Lord Travis

I was one of the few on here not just blindly saying we should take Wines. I still think O'Rourke will be a better player, and is more rounded. People should watch his highlights video to see him read the play, break away from packs and hit up pinpoint kicks. That is one of the key things we lack, and when I look at our midfield at present I don't see where else this skill will come from. He'd fit in well at our club because of this.

Pace is average, kicking is average-good. He'll be an inside midfielder at senior AFL level. He doesn't have the pace or skills to play outside and be damaging. He is a good tackler though, so won't be one-way. Like Viney he is just ferocious at the ball or man with the ball. He will be OK to link up in chains, but he will mainly be a contested ball winner similar to Moloney, but with a defensive side to his game too. He's a "safe" pick, but I don't expect him to become a star. Toumpas, O'Rourke, Macrae and Mayes all have better skills, pace, decision making and upside, but are more risky in that it may not translate consistently to AFL level. I think Neeld's love for hard nuts will see Wines selected by us if he is available, even if he isn't the most talented.

Talented player, but not worth pick 4. Too much of a risk at such a high pick. He'll go at pick 20 to Adelaide IMO. He'll wind up like Petrenko, in that he won't be a pure midfielder, more a flanker, and will flash in and out of games.

Good luck Brad! You're a Melbourne champ, and I hope to see you back at the club coaching in the future.

Quality midfielders. We need more outside pace and skill. We also need a good rebounding backmen who can shut down smalls. Neville Jetta may be good if tried in this role IMO

Wines' skills are average-good. His best asset is first dibs on the ball and passing off. He doesn't have great break away speed and is better being the first link in the chain, rather than the second link who breaks away. O'Rourke is exactly what you're describing with speed to break from congestion. He has good pace and his best asset is breaking from a pack and hitting up targets with good skills and decision making. He did have a highlights vid up, but it was taken down a few weeks back for some reason. Macrae's also disappeared for a bit there. It's up to the Footy Department to pick whether they want to go pure grunt or skill and pace. Would love Toumpas to be available at our pick... but either way we'll hopefully be a winner.

The AFL website also lists Wines as 85kgs when he is now pushing 90kgs. It's often inaccurate. Some of the older posters on here might remember how it listed David Neitz over the years. He used to shrink and grow randomly apparently.

If Jacobs is available, get him. First round pick, known for his good long kicking and ball winning. He could play off half back or through the midfield. Has a reasonable build on him and as has played with some success as an inside midfielder in a few games at Port. Would be a great addition to our list.

This!

Could've traded Petterd maybe? He'll get picked up by someone and play some good football. Also surprised Leigh Williams was cut. Good to see the other delistings. No messing around. High draft pick or rookie, if you don't perform you are gone.

O'Rourke, Wines and Toumpas all have attributes that many clubs would love. I'll be happy with any of them. I'm just annoyed at seeing O'Rourke described as a skinny outsider. He is a well rounded player, and I think he'd be a good fit at Melbourne because of his skills, decision making, and pace. The key for us as a club this time around is to make sure we develop whoever we draft properly. We've drafted talent before, but we haven't been able to develop it. Hopefully that's not the case anymore.

O'Rourke currently weighs 78 kgs. Get your facts straight. After his first pre-season he will weigh 80+ kgs. Hardly a skinny kid. He also has some of the best disposal, decision making, and pace in this draft. He plays both inside and outside and has elite endurance. He plays outside more successfully than his teammates due to his superior skills and pace. He also plays inside well, with nearly 40% of his disposals in the recent championships being contested. He's a well rounded midfielder in the Scott Pendlebury mould, and would be a great fit for our list. The fact he is being made out to be a skinny outside player on here is f*cking mind-boggling. He is a well composed kid, is already performing at a good level and has far more scope for improvement than most others. Whoever gets him is getting a winner.

Because they'll take us places! They'll all be delisted in 2 years time, if not now, and wouldn't get a game at any other AFL club.

Another sh*t trade. You can easily extract more value out of a 200+ agile big man, even if he isn't very good. Poor end to an average Trading period.

We still have to pay a salary cap minimum of 92.5% though, which means we're just overpaying some other average footballers instead.

We started Trade period alright, but it's just gotten worse and worse. When you look at how clubs like Geelong and Collingwood went, then look at us, you realise we are still the small fish in their big pond and our enemies grow stronger and now we seem even further back than we were. Frustrating to say the least!

Sh*t trade by the club. We don't need more average key position players to sit in the VFL, we need midfielders to play in our AFL team. We should be trading for mids not talls. And how the [censored] was Pederson worth more than Gysberts?! First round pick who is only 21 and has played 19 games vs 25 year old who has played 2 games? Madness. Pretty mixed trade period this year to be honest. We need more midfielders for f*cks sake!!!

I'm going to buck the trend here and say O'Rourke will be a better player than Wines. Better skills, better decision making, better pace. While Wines has the body and is ready to go, all this talk of him being a skinny kid we'll have to wait years for is incorrect. People are going off old stats. He currently weighs 78kgs, so after preseason he'll be in the 80kgs already. He got just .2 below Wines in the beep test, and was one of the top 10 at the try-outs in that regard, so elite like Wines. His kicking is rated as nearly the best in the draft, he's got great pace, and is seen as the most composed player in the draft along with Toumpas. Wines is an extractor, O'Rourke will win the games. With Viney, Jones, Trengove, Mckenzie, and a bunch of insiders and slower mids already, we NEED outside SKILL and PACE. O'Rourke has this, not to mention he is capable inside as well. If we can't get Toumpas, O'Rourke is best fit for us IMO.

However many wins gets us into Finals. We need to start playing finals. We've haven't played any since 2006, and we are becoming a Richmond/Fitzroy type team. It's pathetic. Anything less than finals in 2013 is a failure.

Losing Farmer, Woey and Travis Johnstone via trades gutted me. I loved those players. All great footballers, and all thoroughly entertaining to watch. I'll never forget their runs down the G! Haven't loved a Melbourne player in years now. None of the current list excites me. Hopefully as the team starts performing better we unearth some stars and players we all grow to love.

We lack outside midfielders, small defenders and small forwards. The ones we have are either poor or non-existent due to injury/form. We need a serious injection of classy smalls and running mids, as we are far too top heavy at present and lack skill.

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.