Whispering_Jack

They say all’s fair in love and war but when it comes to sport, we teach our kids to play fair. Be nice. But, in recent times, I’m reading about the AFL draft about expectations that clubs should play by some unwritten rule that requires them to be nice to each other. To play fair. A Herald Sun article last week referred to St Kilda Next Generation Academy midfielder Mitch Owen (Sandringham Dragons) who has shown great improvement over the year. Some said he was “exploding” before the NAB league shut down and that he could even be nominated in the top 20 which would preclude the Saints from matching a bid for him. The same would happen if Melbourne’s NGA Mac Andrew was nominated that highly. Dragons’ talent manager Mark Wheeler said that Covid gave Owens time to erase his weaknesses as he grew 15cm over two years to his current height of 191cm. In July, he was a late inclusion in the Vic Metro team against VIc Country and starred with 29 disposals, seven marks and a goal. Wheeler said: “We have heard rumours he is in those picks before 20, but it just depends if recruiters want to play nice or if they don’t want to play nice.” I don’t understand why Wheeler considers there to be an obligation in the draft for clubs to “play nice”. Surely, if a player is worth taking when a club’s pick comes, he should get taken - otherwise, the club might be dereliction of its duty. I have no qualms about the prospect of another club selecting Mac Andrew in the top 20. The main thing from the Demons’ perspective is that they’ve had plenty of time to get used to such a prospect. A similar situation applies with North Melbourne which has pick number 1 and has flagged its intention to take South Adelaide midfielder Jason Horne-Francis with that selection. However, there is a view that North should first nominate Collingwood father-son Nick Daicos to force the Pies to spend the maximum number of draft points to snare their father-son player who they have already indicated they will take no matter what. North can also cause similar inconvenience to the Western Bulldogs over their father-son prospect, Sam Darcy. The idea would be that North are h to the football world their intent to be competitive in every aspect of the game. But is this fair and does “fair play” come into the equation when it comes to matters such as the draft?

Yes, and ...

Cal Twomey’s Phantom Form Guide is out and what’s interesting is the evenness of the field this year beyond the top ten. If we could move our second pick up a trifle, I think we would have a very good chance of picking up a couple of handy selections. Cal Twomey's Phantom Form Guide: Top draft prospects' October response

Leaving aside Andrew, I believe the other three will have plenty of suitors. From what I’m picking up, Andrew seems to have the eyes of GWS Giants and possibly Fremantle.

There’s an article for subscribers only at the moment on the Herald Sun website entitled “Top AFL Draft prospects from country Victoria” by Joseph Carbone. It covers a range of players from the country including draft big guns in Josh Rachele, Campbell Chesser and Josh Gibcus and Mac Andrew is in there because the Dandenong Stingrays are classified as “country”. This is what Carbone writes about him:- MAC ANDREW “The Egyptian-born South Sudanese young gun’s rise up the draft rankings is looming as an unlucky break for last year’s premiers Melbourne. “Andrew is one of the Demons’ Next Generation Academy players but due to the huge interest from rival clubs, he is likely to go in the first Round of this year’s draft. Under new AFL rules, that means the Demons are unable to match a bid on him. “The athletic ruckman stands at two metres tall and likes to use his frame around the ground and at the contest. He is also never far away from the goals and has huge upside for a kid who only played one year for Vic Country”.

There’s an interesting article in today’s Herald Sun that deals with how GWS are viewing the draft and how they will use their pick number 2. It names four players who are in their sights so Mac Andrew is by no means their only target. Draft intel: Giants reveal pick two, father-son bidding plans

One of the owners is called Goodwin. How many omens did we need.

I see that you lack comprehension skills so let me make it clear. I did not at any stage claim to know that he had a tank issue. I simply wonder if he has a problem with his tank. As to the Geelong game of which I endured the entire game, I agree that most of the team weren’t much chop and neither was he but it was enough for him to suddenly be catapulted into top 15 calculations by one commentator and he was followed shortly thereafter by the sheep. Also strange that you say the forward line is an unnatural position for him since his supporters are advocating that he plays there till he’s strong enough to play ruck. Meanwhile, he rarely kicks goals and you forgot to mention his 13th placing in the Stingrays b & f. I think it’s fair and reasonable to question what has some people so excited about a kid who has yet to record a best on ground or provide a reasonable body of work to justify him being placed ahead of some fairly handy talent in this year’s draft. That’s all I’m doing - questioning.

Thanks for that. I have a grandson who plays basketball in a similar age bracket but is slightly younger. For a number of years his team has been competing with an opposition team made up predominantly of Sudanese players who play a pretty exciting style of game. They all seem to be thin and lanky with the ability to move cat-like across the court but are often found out for a lack of endurance and have been reeled in from a fair way behind in some of their matches. I don’t know much about physiology but was told that this is fairly typical of people coming from arid regions in that part of the world. Therefore, in looking at Mac Andrew’s football, one of my concerns was his tank. In the game vs Geelong for the Academy he was unsighted for three quarters and went okay in the last. In the challenge match for Country vs Metro, he had a purple patch in the second quarter but faded out of the game from midway through the third quarter. The draft experts who talk about the need for him to add weight and strength to compete physically in the ruck don’t appear to have addressed whether he can run out a game and by missing the national championships and the combine that question wasn’t answered for us. One would think that interested clubs like GWS and Fremantle would be all over this.

Do you know which team he plays basketball with?

