Young Dee

at least you wouldn't have massive expectations/pressure on the pick

Talent, injuries may leave Dees' priority pick in doubt What a joke of an article. Youth and key injuries is their argument (Clarke - played 4 and .... Dawes played 12) 7th youngest list? Apparently 2 wins does not truly reflect the quality of our list. So are we really a 4 wins team? I would like to know how exactly you get a priority pick under this new system.

Thanks for the insight McQueen Those are very different positions on Rawlings - my view is if he is good at what he does then find a position for him. We can't start getting rid of staff that have been doing well and then risk dividing the staff like we did with the players under Neeld.

Not surprised a very talented player - just one of many of our players that was held back due to our culture I think. Could have been a good small forward for us. So clean by foot and by hand - with great pace. I think he will slot straight into the Weagles once he has fully recovered.

What do you mean "can be taken with the club's last live draft pick"? Does that mean no other team can try and draft the player or is it like father/son where they have to use their next pick once a team tries to draft the player?

You make it sound as if all the Melbourne teams will be fighting for turf in Melbourne like the Mafia. Sounds cool! Green Street Hooligans anyone?

Agreed - if you want to look at it through rose coloured glasses: Collingwood is arguably coming to an end of their reign, Geelong could still be a powerhouse for a couple years, Richmond is on its way up and hopefully we are on our way up also. I guess its up to him whether he wants immediate short term success or a chance to build towards long term success (if thats the case he should have stayed at GWS). I see Collingwood out of the box and we are a small chance as we could probably field the largest offer. ...Sorry I kind of went of topic already

Good stuff thanks for that. A young but knowledgeable assistant coach with a bit of fire in the belly and under Roos (sounds perfect) We just need to shake of WCE - we can offer him a couple years under Roos where he can prepare himself to be coach and of course a bucket of cash.

Just on my computer whilst watching the footy show and I think Damien Barret just said Roos has spoken to Burns and he is pretty much our successor. I think - I was multi-tasking so don't shot me down if wrong but any truth behind that?

AFL: "Elliot Yeo has become the third Brisbane Lions youngster to request a trade to his home state, asking to return to Western Australia." http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-09-19/yeo-wants-to-go

You mean lose against Freo or begin to fall down the ladder? Because everyone thought Geelong where finished after 2010 and by the way this thread title sounds like one of those negative Neeld threads

Is there a thread on the pre-season draft or is this draft just a joke? Who is available or likely to be available? Is it worth considering acquiring pick 1? (through trade). Does any decent player actually get picked up this way? From Wiki: Pick 1's 2007 - Cain Ackland (Carlton) 2008 - David Gourdis (Richmond) 2009 - Liam Jurrah (Melbourne) 2010 - Joel Macdonald (Melbourne) 2011 - Nathan Ablett (Gold Coast) 2012 - Aaron Hall (Gold Coast) Notable pre-season draft picks: Shane O'Bree - #1 2000 pre-season draft Brett Voss - #1 2001 Pre Season Draft Craig Bolton - #3 2003 pre-season draft Nick Stevens - #2 2004 pre-season draft Jacob Surjan - #10 2004 pre-season draft Josh Mahoney - #12 2004 pre-season draft Eddie Betts - #3 2005 pre-season draft Scott Camporeale - #4 2006 pre-season draft Mal Michael - #2 2007 pre-season draft Cameron Cloke - #9 2007 pre-season draft Scott Welsh - #4 2008 pre-season draft Ben Cousins - #6 2009 pre-season draft Nathan Ablett - #1 2011 pre-season draft Bachar Houli - #3 2011 pre-season draft Cameron Bruce - #5 2011 pre-season draft Jack Anthony - #6 2011 pre-season draft

Because you won't stay there if you don't go anywhere

I agree with what you say I think the Gold Coast has potential not so much for the conditions but the players would probably rather go to the Gold Coast then to a military training camp in Darwin (tin sheds). We don't want them to enjoy it to much (otherwise they might want to joining GC) but I think the Darwin trip under Neeld was probably to much like a school camp. We don't want to separate the playing group from the coaching group - there is no reason they can't train hard in a nice location and enjoy themselves. The Gold coast football team is sure doing well! (but then again they go to Arizona) http://vimeo.com/74336322 I have to admit it does look pretty cool - a class above Darwin.

I hear Hawthorn has a secret training base - some little Island of Australia called Tasmania? (I hear some pretty weird stuff goes on over there!) But seriously If Hawthorn and Geelong don't need Arizona then we don't. We can spend our money on something proven.

I would rather spend our money on getting the best people into the club (staff/coaches) then on some expensive and ambiguous training camp. Having said that I fully support the team building side of it and also think its great that Clark and Dawes are going to Arizona.

Richmond will want something good for Martin and GWS will want something good for Adams. I see a problem there - a straight swap? There is no chance of Adams going through PSD is there? (just walking out on his club after 2 years?)

Maybe in the future but for now lets just learn from our mistakes and develop players in one position (Watts).

I think Jamar should go before Fitzy. Fitzy keeps his spot because he has the ability to play forward and be a decent ruckmen (this he can improve). I think we can play three tall fwds at a time (Clark, Dawes and Hogan) and Watts as a wIngman. Fitzy comes In when one of these four is injured (which is likely to be often). I think we don't lose anything holding on to Fitzy - his trade value will only increase as he develops. As for Jamar - he looks finished but I think some have forgotten how good he was a couple years ago. If we can't get anything decent from trading then lets hope Roos sees something in him. Jamar is only 30 and has been troubled with injuries all year - I think he could still have something (needs some determination). I think we should start looking a drafting a ruckman - Jamar will be finished soon, Spencer I don't think is good enough, Fitzy may leave and that leaves Gawn (all eggs in one basket and has had 2 knee reco's).

But then the players wouldn't be able to have a deep and meaningful bonding session with their coach as Neeld did in NT.

Would be a good depth player and replacement for Sellar or Dunn I think. Problem is would he come to us if he thought he was a depth player? He would probably be our fourth tall behind Frawely, Garland and McDonald. Born: August 5, 1989 (age 24) Height: 1.89 m Weight: 88 kg

Any talent there? Jeremy Laidler - whats he like? (must be alright if he thinks he deserves a game) Could he be a replacement for Dunn or Sellar? AFL: "He had an outstanding 2011 and was a good performer in two finals before injuring his knee in round four the next season. He missed the rest of the year." VFL 2013 - Round 10 - Player Highlights - Jeremy Laidler

Maybe or maybe a mixture of poor development and poor culture. Who knows what he would have been like if he got picked up by Geelong.

I am always sceptical of stats - I don't really read too much into them. Good for a rough comparison though.

There is an older thread with this article but: http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2013/08/20/324043_ntnews.html I think he should definetly be looked into as a Rookie (as well as Garlett) but it all comes down to their attitudes and whether Paul Roos can control them. Lets not forget that Jurrah was not some reckless mess when he was with us - he made one big mistake which put him on a troublesome path (he just needs to be guided back onto the right path). From memory he wasn't one who didn't show up to training or was out late drinking - and if anything this whole scenario may have helped him in the long run.