DeeSpencer

You've got 3 options for a ruckman I think. 1) Late pick and a list spot plus 5+ years development for a guy who could be anywhere from great to average 2) Trade a middle to late pick for a guy who probably isn't any good and unlikely to get better (a Giles or Curry) 3) Trade a good pick for either a good ruckman with runs on the board who might crash out after 3 or 4 years (a Jolly or Ryder) or a younger prospect who might only be ordinary anyway (Warnock). I don't mind opiton 1. Yeah it takes a while but you've got 44 list spots for a sport of 22, there's room to use one every few years and you get to develop the guy from the ground up.

Scroll to his name and click http://www.afl.com.au/draft/draft-tracker

Best bit of the highlights video - right at the end. When some seagull, maybe Bailey Rice, wants a handball and he just refuses, turns and hits the target himself. Love a big bloke than can kick. Now does anyone know if he has the athleticism? Because if so I think he's a pretty good prospect.

It's an issue. But we are still in the early phase of rebuilding I think. So stack up on ball winners and talls and hard running smart footballers. We can trade or draft for a bit of speed once the base is established.

So pumped we back ourselves with this kid. Not concerned at all about his kicking or speed, he's got enough of both. I'm excited to see him play forward, yet alone move to the midfield.

AFL app should have a live tracker of each pick. Otherwise twitter.

We really had to nail those picks and I thought the risk on Stringer with injury was too much. We'd got Hogan and Viney by that stage so I didn't think we needed a star as much as a sure thing. I liked Toumpas, Macrae and Wines and I still like the Toump. Unfortunately we just had the wrong environment for him and combined with some short falls from him we just couldn't get him developing. It's still early days and we can't have a complete bust but I think it's a better time to go for the absolute stars and the games Oliver, Weideman and even Milera have played at their best show me star power. Francis might be the safest pick in the draft in terms of playing 150 games. I couldn't be upset by picking him, but at this stage I see more Jared Rivers from him than Brendon Goddard.

The good news on those ranking points is they were both trending up and also very consistent after the first 2 rounds when he was presumably getting some match fitness after missing some preseason. That finish to the year is super impressive, as is the off the charts game which I presume was the game he kicked 6.

To be fair if we pass him up for Oliver he's got - the Morrish medal, a good package of skills, decision making, attack etc. Good SC scores. Certainly can kick goals and hit targets. And is undoubtedly a natural footballer.

The Falcons really only have a light grasp on the 2nd NFC wildcard spot and Seattle might be the best of a sorry lot of chasers. I like the Steelers and Chiefs for the AFC wildcard spots but I'd love to see the Bills get a big upset tomorrow and get a wildcard spot.

After an 0-3 start with no confidence against good teams in Green Bay, Arizona and Seattle the Bears have gone 4-3 to now sit 4-6 with all 3 losses (and 2 of the wins) coming by under 3 points and with all 3 games pretty much 1 good play from winning. We had the Vikings on toast, we had the Lions all but done if we had a bit more time and still could've won it in OT and today we had a chance for a 2 point conversion to send it to OT. It's hard to be too angry given last year was a disaster and this year has been pretty competent. Just a shame because there's was a sneaky shot at a wildcard berth if we could get to 5-5.

1. I don't trust Essendon to take Francis. He seems the perfect choice to leak to the media and get Melbourne to over think pick 3. 2. Milera, love him. He be the best result short term (1-2 years) if we want to score more. Don't be too down on him.

Had a look for a while from about 3-4:30. Didn't see Terlich, Newton, Lumumba, Vince, Spencer. Only saw Brayshaw watching. Three in the rehab group - Trenners, ANB, Jeffy. Plus Jones, Petracca. Jesse is grumpy at the moment. Angry at team mates. Seemingly holding himself back in the running. Not sure what is going on there. Still has a laugh every now and then. Wasn't happy with the [censored] kicks from some players and fair enough too. The talk might have been a bit too negative but I'd take that over the previous complacency. Up to the coaches and leaders to make sure the mix of positive and negative feedback is there. JKH repeatedly tried to do too much in drills and was repeatedly told by all and sundry to take the simple option. Viney dropped a mark, JKH picked it up, Viney went in for the tackle, JKH evaded him beautifully for a few steps, then met his mark. It's going to take something very special to slip Jack from a tackle. Grimes was training well. Looks well also. Mitch White looked even better. So did Jack Watts. Dunn hasn't missed the buffet, but he's always looked that way. Jayden Hunt found the ball in a few drills. Runs well and marks strongly on a lead. Unfortunately, is one of those who can't kick. Might be getting better but seems a low base. I notice a couple of well timed spoils from Melksham, he does have good reach, the half back idea might just be a winner. Kent, Dawes, Vanders, Melksham, Hogan and King did a few repeat 300's. Not sure what they did to deserve it. Kent led out the first few, then Dawes took over. Not a lot of distance between the first 5. Unfortunately Kingy still looks like a sure thing to get your money back in a cup sweep, he struggles to stay with the others. It was a good session from what I saw and a heavy focus on skills under pressure and quick sharp decision making.

