demoniac

In the Melbourne vernacular there are 2 chances of getting the number 2 draft pick from the 2012 draft pick by trading a mid 20s pick in the 2014 draft. Buckleys. And. Nunn.

Good news that Jackson is continuing. I had doubts about his appointment given he was Essendon CEO when their decline began but so far so good.

Natural ball winner in close, good overhead, tackles hard and can drift into some good attacking positions. Some of his kicking last night was poor but generally his kicking is of a reasonable standard. Came to the club as a 22 year old veteran of 11 games coming back from a broken leg. Has demonstrated enough to suggest that with a full pre season he should fitter than this year and have improved in the areas he needs to work on.

or a Key Defender in a team that plays finals and even wins some.

So you think a 26 year old defender leaving Melbourne and probably ending up at one of the strongest clubs in the AFL such as Hawthorn or Geelong, one of the clubs that wins those Premiership things will be replaced and forgotten? Jesus wept. How do you think a Scarlett or a Silvagni would have gone playing key defence behind midfields getting right thrashed week in week out, year in year out? Of course maybe you don't think the Hawks or the Cats are much good at list management. The Cats apparently are willing to offer him a 5 year deal.

In the era of free agency the issue of priority picks or trade market value free agent compensation will be central to the fortunes of the smaller clubs like us. The bigger clubs will consistently use free agency to recruit good or great players seeking premierships from smaller clubs which will make it even more challenging for the later to build a team capable of making the top 4 and having a chance of winning the flag. I don't blame Rivers for leaving and I don't blame Frawley if he does leave too. They're not seeking more money just the chance to play finals footy and win a flag before the end of their careers. But for us the compensation pick is way under the trade market value of the player. And thats the key issue. Fix that or start handing out priority pics. Otherwise stop carrying on about equalisation and just let us die the death of a thousand cuts.

I'd be backing both. They both can find plenty of the ball which is a trait we lack. The best teams have 10 - 12 mids. Some play on the ball, some play half forward, some play half back.

There is going to lots of drivel and waffle in the media re the draft and trades over the next few months. Most of it will be made up by journos and commentators to fill column inches and air time and hopefully hopefully generate a headline or 2.

Yze Magic?

If you don't ask you don't get. Club has done what it had to do. Who cares what anybody else thinks.

Got crunched, got up, got to the player with the ball, layed a tackle which stripped the ball from that player. Salem has obvious talent though like you I am surprised he is not dominating this year!

Odd if he was dropped. Has worked super hard defensively. The Tall Utility/Second Ruck role is pretty tough to master. Can't see what he has done wrong.

The improvement this year is obvious and early doors seem to have improved our drafting in the last 2 drafts under Todd Viney and Jason Taylor. But prior recruiting errors and development failures mean we still have a long way to go. But at least we've started to recruit better and we have the best credentialled footy department we've had since.... 1964?

Essentially the dominant theme of free agency will be great players from weaker clubs moving to better resourced stronger clubs lured not by a more lucrative contract but by opportunity to play for perennial finals teams that consistently challenge for a flag. It will also facilitate greater ease of movement for lesser players but their moves will not impact on their former and new clubs like the moves of the good and great players will. This is the obvious lesson of the consistent choice in the salary cap era of players from the best teams to accept less than market value to stay at their club because it offers them a greater chance of playing finals and Grand Finals. Most good and great players will choose to maximise winning over maximising their contract. Having said that it is hard to reject the players desire for great employment flexibility. But there has to be a balance. The current FA system provides more of that than previous. For mine FA at 6 years would cement the Premer League Table-isation of the AFL ladder and the AFLPA needs to understand the impact that might have on the smaller clubs and on their members who ultimately sustain those clubs and the game itself. I am ok with FA player's signing before the end of the season with another club to give them greater security but when they've signed their current club needs to be notified and the player needs to accept they might be sent on gardening leave.

I thought the all your eggs in one basket investment was made when he was at the Swans but went pear shaped during his Saints tenure.

Calling Yze Magic...

I beg to differ. To me Buckley looked shocked that Robbo knew. Take it as read that the Pies are heavily into Frawley.

One day in the year 2000 I woke mid morning feeling too poorly to go watch the Dees play the Pies at the G. A few hours later I decided to drag myself to the G and arrived at half time just in time to see the Wiz kick 9 against the Pies in the second half.

Can't blame Frawley if he departs to a better resourced club that plays finals regularly and even wins flags. I hope he stays at the right price which is obviously not $800,000 a year. "Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone" Quality key defenders are both hard to find and essential to sustained success which is borne out by the teams reportedly pursuing Frawley which seem to include Hawthorn, Geelong, Sydney and Collingwood who between them have won 8 of the past 9 flags. To me that says something.

Don't need to get Allan Pease in to decipher Buckley's body language. Obvious Pies are into Frawley.

Watched R Taggert play for Sturt against West Adelaide on Saturday arvo. Did not have much impact at all as lowly Wests upset the favoured Sturt. Generally found himself where the ball was not. Juice Newton and Jace Bode started well for Norwood against South Adelaide on Friday night under lights at the Parade. Juice fell away but Bode battled on as Norwood almost lost a game they had been dominating.

They did have to reduce the size of their list. But they also have a deliberate strategy to trade out selected first round picks for first rounders to spread the age of their list over time. Their is not much quality in the players you list as leaving apart from Tyson and possibly Adams.

One issue for the players in terms of mitigation has to be that they did not to my knowledge seek counsel of either the AFLPA or their individual player managers about a supplement regime that they obviously had concerns about given they sought formal written assurance from the club that it was WADA compliant.

In 2014 if you are getting smashed in the midfield it is going to be a struggle. Peter Jackson and the recruiting staff can't just click their fingers and improve the list overnight. Generally the last 2 draft/trade periods have been an obvious improvement on what went on before that. Can't see that Todd Viney and Jason Taylor have done too much wrong.

We just don't have enough natural midfielders. Players who can find the ball, win it, and use it. Riley looms as one. We need about 7 or 8 more, enough to play some on the flanks like the better teams do.