IvanBartul13

Theres no doubt he's overpaid relative to performance and it's likely there will be proven to have been better uses of Pick 20, even though, as it was a compromised draft, I don't think a player picked at or below that has done anything particularly noteworthy or played more games. My point was more specifically that bust is an extremely perjorative terminology used for draft picks and I dont think applicable to Dawes, who, though mediocre, has made some decent contributions and hasn't really been able to play in the role he was brought in for - supporting Clark and Hogan.

If you look at top 5 picks over the last 10 years, there is a fair degree of certainty that the club picking at these spots are going to get a substantial and above average contribution. I think it's fair to lament the possibility that one of our top 5 picks may not be of any value (FWIW I'm not writing him off yet)

One of the more disturbing things on forums like these is posters reeling off American draft terms like bust because they've heard it on ESPN. A bust is a draft pick that basically contributes nothing of consequence to their team or the competion and then disappears. Dawes may not be a particularly good player but he is not a bust.

He was well beaten, as always.

Well he is a completely different case because he was drafted to serve a different purpose. Harmes and King are skinny development types who if they showed development potential were always going to get an extra year. Georgiou was a ready-to-go player who the club could always make an accurate assessment of. As it happens they didn't think he was good enough or they felt he wasn't compliant enough at the end of his first season. As youd know the club would have preferred Joel Tippett and flew him over for an interview without paying his airport cab to the MCG precinct, but theyd committed to Harmes shortly after the National Draft and missed out on him and got the Cypriot as an afterthought.

I didn't suggest all rookies get two years, but when Melbourne drafted King and when most clubs draft 200cm forward/rucks in the rookie draft they do so knowing they take time to develop and hence why i said he was always going to be likely to benefit from at least a couple of years on the rookie list unless his performance was truly abject or he was non-compliant. Georgiou is a different case and not at all relevant to King's. And if Stafford wasn't putting time into a developing 200cm player, no matter who it is, you'd be worried. The fact that he plays so much time up forward in the VFL reserves would give me grave doubts about him being seen as a long-term first ruck, though it would be exciting if he can build his frame sufficient to play that role. Every year Gawn has had either an ACL or a medial tear and he missed much of his final TAC Cup year with an ACL.. He has missed whole seasons (2012) and missed large chunks of pre-seasons. I think he is a decent player but from a list standpoint, he is a very unreliable conveyance and it would be very hard to go into a season confident he is going to bear the brunt of a full season's ruckload and with Jamar's retirement imminent, Spencer, whether they see him as a long-term first ruck or not, had to be signed as cover. How do you know they had no hesitation bringing Spencer in? How do you know they didn't mull over the decision. Maybe they felt Jamar had lost every ruck matchup and was doing little around the ground so far this year and they gambled with Spencer vs Pyke who, though he is having a great season, isn't normally considered a top echelon ruckman.

King will struggle to be a number 1 ruckman. He part-timed in the TAC Cup with the Bushrangers and actually showed more acumen as a forward in the TAC where he his ability to take the ball at ground level and his mobility gave him a point of difference and made him attractive as forward option who can ruck. He will get monstered playing first ruck at AFL level, though he has the ground game. He is a forward who can spend 5 minutes rucking, notwithstanding the addition of 15kg. I find your logic to actually be neanderthal and simplistic. King as a young skinny tall was always going to get two years on the rookie unless he completely stank the joint up. Spencer was given a contract because the club had to if it was to ensure it had an AFL ruck body on the list in 2016. Jamar is a huge retirement risk and Gawn has never been able to complete a season without his knees giving way. You seem to suggest that Roos has some real confidence in him which in all likelihood is not the case.

He was anything but lazy on the weekend, a heap of gut running in a close-to BOG performance. He is almost the perfect compliment to our midfield mix.

Stephen Hill

Footnote: Just heard Ralph on SEN, say Silvia is the greatest wasted talent of the last 20 years!! Big call! Not sure I totally agree but he would be towards the top of that list.

