Darren Cuthbertson

I only want Ball if he wants to come. If he nominates for the primary draft in the hope of going somewhere else, I wouldn't take him- though I might talk him up to try to persuade another club to use an early pick to get him.

Why are we talking about Luke Ball in the middle of an Olympic Park thread anyway?

It just happened that way I guess.

I'm very certain!

Let's see then, Valenti is a cheap VFL level player but he has fitness and although he is limited he is a good citizen that wins the good citizen trophies. Ball is an expensive and like Valenti now a one dimensional and limited midfielder who is on the decline. Also bringing him in will cause a shift in culture at MFC, potentially shafting the likes Moloney and Aaron Davey. Better to spread the money he gets to pay the young Demon players coming up when their market value increases and keep what you are building. If Luke Ball goes to Melbourne he doesn't want to be there and remember his greatest lover aside from you is Grant Thomas.

10 November is the deadline for listed but uncontracted players to nominate for the draft.The fact that our three uncontracted players - Bartram,Cheney and McNamara - might be listed this Friday doesn't necessarily mean that we are going to keep them. [ I think they are the 3 ?]

Friday is a key date for the rookies

List lodgement 2 on 10 November will determine how many picks we have in the primary draft. We'll have to wait until then to know whether picks 34 and 50 are going to be open

November 18 is the" Luke Ball deadline". If he doesn't nominate for that, then we'll know to pass up our final draft pick so that a space is available for Ball at PSD #1.

It'll be a while yet before we know our final draft strategy

I'm sure you will ensure that Bartram gets delisted given your standing within MFC.

Rioli was hardly öutside the square. They wanted a small forward to complement Buddy and Roughy. They looked at the balance of their list.

For other readers of this post - I am not a critic of CAC - and I'm not a Caro lover.!!!!!!!!!!

Wish List : Scully, Trengrove, a couple of KPPs and Ball plus ANother ( made possible by the delisting of Barts!)

Riloi -yes he was outside the square all the draftees have to be good little boys-antisocial, poor fitness and work ethic meant no one other than Hawthorn would touch him. Same with Buddy Franklin.

You are a critic of CAC and your influence was instrumental in him leaving and you are a fan of Caro's work. It's in the Caro topic some time ago.

Darren, I may be a sceptic - but I trust I am not septic

I have actually been to the Casey ground .... and I liked what I saw -except there was no a gym etc

Do you have any inside info on Luke Ball?

No, not interested in Luke Ball like you are. The Red and Blue Foundation you seem to have taken over should invest in like a blood transfusion unit and a massive stapler/stiches machine if he comes to Melbourne given the amount of times he gets cut. Is it because of courage or because he is slow? I don't think he has the Kosi 'no pheriperal vision' but as a player he has no penetration and does not carry the ball in the way required by a modern midfielder. He cannot be a tagger nor kick goals so he gets by on reputation. His body is crocked and his biggest fan aside from you is Grant Thomas. For bang for buck Valenti was a better option cause he's much cheaper.

Why not ? Hawthorn's approach to recruiting just won them a flag........

But they thought outside the square as you know -recruiting Dew and Rioli.

As CAC's biggest critic and a Caro lover please detail your draft wish list.

With hindsight, you'd have to think that the 2 All Australians in that list were just about the best recruits of 2001 - Swan (58) and Lake (Harris) (71). Lake vies with Scarlett as the best tall defender in the competition.

Do you ignore the need for a balanced list - when your "best available" will not necessarily turn out to be the " best player"?

An 18 year old tall may have further to go than an 18 year old small - but that doesn't mean he won't make it.

Realistically there is not going to be a lot to choose between picks 5 and 20. When in doubt look at the balance of your list

You got this method reading the book The Draft and hence you are taking a Hawthorn type approach to recruiting and trying to make it your own.

Agree absolutely

But Bartram's been training ... and there is whisper that he has been offered a one year contract ( and is p--- d because its not 2)

Hoopla, you clearly have it in for Barts which is fair enough. Who is your source on this information, it seems to me that you are fast becoming a power broker within the MFC. I hear that you are also responsible for Sylvia's turnaround in form and attitude and that you were instrumental in keeping Jamar away from Port Adelaide. It is probably you that got Barts one year vs two.

Appreciate your help

Your proof that we have so many designated facilities has overome my scepticism ( You get that way as a Melbourne supporter!)

Sounds great

Hoopla, have you even been to the Casey ground and seen the facilities there?

Why are you being such a "septic"? MFC is on the way up and they may even get Luke Ball to play for them! You should lighten up and maybe look for a place on the Board.

We do have a problem. Bartram is the only out of contract player most of us would delist.It seems our only options are undesirable

- Bite the bullet with McNamara;

- Pay out a contracted player; or

- Pass up Pick 34 ( or PSD)

Hoopla -you should be running the club.

if he had stuck with 48, he would have been forever living in Darren Cuthbertson shadow

Correct! Wasn't the number 48 good enough for Liam Jurrah?

