Whispering_Jack

… or John Cleese for that matter.

A decade before the Tigers won their 13th premiership, they were sitting on 10 VFL/AFL flags, the last of which came three decades earlier in 1980. They had been in the football wilderness for much of the interim period and, at one stage came close to folding in the midst of a financial crisis. New CEO Brendon Gale made this statement in 2010 ~ ''By 2020, we aspire to have won our 13th premiership; consistently provide the most exciting and powerful match-day experience in the competition; once again have the strongest support base in the nation, and enjoy the strongest emotional connection with our members and fans.'' The Tigers achieved their aims and today, after breaking our own drought, we are level with them on 13 premierships and are striving for more. What are the other things besides a flag that you think we should be aspiring to and are we achieving those aims?

Noah Yze is around 15 years of age. He’s 2 - 3 years away from draft age. Let’s not forget however, that not every child of an AFL star is necessarily the “son of a gun”.

AFL NATIONAL DRAFT ORDER with Draft Points ROUND ONE 1. North Melbourne 3,000 2. GWS Giants 2,517 3. Gold Coast 2234 4. Adelaide 2,034 5. Hawthorn 1,878 6. Fremantle 1,751 7. Richmond 1,644 8. Fremantle 1,551 9. St Kilda 1,469 10. West Coast 1,395 11. Essendon 1,329 12. Port Adelaide 1,268 13. GWS Giants 1,212 14. Brisbane Lions 1,161 15. Richmond 1,112 16. Sydney 1,067 17. Melbourne 1,025 18. Brisbane Lions 985 ROUND TWO 19. Fremantle 948 20. North Melbourne 912 21. Hawthorn 878 22. Geelong 845 23. Western Bulldogs 815 24. Hawthorn 785 25. Carlton 756 26. Richmond 729 27. Richmond 703 28. Richmond 677 29. West Coast 653 30. Geelong 629 31. Sydney 606 32. Geelong 584 33. Adelaide 563 34. Geelong 542 35. West Coast 522 36. Collingwood 502 37. Melbourne 483 ROUND THREE 38. Collingwood 465 39. Sydney 446 40. Collingwood 429 41. Brisbane Lions 412 42. North Melbourne 395 43. Western Bulldogs 378 44. Western Bulldogs 362 45. Western Bulldogs 347 46. Collingwood 331 47. North Melbourne 316 48. Collingwood 302 49. Melbourne 287 50. Geelong 273 51. Essendon 259 52. Western Bulldogs 246 53. GWS Giants 233 54. GWS Giants 220 55. St. Kilda 207 56. Essendon 194 57. Melbourne 182 58. Collingwood 170 ROUND FOUR 59. Hawthorn 158 60. Fremantle 146 61. St Kilda 135 62. Port Adelaide 123 63. Carlton 112 64. Hawthorn 101 65. St Kilda 90 66. St Kilda 80 67. West Coast 69 68. Fremantle 59 69. Sydney 49 70. GWS Giants 39 71. North Melbourne 29 72. Port Adelaide 19 73. Port Adelaide 9 74. Adelaide ROUND FIVE 75. North Melbourne 76. Adelaide 77. Hawthorn 78. Carlton 79. Richmond 80. Fremantle 81. St Kilda 82. West Coast 83. Essendon 84. Sydney 85. Port Adelaide ROUND SIX 86. Gold Coast 87. Adelaide 88. Essendon 89. Sydney ROUND SEVEN 90. Gold Coast 91. Essendon

Tiernan Stynes is still a couple of years away. However, he was also regarded very highly in basketball ranks and made a state junior representative side a little while ago,

The author here seems to feel that there's more risk involved in drafting ruckmen and KPP's than midfielders which is more or less the general view taken over the past decade and a half. The underrated zone where real value lives; how to avoid early mistakes: Inside the AFL draft "A potential key position player at the age of 18 is going to be further away from his physical prime than a midfielder, particularly since mids don’t need to fill out with quite as much muscle. "Rucks and KPPs also require skills that must be trained against fully-grown men - which is impossible at an early age - whereas the endurance and speed required in the midfield can be brought from the underaged ranks into the elite game." Of course, every once in a while, a tall KPP ruck or KPP comes along as the exception to the rule. Luke Jackson at #3 from two years ago is one of them.

