Inner Demon

I'll try and dig up the email with the samples tomorrow. She's right, to my memory the stars aren't white. But there are stars!!

I don't think the club rep would necessarily be 'playing semantics' by saying there are no white stars on the collar if this is indeed the case. Wouldn't it actually be even better if the stars were blue??

I think the point about the three on GF Day being rated as the best all year has a lot to do with it.

All those little yellow/green/white/etc buggars look the same to me, it's difficult to remember exactly who is crucifying us each week. It's possible that it was never any of the three that justified their selection by doing a tremendous job last Saturday, and hopefully again this Saturday.

I wouldn't picture the stars being too ostentatious. I hope not anyway...

All this discussion of who to delist should be moderated by a discussion of when to trade and when to draft.

Trade is you can get something you need that won't be available in the draft. Or to improve your draft picks. Or if Carlton want to give us pick 11 again. Draft for young blood to develop into future players. Rookie opportunistically, or even speculatively.

We need something to protect us from Jamar going lame. Gawn, Spencer and Fitzpatrick may be ready for this role by 2013 (just maybe 2012 in the case of Spencer) but they are not ready yet. We can either keep PJ in this role, or get a mature bodied ruckman to replace him. This person can be one of the several 3rd/4th in line ruckmen rumoured to be on offer, but must have real AFL experience. But if we trade, don't use our first draft pick and be very reluctant to use our second. Good players are available in even a rorted draft at 12 and 30. We might even find a suitable candidate in the rookie draft. I'm thinking Orren Stephenson, but there may be others. Wouldn't matter that he would be on the rookie list as he is only really required if Jamar goes down. Only trouble with waiting for the rookie draft is that we have to make the call on PJ before we know what we can get.

My strategy is to Delist PJ upfront, look to trade, if no trade look to Rookie, if no rookie take a very deep breath and rely on Spencer/Gawn/Fitzpatrick/Martin (nervous breakdowns all round).

Delisting PJ makes the space we require for the back up ruck, and maybe another if we trade.

We should use two draft picks minimum, but only on player types we don't have already. We have lots of mids, lots of small/meduium forwards, and lots of defenders, albeit with some questions about delivery by foot. So tall forwards and defenders with extra special delivery skills look like the draft targets.

Our forward structure is at the monent dependant on Watts and Fitzpatrick maturing into class tall forwards. No one else seems in the running. Jurrah is a great 3rd forward, Dunn is more middle sized HFF with great defensive skills. Bate, Martin, miller and Newton have falled by the wayside for this role. I don't think we can trade successfully for this type of player without offering pick 12, so it will have to be draft and hope, osing pick 30, and maybe rookie another prospect.

But if we can get a backup ruckman by whatever means, a high skills defender with pick 12 and a tall forward prospect with pick 30, plus promoting Spencer and McKenzie, we will have moved our list forward. This will have cost us Junior, Miller, Bell, PJ and one other (maybe Warnock) as a trade for a ruck backup. Maybe not even Warnock if we get the backup in the rookie draft.

How are we going to get a 'mature-bodied ruckman' in the draft or rookie draft??? Surely the definition of this kind of player is someone who's been in the AFL system for a number of years. Precisely the deficiency our current back-ups are faced with.

2nd year running we've had a report like this from our "Mad Monday". Last year the boys all rolled in to the Flying Duck in Prahran and the manager apparently sh!t himself, but wound up being blown away by what a good group of blokes they were. They had a good time like anybody else, but caused no trouble and did nothing to make the place unenjoyable for the other patrons.

Our FD's "No D!ckhead" Drafting Policy is a big part of this culture.

i think we should organize a christmas party...it's been a tough few years, and it would be nice to show jimmy some appreciation and support over summer.

I think Jimmy would probably find it nicer to just relax at home with his family and enjoy the holidays without having to go to yet another function full of strangers fawning over him.

The whole club has a trip to China coming up in October so there will obviously be nothing happening in Australia during that time.

Last year the club ran a function during the National Draft which may be repeated this year since it was quite successful. Obviously this wouldn't be happening until November though, so it will be some time until there is another club function.

Am I imagining that precedent has dictated that a coin flip determines the 'home' side in past years as to who gets to wear the dark shorts v white shorts???

I am not a fan of this topic at all, but something quite distressing has emerged today that I had long held to not be the case and had considerably eased my concerns regarding the clash jumper furore.

St Kilda is being forced to wear their all white clash guernsey in the Grand Final. The reason given is that Collingwood finished higher on the ladder and earns the 'home game' rights, but obviously if the opposite were true we know Collingwood has no real clash guernsey so St Kilda would've been bullied into it anyway.

The 'compromise' is that if St Kilda wins they will all be able to change into their traditional guernsey for the post match celebrations and presentations.

This is not good. As much as I can put up with the Dees playing in a clash guernsey in a H&A clash, I would be furious having to watch them in one on GF Day.

Maybe that would be Mundy?

And yes this all flies in the face of my "best available" mantra.

Well quite so.

Mundy's as tall as Morton, Bate & Dunn after all.

ID, I can't remember but I think Mundy is 25?

Assuming that's right, his career is beyond the halfway point. Young enough, but I would call him young.

Firmly in his prime.

I think, considering the strength of this draft and the prospects available to us, it'd be irresponsible to trade away our first round pick.

