The Chazz

Who would be our coach if this happened?

I would actually say that he is the most versatile of our mids. Can play inside, outside, and can go forward and hit the scoreboard. You would expect/hope Petracca would become our most versatile in due course, but Dom has him, and the rest of them, covered for versatility at this stage. I mentioned recently that Tyson reminds me of Bartel in that he will likely get pushed out of the inside mids group, not because he is significantly weaker than the others, but more that he can play just as effective in other roles. If by some fluke we were able to get Kelly, I would love to see Purple's face when the trade is signed off, given how vocal he was when the initial trade of Tyson/Pick 9 for Pick 2 took place.

I said a few years ago that Tyson would make some of our other midfielders look good, and still am of that opinion. He's almost got a bit of Jimmy Bartel about him. Very selfless, can bring other players in to the game. I rarely go the early crow, but I've seen enough of Dom to know he will be a regular best player for us for many years.

We will be the first ones that he turns down? So much for being a "destination club"!

All I care about for next year's draft is who will be available at pick 18 when we have our first pick.

Haven't seen much of Dec, other than what's on the highlights tape on the MFC website. The kid looks like a genuine swingman, which will be awesome. Have a feeling that he will fast become Uncle Bitter's favourite, given how much he likes his swingers...

I guess "officially" it now is. Unofficially, I'll be still livid come draft night when the cheats read out the first player for the night. I just hope to Christ that we don't lose to them next year.

And there it is... http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-11-11/jobe-watson-hands-back-2012-brownlow-medal Watch how he will be treated as some kind of hero now. Will be sickening.

Presumably for the better for us. Which would then validate my thinking of not upgrading the two rookies this year.

See bolded part above, Stuart. Again, go and annoy someone else.

We currently have 1 spare spot on our list. If Dunn leaves that leaves us with one other list change that we must make to go to the draft. Presumably this would be Dawes. If that's the case, we have 3 "live" picks, currently 57, 59 and 84. If we upgrade both Wagner and Smith, it means we are using Pick 59 on one of them. I personally would rather give Taylor a crack at a "speculative potential" player at 59, rather than looking for something in the rookie draft.

I'm certain that many people were saying last year that the 2016 draft was going to be a super draft.

See bolded above Stuart... Now go and annoy someone else.

No, we differ on list management ideas. For a start, trade period hasn't finished, so I will reassess our draft strategy when I know what the final draft order will be. I expect our draft order to change in some shape over the next 24 hours. I also know that 12 months is a long time in football, and that upgrading Smith now, who is relatively a project player that has been in the system for 12 months, and Wagner, who has definitely shown "something" but let's see him do it again next year.

There will still be plenty of opportunity to use our "better" picks of kids next year, as well as having space at the back end of the draft to use on upgrading.

That's entirely possible, but we don't need to upgrade them this year, so leave them where they are.

Why the rush to upgrade the rookies?

How? Hibberd is worth a 2nd rounder, which we used, then upgraded our pick 68 by 11 spots. Think it was a fair deal all round to be honest.

Considering the "experts" had us just doing a straight 29 for player, I think I'm by far the nearest to the pin. Thanks for your encouragement though, Seraph!

I was close!

With the Lewis deal done, and us now knowing what picks we have now got, I wonder if we are offering Pick 29 and 68 for Hibberd and 41. Would give us our first pick at 41, but our 2nd pick at 57.

Most players are doing work experience in some capacity, GNF. I wouldn't read in to that part too much.

Stuie, very readable post, thank you. Seriously though, has your account been hacked?

Oh, I didn't realise you wanted my opinion, you didn't actually ask. My view is that while our defence has leaked a lot of easy goals, I think given they are trying to get used to the balance of attack and defend, they are doing a great job. Due to the outs (experience) that I've previously mentioned, I think that the younger players, in particular Wagner and Hunt, are going well. I don't think having an experience "gulf" is a negative for these guys, mainly because it appears that even for the experienced guys that have managed to get on the park, that they are struggling with the new game plan too. I think our disposal coming out of the backline has been the best it's been for a long time. Obviously still has a lot of work needed, but generally, I don't cringe when our HBF kick it out, especially when comparing it to the days when Grimes was down there. On the leaking of goals, it's amazing to think that while sometimes it's like we have NFI down back, we are only 8 points worse off YTD. Truth be known, we will actually have conceded less points than last year after this week's game. If I had to choose one or the other, I would say our backline hasn't gone backwards this year. Further to that, the fact we can see the type of footy we want to play is a massive improvement compared to previous years. Their best has been excellent, but the gap between great and pus is still too wide. This will change with more games and development of players playing under a "new" game plan. It has to be mentioned though that when our defenders have looked ordinary at best, it has generally been on the back of our midfield getting a touch up. Do we invest more in to strengthening the midfield, so that it helps out backline? Finals this year is highly unlikely, but we can't lay total blame on our lack of experience in the back half. What I am satisfied with is that we've been able to let our long-term defenders learn in the seniors, without it being too much of a burden on the rest of the team. This experience/development will prove invaluable.

How can I agree or disagree? This was my original point. You obviously believe it has gone backwards but you're arguing a point that can't be proven. Further, you are arguing that because we lack experience in the backline, it's having an impact (which has to be negative) on the development of players. I'm amazed that you don't barrack for Collingwood, given your fetish for things to be black and white. There's far too many variables with this topic, but as usual, you struggle to have a civilised discussion about a topic where there is more than one right answer.