Lord Travis

Really hope we get Petracca with pick 2. Assuming Frawley leaves and we get pick 3, I'd like to see it traded again for a ready made midfield gun. If Saints pick Petracca with pick 1 I'll be annoyed, as we need midfield talent and he seems to be the best of the lot with a big body and is ready to go Round 1 2015.

I agree. IMO Boyd is better than McCartin. Bigger, stronger, more versatile, better performed at the same age. There are rumours he is very unhappy up at GWS too, so perhaps they are going to trade him off while they can still get the best value for him. I don't rate McCartin. He's an old school one out forward, and with the way the modern game is he's not going go get the chance to be one out and lead into space. His style just doesn't translate to AFL. He also has diabetes, which might effect his ability to train and build further endurance. I'm expecting him to be a bust. I think it's a really weak draft overall. The top end talent doesn't seem to be a strong as the past few years. Hogan is the best of the lot. Cannot wait to see him out there clunking them!

Wouldn't mind Wellingham and Goldsack. They're both 26 or so, so good age bracket for us in they'd be senior guys with 100+ games experience, but still have a few years left in them if they perform. Wellingham has been disappointing at West Coast. Injuries have played a part in his poor form, but he was tearing it up at Collingwood before the move. He would add a bit of pace and aggression to our midfield. He'd be a good get IMO. Goldsack would add a solid option up forward for us. Our backline is fairly settled, and with Frawley likely going Goldsack would be a good third tall. He's a physical player like Dawes, and is very versatile. Could do worse than him. Malceski, obviously would be a great pick up as previously mentioned. I'd hope we don't trade Kent. He's one of our few youngsters to show anything. I also think he signed a contract extension until end of 2015 or 2016? Looking at that list, I agree most of those will be gone one way or another. I think Matt Jones and maybe Terlich will be ok, as we still need depth to get us through this period even if they aren't around in a few years when we are performing better. Jordie Mckenzie signed a 3 year contract, for some inexplicable reason it was offered, which means we're probably stuck with him for another 2 years.

Cross still played 13 games last year and averaged 23 touches. Round 23 he picked up 27 disposals against us. ROK played 4 games this year and averaged 10 disposals. Vastly different quality and quantity of output. But yes, Cross didn't play all games and was pushed out as we did to Junior a few years ago now. I still think Garlett would be worth a look. We have zero defensive pressure at present. He would add that pressure and chime in with a few goals too. If the off field is ok, then he's worth a look. Obviously Malceski would be a great pick up. He is a quality user of the ball, a good leader, and will be All Australian Half Back this year. Hopefully the rumors of him coming to us are true!

ROK may be good to set standards at training, but I don't believe he will perform as well as Cross has on field. He isn't getting a game at Sydney for a reason. They're choosing to debut kids leading into finals rather than playing him. Jeff Garlett is an interesting one to consider. Out of favor at the Blues, think he is only 24-25, over 100 games experience, kicked over 40 goals last season which is more than any Melbourne player has kicked for 4-5 years. We'd get a few years out of him as a small forward and he will always chime in with a few goals. Depending on the off-field side of things I'd say he would be worth a good look and wouldn't cost much in a trade.

At 34 he is probably too old. Cross is 31 and on year to year contracts. No only that, he was still playing when we got him from the Doggies. ROK has barely cracked a game this year and has been playing in the NEAFL which is awful quality. To put the quality of that league in perspective, Tom Mitchell who also can't crack a game at the Swans, had a 64 disposal game in the NEAFL. 64 disposals. Shows how poor the quality is if any player can reach a total like that. ROK has been a fantastic player, but at 34 and struggling, don't think he is worth it to us to hold a kid like Salem or JKH out of the side, and he surely wouldn't sign on if he knew he'd be playing at Casey.

Think we will lose this one. Brisbane midfield is in good form and more potent than ours. The game will be determined by how much ball the midfield wins. Both teams are rubbish going forward this year, but if Brisbanes mids get off the chain then they can score. Guys like Zorko, Hanley, Rockliff, Mayes, Taylor can all hit the scoreboard running forward, so our mids need to restrict that and do it going the other way. Look forward to Jetta shutting down little Josh Green, and Jamar roughing up Stef Martin.

