Little Goffy

GET. OVER. IT. get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over itget over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it get over it And just in case you're still confused - Please just get over it.

Heh, in 'the weakest draft ever to have existed in the history of any sport' maybe we could rookie-list Valenti and Myles Sewell as a special gift to the Scorpions, and to ensure a solid onball squad for the kids to practice around. Good 'football values', with them, for sure. And conceivably a handy backup in a an injury crisis.

Is Freo's Steve Harris the same Steve Harris we had as CEO some 5 years ago? Just curious?

Well, as much as Burns has an embarassing YouTube video weighing against him, I'd be thrilled at this set up. Can't question that West Coast's midfield has lifted. Experienced with the 'press' style tactics, though I'm not 100% it is the universal solution it is undeniably important to understand. And I've been a 'Neil Craig brings everything our football department is lacking' broken record for weeks already. I'm strangely not too fussed about the senior coach - I want a top-rate assistant coach on every line as the most important thing. West seems to be well regarded, Viney surely is quality. Then I'm not as confident after that but I know there are experienced people at least. I'd chip in a solid whack to help the slub be 100% debt free, 100% salary cap and 100% top rank coaching panel.

Sometimes you have to go for the simple option and just LOL. Ross Lyon looks like a ruthless and slightly weird operator out of all this (I knew he couldn't be trusted the moment I saw him wearing a skivvy at Draft Camp back in 09 )

For a moment I thought this was going to be some kind of 'nothing good for 40 years, who cares anyway, I'm so jilted by Ross Lyon I don't see the point anymore' thread. I like the notion of a memorabilia mirror. Every morning it's a picture of a Demons supporter.

Club's are supposed to declare that they will use the pick before the season starts which they will use the pick at the end of. I assume the idea is to stop clubs from going 'ooh, we're going to finish third last, so our bonus pick wlll be number 4!' Of course, on the other hand, you would think that it would be quite appropriate for a club to be able to choose to use their compensation pick when they are down... The other aspect is to prevent a deal such as - Melbourne trades [pick immediately after first round pick = 13 in 2011] to Gold Coast, plus Matthew Warnock, in exchange for pick 4. And then Gold Coast can immediately use their compensation pick as pick 5. Of course, since GWS is clearly going to be among the bottom four next year, they have a great interest in 'after first round pick' bonus picks. Trade right (especially with their 17 year olds) and they could get pick 1, then pick 2 (compensatory) and 3 (compensatory) followed by a priority pick for successfully 'list managing' their first year... Ugly. I still think we are going to make the finals next year, by the way. I just can't find the 'doom and gloom' button so will have to sit tht dance out.

Joel Mac more likely. Derp. The 'listed captain of the twos / development coach' seems most likely. Then again, Luke Power is already set to do much the same. I guess it makes sense, they can afford to take on a set of older players who might only be able to give half a season's worth of games, with periodic rests. Given that with so many kids there isn't likely to be any real team stability anyway, why not? Best wishes to Junior if he does get a role. You'd imagine he'd been on the longer-term radar for assistance coaching in general.

Low in the 8 in 2012 means in effect pick 12ish and 13ish, to go with Jack Viney. That'll be three picks you'd expect to become decent quality players, in one draft. If they turn out to be players of the calibre of [Frawley] and [Grimes] for our trouble, I think we'll quickly forget Scully. Of course, if it turns out to be a [Dunn] and [bate] equivalent pair of picks, we won't be too happy. But life goes on. Given the 'superdraft status' and the improvement in sophistication of draft in the last three years or so, we should at least not be screwed here. Besides, two 'good' players between them will take about as much salary cap space as one Tom Scully. The only question is whether we'll have the kind of 'star power' we all crave. Surely, surely, somewhere in this horde of talented kids...

While I was looking around for more info, I did notice a few North supporters were less than happy about his performances. "Useless waste of sperm" was a particularly memorable quote. Ah well, it's not like I'm suggesting Gumbleton. He has more derogatory nicknames than posessions. Yesterday I would have suggested a direct Morton-Hansen swap in response to your post, but he has re-signed today so now I love him unconditionally, as ever...

Really irritates me, too. Never works out well - psychologically, it seems to be read by a team as 'ok, stop trying to give decent options now'. Might as well do a gesture of putting a cue in a rack, for the effect it has.

Trouble is, the only players I'd feel like it was worth 'targeting' would be players who are genuinely outstanding, so the trade cost for them would also be exceptional. Try as we might, '3 x average' can't be made to equal '1 x elite' Hmm... I see out positional needs as being - a) a genuine shut-down mid-sized defender with poise and skill coming the other way (not much to ask!), which is why I have a huge but mostly forlorn draft dream of grabbing Matthew Buntine. B) The solidly built key forward to be the monolith around which our brilliant collection of highly mobile tall and medium forwards can dance. I don't want Fevola though. And I don't want to pay too much in picks and trade to get that positional player, given that over time both Watts and Cook should develop quite powerful bodies themselves, so the problem may only be short term. I would happily trade our second pick for about 20kg of lean muscle to spread evenly across our forward line. Hmm... I wonder if the Kangaroos would cosider letting go of Lachlan Hansen? He hasn't been setting the world on fire but at 23yrs, 197cms and 95kg he certainly fits the physical/positional need, and would be with us for the long haul. It'd depend on what we had to sacrifice for him, obviously. I'm not under any illusions about him being a magician.

