Thehardtackler

I liked the look of Harmes in the VFL and think he will be upgraded soon. The only other players that need to come in are Viney and Jetta. Alex Neal-Bulleen does not look ready yet but will be a good player. We are really missing having a big body like Petracca in the midfield to help Jones at clearances. Viney and Trengove will be vital going forward. If we don't get Trengove back next year then we will have to replace with some experience.

Most teams are able two play two ruckman (or a good second ruck) - we don't really have that luxury so Jamar has probably had a high work load.

He also seemed to fade out last year so I don't think it would be a bad idea (against the Swans) - if he goes down with an injury we could be in some trouble.

He is listed at Casey though - maybe he will play 50% or as a resting forward.

Never really had much faith in Spencer (not sure about his tap work) - hope he takes his chance.

If Cross wants to play another 3 years then let him. We have been too keen to get rid of our senior players, instead of letting them help develop our youth.

I am not sure that players should be dropped! It is a long season and maybe we should rotate key players when they need a rest from niggles. That kind of policy will mean that players will still feel that they are being chosen to play on merit and for the good of the team.

Petracca's injury could be a blessing if he fully recovers. He will not have as much pressure on him when he plays in 2016. It may also give a chance for a player from the rookie list to shine and Brayshaw may get plenty of opportunities in the starting 22. It may also mean Billy Stretch gets a game this season. It's probably not going to affect how many games we win this season.

I think Petracca will get some considerable game time this year and prove to be one of the players who really supplies Hogan and Dawes with a lot of goal chances.

Matt Jones has only missed 2 possible games since he joined Melbourne, see the latest article on the website. He is obviously a coaches favourite and will play if fit.

If you look at teams like Hawthorn you will see that they rest players like Rioli before finals. Hopefully as we improve players like Viv Michie can come in and cover our best 22 and we can rotate players to rest our stars.

They may want to limit the number of players that they want to develop year by year. Next year we may take more players in the draft than during the trade period. It really depends on how the coaches view our list needs year by year.

I think that we will take McCartin if we sign Ben Newton. We need another Tall Forward to compliment Hogan and Dawes. We will fulfil our needs for a back with Frost, a small forward with Garlett, a Half Back winger with Lumumba and 3 mids in Newton, Stretch and Brayshaw. All together that looks like a complete draft period for pretty much every part of the 22, except of course for a Ruckman which I think will be a position that we look to fill next year.

Would not be surprised to see us take Clem Smith at 40, his defensive game would appeal to Paul Roos. His weaknesses could be ironed out by McCartney and co.

Spoke to Christian Salem pre-season last year and he was carrying a thigh injury (I think from memory). He thought that he would be fine to play uninhibited a few weeks into that season so I am sure he will be fit and firing for this season.

Vic Michie for me. I think that he could be a very solid midfielder in play and in stature.

McCartin's highlights video was very average. He looks a very ordinary players in his highlights package. Laverde on the other hand appears to be quite exciting. He looks like a cross between Lynden Dunn and Jeremy Howe. He takes the opponent on like Dunn used to when he was younger and played forward but has some ability to take a mark like Howe, although he does not seem to get up as high as Howe. I like the look of Laverde and Brayshaw as the best 2 players in the draft, along with Petracca. Wright looked like a Sam Jacobs type who I think would be better than McCartin. Lever looked interesting but not as exciting as Laverde and not as good a contested player.

Looks like he could be the next Cyril Rioli. Would definitely slot into our midfield/wing nicely.

The source of this information has just posted his 48th post. Are we sure that they are genuine or are they just making stuff up? I guess we will have to wait until Monday to find out!

I think we will go with Wright at 3 because he can play Ruck/Forward. Frost replaced Frawley and Wright will replace Clark.

Do not forget that we are getting Jack Viney mark 2 and possibly an Ollie Wines next year in our next Father Son pick, Jake Lovett. That with Brayshaw and Stretch this year will add some depth to our midfield once they have 50 odd games in them.

We need to take 2 midfielders with 2 & 3. McCartin and Wright look pretty average as footballers in terms of skill and movement. I would be looking to use 23 as a speculative pick for a player who can play key position. I cannot imagine that the top 2 forwards are that much better than another tall that we might pick up speculatively if we do our homework. You can never have enough midfielders and we have a lot of support for our established forwards with players like Garlett & Lumumba who can kick a goal too.

Still think the only midfielder we might be able to convince to come to us is Coniglio. There just aren't many players available at the moment unless you count delisted players. I think that we will look at Petrenko and/or Clint Jones. Our midfield needs more depth so we have to draft for that.

I thought it was going to be Coniglio that was the hidden target!

Maybe Roos feels Trenners is too scarred by the past. Remember he talked about some players not being able to move on from all the baggage of 186 etc. maybe Jack Trengove is one of those players!

Elliot Kavanagh was very heavily rated by Essendon in the draft and he has some real talent. He is the kind of player that I think that Roos could get to play a role in the midfield, but he would need some development.

I think we will use 2 & 3 in the draft. We will ignore Malceski now, take Lumumba and probably bring in Gwilt and maybe Jones from St Kilda in the delisted free agency period.

Billy's highlights video on the MFC site shows glimmers of Boomer Harvey. He seems to run and move like him and be really good at offloading the ball effectively when in traffic. He can also beat opponents with pace and kick goals in very Boomeresque fashion.

Hear Hear! A solid, balanced and well considered piece that hacks like Damien Barrett could only dream of writing.