FarNorthernD

Yep having Kelly would pretty much complete the midfield rebuild.

It is very early days and Paddy has had his fair share of injuries that have no doubt held him back but I think of him as a poor mans Jesse Hogan. McCartin is a good mark but not as good as Hogan, Hogan has better hands, a bigger engine that allows him to play up the ground (and in the centre now) and Jesse's reading of the play/footy IQ is off the charts. They have a similar strike rate when kicking for goal. Overall you can imagine MCartin will be a good footballer so this pick isn't in the Toumpas/Wines league but would they have been better choosing Petracca? Absolutely

I thought that was a massive call but you are right. Sadly when you work through it being the best midfielder for the MFC over the past few decades isn't a high bar to get over. If he gets over N. Jones then he probably has Viney X 2, Junior, Bruce, Johnstone, Moloney, McLean, Tingay, Woewodin, Wells and Lovett well covered too (I've no doubt missed a few) We just haven't had a midfielder of the quality of a Voss, Buckley, Judd, Hird, Matthews, Dangerfield or Fyfe. It is only Clayton's 15th game this Sunday but if anyone is going to challenge for the best Melbourne mid in memory it most likely will be him

The Anzac Eve game V the Tigers is turning into a good rivalry. Think it can only get bigger over time.

Off topic I know but now that Essendon have axed general admission tickets to their Anzac day match and increased reserved seating prices by 50% I am so hoping that our Anzac eve match draws a bigger crowd.

I haven't ventured onto this thread in a number of years, perhaps five hundred hundred pages ago, but I'm pretty sure the same conversation about bananas and smoothies was going on then too and between the same posters. With all that has happened in the world in that time it is almost reassuring to see some things don't change. Will check back after Flag 14.

You are right, it was a good deal for both clubs We got Tyson Salem Hunt They got Kelly Lobb

I'm confused about this pick. Can someone explain to me if we will have to give up pick 18 to Freo when Fyfe nominates us or do we get him for free and then just draft the best tall?

I think there were some years in the Tour de France you would need to scroll down to the 79th placed rider to find a clean athlete. In AFL terms you would end up having Simon Godfrey wearing the yellow jersey

It may actually be the harshest thing Saty has ever said about a Melbourne listed player

Lewis said Hogan signing played a part in him coming to the Dees. Saty has made a joke

You would think so wouldn't you but then again we took Melksham and there is no way we would have done that if we thought he was going to sit out the year

Considering Jason Taylor's record since landing with us, I think seeing who he would have chosen would just make us all sad

That is a very good idea and may actually work

It doesn't make a great deal of difference overall but it is probably safe to assume that Clayton is closer to 189cm than the 187 he is listed at.

The only reason I thought Clayton may struggle to get a gig in Round 1 was if the coaches considered he may need to build more fitness. So I looked up his figures from today. Time on ground = 68%. There were 19 Melbourne players who were given more playing time today Disposals 18, Marks 4, Tackles 6, Goals 2. Handy contribution for a bloke who was sitting on the pine for almost a third of the match. So the conundrum is that he probably isn't fit enough to play the whole game but is too good to leave out.

yes there was the Trengove sling tackle case and the Viney Adelaide sandwich case and the Sylvia got a broken jaw but it wasn't the tacklers fault no case and was it Sylvia (?) again who got rubbed out for two weeks for running threateningly past some bloke but having no actual contact. That one was the most disgraceful of all.

Quadruple like. It is so, so pointless arguing about what could have been

Didn't we have the quintessential young, high draft pick who tore the opposition (multiple) new one(s) last year?

Yes, much better to undersell and over perform Who was the coach a few years ago who came out before the season and said they they would play finals and got sacked half way through the season after barely a win? I like the speak softly but carry a big stick approach

Nice article. Like the Clarry nickname and looking at the vision he is quite a solid lad. Best part though, as others have mentioned, is there isn't the expectation from Club or supporters that he and the Weed are going to drag us up the ladder over the next couple of years. They will be left to develop whilst the pressure to improve the team will rightly fall on our older young guns like T Mc, Tyson, Hogan, Viney, vnB, Kent etc. Almost like a proper football team

So given the MFC now want to add a top up player to the rookie list rather than the primary and they have also stated that getting late in the pre-season for a new player to learn the game plan. Putting 1 + 1 together gets you Daniel Cross. He knows the game plan, is still super fit, training with the team and could be brought in if injuries are worse than hoped for. Also I like the completing the circle aspect with Daniel handing over the number 18 to Jake who then hands it back to Daniel who then gives it back at the end of the year..

Excuse my ignorance but is Jake getting paid by us this year? I assume the Essendon 12 are as they are getting salary cap relief. Does not seem right

Fairly harsh comparison there Maximus. Hercules, Schwarzenegger and your brother, Brutus, could all feel in need of a few gym sessions standing next to Petracca. The kid has a freakish build doesn't he Hopefully it will be a lot of fun watching them both develop as explosive midfield/forwards over next decade

This is what Knightmare said of Oliver on his draft board on bigfooty a couple of weeks before the draft. Whatever you think of him it makes for good reading “Others noticed Oliver before I did, but I may have been one of the few to move him up high earlier and move him up as extremely high as I have. And next update I'll even have Oliver ahead of Schache and my second rated non-academy player after only Weitering. Just such an exceptional contested ball winner and stoppage player. Moves well. Ball use good by hand and foot. Can go forward and take a mark and offer scoreboard impact. He can be one of the very best in this draft. I'll be interested to see at the end of the day where AFL clubs rate Oliver and whether anyone rates him nearly as highly as I do”. And then the day before the draft he released a combined top 10 of the last two drafts. Given a number of players in this list have already played good AFL footy Knightmare has a fair opinion of our new mid. “Clayton Oliver (VIC – MID) Jacob Hopper (NSW - GWS ACADEMY - MID) Jacob Weitering (VIC – KPD) Christian Petracca (VIC – Mid/Fwd) Angus Brayshaw (VIC – Mid) Isaac Heeney (Syd – Academy - NSW – Mid) Callum Mills (NSW - SYDNEY ACADEMY – MID) Darcy Moore (Coll - F/S – VIC – KPF/KPD) Patrick McCartin (VIC - KPF) Joshua Schache (VIC – KPF)” Pro Dee passed on from his brother. You have to love this description from training on the 11th Dec “Oliver was pitted against ANB, and Jones and Petracca went head to head. Petracca and Jones pretty much squared the ledger. Oliver beat ANB at least 9 times out of 10. He was adamant it was that lopsided, such was Oliver's effectiveness.” Surely it has to be time that the footy gods smile on us. Our 2014 drafting is shaping to be possibly our best ever. If this years crop, particularly Clayton, can match it we will be well on the way to playing finals consistently in the near future.