DeeSpencer

This. He was everywhere in his first preseason. He put the rest of our players to shame. But they start late, do much less and are probably on a wave after the draft. I've seen JKH around town a couple of times. Not [censored], maybe not even drinking, but out and about. It might not be a coincidence that his good mate Luke McDonald had a down year as well. Rising stars one year, to the 2nd year blues, not a surprise. Anyway, he was top 5 in an early time trial last year. That's promising. I wonder if Garlett coming in as the first choice small forward took away a bit of his confidence. But forget all the negatives. He can find the ball, he can kick the ball, he has clean hands. There's plenty to work with and if it takes a year or two to come good that's ok. If JKH is our 30th best player then we are going ok.

I'm a fan of Josh Schoenfeld as an elite running outside player. Shame he went and smashed all the records at the draft camp. He's value might rise now.

We've just traded up to get 2 top 10 picks so we clearly value them. And the Hawks are still experiencing a period of dominance they set up with getting Hodge, Franklin, Roughy, Lewis, Birchall, Rioli with high picks in quick succession. I think our philosophy is to use these picks this year to find hopefully 2 but at least 1 high level player to go with the likes of Hogan, Salem, Viney, Tyson, Brayshaw, Petracca. And then from there we can draft and develop good players to complement the stars. The difference between pick 15 and pick 40 in terms of finding good players is often very small. The higher pick gives you a greater chance of finding the hidden star, but in terms of finding good solid B grade players the picks are similar.

Stats in isolation are often misleading. But at the same time sometimes the obvious is right in front of you. After 3 months out Curnow in his first 4 games went: 4 goals, 2 goals, 3 goals, 4 goals (5 behinds). With mark totals (contested) of 6 (3), 6 (3), 6 (2), 8 (5). Forget positional needs. With the 3rd pick in the draft we are after the best possible player. The guy who will add the most value to the team. Now if there isn't a complete player who does almost everything well then you look for a player who has the most upside. And the with modern defensive tactics so good the most valuable player is one who can take a mark and kick a goal. The scouting report says Curnow is likely to have top quality endurance, good size, the right amount of speed and agility to take his game to the AFL level. Over the last 3 years Jack Gunston has been one of the leagues best forwards and a super valuable player for the Hawks averaging just over 6 marks a bit under 2.5 goals a game. If that's the type of player Curnow compares with then that's a pretty strong case for picking him.

Do we get this London game on Yahoo tonight? Guess we will find out. Hungover as can be but might watch the first quarter if it's on.

Hard to see a Victorian club plucking a kid who doesn't even want to press his case for being drafted by preferring to play school footy and go home in the holidays instead of playing Colts. I don't really understand the benefit to him unless he's petrified of moving away from WA and Freo have worked out a deal to rookie him if he stays hidden. Which of course would be draft tampering. Without knowing anything more about him than the article states I would be surprised if he gets picked with that story. He'll probably end up in the WAFL and try for next year if he commits to it. Or Freo will take the chance

I'm a bit doubtful on if he has the skills or athleticism for a first round pick yet alone a top 10 pick. But he does look very big, strong and competitive. I reckon the Dogs would be over the moon if he lasted to their picks in the 20's. The Hawks might be keen with their 2 late teen picks to get a Lake replacement. Carlton could grab him as well, especially if they see Wietering as a CHF.

He mentions his versatility and compares himself to Hodge. But there's nothing wrong with being realistic about where you'll start your career and what your skill set is. He looks like a 3rd tall intercept defender to me. And his midfield potential is certainly up for debate but that's what development is for. But no matter what pick he is taken at if he has career like Josh Gibson as an intercept defender capable of playing on a man one week and rebounding with 25 touches and plenty of intercept marks then he'll be a great pick up. No one is ever plug and play but I'd imagine if he had a good run with injury that Francis would be good for at least 10 games at half back next year.

Rucks sure. Maybe the occasion key defender, especially if it's only for a back up. But J Pod is the only decent key foward I can remember coming from the state leagues. I think we will consider a state league ruck with one of our late picks just to add some depth

From round 23 last year: Melbourne: Missing: Tyson, Vanders, Kent, Jetta, Frost, Pedersen, Dawes, Watts, Lumumba, Petracca, Trengove* Out: Cross, Howe In: Melksham, Bugg, Kennedy GWS: Missing: Mumford, Shiel, Hoskin-Elliott, Coniglio, Steele, Davis, Patfull, Haynes, Griffen, Patton, Scully Out: Treloar, Bugg, Plowman In: Stevie J It's a little scary how much GWS had missing in round 23 last year. Mumford is huge for them and Shiel is a star. You could make a decent midfield with the rest of those players. Patton in forward (with Stevie J) and Davis, Patfull, Haynes are their 3 best tall defenders. Then again Vanders and Kent bring speed and hardness to our forward line and depth to our midfield. We haven't lost a gun like Treloar and if we get a 2nd tall forward in form that will help. I expect GWS to improve and not to do a Gold Coast, so it's going to be a huge test.

Clayton OliverOliver Wines. I want a forward and an outside running player as well. But at the same time I really like this kid. Wouldn't surprise me if he went top ten. He looks like a bull. Carlton would love to pair him with Cripps I think. Essendon should consider their future post Jobe Watson.