Petracca is who we want. Big bodied aggressive player. He has dominated up forward kicking bags of goals, and dominated in patches through the midfield. He doesn't have a big enough tank to be an AFL midfielder straight off the bat, so will play half forward early in his career until he builds up to move through the midfield permanently. Not convinced he will be a superstar, but he is a safe bet to be a solid player who helps his team and lifts those around him. Aggressive, big body who loves to throw his weight around. We need his type to help develop our culture. Plays a lot like Dustin Martin actually but his kicking is not as good as Dusty. If Frawley leaves and we get a first round compo pick, I'd hope we trade it for an established midfielder and a first rounder, same as the Tyson trade last year. If we wound up using it though, I'd like us to take Brayshaw. Assuming he doesn't flee home to North, he will be a solid 250-300 game midfielder. He just accumulates ball and goes into pack after pack. Think Lenny Hayes with a more balanced and penetrating kick. Will slot straight into the midfield, or could be thrown to halfback to marshal the troops and setup play like Sam Mitchell has at stages. I don't think we should draft any key position players early, as our key position depth is a strength IMO. We need more quality midfielders to add to our midfield rotation. Getting Vince, Tyson and Cross last year was huge. We need to add more this year to continue to build because as good as those guys have been in patches, our midfield is still ranked bottom 4 on output. Games are won and lost in the midfield, so we need to improve this or we'll continue to languish at the bottom.

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Billy will be a good pick up for us. Will hopefully and likely land him with our 3rd round pick. We need his type of player. Someone with good endurance who runs both ways and provides options with a lot of run. Look at Hawthorn with Isaac Smith and Brad Hill. Whenever those guys are tagged the Hawks struggle and sometimes lose. Sam Mitchell said in an interview after the game on the weekend that Isaac Smith was Hawthorns most important player due to his outside run. Nearly every team has battering rams who win ball in the contest, the good teams are separated by the uncontested possession. Geelong at their peak were the kings of uncontested possession because their skills were so good. They would wait/force the mistake from the opposition and then once they had the ball you would not touch it. Stretch would help us as a hard running option in the Smith/Hill mould, hopefully he can develop and become as influential. We need outside run and spread.

I'd be livid. To finish last again, even after all the improvement, and having the best coach in the land, would be disastrous. To put in all that work and improve and still finish last would scar the players further IMO. They need to get tangible results for their effort or it is fruitless. It's the same in any industry; if you bust your ass and don't get rewarded for it, then it effects you. You either don't think you're good enough, or you mentally check out and do the bare minimum until you can move on elsewhere. If we finish last I'll probably burn down someones house in a fit of rage.

Doubt it would happen but it would be a dream scenario. Assuming Frawley leaves, we'd likely have to give up our first two picks (3+4 at this stage) and a player. Jeremy Cameron was 1 goal off a Coleman and was All Australian last year aged 19-20. Shiel is a promising midfielder who is already impacting games and gaining more and more influence. We'd probably wind up giving 3+4+ a Kent or Howe type. It would be a good trade IMO. Put Cameron up forward for the next 10 year with Hogan, and Dawes guiding them for the next 5 years or so and getting the 3rd defender every week, it potentially becomes the most dangerous tall forward line in the league. Add a powerful, aggressive, speedy midfielder in Shiel to our current stocks and it takes us straight up the ladder next year. Alas, it is all but a dream. Don't think this scenario could eventuate even if we wanted it to.

True. It's annoying seeing supporters moan about us taking Toumpas instead of Wines. Fact is Toumpas was better than Wines at under age level, and 18/18 recruiters would've picked him over Wines. Macrae is better than both of them comfortably at this stage. He's averaging 27 disposals, 5th highest total disposals in the entire league ahead of guys like Pendlebury, Cotchin, Boak, Selwood, Martin. He has had an incredible year and is head and shoulders above everyone else from that draft. Would've been nice to land him...

