Lord Travis

Now on the AFL site saying he is likely to miss the first few rounds, maybe more depending on scans. Hopefully it is just a short term injury and he still gets some senior experience this season. He is a key part of our future so we need to manage him properly. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-03-06/hogan-a-likely-non-starter

Tyson is a gun. We've got a bargain here. He was obviously undervalued due to his injury and GWS were desperate to get Pick #2. We've landed Tyson AND Salem. Tyson alone will likely prove worthy of the pick, let alone adding another potential good midfielder. Tyson is so clever in the stoppages and when the ball is in dispute around the ground. The amount of times this NAB cup we have seen him get first hands and flick a handball out to start a chain of possession shows what a talented and important player he will be for the next 10 years for us. In training he is always feeding the ball out to Watts, and Roos has made a focus of that. If he tidies up his kicking just a tad, he is a potential superstar. IMO his NAB cup showing at least proves he knows how to get his hands on the footy and it's just about staying fit and healthy. As long as he is on the park he is going to produce.

Bumped into Jamar today and had a chat for a few minutes. Very friendly guy. He said he would be right for Round 1, but whether they give him a week or two match practice first they have not decided and it may depend on the form of the other rucks. His calf has been giving him niggles, so he has been rehab a lot of preseason. Said he will mainly be sharing ruck duties with Spencer this year, but expects both Gawn and King to be very good in the future. Asked about Fitzy and he said Fitzy will play forward unless there is an emergency. Anyway, as I said he was a very nice guy and was good for a chat. Hopefully he can recapture his 2010 form, but who knows after coming back from injury and being a bit older now.

Lord Travis is good to go

Watts - Talented, Roos is going to give him a set role and the development and confidence he needs. Vince - Big game player, beautiful kick, will slot right in and be super important for our midfield for the next few years. Trengove - After stagnating, he will start to fulfil the potential he showed in his first two years. Roos is a big fan and I expect to see Trengove become a midfield star. Also excited to see the new superstar recruits Hogan and Tyson in red n blue!

Hope we pick this kid up in the rookie draft. Lock him in the gym to add 10kgs and he'd become a valuable addition to our midfield rotation. Can provide run on the outside, and has the skill to win his own ball. Better prospect than a fair few on our list IMO.

Eli Templeton not on the cards? I can't see him being talked about here. He is straight up a better footballer than anyone else mentioned here and was rated as Top 30 by afl.com and pretty much all journos. I'm wondering why he wasn't drafted? Does he have a bad attitude? He is quick, skillful, wins his own ball and brings his teammates into the game. I'd love to see him in red n blue.

Cavarra and Templeton should be the main targets. I'm surprised they weren't taken top 30 in the draft! Both are definitely potential AFL midfielders, more so than many that were drafted. If we land one we have got a bargain.

Will be happy with Scharenberg if he slides as he is talented. Otherwise will be happy with Freeman, Salem or Sheed. Not a fan of Lennon. Don't think Crouch is needed as we have a few ball winners now. Lewis Taylor is a gun, and more talented than all the midfielders we're considering. He is however too short. We need mids with decent size. It's unfortunate as if he was 5-6 cm's taller he'd be my fav of the bunch and a top 5 pick IMO.

I'll be happy with any of the mentioned options. They are all talented kids with the potential to add to our midfield. I'd be happiest if we drafted Freeman though, as I think his pace offers something different to our midfield. We don't have much pace through the middle, and even though he has spent more time at underage level winning inside ball, he clearly has the attributes to be a link up player too. He could become a very well rounded midfielder and feel that speed adds something more for us.

It is Salem. He looked very good in that clip. Ran hard to be an option and then followed up. Quick, quick reflexes too and good field kicking. He's a first rounder for sure but not in pick 2 calculations. Lewis Taylor was brilliant in that clip. He's a really good little midfielder. If we had another first round pick I'd want us to take him, but we need some decent sized bodies to even out our midfield so he isn't a pick 2 for us to build the midfield around. Gun player though and will have a good career.

Jared Polec is currently in Melbourne. Photo on his twitter saying he is visiting Melbourne today... Perhaps the deal to an Adelaide club isn't going well and some Melbourne clubs have convinced him to have a talk? Would he add to our midfield at all? Or is he the wrong kind of player to target?

Yeah looks like we weren't able to get the person we were after so we will wait for other good options to arise. http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-puts-coaching-succession-plan-on-hold-for-12-months/story-fnia42zr-1226739722020

I'm on his bandwagon if we take pick 2 into the draft. Right mix of pace, inside ball winning ability and a solid body that's ready to go. Would slot straight into our side and have an impact working with Viney and Jones.

Won't happen. We offered pick 2 for Brad Crouch and were rejected. He was their mini draft pick and they've invested heavily in him. In his first year of playing AFL he has averaged just under 25 disposals 4-5 tackles a game. he has already proven himself. Why would Adelaide trade him for unproven talent? They could only hope Aish turns out to be anywhere near that good, and it's extremely unlikely. Just to show how good his first year was, here is a comparison with our own Nathan Jones. http://www.pro-stats.com.au/psw/web/compare_players?tid1=101&pid1=2013001&year1=2013&tid2=109&pid2=2006117&year2=2013 A first year player got more ball than our best player and only decent midfielder. We'd be laughing to get him for pick 2, let alone packaging other stuff into the deal in our favor.

Would not happen. Giving up an extremely promising midfielder for a 6 pick upgrade would be laughable list management. Pick 2 is overs due to his injury history preventing him being on the park, but when he is there he produces more often than not. He is explosive and breaks lines. If we were to get him via trade, it would be Pick 2 for Shuey and either their 2nd or 3rd round pick.

Getting Swallow would be a fantastic get for the club. We'd be getting a top of the class talent who has a few years of AFL experience already, so his body is better equipped and he has already gone through development in a few positions and learning the game.

If we don't land at least one decent experienced midfielder I'll be very disappointed. Our midfield is deplorable!

Trade it for Adams from GWS Then bring in Cross via Free Agency. Martin, Adams, Cross all into the midfield for 2014 and we look a whole lot better!

We won't get a priority pick. If we do it will be end of first round. 0% chance we will get Pick 1. There is too much negative press about us getting a priority pick, and the AFL is already giving us millions of dollars due to our incompetence. We've already had more first round picks and priority picks than any other club except the expansion teams.

They had a mid first round compensation pick which they have activated for this coming period. This becomes Pick 10 in the current draft order.

Right you are. For some reason I remembered him playing for Vic Metro. I've spent too many years keenly interested in the draft now. Hopefully we rise up the ladder next year onwards and so I don't have to follow it as much!

Spent the majority of his career thus far injured. Rumoured to be wanting out to come home to Victoria. IF he is fit, he'd be worth chasing, as he would add pace and skill to our midfield and can kick goals.

We'll have Heppell and Zaharakis thanks

WHERE'S CYRIL RIOLI??!? Luke Hodge is very lucky to make the squad. Great footballer, but when looking at his stats for this season he is lucky to make it. Less disposals, less clearances, less tackles than Nathan Jones, who receives much more tagging attention being the only decent midfielder in our team. The rest of the selections barring a few smaller forward types seem pretty straight forward. A fair few midfielders that missed out could put forward a case, but at the end of the day they can only squeeze so many into the squad.