IvanBartul13

And he don't much like Scott Pendlebury either or Dom Tyson.

If Adam Tomlinson was in the draft I'd have a fairly large bet that St Kilda would take him with pick 1.

I guess the question is, if you assume that Hogan and Dawes play and a ruck/forward plays and Watts plays, what role would Petracca fill in and or would he make much of a difference. Remember Dawes and Hogan are big big bodys and maybe Gawn plays with Watts as a classy tall and then two crumbers/resting mids/defensive forwards. Also if Frawley stays, then you have Dunn, Garland, McDonald, Frawley and Howe as well, so a Howe or Frawley will probably compete for a forward berth as well or someone tall who should be playing AFL sits out each week at Casey. Cam Pedersen for example. In terms of the forward line it would to me seem far too marking based with not enough crumbing ability and not enough ground level harrassment of the opposition. It seems we have an oversupply by one or two players of capable 190cm plus players, so bringing in a big bodied medium marking forward/on baller doesn't make much sense to me, especially if he is drafted to make an instant impact. Obviously if his testing and work rate lead to him being primarily a midfielder then that's great. But we also have Salem who is a forward/midfielder (hopefully) as well. Hes a good player and he's probably a big chance at St Kilda at one but I just don't think he makes as much sense to Melbourne given our team balance. Obviously things are very fluid and maybe other trades could be done and he would make sense and maybe Frawley going makes it more sensible. But as things sit, I'd prefer us get say a Liam Duggan for his two-sided quality kicking off half-back/through the midfield or invest in a tall (Goddard/Durdin) for a few years down the track when Frawley, Dawes, Garland are in their late 20s. I guess I view Petracca as a luxury pick when really significant structural abnormalities can be addressed in the immediate and for down the track and I would need to be convinced he is a star to pick him. He may be, but Im not convinced. St Kilda have no entrenched forwards bar a retiring Riewoldt and a resting ruckman, so he could come in play 15 mins forward 10 mid a quarter and be a great pickup, For us we would need to jig things around to get him playing his optimum role in the short term at least.

Its an incredibly interesting draft from a strategic standpoint. I think a lot of clubs with the first pick would take Peter Wright, but St Kilda has invested pretty heavily in Hickey and Longer, so he doesn't really make a lot of sense for them. I think they'd be at least investigating shopping the pick. As for us taking Petracca. Admittedly he is a quality player, but you would need to be very confident he has the engine to be a two-way running midfielder, because I don't think he fits in our forward setup equation and it would be overkill adding him to Dawes, Hogan, Pedersen, Gawn, Watts. I see us trading down and or trading away early picks this year. Not a lot of players make sense and or won't justify being taken that high.

Good chance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Hone

Thoughts on his kicking?

Tyson needs some quick class around him to capitalise on his quick hands and brain.

I don't see how the club cannot prioritise towards a key forward. Basically there is only one key forward on the list of any genuine long term value and even he has back stress fractures and is yet to play a game. Clarks future is increasingly murky, Dawes body is unreliable. Ideally the club should try and pair Hogan with a key forward running mate for the next 10 years, similar to Hawthorn's Roughead/Franklin blueprint. Wright's ruck ability makes him an incredibly interesting prospect, he would be, from a structural standpoint, highly ideal and there are other viable forwards as well. Obviously the club have been unlucky that the forward trio havent come up but that there is no young forward on the list, bar Max King, is an oversight. The club has used premium material on Tyson, Vince, Viney, Salem and Toumpas, traded for Michie and committed to Watts playing up the ground, it now needs to invest in other areas a bit more aggressively. Obviously if a priority pick is involved and or a Frawley compo pick, that gives the club a bit more flexibility but the likelihood of the forward talent avallable and our needs point towards that path. Would need to be a terrific mid with pace and elite kicking, a counterpointing compliment to Dom Tyson, to warrant another approach.

If thats the case the club should close its doors. If it cant pick the most talented players it is wasting everyone's time and if it abandons any self-comfidence about it being able to develop talent then it will never succeed. The club needs to, if it gets a chance at this upcoming draft to get high echelon picks, get the best players. FWIW i dont understand the fuss about Dunstan. He's doing what he did in the Sanfl, winning a bit of contested footy and being effective in close and useful on the outside. Everyone knew he would make an instant impact and now all of a sudden 36 touches in two weeks against the likely two worst sides in the comp and not picking him is a grievous error. Getting Tyson and Viney has shored up our stoppages, the club needs quick mids who can win and use the football, not more grinders, there is enough of them on the list - Jones, Trengove, Tyson. Getting some elite talls, in particular a long-term partner for Hogan would be a good play as well. Heaven forbid the club goes for a quick fix at the end lf the year again. Vince and Cross are shoring things up/buying time to allow the club to bring significant under 18 talent in, which is what it should do. Petracca is not the type of player to draft first when you havent got a sound list structure in place.

Whilst it's easy to pot this draft performance and it's a clearly poor haul, very few players taken after Taggert would have made a demonstrable difference. Grigg would have been a good pick but other than that it's almost irrelevant, there just wasn't much talent to get at this picks.

First time in a long time, in the aftermath of a game, that I've we've been well coached strategically. And what McKenzie has been doing languishing at Casey and playing as a defensive wingman, for god's sake, is anyone's guess.

Question regarding the Essendon issue - cocaine and other stimulants are banned under WADA in competition. So assuming that some of the player strikes are positive tests after playing, why is the AFL not obliged to reveal these to WADA and the players banned.

Well i'll do my best - Bell - baddish pick, Smith - horrendous pick - Dunn - baddish pick - Bate - bad pick Morton - bad pick - Maric - bad pick - Molan - horrendous pick - Rogers - horrendous pick - Armstrong - baddish pick. Petterd - baddish pick. A line can be put through all those picks and those are selections should have built a strong foundation for the club and be in the side today. Prendergast's selections are only now reaching the point at which they should be impacting games and they are playing in a terrible side that should be stronger and its hurting their development. So I will put forward that Craig Cameron has a very big part to play and at the current time is as responsible, if you want to use recruiting as the essence of our on field problems. I just think it's unfair on Prendergast to totally blame him. The Molan, Rogers draft is the single biggest atrocity in our drafting history.

The term wasted rookie draft is not one I've read or heard before. The re-selection of Newton was forced upon Prendergast who had to rookie him, as Newton from memory had been delisted whilst contracted and was thus guaranteed a rookie spot. I believe the same promise was afforded Meesen and in any case, Daw was taken before Meesen in the rookie draft. Daw was a speculatory pick by the Kangaroos, good luck to them, but its probably the worst instrument I've seen used as an attack on Prendergast, who clearly will not in all likelihood be seen to have had a decorated career as Melbourne's recruiting chief, but nor should his predecessor, who wasted the best draft in AFL history and a succession of excellent draft picks - Bate, Dunn, Molan, Armstrong, Morton, Maric to name a few. Prengergast burnt the Cook and Gysberts selections. The latter is still in the system and the former was discarded by Neeld without being afforded the patience the Kangaroos have showed in its burgeoning key position players (Daw, Tarrant, Black). Obviously there are question marks on other selections and there have been terrific picks as well (Howe, Gawn, maybe Tom McDonald). Either way, his treatment and criticism is premature and unfair.

pretty good mate, had a couple of chuckles.

Great story about him. Whe he was a kid he used to wrap tennis balls in tin paper, stand in the Caribbean shallows and practice by playing shots to skimmers thrown at him by the Guyana locals.