Little Goffy

If there was ever a draft to have the top two picks in, this is it. Last year it was an small incremental decline as you went down the pecking order, right from number 1. This year there really seems to be these two absolute standouts. Everyone else has either slid down the order (e.g. Butcher) or is considered very good but not at that 'super' level. 2009 also looks like a very good draft to have first round picks rather than second round, again there is a 'dip' it seems. And might just be a very good draft to have PSD Pick 1. Best since the last time Collingwood were told to F off at the trade table.

Hmm... After last year's significant loss, beaten out by the Debt Demolition campaign, we've taken a number of steps to improve the balance sheet. 2009 player payments were at least $0.5mil less than 08. 2009 interest servicing of debt will have dropped somewhere between $100-$200k. 2009 there has been no sacking/replacing process of the CEO, board and president. 2009 we received $1mil from the MCC and $1mil from the AFL in a support boost, a major increase on Competitive balance payments of 2008. 2009 we have received (the deal was backdated for season 09) an extra $100k per game at the MCG. Call it $1mil. That looks like about a $3.5 million improvement on the balance sheet. Much of this is one-off windfalls. But all it would take is a modest improvement in general operations and we are looking at a significant cash injection from 2009. Then Debt Demolition of $800k. It's possible that if the club chooses, we could be debt free this year. But I agree with the club's direction in putting as much as it can into player development resources. We have to be 'trying to win', not 'trying not to lose'.

I like what I've heard; he's probably worth 34 without any sentiment. But the club will have had good information on him, he's probably met several players thorugh his brother, likely some officials too. And actually, yes, there is room for sentiment in football. There is also room for psychological advantage, unity, motivation, culture. It's not a computer game, y'know.

Buckley would surely be picked up somewhere, he has a lot going for him and many clubs would be happy to use a late ND pick on him ahead of a raw and 'unlikely' kid. Valenti certainly has the guts and attitude right, and is good at getting it. We all know his limitations but I'd reckon he'd at least find a spot on another rookie list. So yeah, all the best to them, but not quite what the Demons needed. And if they don't get picked up by any other club, well, that hardly is evidence we should have kept them!

I think it's a fair move all round. For Miller it's good, if he finally has his break out season in 2010, as opposed to his break out three games here, two games there and so on, then he can be re-signed and will get a generous deal. If he has another so-so year, then 2010 would be just about the best possible year to be going into the pre-season draft, given the presence of a new club with an interest in a few mature bodies. He won't be brought in as a star, but would be a useful presence. Even the Gold Coast will have a need for the 'good ordinary' players and they wont be keen to spend their first two or three years getting pummelled because they have talented kids and only a few 'star recruit' mature players. From our perspective, it would be nice to get some kind of draft pick in return, but the first priority has to be to get through this Gold Coast introduction with minimum disruption to the mighty team we have assembled. I'm more worried about Jamar also being place on a one-year deal. Overall the story is roughly the same, and many here don't rate him very highly, but he is structurally quite important now. Finally, I'm feeling grubbier and grubbier talking about players as commodoties like this, I think I'll have to start signing off with a disclaimer like - 'I have real respect for the players discussed, my points are related only to the specific needs of the Club'

It doesn't matter a whole lot, but being 'number one draft pick' is like winning an award, certainly in media eyes at least. Wouldn't want him to have a 'Brownlow hangover' before he's even won his first Charlie. (That goes for Scully or Trengove, they'll obviously both get one ) Meanwhile, anyone else starting to get the feeling we wont even pick as far as 34? Particularly if Ball is happy to go PSD. That means just one more delisting plus any shunting for rookies.

I think the Demon's plan is to get Ball and McDonald to sit down in a cafe and have a chat. By the time they leave, even they will be confused about which is which. The only risk is we might end up having to grab McDonald in the PSD.

I like the way we time 'pre'season training. The early start is balanced by some extra breaks during the program, particularly christmas, based on the observation that you don't lose too much condition in a shorter break, whereas a four or six week lay-off can really set a player back if they aren't very disciplined. Obviously it'll need a little re-jigging once we're late into september every year , but by coincidence that will also be when we only have a couple of totally raw kids coming in each year and most of the list has a few preseasons already under their belt.

