Cheesy D. Pun

A relatively injury-free run, so that we can make an accurate assessment of the list and coaches.

It's slang for [censored].

Every player should have a short back and sides and should get a real job while they're at it. Next, they'll be off listening to that Rock and roll music. If you'd had hair like that in my day, by george, there'd be strife.

I would love to see Pickett in there but voted Bedford as I suspect he might be a bit fitter. Hannan is a quick thinker and is super talented but seems to find himself out of the play too often. Needs to bring more tackle pressure if that's going to be the case. Alternatively, Wagner brings solid tackle pressure but he's not the creative goal kicker we're looking for.

Isn't that a little arrogant though? There's 18 elite level organisations vying to be the best and making the finals is pathetic? I understand it's not the ultimate success but I certainly won't be microwaving my membership if we play hard and make the 8. I think the answer to this question is a little more nuanced than a ladder position. I'd like to see consistency - competitive against the best, clean up the bottom couple of teams and see real growth from some of our players and in our game style. I'm comfortable with our boys losing games if we're playing well. That said, if we keep a fit list for the duration of the season, finals should be an expectation.

The Geelong Elimination final was clearly our best performance of the decade. We were ok but a tad lucky the week after.

Conceptually ludicrous to lump the team's performance on the shoulders of the captain/s without any evidence to support. Poor Neita would have been dumped every second year!

How good is Glenn Richards!

We'll win the premiership and Steven May will make AA alongside Max, Clarry, Tommy and Trac. Harmesy makes squad but just misses.

I have no intel, but my gut feel is that clubs are likely to avoid this guy while he continues to claim no wrong-doing.

I like it - Flash's number.

I don't mind this selection. I think of him as a Cam Pederson type - just a footballer. No hyped athleticism or size but can kick, mark and tackle. A handy player to have on the list.

It means nothing and won't be the difference between winning and losing. That said, if I was guessing, I'd say there is very little chance of Viney being pushed out. He'd have to step down of his own volition.

A couple of days ago, my 10-year old asks me out of nowhere - was Jeff Farmer a good footy player? Some 90 minutes later, the young fella learned a lesson that will carry him through the rest of his life - never ask Dad open-ended questions about former Melbourne football players.

I don't think there's ever been a player like Jackson. 199cm with the ground ball skill and agility of a midfielder. Some might say Brodie Grundy but I challenge those people to compare footage of Grundy and Jackson at the same age - Jackson is closer to Pendlebury around the stoppage than Grundy. That's not to say he'll be as good or better than either of those players but it simply highlights what a unique player he is. It would have been very hard to say no to that for another half-back, as good as Young's foot skills are.

Gibbo is the young fella who does the interviews on the club website. He's usually pretty solid but unfortunately, he's had a clanger there. Gone are the days of editors and sub-editors - he would have had 15-30 minutes to get that up on the site, so I'll cut him some slack.

I forgot about Gould. You could be onto something, however, I do still think they trade 10 for 14 and 17.

Yeah, we get that. The object of this game though, is to pick who you'll think they'll take. Plenty of other threads for you expel your philosophy to the masses.

3 Jackson 14 Kemp 17 Pickett

8. Surprised actually. Wasn't confident.

They're numbers. If you replace the numbers with player names and think about possible targets, the trades make more sense. I'm really happy with this trade because it means we're clearly after a small forward and I see that as our greatest deficiency.

If I'm picking based on highlights, I'm taking Young but people bagging Taylor as 'stupid' or Jackson as 'worse than Lucas Cook' based on half the information the recruiters have at their disposal reeks of arrogance.

True. It's when those opinions are put forward as categorical facts that it becomes tedious. We're all having a crack at picking the players we'd like to see and that's great but the reality is, none of us know whether Jackson will be boom or bust, or whether Young's foot skills will translate at AFL level. A little humility goes a long way.

Having just read the article regarding Murray on AFL.com.au, I feel clubs may not be enamoured with him maintaining his innocence over his suspected drug use. If he has willingly used cocaine and is not willing to admit it after testing positive, that's probably a fairly decent indicator that you've got someone that's going to be difficult to work with. Having said that, maybe he really did just 'inadvertently' come into contact with cocaine but I think this would be playing a bigger part in his struggle to find a club than his actual football ability.

Seems the perfect depth player for his position. Not going to get excited over it but it makes sense.