The Aussie Rules Draft Central Site has rebranded itself into Rookie Me Central Here are their 2021 Rookie Me Central Power Rankings: November 1. Jason Horne-Francis South Adelaide SA 2. Nick Daicos Oakleigh Chargers Vic Metro 3. Finn Callaghan Sandringham Dragons Vic Metro 4. Sam Darcy Oakleigh Chargers Vic Metro 5. Ben Hobbs GWV Rebels Vic Country 6. Josh Gibcus GWV Rebels/Vic Country 7. Josh Ward Northern Knights Vic Metro 8. Mac Andrew Dandenong Stingrays Vic Country 9. Neil Erasmus Subiaco WA 10. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera Glenelg SA 11. Josh Rachele Murray Bushrangers Vic Country 12. Tyler Sonsie Eastern Ranges Vic Metro 13. Jye Amiss East Perth WA 14. Josh Sinn Sandringham Dragons Vic Metro 15. Arlo Draper South Adelaide SA 16. Matthew Johnson Subiaco WA 17. Josh Goater Calder Cannons Vic Metro 18. Campbell Chesser Sandringham Dragons Vic Country 19. Darcy Wilmot Northern Knights Vic Metro 20. Sam Butler GWV Rebels Vic Country 21. Jacob van Rooyen Claremont WA 22. Tom Brown Murray Bushrangers Vic Country 23. Mitchell Knevitt Geelong Falcons Vic Country 24. Zac Taylor Calder Cannons Vic Metro 25. Matthew Roberts South Adelaide SA 26. Josh Fahey GWS Giants Academy 27. Jesse Motlop South Fremantle WA 28. Blake Howes Sandringham Dragons Vic Metro 29. Jack Williams East Fremantle WA 30. Toby Conway Geelong Falcons Vic Country 31. Judson Clarke Dandenong Stingrays Vic Country 32. Rhett Bazzo Swan Districts WA 33. Mitch Owens Sandringham Dragons Vic Metro 34. Connor Macdonald Dandenong Stingrays Vic Country 35. Corey Warner East Fremantle WA 36. Angus Sheldrick Claremont WA 37. Marcus Windhager Sandringham Dragons Vic Metro 38. Cooper Murley Norwood SA 39. Lachlan Rankin Oakleigh Chargers Vic Metro 40. Kai Lohmann GWV Rebels Vic Country

I don’t understand why people are seething about this. The rule was changed at the end of last year and I don’t recall any protests from Melbourne or anyone else. Admittedly, Mac was a completely unknown quantity at the time and, although we know a little bit more about him now, we’re still none the wiser about how he’s going to turn out. If a couple of clubs are prepared to draft him early, that’s their prerogative. It doesn’t fuss me at all.

Thanks - so presumably, we are going to see a list come out of the players nominated as NGAs.

Got that @IvanBartul13 but I notice that Collingwood announced the other day that it has opted against nominating one of its NGA prospects Youseph Dib for priority access at the draft. Was that just to let the football world know that they could freely select him in the knowledge that their bid wouldn’t be matched?

The Melbourne Football Club has designated December 5 as the most likely date for its celebration of the 2021 Premiership at our Home and The Home of Football - the MCG. Melbourne chief executive Gary Pert announced: "This event is incredibly important to us, as it is the first chance our players, coaches and the wider club will have to thank our supporters for their amazing support and loyalty." The Grand Final team and the remainder of the playing list, coach Simon Goodwin, the coaches and football staff and the premiership cup will all be there but what would you like to see on the day? I would like to see some structure on the day rather than people randomly walking around the hallowed arena for hours. A specific event with a program including vision of season highlights, presentation of the players, speeches (but kept to a limit), special presentations to retiring players - especially Nathan Jones and Neville Jetta and tributes to Demon greats who passed away and missed our first premiership in 57 years. I have also suggested elsewhere that thought could be given to combining the evening with the club best and fairest presentation which is usually held indoors on an evening at the Crown Casino with a lavish dinner. However, it’s a night that’s limited in numbers and given Covid-19 restraints, it’s likely that a much smaller number of attendees would be admitted. And of course, children usually miss out on the best and fairest because it goes on well into the night. A video package could be put together and shown on the MCG screens with highlights of every game and the votes in say four quarters each of 10 minutes to keep us football starved fans entertained before presentation of the Bluey to the winner. And because footy’s a team game, that event could be followed by the presentation of our heroes - the 2021 AFL premiers and end with a welcome to the new members of our list including Luke Dunstan and the recently selected draftees to celebrate going forward into the future and our quest for next year’s premiership to be played at The Home of Football - the MCG. Note: in true football tradition, I’m taking things one premiership celebration at a time.😀 Over to you …

Why not have the B & F Count at the G in front of 30,000 to 40,000 fans on the big screen at the G on 5 December at the premiership celebration function?

Kevin Sheehan reveals his top NAB AFL Draft Prospects: Tall forwards/rucks There’s such a shortage of tall forwards and rucks that Shifter’s covering both categories in one article.

The two stars Demons father-son prospect models his game on

Whatever. I think it has to be done by tomorrow.

Cal Twomey's Phantom Form Guide: Top draft prospects' October ranking

Pair of clubs named as keen suitors for Demons’ “athletically amazing” NGA talent

Both. Andy Moniz-Wakefield Midfielder “Age: 26/10/2003 Weight: 73kg Height: 180cm Club: NT Thunder/Allies

I sense the Redleg campaign to get him to Melbourne is nearing an end?

Playing for Melbourne would be a “dream” for father-son prospect