Jack Watts may have been drafted as a key forward, but I don't think there's a rule saying you can only have one.

I think we need more. Whether it's with pick 12 or not.

(I do have my heart set on Lynch).

A lot of great premiership teams of recent times have multiple key forwards.

Franklin, Roughead.

Lynch, Bradshaw, Brown.

Hird, Lloyd, Lucas.

Last year the saints almost took it with Kosi & Riewoldt.

Personally I discount WC and Sydney because I believe they won in times when there weren't any great strong teams.

Geelong is a notable exception, and maybe that is the way the game is going.

(more about ball movement and mobile types - Johnson, Mooney, Varcoe, Stokes...)

For us, I see Watts, Morton and one more, being the key to our forward line.

Perhaps Liam Jurrah might be the one more??? The bloke kicks two goals a game, is 6' 1 1/2" and just took Mark of the Year. I reckon he stacks up pretty well as a key forward.

Not forgetting that we have Dunn & Bate at 6'3". Both of whom are first round picks let's not forget.

If Alwyn's surname wasn't Davey I doubt this thread would've got past the first page.

we need to keep pick 12. The more young talent we get the better. Player and higher pick would be the go for Mundy.

Why do you view it as more important to pick up young(er) (potential) talent over young (proven) talent???

Every year the 1st round spits out some absolute donkeys (especially talls) whereas with Mundy we know that we're getting exactly the quality of player we would hope a 1st round pick develops into. No risk, all reward.

I guess I just have high hopes we'll get a quality KPF with pick 12, which I see as necessary.

Mundy, whilst a gun, is not necessary as we already have the makings of a decent midfield.

If we do get him, I will be over the moon.

But i think our priorities lie elsewhere.

Didn't we just pick a quality KPF with Pick 1 a couple of years ago??

Success in football isn't determined by who has the most tall players in the forward line. Plenty of teams below even us on the ladder have a clutch of 'quality KPFs'. Year in, year out, the Premiership is won by the best midfield with a strong defence. A great, big, tall forward line is worth nothing without a top level midfield delivering the ball to it. Our midfield is currently full of potential, but history shows that not all of that potential is going to be realised.

Mundy has realised his potential and is now ready to click into the prime of his career. It would be sensational to have such a quality player added to our young group right now.

wish they would leave the game alone

So you want to go back to 1 interchange player???

Yeah, I know, bird in the hand.

I'd be hoping to get a 10 year player with a 1st round pick.

And this draft is incredibly strong and deep. It'd be like trading out of the 2001 draft (or selecting Molan).

25 is a good enough age, but I think he will really cost us a lot to get him.

And there is talk he was on $550K at Freo the last 2 seasons, so presumably he'd want more or at least the same.

Understand the point about wanting a 10 year player with a 1st rounder, but in real terms, how many of those years are usually lost to developing the player into a consistent, top flight contributor?? Say 3?? Leaving 7 years of top level play.

Well Mundy would have 5 seasons of quality football in him. So we're effectively doing away with the risk of whether a drafted player will "make it" in exchange for 2-3 years of output. Seems like a sound deal to me.

Obviously this isn't an exact mathematical equation, and naturally it differs from player to player, so try not to nitpick the semantics.

I don't want to give up our first round pick. How old is he again..?

I'd give up, say, pick 32 and Jones.

Or pick 32 and Warnock (they need a replacement for Tarrant).

I expect they'd ask for pick 12 and Trengove.

Mundy just turned 25.

Why not give up a first round pick for a player who is a top quality midfielder?? Would you not be hoping to secure exactly that with a first round pick?? Has no significant injury history I'm aware of. Bird in the hand...

This bloke's a gun.

I say we go after him all guns blazing. Would be a sensational addition.

Freo are going to want a player and probably a draft pick for him. I've got no problem with that.

Money isn't an issue for us right now.

This leaves us with 7 unsigned.....

Warnock, Bruce, Jones, Johnson, Moloney, Blease, McNamara.

and go....

My list has Warnock signed through next year. Having said that, my list also had Dunn signed through next year which was evidently incorrect, so I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

From the list given there, you may find:

Bail contracted to 2011

Bate re-signed to 2012

Watts deep in discussions about an extension (2013?)

Until they're announced, they don't go on the list.

Twenty-one year old 201 cm, 96 kg forward.

Played VFL for Port Melbourne this year, apparently very quick on the lead and a nice kick. Essentially a Tippett/Kosi type.

Rather than reach for a tall player in the first round I'd prefer to see us take another quality mid and pick up this guy later in the draft.

Can we please not draft anybody purely because they have grown to a certain size?? Bad footballers are bad footballers regardless of size.

Would not surprise me if we offered Gold Coast a couple of mature body players or a player and lower pick for one of their first round draft picks....i.e Bate, Warnock, Cheney, Johnson,

Perhaps. But it would surprise the hell out of everyone with even a passing interest in football if they actually agreed to such a ludicrous deal.

Do people believe our depth players are actually considered stars by other Clubs or do they think the other Clubs are managed by drunks who will slip up and just give away a high draft pick??

A far better attitude than last year though Juice still played for Casey.We definately have a chance this year.

An argument could be made that Newton not being played at Casey does more for the alliance.

Sorry to hear about your dog. Very sad.

Give the Events girls at the Club a call. I understand the B & F is a sell out and I am confident there'll be a waiting list for tickets.