RalphiusMaximus

Yeah, he was a freak before his knees went screwy.

Would a suspension here take Judd out of the running for the Brownlow?

Indeed. He has done amazing things in a short time as president.

He's a smaller version of Buckley with less kicking ability. No need for him on our list.

They've done well recycling Freo's recycling before.

Posted this as part of another discussion, but it is relevant here also. I couldn't dig this up from the Heraldsun website, so no direct link. Herald Sun (Melbourne); 27.08.2009, p81-81, 1 Section: SPORT Edition: 1 - FIRST THE first Sudanese-born footballer has been chosen to attend the AFL's draft selection camps next month. Majak Daw, who plays for the Western Jets in the TAC Cup, is among 200 players named to attend the camps where they will be tested for the 2009 national draft. AFL talent development manager Kevin Sheehan agreed yesterday that the selection of Daw showed there was a great potential to find overseas-born players ``in our own backyard''. Western Jets regional manager Shane Sexton said Daw had the talent to impress at the camp. ``He's had a good season with the Jets,'' Sexton said. The 193cm Daw, who plays in the ruck and at full-forward for the Jets, had his best game in the elite under-18 competition two weeks ago when he booted five goals. Sheehan and Sexton said he had a big leap and was a good mark and kick -- he just needed to learn how to position himself around the ground and where to run. The top 75 players selected from around Australia will attend a camp at the AIS in Canberra. Daw will be among the remainder who will be tested in Melbourne and other cities. Sheehan said a good proportion of this group still made it on to AFL lists either as draftees or rookies. Daw watched the Western Bulldogs train yesterday morning. He was warmly congratulated on his selection by coach Rodney Eade and met Jarrod Harbrow, Josh Hill and Malcolm Lynch. Daw is an impressive young man and has taken to Aussie rules with a passion. He was introduced to the game by a couple who taught him English as a 12-year-old through the Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning program at a church in Footscray. From a Wyndham Vale family of nine children, he was hooked after watching his first AFL game and took to it despite his older brothers and sisters playing soccer and basketball.

Found the article. Can't link to it because I got it from a Database, but here's the text. Herald Sun (Melbourne); 27.08.2009, p81-81, 1 Section: SPORT Edition: 1 - FIRST THE first Sudanese-born footballer has been chosen to attend the AFL's draft selection camps next month. Majak Daw, who plays for the Western Jets in the TAC Cup, is among 200 players named to attend the camps where they will be tested for the 2009 national draft. AFL talent development manager Kevin Sheehan agreed yesterday that the selection of Daw showed there was a great potential to find overseas-born players ``in our own backyard''. Western Jets regional manager Shane Sexton said Daw had the talent to impress at the camp. ``He's had a good season with the Jets,'' Sexton said. The 193cm Daw, who plays in the ruck and at full-forward for the Jets, had his best game in the elite under-18 competition two weeks ago when he booted five goals. Sheehan and Sexton said he had a big leap and was a good mark and kick -- he just needed to learn how to position himself around the ground and where to run. The top 75 players selected from around Australia will attend a camp at the AIS in Canberra. Daw will be among the remainder who will be tested in Melbourne and other cities. Sheehan said a good proportion of this group still made it on to AFL lists either as draftees or rookies. Daw watched the Western Bulldogs train yesterday morning. He was warmly congratulated on his selection by coach Rodney Eade and met Jarrod Harbrow, Josh Hill and Malcolm Lynch. Daw is an impressive young man and has taken to Aussie rules with a passion. He was introduced to the game by a couple who taught him English as a 12-year-old through the Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning program at a church in Footscray. From a Wyndham Vale family of nine children, he was hooked after watching his first AFL game and took to it despite his older brothers and sisters playing soccer and basketball.

The bombers have had him visit as well? I saw an article where he was having a kick with some Bulldogs. Didn't know other clubs were sounding him out.

It's worth remembering that Daw wasn't invited to the main Draft camp. He's one of the guys being tested locally rather than the group going to the AIS. That means that recruiters rate him outside the top 75 youngsters in the competition. I'm not going to stress too much about someone snapping him up in the second round. However, I do like the look of the guy. I've seen a few clips and I love the way he moves and jumps. As has been said, better skills than Nik Nat. He's also a scary looking bugger which is never a bad thing on the footy field, and he's already pretty big. Could have an impact in his first season with muscles like that. All in all I'd be thrilled if we nabbed him with our 3rd round pick, but i'm not sure he's worth more than that (not sure he isn't either ). Bulldogs have shown some interest in him and given their need for KP's they could well move early, but if so good on them and I hope a gun slips to us because of it.

