pantaloons

I've hardly given league pass a look this year. Is Cavs-Warriors a lock?

The Clippers. What a toilet bowl of an organisation.

The Chas.

In: Viney, Jetta, Jamar, Gawn Out: Pedersen, Spencer, JFK, Stretch (to save him being killed in his second game)

Easily Scott Thompson. Emotionally, it really hurt seeing Jeff Farmer in another guernsey.

I still can't believe the amateur way they decide this award. You could have someone be by far and away the best rookie of the year who ends up only being the second best rookie every single round and doesn't receive his nomination because of it. I know they might say they'll get their nomination eventually, but what if they get injured in round 19? It's just so ridiculous. By all means, feel free to shine the spotlight on a rookie with some sort of rookie of the week honour, but don't restrict the award in this way.

621 fewer members than we had in 1964.

We've put ourselves in a position by virtue of the rancid Martin trade where we probably have to address the near-critical ruck situation in free agency or trade this coming off-season. Hopefully Gawn begins to take some big strides this year, and not just at Solway. Ruckmen take a while, but it's now time for him to take over from Jamar.

Can't read through all of this for sanity preservation purposes, but everything about McKenzie playing today was bizarre. Why play him if he's going to wear the green vest? To come on and tag someone for a quarter or two? I was puzzled by his inclusion on Thursday but assumed Roos had some master stroke tagging role for him, but alas. Strange stuff. With Salem out in the second half, we pretty much played that half without 8 of our best 25 or so players (Viney, Salem, Jetta, Dawes, Kent, Trengove, Frost and Petracca). Outside of the top 25 or so, we've got a handful of players I hope can be good in the future (Gawn, Toumpas, Stretch, ANB, McOz), a few who we know what we'll get from and won't be around in a couple of years (Bail, M Jones, McKenzie, Terlich, Fitzmagic), and a couple I don't hold out much hope for but probably need to be given a chance this year (Michie, Riley). If the side is going to be depleted like today and players are going to come in from the Casey side to play random roles, I'd rather they be from the first group.

Nothing personal against the bloke, but to put it kindly, he was in the top 5 'not ready to play a game' players I have seen in 30 years watching this club.

Always a great sign when the analysts are aghast at your team's selection. The guy we picked, Peters, was kicked off his college team and is apparently Snoop Dogg's nephew. Tremendous.

Cheers. I'll be offline shortly for most of the rest of the day, so if anyone has any raging abuse or would like to pick it apart, that'd be the best time! I think if you look at the last two or three drafts, we've done well. While (and please let's not derail this) the Toumpas pick hasn't come to fruition yet, getting Viney as a father-son at 26 was a steal, same for Kent at 48. Then nailing the Salem pick following a brilliant trade, picking JKH at 40 when Hawthorn went Garlett at 38. While we've only got Brayshaw as a guide and it's early days, the 2014 draft crop should be very good.