The Herald Sun today published the names of 863 players who have nominated for next Wednesday's National Draft (and therefore the subsequent drafts). They include recently delisted Melbourne players, Kye Declase, Marty Hore and Jay Lockhart, Melbourne NGA's Mac Andrew and Andy Moniz-Wakefield as well as Kobi George and Ryan Koo Kwet Kim (not known if theyve been registered as Melbourne NGA's for the purposes of being drafted by the club. There's also a number of Casey players who have decided to try their luck and Father-son prospect Taj Woewodin. There may be others with connections - I'm not sure if it's an exhaustive list. Mac Andrew, Dandenong Stingrays Jack Bell, Casey Demons Andrew Courtney, Casey Demons Kye Declase, Melbourne Demons Corey Ellison, Casey Demons Zac Foot, Casey Demons Tom Freeman, Casey Demons Kobi George, Dandenong Stingrays Marty Hore, Melbourne Demons Ryan Koo Kwet Kim, Dandenong Stingrays Jay Lockhart, Melbourne Demons Tom McCaffrey, Casey Demons Lachlan Modica, Casey Demons Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Nightcliff James Munro, Casey Demons Miles Shepherd, Casey Demons Mitch White, Casey Demons Taj Woewodin, East Fremantle

Probably a firewall behind this but it contains some quotes about him from his coach at Bendigo, Danny O'Bree - AFL draft 2021: Bendigo’s bonanza crop of talented players The tallest Pioneer of them all, Jed Brereton, 201 cm, hailing from Leitchville Gunbower, could be a draft smoky, according to O’Bree. “His growth this year has been significant,” he said. “We tried him as a ruckman to start with but with his skillset we put him back as a defender and his improvement just went through the roof. “He just got better as the year went on “He’s a very, very good kick and he’s very good below his knees for a 200cm player. “His improvement in the next 12 months is going to be a really big watch.”

Correction. The HS update this morning and they now have 863 players including Kobi George. However, what we don't know is whether he remains an NGA for the purposes of the draft.

Alas, George has not nominated for this year’s draft according to the list of over 700 players published on today’s HS on line subscriber pages.

I think he’s somewhat better than Kobe Farmer who was overlooked by both AFL clubs who could have claimed him as a father-son. Woewodin has been nominated by Melbourne so he’s a bit ahead of where Kobe was last year.

I’m not certain whether this has been mentioned or not but a bigfooty poster Davo-27 has an interesting perspective on the draft. He ranks players in tiers starting with the elite tier and going down:- Elite: Daicos, Horne-Francis, (Callaghan, Darcy) (4) Top Tier: Hobbs, Erasmus, Ward, Goater, Amiss, Fahey, Van Rooyen, Wanganeen-Milera, M Johnson, Rachele (10) Quality: Roberts, Sinn, Long, Knevitt, Bazzo, Gibcus, Andrew, Chesser, Conway, Banks, MacDonald, Browne, Draper, Sonsie, Wilmot, Dittmar, Clarke, Curtis (18) Quality with some question marks: Molan, Windhager, Ferres, Hough, Aleer, Regan, Brown, Soligo, Owens, Jones, Tunstill, Lohmann, Taylor, Benning, C.Hamilton, Beecken, Rankin, Burgoyne, Jackson, Uwland, Motlop, Rayson, Archer, Willis, Sheldrick, Dib, Williams, Murray, Rossimel, H.Hamilton, Butler, Bergman, Howes, (19 yr olds) Doultree, Trudgeon, Cleary, Gribble (37) This is a good way to look at the overall list of players - there will be some players missing and some disagreements about how high or low players should be ranked but I think it’s a different way to look at the players available to be drafted.

I'm a big fan of Sheldrick - he impressed me in all of the games he played in but particularly, in the last one against South Australia. I regards him as a real junk yard dog type of player who will do the hard work work for his coach and can learn under Jack Viney. I understand that Geelong are very interested in him.

I’m not questioning what he said in an interview. These measurements were taken on Monday by AFL staff at the training session.

