Mick

I for one believe you! Thanks mate and god I hope it's true. What's effectively pick 2 + Frawley for Kennedy and Lumumba I would do in a heartbeat. Hopefully we have a few other tricks up our sleeve as well to upgrade 23 and either the Clark pick or the pick we get back from the Swans

Just wow to people laying any sort of blame on Buddy. He was magnificent. One of the goals he kicked no other player in the league would have kicked. Another one you'd struggle to find a handful capable. His play around the ground fending off players. finding space, releasing a team mate etc. was just incredible, especially for a player of his size. The Hawks weren't too Buddy centric at all. If they got the ball out of the midfield more in the second quarter and gave him more chances he probably would have buried the Swans. Most of the game he was basically unstoppable and he was close to winning the Norm Smith in a losing team

Thanks for stopping by Cameron

Now STFU [censored]! BIRNG. IT. ON.

Hahaha - keep trying to justify the ridiculous. Why don't you come up with examples of bidding wars where each of the parties involved didn't recognise anyone at the table? Pretty confident I could come up with more examples where 2 AFL clubs were involved in a bidding war than you could provide where one AFL club was bidding with some random stranger looking for a bargain! Keep digging yourself a hole if you like. Another joke post.

No. But your analogy is hilarious... "very rarely come across the same people even though it's in the same area and a similar house. Each one is generally unique and has it's own set of bidders." There are 18 clubs. As if you're not going to come across the same people and be bidding against the same clubs often. It's just completely different to turning up at one of hundreds of auctions happening on the same day and your suggestion that it's a similar situation is quite frankly a joke.

Haha. There are 18 AFL clubs. It's not an open market!

Did you see Hodge, Lewis, Mitchell and Sewell going around for the Hawks the other night? Honestly don't think it's a problem at all. In fact, bring it on!

I'm not saying Gold Coast wouldn't be happy to get him! I'm talking about the compensation the AFL gave the Hawks. There is no way he is equal to those players and the Hawks are laughing all the way to the bank

Yep the compo for Harbrow is correct. Can't believe Campbell Brown is rated the same as Rischitelli, Harbrow and Bock. Hawks must be laughing!!

How could he not have mentioned our young midfield as one of the positives? With Scully, Trengove, Gysberts, Grimes, Blease, Tapscott etc. we have a potential A-grade midfield all around the same age. Couldn't believe he focused on small forwards and didn't even mention that

Bruce will play on Steve Johnson I'd imagine...very happy to see him back in for that reason alone. Disappointed to see the boys rested but so happy to see the Big Gizzy debut! Great to see Scarlett out too - I was a bit nervous about the prospect of him lining up on Watts and destroying the confidence he would have gained from last week. Making the trip down to Geelong for the first time in a few years and can't wait...Go demons!!

3 posts admitting you were wrong...maybe go to confession?

I reckon you guys are getting your Glenn and Brett Lovett's mixed up....??

Love it!!!!! You should send that into the club and get them making t-shirts. They will sell like hot cakes and solve all of our financial issues!!!

Was very happy to hear them say we need 'stars' - I've been saying for years that even when we were playing finals every year and had a great all round team we really lacked the star or A-grade players to take it to the next level. Hopefully we've now got a few who can realistically reach that level and we can can pick up a couple more in the upcoming draft. If we get a priority pick and there are two star midfielders in the draft vs one star midfielder and a good KPP then I definitely hope we draft on talent alone which it sounds is the way Prendergast is thinking as well...only problem is that at this stage it sounds like there is one out and out star in Scully and not another standout elite player but time will tell

Hilarious...you say he's a crap height at 192 and then name 4 of our most important backmen at that height. According to your theory we should never have drafted Rivers, Garland, Frawley or Warnock in the first place because they're also the crap height of around 192cm. Seriously some of your posts are laughable. Almost as bad as your rants about Jack Grimes' flawed kicking technique!!

Leave the kid alone...will be a star and definitely wasn't our worst today. Was playing in a forward line that was given shocking service from the midfield. Not sure why they didn't throw him on the ball for a while to be honest - would love to see him in there to inject some pace and is very good at winning contested possessions as well.

It's very easy to say who won't be dropped and who will come in but who are the 3 players you think will be dropped for your 3 changes?

IN: Watts , Robertson OUT: Bell, Jones (or Junior if injured) I think Jones has been pretty close for the last few weeks being named on the EIB and may miss this one after having another poor game. I think Bell will also get dropped - don't think he adds anything to the team and I'm sorry to say he doesn't look like being in the long-term plans for the club. Miller looked most likely after his last few games but I don't think they'll drop him with Watts coming in. Morton may be close as well and wouldn't be surprised if he was dropped or rested but hopefully he plays. The lineup: B Whelan Warnock Bennell HB Grimes Rivers Frawley C Bruce Moloney Green HF Watts Miller Bate F Maric Robertson Sylvia R Jamar McLean Davey I/C Martin Morton Johnson McDonald

BEST. NEWS. EVER. Thanks Steamin Demon...i wanted to believe you all along but couldn't let myself get too excited just in case. Been burnt too many times by big claims from great sources. Now hopefully the Watts image on this site can get updated so Jack is in a Demons jumper instead of the Big V!!! Go Redlegs!!!

There are normally a few bottom age picks in the first round. If you have a look at this analysis of the last 4 drafts it's on average 5 players so close to 30%: http://www.afldraftinfo.com/2009/01/how-mu...9-national.html It also shows the actual number of players from the U16 2008 Championships who have been ‘lost’ from the 2009 draft due to the rule changes: 114 (60 Div 1, 54 Div 2) total 2008 U16 championships prospects. It also lists the players and there are some very high quality players in the list. So I think the impact really has to be that it is shallower in terms of quantity and quality and that seems to be the consensus amongst the real experts as well. Anyway, we will have some early picks (hopefully 1 + 2) and hopefully we won't have to worry too much about overall depth. I really think we've bottomed out at the perfect time!

There are many reasons though why the draft is likely to be shallow compared to previous drafts. Another article today highlighting why and with our very own recruiting manager saying "potentially 33 per cent of the draft isn't going to be there with those under-17s out": http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tab...60/default.aspx In terms of GC picks they don't have ANY picks this year so your second point is irrelevant for this draft. They only have access to 17 year olds outside of the actual draft. It's the impact of that as well as date changes that is having an impact and if you take away approx. 33% of players that would have been available in previous years it's pretty obvious that it's going to be a shallower pool of talent. Prendergast also makes the point that "a lot of teams probably looked to load up on last year's draft and maybe they'll look the other way this year". That's why I don't think we will have a huge number of delistings this year (apart from the fact that I think most players bar 3 - 4 should be retained, notwithstanding trades)

Completely agree with what you're saying...I think it's naive not to think this is going to be a shallow draft in comparison. Good analysis here of the impact the changes to this year's draft rules would have had on previous years drafts - i.e. some FACTS for you Rhino: http://www.afldraftinfo.com/2009/01/how-mu...9-national.html. Not to mention it's the experts saying it!! http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl...2-19895,00.html It's not to say that good players won't be able to be found later in the draft but the overall depth of quality talent will be comparatively shallow

I'd guess that it will be Jones, Maric, Bennell, Newton Maric had some shocking disposals last week but he got his hands on the footy and showed something - definitely deserves another chance at least based on his Casey form and for his development Grimes didn't do enough for Casey last week and doubt they'd bring him in after that...needs another run Newton as others have mentioned might take soem of the ruck duties in the forward line or will provide another forward option if Martin plays back or in the ruck