Whispering_Jack

According to Twitter, Alex Keath scored 191 not out for Victoria's Under 23 team and could be in the Sheffield Shield team very soon. There are quite a few young cricketers with great potential around the country and one can only hope that they be given the opportunities for promotion that have been denied to similar players around the country in the past few years.

Thanks Peanuts. You haven't offended at all. We simply differ in our views. That's what forums like these are about.

The player I like is Brad Harvey. I'm going purely on reports here but it's interesting that he tested well for pace at the Draft Combine but it's said he needs to work on his endurance. The same thing was said of a young bloke from Adelaide a few years back who also missed out on being drafted in the national draft. Danyle Peirce ended up being rookied by Port Adelaide in what was a really inspired choice. Apparently spent time working at Eastern Ranges with Paul Wheatley which wouldn't hurt his prospects of ending up at the club.

What I want is to not be misrepresented. For the record, I never claimed that WC didn't "stiff" Hansen. I have already said that in making my comments, "I wasn't addressing WCE's conduct on the matter" and further, I made it clear that "... as for WCE's conduct, ... I don't condone that sort of conduct at all." It's all there for the record if you care to read it. Hansen's manager Dan Richardson was interviewed by KB on SEN this morning and while he agreed it was a late call by the Eagles, he said the delisting was "not a complete shock because there was some indication that it was on the cards". He was referring to Hansen's injury and it was clear that the issue has been on the agenda between player and club for some time. Richardson added that Hansen was training well ATM and was still in the process of gathering medical information to support his case if he decides to nominate. You can read what you like into the above and tell me it's all irrelevant but I would suggest that whether available in the main draft or not, I'm more convinced than ever that there would have been no takers for Hansen. Hansen has about two weeks to decide whether to nominate and to produce a good case about the ability of his body to withstand another year or two of the rigours of AFL footy. I wish him good luck and simply repeat that his chances of being picked up by another club have been dramatically boosted by the fact that because he was in contract WC would foot most of his bill if taken as a mature age rookie. Oh yes, and did I say that West Coast are simply an awful bunch of human beings for the way they treated him?

Please yourself. Now we're talking about a different subject altogether but that's OK. I don't play games with semantics but to reiterate IMO he had absolutely no chance of being picked up in a trade or in the National Draft so the chance that's presented to him now is the best possible chance he had of being drafted (albeit not by design on the part of WCE). Any club that would have contemplated drafting him other than as a mature age rookie and without the baggage of his existing contract should have its head read. His only opportunity IMO is in the rookie draft which happens next month and that is where his only realistic hope of renewing his career lies.

Sorry Peanuts. I get the point very clearly but I wasn't addressing WCE's conduct on the matter. Simply pointing out that the delisting of the player makes it economically viable for clubs to pick him up as a mature age rookie at bargain basement cost. That option wasn't available in the trades and, based on the small number of players picked up in last week's draft it wouldn't have made one iota of difference. I doubt he would have made anyone's PL and IMO, he would have still been in limboland one way or the other. As for WCE's conduct, I don't know enough about what was discussed between them and Hansen but, yes it looks unsavoury on the face of it. Unfortunately, football's a business now and that's how a lot of people behave in the business world. I don't condone that sort of conduct at all.

To the contrary Nasher. I believe that by delisting Hansen in the way they've done, the Eagles have given him the best possible opportunity to advance his career. Had he remained on the WCE list and given Worsfold's opinion of his future at the club, he would have played out 2011 in the WAFL with few prospects of getting a game at AFL level. A player on the outer at the Eagles, he would have been paid out his contract entitlement and then, at age 28, been left on the football scrapheap. Now, the worst case scenario for Hansen is that he will be shunned by the 17 other clubs (even the Giants are eligible to take him with one of their eight rookie draft picks). In that case, he still gets paid out by the Eagles and he's still on the scrapheap and he can still pick up a nice little earner at a State League, country or suburban club (if my mail is right you can even make money in the amateurs these days but don't quote me). However, the economics of Hansen's situation would probably make his selection as a mature age rookie attractive to one of the AFL clubs, particularly if his body is right (as he claims). The club that drafts him pays the minimum wage in the first year of what would no doubt be a one year contract and West Coast has to pick up the rest of the tab up to the value of his contract. If that's the way it works, Hansen would come at a bargain basement price with odds of 1/17 that someone might snaffle him up. Now, I'm not a fan but given that Melbourne was seriously interested in David Hale (who I don't rate much better than Hansen who at least knows the feeling of playing in a premiership), the economics would make Hansen at least an attractive proposition. Hale is being paid a reported $400kpa plus while Hansen might cost a fraction of that figure. He would even be of value strengthening our aligned club at Casey for most of the season even if only got a handful of games at AFL level.

