Theo

Yes we have first option. You can have upto 3 Category B (International & Development ) Rookiies. They can be kept on the list for 3 years. After that they need to be upgraded to the Senior Primary list or be delisted. We have four Cat A Rookies in Magner, Couch, Stark and Clisby.

You can add James Strauss as a player who also hesitates and does not back himself 100%. Brandan Matera had 3 opportunities in the 3rd qtr to kick goals against last year. Strauss was in no mans land. Just lucky he missed the lot. Unless he gains the confidence to back himself and get more involved he will be out of the side well before Watts. As for Ben Hur, he has been a great contributor to this forum, I really enjoyed his training reports before Xmas and most of what he writes. No point in getting personal.

Where and when is it on.

And to think we could have drafted Tom Rockliff. Probably a 200 game player.

Someone saw him at training today speaking to Todd Viney.

They are regarded as Category B rookies. Can have upto 3. You can have between 4 to 6 Cat A rookies (normal rookie list) depending on the number of primary list players.

Evans was also a stand out in the shuttle run (beep test) as he completed 3 extra run throughs after his group had all retired. On the newbies, Howe commented on Kent's long kicking ability and surprise, surprise Matt Jones. Said that in Darwin the boys didn't know how to handle him. Great hands apparently. Was disappointed with Rivers and Petterd leaving as they were his best mates. Said Hannath could kick like a midfielder and they were hoping to keep him under wraps.

Now I've had a chance to reflect on our drafting I'm really glad we turned over the list to the extent we have. I Just wonder if Neeld had his time over again would he have been so gung-ho with the FA selections and the selection of say Matt Jones as our second pick in the ND. From postings on Demonland this selection seemed have have people scratching their heads as he more than likely would have been available in the rookie draft. I just hope this bloke warrants his selection. By filling up the primary list in the ND it really backed the club in a corner. We had the 2nd pick in the PSD yet we could not use it. Hence goodbye Jack Hannath. I just have this feeling that the club panicked a bit early on gave other clubs an advantage in assessing Hannath and being able to gazump us because we were not smart enough in keeping our PSD pick. A lot can happen in the 3 weeks between the ND and PSD and I reckon the club was very naive and should have retained one pick for the PSD. In case someone says hindsight is a wonderful thing, I have felt this way all along and couldn't believe the strategy they adopted.

If you have a lot of scarves you can sew them together and make a rug. Looks great. Get you wife onto it.

You mention Hannabal, where the hell is he these days. I used to enjoy reading his posts but I can't even find him on the members list.

While watching one of the replays on Foxtel Mick Malthouse said of Garland. He seems very nervous when he has the ball. I agree, I think he lacks composure and coughs it up far to oftem.

I agree with Ben Hur, David was an excellent player but I thOught somewhat inconsistent. I think he should have retired one or two years earlier but with very few leaders at the club I don't think they had much choice. Although they may not have been champions (excrpt Flower) I preferred watching Jackovich, Schwartz, Flower, Hardaman and Alan Johnson. They seemed be a lot more consistent although David did have some great days out.

Thanks George on the Outer, glad to see your back. Really miss your contributions on Demonology. Very little activity over there these days.

Just on the running I noticed that Jones was paired with Howe. In prior pre-seasons Jones was the standout runner at the Club however Howe had him measure every time. Howe looks incredible. Taggert ran with Blease and Blease kept up pretty well. McDonald and Nicholson are the elite runners followed by Bail and Trengove. Viney ran with Byrnes and were evenly matched but Viney willed his way to the front on most occassions. Todd introduced the draftees the the admin staff and Josh Mahoney explained the drills. I remember one drill was for players to run as fast as they can for 3 minutes. A short break and repeat twice more. All players distances are measured with the best doing about 1 km then slightly less for the repeats. They didn't do this yesterday. The big turnout also included CC talking with the fathers of some of the draftees. Matt Burgan, Tim Harrington, Matt Green from the Club, Clint Stanaway (CH9) and a Dees supporter. And as mentioned before Jack Hannath was invited to train.

It was definitely Jack Hannath. I asked one of the coaching staff at training.

I saw him at training on Friday and he just doesn't seem to be able to run fluently. No zip and of course we know he has poor endurance. He seems to be just hanging in. Hate to see him go but looks gawn at the moment. If there was somebody the club wanted in the PSD I would seriously consider paying him out and offer him a position at the Club for the 12 months.

Let's wait and see if Ollie becomes a good player first. Unless he puts his heart and soul into playing at PA no body will want him later on. Stats indicate that the majority of drafted players don't make 50 games.

Michael Evans

Neeld said in his recap of the draft that they still had a few kids on their list that were not drafted. If I was him however, I would sit young Jimmy Toumpas down and ask him his thoughts on SA players that were not drafted. I'd do the same with the other recruits. Information from within the coal face could uncover a real gem.

Colqhoun for sure. So composed, lovely weighted kick off half-back. Was the one for me that stood out for SA in the championships. Sets up the play from the back. Neeld may think he is a bit on the light side though. I like him more than Strauss as he gets more involved. A bit like a young General.

Had some good games for the Hawks in the midfield. http://www.hawthornfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/4742/newsid/143789/default.aspx http://www.hawthornfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/4742/newsid/143013/default.aspx "Grimes is Great" on Demonland said we were looking at Jones.

At training today I heard from Strauss that Hogans nickname is Hoges ala (Paul Hogan)

Quigley finally has his mock draft up on BigFooty. Always an interesting read. Doesn't seem to rate Wines like the messiah some posters seem to think he is. It's a long read but a goody with some interesting picks for us, Enjoy. http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/quigleys-2012-mock.980920/

Finey had a draft special on SEN tonight with the draft experts Brett Anderson (Inside Football), Nigel Carmody and Mick Ablett. They believe that GWS is not sold on Toumpas and may go for Whitfield and then some positional players such as Plowman and Menzel to compliment the plethera of mids they already have. They think MFC will take Wines no matter what and the Bulldogs could end up the winners with Toumpas and O'Rourke.

McDonough smashed it in the Championships. Reminded me of a young Jason Dunstall. A footballers footballer this kid. Always gets involved, hard to match up on and a beautiful kick for goal. I mentioned him and Sam Colqhoun to Mark Neeld at one of the coached forums. They were real standouts or SA in the Championships. Of course we need some real pace to compliment what we have. Tipungwuti, Wilkins, Nelson and Ballard seem to meet this criteria but I'd hate to pass on McDonough as he has the attributes to turn a game. Also reminds me a bit of Tom Rockliff. Not the perfect body shape before draft time (and when he trained with us in 2008) but you knew he could really play.