Good Times Grimes

Taylor did state that he's been on the radar for a while, but also mentioned that he wasn't in our top 30 prospects coming into this season. Anyway, clearly he's shown enough to warrant his selection, and I look forward to seeing him attack the preseason looking to earn a spot in round one.

He's got Parish covered in terms of the haircut if you ask me, DC.

This is what many thought about Wines as well. I'm not concerned. Particularly impressive given the excess weight he's been carrying as well. His speed should only improve.

To be fair to ProDee, there are many on here that are successful alumni from the Hogans_Heroes School of Gymnastics.

Last year we had picks #2 & #3 that seemingly couldn't have gone any other way, given that St. Kilda selected McCartin. Brawyshaw and Petracca were no brainers. This year at #3 & #7 there were always going to be different opinions as to who we should select, and a fair bit of strategy involved as to who would go to Essendon and Gold Coast before #7. I think that Oliver really adds to the uncompromising midfield core that we're building and will fit in at the MFC nicely. Weideman obviously has some injury concerns, but he has been rated very highly by those in the know. Taylor has given us no reason to not have 100% faith in him, so if I were you I wouldn't be too hung up on missing out on Parish/Curnow/McKay/Whoever else you wanted until we've actually seen what all of these players can do.

The articulatest?

I reckon that we'll go for skillful midfielder, perhaps one that has been overlooked due to injury or size queries, however I'm no expert on those available. Better asking the likes of ChaserJ and Whispering Jack who both seem to have a reasonable amount of knowledge about this sort of thing.

After adding Oliver, Weideman, King and Hulett, here's how our list looks with two rookie draft selections to come. Key Position Forwards: Hogan, Dawes, Weideman, Hulett, Max King, Smith Small/Medium Forwards: Kennedy-Harris, Garlett Key Position Defenders: Dunn, T. McDonald, O. McDonald Small/Medium Defenders: Lumumba, Garland, Grimes, Jetta, White, Terlich Utilities: Watts, Frost, Pedersen Midfielders: N. Jones, Viney, Trengove, Brayshaw, Tyson, Stretch, Newton, Vince, vandenBerg, M. Jones, Oliver Forward-Mids: Kent, Petracca, Hunt, Neal-Bullen, Harmes, Kennedy Defender-Mids: Salem, Bugg, Melksham Rucks: Gawn, Spencer, Mitchell King I'm pretty happy with how our KPP stocks now look, with quite a few decent looking prospects mixed with some established talent. I think we have enough options in our backline to be confident heading into next season, with McDonald, Dunn, Garland and Jetta being four very solid options that are rarely beaten. Salem is another player that could be played off half back, and I also have complete faith in him to beat whoever he's matched up on. Melksham is another who I think may surprise a few on here with his competitiveness, and I think will be a solid addition for us. Our future forward line now looks a lot stronger with the additions of Weideman and Hulett. I expect Dawes/Pedersen/Frost to play the majority of games in 2016 as Weideman develops at Casey, but it's great having a highly rated prospect who can hopefully form an intimidating partnership with Hogan in the not-too-distant future. Our small-medium options through our forward line are in good shape, with Petracca and Kent being very exciting prospects, Garlett an established scoring threat, and various other players that have proven that they can rotate through there and play important roles. I'm also glad that we've picked up another young ruckman, because as much as I love Spencer's endeavour, I don't think he has what it takes to become an established ruckman. Gawn has the potential to be one of the premier ruckmen in the competition, but we needed to add depth in case of injury. I think our midfield group looks very promising, with Viney, Tyson, Brayshaw, vandenBerg and Trengove all having shown us what they are capable of in the past. Add in the likes of a healthy N. Jones and Vince and I have confidence that we will be more competitive in the middle in 2016. Obviously Salem, Kent, Oliver and Neal-Bullen are all strong prospects, while Stretch looked like a legitimate outside threat at various points in 2015. As I see it, there are no longer any glaring weaknesses on our list that we haven't addressed. I think we'll go for another midfielder as well as Michie in the rookie draft to complete our list. I really see no way but up from here, and am very optimistic about our future given how we've built our list over the past few years. We've got some of the most highly rated young midfielders in the competition, combined with some very impressive young KPPs. I cannot wait for Round 1 to roll around, as I think we're in for a very exciting ride.

I'm really happy with these selections, and both players seem thrilled to have been picked up by us. Particularly excited by Weideman as his addition gives us the potential to have the best forward line in the competition. If he can reach his potential, defenders will have nightmares about playing the Dees.

Agree...last year's was much too short

I'm with you there, H_T. We'd be crazy to pass him up.

He's definitely got a face for radio.

I almost want us to not select Oliver just to see Olisik's reaction.

Sounds to me like he'd be a rookie list prospect, if anything.

You never know...Francis could be a chance at #3. Seems to be the one player that has escaped a lot of discussion on this forum, for one reason or another.

Thanks for the report, BR. How did the new guys look?

Fixed.

Yep, he had his left knee reconstructed in 2014 and has now done the right one. Even though he's a Magpie, it's terrible news. Never good to see any young player go down with an injury like that, let alone a guy who's already been through it before.

Jones wouldn't have been able to play anyway, so it's a bit of a moot point. I think it's pretty impressive that the Irish were able to get the win, given that Gaelic football isn't even a professional sport, and they were coming up against the best (arguably) AFL players in Australia. Well done to them.

I reckon Other could be a real force for us in a few years. Probably the most versatile of the lot.

Not if Essendon takes him first.

Is it?

Why don't you think it's possible that Oliver was the player that we had earmarked for selection #3 when we made the trade? He could've been the plan all along, and it's only now that the media are catching on to it.