To give you an idea about the value of the PTT list, here is one from about this time in 2006 Adelaide Brisbane Lions Timothy Brown, Geelong Falcons; Leonard Clark, Brisbane Lions Rookie; Scott Clouston, Morningside; Anthony Corrie, Brisbane Lions; Daniel Dzufer, Northern Eagles; Will Hamill, Brisbane Lions Rookie; Joel Tippett, Southport Carlton Cain Ackland, St Kilda; Michael Jamison, North Ballarat; Tomi Johnston, Sandringham Dragons; Jake Williams, Calder Cannons; Ross Young, Northern Bullants; Ty Zantuck, Zillmere Eagles Collingwood Martin Clarke, County Down Ireland; Scott Meyer, Williamstown; Liam Picken, Williamstown; Patrick Rose, Williamstown; David Stretton, Williamstown Essendon James Bennett, Belconnen; Matthew Firman, Essendon; Ryan Gale, Claremont; Rennie Gilchrist, Sandringham; Ben Jolley, Essendon; Mitchell Keddell, Shepparton; Justin Maddern, Bendigo Bombers; Tim O’Keefe, Essendon Fremantle Benet Copping, Fremantle; Dean Kelly, Oakleigh Chargers; Darren Rumble, Subiaco Geelong Tom Couch, Geelong Falcons; Adam Iacobucci, Collingwood; Tom Lonergan, Geelong; Joel Reynolds, Essendon Hawthorn Nathan Batsanis, Oakleigh Chargers; Luke Brennan, Hawthorn; Tristan Cartledge, Essendon Joel Combes, Sandringham Dragons; Marcus Crook, Box Hill Hawks; Matthew Foster, Glenelg; Stefan Garrubba, Sydney Swans rookie; Sam Gibson, Box Hill Hawks; David Marcius, Box Hill Hawks; Tom Pollett, Box Hill Hawks; Myles Sewell, North Ballarat Rebels; Tim Sheringham, Geelong rookie; Will Slade, Geelong; Josh Thurgood, Hawthorn; Jonathon Wynne, Norwood Kangaroos Leigh Adams, Eastern Ranges; Ben Hughes, Gippsland Power; Tim Hutchison, Kangaroos; Sam Jacobs, Woodville West Torrens; Joel Perry, Kangaroos; Nick Smith, Oakleigh Chargers Melbourne Andrew Ericksen, Sydney; David Fanning, Collingwood, Andrew Giafagna, Melbourne; Stefan Martin, Old Hailebury Port Adelaide Dane Avery, Bendigo Pioneers; Nick Batchelor, Geelong; Adam Cockshell, Norwood; James Ezard, Port Adelaide; Jack Fosdike, Norwood; Brad Geddes, Woodville West Torrens; Matthew Graham, Glenelg; Gavin Grose, Mt Gravatt; Gavin Hughes, Norwood; Kyle Jenner, Port Magpies; Jack Juniper, Fremantle; Alex Lee, Dandenong; Brodie Lomas, Woodville West Torrens; Andrew McIntyre, North Adelaide; Harry Miller, Hawthorn; Adam Pepe Port Magpies; Tom Rischbieth, Port Adelaide; Hayden Skipworth, Adelaide; James Turner, South Adelaide; Josh Willoughby, Sydney Swans Richmond Drew Barnes, Nathalia; Taz Clingan, North Ballarat Rebels, Nicholas Georgiadis, Western Jets; Shaun Huy, Coburg; Jak Kennedy-Hunt, Geelong Falcons; Jake King, Coburg; Kent Kingsley, Geelong; Dean Limbach, Richmond; Nick Lynch, McLeod St Kilda Jayden Attard, Brisbane Lions; Cathal Corr, St Kilda; Chris Dunne, Casey Scorpions; Ben Fraser, Casey Scorpions; Ed McDonnell, St Kilda; Alister Neville, Coburg; Tom Roach, Richmond; Ben Ross, Gippsland Power; James Tyquin, St Bedes Mentone; Luke Van Rheenan, Scoresby Sydney Matthew Davis, Sydney; Earl Shaw, Sydney West Coast Ben Sharp, West Perth; Brad Smith, Subiaco; Ashley Thornton, Peel Thunder; Beau Wilkes, Claremont Western Bulldogs James Allan, Werribee; Robert Castello, Werribee; Brett Robinson, Werribee; Matthew Seal, East Perth; Wayde Twomey, Werribee; Michael West, Western Bulldogs; Samuel Wormald, Werribee; Jarrod Young, Werribee.

