Frank Grimes

Interesting stuff. Makes you realise the drafts not as locked in as we all seem to think at this stage. I can see the appeal of Collins, we played Frost forward quite a bit at the start of the year and I see him becoming a tall utility more than a key defender. As for Oscar McDonald, we are absolutely no guarantee he will make it which leaves us with only Tom as our only established key back when Dunn retires.

I agree, but it's possible they go for a big guy to replace charlie dixon

He certainly fits our philosophy of creating a team of highly competitive players. If it wasn't for all the rumors surrounding us and Parish, I would very much believe that we would be taking Francis based on our passed drafting and recruitment. Especially when you combine this with Roos love of big-bodied mids, which I think Francis could easily turn into.

Essendon have 2 picks and the current speculation is they will take whoever is left out of Parish and Francis, along with Weideman and Curnow, so I think it's pretty unlikely we will get to "choose" between Francis and Weideman, rather we will have the decision made for us if they are in fact the players we rate next. Also remember we didn't know that we would have pick 7 when we made the trade with Gold Coast. So while it's possible we know who they are planning on taking with pick 6, I doubt there was an arrangement about who they would take as there would be at least picks 8 and 9 before our pick 10... not to mention, why would they do that for us when we clearly wanted pick 3 badly enough to make that trade without andy predications on who they used pick 6 on? Despite this, the fact that they were willing to trade down 3 places does make it seem as though they are interested in a bolter, like Milera. Bottom line, I think Francis, Parish and one of Weideman/Curnow will be gone by our pick 7, with the possibility that all are gone. I personally hope that Essendon opt for Weideman and Gold Coast do something different and target a guy like Milera, leaving Curnow to fall to us.

I'm hoping we take francis

Maybe this means that if we got pick 24 from collingwood for howe, we could on-trade that to gold coast with our pick , to get back pick 3 and 35. Then gold coast could trade 16 and 24 to gws for pick 8?

i absolutely love it

Neville was unfit compared to other players because he has had a horrible run with injuries his whole career and hasn't had a chance to build a base fitness level yet. I hope he makes, always has a crack, which is more than you can sy for a lot of the bokes who played for us this year.

This is one of the most absurd threads I have ever seen on demonland, because someone here heard from a friend that Hannebery is upset about taking a paycut then the strongest (or certainly one of) cultures in the competition is failing? And also John Longmire is a rubbish coach, despite the fact that he managed to win a premiership in 2012 when all experts at the start of the year thought that they didn't have a good enough list. Yet some supporters here- who have just endured a season of 100 point loses week after week- would be worried if they were a swans supporter? Shane Mumford did not walk out on the club, he was pretty much pushed out. Pyke overtook him this year as a ruckman this year, so they no longer needed Mumford as much as they did when they lured him away from Geelong on a very lucrative pay packet. Mumford coming out of contract would have gone a long way towards the swans being able to throw so much at buddy. Jesse White walked out on the club? They tried to move him on last year for Kurt Tippet even though they were able to get Tippet for free (as they eventually did). Jesse realised there was no room for him in a side boasting Tippet and Franklin and realised after being worst afield in the swans finals loss to Hawthorn it was probably time he left for a side that might require his services. Jed Lamb leaving is a case of a player not good enough to get regular games in a top side and offered a contract by GWS worth far more than any other club could afford to offer such a young player, let alone Sydney who has a host of other stars who they have to keep. Andrejs Everitt is case of a fringe player in a top side who left because weaker sides were willing to offer him more than his current team. A burden of being a top side and something that happens to all elite sides. On the Buddy Franklin deal, they offered one of the best payer's in the comp a massive contract, how else are you supposed to attract someone of his quality? Yes the reported deal does seem over-the-top, but I imagine the deal is rear-loaded and Sydney is counting on the salary cap to increase over the next few years, not to mention he will be on the veterans list for the second half of the contract. Not only does getting Buddy give them probably the best forwardline in the comp, but the money you get from marketing Buddy would be absolutely huge. Sydney don't have the luxury of being a Victorian team so they have to come up with more creative moves like this in order to stay ahead (both on and off the field), they've been pulling "crazy" stunts like this for years and as a result, they have remained ahead of most of the competition, despite the obvious disadvantage of being located in NSW. So Sydney manage to attract one of the best players in the comp, keep all their other stars, yet because they lose a few players they don't need and someone on demonland heard from a friend that Hannebery was upset, their culture is cracking? The reason I'm so happy, and the reason everyone else is so happy about getting Paul Roos is because hopefully it means we become more like Sydney.

