Nasher

You don't go anywhere without good players. That doesn't necessarily mean early draft picks.

You read "was", where it said "has"...

Recruited by Hawthorn under the LOL Melbourne principle - the same reason North took Gysberts and Geelong took Blease. Won't take them long to figure out that he's just not any good. I understand why people like him though. There aren't many 200+ cm players with athleticism like he has. It makes sense to wait as long as possible for players with those attributes; I think the MFC did just that. Time to move on.

Arguing over whether we should have used 29 (which we didn't have yet) instead of 25 just reeks of whinging for the sake of it. Practically speaking the chances of that changing the player we select in the draft very remote.

The annoying thing is, you could random sample the BigFooty phantoms and draft better than we have in the past. Law of probability says we should have just fluked at least one really good player with all our top 20 picks, but no.

How do I get on to this kind of mail? All I ever get is bills.

There goes that ironyometer again. They're the professionals mate, you're the amateur. Not the other way round.

Give me a chance would you! He's gone.

I am. It appealed the the blue sky junky in me: that the club thought there was enough to work with to persevere. Not unhappy with the club cutting its losses either though. He's been disappointing.

Gods. My ironyometer just exploded.

We involve Port to do the right thing by a player on our list we don't rate, who wants to go.

Have to admit, I too knew bugger all about him before this other than that we rated him before the draft. Looks fast and tough.

Funny, isn't it? They're surplus to requirements, right up until the point where the other clubs agree.

Suggests to me that Geelong thought they were worthless.

Memories. Great thread, Darkhorse72!

Went looking for a video, but all I could find was this thread: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/pickett-wont-get-4-just-2-i-reckon.241695/ 2006. Nearly 10 years ago.

I wouldn't bother. The price would be too high, with too much downside risk.

Ironing out this bloke with a shirt front, and calling Danners to tell him he was too hung over to play are my only two memories from Byron Pickett's time at the MFC.

Hawthorn made the offer not expecting it to get up (but prepared for it if it did). More about making sure the Saints pay than anything else.

Welcome to the "This Might Turn Out Okay. Let's Wait and See First" club mate

Jeez you lot go to water easily. Essendon are going to the well in a big way - trading out experienced players and loading up on draft picks. Sure, they might look like geniuses in 5-8 years time, but they could also get very badly burned - MFC of all supporters should know the risks involved in going to the draft. Have a look at past drafts - there's always at least two and as many as four bust draft picks in the top 10. That's a 20-40% chance you'll pick a complete dud that won't play 50 games, and that's if you're generous and call picks like Richard Tambling a decent selection. Then there's a lot of just decent players; sure you might get Nick Riewoldt, but you're just as likely to get Mitch Thorp, and far more likely to get Lachie Hansen. The MFC is continuing its strategy of incremental improvement. It's too early to say if it's a better or worse strategy, but what's certain is we're taking much less of a gamble. I just cannot understand why we are collectively throwing ourselves off a cliff over this.

Don't reckon pick 25 would have got us Dangerfield or Selwood (edit: assuming you mean Joel - if you mean Scott, wgaf? There's players like him everywhere).

Melksham being a better player than the player Essendon take at 8 is a plausible outcome.

Look I agree in principle, but this isn't a case of Hawthorn having an advantage over anyone here, they're just the ones willing to do the deal with Essendon. Carlisle seems (seemed?) quite willing to go to St Kilda; so can get him if they want. They're just choosing to be stubborn and Hawthorn are holding them to account.

Pfff, what would Pelchen know? Or Goodwin, McCartney or Roos? Demonlanders said it was a terrible deal so it must be.