Ungarieboy

I'd be pitching g to get Jeff White down to Melbourne, so that he doesn't have to move away from family!°

Noting how many talls we have on the list (playing at Casey) I'd be surprised if we took a kpf unless deemed best available. Noting Jefferson, Kenterfield, Fullerton Smith and Verral can't all fit there (Assuming Campbell rucks) and this is with JVR, Petty and Turner all holding kpf positions for the Dee's. More importantly for our Casey forwards to develop; they need to be fed by a strong (dare I say dominant midfield) as you can't improve you marking/forward craft if the ball is not being delivered to you. From what I can see Casey's midfield really dropped of last year and is currently weaker this year. SO get the two most midfielders available at both 5 and 9!!!! Note: watched perth SEN with Mick Ablett and apparently he really rates Kenterfield.

Oliver Withers is someone worth investing effort on. Though I believe he would be a better rookie, Many believed he was best on ground for Belconen Magpies in their Grand final victory (ACTAFL) as a 17 year old. He also dominated the rising stars league B&F the year before as a 16 year old. I believe last year he was signed by a VFL club but did his knee in the pre-season. Was part of GWS academy, but not sure if still is post injury.

Don't settle for good, in deference to chasing great!!!!! Think Oliver v Parish! We should be looking for champions with these picks while they are available, as not all drafts have them, or easy/obvious access to them. For instance look at 2016 draft.

We need to be recruiting the next Oliver/Trac replacements in this draft, so that in 5 years time they are approaching their peak as we lose our champions (if they are even still here). So this draft should all be about getting the elite (potential brownlow medallists); not settle for good players, talls or flankers. You draft for the future and trade for the now!!!!!

Always go with best available with first round picks, particularly top 10. Good coaches will adjust the game plan to suit. Good clubs will trade in players to fic gaps. Note premiers often have players traded in to fix gaps i.e. Brisbane with Daniher, Collingwood with Howes, Geelong with Tuohy, Dee's with Brown, Tigers with Lynch. The trick is to identify where the gaps are likely to be, before they evolve. Unfortunately Brayshaws early retirement and possibly Smirh's unavailability could not be foreseen (throwing future planning into chaos).

Is there so.eone I could name drop a potential rookie to the club (a kid who was considered best on ground by many in AFL first grade grand final as a 17 year last year - but injured since)

The interesting thing is, could Smith be the tall forward option we are looking for. Has he been suspended, how long is his suspension. Maybe he is rookied, for 12 months and comes back after that. How long do you need to be out of the AFL to come back as a Cat B rookie?

To be honest if I was in Clayton's position, I to would have been chatting to other clubs, if I got wind of the club shopping me around for the second year in a row (i.e 2 can play that game). At the very least taking some control of the situation and being proactive in the finding a preferred destination. As for Pert, what was he hoping to achieve? Oliver had as much right to refuse any prospective trade, just as much as Melbourne has/did - so for Pert to be successful he would have needed to get Clayton sufficiently disillusioned to leave (agree to being traded).

Wasn't he highly rated, where would he fit in, what's his point of difference or weapon?

Something doesn't feel right. Why would Pert reach out to Geelong, a club without the draft capital and salary cap space to make it a viable option. Just as an example - Richmond, North and Eagles makes more sense!

As to the Northern Academy's, if they didn't exist then talented players don't get to train and play with/against enough good players to improve (at the same rate as AFL states). E.g In Melbourne there could be hundreds of kids (majority of a team) who can kick a ball properly on the run at the age of 13/ 14, providing greater opportunity to enhance their marking skills (can't practice marking the ball, if it doesn't get to you). This means these Victorian's are getting exposed to more complicated and better training drills far earlier than their Northern Counterparts (without the academies). Even at the 18s Victorian's train and play at the Coates league level for the entire season, while the Nortern Academy's get a handful of games in April/May. Then back to uncompetitive club football. What a lot of people don't understand is without the Northern Academy's, these players won't get the necessary development to be drafted, or at best be drafted late or as rookies. Consequently the 4 Northern clubs would have to pick more of the best Victorian, SA and WA kids - diluting the pool further for the other clubs.

Having more good players in the academy lifts the standards and the quality of the academy (other participants) - so there's still benefits of him being there.

In the bargain bin - is Owies, but it's not a bargain if we don't use it (we do have a few forward flankers already).

Significant improvement is not going to come from other clubs discards! Yes a bargain can be found, but the majority are at best maintaining the status quo or on the decline (they are discarded for a reason). We need to identify and target the good players, regardless of contract i.e. Gegordies, Callaghan, Miller, Brayshaw, Reid, Flanders, McCluggage, Rowbortom, Hewett, etc Clubs like Brisbane, GC, Blues have more potential top end talent coming in, so shake the tree and see if a quality midfielder falls out - we should have the cash to make things interesting (or as North did with us/Viney tighten our salary cap to help future raids)