Lord Travis

Correct technically, however unlike in the past they now go into a deficit with their points. So in 2019 their points will be negative xxxx, meaning they lose all their highest selection downwards until the deficit is met. So they'll likely lose their first and second round selections next year to pay for Blakey this year, if they makes sense.

The players taken with the academy and father/son picks would not have been available to us anyway. So while the pick number slides down, we are still selecting from the exact same players being available.

Our list has enough grunt and inside ball winning ability, but needs more players with elite kicking skills who can provide run. We also need more tall forward coverage, as there are only two on our entire list now. So while we are well stocked for inside mids, Bytel is a talented player who is well worth considering if his body is right. If we do hit the draft with 23 and 28 I’m hoping for Williams and O’Halloran.

Agreed. He’s a first round talent who’s slid due to back injuries this year. He’s not really what we need, but if his body is ok he’d have to be considered. Very talented and determined young ball winner.

He's the better of the two Wagner boys. Perfect option for a rookie spot, won a VFL BnF for our affiliate club in Casey and therefore he knows the club, players, coaching staff and gameplan.

Matching picks due to Academy, Father/Son etc will mean our first pick is around 30. The player we'll be drafting is essentially pick 23 though, as the others bumping our pick back were not available to be taken anyway eg. Blakey will be picked up by Swans after a top 10 pick is bid for him, thus pushing our first pick back.

Good to see him impressing first session with his new teammates. He's a good runner clearly and I'm hoping he can make the wing position his own. By all reports he was also a stand out with the skills at training. He was an elite kick as a junior and before concussion issues at Gold Coast. If he can realise his potential, he will become a running kicking weapon for us. Great pickup for steak knives in the May deal!

There's definitely going to be some decent mids still available at our picks in the 20s, but I still feel we need another key forward on the list to develop, and Williams is the best of what may potentially be available. From the little I've seen of the mids, O'Halloran looks the goods across multiple matches. He's got good ball winning ability, pace, good burst from stoppages and can push forward too. Apparently a very good leader also, but may be gone by our picks. I've only seen Turners highlights package, but jeez it leaves a lot to be desired. Headless chook with poor disposal.

My understanding is they will enforce an imaginary zone of sorts, and have to start in the traditional wing position on the edge of the centre square. Nothing to stop them just charging back to fill space though, and I assume many teams without dominant ruckman and inside mids will use that strategy and quickly flood back and negate/congest. The AFL creating this new rules to combat congestion are ultimately causing more congestion. Coaches and clubs will always find a way to employ new defensive strategies within the rules. And fair enough too. Bruise free aerial ping pong is boring. Bring on contested footy!

I'd hope our coaches instruct our players to do this in that scenario. Giving away a professional free kick to clog up space is a viable tactic. It would also highlight to the AFL and rules committee how stupid the rule is that it can be deliberately taken advantage of to the detriment of the team being rewarded a free kick. We're lucky however that the 6-6-6 rule advantages us more than most other teams, as we have a dominant ruckmen and dominant ball winners. 2019 is going to be huge for us!

Will likely receive a bid anywhere from 30 onwards, which we would then match. We wouldn't match a bid higher than that and will use both our picks in the 20s to draft others. While Bedford has some good qualities, he doesn't have great output. Across 4 matches in the champs, he averaged 12 touches a game and didn't register a single score whilst playing as a small forward. The potential is there though, so I think he'd be a good addition to the list with a late pick. Definitely better than say Dion Johnstone. If he can build his tank to get to more contests he could have more impact, as he is competitive, loves to tackle and uses his agility to work through traffic well. Will need to start hitting the scoreboard though.

Pretty much bang on IMO. Our team looks well balanced. Williams would be a good long term tall option. Bedford could become a decent small forward who can push up the ground. A bit of more pace through the midfield and front half with the other picks such as O'Halloran, Sturt etc and we're sorted for options of all kinds all across the ground. I can't remember a better Melbourne list in my lifetime. The list we had in the early-mid 90s had stars such as Schwarz and Lyon, but weren't as well-rounded as this current list. Exciting times!

O'Halloran and Duursma would be good options. Haven't seen enough of Foley or Butters to make judgement, but from what I've read Butters will likely go in the teens before our pick. Turner looks average. There's a number of quality quick aggressive midfielders who are likely to be available at our picks, but they're all very short at 177cms or less. While I don't mind a short player if they can play (such as Viney or Spargo), we can't have too many of them in the team at once, so I hope we don't pick multiple short players. Williams should be taken at 23 if he's there. Fils our greatest need and has serious potential. Agreed on Williams. He fills our greatest need and has very unique and exciting attributes for a tall. With the quality and competitiveness of our list now, we can afford to risk drafting these types instead of going for more 'competitive' ball winning mids. Williams could develop into a very hard tall to match up on. Think Ben Brown with the leap of Joe Daniher. Whether he can reach the potential is the issue, as he hasn't been consistent and would be taken at the top end of the draft if he had. Bedford will come to us at a later pick, and looks a great option. He's quick, agile, hard working, does the team things with blocking and releasing teammates by hand etc. Could be a good small forward capable of pushing up the ground for patches. Reminds me a bit of Daniel Rioli, but slightly more mongrel and less magic. To say he's more impressive than Rankine though is a stretch. Rankine is a ridiculous talent who kicks bags of goals or sets them up. He's got elite pace, elite agility, elite skills, elite decision making, x-factor, you name it. Going by statistics, he should be the number 1 pick this year AND would've been number 1 pick last year as a 17 year old in that draft if eligible. He's the total package.

