bing181

Who says we have to go backwards to go forwards? And what issues are you referring to. Poor original post, unsupported by any facts.

I'd be happy wherever we take him, for some/all of the reasons given in this thread. Taking him at 3 isn't all doom and gloom, as it leaves us with a live pick 26, which is probably going to be much more useful in trades. We're not going to get much with our next available selection, pick 45, and I would have thought that even for a player like Pederson, North would be wanting more. Though perhaps we can pick up a nice second round pick as FA compo on Moloney and/or Rivers.

Oh come on, she also tweeted a while back that she didn't understand the fuss about us taking him at 3.

At the end of the day, that's all that matters.

No it doesn't. All clubs have different needs and perspectives, different game plans, are at different stages in their development etc. etc. One club's pick 3 could be another club's pick 10. Viney is definitely our pick 3.

The only mess we got ourselves into was the one that came about through only winning 4 games and finishing 3rd bottom. Had we finished 8th, everyone would have been over the moon at getting Viney at pick 14 or whatever.

Not by himself, any more than any single player would, but you build a house brick by brick, and he's a more than useful brick to have, both onfield and off. We've all been calling out for strong, experienced, older players at the club, and he seems to tick all those boxes. Neeld, Craig and co. know what they're doing.

Just to add to that, as an interesting aside for those interested, English English spelling is also the official spelling of English not just in Australia, NZ etc., but throughout Europe. As I'm sure Jared Rivers is aware ...

We're not Geelong.

You're being a bit selective there, only Franklin was pick 5, and in any case, all are about the best picks of their respective years. You could have easily picked out Cale Morton, Mitch Thorp or Richard Tambling, all of whom went around pick 5 as well.

Viney will be the best pick up Melb has made in the last 10 years .... you just watch. As Emma Quayle tweeted "future captain". So pick 3 - no sweat.

Don't know if you've been to Sydney recently, but there's a big bridge in the middle of the harbor. It's for sale.

Butcher is completely untried on the big stage, comes from a club which is travelling as badly as we are (worse?), and is injury prone. Not saying he's not worth looking at, but you wouldn't have thought he'd be the first considered if we're trying to turn the ship around.

Neeld and Brown would have detailed knowledge of Dawes's strengths and weaknesses, and what he can bring to the club. If they sign off on it, good enough for me.

... and from a far more successful club.

Speak for yourself.

Not just "almost".

No need to justify yourself WJ, you know what it's like around here. Thanks again for the post and info.

It's all smoke and mirrors. Not only do we not (really) know what's going on, even after it's over we won't really know what went on. Or didn't. Or why. We did really well last year in the trade/draft period, and there's no reason to assume we won't get the best result we can this year as well. (And people who think you can only build a successful team by drafting stars, should spend an afternoon watching a rerun of the grand final.)

He also said (perhaps in another interview) that they couldn't afford to bottom out - literally - because their market wouldn't accept it. I feel also that being the only AFL team in a Rugby city, away from the glare of AFL football, has something to do with the culture that they've managed to create. Shift that whole club to Melbourne, and things would look more than a little different I suspect. Shows also the importance of senior players on players coming into a club - you only have to read some of the comments from Mitch Morton (or previously, Darren Jolly) to see that.

Yep, we can obviously save a fortune on having a recruiting department. Just ask mums to bring in their sons. FFS. For starters it wasn't Lewis's mum, it was Neville's mum. And given that Lewis had been completely ignored by everybody in the 2007 draft and had gone back to playing bush football at the time, easy to understand why not only Melbourne, but every club in the land was ignoring her opinion. It was only after he started to play for the WAFL in 2009, that he began to be noticed. Though it's all irrelevant, because if there's anything today's match shows, it's not who you draft, but what you do with them after you draft them. Or to put it another way, put all of Prendergast's and Cameron's draft choices in red and white, and you'd still have a Sydney team in the finals.

Add Mark Williams to the list ...

Quietly astounded that anyone here would expect the club to go putting up in-depth, warts-and-all assessments of the players on a public web site. Heck, I bet even the players don't get to see other player's assessments, yet alone the general public. That kind of info is between each player and Neeld, Craig and perhaps their line coaches, presumably given in a closed meeting.

Do I? Where did I say we should hold onto him?

You didn't say "after Jamar is gone". You said: "Martin will most likely be 2nd string ruckman until his almost 30" If he plays second string to Jamar, he would be 28 during Jamar's last season (assuming Jamar lasts 3 more years). It's like hitting yourself over the head with a 2 x 4.