Whispering_Jack

Is this based on his ability or just to grab an NGA from another club?

MELBOURNE 3.5.23 5.8.38 7.12.54 11.13.79 WEST COAST EAGLES 0.0.0 0.1.1 0.1.1 0.1.1 GOALS MELBOURNE Hore Zanker 2 Bannan Fitzsimon Hanks Heath Mackin Paxman Purcell WEST COAST EAGLES Nil

3QT: Melbourne 7.12.54 to WCE 0.1.1 Goals: Melbourne: Bannan Fitzsimon Hore Mackin Paxman Purcell Zanker

Half Time: Melbourne 5.8.38 to West Coast 0.1.1 Goals Melbourne Bannan Fitzsimon Paxman Purcell Zanker Percentage 259.78 Still unlikely to catch Brisbane’s percentage.

Quarter Time and we’re 3.5.23 to 0.0.0 which makes it four games in a row that we haven’t been scored against in Q1. The bad news is that the likelihood of catching Brisbane percentage is not very strong.

There’s still a month to go to the 2022 AFL National Draft and amid the speculation as to who Melbourne might take with its first selection (currently at 13) is a player who was edging towards a top ten placing but struggled with injury during the season and ultimately tore an ACL early in the game against the Sandringham Dragons on 27 August. Brayden George might well be one of the hard luck stories of this year’s draft but it’s not all gloom and doom for the talented forward - it’s still likely that he will be selected somewhere in the late teens or early 20s. George might quite well suit a club like Melbourne which has a surfeit of young players waiting for senior opportunity and can therefore afford to “warehouse” a player like him who will miss most, if not all, of 2023 recuperating from that knee injury. NAB League | Brayden George goes down with serious injury as Bushies’ season comes to a close Brayden George still a big AFL Draft prospect despite suffering serious knee injury Should Melbourne make a play for an injured but highly talented player with its pick 13 or possibly get involved in a trade of picks in a risky game to secure him a little later and improve its overall draft positioning?

I’m with you on not having to trade up in this draft in the absence of some special circumstances but I’m not sure about trading out pick 13 for a future first round pick. We are under an obligation to use three selections in the draft (currently our first three are 13, 37 and 90), albeit that we can upgrade rookies with our selections if we choose to do so. As it stands at the moment, we’ve signaled that #90 will be used to upgrade Kade Chandler to the primary list so if we trade 13 for a future first as you suggest, we would either place ourselves in a position of needing to upgrade another rookie or using our last pick on a very late selection - and it’s possible that neither option would suit. I think we either stick with our existing selections or do something creative such as the example I suggested elsewhere and Little Goffy did above - swap 13 and 37 for West Coast's 20 and 26 to possibly give us a preferable outcome. Of course, the good thing with the club these days are that there are less leaks so that we don’t know about the thinking of our recruiters.

Kevin Sheehan's 2022 NAB AFL Draft Top Prospects – Medium Forwards

Ed Pascoe’s colourful draft rankings

Good get. No way he slips out of the top 25.

From the Herald Sun online (no link available) - “The Demons have access to Finn Emile-Brennan as an NGA prospect this year. Considered a potential pick later in the draft, the Dandenong Stingrays defender is part of the club’s Academy given his mum hails from Mauritius. He played three games for Vic Country during the under-18 national championships and was invited to the state draft combine in October. Emile-Brennan’s kicking is his strength. Riak Andrew is an NGA prospect to watch for next year, being the younger brother of Gold Coast’s Mac Andrew. Basketballer Kyah Farris-White has signed on as a Category B Rookie ahead of the draft.”

