The Cold Hard Truth

Bartram is a great athelete and plays with good courage and passion for the club but his decision making and skills are not improving and I'd imagine the emerging Petterd, Grimes, C Johnson and Buckley will bump him out of the defence and we won't see much of him in the senior side next year. He can run with any player and can do reasonably ok in that negating role, but has no impact on the game otherwise and can't hurt the opposition (similar to L Dunn).

During the season, i recieve about three emails a week from the club - all just a sanpshot of whats on the MelbourneFC website.

I like the idea of one Canberra game a year vs Sydney on ANZAC day - a game with real merit that can ignite some passion from Vics and NSW. Any more would be just to balance the book as we couldn't hope to 'market' the area like Hawthorn has done with Tasmania.

Agreed. With his injuries, no team will offer what he is worth for him. Keep.

Once (if) a Tasmanian team is introduced, Hawks will loose 90% of their 'converted' supporter base down there. None the less, that could be twenty years away and before that time the Hawks will have reaped millions.

Agreed. A fully fit Jared Rivers is vital to any resurgence up the ladder. With the support of the emerging Garland, Martin & Warnock; Rivers will thrive as a third tall, zoning off and supporting the other defenders. He's tough, he's polished, and he is a real natural player. A player like him deserves persistance despite injuries.

Without intending to spark the 'Green / Bruce; Trade / Keep' debate... IF we put the following two packages out there in trade week; could any club with a top ten pick be interested? Brad Green + pick 17 Cameron Bruce + pick 19

Beyond 2009 I'd imagine: B McLean Capt J Rivers VC And a leadership group consisting of Jones, Miller and Moloney. But for 2008; I can imagine J McDonald captaining in a care-takers type role whilst Brock get a full season under his belt and another year of experience. J McDonald Capt With a mix from: B Green N Jones B McLean B Miller B Moloney J Rivers M Whelan

I've been pretty impressed with what McKinley has achieved this year; but none the less I believe he is not a good fit for us. He is mid-sized foward of which we already have players like Robertson, Sylvia, Bate, Garland (in future?) to fill that role.

Agreed. It's an interesting debate when selecting key position players - you can teach a player to kick, but you can't make them any bigger. Therefore do you lean towards a big player with all the attributes and attempt to develop that potential or do you lean towards a natural footballer despite size. Stefan Martin vs Colin Garland is a perfect example. If you could choose only one who would it be? Stef Martin - great size, good build, good athelete - will have no problems against big bodies but will he turn into a player capable of damaging opposition sides? or Colin Garland - ok size, lean build, great athelete - natural player but will he probably always battle against big bodied fowards? I guess you could argue that they will play different roles; however most of the year they were both given big tasks on key position players.

This design must be hand delivered to the club with a note reminding those in control that we are the team of the Red & the Blue.. I also think the demon logo is fun, but should be used in Pre-Season jumpers which should aim to be more fun & push boundries with jumpers -- but as for jumpers used in the season; they should capture class and tradition like the above option so beautifully does. How Essendon can get away with just a bigger slash and we're forced to an entire white jumper is beyond me.

Love it. Classy and simple. I like the thin white outline around the crest to help define it too. Maybe adding blue neck & arm bands could work as well?

Jeff White will offer a lot to Carlton if he leaves. He will be very good for them not only as a bridging player until Kruezer and Hampson are fully ready, but also as a mentor to the young Carlton ruckmen in their development. That said, Carlton know they won't have to give up much for him despite the value he can give their team knowing how little value he appears to have left at our team. Third round pick at best - Carlton should have a third round pick around 36-40 (However, if they make a play for Kerr they probably won't have a pick in the first three rounds at all to trade with)

I think he is a great size and has the althetic ability of the emerging modern day CHB - can't wait to see what he can produce next year after two years settling into the system and developing his body for AFL footy. As i've outlined above, there proably isn't many other players you would consider getting instead of Frawley at Pick 12.

We have definitely done very well, despite not being able to land that 'superstar' or that CHF/CHB we've been praying for. Another good indication of how well we have done can come down to the other players that we could have got with our picks. Below are a couple of notibale players we could have selected (ie. the players that went after our pick, and before our next pick) Note too that I have included eligible PSD & Rookie drafted players after our last picks in the national draft. 2004: National 13 Matthew Bate Angus Monfries National 15 Lynden Dunn Cameron Wood, Dean Polo, Nathan van Berlo, Brent Prismall National 43 Michael Newton Justin Sherman, Brad Moran, Matthew Egan, Will Thursfield (Rookie), Josh Gibson (Rookie) Rookie 10 Brendan Van Schaik Danyle Pearce, Clinton Young, Dale Morris, Harry O'Brien, John Griffen, Beau Wilkes Rookie 26 Matthew Warnock Ryan Crowley, Aaron Edwards, Josh Drummond 2005: National 12 Nathan Jones Shannon Hurn, Grant Birchall, Garrick Ibbotson National 53 Simon Buckley Joel Patfull National 60 Clint Bartram Mathew Stokes National 68 Heath Neville Jason Porplyzia (PSD), Alan Toovey (Rookie) Rookie 9 Jace Bode Rookie 25 Daniel Hughes Matthew Priddis, Stpehen Gilham, Cameron Howat Rookie 39 Shane Neaves Cheynee Stiller, Ben McGlynn, Kieran Jack, Ed Barlow 2006: National 12 James Frawley Jack Riewoldt, Mitchell Brown, Leroy Jetta, Shaun Grigg, Albert Proud National 30 Ricky Petterd Kurt Tippett, Jarryd Morton, Alwyn Davey, Bachar Houli National 46 Colin Garland Kyle Reimers, Lindsay Thomas, Robert Gray, Josh Hill National 62 Isaac Weetra Tyson Goldsack, Justin Westhoff, Aaron Edwards, David Rodan, Sharrod Wellingham (rookie) Rookie 12 Daniel Hayes Jamie McNamara, Michael Jamison, Jake King, Jarrod Harbrow, Matt Campbell, Martin Clarke, Beau Wilkes I have excluded the 2007 draft as it is too early to call on so many players.