I think i n many ways people have been very hard on Miller around here. If you really look at him on the ground there are the makings of a pretty decent player there. It's just the flaws in his game that are ruining him. His kicking is the obvious one, and I think his slow decision-making is another issue. Just looking at the way he carries himself and the assurance when taking a mark I think that there is still something to work with. He could certainly be turned into a pretty good back, or if someone could make him kick straight a decent second/third forward. Nobody can fault his work rate or his marking ability. That being said, I don't think Melbourne is the place for any of that to happen. We already have plenty of good defenders and there are a bunch of guys coming up who can kick better than he ever will. Do the right thing by the player and trade him to someone who can use what he's got and maybe fix what's broken in his game.

Very interesting stats, particularly when you consider the vastly superior supply three of those forwards have had from their midfields. I'm very surprised at how well he stacks up against Kennedy. Still, as others have said, the stats don't tell the whole tale. It will be interesting to see if he gets a good run of games next year and what he does with it.

I'd like to hear his opinion personally. If it were me i'd want to stick with the 48, but i'm a bit sentimental that way. The number I first played in would mean a lot to me.

Sydney have expressed an interest in Miller before. You might get something out of them for him but I doubt it would be their first pick.

The first time against the eagles we were going to win until our best mids were all pulled off the ground at the same time. I think this season had we been trying to win we'd have been more a 6-8 game team. Not good enough for finals, but certainly well on the way.

Interesting to see the number of people with Dunn in their lists given the opinion of him earlier in the season...

I don't think they'll win it, but i've had them down as doing a lot of damage before they fall over for quite a while.

I would argue that two players charged headlong for the ball and collided. If this is cause for 4 weeks, why wasn't Alex Rance sent packing when he broke Green's jaw? Why not Presti when he knocked out Rance? Both of these were cases of head high contact when both players were intent on the ball. I would be arguing this angle if I were the Bombers.

Lloyd should get off (as Buddy should have). He was going for the ball, not the man, and changed his motion at the last moment to make contact. He was practically front-on when they hit. I think that the call to defend him by claiming he was pushed is a poor choice. They should be using the "going for the ball" part of the rule. If they can show that he was making a legitimate attempt to win the ball like Rance has repeatedly gotten away with this season then he's safe.

We don't need him. He has nothing to make me want to give up a chance at a good quality young player.

I say that the bump is not dead. Players will still go for it, although they may be more careful about it some of the time. As for the rule change, I agree that they must rethink it, but I can't agree with Maxwell getting a week still, so I had to vote no on that one. Maxwell made the right decision to bump so that his teammate could get clear with the ball and he executed perfectly, hitting his opponent well below head height. The fact that his target's head snapped forward and hit him is not his fault and should not come into consideration when judging his act. Even more so than in the case of Franklin, it was a perfectly executed Hip and Shoulder and as such should not be penalised.

Yeah, I saw it. I'd avoid that place like the plague if I were him. Their record with big men and injuries is pretty scary. The big question become whether they are going to spend a pick in the ND on him? If not we're a good shot a it. Assuming our recruiters like the look of the kid.

Also, the guy looks downright scary. He's huge for his age, won't need to bulk up much and could carry some serious intimidation into the game.

1 - It's called the English language. You should learn it some time. 2 - He broke his hand on the other guys face, hence the injury-prone line. 3 - Grow a sense of humour you muppet. Of course the kid's a gun.

I would say that most of these acts were already covered by the rules. It was already illegal to push an opponent int he back, to take out their arm in a marking contest and to put the ball out deliberately. The new rules in these cases have not done anything to help the game but rather have taken away any discretion the umpires had to decide if the contact influenced the contest. While before a free was payed if a player was pushed forwards (ie push in the back) now even a light touch of a hand to the back is payed as a free regardless of the impact. Before the umpire could decide whether contact to the arm was incidental or a deliberate attempt to remove the limb from the vicinity of the ball, while now any contact to the arm is illegal. Do you know how hard it is to spoil a mark without touching the arm of your opponent at all? Of course, for me the worst of the great rule innovations of recent times have been in the ruck. Change the rules once to make players run directly at one another. Result? A rash of severe knee injuries in the ruck. Do they admit their error and get rid of the rule? Hell no, they just add another one. Now the rucks are not allowed to take a run up before they jump at each other. Result? Agile jumping rucks such as Jeff White find their career in tatters overnight and lumbering giants have a golden run. Idiocy. I do agree that there have been a few good moves made by the rules nutters, but they are far outweighed by the bad. I would much prefer to see the rulebook as it was written in 1990 or thereabout. There was plenty of scope for protecting players from unduly rough play, but they had the freedom to engage in physical contests and not worry about being suspended for random bad luck.

Interesting. I note that there are no priority picks. There were some odd moves made by some of the participants too. Can't see Fitzpatrick going first round.