RalphiusMaximus

It's been mentioned a few times that we have a raft of talented kids who are going to finish growing up together, playing and learning the game together at the same club. The sort of unity this could bring to our team is amazing. These guys are looking at being the core of a premiership contender for a decade.

Very happy for him. I hope he has a good long career with them, even if they are going to slide down the ladder in the next few years.

Now that the draft is finally over, what are your impressions of the players we picked up? Did we get any bargains? Anyone you're upset over? I'm obviously happy with 1 and 2, as I assume everyone else is as well. Gysberts is a huge surprise to me. I was expecting 11 to be used on one of the better talls in the draft, but it's obviously been decided that we don't need more height in the forward line. Perhaps they plan on rotating the rucks through there or using Martin/Garland in the role. I'm a little surprised that Tapscott got to 18. He seemed to be very highly rated. I'm not entirely convinced we need him, but it can never hurt to have skillful players able to score goals. I'm a little surprised that Gawn slipped to 34, and thrilled to get him at that number. I'm amazed that Fitzpatrick lasted until 50. At the very least I expected Freo to take him at 48/49 given that they have little depth in the ruck. I think he may well prove to be the steal of the draft provided his CFS can be controlled. Overall I'm not 100% thrilled with the direction we took. I would have liked Black of Talia, but the guys we took at 11 and 18 are quality and you can't complain about that. The two rucks we got are great value and should be very handy in a few years.

There's always a chance that someone will grab one in the PSD. That would free up some space for us.

We might be able to squeeze one in as a rookie. I'm not sure how the mature age rookies fit into things in terms of how many we can have. Possible that one or the other will be in there. Otherwise we'd have to use the PSD 1 for them and if we were going to do that we'd have just taken them now.

It's great to have him at the club as possibly the biggest slider in the draft, but I can't help thinking about the players we've missed out on here.

No talls for us I guess.

Big surprises coming here. And Tapscott at 18!

I'm not worried, but it's a ploy they've tried before and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they tried it again.

So the late word is that the Bombers are going to sneak in ahead of us and nab Patrick. Will they then mount a campaign to lure Jurrah away from us on the basis that they already have his cousin?

I would be thrilled if we managed to get that list to the club this year. It would fill every need in spades and give us a couple of project players with massive potential. Somehow I doubt that the other 15 clubs will be so obliging as to let us have them, but it'd be nice if they did.

That is a great highlight reel. Loved the way he was winning the ruck contest then getting the clearance as well. He is certainly an interesting prospect.

Comments in the Herald Sun are worth slightly less than the paper they're printed on. It's little better than a tabloid.

They can train on the G itself for all I care. They're still crap and won't be winning a flag any time soon. A new ground to train on won't help to sort out the mess at Collingwood. If it weren't for their mass of feral fans they'd be headed for the scrap head in a few years time.

Hey! Not everyone has HD!

Agree 100% on the wages issue. He's reported to have asked for a three year deal with the first two years set at $500K and a substantial reduction after that, so I guess we can say he'd end up on around $400k per season. I think this would be a huge slap in the face to the rest of our players, especially to Davey and Green who have both stayed with the club despite more lucrative offers from elsewhere and who are regarded as strong leaders. That the club would bring in Ball for his leadership and pay him more than these long-term players would be making a statement that his leadership is more highly valued/regarded than that of the current leadership group.

I am honestly more excited about getting a young player, preferably someone like Griffiths or Vardy at 18 than I am at the thought of getting Ball. I can see where his advocates are coming from and it's very true that we are short on experience to help shape the young players, but I just don't rate him that highly and don't think he'll be there for our premiership tilt. I think that people are being unduly harsh on this draft because of the lack of really top players, but the way I see it the depth is very impressive and there are a raft of "risky" players who could turn into genuine stars given the opportunity.

I don't think he'd get very far going to the courts. He is not being prevented from playing or from earning the wage he thinks he deserves, so what possible grounds could he have to challenge? By entering the draft he agrees to play for the club who selects him, so he has no leg to stand on complaining that he didn't get to the team he wanted. That's what trade week and the PSD are for.

Are you positive? I seem to recall him saying he was having a "black dog of a day." However I could be (and often are) mistaken as I have rarely payed much attention to Rex and try to tune him out whenever he's on the air.

Curses. We can't call it 21 either, that implies that 21 year-olds gamble. I must admit I'm a little puzzled on this one.

Dammit man! Now we'll have to stage a car accident to convince people he's injured!

Haven't you heard? Any term with the word "B***K in it is now considered taboo. Hence the uproar when Rex Hunt used the term B***K Dog when describing a terrible day. Of course, anyone who is even remotely educated would recognise the term as referring to clinical depression and as such be outraged at his lack of sensitivity to those suffering a debilitation psychological condition, but perhaps even saying that counts as racism by implying that people who were offended are uneducated and that as the term was construed to be a slur against B***K people I must have been saying that B***K people are all uneducated. Of course, although the name of the card game is clearly a reference to the colour of the Jack in question (ooohhh, we can't make a refeerence to the colour of a card, that's cardist!), perhaps there is a hidden slur here as well. By emphasising the B***K cards rather than the R*D cards, are we not in fact granting ownership of the game to B***K people and thus implying that they are prone to problem gambling? Surely then we must drop all references to colour from the title and simply call the game "Jack." Likewise, Roulette wheels should now have two sets of numbers, each of exactly the same colour, and accept bets at 2-1 odds that the ball will land on this colour.

The way I see it, we need a tank up forward. Griffiths or Butcher would do nicely because they have the size to crash packs and do damage, and really good athleticism. I'd love to see one of them playing out of the goal square and wreaking havoc in the forward half of the ground. That would allow Watts, Jurrah and Bate to rove and run their opponents ragged.

Butcher for me. People have been picking holes in his game all year while pumping up other players who are not as accomplished overall. He's the best forward and probably the best tall in the draft.

He's probably put on more than that in muscle and lost a bit of body fat. Loved the article. He really presents well to the media.