MadAsHell

There's reports that all of Adelaide, Hawthorn & Western Bulldogs are going to use their compensation picks (at end of first round) during this years draft/trade period which would push our 2nd round pick down to 35. Maybe Maric & Pick 35 to St. Kilda for pick 24? Maric while he wouldn't get a wlk up start at St. Kilda would be on the cusp there as they don't have a lot of depth. With Gardiner, Blake, King, Milne, Baker & Hayes all over 30 he wouldn't have to wait long to be in their best 22.

I'm not happy at all about the prospect of us giving up a 2nd round draft pick for Hale. Makes me think it's likely that both Warnock & Maric will be involved in trades now to allow us to still have our 2nd pick around the 30 mark?

Ok I'm going to talk about the elephant in the room in Marcus North, another duck! Shouldering arms to a quick who's getting the ball to reverse, what a ........... If the selectors are looking for someone to make a string if low scores while getting handsomely paid and traveling the globe I'm willing to my hand up! How long are we going to carry this guy? Had a nice start but disapointing end to the day. Hopefully Watson, Paine & the tail can make a good fist of it and get us to at least 350 so we're right in the match. Really hope we can get a series win here although I highly doubt it.

After the latest bout of trade rumors I now have the ultimate 6 way trade! Melbourne: Warnock to Carlton Carlton: Grigg to Richmond Richmond: Thursfield to Fremantle Fremantle: Tarrant to Collingwood Collingwood: Anthony to North Melbourne North Melbourne: Hale to Melbourne!

Mitch Clark to freo in exchange for Zac Clarke & their 1st round pick maybe? Maybe Melbourne can have a word in his ear and convince him to give Melbourne a go. Pick 12 & Jones thanks!

That's why we still have Martin & McNamara on the list. Also MacDonald & Bruce are capable of playing tall.

That's a worry seeing as it's been 9 years since I've had the luxury of school holidays.

Could it be a one year deal on the rookie list?

Just wait for trade week to start, then it gets completely out of control!

If he lost a bit of weight and became more disciplined he could be a handy 2nd ruck. On current form though I'm not a fan.

I hate to say it but I'm going to back up E25 here. I'm not a big wrap for Cameron Cloke at all but he does fit the bill for what we're after and if we can't get a reasonable deal for a David Hale, Will Minson or Josh Fraser type then Cameron Cloke should be considered in the rookie draft. Ok you can all abuse me now. Although in my defence I did only get 4 hours sleep last night and am really struggling through my last hour of work.

Not quite the same as A: Tall defenders is an area where we have depth & Richmond don't B: Watts is a younger,more talented and has far, far more upside then Thursfiled. To find a comparison would be if Mark Jamar requested a trade. We'd then probably trade someone like Jones and a draft pick for a quality ruckman or Gysberts on his own for one of the better ruckmen in the comp.

That does make it souns like it probably wouldn't happen your right.

Only in order to cover their tall defender shortage. Thursfile dleaving leaves them with Moore, Rance & McGuane. And lets face it Kelvin Moore's a bit like Joel MacDoanld in that he can play on the talls if you really need him to but he's more of a rebounding running defender. In the ruck Angus Graham & Andrew Browne are currently ahead of Vickery, and they're experimenting with Post as a 2nd ruck also.

I reckon he moves ok, needs to work on his agility a bit but overal I think he moves reasonably for his size. He does need to harden up though I'll give you that.

It's just been reported that Will Thursfield will be seeking a trade out of Richmond which means that they will now be a tall defender down. If you ask me this represents the perfect opportunity for Melbourne to strike and land an ideal 2nd ruckman/forward. Former no 8 draft pick from the same draft as Jack Watts, Tyrone Vickery, Back in the 2008 draft before Melbouren announced that Watts would be the player they would select with pick no 1 they said they were mainly deciding between Watts, Nik Nat, Rich & you guesed it, Vickery. Vickery has now had two years under his belt and has been exposed to AFL football. He can ruck & play forward and we know Melbourne obviously rate him highly. Imagine if we poached Vickery from Richmond, then in a few years even when Jamar has retired we'd have the giant Max Gawn and Vickery & Fitzpatrick battling it out for no 2 ruck role, or Vickery possibly battling Gawn for the no 1 role? Obviosuly this wouldn't come cheaply, I'm talking of Warnock & Pick 12, we might then get say pick 46 thrown back our way with Vickery, with Richmond now without Thursfield they'll be looking for another key defender & Warnock would walk staright in at Punt rd. Personally I think I'd be a great get by us and I for one would be fully behind it! What do others think?

When I say last year I mean season 2009 not the season just about gone sorry, should have made that more clear. I don't disagree that it isn't his natural position but neither is it Leigh Brown's.

Talked to a mate at work today who's a huge North Melbourne fan and goes to watch them play every week (must be the only one). And he reckons he'd be more then happy for a 3rd or 4th round pick for Hale. Says he's decent but wont be a world beater & that North are in no position to demand anymore as he only played about 7 games in 2010 and is behing McIntosh, Goldstein, Petrie & Tarrant. Also reckons North will want to clear him out in order to help speed up Majak Daw's development. So on the sounds of that if we can get Hale for a 3rd or even a 4th round pick I'd have to be happy with that deal.

Jesse's probabaly more in the mould of a forward who can ruck. Kind of like Ox, obviously he's not as good a player as Ox though. He was 2nd ruck at Sydney for most of last season. Especially the first half of the season.

The Irishman can come under the otehr bracket. I haven't seen him take on any ruck duties for awhile but that's probably because of Carlton aray of ruck options.

I have now edited the poll to include what the potential cost for each ruckman might be. This was done after the first 18 votes were cast. Cheers.

Thanks for the feed back, I'll try and fix it somewhat.

More then fair enough and don't disput any of your points. I'd still stick with Fraser for those other reasons though personally. Although I have to admitt I'd have a very difficult time watching him week in week out and he'd probably become my favourite whipping boy!

It's a real difficult one. Personally I'm happy for Melbourne not to trade for one and let Spencer, Martin & Newton (assuming he stays on rookie list) fight it out for that role and keep PJ on the list as insurance only for a year while Gawn & Fitzpatrick are given another year to develop at Casey. I I had to go one believe it or not I'd go Fraser. Now I'm not a big fan of his but these are the reasons I'd go with him. 1: I believe if we are to recruit a 2nd ruckmen we really only want them for a couple of years as a stop gap before Fitzpatrick is ready to take over. Fraser's age & experience has him fall into this category. 2: He's relatively mobile and between he and Cox (other older ruckman) I believe Fraser can play a better forward role then Cox which will be important as our 2nd ruckman will probably only ruck 20% of the time with Jamar taking the other load. 3: He'd be relatively cheap while Cox would be much more expensive. Possibly only pick 49 or 66 for Fraser. But I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts on this? From reports this years draft plateaus after about pick 30, so bare that in mind when considering what you'd be prepared to give up for the player. Edit: Pick 49 or 66 for Fraser & the draft plateaus.

The onlt way I'd accept that would be if they threw one of their 2nd round picks 26 or 28 in with Cox with us throwing in pick 49 with Morton.