Random Task

Disappointing to hear that he is going on for surgery on his groin tomorrow and will miss a large chunk of the season. I rate him highly and thought he looked quite promising as Key Position player that can take a contested grab and play either end of the ground. I believe he is out of contract this year so would love to see us sign him up soon.

Absolutely. Trading away their future mid round 1 pick now looks like smart move. Not sure what extra picks they have left but unless they fall off a cliff surely they would have to be rescinded.

Gawn mentioned he thought one area Carlton got on top of us was tall contested marks/representation down the wings when the ball was kicked down the line. Interesting that we've gone with one less tall and nil support for the ruck and key forward positions. We're going to have some less than ideal set ups throughout the game. Instruction must be to run and carry as much as possible +/- hope for wet conditions to bring our smalls into the game.

Are pants optional?

Waaaay too much time.

Josh Kennedy of the Eagles and Swans fame both still currently playing. We did have two Scott Thompsons playing concurrently not too long ago. Tom Lynch from Adelaide and Gold Coast/Richmond. Sam Reid from Sydney and GWS Giants. Bailey Williams from Bulldogs and Eagles. Edit: It appears we also have two Callum Browns (Collingwood, GWS) and Harrison Jones (Hawks, Bombers) playing at the moment, albiet at the start of their careers.

Nathan D Brown: Melbourne (146 games) Nathan G Brown: Western Bulldogs (137) & Richmond (82) Nathan J Brown: Collingwood (130) & St Kilda (53*) *still playing

Optics of a handshake might not be great, however it's probably the most sanitary thing they've done all night after manhandling, breathing and sweating on each other for 100 odd minutes. The damage would've been done. Not wanting them to shake hands out of concern of transmission in this scenario is kind of like putting on a condom after intercourse.

Pickett and Bedford debuting. ... there's an echo in here.

This exactly!

Minor rant incoming. Last year was a horror show on just about every front. But the one thing that really grated me was how we let our opposition get in our faces and respond so meekly. One example really comes to mind here is when Nick Blakey, a bean pole 1st year player with a dozen or so games to his name, buried a couple of our players in decent tackles then following that up by pushing their heads into the turf and letting them know all about it. This happened on 3 occasions, on the first two occasions our players just took it without showing any fight or aggression. Worse yet, not a single one of our players came over to help them out. Only Frost had any pride to give a bit back and showed he wouldn't just accept being pushed around. What sort of team allows their players to be treated with such disrespect? It really felt like we gave up that day and it made me question our team culture. So what do I want to see? I want to see the closest person to any contest where one of our players has been tackled, involved in a heavy collision or any scuffle, to go over and assist them. Whether its picking them up off the ground, giving them a high five, or pushing the opposition off them. Shouldn't be too much to ask, but happens far too rarely.

Forgot about him, cheers.

Premiers: GWS Runners Up: Western Bulldogs Melbourne finish: 5th Wooden Spoon: Gold Coast - Small improvement on this year Brownlow: Marcus Bontempelli Coleman: Tom Lynch (Rich) Rising Star: Deven Robertson Story of the year: Gold Coast apply for more draft concessions after starting the year 0-11, AFL decline request. Story you're unlikely to see: "Hird returns to Essendon to inject some team spirit" Random Melbourne Predictions Rivers first of draftees to debut Petracca to kick 30 goals playing predominantly as a mid and star for most of the season. Lever, Gawn, Oliver & Petracca to make AA team Jordan to establish himself in the team by half way through the year.

99.9% sure its 100 games. Perhaps there are also exceptions for Captains and which may see Trengove with his name on the locker. From what I've read here it sounds like these are the following numbers. Jackson 6 Langdon 15 Tomlinson 20? Rivers 24 Picket 36 Is that accurate?

Was hoping for him or Sharp to fall through to us so pretty happy with this pick. Hopefully we can bring Sharp across in the future, would sit nicely on a wing for us.

I think it was Fifty-5 had a theory that Pick 8 may have been acquired from North with the intention of using it on Jackson. Could you ask if this was the case and we then subsequently had to use pick 3 on him as we became aware of other clubs interests and that he wouldn't make it to 8? Another question of interest for me is, if he likes certain players that we miss out on in a particularly draft, how much dialogue is kept with said player or manager in the hopes of planting seeds for a trade further down the track? I suspect this goes on a bit with an example possibly being Langdon who we were reportedly keen on in his draft year.

We can trade one of our future 4th picks as we have two of those. We currently have 74 which may come into about 67 post Hawthorn and Port matching bids. I doubt we can make anything meaningful out of those picks though.

Hey @Pennant St Dee, what are your thoughts on both Sharp and Rivers? Both seem like great prospects and fill a need nicely for us in my opinion. Sharp I've heard is great outside runner with neat skills, Rivers gets good wraps as a solid all-rounder but mainly in defence. I could see him fitting in as a long-term replacement for Hibberd or Nev. Do you have a favourite or any other insights into these guys?

And by moving from pick 8 to 10, if the phantom drafts are to be believed, we have essentially said thanks but no thanks to Young, Serong and Stephens. Interesting though that multiple phantom drafts have Robertson and Kemp sliding out to 15+. Perhaps if we do another split we could see one of those brought in with Pickett if we are confident he gets past Port, Hawthorn & the Doggies. Unlikely perhaps, but no one a week ago had Pickett at 10 and Day at 12. There are still so many variables to play out.

No idea. Your guess is as good as mine.

Twomey just mentioned Melbourne still potentially looking at a further split and, while nothing certain, suggested a deal could be 10 and 28 for Ports 12 and 18. Sounded more like we were canvassing our options and a deal probably unlikely at this stage.

Jackson Pickett (think it's too early but hard to ignore the smoke) Sharp (I think he will go earlier but will fit our outside run well if still on the board) My ideal scenario would be Green Stephens Rivers (or best available small forward)

It would be fitting for any player to start their career here with a 4-6 injury. If that's accurate its probably better than I was expecting.

It does in a sense, from 2pm today Twomey, Beveridge and Cleary will be doing a live stream panel discussion including interviews with draftee prospects and club officials. Here's the line up if anyone is interested in watching. Tuesday's line-up: 2.20pm - Sam Walsh (Carlton) 2.45pm - Hamish Ogilvie (Adelaide) 3.10pm - Adrian Caruso (Greater Western Sydney) 3.30pm - Cody Weightman 4pm - Kinnear Beatson (Sydney) 4.15pm - Caleb Serong and Sam Flanders 4.30pm - Stuart Dew (Gold Coast)

Interesting that he thinks a bid for Green won't come until our second pick. Edit: No Sharp in the top 30 and states Rivers is a chance to slide to our pick. Would be very happy with either of those two.