaits.

Your comment about journalists with agendas certainly resonates. From time to time, every club will deliberately leak news to "favoured" journalists to get certain information out in the public domain. I once thought Denham occupied such a position with Melbourne as he always used to get scoops from the club. However, when the Stynes/McLardy /Schwab administration came into power he seemed to do a 360 degree turn and became hostile to the club. That hostility seems to have diminished somewhat since the changes to the club's administration earlier in the year. I could be wrong but if his motivation was either a dislike of the people involved at the club or loyalty to mates then it doesn't say much for his credibility.

Cross is a great story for those who love the sport. It's not only about the young kids but also what experienced people with wise heads can contribute to a club. Those critics who claim he's too old at thirty would do well to remember that we were also criticised not that long ago for letting Junior Mac go at the age of 33.

With the free agency and trade period having already delivered four midfielders to date and another seemingly on the way via draft pick 9, I think its time to look around for a dangerous crumbing forward either through what's left of trading, delisted free agents or the draft. We have Shannon Byrnes but his best days are in the past. I think we would definitely cap off our efforts if we could find a player capable of kicking goals on a regular basis at the feet of Clark, Dawes, Hogan and Howe but who can we chase? I think back to the days when Jeff Farmer was at his best roaming the forward line and causing havoc. He turned us from also rans into a formidable team back at the turn of the century. A player of his ilk would be handy to say the least.

It's always smart policy to bring in a good mix of players and given our weakness in the midfield, it stands to reason that we should continue to look to midfield types but with some flexibility. If Freeman is what he's cooked up to be, he would be a good choice but equally, a player like Marcus Bontempelli would make sense if he's available at number 9. Said to now be 194cm tall and with great running ability, he not only fits the bill as a midfield prospect but could also grow into a KPP. Now before I get howled down on this point, I have in the corner of my mind the thought that someone with the capacity to do so, could tempt James Frawley with a free agency offer he can't refuse and we need insurance for that eventuality. So why not a growing tall mid who could one day play key back or forward (possibly releasing Jesse Hogan to CHB where he has done well as a junior)? It's always been important to have versatile players and I think we would be wise to think in those terms with what is now our only remaining big pick.

On the comparison between Patrick Dangerfield and Nathan Freeman, "Danger" was drafted by the Crows as a bottom ager in the 2007 national draft when it was still possible to draft 17 year olds (they had to be born between 1 January and 30 April) i.e similar in age to O'Meara, B Crouch, Martin and Hogan. He initially stayed home and played mainly for the Geelong Falcons but I think he got a couple of games for the Crows in late 2008. Freeman is basically at an equivalent stage to where Dangerfield was at the end of 2008. He's also a fair bit shorter than Dangerfield who is 189cm.