Ron Burgundy

Would've been sensational to have picked him up as a rookie. Timing seemed to be against us though - quite simply, we found out about him far too late in the process. Rockliff seems to be another that we would've snagged with a late ND or rookie pick. Again, a bit of bad luck. I hear we were an inch away from drafting Luke Shuey too, but then elected not to. West Coast picked him up with the next pick. All of these players would be in our best 15 if they were on our list. Got lucky with Jurrah though (but for the unfortunate events earlier this year).

Watts will be.

Viney for a second round pick would be great. I trust the new regime on which kids to recruit, but getting another very established elite player is needed IMO. My "Wish List" is: - (draft period) Cloke, Boak (one of the compo picks), Viney (2nd round pick), a couple of really good future young midfield stars with our other 1st round picks, some Magner types with our rookie picks, and a mature age quick small forward who's coming off a good season in the VFL (or has been delisted by another AFL club) with a lower end national draft pick. - (injury list) everyone fit and raring to go, especially Mitch Clark. - (re-signing) the signing of all of the current players we need to keep asap - see Good Times Grimes post above for those players. - (coaching) Junior McDonald to rejoin the club in the off season as a new assistant coach, and the club to extend Neeld's contract for another year as a further vote of confidence in him.

I was absolutely stoked when I heard we landed Mitch Clark. Thought at the time, this is a simply mammoth get - particularly given the circumstances in which we managed to sign him. Little did I know then just how good he would be. I reckon he's been the best player we've recruited in decades (possible apologies to Jeff White). Quite simply, it is a massive relief that Chris Dawes rejected us beforehand.

Tom McD is one the genuine highlights of the year thus far. I can see this bloke marshalling the defence in 20 years from now. He looks like an 800 gamer - already.

I've now had a night's sleep. Still very disappointed, but more philosophical now. Feel gutted for Mitch as he was potentially headed for AA. But: 1. We have him for many, many more years. He's a committed Demon, and one would think he'll fully recover (given his age). He can still exercise his obvious leadership influence around the club for the rest of the season. 2. It allows Neeld to test the ability of some other players prior to going into the first draft where he actually knows the list. Given the importance of this draft, that's not a wholly bad thing. We have other forward options who now need to stand up (eg, Petterd, Cook). One would think it will enable him to better inform his view of the ability of some other players now. 3. Injuries are part of the game. All teams experience them. It can lead to other players being unearthed - eg, for us, Stef Martin last year. One would hope another player will stand up, and perhaps it'll be someone who may not otherwise have had the opportunity. 4. Perhaps Mitch can lend 60 seconds of his time each week to form a comedy duo with our resident comedian, Maxy Gawn. Don't know how funny that'd be though.

Neeld understands the importance of having some hard nuts in and around the contest. That's why we brought in Magner and Couch. I don't reckon he'll be desperate to show Brent the door - he has more class than many of the other hard nuts on the list. That said, it doesn't mean Neeld won't be knocking down the door to recruit a few speedy, elite level midfielders at the end of this year. But all good lists require balance and depth, and I think Brent still has something to offer us.

I hope the club has learnt the obvious lessons from not offering Junior another contract. Some players are important to a club in more ways than simply racking up possessions each week. Moloney won the B&F last year. He can play well, even though he's not had a great season thus far. He has also been a committed Demon. He should be re-signed.

I feel sick. And suicidal.

He will. I'm absolutely stoked about that game. So many positives. For all of the Dunn and Bate haters on this site, show some credit where it's due. IMO the continual bashing of these two guys is boring in the extreme - they're both hard at it, and bring much needed experience to this list. In fact, if Dunn was an Aussie Digger POW in WW2, I'm convinced he'd be the most popular guy in the prison camp as he'd constantly be stirring his captors and standing up for his mates. We need this bloke. Davey - good game. Seemed to regain some confidence. He really added to our forward line. Looked to have recovered some pace too. Sylvia. I have watched that raging bull goal about 10 times already. I really love this bloke in the red and the blue. He's as classy as anyone in the game. Clark. He is genuinely in All Australian form. Hope he's okay for this weekend. Neeld. Surely his quality is there for all to see now. In spades. Yesterday, he created so many options where our coaches previously would've made us (in particular our forward line) look flat footed and one dimensional. There's a real spirit in this list that seems to have emerged. That Essendon win was one of the most important wins I have ever seen in my time following this club. Bring on the Lions.

IMO recruiting Sellar provides just another example of Neeld identifying deficiencies in our list, and then seeking to plug holes where needed. Sellar, at pick 54 (or whatever), has been a great pick up.