Agreed. We've lost some games we should've won against average teams. We need to beat the other bottom placed teams around us to solidify our position and build momentum heading into next season. I'd say it's a pass for the year, though I expected a few more wins. We're clearly a better side than the past few years, but would've been nice to win a few more of those games we let slip. Next year we need to win 8 games minimum and be around the bottom of the 8. We haven't played finals since 2006, and we don't have Roos coaching us for much longer, most likely another 2 years. We need to get up the ladder quickly and get some finals experience into the boys while Roos is coach IMO.

GWS have a few real quality young mids who are already impacting games. If we could poach one of Shiel, Treloar, Hoskin-Elliott, Coniglio and get a later first round pick back like we did with the Dom Tyson trade last year we'll be laughing.

No. Turned us down when we were any real chance to get any value out of having him at the club. He is now a shadow of his former self and would lucky to be best 22 at most clubs with the way his body is deteriorating. Definite no.

Trading in a proven AFL PROVEN superstar vs 2 POTENTIAL superstars. People over-rate picks. I'd trade 4+5 in a heartbeat for an AFL proven superstar. Anyone who wouldn't hasn't learnt anything from the past 7-8 years. We've had more top draft picks than any club (bar expansion clubs) and still haven't landed a superstar. Just because a player is picked early doesn't guarantee he will be a star. Look at the previous #1 picks; Gibbs, Kreuzer, Watts, Scully, Swallow, Patton. None are stars, in fact none are anything better than B grade at this stage. If the draft were done again today, none of them would be taken top 5. It's luck of the draw, and if you have the opportunity to trade in a superstar, you do it.

True he hasn't been All Australian, but he probably should have been last year. When played solely in defence he was one of the best defenders in the competition and literally won games for them in the dieing minutes of games when under pressure. He doesn't rebound as well as Frawley did 3-4 years ago, but he's a better defenders IMO. Frawley used to have a good balance of defending and rebounding to utilize his pace but unfortunately he hasn't used it for a few years now. If we lose Frawley and can trade in Carlisle on the cheap without effecting our Free Agency compo then we'd be batsh*t mental not to do it. Still think we need to focus on midfielders first though, as out key position stocks are decent, midfield stocks some of the worst in the league,

If we trade our second round pick for an established player like we did with Vince last year, does that mean Stretch would be our 3rd round pick? If so, I'd hope we're looking at this option to firstly, getting more mature talent into the club, and secondly to get Stretch cheaper than necessary.

Really good news he has signed an extension until end of 2017. It would have been disastrous to lose him after his first contract without even playing a game after investing so much into getting him. Hopefully his back injury doesn't cause him long term issues and we can watch him become the gun he promises to be. Exciting!

Are there any rumors about Treloar wanting to come back to Victoria? He is a jet. Averaging 27 disposals this year, goes hard and can go for a run too, if there's any chance of him coming home I'd hand over our first round pick without even blinking. We'd have a great young group of mids with a spread of age then, with a few from other clubs having experience as opposed to drafting more 18 year olds.

Dangerfield would be the best pickup possible, but not sure he'll leave Adelaide. If he did though, he's a star of the comp, tough, quick, kicks goals, ferocious attack on ball and man, it'd be a dream come true. What would we have to give up to get him? Pick 4+5 if Frawley leaves and we get compo?

Great interview and good to see some footage of brighter times and reminisce about players past. I really enjoyed watching Melbourne playing the mid-late 90s and early 2000's. Even though we didn't win the ultimate prize back then, we haven't had magic like that for a long time. Remembering The Ox in his prime, he was an incredible player cut down by injury. Little Wizard Jeff Farmer was just great to watch as well with the speccies and goals. And big Neita charging out of the square and banging through bags of goals from 50 out. I long for the day where we have supremely talented players who can win us games off their own boot, it's just been so many years now it's rather depressing.

With Fyfe and Mundy both re-signing with Fremantle, what other midfield options are out there? We have a bucketload of cash due to our highest paid player retiring prematurely and we need midfield talent.

If anyone somehow uploads this or has a link it would be much appreciated. Didn't realise it was on and would love to see it!