Nasher

Wow, at that height, screw playing him in the ruck. Just have him stand in the defensive goal square, and when he stops every single goal from going through, just have him do a somersault the length of the ground with the ball and kick us a goal. But seriously yes, at 207 he is a serious man mountain. It's an interesting contrast with Fitzpatrick who appears to be an 'athletic' type. If both of them turn out to be good players they should make for a fairly tough to beat ruck combo. Unusual and interesting that we took two ruckmen in the national draft.

It isn't hard to believe. We have one remaining vacancy on the list which is committed to Macdonald. The reason we didn't pick either of them at 66 is clearly because we don't want them. So the short answer to the OP is no, it is not possible that they will be on our list next year.

Ahh, okay, thanks. Makes sense now.

Can anyone explain why clubs are picking players off their own rookie list in round 6 of the draft (i.e. the last round for most of them)? See Broughton (Freo), Garlett (North), Stewart (Port), Joseph (Carlton), Picken (WB), Dawson (St. Kilda), Thompson (Port) I assume the go is that these players were offered additional years on their clubs rookie lists, but elected to take a chance on the draft instead, and the clubs have re-drafted them to make sure they aren't lost, but does anyone know for sure?

Nice one. Thought he'd be well and truly Gawn (:D) by then.

You realise Taylor is just a kid himself, right?

What position do you see Liam Patrick playing in for the MFC? Bear in mind that at 185 cm he is far, far too short to be an AFL ruckman. He may have X factor as a ruckman in bush footy, but at his size in the AFL he'll need to be a very, very special flanker to be worth pick 18.

What if? The answer to that is pretty obvious: he'll play for the AFL club. It makes sense to cover all bases though; by signing for a VFL club he guarantees that he will be playing football on a reasonably high level next year.

No, it's not a "little late". It's far, far too late.

The past drafts don't represent any facts that are relevant or helpful. There's been spuds and great pickups at most picks in every draft. If in 2008 a lemon was picked at 12 but a star was picked at 13, does that mean you'd want to avoid pick 12 in 2009, but would be happy with 13? Going by the logic I've read in this thread, and many others, we might as well not bother participating in the draft at all. After all, there's been some pretty lousy pick 1 and 2 players in the past as well.

I really, really think it's time to stop feeding in the troll now.

rpfc will be pleased.

Hawthorn are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Can't blame them for doing due diligence I guess, but I don't think there's a surer bet than John Meesen being on our rookie list next year, and Chris Bryan not being on a list at all.

When has it ever been the case that the reigning wooden spooners wasn't the odds on favourite for the spoon the next year? It's how the betting industry works, and it doesn't mean anything. It's just the same as how people often tip the reigning premier to go back to back the next year. As others have said already, who cares?

To me he sounds like this year's massively overhyped average player. There's one every year. I guess we'll see. He's a late rookie selection at best though I think. One thing is for sure though, at 185cms he's never going to be a ruckman or a KPP.

Ripping him off how? He's doing what any good manager should do who is managing a really young bloke earning a ridiculous amount of money. Managing it. Personally I'd be disappointed if managers didn't offer this service, especially for the younger players. How much money does an 18 year old who still lives at home need on a weekly basis? I'm sure if he wanted to use his finances to purchase a car or property (or some other sensible investment) his manager would help him arrange it. A player like Watts would have next to no living expenses at all. I think it's very important that all players in the AFL system are helped in managing their money from the very start. It's an industry where you go from being a kid, to instantly earning a lot of money. For most people, that would completely blow their perspective on how the real world works. Then they get to 30 odd, can't play any more, and all of a sudden their income stream dries up and they are left up the creek.

It might just be me, but I often change my mind when presented with a compelling argument.

I see getting Macdonald in the PSD as a free shot at getting a player who is almost certainly going to be better than whatever pick 70-something has to offer. I don't think the fact that he is a back has much to do with it at all really. He's just the best we're going to get with that pick. I think our backline is sound anyway, and I don't share your view that we faltered when Garland fell. I'd actually say it's the one and only area of the ground where we consistently looked solid all year. Macdonald can release someone like Grimes in to a midfield role - break even for the backline, net gain for the midfield.

If I'm unfortunate enough to have to listen to the radio (i.e. in the car), in Tassie one of the local stations broadcasts the MMM feed. If we're really, really lucky we'll also get an ABC feed as well, but usually it's MMM or nothing. Needless to say, I'm devastated Hunt is moving.

I know what you meant and I still don't agree. Incorrect criteria: If he is better than our existing key forwards, he is worth getting Correct criteria: If he is good enough to be an AFL grade forward, he is worth getting. Being an improvement on our current KPFs is faint praise and doesn't automatically make them worth getting. He could be an improvement on our existing KPFs, but still be rubbish and therefore still be wasting a spot on the list. Chris Tarrant (as a forward) would have been an improvement on our existing KPFs, but do you think he would've been worth getting? As I said, Newton (and Miller) should not be used as the benchmark.

The only reason we should pass up on Luke Ball with pick 18 is if there are better options. That's it. It should have nothing to do with his threats and gestures. Aww check it out everyone, isn't he cute?! He actually, really thinks Melbourne supporters give a toss about what Russell Robertson thinks. You keep believing that, son.

Don't agree with that logic. You can't use a dud* as the benchmark, otherwise you'll have a lot of very average "bargains" on your list. *On the assumption that you're implying Newton is a dud.

Nice to know that we've already consigned pick 11 to be an ordinary, middle of the road player when we don't even know who it is yet.

If Carlton had waited instead of moving so quickly they could've had Ball for the same price; a superior player in every way to McLean. In my opinion we should count ourselves extremely lucky we got what we did.

Not very good actually. I agree with everything you said, and I'm on yours and rpfc's "he'll play where he's damn well told" bandwagon. But it doesn't answer the question I asked. Why would Luke Ball want to play for Melbourne [specifically]?