That's fantastic Bruce...

If you can do that then you must be paying some income tax .You should be aware that if you had channelled these donations through the R&B Foundation, you would have got some money back from the government ( $5 plus per month ) - to keep or pass on to the club as an additional donation.

Why don't you contact the club and ask them to arrange it for you from now on?

So Hoopla it seems that the Red and Blue Foundation doesn't actually reduce the clubs debt but provides equipment to the players. At least all the funds donated to the RBF actually go to the club and not a percentage going to other sources like what happens in some other not for profits/foundations.

And on the 03 draft:

Round Pick Player Recruited from Club

Who of the above, in hindsight, would you rather have chosen with pick 3?? MAYBE waters (although just a back flanker) stanton and adcock probably (although if they were pick 3's their supporters would probably still feel hard done by at this point), mundy MAYBE. Sam Fisher was an inspired choice at 55, as was Tuck at 73.

Anyone bar Kepler Bradley!

Every game this year - we have struggled to find aforward option. If ever Newton is going to get a game surely it must be now. The one youngster who is fit and showing signs at Casey is Maric.

IN: Newton,Maric

OUT: Petterd, Sylvia

Petterd needs a run at Casey- starting at half back - to get his confidence back.I still haven't given up completely on Sylvia - but his form over the last two weeks hasn't been good enough to keep his place.

I can't believe peoiple want to drop PJ. He did have a shocker last week but he gives us several options ... and he's still running into form after an interrupted pre-season. He has played enough good footy in the last couple of years to be forgiven a poor game or two.You couldn't go into a game with Meeson and Spencer interchanging all day.

No reason to drop Jetta and this stage - and just let Bennell keep learning the game as he has been

If Junior's fit ..I'be looking to drop Bartram - who quite frankly hasn't got the skills to be part of the side in the long-term

Hoopla, give up on Slyvia -even Hutchy says that he is a goner at Melbourne. I know Colin is breaking your heart, let it go and let him play second/third tier football where he can get away with his poor attitude, OP and empty tank. At AFL level he can't get away with those things.

Classic misunderstanding of the debilitating condition that is OP. Nice.

It is nice, face the facts with Colin you get his lingering OP, if he had any football smarts and real steel mentally maybe he could play. Why continue to back him when he's not going to overcome this. There are too many if only's with him -maybe he should go see the Wizard of Oz for a brain, a heart and some courage.

There is no doubt Colin has been a disappointment in the past . I have been prepared to excuse him on the basis that he has had major injury and fitness worries. He has not been strong in 'the core' which would have made it very difficult to play four quarters of footy. Up until this year, he has never had a proper pre-season. Perhaps our mistake was in recruiting a kid who had OP at 17...but that's not his fault

The saving grace on the latest issue is that he wasn'y drinking - so I'm going to get off his back one more time and judge on the field after his first full pre-season .

He has ability - and I recall Daniher saying that he is very competitive.

Let's just see how plays in the next month

Hoopla -Colin has no tank, he has no football smarts and lacks heart. He would be an excellent VFL/SANFL player but he doesn't have the goods to deliver at AFL level. Colin should be aloud to go out late at night as he'd end up falling asleep at a reasonable hour anyway no matter where he was out at. Judd and Luke Ball can play at a level with OP type issues, Colin will always have whatever lingers with his OP so get over it.

He probably fell asleep at the Strippers again. Col has no tank either on the field or off it.

Clearly I hope your optimism is justified.... and I agree that the backline options are beginning to look healthy.

At the end of the day, the balance of our list is such that virtually all of our young talls will have to come through - and stay fit - whereas we will be OK if only half of our young midfielders make it.Over the years , the success rate for 'talls 'has tended to be lower than the success rate for 'smalls/mid-sizers'.

We have more considerably more midfield depth than big man depth. Whether or not that becomes a real problem will depend upon the pattern of injuries over the next few years.

Hoopla -you just have it in for Craig Cameron as he did not draft you.

Hoopla, what list management strategies would you have implemented to address this problem? Who would you have targetted and who would you have realistically had to give up to resolve it?

And just for the record, Jamar has not had a history of foot injuries that are anything unusual for a player of his type. This injury is not a recurrence but a new injury.

Hoopla you know heaps about football so I'm sure you can reply to Rhino -just don't let your dislike of the Russian cloud your post. Spida Everitt is not a realistic option and Nik Nat will prove to be a headless chook -no football nous.

That's great news!

I know a lot of Ds Supporters that are so happy at that one -one of them is very influential on the forums and I wished this would happen. Does that mean Spencer gets promoted off the Rookie list then? :D