Lord Travis

Not good news that Lever left the track early with knee issues. Were any track watchers there? Any further info on Lever?

Key word there being “many”, not any. For tall forwards we have none. Would’ve been a smart move to hold onto Pedo for another year as backup even if his form wasn’t as good. Some backup is better than no backup.

We still have our 2019 pick and need to use it I believe based on that 4 year cycle rule. It will be good to get some elite young talent in again next year. Taylor and co landed Clarry and Weid last time they had first round picks!

Disagree. Watch the highlights clip below from his first year when he was fit and confident. All his best moments came bursting from the wing or through the middle. Some great pieces of play there where he outmarks Mitch McGovern, takes off immediately around a few opposition and then lowers the eyes to hit Jones. Love the stoppage play on the wing against the Hawks too where he gets the handball out of the pack, bursts forward, steadies outsides 50 and goals. He's got all the attributes to a great wingman. He runs hard both ways, has great pace, good agility, good overhead, and can kick it a mile. If he learns to control the rush of blood to the head and vary his kicks more, he could be seriously damaging in the Issac Smith wingman mould. He's one of the most exciting prospects on our list IMO.

I agree that we play our best football when we have multiple players kicking goals and a variety of options. However, our list is unbalanced at present with T McDonald and Weiderman our only tall forwards. We've just lost Hogan and Pedo. Some people have suggested T Smith, but at 192cm, 28 years of age, and yet to play a competent game as a forward at AFL level, I don't think he's a realistic option. He has played well up around the ball as a big bodied midfielder however. Weiderman is yet to prove he can consistently stand up at AFL (though I rate him and defended him on here in the past when others sank the boot in). If TMac suffered another long term injury like the foot injury he suffered, we'd miss finals. We need tall forward depth. Games are won in the midfield, but you will always need a tall target to kick too come finals time. Imagine having Fritsch or Hannan or Petracca as our marking option when play gets locked down come finals time. Though they're more than competent, they'd all get eaten alive if they had to wrestle a Talia, McGovern, Tarrant, Andrews type. Compare that to tall defenders where we have May, Lever, McDonald, Frost, Petty, Keilty. That's a good amount of depth to cover injury and form. It's a shame we missed out on Bailey Williams, but our recruiters didn't rate him so I'm comfortable with that as the current group have a good track record. It's a shame there weren't many decent tall forward options at all outside the top 10 this year. Hopefully we can bring another quality one in next season, as while our list is in brilliant shape, it's definitely lacking tall forwards.

And other than Darling, none of them have had consistent impact as a tall forward. McGovern jnr is very overrated and was fourth in line at the Crows. Membrey is a cast off and legitimate spud getting a game as a tall forward because the only competition he has is P Mccartin and Bruce. Wood and T Mccartin might still make it, but have only shown flashes thus far. If we wind up having to play Smith as a tall forward option next year then it means we’re not playing finals.

Smith is 192cm. Not tall enough for AFL tall forward and has produced nothing of worth as a forward there. He’s played well up the ground on ball using his frame there, but at 28 years old and not getting taller he’s a medium tall or another position/delist material.

Yeah we’ve only got two tall forwards on the whole list now. They must not have rated the options available as it’s a clear need, so we’ll have to back Taylor and co with their good record so far!

Stack and Tom Mckenzie both undrafted after both were thought to be certainties to be drafted. Stack had attitude issues but can play. No idea why Mcknezie wasn't drafted. Perhaps we will rookie one? I thought I read we were keen on Mckenzie at some point...

Sydney up now then is. Was hoping Hill would last to us!

It’s already started. Gold Coast traded up to West Coasts pick 23 and took a defender Jez Mclnennan. GWS took Hill

I’d be disappointed with Valente or Turner. Valente is very vanilla and slow, looks like a poor mans Dom Tyson. Turner is a headless chook with average foot skills. Hill would fill a need for us if he slides?

The official Melbourne FC podcast this week he said we’d be focused more on mids.

You’re right we can’t know yet ProDee. We’re just assessing it on face value at this stage until these kids have had time to prove themselves. Hill was great last year but had a poor year in 2018 and has slid. I’m surprised Freo didn’t take him with their first pick around 17, as he’s a WA boy and his cousins both play there. Other than his small size (174cm), he’s what we need so could be coming our way. Curtis Taylor is the interesting one. I must admit I don’t have much knowledge of him. Is he more inside or outside? What’s his character like?

Not a great result for us. Taylor said we wanted mids, but the quality mids expected to be around our pick all got snapped up last night. Was really hoping for O’Halloran. Seemed a very Melbourne person; competitive, leader, ball winner, explosive, hit scoreboard. GWS got a winner there. Bytel might be one of our picks now?

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!