JACKATTACK

Well that is just incorrect. Perhaps it is better to judge the value of pick 18 by asking you what you 'Reckon'.

Still nothing official on Ball. I would have thought something would have come out by now, could still be b/s. 2:00pm deadline is approaching.

Still not enough of a reason to not pick him up IMHO. If we pick him up, he will play and play well, for 5 or 6 years and his leadership will be an asset to the club. His choice of draft doesn't change that.

If he has nominated for the National Draft he is prepared to play where he gets picked, just because he prefers Collingwood doesn't mean he doesn't want to play for us. The club has more of an idea about his commitment level than we do here speculating about his intentions based on his choice of draft. And I don't rate pick 18 as much as Ball, despite his preference for Collingwood.

I think we should assess taking him when it is our turn to call out pick 18. I would think he is good value at 18, he'll want to play for us if he gets drafted by us.

For those considering the relative merrits of picking up Ball/kid at pick 18. Previous Pick 18s: 2008 Luke Shuey 2007Alex Rance 2006 Leroy Jetta 2005 Max Bailey 2004 Cameron Wood 2003 Llane Spaanderman 2002 Kris Shore 2001 Shane Harvey 2000Daniel Kerr 1999 Rhys Shaw (F/S) (preceded at 17 by Ezra Bray) 1998 Daniel Schell 1999 Mark Alvey Source: Wiki "AFL Draft"

If Brock was worth 11, surely ball is worth 18. Which is not to say that I think we should get him, just that I would think he will be well gone by 30. I wonder if Carlton would do the same deal with Brock if they knew ball was available.

I like the hard line. I wouldn't go down that road personally, but it wouldn't hurt to make Ball and Conners think that we might.

Well i'm sorry, I will make sure next time I align my interests and opinions with yours. I'm not losing any sleep over it, but given the complete lack of any other football news around this time of year I think I am well within my rights to be interested in the spectacle. And I am still curious at the situation where Ball, by showing preference for one club and disdain for others, could seemingly create himself a kind of pseudo free agency. I'm not suggesting he will or won't, or that we should or shouldn't, or that Bailey was wrong to say what he said (which he wasn't) i'm just interested in the apparent loophole. I wonder what would happen if Collingwood had PSD pick2.

Long and drawn out, yes. A farce? Probably. But it is a fairly major thing that could happen. A player of Ball's age, and record potentially dropping out of the club for free? In the context of the AFL and the MFC it is more than a storm in a teacup. I share Little Stinga's frustration on the matter of Ball.

I listened to the whole interview, not much of interest. Except the question put to Bailey about whether or not we would pick up Ball if he said he had no interest playing for Melbourne. Bailey said something along the lines of: "it would be a very short meeting", as expected I suppose. But part of me has a bit of a problem with this. Assuming for a second that Ball talks to every club that has a PSD pick before Collingwood and says the same thing to them, and assuming that every club holds the same philosophy of avoiding players who say they don't want to play for the club. Then Ball essentially is a free agent. Obviously the reality is different, but I still find it an interesting situation for club and player.

I would prefer the thread name: I reckon Ball will remain a Saint. It is conjecture, and you're not adding anything new to the debate. Though I do tend to agree I still think the whole saga has a few more days left to run.

This thread is full of horrible cliches.

Playing the game I reckon, i would be surprised if there was anyone at the club who is serious about picking him up. Maybe we're trying to force Sydney into a slightly tougher situation so they can't just take him for free in the PSD.

this from Jones on twitter: Solid running session @ dendy park ... Youngster James Strauss was impressive this morning ... The kid is fit!! Interesting

I do rate McKenzie, I made a point of watching his game closely at the few Casey games I watched. I was most impressed by his kicking. I wouldn't have said he was a good inside player but it is interesting that the club sees that as his strength. I kind of imagine him being the new Wheatley.

The key thing from Ball's point of view would be that we'll be in our window when he is 30 or so, with us wanting to hold on to our experience to help our tilt, it would extend his career by 2 possibly 3 years. Stay on at the Saints and you get the short term success but in 4-6 years, when their best players have retired to be replaced by kids drafted very late in the draft, they'll be looking to offload their dead wood and rebuild.

Geelong will play their first game against last year's 13th best team, then play either the 14th or 16th best team in the second round. And both games at their home ground (Etihad). That would be like us playing North at the MCG then following that up at the MCG with either Richmond or Freo. We have little chance of winning at SUbi, and even less chance of backing it up against Geelong at Etihad.

The previous year's premiers one year and this time to Subiaco, I was hoping for a bit of an easier one this year. NAB cup doesn't mean much but I still hate being knocked out in the first week. Tough draw for us, Geelong have it easy.

Could be requesting a meeting to sound us out about which pick in the ND we would pick him up at. I like this line: "We can trump every club through the national and pre-season draft and we think we are an exciting option." - CC This is essentially the message Ball should get from us at the meeting. You have 2 choices, and we're the better one.

Buy a PC. Go to the Bigpond site, after about 30 seconds you will come to the realisation that whole Bigpond site has apparently been designed by Monkeys, and not even particularly clever monkeys. Return your PC, never go near the Bigpond site or anything to do with Telstra and you will enjoy a much happier existence.

Has an amazing ability to pick the ball up at full speed. I think his skills are a myth though, i'm sure he can kick I just havn't seen him do it under pressure. The good thing is that he got plenty of game time this year, and he will be much better for it. Has potential, needs a switched on coach to bring it out of him.

I think it is more important to know these dates: Fri Oct 30, 2pm – List Lodgement One. Rookie promotion to Primary List, Retained Second Year Rookies, Retained Third Year International Rookies, Retained Third Year Non-Registered Rookies. Tue Nov 10, 2pm – Out of Contract Listed AFL Primary List Players Draft Nomination Deadline.Fri Nov 13, 2pm – List Lodgement Two. Wed Nov 18, 2pm – Delisted Primary List Player Draft Nomination Deadline. (not sure what the difference between out of contract and delisted is in this case) Thur Nov 26, 6.30pm - 2009 NAB AFL Draft I think it will be sorted out by next friday's list lodgement. So we'll know in a week. Or if we still havn't heard anything by 13th of Nov we can assume he'll be playing for us.

As a defender, not a forward.

I would have the following order (preferred to keep at the top) Buckley Cheney Bartram McNamara Tough call coming up.