Lord Travis

QUARTER TIME Melbourne lead 5-1-31 to Brisbane 3-4-22 We're lucky to be leading. Brisbane are smashing us in the middle of the ground, at one stage had 10 more clearances and 46 more disposals! Good effort by us to make the most of our opportunities. If we can work harder in the middle we are still in this.

If he had confidence and/or arrogance he would. Our own Jesse Hogan jokingly said he was the third best forward ever behind Carey and Dunstall when interviewed at Casey a few weeks back. That kind of confidence and arrogance is what we need, even if it is tongue in cheek. I agree you have to look at the player they will become, but Scharenberg has not shown anything to suggest he will become a gun midfielder. He's dominated down back, and been average and struggled with the pace of the game when put into the midfield. He is a similar size to Heppell, slightly bigger, but he is far less agile, and his skills and composure are not as good as Heppell either. He's more physical than Heppell, but I just can't see him ever becoming a good midfielder as he's already shown he's struggled with the pace when amongst traffic up the ground. By comparison Aish moves through traffic beautifully and hits targets under pressure. His skills are better than Scharenberg's, and he's quicker and more agile too. He's been tagged since he was 16 because he's widely recognized as being extremely damaging. He'll be the best player in this draft if he's developed properly. But there lies the key; we have struggled to develop talented players in recent times.

Don't have Foxtel. Is there any free streams online?

If it's as simple as that then we select James Aish and this discussion is over. Aish is a better footballer. Scharenberg himself even thinks so, and stated this in the interview in the OP."He's a great talent and a much better player than me,'' Scharenberg said.

We need gun midfielders and Scharenberg hasn't shown he can play midfield as well as he can play in the backline. I'd pass purely because he isn't a midfielder, and though he has a great build and good skills, we need midfielders, not utilities or more 190cm defenders.

Toumpas is not soft. In the last few games he's put his body on the line several times and showed this. He's starting to get used to the speed of the game at AFL level now and is showing the talents that had him so highly rated. He'll be a fine player for us. people need to quit their bitching about a first year kid with less than 10 games to his name! For the record, Cale Morton's first season was one of the best by a Demon in my lifetime. He racked up 30 touches and 3 goals against Geelong at their peak. Noone else on our list has done the same. Yes he didn't turn out the way we hoped, but what's the point of bagging him when he isn't at the club anymore and has no bearing on our future?

Has anyone got any footage of Nathan Freeman? He is a midfielder with a good frame and pace to burn. Currently 182cms and 85kgs. He's been likened to Dangerfield in his gamestyle, with the bursting away from stoppages as his strength. Needs to improve his hands in congestion and work more on his spread to get some easier ball outside, but is always involved at the stoppages and explosive bursting away from them. He's solid already, and on top of his clearance work, he likes to hit the scoreboard too, often after a run streaming into 50. He's clearly got a lot of upside and may be one of the bolters as the draft draws closer.

Per game he is averaging 4.5 less disposals, 2 less clearances, 1.5 less tackles, and getting less contested ball in general. He's not past it yet, but he's definitely on a sharp decline and you'd think he only has one more year left in him based in this years form. He's getting consistently beaten by his opponents this year, doesn't have the speed or fitness to effect as many contests and thus isn't winning as much contested ball either. After the history of him leaving us, and the fact we'd get one average year out of him, it's a pass.

Would love him as a Demon if he is available from 2nd round onwards. Named All Australian, praised as one of the best half backs in his age group, and he is built and hungry just like our Nathan. Hopefully it falls our way and he can play alongside his older brother for many years to come!

His impact on games is diminishing, and he's now 31. Part of the reason Adelaide aren't playing as well this year is because he isn't winning inside ball as consistently this year. Pass.

Agreed. I don't understand why they'd trade Pick 1 for him either? Why not get him for free via Free Agency and use pick 1 to trade further?

We do need a reliable small forward. With Davey close to retirement, Byrnes close to retirement, and Blease not producing due to injury, form, positional changes, this is a need for us now that we have the tall forwards sorted. Saints have Milne, Schneider, Saad, Milera, Dennis-Lane. Milne and Schneider are both done. That leaves the remaining 3. Saad is average, Milera is inconsistent and plays better as a half forward delivering the ball, and Dennis-Lane plays as a lead up forward more than a crumber. Not sure we'll find what we're looking for here. Keiran Harper is developing as a midfielder at North and they really rate him. Was talked up by the club big time early in the season and is still developing. Doubt they will trade him, and though he was drafted as a forward he is developing as a midfielder. Shane Savage is definitely worth a look. He is in and out of the Hawks team due to talent and competition for similar position. He's a good footballer and we should chase him if we can. He would add goal scoring potential as a small forward, and dash with stints in the midfield. Siposs is not what we are looking for. He's bigger, at about 90kgs and is a marking option who doesn't score many goals and is still being shuffled around trying to find his best position. The Saints won't trade him and we don't need him. Daniel Cross will retire at the end of the year. He'll be 31 next year and his output has declined considerably the last 2 years. He would be a good role model for our kids, as he is a very hard worker who has got the best out of himself. He plays hard football and just goes about his business without complaining when he gets rough treatment from a tagger. With his current output and age though, I believe he'll retire at the end of the year, and if we did get him across he would only give us one year of service I'd wager. As for Tom Bell, he'd be worth a look if it only costs us a late pick. He's certainly got the right body for an AFL midfielder, and he's shown he's capable in patches, but he hasn't put it together yet. If we got him cheap, I'd be all for it as he definitely has potential in a position we are light in. We need more midfielders, ball winners especially. I'd rather Bell over a Magner or Couch because potentially Bell could win lots of ball inside, but has a booming kick too so could bang through a goal or two also.