Haynes will play on Watts and is a very good matchup for him and a terrific young player.

Hit his head on the ground when slung over the boundary line.

Bail ran with Walters quite a bit. Jetta had Ballaz first half. Grimes and McKenzie seemed to take over second half.

Afl service can watch whenever he wants plus can watch all games which is very good if bored overseas and you love your footy.

It's US$139

Tim, I am overseas til May and have been the last few years and have found the AFL overseas subscription very good, can watch all games including preseason live and replays. It's about 150 for the whole season and if he has decent internet coverage and a laptop or ipad can watch any game he likes and I'm sure there's a way he can watch it on a big screen TV too. It's well worth it and simpler than what you've pointed out but I may have misinterpret he situation.

Rowan Marshall was their ruckman, Mason gave him the odd chop out and is too small to ruck at higher level. Casey won't be winning games if he is rucking. Might be a chance to play some seniors as a key fwd/back. Possible chance as a fwd with 5 minute spells in the ruck but unlikely he can win that role off King or Fitz

My point is that Masten is better than the average footballer and will play 200+ games and the extreme likelihood is that top 3 picks have very serviceable careers, maybe not champions but very serviceable. As per your question is either Petracca or Brayshaw gets 30 possessions in a grand final and flag win, as Xavier Ellis has, that will be a decent result. FWIW I think their summaries overrate them and none have mentioned that many of Petraccas best games were as an undersizedmarking key forward in 2013. In the context of the list where we have Tyson, Jones, Viney etc if they are very serviceable without being great that will help us quite a bit too. I wonder if we are to trust the first year of Tyson with us or is that just a snapshot in time?

How do you have Masten as only average when he has has more 30 possession games than Nathan Jones. Clearly at worse he is better than average. Most of the players you mentioned are better than the average footballer and I'm done discussing this

Meant to read any not my - was an ipad typo. The majority of top 3 picks are at the very least good if not better than that footballers.

I think using Sylvia is a poor example as he was a better talent than both our top 3 draftees and his 40 possession, four goal game against Hawthorn is probably the best individual game by a Melbourne player for the last half a dozen years and even with hindsight taking him at 3 was pretty spot on and not a manifest error. His output at Freo is an aberration. Which means it is either basically a lament of a potential champion didn't become one or the moral of the story is too not believe what is written by the Bigfooty profilers, which should be obvious. It is impossible for them to see enough of the broad spectrum of footballers they cover and as for as I know none are the work of syndicate of talent identifiers. The likelihood of the top 3 picks in my draft having no impact at all is also extremely remote and history dictates this. The fact is that Brayshaw and Perracca are so wildly overrated by Demonland it isn't funny, but they are both promising footballers.

Quite frankly, it's awfully conceived. There is no run or foot skills in the back half and there is no second ruck option

I don't get where you're going with this. The above couldn't be written about many players it was written about a gun junior footballer, one of the top 10 TAC cup players I've seen amongst thousands. The fact is Sylvia was a better TAC cup player and prospect than either Petracca or Brayshaw and a large part of the blame why he hasn't lived up to his potential is probably to do with his work rate and attitude and a fair portion is too do with injury. He has still put in a decent enough career and a fair bit better than that of Kane Tenace and Ryley Dunn who most on Demonland wanted us to draft. As far as I'm concerned you have just wasted 400 odd words and 5 minutes of my life I won't get back on a pointless drivel of a topic.

They have a normal list of 46 and one rookie now so they still have more players than anybody else even after all of today's passing. Not taking players is going to make list management easier going forward plus they probably not that interested in filling their list with off cuts and lowly ranked players

Understanding obviously that the 1986 draft is at the end of the 86 season, Stretch. And Viney were signed prior. Stretch came across in 86 and Viney waited a year before crossing over in 87. 1987 was the inception year of the Eagles so no West Australians were drafted in the 1986 draft. For whatever reason Spalding and Dean opted not to play with the Eagles and come to the Dees, possibly had signed earlier, possible more money on the table, maybe Eagles not keen on them.