Lord Travis

Toumpas is best of that lot, but will likely be gone by our pick. I'm actually thinking O'Rourke might be best suited for us. We already have a few tough nuts, but not much class. O'Rourke is a well rounded player who's got great pace, skills and decision making. He can play inside or out, so would be handy to have and fill whatever role needed. Either way with one of O'Rourke, Toumpas or Wines we SHOULD be getting a good midfielder to give us over a decade of service.

He turned down our approach is what his family told me. Said he'd spoken to multiple interstate teams, had a lot of interest with Brisbane, and has now gone into serious discussions with Collingwood.

People need to stop bagging everything to do with Cale. While he hasn't developed like we hoped, his first season was very good, probably the best of anyone on our list, and one of the best in my lifetime following the Dees. He didn't just get cheap kicks, he had a genuine impact and was being talked about as the best pick of that draft. I remember one game against the eventual premiers Geelong where he picked up 30 odd touches, but not only that, he played up forward for a quarter and kicked 3 on Scarlett, even out-marking him in the goal square at one stage. The Cale bashing is over the top, and it's frustrating how violently Melbourne supporters turn on their own. While it's obvious he hasn't come on like we hoped, both in body and form, he had a fantastic start to his career, and to say otherwise shows you are either just attacking him mindlessly or you know [censored] all about football.

Jordan Russell would be a good get. He'd give us drive out of the backline, something we struggle with at the moment due to an abundance of talls and poor kicks. Wouldn't bother with the rest of those names though.

Despite other reports, this draft seems very shallow. The top prospects are great as always but it falls away big time.We should take another midfielder at 20 if we don't trade it. We need as many mids as possible as it's clearly our weakness.

Stoked to have Jack Viney at the club. Here's to a long and prosperous career in Red n Blue!

If he is available at our pick he is a must get. He is all class. We need gun midfielders, and that means whoever is there out of Toumpas, O'Rourke or Wines.

Will be happy with any of Toumpas, Wines or O'Rourke with pick 4. Gives us another gun midfielder to go with Viney, no matter what happens with our other picks.

For the record, Hogan weighed in at 97kgs the combine last week. 97kgs! He's a big boy for a 17 year old! I was still 50/50 whether it's a good movie to trade such a high pick for a 17 year old, but getting Viney second round means we can afford to now.

Agree Rod. I think it'd be a good move to draft this kid at 4. Wines and an outside mid with pace would be top priority. Having Wines and Viney would give us one of the hardest aggressive midfields in a few years time, and if we add some outside pace and skill with that then we are looking good. Let's hope this comes to fruition!

Has got a good offer from Brisbane. Will likely be heading there next week in trade period or staying at Hawthorn. Source: his family.

"Melbourne has never been a discussion point, Sharrod hasn’t even got in front of Melbourne," Da Costa said. "Winning culture's got to be a big part of it as well." That line about winning culture cuts deep. As just posted, last year we won 8 games, got a brand new coaching staff etc. so we were able to sell hope and potential. This time around, we are on the bottom, no light in sight, and could not sell anyone on anything other than money. Noone would want to come to Melbourne, and rightly so. Right now we are a crap football club with no light in sight. Our enemies grow stronger, and we still sit at the bottom of the ladder without improving. We will not get anyone this Free Agency/trade period. Here's hoping we get lucky in the draft and get some superstars, because we're [censored] otherwise.

Great effort by Jones. He had a great year and it's good to see him get some recognition outside the club for his hard work. Let's hope he can keep up this kind of form for many years, and he has some friends who pick up some slack!

I miss the days where Travis Johnstone, Yze, Woewodin, Bruce, Green, Leoncelli were all running around

He's been talked up as pick 2. All year it's been Whitfield pick 1, Grundy pick 2, Toumpas pick 3. Whitfield will go pick 1 to GWS. GC don't need a ruckman so will take a midfielder with pick 2. Hopefully Grundy is there at pick 3, so we can snatch him up and a mid with pick 4. Jamar is still going ok. Hopefully with a good preseason he can have another season like 2010 and really have a big impact. Grundy is an ideal replacement though. Bigger than Jamar already, very aggressive, and has good pace and marking ability. He often scores as a target up forward. If we can get him as a ruckman who rotates forward, with his skill, aggression and size, we're onto a winner. He could step straight in.

Martin will already be 26 next season and isn't even in the best 22 of an awful awful team. He was originally taken in the Pre-Season Draft so holds no "high draft pick" value either. Reality is getting a 2nd round pick for a VFL standard player would be daylight robbery for us. If we could get that deal done, then we should do it without a second thought.

Pro-stats (the stat company the AFL uses) have Naita ranked 18th in the ruckman position for 2012. How he was picked as first ruck in the All Australian team is beyond comprehension.

I love Neitz but I'm not too sure if he is AFL HOF material. He'd be close! I can't find the bump on Mccabe on youtube at all! Haven't seen it for years. Has anyone got a link?

Would definitely be good to get Smith he was wanting to come home to Vic. He's got good pace, decent kicking skills and can lock down on a man. He played a few really good games for Eagles last year in the back pocket/half back flank. Koby Stevens is a pass for me. We could do better than him in the draft, and he doesn't fill a need for us IMO

This. He doesn't even enter into discussions. He is a pick 4 who has more than proven his worth in two seasons. He's possibly the best young mid to come from the draft system in the last 5 years IMO. We'd have to give up pick 3+4 to get him. I do like the idea of trying to get Savage though. He has good pace and skills, and could be a dangerous player for us up forward rotating through the midfield.

Get him. We need drive coming out of the backline, which is now top heavy. He provides a bit of pace and decent kicking skills. He's out of favor at Carlton because the two back flank rebounding roles belong to Yarran and Gibbs, Both are more talented and are persisted with despite inconsistent form. He's been in and out of the team due to that team balance. I think he'd be a good fit on a half back flank for us. We need some smaller defenders as we have too many talls down there. With Grimes moving into the midfield and Bartram injured and a ? on his return at this point, We are relying on Nicholson and Strauss down there. To add a 100+ gamer who's a proven small/medium size defender with decent pace, skills and ball winning ability can only be a big plus. We need senior experienced players. He fits the bill of what we need. I say we chase him.

In order of need, our list requires the following to move forward: - A classy quick skilled outside midfielder (Toumpas?) - Another quick skilled outside midfielder (Kennedy?) - A quick small crumbing forward (Garlett?) - A Key forward to aid Clark (?) - Another hard inside midfielder (Viney?)

Boak has now signed with Port. Mackay has signed with Adelaide. The list is shrinking, and there isn't much left that's worth chasing to be honest. This off season may be as disappointing as the season we've just had!

Was a broken leg or knee injury from memory. I'd be interested to see how he's come back from that injury and developed. I have no knowledge of him after being drafted.

Or run it into the ground! We'll have to wait a few years to see how it pans out, but he's certainly making some bold moves and won't die wondering. Good to see a different approach I guess! Very disappointed by this news though. Not necessarily by losing Cook, as he has shown nothing, but the fact we wasted our first pick in that draft for nothing. We could've been safe and picked 30-40 players who would've given us good service, so it was just a baffling choice and a waste that sets us back further.