Tanking during trade week is not new to Richmond I'm afraid. Exhibit B - article from today's Hun. Richmond delists everybody? An important check for anyone starting to count chickens from our draft pick eggs, I guess.

White clash jumper for Blues? RED! RED! MORE RED! A bit of red trivia for you - at the 2000 olympics a study was done on the psychological advantage of colours - they examined all the Tae-Kwan-Do bouts for the whole olympics and found that the comptetitors who were given the red sash for their bout won 55% of the bouts, while those given the light/medium blue sash obviously only won 45%. he colours for Tae-Kwan-Do are randomly assigned on a fight by fight basis, so it's actually a pretty rigorous piece of research. Red is an advantage almost as good as having an extra player out there!

I dunno if I'd want Judd. Frankly, you've got to question his leadership. It's all very well getting articles in the paper about how you sent a bowl of wedges back, but if you can't pull them into line on, y'know, serious addictive/binge habits... I don't want Scully to be like Cousins in every way.

DAMMIT!! I got a text message at the exact moment Burton took that mark. I was at the frickin game. I was there and I was getting into it because I was with Carlscum mates. And I get a frickin text message and look down for half a second.... ROAR! I hadn't even opend my phone by the time it happened. There's a lesson in that.

A little ambitious, no? Touch optimistic on trade value of our players. I like Majak Daw too, but we'd be fools to 'pay' forty picks or possibly even a whole draft ahead. I'd hold out until our Rookie pick 1, if we miss him, it's not a disaster, but that should be enough. Honestly, I don't think there's much need to push for extra picks this draft, and that further trades would be more about moving players on in a friendly, career-continuing way. I had been a spruiker for 18+Miller to Carlton for 11 or something like that, but we have 11 now and still have 18, so I'm happy! I won't declare preferances for who I think should be delisted, but in respect to your preferences list I think it's only fair that I put my dream draft out there. It includes 2 guns, 1 bolter, 1 slider, a freak and a brother! 1. Tom Scully - We all know the story here. If we can give 4 to Watts and say he's Norm Smith, then we can give Scully 31 and say he's Barassi. 2. Jack Trengove - There's always room for one more gun midfielder. Hard at it, puts the damage on the scoreboard, known leader. Yes please. 11. Serhat Temel - Would probably be around much later, almost certainly 18, but give me the guy who has proven he can do the job in finals. To my mind the whole selection of other FF options (Panos, Butcher, Griffiths) has question marks and this guy just seems right. Big, powerful, accurate full forward. 18. Jake Fitzpatrick - The chances that he'll slide are boosted even further by our selection of an unexpected tall (not to mention the fun of shaking up the draft coverage with the first pick after the 'countdown'). Fitzpatrick was 'the next tall after Butcher' six months ago, a mid top-10 selection in a lot of books. Inconsistency and poor form will push him almost certainly this far and probably into the 20s, so I'm confident that we would be able to collect for ourselves a 200+cm ruckman with genuine potential here. There's none better this draft, let's lock it in. Unless someone wants to bank on Jamar, Meesen and Johnson filling our first ruck spot for the next ten years? 34. Troy Taylor - To quote Jason Mcartney (on about seven occassions) "He has a little bit of the Daniel Motlop about him". 188cm forward, livewire kind of deal. I like the idea of a forward line loaded with players who thrive amongst chaos and can create something from meagre opportunitites. 50. Dylan Grimes - Not rated super high it seems, but he's got all the character of his brother. Good speed, good read, decent (190ish) height, would be a worthy asset backing up for the likes of Frawley, Garland and Rivers when they aren't available, and may well continue to develop. PSD 1 - I'm happy to wait for Rookie pick 1 for the speculative option. I'm a sentimental guy and I've already condemned another two players to exit the club (beyond those we already know about) with the picks I've used. So, unless something particularly juicy turns up for the PSD, I'll skip it this year. So there you go, I've got my own crazy picks, and sentiments.

