Watts Jurrah Dunn?

I hope we are more interested in a player Damo mentioned later in his news segment - Pearce Hanley. He's the quick, line-breaking, skilful outside wingman we need. A touch older than you'd like but a late starter too. I only caught the end but i think Barrett was saying there's a number of senior players unhappy up there, and a coach change might be the only hope to keep Hanley, who there has been some serious interest in.

Did he play that game out against Richmond VFL, or go off with concussion?

Great thread and well done! I guess it explains why we are where we are, level with ordinary teams like Collingwood and Richmond, when Jetta, a good solid back pocket, can be the 6th best/most important player on your list. Not sure Nick Smith or Rory Laird would be in their club's top 10. I agree with the rating of Jetta by the way, but blokes like Tyson, Hogan and Kent just have to improve and go past him if we're to be any good. Those questioning whether Hibberd is worth pursuing should note that he would immediately slot into our top 10. Oh for the day we have a top 10 of Viney, Gawn, Hogan, Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver, Salem, McDonald, Frost, Weideman.

If we add Hibberd, Prestia and Melksham I think we all hope our first round pick for 2017 will be about 12-14. That ain't getting it done for a bloke that starts next year as a 24 year old, entering his prime, already averaging 23 disposals a game. Yes, he's got knee issues, but so did Shaune Burgoyne, who also nominated Hawthorn, and the Hawks gave pick 9 and Mark Williams. I'd say Gold Coast will begin by demanding our 2017 1st Round pick and a quality player like Brayshaw/Petracca/Salem/Oliver, and we'll hope to get it done with the 1st round pick and someone like Neal-Bullen/Harmes/vandenBerg/Trengove/swap of 2nd and 4th round picks etc.

The glaring needs as I see them are a line breaking wingman (ala Isaac Smith / Stephen Hill) and a gorilla forward/ruck (ala Josh Jenkins / 2m Peter). Then I'd be looking for more experienced outside midfielders/half backs (effectively the same position these days) that can run and kick. This is what Melksham and Hibberd are. With only pick 27 as it currently stands, good luck getting a quality line-breaking wingman or gorilla forward/ruck. All you'd get for pick 27 is Dean Towers or Levi Casboult.

We know Lumumba, Grimes and Garland are NOT the answer. The jury's out on whether Salem can handle AFL. So that leaves Jetta (who is a great lock down defender but not a creative, damaging kick), Wagner, Hunt and White (20 games between them) and Melksham (unproven at half back and has struggled for consistency at AFL level). I agree that it is not a screaming need but I don't think you can have enough damaging kicks around the half back/midfield region who also have a nice dose of sh*t about them.

Last pre-season would have just been about re-building him and getting back, this one can be about building a bit of strength and power. I don't think he's ever going to be that long-striding, smooth-moving wingman we saw in 2010, but he's earned the right at another year on the list. He's an extremely popular clubman and when we get to a point where a bloke who finds it 20 times, makes good decisions, and is a neat disposer, is 25th-30th on our list then we'll be in good shape.

This selection/tired thing is just another Roos smokescreen. Taking the onus off the players and onto the coaches. How coincidental that we look tired and slow against teams like Port, St Kilda, Bulldogs - teams that are so much faster, stronger and more skilful than us. We could be fresh and they'd still spank us. We were always under pressure today while they always had 5-10m on their opponent. Speed. We have built a list of one paced midfielders that just bomb it long. Time to bring in some class around them. I still can't work out why we'd take hulett and a beanpole ruckman in the draft last year. We've beaten absolutely nothing and right now i think the hype around Melbourne is so overblown. It's come about because of the gawn and viney improvement, and beating up on GC and Brisbane. Woop-de-doo. This group better stop drinking their own bath water.

If only we'd recruited a ready-to-go, 6 ft 4 defender with exceptional speed when Frawley left. I thought this was the sort of match up we got Frost for?

We lost to Collingwood on QB last year because Roos made the mistake of putting McDonald on Cloke and he kicked 4 in the first quarter. Frost hasn't spent a second in defence at Melbourne, so now's not the time to try it. Dunn really has two perfect match ups in today's game - Hawkins and Cloke. Big lumps that Dunn has the body to wrestle with. He should not leave Cloke's side all day.