I hope we don't take Salem, thought he looked very average in the u18's and I reckon he will be a flop for whoever gets him

Waiting on medical test, but essentially done

Yeah I kinda thought that as well. I was originally thinking we swap our second round pick with theirs and send their second round pick to adelaide as well.

I wasn't sure what we would give up to adelaide to get Lyons and Vince so I came up with the following trade idea; We trade pick 2 and our third rounder to brisbane for pick 8, polec and their second round pick, then we on trade polec and brisbane's secound round pick to adelaide for Lyons and Vince. Result: Melbourne Gain- Vince, Lyons, Pick 8 Lose- picks 2, our third round selection Adelaide Gain- Polec, Brisbane's 2nd round pick Lose- Vince, Lyons Brisbane Gain- Pick 2, our third round pick Lose- Polec, first and second round selections To me the first scenario seems fair to all parties but it's difficult when I haven't seen as much of Lyons and Polec as I would have liked, if not then some other combination of 2nd/3rd round pick swaps. I think pick 8 would greatly appeal to us, because it seems likely that we'd be able to get Freeman with that pick and by all reports we are very keen on him. Be interested to hear what everyone thinks.

I really hope we don't trade tapscott. I think/hope he will flourish under Roos

That's who my favourite choice would be. Heard great things about him when he was carlton and was Hinkley's right hand man this year

Roos loves getting taalented players who aren't getting much game time at good sides. I imagine we'll target midfielders from sides like geelong and hawthorn. One I would love to get is george horln-smith, reckon he can really play and we would be ble to offer him way more money and opportunities than geelong.

I think he could potentially make a gun midfielder one day. Has all the attributes to succed there, great below his knees, smooth in traffic and a good tackler

I think he has the choice of opting for the scholarship if he wants, otherwise he can just go into the draft in the regular way

Was often said he was the hardest trainer in the AFL a few years ago. Would be great for the culture of our club

I doubt that's all he's heading over there for. Would be amazed if he didn't have a chat with scott burns and might have a chat with scott selwood as well. I think he means jack martin not dustin martin

Us naming our future senior coach is no different to any other AFL team naming an untried coach, the only difference is that he will have a few years to learn of the best. Such as port with hinkley, saints with ross lyon, tigers with hardwick and us with neeld. Good thing is though, instead of having garry lyon choosing our next coach, it will be paul roos.

Haha that is a very fair point, but watching the game against us you could just tell he could play. For the rest of the year he was in and out of games, but everything he does is class. I think playing as a midfielder he could really go up a level or two next year and start to influence games consistently.

He was best on against us when we played them up there, he's ball use off halfback cut us up. I would think definetely not. He's been a midfielder his whole life, until recently at GC and I think that's only because of their midfield depth. We don't have the same luxury so I'd imagine he would slot straight into our midfield

I would be over the moon with Swallow, I think he will be an absolute gun. He is the complete package; big, quick, hard and uses the ball well. Coming into his peak soon, he'd be the perfect player for us to get and would definetely help us start climbing up the ladder over the next few years.

Probably gonna get shot down for this, but I thought he was pretty average all year. Most weeks a struggled to get a touch and then when he does he butchers it. He's quick and hard, but atm that's about it. I think he has the tools to potentially become a good player, but for that to happen really needs to work on his decision making, composure and awareness. Edit: spelling