Both could impact next year or take 5 years, you never know with big blokes. My main concern on Weideman is he looks like a big tall but not a 2nd ruck. So if you have him, Hogan and a 2nd ruck in a forward line how will they work together? North played 3 talls this year but Waite, Petrie and Brown are all very mobile and they didn't need a great 2nd ruck given Goldy can do so much. If our future plans right now are the 2 Max's ruck combination and Hogan, then that would be better complimented with a 3rd tall like Curnow than a 197cm player.

Yes we can and hopefully we do. With Sydney trading with Essendon and us trading with GWS their might be an understanding not to bid between those teams. But we traded pick 7 for 10 with GWS. I don't see use owing GWS anything when it comes to pick 3. So I hope we bid for all 3, one after another. Of course we'd have to rate the kids, and hope they are keen to move to Melbourne (the GWS boys being from the Riverina I'd suggest they'd have no issues) and deal with the blow back if we bid on all 3 and didn't get them. I'd worry about the psychology it puts on the kid who we eventually take if he knows he's our 4th choice. But at the same time we can deal with that.

Sydney were meant to pay more than the pick 18 they used last year for Heeney to get Mills this year. That's the point of it. Yet with pick 14 plus Craig Bird, Sydney traded for extra points in a deal that still went against them to get 25 and 44 or whatever it was. Now as Sydney can match up to pick 5 just by using those points. So if for some reason we don't bid on Mills with pick 3 it's very likely that Sydney will get Mills for picks 14 and Craig Bird. That's a bit ridiculous and not how the system was designed to work. To get an elite junior they were meant to give up a lot more than pick 14 and a steak knives player. It was meant to cost them their entire draft if they didn't have a high pick. I think if you want a player in the first round then you should at least have to keep a first round pick to form part of your bid. You can manipulate the points after that but at least give up the value as it stands of the first round pick without double dipping by moving it back in the draft for extra points.

True. But at the same time Melbourne getting Viney for a cheap price, the Dogs getting both Wallis and Libba in the same draft and Essendon getting Daniher at pick 10 were a bit of a joke. I don't mind the points system. Where I think the farce has come in is letting the academy teams stock pile points by trading out high end picks for a collection of crap picks. That goes against the intended aim. It helped the clubs who did the trades with them (namely Melbourne, Essendon, Carlton) but it's a bit of BS.

I'm staying away from the Bills in a London game with a chance their QB isn't right. Sea Hawks Falcons Vikings

Under 19's last year, so has anyone worked out how old he is? 18, 19, 20, 21?

His playing career alone might have been enough to set him up as a media personality and he did a great job at the Dogs. Funny how he gets the blame for things going sour when it probably should've been on both parties. Richmond and he went down together. They did start the same process of multiple picks under 20 they just took 4 guys who couldn't play. Just like Melbourne would later do to Bailey. Pick 1 - Deledio Pick 4 - Tambling Pick 12 - Danny Meyer Pick 16 - Adam Pattison Pick 20 - Dean Polo Their next draft was even worse. Besides Deledio the rest were plonkers. The thing that annoys me about Wallace is that he's gone for the list management pathway and working with croc media where the strength of his coaching was probably tactical analysis. But he does have a pretty solid handle on the draft, players across the league, list management priorities and he's even worked out the academy stuff way ahead of most.

They already have Spangher and Litherland to come in to the backline. And could play Frawley, Gibson and Stratton most weeks as well wiithout adding another tall. Fitzy certainly got good reviews for his defending this year, but given his age he should've smashed it at VFL level. Most truly good AFL players (including talls) show they are too good for the VFL in their first 2 years or maybe 3rd year. He had a lot of injuries but it probably took him until 2013 or 2014 to regularly impact as a forward/ruck and it shouldn't be a surprise that he played well in the VFL down back, it's just more of a question as to whether it would mean anything for AFL.

We've done well out of being friends with GWS. They are now down on list numbers and about to start drafting much more home grown talent. It would be a nice time to end that relationship.

Francis looks very much a half back flanker/3rd tall defender and maybe midfielder at AFL level. I don't see him being a forward and certainly not a key forward. Intercept marking and using his size inside seem more his go. I think his size stands out at junior level but at AFL level he won't be all that imposing and might suffer from limited athleticism

I'd like to go: Pick 3: Hopper - GWS match Pick 4: Kennedy And hope GWS decide not to match the second pick.. Kennedy has size, marking ability, a good dash of pace and kicks goals. If that were to happen then Essendon and Gold Coast would take their pick of 3 of Parish, Weiderman, Curnow, Francis, Milera and we'd get whoever was left. Curnow or Milera would be my pick of that lot. Goal kicking forwards with excitement and athleticism to play in the midfield. Parish is a good player, but I'm not sure he's the dynamite running and silky skilled midfielder we need and he might be a bit small and slight for half back or inside mid. On limited vision I've seen he reminds me of Adam Treloar more than the dashing wingman we need. If that's the case I think we should draft him as best available more than for a needs basis.

I think Salem will stay at half back for at least another year. We still need kicking there. Melksham half back taking Howe's spot, Bugg floating between midfield/wing/half back depending on who needs tagging ie the Cross role. Lumumba will either play on the wing or if Stretch/ANB/Newton all come on quickly then he'll be at Casey.

Dees sign SOS aka Son of Smith Interesting. About time we used a Category B spot. Anyone know any more?

I think Gold Coast would love Curnow. They were in to Howe and Scotty Clayton loves his athletic types. I wonder if Essendon will think Curnow is a bit similar to Laverde and Langford.