Dr. Gonzo

That's basically saying you think Blease is worth pick 10?

That's true and when I say he wouldn't offer us anything it's more in the "he's a wrong fit for where we are now" thing rather than a "he wouldn't improve the side" thing. Try and sound him out but I doubt he'd give us much if a second glance, he'd want to finish his career playing in big games and September not trying to lift a cellar dweller to mid-table.

Why Jon Ralph is as much of a tool as Barrett Hutchy and the rest of the sycophants. He retweeted a brain fart someone had, wouldn't read too much into it.

Good post mate, sums up what I was thinking and seems to back it up with stats. Could do with a few more paragraphs though Can I ask where you got the CD stats/comments from?

First off I never said classy mids, I said we have often chosen the kids I the draft who look to have the class over some who seem a bit more raw but potentially have more of an impact straight away (such as Watts over NicNat, Cook over Darling, Toumpas over Wines). Secondly I was saying some of those classy players are still on our list, not all of them. And when drafted thy were taken because they were seen to be high skilled options such as Strauss and Blease. Thirdly where did I write off Trengove and Toumpas? I said they needed someone to help them out in the middle while they develop due to our dearth of bigger bodies in the middle and around the packs. Last year we chose Toumpas (class) over Wines (grunt) - that's fine I'm not unhappy with that decision but I think this year we need to opt for a bigger body to help out and complement the smaller guys and help Jones and Viney in the clinches. I would look at some of the guys Richmond has drafted like Conca, Vlastuin and Martin and think we need to get some guys like this in our team who can compete in the AFL and not just look good against third level players. I have no obsession as you put it, I have a view that we need a well-rounded list and don't want to see us make the same mistakes as before when we had a team of Johntone, Yze, Bruce, Green etc skillful players who could beat weaker teams quite easily yet went to water against the better teams. What's embarrassing is your inability to comprehend ideas more complex than class v brawn, small v big.

Trengove, Toumpas Don't respond to my posts anymore if you're just going to act like a moron.

Morton, Grimes, Maric, Watts, Blease, Strauss, Trengove, Gysberts, Cook, Toumpas - all players taken as they had class/skill and potential rather than ready to go and runs on the board with perhaps a perceived lower ceiling. Haha yeah, whatever. It's more a case of we already have those kinds of players on our list, we need some grunt to complement them and start winning the ball/clearances.

Are you trying to antagonise me?

Yep we should be but who knows what the list manager's been doing the last few years. We may need that extra cap room at the end of next year if we want to keep Frawley, re-sign Jones etc

We've taken the "class" option a lot in recent years and it hasn't paid off - we need to get a meat & potatoes mid in next year who can impact straight away (like a Wines or Rich) and help our class mids develop.

Our salary expenses for people not working for the club in 2014 will outweigh those who are actually there the way we are going.

The value in trading Jamar is not what we would get back in a trade, it's ridding ourselves of a 2 year albatross and freeing what you'd assume is some pretty significant cap space.

Stefan Martin had been going OK though.

As a Melbourne supporter I totally agree, as a neutral observer can you blame any if them for giving us a wide berth. We haven't just been crap on field for 7 years our off field has been a debacle, there's cultural issues and our development of talented kids has been trash. The way out is to draft and develop our own kids and hope that by the time guys like Trengove, Grimes and Jones are in their 30's they have created a good environment for the kids in the intervening years to develop as players will actually want to come play for us. There are no quick fixes here.

As what? A waterboy?

Not really - with FA the player walks for nothing (diluted compo picks notwithstanding) with a trade the club gets something back.

Not to worried with Tapscott going but thought Blease has potential to be a pretty good player with the right coaching. Has great pace and knows where the sticks are just needs to build a tank and learn to run deep both ways.

Mitch Clark

I thought that too but Saints list manager on Trade Radio saying their aim is to get 3 top 20 picks this year so you'd think that would rule out Longer for them.

Yeah trade radio saying the same.

Exactly, young midfielder with a hard body, can kick goals. Gee, wish we had spuds like that in our team...

Haha yeah OK - this reminds me of the Voltaire quote "if god did not exist it would be necessary to invent him" for some reason - any player that doesn't want to play for us is a spud but anyone we recruit can play.

The Age article also says if he goes he wants to go to a contender. You can pretty much put a line through him now.

Exactly could be a Morton for pick 88 scenario.

That won't factor into it. If he was more important he would have had better B&F results.