Well the national draft's over. Time to move on ... We have six more picks in the rookie draft and it should be a lot more interesting that last year when we regurgitated Juice Newton and John Meesen. The interest factor in this draft will be heightened by the fact that clubs can pick mature age rookies and very few recycled players went in the national draft. In addition, Cameron Bruce's defection means that one of our rookies is automatically eligible to be placed on the senior list. Some big names are likely to be taken in both the PSD and the Rookie Draft. We just need Redleg or someone else on here to tell us how many days to go

From our friends at Inside Football:

D'oh!

He can certainly take a mark.

Sincerest condolences and best wihes for the future. It's been a sad week for the club but Ingo's gesture when many would not take the time is certainly something very special in a person.

Old, I think I've overcome it. The thing is that a club's performance in the draft is not determined by what it does with it's first pick but rather by what it does overall. I think it's been clear for some time that the taller players take a lot longer to develop so, unless you're convinced a player's absolutely top shelf, you're better going earlier with a mid sized player who's more likely ready to go early. And because the taller ones develop later, your chances of success are probably just as good at a later stage.

It's a terribly sad day for Aussie, his family, the Tiwi community and the club. Sincere condolences to Aussie and his family on their loss. The picture of Mr. Wonaeamirri and Jimmy Stynes hugging after that win against Brisbane will always live in the memory.

Include me in for $100.

I'm not sure how Fox can really expect to gain the ratings if the presentation is of the poor standard of last year. Anyone who is really interested would be getting their information elsewhere i.e. online as you suggest or on SEN.

Since Burgo left afl.com.au, the draft coverage hasn't been the same. Here are Shifter's top 30 with no explanations. Didn't someone around here once say no explanation = rubbish? Sheehan names his top 30 AFL NATIONAL talent manager Kevin Sheehan has identified who he believes are the 30 leading prospects ahead of Thursday's NAB AFL Draft on the Gold Coast. Sheehan confirmed that there were 80 places available on AFL lists for the 2011 season, but that clubs had the option to store late picks for the pre-season draft on December 7. An additional 32 places will be filled by upgraded rookies, scholarship holders and father-son selections - including Mitch Wallis (Western Bulldogs) - on the night of the national draft. This year marks the 25th edition of the annual player intake. Sheehan's 30 prospects - in alphabetical, not predicted order - are as follows: Shaun Atley Harley Bennell Josh Caddy Reece Conca Lucas Cook Jamie Cripps Jack Darling Sam Day Andrew Gaff Josh Green Daniel Gorringe Mitch Hallahan Kieran Harper Dyson Heppell George Horlin-Smith Ben Jacobs Jed Lamb Scott Lycett Tom Lynch Luke Parker Jayden Pitt Jared Polec Dion Prestia Billie Smedts Brodie Smith David Swallow Seb Tape Mitch Wallis Matthew Watson Aaron Young

If Cameron Bruce puts peroxide through his hair to the point where it's completely white/blond then we'll consider a ban.

Congratulations to Deezman, Demonland and any others who contributed. It's a great team effort - let's hope it holds us all in good stead for season 2011!

Another link with the past was broken today when the Melbourne Football Club was informed of the passing of a treasured member of its family - Mavis Cardwell. The club has advised members by email of the following:- Mavis was the widow of Jim Cardwell, one of the greatest Secretaries and recruiters of all time during his tenure from 1951 to 1975 - and well beyond. Mavis shared the experience of being part of the Club with him throughout this time, and contributed as an integral part of its social and organisational fabric. She was particularly important to establishing many functions and keeping people together, and was at the heart of the Club community. Condolences to her family and friends. Please note that there will be a private funeral. Mavis Cardwell RIP

Unless I've missed something like an injury problem or a personal issue about him that's escaped me, I would say that Hahn is going to come under demand from a few clubs and will most likely be one of the first cast offs selected in the draft. What I find strange is that it seems to me that Hahn, at 29, would suit the Hawks style much better than Cam Bruce and be capable of giving them more years of service. If I were a Hawthorn supporter having lost Campbell Brown's toughness, I would be asking why my club isn't going for him rather than Bruce. Just a thought.

My guess is that the quote came from the player-manager and not from Cameron Bruce.

I didn't notice Cameron Bruce out there.

I'm looking forward to 2011 even without the experienced players who have left. I think their time had either come or was rapidly closing in and I have no problem with the club's decisions. It's a tough gig running a football club and, as we can see from the topics on the board and the diversity of opinions, it's often a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't. In respect to the topic, I can't see why it has to be so black or white. I think we have a good mix of players to help us into the next few seasons and with that, I'm sure the team that runs out each week will contain a mix of the young and the older and more experienced heads. I wouldn't play youth for youth's sake and generally believe that players should earn their place in the team irrespective of age, sex or religion. I only wish that Australia's test selectors had the same adventurous spirit of the MFC football department. Sick of seeing the same faces and still dirty on the way they teated Brad Hodge but that's another story.