Whispering_Jack

Redleg is our man on the spot at training and no doubt he and others will report in later but he phoned this report. The players were using the footballs and the drills look to be very organised and intense with lots of instruction and the players are working hard. A few of the boys are well muscled - Beamer and Jones are positively rippling. Cale Morton looks stronger in the body but not necessarily in the arms. Max Gawn is a man mountatin - Tom McDonald looks strong and Matty Bate looks amazingly fit. Redleg says that he thinks he might well start in the midfield. The players have dropped into five or six groups are doing new drills in the separate groups involving different coaches. The drills look well prepared and the players know the routine and order as each change of drills happens. Mitch Clark, Michael Evans and Jack Trengove were behind the goals doing drills, they're now running laps. Jack Grimes, Neville Jetta, Kelvin Lawrence, Ricky Petterd, James Strauss and Luke Tapscott are also in rehab and doing laps and Liam Jurrah is doing laps with a trainer pushing him along at the end. He looks a bit bigger and stronger. Tom Couch has a strong upper body and is training well. Absent as far as Redleg could see were Clint Bartram, Aaron Davey, Jake Spencer and Coin Sylvia and, understandably, there was no appearance from any of last night's draftees.

Barry Prendergast was interviewed on SEN and ... he sounded happy. He said there were diverse opinions opinons about the draft and so clubs approached their selections differently. In previous years there was an element of picking out needs but tonight we pretty much went for the best player at the picks we had. Rory Taggert is a big bodied midfielder that we were looking for and we're happy with him. Josh Tynan is a half back similar in many ways to Jack Grimes and this clould lead to us using Grimes in the midfield. James Sellar was in the demographic that we wanted - mature talls and Sellar and Mitch Clark have done that for us. Sellar has some versatility and is happy to come to Melbourne. The change of scenery gives him an opportunity.

How many days to the rookie draft?

RORY TAGGERT

First smokey.

Chad Wingard - great get for Port Adelaide.

First smokie - Huddo as compere due to the Chief's injury.

Oh dear.

He's ready to go in round 1.

And I reckon that's the art of good drafting. There's a fair chance that at least one of our three selections tonight will be right out of left field - someone who has barely been mentioned in the phantom drafts and who is hopefully, as good as Jeremy Howe.

I must admit I've been keen on him all the way but when I think of it I wonder if there's room in the team for both he and Liam Jurrah since they appear to have similar styles and would take similar roles. We also have a crying need for midfield types and even though our selections are unlikely to yield us the eliIte, I think we should be trying to find someone like a Sam Mitchell or a Dane Swan at that time in the draft.

That's the spirit. The only thing that interests me is how some of these scrubbers get billed as the next Matthew Pavlich in the phantom drafts only to be drafted with pick # 64.

Melbourne had a player in the late 70s Chris Woodman who had the most shocking kicking action. Used to cringe whenever he had a kick of the footy.

I didn't know uncle Kim Jong was ill. Hope he gets better.

Why are you surprised at Demetriou's comments? Surely, it's logical he would say those things given he and the AFL were in on the whole scheme from the start?

I've just read the AFL site's phantom draft and it has Chad Wingard going to Port Adelaide at 6. If that turns out to be the case then the three players GWS go for ahead of him would have to be sensational footballers. It would mean GWS gave away Jaeger O'Meara for pick 4 and don't rate Wingard worthy of that selection or the one immediately after. Pretty incredible IMO.

I believe that's debatable but I did hear she was good for a night on the tiles.

Does anyone know who swam well today? Did anyone train the roof off the swimming pool complex down there are at Casey?

Thanks for that H_T - just 372 days to go. I'm thrilled (although technically we get JV during the next trade week).