Running alongside that draft on the Herald Sun’s subscriber pages is a feature covering Monday’s training session at TBBO for Victorian draft hopefuls run by the AFL Academy coach Tarkyn Lockyer where players also had their measurements taken for the first time since the pre-season. There were reports last week that Mac Andrew had bulked up considerably from 70kg to close to 80kg but the official figures show that he’s still only 74kg. He’s also added 1cm in height.

There’s only eight days to go until the 2021 AFL National Draft so this is Cal Twomey’s last Phantom Form Guide. It’s not actually a phantom draft but rather, his ranking of top draft prospects.

All a bit strange this. A few weeks ago the Suns were struggling with their salary cap to the point where they tried desperately to ditch a player who ended up not wanting to leave. Now, they've managed to ditch a player to North Melbourne which is taking up the Suns' contractual obligations. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but ...

Rookie Me Central has finally put up their Taj Woewodin profile here.

Now … wasn’t that a time? We’ve certainly had some bizarre activity searching for that elusive flag, but that surely takes the cake!

Depends on what you mean by nailing every pick. Like everyone one of us who work, we can only do it with the tools we’re given. We can’t expect JT and his team to draft Jason Horne-Francis or Nick Daicos because they don’t have access to pick 1 and can’t match a father-son selection. It’s what they do with the selections they currently hold and if they can trade them and then it’s up to the coaches to develop the players they pick. On their past form, I’m far more confident than I was in the past that they will do well again for the club. That’s what nailing it will mean to me.

Yes - someone else’s hamstring and someone else’s ankle. However, because of the competition for that position, it’s also important for Jayden Hunt and Joel Smith to have strong pre seasons to win back their places.

In what we used to term “the normal course” i.e in the past when we didn’t make the finals, I think this week would have seen our youngest group of players back on track for the start of the preseason. The track watchers would have been out and about and the first reports on Demonland would have been coming through about who was there and who wasn’t and who was burning the house down at Gosch’s Paddock (or Casey Fields). And that’s the big question on the AFL site today ~ Feeling the heat: Who needs a big pre-season at your club? I reckon the writer covering Melbourne has it right. There’s going to be some pressure on Sam to produce the goods. “Sam Weideman A big summer on the track will give coach Simon Goodwin food for thought heading into 2022. The 24-year-old, who has played 49 games in six seasons, struggled to break into a settled line-up as the Demons steamrolled their way to their first premiership in 57 years, going goalless in three of his five games and falling behind Ben Brown and Tom McDonald as a tall target inside 50. Having been linked with a move away from the club, Weideman eventually re-signed for two more seasons and will be eager to press his claims to take one of the key forward roles. Speedster Oskar Baker and small forward Toby Bedford, who finished runner-up in VFL affiliate Casey's best and fairest award this season, are others on the fringe who will be keen to make an impression over the pre-season. - Brandon Cohen

We’ve all had some good laughs at Geelong’s expense about the age of their list, the way they appeared worn and tired late in the season and the recruiting strategy that got them there … but the reality is that the Cats have remained high on the AFL ladder for the better part of a decade and a half without going to the draft for a rebuild. For most of that time Geelong has rarely delved into the draft’s top ten. Yet in 2020, it came half a game and a near on field riot from Dustin Martin from a premiership. This year, the Cats loaded up with Jeremy Cameron, Isaac Smith and Shaun Higgins and were seconds away from finishing in top spot at the end of the home and away season and they still made the preliminary final. Is it possible to maintain long term success with a policy of mature age recruiting?

A draft pick trade was made today. Nothing really earth-shattering but still … Collingwood sends pick 55 to St Kilda in exchange for a future fourth-round pick tied to Adelaide's finishing position next year. The trade gives the Saints some extra draft points to withstand a challenge to their hold over NGA picks Mitchito Owens and Marcus Windhager. Obviously, this won’t help them save one or both of those players in the event that they are selected in the first 20 of the main draft.

Unlikely. He’s already gone on record as saying that he’s happy to go to whatever club selects him so why go through a charade to get to the MFC? Besides, he most likely is one of the 85% of eligible Victorians who has double vaxxed.