That trade in the OP won't eventuate as Swan won't move. He already stated he will retire in 1-2 years as he doesn't have a burning passion for footy. You'd think he'd rather retire than move to GWS for 1-2 years, so that trade won't happen unless they trade someone else in Swan's place. It seems highly likely Buddy will end up at GWS under free agency. Here's hoping we can pinch Daisy Thomas through free agency or trade across a Craig Bird, Taylor Adams type with a late first round or early second round draft pick.

Aish's skills are elite. He is one of the best kicks in the draft, and is good on both sides. He has good pace and is often bursting through traffic and dodging tacklers. He is more outside at this stage, but wins ball inside when required and will become a well rounded midfielder in the Trent Cotchin mould at AFL level. He is all class and the likely #2 at this stage.

Aish is similar to Trent Cotchin. He plays both inside and outside, has great decision making, great skills, is able to evade others and move well through traffic. I'd say he has a better kick than Cotchin, one of the best kicks in this draft, but slightly less core strength than Cotchin, which is why he uses quick lateral movement to shrug by tacklers in traffic. Kelly is a running machine. He would have to be at the top with the beep tests. He covers a heap of ground, gets to the right spots and always winds up having more ball than most others. He uses it well too, good skills, always in space so has time to make good decisions, but is very much an outside runner at this stage. It's hard to think of a player comparison. He plays a similar role to Gaff at West Coast, but he doesn't play a lot like him if that makes sense?

The more reading I've done tonight, the more convinced I am we will take James Aish with pick 2 (if that's what we have come end of the season). Seems to be the most rounded midfielder of the highest ranked ones. Him or Sheed anyway, but Aish has the better skills and turn of pace around the packs. What sort of player is Zak Jones? I've read mainly a defender? Being Nathan Jones' younger brother I'd hope we have a good look at him. If he has the same work ethic and hunger as Nathan then he will be a winner.

Would be happy with any of Sheed, Kelly, Aish with our first pick. They all have class, find the footy, make good decisions and execute their skills well. I haven't seen as much of Aish due to his injury, but Sheed and Kelly have both been consistent in displaying the skills which will make them good AFL players. I say we go for the most talented midfielder with our first pick and trade for a midfielder with another pick. Someone like Craig Bird from Sydney would be ideal. He's the right age bracket being 24, experienced with close to 100 games, comes from a good culture and has developed well. He's also a premiership player! He's played defensive roles, played inside midfield roles and has kicked goals. He'd provide ball winning ability and good work ethic with his tackles and defensive pressure. Good role model for our kids as well as being a good midfielder for our team IMO.

Hope his injury doesn't set him back again. Report says he is in a moon boot

He played ok, but Griffen still had 31 touches and 3 goals... Wouldn't talk up his performance too much. Glad to see Watts have a really good game and stand up when we needed it!

Blease injured his foot. Poor kid. Crap win tonight. I'd usually say I'll take any win, but to win that way limping over the line after being 45 points up 15 minutes into the last quarter... that was pathetic and I'm very disappointed.

Thank [censored] we won! Can't believe that last quarter!

F*cking pathetic last quarter. If we lose this I don't watch again this year. How the [censored] can you let a team come back from nearly 50 points down in the last quarter?!

He's an arrogant [censored]. I'll never forget that day Steven King kicked Jeff White's face in, and Bomber joked that White put his face in the wrong place and deserved to be suspended. At that stage White had been rushed to hospital intesne surgery as his face was caved in. [censored]. There's a reason he's not spoken about in the same vein as Leigh Mathews, Paul Roos, Mick Malthouse etc. It's because even though he coached Geelong to a few flags, it was mainly player driven, and everyone inside the footy world acknowledges this. Then you have the issue of his off field discretions, getting involved with players girlfriends, wives, etc and being out on the [censored] and reportedly experimenting with drugs also. Now he's involved in the Essendon drug scandal too and says he wouldn't go near a Melbourne coaching job on AFL 360 the other night. He wouldn't be welcome here anyway. The guy is a scumbag. Avoid.

I remember PJ injuring his shoulder from smashing in trying to get the ball. I remember Pederson for squibing a mark when there wasn't even anyone coming at him!

Sh*t decision by the club. Sh*t footballer. Sh*t trade initially by both teams. Lose-Lose. Hopefully he doesn't take up the spot of someone who doesn't squib it every week. I've never seen a guy with such a big body be such a soft c*ck! I hate seeing him wear Red and Blue.