DeeSpencer

I don't think we should be overly worried about structures yet. But for next year I think Brad Green should play deep Full Forward. He's our most reliable on the lead/one on one. Watts isn't ready yet for this position, but I wont say he ever will be. I didn't ever think Jack Riewoldt would be a contested marking player and in the space of half a season he became the best in the league. Jurrah can become a target for injury when played deep and I think its much better to have him floating. Petterd is best played rotated through positions, to use his work rate and use his talent to out mark smalls. Cook will be at Casey! A game or 2 would be good for him but lets not rush things. Dunn is best played similarly to Petterd. Bate must be used up the ground but I'm not sure if he's best 22 unless he adds the ability to chase and tackle. Two of Bennell, Wona, Maric, Jetta and Tapscott should be in the side. I don't know where Howe fits, but on percentages I don't think he'll be ready early in the year. It took Jurrah half a season to crack a game and he's a freak! The missing piece remains the ruck/forward option. Jamar can do this if we have a second ruck good enough to become the number 1 - Spencer, Gawn, possilby the Fitz could do this. We might take a step backwards next year by pumping games into the Spence. If he has improved as much as the reports say it will be positive. Otherwise we are looking at Newton, Martin, Fitzpatrick, McDonald and maybe someone grabbed in the rookie draft.

7 - Cook 11 - Rest whilst awaiting Spencer/Gawn/Fitzpatrick to claim 17/21 - Blease/Struass 23 - Can't decide between either rest for a year or give it to Howe. He'd be a perfect 23 if he's up to it. Could care about the rest.

I agree on McDonald being a Leigh Brown type. Looks to be a player who's place in the team and the modern game will add to his value. As an individual nothing flashy, but as part of a team an asset. Who knows I could be massively under selling him as there isn't hype around him. He could be the next Jarrod Roughead for all I know.Davis I think we've drafted here on attributes more than any particular talent (again I know nothing just a gut feel). I think what we've gone for is a competitor with that speed you need to play full back. With a strong body and a good tough country mindset. Would be hard for him to be as good but I think we've looked at the basic ingredients of Frawley and thought we can mold something out of this kid. You can't teach speed in solidly built defenders though so I'm pretty happy with this selection. With Howe I worry our recruiters fell in love with a highlights package. But there seems to be good endurance, sound skills and all round ability. I think for a 20 year old playing state league to go at pick 33 he's obviously interviewed well. I'd like to find out why he bummed around in Dodges ferry and didn't aim even higher than TSL. Russel Robertson, Jack Riewoldt, a white Liam Jurrah - I'd settle for him bringing any of that to the table. I'm excited to see if he can produce at VFL (or AFL) level early next season. Cook I like. Should be physically capable in a few years time and he fits our game plan with suitable skills. Looks a cut above the Brad Miller mark and have no idea what to do with it and ruin an attack. Can play CHF with his endurance or closer to goal as he grows and has CHB potential as well. Not sure who he resembles. I'd be happy to throw him a few cheap NAB cup games, see what tricks he's got. After that I'm expecting a quiet year. Maybe its overkill and poor drafting. But I'm really excited about getting 4 tall country boys (not sure about Howe but it's Tassie) into the team. If Howe has the typical big personality that comes with high flyers he should spice things up. Cook appears a diligent young man from afar. McDonald typical no frills worker, and Davis I hope he's brought the same attitude as well as hair style from Kerang as Jordie McKenzie.

FB: Bennell Davis _______ HB: Strauss _____ Bail C: Blease Trengove ______ FP: Tapscott Watts Jurrah FF: Howe Cook Jetta Foll: Gawn, Scully, Mckenzie Inter: Gysberts, Fitpatrick/McDonald The best of the end of the Craig Cameron period Grimes, Morton, Garland, Frawley fill the gaps in the back half and midfield. We've now recruited key forward options, practically a new midfield and speed and skill across the park. Plus we have a genuine first ruck option in Gawn, a more mobile ruck/forward in Fitzgerald and a player in McDonald who whilst undersized could end up just perfect for where the second ruck position is going. He could be a smart pick with the eye on the future. I'd say next priority which could start in the rookie draft is going for more speed on the outside. A Davey or Wonaeamirri would be a great addition.

