Fat Tony

Fat chance the new Collingwood captain will leave.

Cain is a certainty to be drafted and I doubt he will be there at #57. He would give us at least four good to very good seasons of AFL football and would provide some pace, skill and spread to our midfield. Unless a young gun slips to #40, we should draft him.

It's not allowed.

Why would it be better to promote Clisby? It would push our pick down the order to the Rookie draft.

IMO you underestimate how difficult it is to play in a diabolical side, particularly at half forward. Sylvia will be a star at Freo because the ball will be in their forward half more than 25-30% of the time. Judging the two on average Supercoach points per year, which IMO is a very good objective measure, shows the two are close, with Sylvia having a slight edge. http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pu-melbourne-demons--colin-sylvia http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pu-adelaide-crows--bernie-vince It will be interesting to see how Vince goes in a poor side and I hope you are right.

Salary cap/list space. Jamar has a two years to run on his deal which is another Neeld blunder.

Geelong were a kick away from a grand final this year. IMO they should have been willing to take a risk on Chapman, Pods and Corey in the hunt another flag. I think they have lessened their chances this year for little long-term benefit. Essendon were losers because of Crameri. IMO Chapman is worth the risk for a team in contention, which the Bombers obviously see themselves as.

Overall I would judge our trade period as a B+. Our recruiting was very targeted this year and we helped address our weakness in the midfield despite losing our second best midfielder. IMO the pick 2/Dom Tyson deal saw us give up a lot given his AFL career to date. However, the trade makes some sense given the perceived strength of the draft and our likely ranking and overall rating of the draft pool. Freo’s supporters rate Viv Michie judging by the Freo board on bigfooty. He is likely to be well worth pick 57 and should be a good pick up. Daniel Cross still has some footy left in him if his Round 23 game is anything to go by. I think the dogs were silly not giving him another year a bit like we made the mistake with James McDonald. I see Colin Sylvia’s exit as a loss and consider him worth circa pick 15 in this draft. The Bernie Vince exchange is a slight loss for the Dees IMO. Detracting from my rating was the inability to get either Taylor Adams or Dylan Shiel or a player in the PSD. I would have also liked to see us go for Dustin Martin, as well as Jeb Lamb and Andrejs Everitt. It was also a bit disappointing that there wasn’t more than one gun in the draft pool given we had pick 2, although this was not the club’s fault. Further, IMO we should have been more proactive in trading out players such as Jamar and Tapscott for list space. (In saying this, we may have tried.) Going forward, I would like to see us pick up Chris Cain and Robin Nahas, and Matt Scharenberg would be ideal at pick 9 if he slides. Dayle Garlett should also be considered with a later pick/rookie selection. Across the AFL the big winners of trade week IMO were: 1. Collingwood – Pick 11 for Dale Thomas is good compensation, particularly given his injury, and the Heath Shaw/Taylor Adams swap was a win. The gain of Jesse White is a good one and fills a need. The upgrade of pick 11 to 6 is also a slight advantage. 2. North – Getting Luke McDonald as a F/S in a weak draft was a bonus and Nick Dal Santo is a good pick up for no cost. 3. Fremantle – Colin Sylvia will be a great pick up in a good side. 4. WB – Picking up Stewart Crameri for middle pick is a big win and he also fills a need. 5. GWS – Picking up Shane Mumford and Jed Lamb for low cost more than offsets the slight loss of the Shaw/Adams deal. The winner of the Tyson/pick 2 deal will be unclear for a few years. My big losers were: 1. Brisbane – They lost too many players for draft picks in a weak draft. 2. Geelong – The champions they have discarded should have been retained for one more crack at a premiership IMO. 3. Essendon – Crameri is a big loss for little return. Paul Chapman is a champion but his hamstrings were too big a risk for the Cats which says something. 4. Hawthorn – Buddy for pick 19 is a big loss. My big unknowns are: 1. Carlton – Clearly the list looks better but one wonders if it has come at the expense of potential salary cap issues down the track. Thomas is a big risk given his recent injury history. Malthouse looks like he is topping up for a flag, but he needs to win it next year with Judd in the twilight of his career. 2. Sydney – Buddy Franklin is still a good player but the contract is excessive both in terms of length and dollar amount. They lost three AFL standard players to get him. 3. Melbourne – Largely due to the Tyson deal. 4. St Kilda – It is unfortunate timing to be bottoming out and looking to the draft given the strength of the draft pool. They did well to get Longer for such a low pick.

Varcoe is contracted for two more years.

Shaun McKernan is an option, although I don't think we need a ruckman or KPF. I think he has more to offer than he has shown to date, but it still might not be enough.

I am not sold on Freeman because of his size and lack of polish. The Dangerfield comparisons are a bit of a stretch and undervalue Dangerfield's huge body. KK will be an AFL player but looks very outside like a young Andrew Mackie. Aish also looks too outside. I like outside players only if they are fast and well skilled and I don't view him as exceptional. Edit - Spelling

Assuming Boyd goes at #1, I would then go for Scharenberg, Bontempelli, Kelly, Lennon and Crouch in that order. The draft is not that strong IMO. Scharenberg looks a gun IMO.

I think it is allowed. Richmond were after Tyson last year.

Second best after Hogan.

Hopefully Gawn comes on significantly over preseason and develops a tank and/or Jamar returns to top form. But at the moment I think our best 22 has Clark in the ruck with Fitzpatrick as back up. Our biggest weaknesses besides the midfield, which is still poor, are a lock down small defender and a small forward.

Unless a player like Jonathon Marsh or Zac Jones slides, I would be going for Cain also.

I think Andrejs Everitt is out of contract and could be squeezed out by Buddy joining the Swans. He came on this year and is a very flexible player.

I would be happy to take Cain with #40. Will be a good AFL player immediately and adds some pace, skill and spread to our midfield. Garlett may slip to the rookie draft because clubs may be reluctant to give him two years.

The whole free agency thing will be the death of us.

Although it is a poorly written article, Mark Robinson is really making the point that we need to be patient in our rebuild and I agree with him. It is difficult to know what to do with our pick #2 without knowing who we would intend to take if we use it, how good they are versus the broader AFL (not just the draft pool), if they may be available at a later pick and also without having a good understanding of the depth of the rest of the draft. If we plan to take Aish or Kelly, we need to estimate their value (be it Griffen or Gaff) and we should only trade if we get sufficient return. If we intend to draft someone who is likely to slide to a later pick, we should consider trading our pick down the draft. Overall, I doubt trading the pick will be a good move because we are such an unattractive destination at the moment and we will be rejected by players worthy of the pick. I also side with Robinson on the Vince trade because of his age and because I think pick #20 is overs.

I understand we need midfielders and believe Vince would add to our team, but we should not be going after fairly average 28 year olds that cost high draft picks and command a big salary for four years IMO.

Martin is chasing money and Richmond will not get his value in a trade. I think we will trade Martin and Richmond's first rounder for #2.

We are always better off going for someone out of contract, as we are then dealing with a forced seller. For this reason we are better of going for Adams and Martin ahead of Swallow and Sloane. We can always use pick 2.

The uncontracted player can choose to go into either draft (think Luke Ball and Kurt Tippett) or agree to a trade.

He is chasing money isn't he?