Whispering_Jack

I agree with the sentiment about the type of player BH, but he's a long way off being a Dangerfield on the scant evidence of the one Sandy Dragons game that I saw him play this year. He was in and out of the game that day and I didn't see much brilliance from him although admittedly, I came to watch others in the team and wasn't particularly concentrating on Freeman. I know one of the members of this year's Dragons and he mentioned him as a bottom ager with potential last year. I recently asked him what he thought of Freeman and Josh Kelly and this was his SMS back:- It's probably fair to say that whoever comes on board, whether by way of draft pick 9 or any other selection is going to be at some advantage compared to previous years with Roos and development coaches like George Stone now at the club. It's also going to be so much easier for the youngsters to develop with better quality around them in the midfield. Even if # 9 isn't a walk up start for round 1, I'm more confident now than in at any stage in the past ten years that when the time comes, he'll be ready to play.

I mentioned a little while ago that I liked Northern Knights' Marcus Bontempelli as the prototype of the tall midfielder. Well, one of bigfooty's phantom draft gurus has him going at our selection number 9:- ... and in a touch of irony, the other guru from bigfooty Knightmare currently has him as the bolter at ... number 2 (note - he hasn't updated the player's draft range):- It's been reported elsewhere that Bontempelli is still growing and is now 194cm tall which means he could potentially end up as a KPP. Definitely an interesting prospect with a family link to Nick Dal Santo.

As things stand our third pick overall is 58 which we gained in the Tyson/GWS megaswap. I'm sure someone picked at that number in the past turned out a better player for their chosen team than Richard Lounder or Tom Scully but to help us out in determining how difficult a proposition it is to pick a star with this number, let's take a look at who the bigfooty draft mavens Knightmare and Chris25 in the range 56 to 60 (I've deleted the clubs to which the picks are attached as they're no longer relevant):- I like a few of Chris25's picks here. Barrass based only on name because it makes such a great fit with the MFC while McCartney and Lemmens sound exciting. The fact that the latter is related to Geelong's Allen Christensen won't hurt his prospects.

So we've seen on another thread just how much controversy a seemingly simple draft selection like pick 9 can create but what about Melbourne's current second selection number 40. I know there's still another week of trading between the clubs left and its possible that we might well not finish with this pick but I think its time to show a bit of love for pick 40. I'll leave it to others to do the research on past pick 40's but in the meantime, the following are the selections of two bigfooty aficionados Knightmare and Chris25 in the range 38 to 42 for you to consider (for the latter, I've deleted the clubs to which the picks are attached as they're no longer relevant):- Brown and Spina featured on both lists but we're well of for ruckmen at this stage so my choice is the latter although I do like the look of Riley Knight who comes from the same club as Jimmy Toumpas and Bernie Vince.

As usual, you say a lot but fail to address the point. Whether we like it or not the AFL does have "socialist" and a raft of other laws in place but is selective in enforcing them. I would have thought that was a fundamental issue of governance that affected the haves as well as the have nots and has nothing to do with advocating a "woe is us" mentality which I do not agree with. I do however, believe that as a club we should stand up for our rights which is something I am noting on my travels that the wealthy and the ruling classes always seek to suppress world wide by telling the poor and oppressed to STFU and stop whinging.

Actually, I agree that Hawthorn should have been better compensated for losing Franklin and we should never have received a pick four behind the one they got. In case you didn't notice, the victim here is Hawthorn.The point I was making is that their President went away on a junket supposedly to look at ways of equalising the competition and since he left, he and his club have done exactly the opposite. It's the hypocrisy of his club doing this that I abhor.

"We believe it is inequitable that compensation is linked to ladder position," says Hawks chief executive Stuart Fox. How on earth did this man's boss get involved with the AFL's equalisation junket? First they complain loudly about Melbourne receiving draft assistance after achieving only five wins in two seasons and now they reckon they are getting dudded by getting pick 19 for a bloke they couldn't persuade to stay at home after giving eight years of service. And let's not forget, this is a player who might not have been a Hawk had they not received a priority pick for winning five games in the year he was drafted. And the AFL never bothered to investigate whether what they did that year was legit or not. It's quite plain that Hawthorn cares only about Hawthorn and not the competition as a whole. I don't know if any of the participants on that junket were subsided by the AFL but if was any integrity left at the place, it would demand a refund from these whinging hypocrites.