DAN'S LEARNING CURVE Says there because he got smashed. Should serve as a good remind that if we do draft him we shouldn't expect much in the first couple of years. 33. MELBOURNE - Ryan Lester Height: 191cm Weight: 83kg DOB: 26/08/92 Club: Oakleigh Chargers (Vic) Draft range: 30-40 Tall defender who can play up forward or in the midfield. Prides himself on attacking the ball with vigour, and he's strong overhead. Would be welcome in the half-back line at any club. 50. MELBOURNE - Cameron O'Shea Height: 192cm Weight: 84kg DOB: 13/03/92 Club: Eastern Ranges (Vic) Draft range: 45-65 Tall defender whose performance in the endurance events at the draft combine has swayed the Demons. O'Shea finished second in the three-kilometre trial (10.03) and seventh in the beep test (14.10). 53. MELBOURNE - Jeremy Howe Height: 192cm Weight: 85kg DOB: 29/06/90 Club: Hobart (Tas) Draft range: 50-rookie A year ago, the high-flying forward was playing country footy with Dodges Ferry, outside Hobart. In 2010 the 20-year-old impressed greatly through his aerial feats with Hobart in Tasmania's state league. If he plays in the AFL in 2011, he'll be one of the stories of this draft. Don't think we would go with 3 talls in a row after drafting Gorringe. Maybe go with one at 33 and another at either of 50/53 but there must be a chance we'll have a small in line for one of those picks. I'd be very happy with Gorringe. Know nothing about Lester or O'Shea and the Howe guy has a freakish highlights reel (Rusell Robertson v2.0) so how can you say know to that!

So a small player is a better kick than a ruckman. Thanks for that.Bartram is a dodgy kick but a very good defender. If we can fill the team with equally good defenders then someone will take his role and as suggested above it might be Bail. But we firstly need to get all those other players up to speed. Even then Bartram might have an advantage over Joel Mac who is a slightly better kick but doesn't have the pace to be such a good stopping defender.

If the club has deliberately bulked Dunn up then I don't understand it. Yes he played well up forward but I see nothing to suggest he's a KPP who needs bulk. In my opinion he is a tall flanker who needs to be fit and mobile to play his best footy. He's a weapon if he is used as a player who can chase, tackle, lead up and double back and use his size to out mark smaller defenders. But if they attempt to make him a CHF/FF I think he will dominate VFL but struggle at AFL level. Trengove definitely struggled as the year went on. I'm hope he was just having a sluggish day and isn't still getting over the effects of a tough first season.

Spencer - Will be much more bulked up and whilst still full of errors around the ground will be very good at ruck work. Watts - His experience last year and a decent preseason should give him so much momentum for next season. Bail - Played some serious footy last year and should be ready to consistently perform from the start. I'm hoping on Strauss, Blease, Maric and Jetta but not confident on any. The fact is that if all those guys have strong years it probably means others like Wona, Bennell, Tapscott and Gysberts don't. Morton I think should have a good year and get back some momentum in his career that was stopped by his injury this year.

The romantic in me wouldn't mind it, the realist thinks its stupid. I wouldn't storm down the club if they did do it.

I think I'd love the club I was at. But if I didn't I'd have Melbourne high on my list, especially right now.

Newton does look a bit like that from the photos, but he also looks like he's bulked up with some muscle as well. So if he's going to be fit by the end of preseason its probably better he came back strong with some padding than thin. The team certainly looks a bit of a weird bunch, we certainly can't be accused of being crowbots.