I haven't seen enough games to qualify as anywhere near an expert on these things and I try not to be influenced by You Tube highlight clips which are generally just that - highlights which don't tell you enough about a player with warts and all. At around the time of the National Under 18's (June/July), the favourites were Patton, Coniglio and Wingard. On what I saw of these players (I think Wingard missed the televised game thanks to an alleged sling tackle from Jack Viney), I think they should go top three although my favourite player of those on display this year has been Jack Viney (no bias here ). The player I would think would be a good pick in the draft with one of our selections is Alex Woodward of the Sandringham Dragons. He's not tall but he ticks the boxes including having played well in a grand final (one of Mick Malthouse's criteria), is a good midfield extractor which is what we want, has a bit of pace and is good around the goals so he can fill that role if not one in the middle. I'm mindful of that passage of play in the 2011 Grand Final when a similar sized player Christiansen marked between two opponents and took off resulting in the crucial goal of the game. I think Woodward is in that mould. Having said that, I suppose we'll take three talls with our picks. Who knows?

Is there a similar countdown site that I can consult regarding the time to go before the 2012 draft?

THE GUIDE FOR THOSE WHO DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT THE DRAFT by Whispering Jack There have been a few enquiries about whether we would be doing a preview of the forthcoming national draft and I suppose the answer is self-evident. It was tough enough last year when the Demons came in with a first round pick at 12 but, with selections 36, 52 and 54 this week, it's almost impossible to predict who will end up in the Melbourne camp on Thursday night and what's more, there are a lot of people who don't care! We can all speculate as to the type of player the club will pick up with these selections, and we're all no doubt hoping that players of quality will somehow slip through the cracks and fall into MFC National Recruiting Manager Barry Prendergast lap, the history of these picks is not all that flash (see here, here and here) . As far as the national draft itself is concerned, there has been a substantial amount of coverage about the potential high draft selections rangy from the well thought out analysis of Emma Quayle in the Melbourne Age - Guide to the 2011 AFL draft and Jobs for the boys: building a club, finding a roughie to the various phantom drafts on various Internet sites. Jay Clark of the Herald Sun also produced a The SuperFooty Phantom Draft with the assistance of Sam Landsberger along with the unbelievably hyped up Pick Me series of 30 profiles of potential draftees in which the theme was to compare each with a current AFL player. But it's all a yawn this year because Melbourne went and traded away its only first round draft pick - admittedly it received a better player than pick 12 will probably achieve but it's taken all of the interest out of the draft despite Jay Clark's attempt to hype up some players who might never get a game of AFL footy. Our resident draft expert Stevo who has previously been involved with TAC Cup clubs and keeps a close eye on that competition and the national championships believes the series went way over the top in terms of hype. Geelong Falcon prospect Jai Sheahan was thus compared with Carlton's Jarrad Waite but Stevo doesn't see the resemblance. Liam Sumner the next Dale Thomas? More wishful thinking than anything else at this stage. Stevo won't be drawn into much on this draft although he believes that it is very much on the shall side with a few of the best players already taken as 17 year olds by Greater Western Sydney a year ago. He concedes that the Giants franchise comes in with a big advantage but he also believes that the proof will be in the pudding and much will depend on how recruits are brought into the system, how the transition from junior football to an elite club is made and how well they are coached and mentored. As far as Melbourne's selections are concerned, he says that no matter what happens, pick 36 will always remain pick 36 but there may be some advantages gained from having to sit back and wait for so many selections to go through before the Demons get their first choice. He has promised to come back and look at the club's selections after this draft and the preseason and rookie drafts but he says he would not be surprised if more than a few Pick Me candidates are available when Barry Prendergast finally gets his chance to clear his throat and call out a player's registration number. If anyone really cares, here are the 36 Pick Me candidates for Thursday's Draft:- Taylor Adams Andrew Boseley Dylan Buckley Matthew Buntine Jack Crisp Hayden Crozier Sam Docherty Brandon Ellis Todd Elton Sam Frost Toby Greene Will Hoskin-Elliott Elliott Kavanagh Adam Kennedy Sam Kerridge Billy Longer Daniel Markworth Jackson Merrett Jack Newnes Jon Patton Sebastian Ross Jai Sheahan Tom Sheridan Clay Smith Devon Smith Liam Sumner Michael Talia Adam Tomlinson Dom Tyson Alex Woodward