I trust that our people are lobbying to ensure we get band 3. We were shafted last year over Moloney and Rivers and then over the failure to award draft assistance when we clearly qualified under the rules. Hopefully, someone at the helm is standing up for the club and not just acting as the AFL's lapdog on every subject that comes up.Surely the AFL is aware that if we don't get the players that will make us competitive there won't be enough bums on seats when we play?

It would have to be rumour only. Unless some real heavy stuff comes out, I would imagine that the maximum awaiting Hird would be four years. Of course, that sort of penalty would inevitably put paid to his coaching career anyway because I just can't see him have any credibility whatever if he goes down. He might take this through the courts but inevitably, the WADA Code will triumph. It's set up that way.

How can you discuss something as mundane as draft picks when you're in the entertainment capital of the world, London? How was Willy Wonka?

Agree with you entirely. While I think Vince would be a great acquisition, Adelaide would get a chance to take a long term player. They need to give a bit more than a 28 y.o for pick 20.

We're talking about two defenders for who nobody's beating the doors down to prise away from GWS and we need quality midfielders. They would have to throw Tyson in instead of Bugg or include all three and take a player of ours in the same category as Bugg (eg Tappy).

On the point of sponsorship, I seem to recall that Schwab's critics were into him from day one when he arrived in the early days of the global financial crisis and we had no sponsors and no takers due to the poor economic outlook at the time. Given this, the team at Melbourne performed particularly well and worked hard in difficult conditions. Earlier this year, I was speaking to one of the people involved in attracting sponsors and he outlined the difficulties they encountered. This included some instances of roadblocks put in their way by the negativity surrounding the club at various times which made their job considerably more difficult.

I don't think so. The Magnay article appeared both on line and in print in the Australian, not the HUN or AW and is still available to be read on its site. Magnay is well connected and authoritative and nothing has changed since she wrote the article. There will be infraction notices and ASADA is working to nobody's time limits other than its own and the message to clubs wanting to trade to get Bomber players is pretty clear.

PJ is well paid and of course he's accountable. It's not a case of accountability though. He needs time to get his work done. Give it to him.

Can I mention that in addition to the possibility of using a rookie upgrade as one of our three mandatory selections, there's the formal selection of Jesse Hogan which presumably would also count for the same reason.Otherwise, I agree with much of the above except for Myers from Essendon who, whilst he would normally be a worthwhile target, will remain tainted by him being a member of the Bombers' list in 2011. As long as the possibility of infraction notices remains open, Essendon players should strictly be a no go zone.

Seems to me that the likelihood is the lawyers got involved - possibly representing the Essendon Football Club or individuals associated with the club. I expect said legal people to be busy over the coming months and even years the way this is going.

I hear what you're saying about the categorisation of our compensation at Band 3 rather than Band 4 but I'm not convinced about one aspect. I seem to recall that the two players who left Port Adelaide were both put on 4 year contracts rather than the 3 year contract which Sylvia is getting. Hence, a possible difference in the compensation we might be given for Sylvia as compared with that for the Port pair. Does that make sense?

At the risk of derailing this thread I would like to congratulate the Redleg family on the marriage of Olivia and Scoop Junior. It was a wonderful wedding ceremony although Redleg omitted to mention bananas once in his very brief speech.

Doesn't happen till draft day but you're right ... both he and Jack Martin should be added to the lists.

When did we commit to that?

The article ends this way: Not much doubt in Ings' mind.

And so it goes ... on and on. No room for Dank to take a breath just yet

What did she look like 49 years ago?I could have met her at Festival Hall. I had a Beatle haircut and looked a bit like Paul McCartney ... or was it Ringo Starr?

Chris25 on Bigfooty recently updated his phantom draft. He still has Aish as pick 2:-