w00dy

you obviously do, I was just elaborating for the benefit of others... yes, it would be great for those grubs to talk about this one...

Nice one, it certainly took off, made something out of nothing. Will be interesting to see if this makes it to the media, haha... But just to reinterate, there are lots of reasons not to get carried away. Firstly, he's from Perth so he's likely to be there just visiting friends etc rather than visiting the eagles. Secondly he's on the corner of Rokeby and Roberts Roads, with Subi oval about 300 metres away, but he hardly looks dressed as if he's there for a medical. Rokeby road has lots of restaurants, bars, cafes etc. so he's likely to be just down there hanging out, doing some shopping etc. It's like seeing Ricky Petterd on Lygon Street, and he must have been having a medical with Carlton.

don't ask me why this was on an italian football website, but this is the story written by Burgan ahead of last years draft... what it indicates is that Neeld was quite involved, and had an idea of the types of players he was after... http://italyfootball.co.uk/inside-melbournes-draft-seminar/ would love to know the names of the players they were discussing...

My team given the current state of our list, assuming we take Wines at 4. Obviously we may get Pedersen and another mid, and may lose Martin. Back half a little top heavy for mine, but I think that's how we'll line up with Watts, Dunn and Garland all capable of playing small. McKenzie lucky to get a game, but gets a job as a defensive midfielder. Forward line looks much improved with Dawes and Byrnes in there. B: Nicholson Frawley Garland HB: Watts McDonald Dunn C: Grimes Sylvia Trengove HF: Howe Clark Bail F: Byrnes Dawes Martin R: Jamar Jones McKenzie I: Viney Blease Wines (Davey) E: Tapscott Strauss Sellar

I imagine that if he goes to the Pies, we're likely to get Dawes (unless they play him exclusively back, to replace Tarrant). If he comes to us, then there's not such a need for Dawes. Personally, I think he'd be more likely to come to us, the opportunity is there, where his spot in the Collingwood side would be borderline, with Lynch headed there with Cloke up forward, Brown and Reid down back, his prospects there would be hardly better than those for Dawes at the moment. Unlike others such as Lake, he's chasing a game each week, not a premiership...

While Cale has been disappointing, I thought he showed signs in a few games earlier in the year...Now, signs from this point in his career is not a pass mark, but I think that what he does offer is the run and spread which we struggle with... If he's got the attitude to play for Neeld and play his style, I think he'll be an important player for us, but that is a big if... don't know enough about Meridith, but I think Cale's upside still needs to be considered in any trade...

that makes three of us... funny that... he's referred to as an inside mid, but I see him doing more of his damage outside as he spreads from the contest so well... he's ability at the champs to not only win the ball, but then get on his bike and get it back, shows he can really do some damage outside as well as in...

and I've decided this is all GWS' fault and that stupid mini draft, which was designed to give them more established players, but instead has just been rorted and will provide them with high draft picks... no mini draft would mean O'Meara would be clear 1, Whitfield clear 2, with Viney falling through to our second round selection... God damn I hate GWS...

the great thing about living in Perth is that I will wake up tomorrow morning with the news, likely to put me in a bad mood, but at least there won't be any waiting around in the morning...

That's good news for us, do you have a link for the 2 to 7 ranking... Taking that on face value, it means there are five other players that they're considering for pick 2... Link? Unless GC really rate him there, I don't think they will bid, specially if they rate him at the lower end of the range, because there it's a greater risk we won't take him...

If I recall correctly, I was keen for the Dees to get him with the pick we took blease with... Let alone Strauss, and the eagles pounced and took him with the next selection.... Would seem to be the right call, 1+ for BP

How many minor premierships did they win before getting a flag? Hardly a fluke, especially against that lions side And I've only heard good things about Hinkley, so you aren't really hitting the mark for me I must admit...

The hawks had picks three and five when they drafted buddy and roughy... Imagine if they traded out 5 to us for yze and robbo, and we got buddy, who would've won that trade?

that annoys me, manager passing judgement on the culture of other clubs...

If he's going, I think this could be a situation where the Pies want him out the door, more than he's wanting to leave. After securing Cloke, and gaining the Q Stick, they'd need the salary cap relief, especially if they want to convince Wellingham to stay. Given he's contracted, I'm sure they'd be willing to trade him cheaply to somewhere he is willing to go, just to get him off the books. 3rd round, even 4th round draft choice, or someone like Ricky Petterd, is what we would be looking at I'd imagine. No issues with it from me, then you've got Clark as the 1st forward, Dawes as the 2nd forward, Martin as the 3rd forward/ruck (aka our forwards coach). Very similar setup to the one that worked for the Pies. Which also brings me to the main point, which is Lynch going to Collingwood doesn't take Dawes' spot, brings back the old structure they had with Brown playing, so he may not leave, but it puts much more pressure on him to perform, and it really tightens the screws on their salary cap.

http://mobile.news.com.au/sport/afl/magpies-push-to-front-of-q-as-it-appears-more-likely-sharrod-wellingham-will-head-west/story-fnelctok-1226484965788 It seems he's keen to head back West... Q stick perhaps going to Collingwood, not sure how they will afford him though?

you wouldn't think he'd quit if he didn't have an offer elsewhere... either he was going to be delisted and went first, or he has at least one club that's interested.