The Roy Morgan figures on AFL support are collected as part of an 'omnibus' consumer survey that has been run every four(?) years for quite some time. The website 'Convict creations' used to have a brilliant [censored]-take of every club based on their Roy Morgan Data. Essendon fans are more likely to eat Mars bars? Go figure. I guess they like things that are soft in the middle. Meanwhile, Melboune fans were more likely to drink wine or 'gourmet beers', and were more likely to have post-school qualifications, by a considerable margin compared to other clubs. And yes, the general figure has been around 200,000 for a few surveys, so the 180k in the article is believable. As for the article, we all already knew the Swans were mostly 'fan light', though there is a core that deserve some kind of respect. But this claim that they are the 'stalwarts' is a bit rich. Like Sydney, they have a core of die-hards (the toothless bums we all know and... erm... know) but then there is a vast wad of hangers-on. A few points - 1. It isn't exactly an acheivement to have watched a game on TV most weeks, when all your games are free-to-air in prime time slots. Der. 2. If Collingwood has five times as many fans as the Demons, how come their attendances are not even twice ours? 3. In 2004 (8 wins) and 2005 (5 wins/tanking) Collingwood's attendances dropped by 10,000 a game. Soooo devoted. 4. For perspective on that, in 2005 the Demons clocked just 20,000 fewer attendences at home games than Collingwood. That would be Anzac Day right there. Plus considerations for games sold to interstate venues. And that despite a 9(?) game losing streak mid-season. So, if you are ever in doubt about this club of ours, just remember that Melbourne supporters are about five times as 'devoted' as 'Pies fans. How often do 'Pies memberships break records in consecutive years of utter on-field disappointment?

You understand that Prendergast didn't have ALL the picks in the 08/09 drafts, right? Personally, I'd rather have Trengove over Martin, and Scully is, well, a moot point as of any moment now. But in general I don't think there can be a lot to be added by looking at who was not taken. Just who was, and whether they were good choices. Of course, it is also very difficult to judge given that Craig Cameron had a lot more time, but Barry Prendergast has had much 'richer' selections to work with. Similarly, everyone Cameron brought in has had time to be examined, whereas guys like Blease and Gawn can still only be looked at on potential. For me, I'd have to say Prendergast is ahead at this stage because I don't think he has had any dud drafts. Obviously he has also had a lot of high picks to work with, but even removing them from the equation, I think he has done well to always get a selection of players who have been credible as AFL level players. I think the absence of outright bad choices is the most you can ask of a recruiter. Plus the occasional Liam Jurrah or Tom Rockliff.

So, a first round comensation pick can't be used this year, but later picks can, so long as the club annouced it before the start of this season. What if a club gets a compensation pick traded to them, and then wants to use it that same year? Guess not. I guess this also means that clubs which want to use a compensation pick in 2012 have to trade for them this year. Given the alleged super-draft of 2012 coming through, and the fact that there will be approximately 6 hours left of trade week once the GWS 17-year-old-meat-market is done, we could see a few heads explode in the rush to the line. But that is always the funniest part of the trade week farce, anyway.

By the way, there is a 'game' (more of a nonsense way to pass time on trains) based on cliches. Pretty simple. Their cliches have come home to roost. A cliche in the hand is worth two in the bush. We're just taking it one cliche at a time. Well, it is better than the number plate alphabet game.

It is looking like 'Cyril Riolo type' is replacing 'Ryan O'keefe type' as the pick of the draft talk clices. One from the players and clubs - "IT (the thing obviously distracting the players/club) won't be a distraction".

"Future Captain". Excluded under the Brad Miller rule. "Will never be a premiership player / you'll never win a premiership with players like that". Excluded under the Steven Armstrong rule. Personally, I also hate it when people refer to "xx thousand years without a premiership" as if this is in some way an indictement upon the current club board and leaders.

I wasn't quite sure how I felt about Cale Morton until I saw this post. Perfect summary, matter of fact, no drama. Nice work Nasher.

I'm certainly with the sentiment here. Getting the very best possible 'whole of football department' together has to be the goal, with a solid coach apable of leading and delegating being the obvious pin to hold it together.

We came out the winner from both deals. Bruce is leadership about as much as Green has been. I say that having made all manner of defence of Bruce over the years, and having all kinds of respect for Green. But neither are leaders. Green I thught might be, but that was when he was playing well and running on high confidence. It's a huge shame, but without confidence Green seems to fall away so dramtically it niggles everyone around him.

I'm best described as a 'Don't know'; reckon he's going because it is the obvious right decision. You don't p!ss away half a million dollars a year. But hey, sometimes football makes people do crazy things. Put it this way - Scully if being offered a contract the size of the Debt Demolition campaign. I've also reconciled myself to the departure, with the trigger having been the 'promise' of two first round picks to work with. His poorer form after coming back from injury also eases the pain a little, at least in the short term. But seriously, the AFL have bloodied the culture of the game with this reckless and violent approach to setting up Gold Coast and GWS. The only reason I'm not actively hoping for a GWS huge failure is that it is the other clubs, players, and fans that will end up paying the price for Demetriou's inadequate plan.

I can confirm what baysidedave said - The 'base estimate', from the AFL HQ, was $100m at maximum of $20m a year. So, yeeeah. It better work.

Some would say that the $2m/pa CEO at the helm of a billion-dollar sport really ought to have better things to do than retaliate to a player's mum just trying to convince people that her son has good values... Sure earning his $500+ an hour there.

Heh, Warnock and a mid-late pick for Dylan Grimes. Would probably need to be a three-way trade, to confuse Craig Cameron a bit.