Gooner

I have to agree that these picks are high considering what we'll get in the future. Next year's draft is hardly going to be worth taking more than 2-3 picks in. I believe West Sydney get their 12 seventeen year olds next year, plus GC17 gut the draft of every second pick, so a pick ten could be equivalent to pick 30 in a normal draft. Plus GWS18 gut the following draft. We want to get as many kids in now so that they have time to mature around the same time and we can have a decent crack at a flag.

I don't think we won the Kreuzer cup. If we'd lost to Carlton we would've had the following picks: 2007: pick 2 (Cotchin), pick 18 (Rance) 2008: pick 2 (Natanui, pick 18 (Shuey) Instead we would've lost: 2007: pick 4: (Morton) 2008: pick 17 (Blease), pick 19 (Strauss) So by beating Carlton, we lost a first round pick in 2008 (pick 2) and a second round pick in 2007 (pick 18). I know the players that we've picked up are good players, but it doesn't make up for an picks additional round higher in two years! As for whether we would've got picks 1 & 2 this year, it's hard to see where we would've lost an additional game, but for Richmond, and we could've won that one easily if we'd tried. We may just have had to rest a few more players for the game.

You never know what the draft will throw up. It could be a player who never plays for the club, or alternatively, it could be the next superstar. I know it's an old example, but Hird was picked up very late in the draft and he's one of, if not the, best player I've seen live.

At that stage of the draft no one really knows what's going on. There could be a player who we really rate who drops that low, or it could just be a player than we want to take a punt on.

There are a lot of comments talking about how Luke Ball is overrated. He'd still be one of the best players in the team if he came, but he doesn't want to, so be it. We're better to invest in a player who is a risk, but could be a gun later than a player who is past his best.

1. Scully 2. Trengrove 11. Butcher/Talia/Black 18. Talia/Black/Vardy 34. Best available 50. Best available PSD 1 (assuming Ball has nominated for the national draft as most media are reporting) - Thorp

If we can use them, why not? Based on the new rules, if they're no good, we can delist them or put them on the rookie list. Pick 34 is still a decent pick. Even if we assume that all twelve 17 year olds would be picked before 34, which is unlikely, it's still worth pick 46, and there's plenty of quality players who have been picked after that. If we don't want to use pick 50, then we don't have to and we can promote Newton or Meesen or one of the other rookies, but at least it gives us the option to.

I think we delisted two contracted places because pick 34 and PSD 1 are too good to pass on.

There's a couple of reasons why haven't spoken to Dustin Martin. Firstly, we've already decided that we're going to get Scully and Trengrove, and secondly, he's going to Richmond, and therefore, he'll turn out to be crap!

He's not on the list because he can't compete with Buddy and Roughy, but St Kilda demonstrated this year, than top picks can still become top players once they settle in. Consider Sylvia didn't have his break out year until this year. It could just be a matter of having the right pre-season.

This draft could be good news for us if we're looking for a tall. The lack of quality talls this year has meant that most of the early picks are going to be midfielders and then a number of clubs between 11 and 18 will pick midfielders as they don't have the same need for talls. If we can't get Butcher, I'd be happy with either Talia or Black.

I reckon it's 8 spots as McLean has obviously freed up a spot also.

We need to find a way to get another spot on the list. I get the feeling that the club are waiting to see what happens in terms of likely draft picks. If there looks like a decent player being available for pick 34 or PSD1, we'll make room for one more on the list. We'd be crazy not to use pick 34. I know this draft is weak, but there are a lot of quality players who are picked up with pick 34 or later.

It's a risk, and I guess it'll be a possibility if Ball stays at St Kilda. He's probably the best available to fulfill our needs in the PSD if Ball doesn't come and we'd be crazy not to use PSD pick 1, as it doesn't come along too often. It's worth a punt, there are always players who are picked early in the draft and don't make it, but there are a few who make it at another club. Look at Ray for St Kilda last year.

The idea of free agency can work in the AFL, although it depends on the system that is used. There are a couple of good examples of free agency in other sports. Take the premier league for example. There is free agency there, although it rarely comes into effect. Free agency in the EPL exists in that players can go anywhere without compensation to their previous club once their contract has expired. However, as clubs rarely get any compensation once a player leaves (there are situations in which compensation is determined by tribunal for youth players etc), clubs always tie players to long term contracts. I can see the EPL method working in the AFL. It would simply remove the PSD, for all but the delisted players. The few players who enter the PSD could choose their club freely, but players like Ball etc wouldn't go to clubs via the PSD, but by selecting the club that they wanted most due to either the likelihood of success or the money they could earn. The second sport that has free agency is the American system like in the NBA, in which contracts are held by the league and simply transferred from one club to another. Therefore a club could trade one player to another club with the player only having 3 months of his contract left. The new club receives the player on the same contract terms and with the same contract period left. I don't like this idea, as it means that players can move clubs extremely quickly, and I don't like the idea of a club taking on a player with only months left on his contract. It doesn't give him time to get used to the game plan etc.

Whilst we're all eagerly looking forward to the draft in two weeks time, I thought it'd be interesting to see people's opinions of who are potential premiership players from our current side. Here's my rough draft of what our next premiership side could look like: B: Grimes Frawley Garland HB: Strauss Rivers Morton C: Jones New Midfielder? Davey HF: Sylvia Watts Trengrove F: Jurrah New FF? Bate Foll: New Ruck? Scully Blease Int: Moloney Maric Spencer??? Wonaemirri There's obviously a few players that I've left out that are likely to play, and we will likely add a couple more recruits to add, but it's a start for discussion.

Ruckmen are really hard to pick whether they're going to be good or not. The only successful ruckmen who have been hyped up to being with are the few that have been taken with picks in the first 5. Jeff White, Kozi and Kreuzer come to mind. Some of the more successful ruckmen out there have not been high draft picks or even got many games when they are younger. Give Spencer time, it's no guarantee that he'll be the solutions to our ruck problems, but both he and Meesen deserve the chance. Saying that, should Vardy be available when pick 18 arrives, pick him. We need a ruckman, and he's a good solution for pick 18.

Carlton are going for top four, and are actually a chance despite needing to win their last two and for the Doggies to lose their last two. It could be over for them by Sunday though, if the Doggies can beat the Cats. As for St Kilda, they should be good enough to beat us regardless of who they play, and will be anxious to get a win on the 'G' for the only time prior to finals.

Have to go McLean ahead of Davey. Davey's attitude when he was tagged out of the game a couple of weeks ago wasn't the sort of thing you want to see from the captain. McLean leads by example and would be good for the club, both on and off the field.

Geelong over the Saints

What's to stop us playing all three as a send off match, and playing some kids also to give them a chance. We can do both and rest some of our regulars. We'll get beaten regardless of whether we play the vets or the kids, why not play both?

No to all 3. Not worth trading for older players at this stage. If anything, we should be trading for draft picks, not players. There will be players who we can trade for later once the kids have developed more.

There's also the issue that whilst Davey has improved his kicking, he's now 26 and probably hit the peak of his career. He showed he's a great kick, but struggled with a tag. Sylvia is a little more injury prone, but he's really come on this year with a full season.

There's plenty of teams that have had high draft picks and not done even made a grand final. I'd be happy with a premiership in the window of 2011-15, it doesn't matter what else happens if we can win one.

Watts Morton Grimes Garland Jurrah McLean Sylvia Frawley Strauss/Blease Jones