The biggest issue for me is the complete lack of run, pace and kicking skill from our half backs and midfielders. There are only 4 blokes in the side that are very good kicks by AFL standard. Vince, Watts, Salem, N Jones. We've got 1 bloke with genuine leg speed - Garlett. Why on earth you would draft a 3rd tall (Hulett) and 18 year old beanpole (King) last year absolutely baffles me. Surely speculative picks like this should have been used on the fastest outside players available, given our first two picks were an inside bull and a tall forward. The club must have been very confident that Stretch and Hunt will come on. I think we will have to package up one of our one-paced mids with our 2nd pick this year to try and get back into the first round, because there are still so many holes in the list.

What is Roos trying to do with Frost? He is not a key forward. Yes he's quick and chases but he's not strong above his head, and he is poor in front of goal. And yet when we needed to give Hogan space in the last we sent Pederson to full back and left Frost forward? Get Frost to full back and let he and TMac start playing together. They are the key defenders for the next 5-8 years.

Laughable to say "it's only one game". His 2015 was atrocious. Tyson can't run, he's a very poor field kick (albeit a good kick at goal), and for an inside midfielder his handpassing is terrible. He consistently handpasses to teammate's feet. He'll keep getting games this year but eventually when we have some outside run to compliment the inside grunt of Brayshaw, Viney, Oliver etc, Tyson will be squeezed out. Thank christ we got Salem as part of the deal. GWS absolutely knew which one to let go.

With the interchange cap on the way down I'm also a bit nervous about Wiedemans "red zone" endurance compared to Curnow's elite endurance. But if they were evenly matched overall then you can't pick the kid who is stupid enough to drink drive, and drink drive the week before the draft. Wiedeman's character seems flawless. Let's hope he can get a clear run at it and build his tank.

My thoughts exactly. Zac Smith cost 2 x 3rd rounders. Daniel Currie 1 x 3rd rounder. Gorringe was there for nothing. I don't understand this pick.

Pretty good I think mate. From a Foundation Club member that has caught up with a couple of key people this week. If this doesn't happen, top office feed our top Members cr*p.

My late mail is that we'll bid on Mills at 3 and then take Weideman at 4. We want him too much and aren't prepared to risk him not being available at our 2nd pick. We like Oliver, Parish and Francis and will take whichever one is still there at our 2nd pick.

Those meetings sound like the 'if Weideman is gone' back up plan. The way Worsfold spoke today, and given they have picks in the mid-20's where plenty of mids and flankers will be available, i wouldn't be at all surprised if the Dons took Weideman.

Brett Anderson ‏@BrettAndersonIF 2 hrs2 hours ago @ChaserJay One thing I am sure of though, is that Parish isn't in mix at 3. Could be there at 7 still.

Some interesting points: - Essendon has shown Parish no love recently according to Cal Twomey. Reading between the lines, they know he won't be available. - Francis is a Bombers supporter and seems a pretty good fit according to them. No real go home concerns it would seem. - Sanderson says that a lot of clubs have Curnow in the 10-20 range, but he is a lot more bullish and thinks he could be anything once he's into an elite environment, loses his puppy fat etc.

Brett Anderson's final draft rankings. Not a mock but his personal rankings. The numbers in brackets are where he ranked them earlier in the year. http://www.sen.com.au/news/11-15/bretts-final-2015-afl-draft-big-board#ymeCut7dJxCF22VH.97

Can anyone that has seen H McKay play comment on what his aggression is like? Will he plant the knees into a defender's ribs? Does he like crashing into the opposition and hurting them?

People are talking them up because Brett Anderson is tweeting things like 'Many recruiters believe Curnow could be the best player out of the draft' and Cal Twomey is saying things like 'If Wiederman plays all year he might have been a top 2 pick'.

I think it's very possible the Bombers take Curnow and Wiederman. They have picks 24 and 25 where there seems to be plenty of midfielders available, so I think they would try and set their forward line up for a decade with Curnow and Wiederman with their first 2 picks, if we take Parish.

I would have thought it would be highly unlikely Essendon take 2 190+cm utilities given they took 2 last year in Laverde and Langford.