Called the game over after Hawthorn kicked a goal late in the third quarter I think it was last night... Got slightly ahead of himself. Doesn't help his cause that they have him calling on his own...

Melbourne circles Sharrod Wellingham as Collingwood midfielder remains unsigned We're all over him according to to Jon Ralph, which means he's probably headed anywhere but Melbourne, but read into it what you will.

Agreed, but being the last year of his contract, it's likely to be minimal, as it was most likely front ended. So I doubt it would free up much cap room, but not giving new contracts likely to be front ended to moloney etc would save some cap space.

not sure, but I'd be keen to keep Stef, I think he has a lot to offer, gives us a lot more around the ground than Jamar. would want to get something decent before giving him up.

just saw him on the coverage of the game today on Foxtel. Made a comment about how Melbourne failed to lure Ross Lyon when Freo did. Are we sure WYL isn't in fact Iron Mike?

The key reason why freo talked directly to Ross was that they couldn't approach his manager as he also managed Mark Harvey. The conflict of interest would've been too much and potentially killed the deal. Nothing wrong with the MFC talking to his manager, and not the man himself, these were just very unusual circumstances.

This. Can't say I've seen much of him play, but from what I'm reading he'd fit right in with what we need. We've got plenty of key backs, but no smaller running backman, and we rely on Chip for our run out of the back half. From the sounds of it on the Carlton board at Bigfooty, he's a confidence player, and some injuries the last couple of seasons have dented that confidence. They were confident he'd be able to contribute at another club. 2nd in the Blues BnF two years ago, lets hope that club is us.

With Lucas Cook now on the scrap heap it would seem, I've asked myself to look at our drafting since BP was at the Demons. I remember doing a similar exercise for CAC a few years ago, and didn't seem to think he'd done all that badly apart from 2001, with many of the drafts we had good picks in just turning out to be terrible overall, with the Dees making the best of a bad lot. Anyways, this is about BP, and here's his record. I've bolded the picks that you can argue are a clear win. I don't think it's fair to compare who we could've had at these picks, there's no way to get recruiting 100% correct. But you can look back and if there were a number of options better than the one you took, then clearly you could've done better. 2008: National Draft 1. J. Watts 17. S. Blease 19. J. Strauss 35. J. Bennell 51. N. Jetta 64. R. Bail Pre-Season Draft: 1. L. Jurrah Rookie Draft: 1. J. McKenzie 17. R. Healy 33. D. Hughes 2009: National Draft 1. T. Scully 2. J. Trengove 11. J. Gysberts 18. L. Tapscott 34. M. Gawn 50. J. Fitzpatrick Pre-Season Draft: 1. J. Macdonald Rookie Draft: Nil 2010: National Draft: 12. L. Cook 33. J. Howe 50. T. Davis 53. T. McDonald Rookie Draft: 14. D. Nicholson 31. M. Evans 48. K. Lawrence 63. C. Johnston 75. R. Campbell 2011: National Draft: 36. R. Taggert 52. J. Tynan 54. J. Sellar Rookie Draft: 6. J. Sheahan 24. T. Couch 42. J. Magner 59. L. Williams What is clear is that BP did will with his later round draft selections, but struggled to hit the ball out of the park on the big selections. Of his 7 picks in the top 20 none would be considered to be a clear win. Even Blease who has shown some potential this year, players selected between him and our next pick (Bennell) included Luke Shuey, Hayden Ballantyne, Jackson Trengove, David Zaharakis, Dayne Beams and Daniel Hannebery. Watts will be a good player, but we all know who we could've had instead. Trengove has had a quiet year, and will improve, but there are some great players who went ahead of him. And Scully, well maybe it is a win given he's given someone else two chances to do what he couldn't do in seven. We will have to wait and see, but based on his form for us and GWS, this was another fail from BP. The standout selection from BP is Jeremy Howe, who will be a very good player for us. Players of value were picked up late, including Jordie McKenzie, Rohan Bail, Dan Nicholson and Jimmy Magner. All great to add depth to the list, but unfortunately he didn't nail those first round picks to give us the class we required. Add this to the Cale Morton / Grimes / A. Maric draft that CAC finished up on, and we're really lacking some class unfortunately.