I'm absolutely convinced, just on the basis that it makes so much sense, that Valenti will be traded out under the new 'rookies can be traded onto the senior list of another club' arrangements. I don't think he'll get great opportunities at Melbourne behind Moloney, Jones and Scully in that kind of role, and there are other clubs who would see him as a worthy acquisition for a very late pick or slight downgrade, particularly one with a large turnover of players, an interest in inside mids and a culture of getting the most out of players who give everything (subtly hinting Sydney there, did you spot it?) Spencer I've fallen out of love with. That kicking... makes Jamar look like Davey. Re-rookie, use the 'trade a rookie' rule again, or just accept it if someone else decides to collect him before he slips through to our rookie list picks. I guess what I'm syaing is that I don't see great potential improvement and see more value in the player's which would be in the delist gun in order to make space for him.

What's a Christian name? Is it like a given name except from back in the British Empire? C is for cookie, and for... Clint Bartram - doesn't fit the 'star' tag. Colin Garland - isn't a 'star' yet either, just a very promising young player. Cale Morton - recently signed up for a few more years. Cameron Bruce Colin Sylvia So I guess it's between Bruce and Sylvia. Losing either would be unfortunate. My tip is that, after being banned from Demonland, Yze_Magic became an Essendon supporter and Cameron Bruce is switching clubs just to annoy the hell out of him :D But seriously, my tip really would be Cameron Bruce looking for better opportunities in a short-term finals bound side. Are we particularly interested in Lovett? Bruce and 34? This is of course hypothetical based on the 'another player starting with C' declaration.

Is it possible that part of the reason for delay on Davey's contract is that we're figureing out how much we need to pay him, and how much to frontload it, in order to push us above the require player payments? Also, note that frontloading contracts for 2010 means that there will again be a dip in 2011, for another round of front loading, and so the cycle continues. Hopefully we can keep it up until we have a couple of stars (from the Davey, Moloney, Rivers, Sylvia, Jamar group) on the veterans list, cutting their official salary for cap purposes to half. Eventually retirements to the last of the guns of 2000 (Green, Bruce) will open up even more space. Our salary cap position should mean that we are able to keep this amazing group of kids together for the full run. And after this draft, it's actually quite likely that we'll have the positional requirements all in place for the next decade, with the bare minimum (3 required) delistings/picks in each draft keeping the group tight and stable.

If it's anyone, surely it's Miller. He would be in demand at a number of clubs and it would probably be best for his career to stitch up a deal and start anew. It's all a bit of an exodus from the leadership group, but if it's best for them and best for the club, grit your teeth and soldier on. Maybe 2009 is the year for fresh starts for those players who fell under the 'curse of the future captain'.

For pick 4 straight swap? No, that's simply not credible. But I'll get behind anything that keeps Burgoyne away from us, it's nothing personal I just really don't see it as appropriate.

First thing's first - Scott Thompson, pick 16 in 2000 , so picks around there can be pretty handy, and Thompson developed well beyond what Mclean has reached at the same ages, so let's not compare too closely. Note that the Thompson trade worked against us primarily becasue of bad luck with injury problems to Moloney. He was chosen for both need and quality, he is now likely to be a top 3 in this years B&F and is a core part of the leadership group. Secondly, the loss of the 17 year olds from the draft only cuts the numbers by one quarter in raw terms as previously only players 17 & 3/4 were eligible anyway, and those very young kids are less likely, unless they are something special like Josh Toy (Or Watts and Blease;) ), to go at the very early stages of the draft. Even considering it as the full 1/4 loss, that makes pick 11 as 'bad' as pick 13, not '20' as freak claims. Finally, if we were looking at this year's draft and had a choice of a hard-nut leader but slow and injury prone inside mid on the one hand, and our preference out of three promising key forwards to work with Watts and Jurrah, which would you go with? The fact is that all three parties, Mclean, Melbourne and Carlton, are better off from this deal. It's a shame that Carlton benefit but maybe we'll be lucky and Mclean's salary will be the one that pushes Carlton beyond even their creative limits when it comes to salary cap management. Let's accept it, respect it, and look forward to enjoying our extraordinary draft.