Today’s Herald Sun at page 44 has its October Phantom Draft – (paywall) Phantom Draft: Early look at how first 25 picks will fall 1. GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY Aaron Cadman 194cm Forward, VIC 2. BRISBANE (MATCH NORTH BID) Will Ashcroft 183cm Midfielder, VIC 3. NORTH MELBOURNE George Wardlaw 182cm Midfielder, VIC 4. NORTH MELBOURNE Harry Sheezel 183cm Forward, VIC 5. ESSENDON Elijah Tsatas 188cm Midfielder, VIC 6. GOLD COAST Reuben Ginbey 189cm Mid/Defender, WA 7. HAWTHORN Bailey Humphrey 184cm Mid/Forward, VIC 8. GEELONG Jhye Clark 180cm Midfielder, VIC 9. WEST COAST Jedd Busslinger 196cm Defender, WA 10. ST KILDA Cam Mackenzie 187cm Midfielder, VIC 11. CARLTON Oliver Hollands 183cm Midfield, VIC 12. WESTERN BULLDOGS Mattaes Phillipou 190cm Fwd/Midfielder, SA 13. WEST COAST Ed Allan 194cm Midfielder, WA 14. MELBOURNE Matthew Jefferson 195cm Forward, VIC “The second-best key forward in the draft behind Cadman, Jefferson is firmly in the sights of the Demons if he is still available. Key forwards are the weak spot in Melbourne’s list. Jefferson’s marking ability is his weapon and he has improved his goal kicking this year. Likened to Essendon’s Harrison Jones, he booted seven goals from eight kicks against WA.” 15. SYDNEY Lachlan Cowan 188cm Defender, TAS 16. GWS GIANTS Lewis Hayes 197cm Defender, VIC 17. BRISBANE (MATCH BID FROM COLLINGWOOD) Jaspa Fletcher 184cm Midfielder, QLD 18. COLLINGWOOD Henry Hustwaite 194cm Midfielder, VIC 19. SYDNEY Olli Hotton 181cm Forward, VIC 20. GWS GIANTS Charlie Clarke 182cm Forward, VIC 21. GWS GIANTS Coby Burgiel 183cm Utility, VIC 22. ESSENDON Darcy Jones 175cm Mid/Forward, WA 23. WESTERN BULLDOGS Brayden George 185cm Forward, VIC 24. ESSENDON Josh Weddle 191cm Defender, VIC 25. NORTH MELBOURNE Max Gruzewski 192cm Def/Forward, VIC

I feel somewhat uncomfortable saying this but I hope the Pies win next Friday or at least hold Brisbane to a close margin. As it stands, we need to catch up 50 points on percentage

I remember watching him play for the Tiwi Bombers in the days when the ABC used to telecast the NTFL matches. He was highly skilled like a number of his teammates and definitely looked like he could have made it but the environment here is so different. I would hope that an indigenous player coming to our club would have the right type of support to give him every chance to succeed.

Great teamwork for the Zanker goal. Demons lead by 19 points.

Great goal to Kate Hore. Fantastic composure.

3 Big Ins for Tomorrow INS – Sherriff, L.Pearce, Goldrick OUTS – Duffy (soreness), Caris (omitted), Brown (omitted)

I have only saw a little of him playing earlier in the season and it must be hard to determine his value at the draft given a serious injury to each knee, the most recent requiring ACL surgery which will keep him out of action for at least half, if not all, of 2023. He’s likely to be taken in the early to mid 20s. If we really have an eye on him, I’m wondering if a swap of picks 13 and 37 (1695 points) to West Coast for 20 and 26 (1651 points) would be considered? There are no guarantees of course but if George is the player we want, we could still possibly get him at 20 and be in an improved position with our second selection at 26. Just thinking outside the square.

On this day back in 1989 in London, Queen Elizabeth II was sitting on the throne, Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister and Melbourne played Essendon for the Foster’s Cup at the Oval. It’s pizzing down here in Melbourne, so relax, sit down, have a sip of the sponsor’s product and watch the game in full …

Chris Doerre’s early 3 rounder… ESPN's early three-round phantom draft for 2022 - every pick of the first three rounds

The big question is how many Category B rookies is a club permitted to have on its list at any one time? I would hope the answer is three as otherwise the club would be precluded from picking Finn Emile-Brennan as a Category B rookie if the limit was two per club.

North appears to have set their sights on Harry Sheezel - a freak forward who ticks all the boxes. This is why A fair appraisal of this top prospect but if you knew Harry, you wouldn’t use the word ‘obsessed’. The correct word is ‘focused’ - his head is on his shoulders and for the last 4 or 5 years he’s worked hard to get where he is now. I think he’ll be happy to stay in Melbourne as well.

Nice effort but I believe that Gold Coast has stated they would use their first pick on a midfielder so if true, that would rule Jefferson out at that selection.

Most AFL clubs have announced at least one set of delistings and the time has come for a consideration of who among the delistings should be offered a second or third chance. The delisted players who should be given another chance

Buddy is listed at 199cm.