THE GUIDE FOR THOSE WHO DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT THE DRAFT by Whispering Jack There have been a few enquiries about whether we would be doing a preview of the forthcoming national draft and I suppose the answer is self-evident. It was tough enough last year when the Demons came in with a first round pick at 12 but, with selections 36, 52 and 54 this week, it's almost impossible to predict who will end up in the Melbourne camp on Thursday night and what's more, there are a lot of people who don't care! We can all speculate as to the type of player the club will pick up with these selections, and we're all no doubt hoping that players of quality will somehow slip through the cracks and fall into MFC National Recruiting Manager Barry Prendergast lap, the history of these picks is not all that flash (see here, here and here) . As far as the national draft itself is concerned, there has been a substantial amount of coverage about the potential high draft selections rangy from the well thought out analysis of Emma Quayle in the Melbourne Age - Guide to the 2011 AFL draft and Jobs for the boys: building a club, finding a roughie to the various phantom drafts on various Internet sites. Jay Clark of the Herald Sun also produced a The SuperFooty Phantom Draft with the assistance of Sam Landsberger along with the unbelievably hyped up Pick Me series of 30 profiles of potential draftees in which the theme was to compare each with a current AFL player. But it's all a yawn this year because Melbourne went and traded away its only first round draft pick - admittedly it received a better player than pick 12 will probably achieve but it's taken all of the interest out of the draft despite Jay Clark's attempt to hype up some players who might never get a game of AFL footy. Our resident draft expert Stevo who has previously been involved with TAC Cup clubs and keeps a close eye on that competition and the national championships believes the series went way over the top in terms of hype. Geelong Falcon prospect Jai Sheahan was thus compared with Carlton's Jarrad Waite but Stevo doesn't see the resemblance. Liam Sumner the next Dale Thomas? More wishful thinking than anything else at this stage. Stevo won't be drawn into much on this draft although he believes that it is very much on the shall side with a few of the best players already taken as 17 year olds by Greater Western Sydney a year ago. He concedes that the Giants franchise comes in with a big advantage but he also believes that the proof will be in the pudding and much will depend on how recruits are brought into the system, how the transition from junior football to an elite club is made and how well they are coached and mentored. As far as Melbourne's selections are concerned, he says that no matter what happens, pick 36 will always remain pick 36 but there may be some advantages gained from having to sit back and wait for so many selections to go through before the Demons get their first choice. He has promised to come back and look at the club's selections after this draft and the preseason and rookie drafts but he says he would not be surprised if more than a few Pick Me candidates are available when Barry Prendergast finally gets his chance to clear his throat and call out a player's registration number. If anyone really cares, here are the 36 Pick Me candidates for Thursday's Draft:- Taylor Adams Andrew Boseley Dylan Buckley Matthew Buntine Jack Crisp Hayden Crozier Sam Docherty Brandon Ellis Todd Elton Sam Frost Toby Greene Will Hoskin-Elliott Elliott Kavanagh Adam Kennedy Sam Kerridge Billy Longer Daniel Markworth Jackson Merrett Jack Newnes Jon Patton Sebastian Ross Jai Sheahan Tom Sheridan Clay Smith Devon Smith Liam Sumner Michael Talia Adam Tomlinson Dom Tyson Alex Woodward

After so many years it's great to see the 49ers winning week after week. If I'm loving that, just imagine when the Dees start doing the same!

Agreed, it was a fantastic run chase and I suspect that many of today's observers of the game don't comprehend how hard it is to chase a score of 300+ on what was virtually the last day of a test, particularly away from home against a world class opposition bowling attack. That said, Australia has a succession problem with NZ, India and the Windies coming up. We have a few aging players in Ponting, Hussey and Haddin who are going to have to be replaced in the next 18 months and much of the batting line up is unresolved. Something's gotta give.