IvanBartul13

Is he going to nominate?

Severe hamstring injury - hasn't played since NAB Cup. Been resigned.

Jack Lonie is a nigh on certainty to get drafted - and probably a lot higher than many think, the performances of Lewis Taylor and JKH and others will have done him no harm. There will be clubs that will put a red line through Lamb for intangible reasons and for the fact that he is so wildly inconsistent. There will also be clubs like North Melbourne, as an example and I have no inside info on this, that may take him early if they feel he could add some instant potency to their forward half whilst they see themselves to be in the 'window'.

Meant to write Jimmy Bartel. Josh Bartel was a prospect at one point who is a punter in the Canadian Football League. Either way, Geelong's dynasty heavily affected by them getting access to these players on the cheap and brilliant usage of there first rounders which they didn't have to exhaust. Hawkins 100% would have had first round bids. Ablett was highly rated at the time, was a bottom-ager and would have gone top 5-8, whether another club bid who knows, but Johnson serves the point equally well. Interestingly, Bartel obviously taken one pick before Molan and Johnson one pick immediately before Armstrong and Rogers. Suspect we probably would have taken Molan anyway but Bartel in his bottom year played one of the best junior games I've seen in a helmet for the Falcons at Kardinia Park in a curtain raiser before a GeelongvDees match so who knows but maybe another argument for a Priority Pick. How the old father/son rules robbed us

Under the current father-son rules, Geelong would never have been able to draft Josh Bartel or Joel Selwood.

Unfortunately for Grundy he monstered a very weak draft class at the national championships and competed against a very weak SANFL ruck division, of whom James Meiklejohn was probably the best that year, which is saying something.. He has no football smarts, can barely take a contested mark, which is an inherent talent and isn't particularly effective as a forward. Most of these facts are the reason he slipped to pick 19 or wherever he went. He is an imposing physical specimen and a good athlete with terrific ground-level effort which has allowed him to compete and do some good things but at the moment his 43 clangers per 122 possessions is the worst ratio in the AFL and he leads the clangers per effective hitout stat amongst ruckman with daylight to the second worst. Im not saying he won't mould into a good player, but he is certainly not an incredible draft steal. Witts is a far more rounded and skilled player and it's why he is playing and why long-term he will most likely be a terrific player. He was an incredible steal.

He has talent for sure, but there is no justification for labelling him an absolute steal when he is playing reserves football, has no rising star nomination and is a statistical nightmare.

How is Grundy proving to be an absolute steal - he can't get a game and was horrific in his most recent VFL game?

6. Dom Tyson - our most influential player on the day. 5. Neville Jetta - didn't completely subdue Wingard, but was as steady as it gets. 4. Mark Jamar - gradually took a strangehold of his duel 3. Nathan Jones - can't knock his workrate and endeavour, just needs to quell the "me, me, me" aspects of his game that creep in. 2. Colin Garland - had a terrific second half 1. Jack Watts - changed the game in the third quarter.

He was actually quite good.

Who did grimes play on

No evidence for that. Roos in 9 years never drafted a big-bodied ready to go midfielder. And last year he drafted small again. Acquiring Vince, Riley, Cross has bought the club time to acquire the best talent without being compromised in its search.

That's right, of course, but whether it be a rookie pick or a later round or whatever, we need to start at least trying to develop some key position players. One of the reasons Casey is floundering is that there is no MFC listed non ruck talls. That's a problem at Casey but also speaks to a list vacuum. I will be very surprised if the club doesnt take at least one development KPP somewhere along the line.

And what roles would these players play in the current side? Petracca is a very good player. He would have gone close to top 10 last year as a forward and he's certainly in the mix no doubt, and Brayshaw is good too. I'mm not knocking the players. But I will attack the concept. The club should fold if we aren't going to draft the best talent because it doesn't believe it can develop talent or bodies. The club's recruiting would also be a disgrace if it is drafting the oldest and highest Body Mass Index midfielders in the draft pool just cause they are ready to go. One needs to remember that the players you mentioned have advantages over their peers that disappear to a fair degree once they enter the AFL system. The only way for this club forward is to assemble a critical mass of quality talent of all shapes and sizes. As such it should draft the players they think will be best over the span of their careers, none of this ready to go nonsense. The Western Bulldogs have set themselves up for years by drafting two midfield rakes and there is no evidence to suggest they are any better at developing than we are. The only desperate need we have to fill in this draft is a developing key position player at some stage in the draft or trading process. Other than that get the best talent at each decision!

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.

Heaven help the development league team! How many touches Jimmy Magner?

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.

I think the closest comparison is Sharrod Wellingham. Will take a lot of luck for us to get him third round. Lower first round talent in my opinion.

Its a good point. I question whether or not Petracca is going to have to shed 10kgs to play midfield and what impact that will have on the contested side of his game when he steps up to AFL. Very good midsize marking forward and he's shown versatility to be an impact midfielder against his peers, but its a very important question that needs to be answered. I really liked what I saw of Jayden Laverde in terms of his decision making, spacial awareness and lateral movement in that desirable 190cm-ish light framed midfielders body. Most mock drafts seem to have him low-teens, early-20s but I'd be surprised given the popularity of Bontempelli types if he isn't a bolter, albeit he probably needs to win more of the footy. He'd be a good drop-drown trade option for us, so keep a look out for him.

I think Jones will end up being bigger or at least playing bigger than 181cm. Bird is a good, hard-working, accountable accumulater, but his ball usage, kicking in particular, is iffy. I'd certainly want the club looking for better players if it was going to give away a Top 5 pick. Even Z.Jones who is a good player and very tough and versatile isn't a particularly good user by foot and we need players that can win the footy and kick with precision.

Spoke to an impartial observer who was at the game and said that Georgiou, Toumpas and Gawn were good and Barry had an off-day, though he isn't a fan from his junior days. Mentioned that no-one was bashing the door down to get a game.

6. Lynden Dunn - Form defender of the competition and played another excellent game 5. Jordie McKenzie - Did his job for a full four quarters and played a major hand in the match-winning goal.. 4. Dom Tyson - thought he was the difference-maker in the second half 3. Nathan Jones - another tireless and consistent game 2. James Frawley - very good in the contest and the best of our tall forwards on the night. 1. Mark Jamar - got control of the ruck in the second half and with Tyson a big part of the comeback. Apologies to Viney, Kent, Grimes and Cross.

They have a different surname and as such are not related