Does he have the skills and speed to be a Dalhaus? No doubt he can find the ball. Just a worry at that size, especially after we've added Kennedy. Not a lot of room in the team to play JKH, Ben Ken and this kid.

Taylor was at the Pies when they picked Thomas over Ellis and Pendles in the top 5 right? Doubt he'd be losing too much sleep about where Oliver has been listed in early season mock drafts.

Because this isn't the NFL with trades made during the draft. What if we liked Curnow but then his indiscretion has cost him? Or we liked a player and then they did an ACL training or got in a car crash. Not to mention maybe the most obvious scenario - one of the top 2 teams change their minds and our player gets taken off the board. They clearly liked at least 1 player, hopefully more as standouts who would be available at pick 3. I just don't think that was the primary motivation, nor do I think it has to be Parish, it could've been and or all of Parish, Oliver and Weideman who they rated as worthy of pick 3 and then made the trade knowing they'd pick 1 once they settled on them.

So do I. Although I love Toby McLean and like Ed Langdon. He was right on Oscar Mc as well. His later pick stuff seems very solid. So I'd keep an eye out for Lovell, Hore (who played a VFL game for Essendon) and Doedee. Doedee has one heck of a name for an MFC player. He seems raw but his athleticism pops off the highlight tape.

Not many, maybe even not any. At least not whilst winning the clearance at evading tacklers. Dangerfield and..... But I'll take a burst of speed and agility. Dane Swan pack bursting will do me.

He's big. He can mark. He can kick. He can play at ground level. And he's physical. If he could stay on the park he'd be a sure thing top 3.

Denver Brockos - no Jeffery for the Bears and does anyone expect Cutler to keep his great form going against the number 1 defense? Plus the Broncos run game will work better with Brocko. Green Bay - enough is enough. Forget the other 21 players on the field at any one time. Rodgers v Teddy Bridgewater for the division lead. He has to find a way. Would help if Eddie Lacy stopped eating and played though. KC Chiefs - I like what Andy Reid is cooking, and so does he.

The AFC South is the new NFC South which was the new NFC West. Maybe a terrible division isn't so bad, because it means in a couple of years you might have a very competitive division. The scary thought is Houston winning the division despite being the only team who hasn't spent a top 3 pick on a QB in the last few or so years.

My only question would be whether Essendon are leaking Francis info, hoping for us to pass on Parish or Weideman in the hope one of them is available for pick 7 and in the mean time they scoop both of them. I wouldn't trust that they really want Francis because I don't trust them at all!

I don't buy the notion of trading up to pick 3 for a specific player. It goes against the notion of smart recruiting which is to never go for the messiah pick and to believe in continually good spotting of talent and good development from there on in. Jason Taylor explained the rationale of the trade to get pick 3 this year instead of next year and to get the development started and a culture built. I'm inclined to take him at his word. If we don't pick Oliver now then I'm a little confused as to why 3 journos in a row who all had different opinions have jumped on him. Unless Emma went with it and Sam and Cal followed her in? We hopefully learnt from the Ollie Wines scenario not to leak interest in another kid and then have it bight you on the butt. I'd hate Oliver to go elsewhere now because if we then did pick Parish or otherwise at 3 we'd hear about it for a long time.

Cons: - Can't kick - Can't mark - Doesn't look like he has speed or agility - Can't really jump - Not overly tall Pros; - Strong - Committed - Physical Overall I think he just doesn't have it athletically. The only centre square ruck contests he wins in that video are against a Box Hill back up who's a key defender. It's nice that he can tackle, but that's not really a core skill for a ruckman. How many AFL midfielders is he going to be able to run down?

That seems somewhat unfair and against the idea of the rules to draw more athletes in to the sport from other codes. Should at least be allowed a trial amount of games.