Still reckon Bugg offers more than a few others remaining on our list. I’d be happy if we brought him back, though I don’t think that’s going to happen. He’s got great work ethic and competitive attitude, on top of being flexible. He’s the perfect depth player IMO. Surely Carlton would pick him up. He’d be in their best 10-15 players.

We get two cracks at them next season and I’m expecting to beat them at least once.

Not sure what you mean? As steak knives to the May trade, this is as good as it gets. Former pick 5 who has already proved himself to be a good player at AFL level. Get him past the concussion/neck issues and we've got another Brayshaw on our hands (in terms of possible impact). KK's skillset and physical attributes make him a potential elite footballer. I hope he can realise his potential and pick up his early career form where he finished second only to Ablett in their BnF (ahead of Lynch, May and other very good footballers). We're crying out for a good wingman to compliment our tough inside midfielders, and he could be the perfect option there. Looks good in the red and blue!

Hopefully Knightmares draft comes to fruition and we land Bailey Williams with our first pick. He's got serious potential and fills the greatest need on our list.

Agreed. He might not be starring now, but Tyson played some quality football for us and has played over 100 games. In 2014 he finished second in the BnF to Jones in his first year with us at age 20-21. He was a bees [censored] away from winning it off Jones, and would have been a worthy winner after a stellar season. Knee injury 2015. Finished fourth in our BnF in 2016 against some quality players in a team playing well for patches and just missing the 8. 2017 he was limited by a knee injury. 2018 he struggled. The way he's been spoken about and criticised on here this year has been unwarranted IMO. I wish him well at North, as he's a good bloke who played some good footy for us and chose to come when we were basket case. Here's a bit of a discussion point; Tyson was better than Petracca at the same age! Regarding DFAs, doesn't seem like we'll pick anyone up. I'm a bit surprised we moved so many players, as our list appears like it will come short? Perhaps we will re-rookie some like Bugg?

Haven’t read the article yet, but this kid will go top 5-10 and is the most rounded midfielder in this draft. He’ll be a gun midfielder in time. He’s got amazing balance, recovery, clean hands and turn of pace. I’d kill to have him in red and blue but he’s well out of our reach. Alas, maybe we can lure him in a few years time!

Wouldn’t think we’d bother personally. He was poor as a forward and average at best as a defender. Better to move him on and get fresh talent coming through. Not everyone is Neville Jetta. He was the exception, not the standard.

I posted in the other ladder predictor thread, but I also had Richmond and Melbourne going 1 and 2. Did not have the Cats that high however! Adelaide will likely jump into the 8, possibly as high as 4th, due to their very easy draw. Very similar to Pies this year, they'll get to bank 6-7 wins against the bottom 4 teams alone unless there are drastic improvements from those lowly teams. Even with our tough draw, I still had us finishing second. If we're consistent, then there is no limit to high we can climb. This group is ready, and 2019 might be our year!

If he’s there at 23 then surely we take him. Hasn’t put it together consistently yet, but he’s got all the attributes to be a damaging and dominant player. Does anyone have the jumping test results from draft combine? This guys got the best leap I’ve seen in years.

I did a run through and here's how it turned out. 1. Richmond 2. Melbourne 3. Eagles 4. Adelaide 5. Bombers 6. Pies 7. Swans 8. Cats 9. Hawks 10. North 11. Brisbane 12. GWS 13. Port 14. Bulldogs 15. Freo 16. Saints 17. Carlton 18. Gold Coast Despite a hard draw we finish second. I gave us one win one loss against the other top 4 teams. If we are consistent, we will make top 4. Hawks and Giants to drop out of the 8. Adelaide and Essendon to rise into the 8. Gold Coast clear last. They play Carlton at home in the early rounds, and if they don't win that I struggle to see what match they will actually win. Probability says they'll win at least a game or two, but it's really hard to see where. Their current list is the worst of any club in my lifetime. Comfortably worse than all of Fitzroy, us and Blues at their lowest.

We've got a plethora of small and mid sized players as needed, but look at the talls. Other clubs might only play one or two, but they have others on their list that are either developing or are depth. We have no depth in this position. None. Zilch. Our list is one of the best in the league, but this is a thread about analysing our needs, and I'd have thought tall forwards were the obvious place to start. Tall forwards on list of approximately 40: TMac, Weid That balance is way off, and I'm hoping we can land a decent one come draft time.

The fact that Frost and Mac would be considered our tall forward depth options speaks volumes of the current state of our list. Our midfield is strong with decent depth, our backline is now chocked full of talent and proven proven performers, but our forward line is now severely lacking. We need more tall forwards on the list to develop.