John Dee

The AFL are a law unto themselves. Clubs cannot afford to upset them lest they suffer the wrath of the weapon of mass destruction, the fixture, against them. The commission could take submissions from clubs who believed that they deserved a priority pick, and where that pick should be. This would placate they clubs. The automatic provision of the priority pick is the problem, and must be removed.

The commission would have to set out the ground rules and say that there is no questioning of their descisions, like in all other matters. They should say that they will look at the performance over the past few seasons and a clubs current form, and how hard they were trying in the last few rounds, the harder the better.

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The automatic priority pick is the problem. Leave the draft the way it is and make any priority pick the behest of the AFL commission.

Who at this club are you likening to ML Ciccone?

What we have to do is something I have never seen us do - TAG MITCHELL!!!! We need someone who will spend the whole day shoulder to shoulder with Mitchell; where is Stephen Newport when you want him?

Last Saturday's perfomance is all that Maric has to do to get a permanent place in the side; week in, week out.

Casey's game is on Sunday at 2PM in Frankston. They would probably take all three emergencies up there to cater for any unforseen circumstances and put the three unselected players on a plane back to Melbourne early Saturday evening.

The match is in Darwin. We have to make sure that we don't go in too tall.

This gets to the nub of the issue. Many on here don't understand that we can't play the brand of football that will combat the more highly developed teams. If you look at Gysberts up close, you will see a boy doing a man's job. He has talent to burn, but is two or three pre-seasons away from being an A-Grade midfielder, particularly against physically developed teams. McKenzie is more physically developed, but still has a fair way to go. Skully and Trengove have a long way to go. Nicholson, Evans, Straus, Blease and many others will not be fully physcally developed for two or three years. We beat the sides who cannot present a midfield replete with seasoned footballers; we don't just beat them, we thrash them. We cannot compete against the more physically developed sides, yet; they don't just beat us, they thrash us.

MacDonald's knee injury is more serious than first thought. He will struggle to get up for the Port Adelaide game.

Rookies are given automatic two-year contracts. They can get a third year if both they and the club agree. McKenzie agreed to stay as a third year rookie, and good on him for doing that. Nicholson and Evans are only into the first year of their two-year contracts.

Not true. They can stay as rookies next year.

Brad Green became a veteran and this opened up a spot for a nominated rookie. With not much to go on other than disclosed form, they chose Newton to use this spot; the decision had to be made before the start of the season. As the nominated rookie, Newton must be put onto the main list for 2010 or delisted. Please make it the latter. Evans and Nicholson are on the list as replacements for Long Term Injuries. They can remain on the rookie list for another year without any issues.

As has been mentioned elsewhere, I think you will find that Nicholson was elevated to replace Fitzpatrick. We still have room to elevate another rookie, and the time is coming, I am not sure which round it is, where we can play a rookie without a LTI.

FFS build a bridge, and get over it. Jmac was one of my favourite demons of recent times but at 34, going on 35, and with a soft-tissue injuries catching up with him was never going to be a great force this year.

Players gained via trades just muddy the waters. Under the AFL's form of socialism, you must use at least three draft picks and to do that you must have spots on your list for each of them. Last year, or was it the year before, they changed the rules and said that promoted rookies could be one of your mandatory three picks. On a related matter, rookies not promoted via a LTI but as a result of veteran's allowance must be promoted or delisted at the end of the season. Juice is currently in this position. Again muddying the waters, and if someone knows for sure, I would appreciate the information, are the rookies that can be played after the point, round 11, or 12 or so, where you can play a rookie without a LTI. I would assume that the same rules apply to them as to the ones replacing players on a LTI. That is they can go back onto the rookie list, notwithstanding any other rookie rules.

Not nescessarily; promoted rookies are now allowed to be one of your mandatory three picks.

I sure it was Fitzpatrick. I makes sense too. The club was worried about the ruck situation and wanted to have a guaranteed pathway for Campbell to play whenever he was fit; who saw Martin's form coming? By placing Nicholson on the list to replace Fitzpatrick, it also gives them an option to continue to play him once the point in the season is reached where you can play a, I think it is only one, rookie with out need of a LTI. It used to be Round 12, but with the byes, I don't know specifically when it is this year; it is before Fitzpatrick is allowed back. Just on Martin, don't you love the way he is starting to channel Jimmy Stynes and becoming an extra mid-fielder once the ruck contest is complete.

Really? At that height he would have been first ruck in some sides.

We have Spencer and Grimes out for the season. Newton was named as our promoted rookie that we were allowed to have because of our veteran, Green. Evans was named as a replacement for Spencer or Grimes; I can't remember which. Nicholson was named as a replacement for Fitzpatrick and will therefore lose his upgraded status when, and if, Fitzpatrick comes back, even for Casey. However, that point is moot as the point in the season where you can play rookies regardless of LTI will have been reached before Fitzpatrick's LTI period has elapsed. We can play Campbell whenever we want be naming him to replace Spencer or Grimes, whomever was not used for Evans.

6. McKenzie 5. Rivers 4. Gysberts 3. McDonald 2. Trengove 1. Watts

Am I living in a time warp?

Didn't play any games. Football was not a priority for McLean, which Melbourne obviously knew. He was cleared to the filth for a record price; in those days you could offer money. One of the greatest trades Melbourne has ever done.

I wish I had something better to do ... A defensive tactic is just that. It is designed to limit the opposition team's offense. It must be accepted that this must limit your own offense. It does not mean that you have conceded the game; it means that you have decided to play a low scoring game. This is a time-worn tactic that can mean that a clearly lower rated team can, with luck, beat a far more highly rated team. Footscray against Essendon circa 2000 ring any bells; I am sure there have been other examples. Most people in this thread have approached the matter with an already formed opinion and clutched at anything they perceive supports it. Where are the people who have bemoaned Bailey's lack of any Plan B? They are probably the same people who are now bemoaning the evidence of one.