This list needs class. More class. All of the players you have mentioned here, whilst having deficiencies, have class. We can't have a team full of Magners. If we're ever going to be top 4, we also have to have class. I will also be watching the progress of Michael Evans once he recovers - he has showed some good glimpses previously.

I've heard Sheedy speak a number of times at various functions. I have always been very impressed - he has vision and a passion for people and the game. He is also a provocateur - and I like that. Sheedy sniping us from the sidelines has not be the problem with the MFC over the past few years.

" ... and I'm Melbourne now. I will be with Melbourne for the rest of my career. I'm loving every minute of it." He is family to me.

I think McKenzie will be fine. I get the feeling that Neeld is only now starting to see what we all love about him. Not only that, he plays a very important negating role, and he does this better than anyone else on the list. Totally safe IMO. I'd be disappointed to see Bennell and Morton traded/cut from the list at the end of this year. I think their upside is still good and it would be premature to end their MFC journey now. I continue to be devastated and totally dismayed that we didn't pick Darling over Cook, but I find reassurance in some posts recently that seem to suggest he's developing nicely. Simply cannot cut this project early - that would be ridiculous in the extreme, and it would simply crystallise what still appears to be a massive selection mistake.

And back to Jared. Sign him up. He's clearly part of the future.

I still can't believe Bailey shelved Junior (a genuine leader and one of our very best MFC clubmen in decades), and yet seemingly protected our 'talented' youngsters for so long. More than anything from that period, this annoys me the most.

We need midfield class. Everyone knows that. Probably Cloke though.

RR, we seem to agree on many things - but not Bennell. Would you please get off his back. The guy's got class and we need to keep developing him. His upside is massive IMO. And, for what it's worth, the Eagles were apparently red hot for him for the pick after we selected him, and I reckon they know how to identify a good WA junior (eg, Mr Darling). Back to the main purpose of this thread, I hope to see a fit and fighting Clint Bartram back in the starting line up in 2013.

Pick 3?!

A mate of mine is a GWS Captain's Club member - essentially an inner sanctum GWS coterie containing about 20-25 corporate partners. He has invited me to several functions, most recently one at which John Quinn (Head of Sports Science) and Alan McConnell (Head of Development) spoke - this was only a fortnight ago. In short, I was very impressed. John Quinn has a brilliant CV and he appears to be very well respected in this area. Spoke extremely well too. I was astonished at how scientific the game is at AFL level - it was clear we were simply miles off the pace prior to the new regime entering the fold (ie, Neeld, Misson and Craig). John Quinn gave a fantastic presentation - no one wanted it to finish. Following it, my one take out was that, as supporters on the outer, we literally have no idea what goes on with match day considerations/game plans etc - it's literally laughable the gulf between the analysis of the internet keyboard heroes here (including me) and the actual inner sanctum of a club. Anyway, I digress. The GWS appear to be a professional outfit. They have come a long way in a short time in a region that is not particularly well disposed to the code. They have recruited tough, young, talented players - arguably unlike us. It's somewhat ironic that they took our number one draft pick. Don't get me wrong - I hope we pump the bejeezus outta them this weekend. But I don't wish them heaps of ill will. They're just another struggling sports team trying to find relevance in a region which isn't really giving them a natural leg up. The other thing I've learnt from attending these events is that Sheedy is a bloody legend. I used to hate him. I now think he's a great speaker and motivator - in short, a legend of the game. At the time I thought the MFC was absolutely inspired in appointing Bailey. I now think we missed a great opportunity when we overlooked Sheedy - I think our list would be in much better shape now had we given him the gig 5 years ago. That said, I'm stoked we have Neeld now. This decision, I believe with absolutely certainty, was the correct one.

Left field perhaps - but in my view Mitch Clark is in All Australian form. He has just been so bloody good. However, his chances will no doubt be cruelled by selectors who favour selecting players from the top sides each year.

Gaff was pick 4 in 2010. He will be a great player. Losing a number one draft pick is horrendous - particularly so early into that player's career. However, there's a massive silver lining to this - and its name is Mitch Clark. He's arguably our most important player, and it seems we only had the dough needed to get the Clark deal done as a result of Scully giving us the bird. So, I'm cool with that. I'm happy we got Clark. Scully's happy to be at GWS. And I'm happy the boring little nerd is there too.

Perhaps we don't have to pay 'overs' to get Beams to the club - just add a full-time tattooist to the football department team. In fact, at Queen's Birthday next year, you could line him up on Swan, and ink him up even further in the sheds at half time. That'd be sure to do Swan's head in - he wouldn't know what's going on.

I hate trumpets. And bugles.