Bruce I'm not worried about. We have options for the half back flank and we'll just play the next best footballer we have in his role. One thing I'll say is thought I don't ever want to move Grimes from half back. Junior though we will miss for his shut down roles. Who's going to tag for us now, especially in the tagging roles where you still get your own ball which was Junior's specialty. I'm not sure we need a designated tagger but we need at least 1 midfielder capable of shutting down elite players. Moloney and McKenzie - lack the physical attributes to tag anyone but fellow hard men Sylvia and Davey - Are too dangerous with the ball Trengove - Probably better physically than Moloney and McKenzie, could be an option for some players Scully - the best option for tagging speedy players, did the job on Hill whilst still getting ball Jones - didn't get the job done at all when given jobs this year. Dunn - has 'done' the job well in the past, probably my first choice with Petterd returning to the forward line Gysberts - Not super quick and not a great tackler on exposed AFL form, probably better continuing to develop him as a clearance player backing up Moloney, McKenzie and Jones. Bail - physically a good runner and good tackler, might be worth a go Strauss - probably not suited Blease - probably not fit enough Bennell - rather his speed with the ball Jetta - I like him in the midfield but does he have the endurance and speed

Isn't that ruthless.Whether it was wise or stupid will be shown in the long term. But we were all critical of Daniher not making the tough decisions. The tough decisions have been made and consequences follow them. That is ruthless. There has to be something said for making these calls.

The master, beating the herald sun by nearly 2 hours

Just sending a shout out to the big 37, Max Cause I can't say anything for sure, big bruce might be going the way of the 37.

The guy is a [censored] and isn't really a key position player. Jurrah, Petterd and Green will do just as good a job.

I feel like the fact that the only game Maric played in was our best win must provide some sort of case for him. Maybe it was having the three small forwards that day in Maric, Wona and Bennell all providing defensive pressure that made a big difference to our side. I think Maric stuck to his task defensive as well if not better than the other two, but it's been a while so I'm not sure if my memory is correct.

How many Brownlows has Goodes won again. It's not all in the umpires minds, the guy is pretty good. Goodes was playing well for 3/4's but Morton hurt him the other way including a goal. As a lock down job it was nothing to write home about but really there wasn't much in the battle at 3/4 at that to me means Morton has done a good job. Then Goodes went to full forward and had the whole 50m arc to him self, not surprisingly with the game opening up he got decent delivery and kicked 2 or 3 quick ones on Morton. Morton has rarely played CHB/HBF but has practically never played FB so the result was inevitable.Also Goodes wasn't BOG, he was just about 10 classes above the rest of his team that day, so stood out like dogs balls. Luckily the Dees were about 10 classes above the swans so it didn't matter.

Gee I hope not, he's a good VFL footballer but literally can not kick. He'd be a massive liability at AFL level.

Bate Not sure of the Hawthorn model of having left footers all over the park but I feel we could do with a left footer off half back. Grimes likes to kick on his left and is decent at it, but one more could do. Blease I pretty sure is a right footer but was drafted as a player who can also use his left well.

He played about half a season of competent footy at CHB in 08, was even keeping Frawley out of the team.But: Can't play fullback - doesn't read the game well enough Can't play full forward - can't kick straight As a CHB type he is decent back up. His best shot at making it is as a back up ruck, so thats where I think we play him. He obviously had most of this season ruined by injury, but his start of season form was rubbish and soft. My mail from the club is - "he takes a lot of work" - direct quote from towards the top. He is competing with Spencer, Newton, Fitzpatrick for a game each week, based on that alone he must be some chance.

Can see it going to our first draft pick, and if thats a ruckmen or Tom Lynch it would make sense. If it's not then I say leave it on ice and see who out of Spencer, Gawn or Fitzpatrick can make a play for it.

Can we put Nathan O'Keefe in this thread as well. Another from the 2008 draft. 193cm currently lightly built tall forward, played 2 games this year for North. Some guy on North Bigfooty board says he has a rubbish attitude, but most North supporters are pretty keen on his ability. Not a big guy key forward but with out lack of depth in this position he may be worth a look for a rookie spot.

That's such crap. Ablett goes just as hard as Sylvia and works much harder round the ground. He might not tackle with the ferocity but he still lays his tackles.

Grandpa/Son rule - Travis Johnstone Ben Sinclair - pick 62 in the 2009 draft, drafted by the pies. His old man played for the dees I believe. Will be an addition to the list if he can crack a game for the pies (or if we can draft him over at the end of next year and give him a game). Didn't Tom Scully's bioligical father play for Richmond. (bigfooty rumour that doesn't need to be brought up again).