First thing's first - Scott Thompson, pick 16 in 2000 , so picks around there can be pretty handy, and Thompson developed well beyond what Mclean has reached at the same ages, so let's not compare too closely. Note that the Thompson trade worked against us primarily becasue of bad luck with injury problems to Moloney. He was chosen for both need and quality, he is now likely to be a top 3 in this years B&F and is a core part of the leadership group. Secondly, the loss of the 17 year olds from the draft only cuts the numbers by one quarter in raw terms as previously only players 17 & 3/4 were eligible anyway, and those very young kids are less likely, unless they are something special like Josh Toy (Or Watts and Blease;) ), to go at the very early stages of the draft. Even considering it as the full 1/4 loss, that makes pick 11 as 'bad' as pick 13, not '20' as freak claims. Finally, if we were looking at this year's draft and had a choice of a hard-nut leader but slow and injury prone inside mid on the one hand, and our preference out of three promising key forwards to work with Watts and Jurrah, which would you go with? The fact is that all three parties, Mclean, Melbourne and Carlton, are better off from this deal. It's a shame that Carlton benefit but maybe we'll be lucky and Mclean's salary will be the one that pushes Carlton beyond even their creative limits when it comes to salary cap management. Let's accept it, respect it, and look forward to enjoying our extraordinary draft that will set us up as THE club to hold back the tide of the new upstart clubs for the next decade.

Hmm... These players who have left... Johnstone was traded after a disappointing decade. CJ insisted on a two year deal and the club said 'no, you haven't earnt it', so he left to play seconds for Carlton. Brad Green considered leaving, but in the end his decision was to pass up about $100k a year (at least) in additional payments for the sake of staying at the Demons. As for players not wanting to come to the Demons, consider this - The only reason it feels like we are being overlooked is because we are constantly being shortlisted. Judd, Warnock, now Burgoyne have all named us in their shortlists. Each time, a dozen other clubs have not even rated a mention. And when it comes to the crunch, the first two and presumably Burgoyne as well, made their decision against us because of a) inadequate payments or B) poor facilities. Mclean goes at his football 100% and gave the club 100% in his time with us, that is his ethic and it deserves respect. BUT His captaincy ambitions were clearly faltering, his salary was about to take a major hit, and even his regular spot on the list was being challenged by Moloney, Jones and even Valenti. Moving to Carlton gives him a chance to refresh his career, provide the genuine hardness that the Blues so clearly lack, and have a tilt at a premiership while still in his prime. Because let's face it, 100 games in and never having played a full season, he's not likely to be playing past 30 or be a 300 gamer. Those two years earlier on the 'schedule' that Carton can claim to be are surprisingly important in Mclean's situation. So, it's sad to lose an erstwhile major player, but the reasons are material rather than emotional and at that level we have done well enough oursleves. That pick 11 will be a key forward, no doubt on it, and could be just about the final piece of the puzzle if it works out. The only thing left to say about club culture is that we do what it takes, to keep salary expectations down, to get the draft selections we need, and to fit the team to a plan for ultimate success, whatever the pain along the way.

Bye Brock. I had faith in you because you were so vocal about loving the club. It took effort sometimes. Now I don't have to make that effort.

750k is far to much to pay any one Demon. I'd seriously doubt Davey or Green are on that kind of money, let alone any of the 22-23 year olds. Shaun Burgoyne is a very good player, but not a star. Paying that kind of salary to him would add about $100,000 a head to our ten best player's expectations for their next contract. He'll also be 27 at the start of next season. Nothing about him fits with the premiership plan. If I was making a tip, it'd be that Port will pay part of Burgoyne's salary for the first year or two (as we did with Woey, Johnstone) to facilitate the deal. Hawthorn might not find themsleves with free space anyway, but Essendon are losing Llyod, Lucas and Fletcher for next season or the year after, and also would believe they are in a better position to challenge with 26 year olds coming in. My gut says Essendon - they have the salary cap space and appropriate trade material, particularly with Andrew Lovett leaving, and it fits with their situation as far as wanting to push further into finals in the next few years.

Yeah, let's trade a devoted club man and required inside midfielder, plus a high pick in the last draft before Gold Coast and West Sydney come plundering, and pay twice as much money as the player going out, for a frick'n overrated mercenary who'll be 30 when we're supposed to be peaking. Keeping Brock Mclean and getting Shaun Burgoyne are at the opposite extremes of my priorities.

Yep, Saints got the better run from the umpires overall, no doubt on it. I wouldn't suggest any bias at all there, but just that's how it goes and it's a shame there's that little niggle on such an impressive game. Saints had a 'Star' tall, not a 'good' tall. Although I supose Koshitknee is a good tall, so I guess they had both. While we may be a long way off either of these teams now... (cue the ritual listing of kids with obvious massive potential)