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I won't call it a welcome to Demonland yet, but under the new Category B rules for Multicultural and Indigenous players, if Dan doesnt get the nod from another club in the national or rookie draft - Melbourne have nominated him. He is 175cm and no surprises a small forward. He came 2nd in the Morrish Medal behind McCluggage. Tigers eyeing off Kayle Kirby as a Category B Rookie Knightmare: Dan Allsop was not one of the 80 players invited to this year's combine. He was not included in this year's Victoria Country squad either. He is however one of the most talented small forwards in this year's draft. At 175cm, Allsop is sixth in the TAC Cup goalkicking with 25 goals from 14 games. He is one of many strong contributors in Dandenong's balanced front half. What makes Allsop special, as he showed on Saturday against Sandringham, is how clean he is below the knees. Allsop is a genuine one touch player with a rare natural balance and coordination. He doesn't go to ground and keeps his feet when others don't. Consistently at the weekend, he was first to the ground ball and went to the right spots when the ball hit the deck. He showed some nice movement through traffic, evading would-be tacklers and shows class with ball in hand. Also important is Allsop's forward pressure - he offers the second and third efforts and will work hard to keep the ball in the front half and force turnovers. Analysis Given these attributes, Allsop has genuine role player potential in the front half for an AFL team. From a draft context, he is a possible situational draft selection and would be suitable for selection by a club looking for a small forward. To this stage in his development, Allsop appears to be exclusively a small forward, which will hurt his draft ability so some extent with the focus recruiters have today on versatility. On Saturday, his disposal and finishing in front of goal while often good, was not to the level it needed to be. Field kicks and snaps from 40m are shots he should be finishing every time, but in windy conditions he failed to do. A lack of penetration by foot is also is something relatively lacking. He does not have a 50m kick and even at times seemed to struggle to make 40m with some of his snaps. Allsop against Sandringham finished the game with two goals and three behinds. Watching his activity and where he was when he won the ground balls, it could easily have been a six goal-game had he converted his chances while still getting a score assist. Allsop looks to be suitable for selection late in the draft or as a rookie.

I know it is pointless to look back at the past and this has probably been done to death already but as a supporter overseas when I talk to someone about AFL and the team I follow (maybe I should lie) I am often asked why my team is so rubbish. The quick answer I give is that we haven't drafted the right players in recent years. As I currently have some time on my hands I have had a look into this in more detail and it is shocking reading. As obvious as it is, clearly the biggest reason the club is where it is now is our drafting, in particular our inability to get value from our top 20 draft pics. I know that development of players is also an issue (who knows how much) but very few players that we have selected in the top 20 have gone on to forge successful careers at other clubs once we parted ways with them so I'd suggest they were not up to it in the first place. I think you can trace the issues as far back as 2001/2002, if you look at the players to come out of these drafts a number are club captains/legends of the game. We have no leadership from this era other than what we have brought in from outside the club. I know that if we made better selections in the earlier years then we would not have finished so low on the ladder and got the early draft picks in subsequent years but ignoring this for the sake of the exercise our records for picks 1 to 20 is horrific and makes for some terrible reading: I have excluded 2012/2013 as they are too soon to call definitively. And I also snuck in pick 21 from 2007 (near enough) 2001 - FAIL....Could be a 200 plus game leader of the club in the final year or two of career Pick 9: Luke Molan – Zero Games Pick 17: Traded to Geelong along with Pick 41 for Clint Bizzell (Geelong Selected James Kelly with 17) Notable players available at these selections who are still playing: Nick Dal Santo #13, James Kelly #17, Steve Johnson #24, Sam Mitchell #36, Leigh Montagna #37, Dane Swan #58, Brian Lake #71, Andrew Carazzo #5 Rookie Draft (RD), Matthew Boyd #23 (RD), Aaron Sandilands #33 (RD) 2002 – FAIL.....Again could be a 200 plus game leader at club in the final year or two of career Pick 14: Daniel Bell – 66 Games Pick 15: Nicholas Smith – 4 Games Notable players available at these selections who are still playing: Will Minson #20, Tom Lonergan #23, Daniel Merrett #30, Kade Simpson #45, Ryan Crowley #55, Nick Malceski #64, Brad Sewell #7 (RD), Michael Firrito #10 (RD) 2003 – FAIL.....OK this was a rubbish draft to have a priority selection but with two picks in the top 5 should have at least one very solid player out of this draft still on our list and a leader at the club Pick 3: Colin Sylvia – 157 Games Pick 5: Brock McLean – 94 Games Notable players available at these selections who are still playing: Beau Waters #11, Brent Stanton #13, Troy Chaplin #15, David Mundy #19, Jed Adcock #33, Daniel Jackson #53, Sam Fisher #55, Michael Rischitelli #61, Michael Johnson #8 Pre-Season Draft (PSD) 2004 - LOW PASS.....Both have played 100 games for the club and Dunn has been one of our better players this year, neither though have been consistent performers over their career Pick 13: Matthew Bate – 102 Games Pick 15: Lynden Dunn – 138 Games Notable players available at these selections who are still playing: Angus Monfries #14, Nathan Van Berlo #24, Matt Rosa #29, Mark Lecras #37, Ivan Maric #40, Eddie Betts #3 (PSD), Dale Morris #19 (RD) 2005 – WIN.........Finally a winner, can’t fault Nathan Jones at Pick 12 Pick 12: Nathan Jones - 178 Games 2006 – WIN.....Probably have to say this is a win too, although I am in the camp hoping Frawley is not at the club next year and we can use the compensation to good effect Pick 12: James Frawley Notable players available at this selection: Jack Riewoldt #13, Mitchell Brown #16, Eric MacKenzie #29, Kurt Tippett #32, Todd Goldstein #37, Robbie Gray #55, Justin Westhoff #71, Sam Jacobs #1 (RD), 2007 – FAIL.......Grimes gets a pass although as a footballer he has his limitations, the other two are clear busts, especially Morton considering the quality of players available at pick 4 Pick 4: Cale Morton - 73 Games Pick 14: Jack Grimes – 86 Games Pick 21: Addam Maric – 21 Games Notable players available at this selection: David Myers #6, Lachlan Henderson #8, Ben McEvoy #9, Patrick Dangerfield #10, Cyril Rioli #12, Brad Ebert #13, Harry Taylor #17, Alex Rance #18, Callan Ward #19, Scott Selwood #22, Scott Thompson (NM) #37, Chris Mayne #40, Jack Steven #42, Cale Hooker #54, Nathan Grima #14 (RD), Brodie Martin #52 (RD), Shane Mumford #57 (RD) 2008 – HUGE FAIL.....Very doubtful any of these 3 will be at the club next year. From these picks we should have at least 2 near 100 game players to build a side around. The list of available players at these picks makes for hard reading. Pick 1: Jack Watts – 94 Games Pick 17: Sam Blease – 33 Games Pick 19: James Strauss – 24 Games Notable players available at these selections: Nick Naitanui #2, Stephen Hill #3, Hamish Hartlett #4, Michael Hurley #5, Chris Yarran #6, Daniel Rich #7, Jack Ziebell #9, Phil Davis #10, Steele Sidebottom #11, Luke Shuey #18, Hayden Ballantyne #21, Jackson Trengove #22, David Zaharakis #23, Jack Redden #25, Dayne Beams #29, Daniel Hannebery #30, Liam Shiels #34, Stephen Motlop #39, Rory Sloane #44, Tom Rockliff #5 (PSD), Luke Breust #47 (RD) 2009 – HUGE FAIL......Another terrible effort, ultimately Tom $cully pissing off could do us a favour in the long run with Hogan now on the list but we have had no use of that pick for the last 2 years now and will have to wait another year or two of development. Trengrove is a solid but limited footballer and Gysberts who was a surprise selection amounted to nothing at the club or at North Melbourne Pick 1: Tom Scully – 31 Games Pick 2: Jack Trengrove – 81 Games Pick 11: Jordan Gysberts – 19 Games Notable players available at these selections: Dustin Martin #3, Ben Cunnington #5, Daniel Talia #13, Lewis Jetta #14, Nat Fyfe #20, Ryan Bastinac #21, Jake Carlisle #24, Mitch Duncan #28, Jack Gunston #29, Sam Reid #38, Allen Christensen #40, 2010 – FAIL.....Cook was another surprise selection and didn't play a single game nor was he picked up by another club subsequently. You have to go very deep in this draft to find another player that did not play a single game Pick 12: Lucas Cook – Zero Games Notable players available at these selections: Brodie Smith #14, Shaun Atley #17, Issac Smith #19, Cameron Guthrie #23, Jack Darling #26, Scott Lycett #29, Josh Green #32, Luke Parker #40, Paul Puopolo #66, Josh Jenkins #12 (RD), Luke Dahllhaus #22 (RD) 2011 – FAIL.......Can’t blame the club for this one but at the end of the day it is another one that has not gone our way and cost us a useful player that we could have drafted if we used the pick (although with our strike rate, probably not) Pick 12: Traded to Brisbane for Mitch Clark – 15 Games Notable players available at these selections: Taylor Adams #13, Devon Smith #14, Brandon Ellis #15, Jackson Merrett #31, Bradley Hill #33, Sam Rowe #44, Jordon Murdoch #48, This is a terrible record. Ten years of bad drafting which makes we wonder, is there a way back? how many years will it take to rebuild this list that has a very limited core group of players to build around?