I've been thinking recently about the players Melbourne has lost to free agency and the impact that this has had on the team, now and into the future. If this is all a bit TLDR for you than skip past the Geelong and Hawthorn bits, but I thought they make for interesting comparisons. In recent years, Geelong and Hawthorn have risen to powerhouse status with three flags apiece since 2007. There are a range of reasons for their success, but two different factors played significant roles in their rise. Geelong had the benefit of some extraordinary father-son selections at the draft table. Between 1997 and 2006 in the decade leading up to their drought-breaking flag, the Cats took the following players under the father-son rule: 1997: Marc Woolnough #29 1997: Matthew Scarlett #45 1998: David Clarke #21 2001: Gary Ablett Jr #40 2002: Tim Callan #36 2003: Mark Blake #38 2004: Nathan Ablett #48 2006: Tom Hawkins #41 While the list isn't quite as impressive as I remembered, to be able to take the likes of Ablett, Scarlett and Hawkins with third round picks was immense for them, and once they had started winning flags, the rule changed. In the years leading up to 2008 while they were trying to assemble a premiership list, Hawthorn nailed some early picks, used some good old-fashioned tanking (or list management as I prefer it to be called), but importantly traded away players with currency for high draft picks. After a series of heists, the league gradually woke up to the danger of trading away your best picks for players who aren't worth the price, and we don't see many of these trades anymore. See below: 1999: Traded Jonathon Robran to Essendon for #33 (Tim Clarke) and #48 (2008 premiership player Chance Bateman) 2001: Traded Trent Croad and Luke McPharlin to Fremantle for #1 (Luke Hodge), #20 (Daniel Elstone) and #36 (Sam Mitchell) 2002: Traded Daniel Chick to West Coast for #8 (Luke Brennan) 2004: Traded Nathan Thompson to North Melbourne for picks #10 and #26 (Matthew Little), then flipped #10 and Bo Nixon to Collingwood for #7 (Jordan Lewis) 2005: Traded Nathan Lonie to Port Adelaide for #14 (Grant Birchall) 2005: Traded Jonathan Hay to North Melbourne for #18 (Max Bailey) They didn't nail all of those picks (and others which don't fit in the above like the drafting of Mitch Thorp and Beau Dowler), which is somewhat comforting to know that you can still win flags while making some errors in drafting. Since the end of 2011, with Melbourne being a less than desirable club of choice for players with freedom to choose, and perhaps a willingness of Melbourne to let some players go in order to receive compensation, we've seen melbourne lose several players who had either been key players for the club at one point or were going to be. Here's a look at what we've lost and what we gained in return via compensation: 2011-12: Melbourne loses Tom Scully to GWS under expansion poaching. Melbourne receives a future first round pick after our own pick (2012 pick 3) and a future mid-first round pick (2012 pick 14). In 2012, Melbourne traded both these picks to GWS for Mini-draft pick 2 (Jesse Hogan), Dom Barry and pick 20. Melbourne then traded picks 20 and 47 for Chris Dawes and pick 61. Essentially, Melbourne traded Tom Scully for Jesse Hogan and Chris Dawes. 2012: Melbourne loses Jared Rivers to Geelong and Brent Moloney to Brisbane, receiving pick 48 in return (Dean Kent). 2013: Melbourne loses Colin Sylvia to Fremantle and receives pick 23. Melbourne trades pick 23 to Adelaide for Bernie Vince. 2014: Melbourne loses James Frawley to Hawthorn and receives pick 3 (Angus Brayshaw). So over the course of four offseasons, Melbourne lost Tom Scully, Jared Rivers, Brent Moloney (now retired), Colin Sylvia (now retired) and James Frawley. In return we've netted Jesse Hogan, Chris Dawes, Dean Kent, Bernie Vince and Angus Brayshaw. I'm not going to suggest that this automatically means we're going to start a raging dynasty like the Hawks or Cats, but I feel that as rules change and new systems are implemented, you have to adapt quickly and try to gain an edge by adapting fastest. I think Melbourne has made some outstanding moves out of potentially damaging situations, and decisions that will no doubt be scrutinised and held up as genius ideas if we win a flag in the next 5 to 8 years. It goes without saying that of course you have to do other things well, whether that's drafting the right kids, developing them, trading well and getting everything right off-field. Whether other clubs will be able to copy Melbourne in this regard remains to be seen. Free agency is still in its infancy in the AFL, and in the next few years we may see it scrapped altogether, or watered down to something akin to the NFL where compensatory picks are awarded in the third to seventh round the season following a club's losses. The AFL shouldn't be hasty in abolishing or watering down compensation picks in my view. Many of us here have discussed the potential for an even more uneven competition if this occurs, with players bolting from weaker clubs to join the more successful. It will make for interesting observation anyhow. All in all, hats off to Melbourne here. We've played this incredibly well.

34,068.

A life member of the MFC, I wish him well. I would however pay to see Col in a motorcade at the G this Sunday, culminating in the vehicle crashing and Col running out of the stadium.

There are only two acceptable headlines here: "Hawthorn coach attacks youngsters, club in disgrace." "Demon great accosted by drunken lunatics in night of terror."

He may not be in the top 50 players in the comp yet, but he is the most valuable player in the AFL. There is not a single player in the league you would trade for him straight up.

I should give a belated heads up about one of my favourite TV programs - America's Game - which is on once a week on Saturday mornings at 6. They're going in sequential order and are already up to the 1976 Raiders this week. I find the old ones the best. The players interviewed are older and wiser and have had years to reflect on what their triumphs and teams have meant in the grand scheme of their lives. Great viewing.

KC vs Pittsburgh on October 25. There goes that idea. Niners play at home the night before I fly in.

Sorry! I was referring to the hockey team! I've been given a leave pass by the wife to get my my fix of as much NFL, NBA, NHL and Disneyland as I can cram into a fortnight. Best birthday present ever.

Cheers. I haven't been to an NFL game since 2000 at Candlestick and a friend who lived there got me tickets. I'd probably be staying in San Jose anyway if the planets aligned and the Sharks were playing at home around that date, so that's pretty close to Levi's. I've been to San Fran a couple of times and would purely be driving up there to watch sport. Anyway, it's a low probability of occurring.

I'll be in the States on the weekend of October 25. If the Chiefs are in Oakland or San Diego that weekend I'll be looking to grab a ticket.

You're right. But in another 13 years I'll be telling people he had 45 and 8.

Correct. I believe he also had 35 and 4 in that epic semi against Adelaide in 2002.

Dudes. We're in prime time Friday night football this week.