Now I don't consider my self to be old enough to be considered wise. But. I'm getting very sceptical of how complicated things have become in AFL. Pages and pages of stats sheets. Pre game, 1/4 time, half time, 3/4 time, after the game. And full of every conceivable stat you could think of. Metres gained, contested possessions in the forward 50, hitouts in the first half of a 1/4 compared to the second half of a 1/4, 1%ers on Sundays with a NW wind compared to on a Saturday with a SW wind. FMD how complicated is it? I can't wait for a coach to ditch this ridiculous over-analysis crap, screw up the stats sheet and start telling the players how it is. First to the ball, run past with a voice, kick it to the boundary if there's nobody in the clear, hit a target if they're open, move the ball forward, tackle hard, play in front in the wet, be accountable to your man on a turnover. Why does it have to be so scrutinised all the time. Coaches, and players, don't need damning stats to tell them who's played well. If they don't know that walking off the ground then there is something seriously wrong. And drafting. OMG can we get rid of the absurd psychoanalysis rubbish? They didn't do this 20 or even 10 years ago but good players kept getting drafted back then. Is there a higher success rate for drafted players since this rubbish came in? I wouldn't think so. Forget the draft combine and testing. Go watch the kids play. Surely you could get more out of watching a draftee play a full game or two than you can from looking at their times running through laser timers and touching vertical jump tabs. It's sports science gone mad. Can he play? Is he hard at the ball? Does he have game pace? (Not this Jack Watts sprint testing bollocks. Actual 'game' pace). Can he hold a contested overhead mark? Does he chase on a turnover? I'm just so sick of the micro-analysis in this sport. We're not trying to find a gifted athlete to shave 0.001 seconds off of a 100m sprinting record. It's football. It's a team game and the same old skills and effort win games now like they did way back when MFC were a good team. Stats lie.

CHANGES 2012 - THE RIVERS RUN RED by The Oracle Melbourne coach Mark Neeld promised that the club would approach the AFL's free agency and exchange period with aggression and he has delivered in spades. Five players have been added to the club's primary list and another will come on board in 2014 after selection in the GWS Mini Draft. Two left the club as free agents, three contracted players were traded away and another eight (including three rookies) have been delisted after they were told they would not receive contract offers for 2013. Brad Green retired at the end of the season. The end result, after the carnage, is that fourteen members of the 2012 playing lists have departed, most of them involuntarily. When you add to that, the eight changes at the end of last year, it means that 22 players, virtually half the playing list, has been turned over since the end of Dean Bailey's reign as coach of the club. The rivers are certainly running red. The Melbourne Football Club's playing lists for 2012 were:- PRIMARY LIST: Rohan Bail Clint Bartram Matthew Bate Jamie Bennell Sam Blease Mitch Clark Lucas Cook Aaron Davey Troy Davis Lynden Dunn Jack Fitzpatrick James Frawley Colin Garland Max Gawn Jack Grimes Jordan Gysberts Jeremy Howe Mark Jamar Neville Jetta Nathan Jones Liam Jurrah Joel Macdonald Stefan Martin Tom McDonald Jordie McKenzie Brent Moloney Cale Morton Ricky Petterd Jared Rivers James Sellar Jake Spencer James Strauss Colin Sylvia Rory Taggert Luke Tapscott Jack Trengove Josh Tynan Jack Watts VETERAN LIST: Brad Green ROOKIE LIST: Tom Couch Michael Evans Kelvin Lawrence James Magner Dan Nicholson Jai Sheahan Leigh Williams We farewell former skipper Brad Green (retired), Brent Moloney (Brisbane Lions) and Jared Rivers (Geelong) who left as free agents and Jordan Gysberts (North Melbourne), Stef Martin (Brisbane Lions) and Cale Morton (West Coast Eagles) who were traded at the end of the exchange period. The club has delisted Matthew Bate, Jamie Bennell, Lucas Cook, Liam Jurrah and Ricky Petterd from its primary list and rookies Kelvin Lawrence, Jai Sheahan and Leigh Williams. We wish them well and it will certainly be a bitter-sweet experience to see many of them running around in different colours in the future. You don't have to look hard for justification for the hard decisions that need to be made in order to bring about changes when you're dealing with an organisation that has been starved of any form of success for a long period of time. The ingathering of new names and faces has been long awaited at the Melbourne Football Club and these are the first of the new crop who will take their places as part of the team in the near future:- # Dominic Barry # Shannon Byrnes # Chris Dawes # Jesse Hogan # Cameron Pedersen # David Rodan I haven't included Jack Viney whose name will officially become a Demon when his name is called out by his father Todd as second selection overall in November's national draft. The lists currently stand as follows but with delisted free agency on the horizon and the drafts coming up, there are more changes to come:- PRIMARY LIST: Rohan Bail Dominic Barry Clint Bartram Sam Blease Shannon Byrnes Mitch Clark Aaron Davey Troy Davis Chris Dawes Lynden Dunn Jack Fitzpatrick James Frawley Colin Garland Max Gawn Jack Grimes Jeremy Howe Mark Jamar Neville Jetta Nathan Jones Joel Macdonald Tom McDonald Jordie McKenzie Cameron Pedersen David Rodan James Sellar Jake Spencer James Strauss Colin Sylvia Rory Taggert Luke Tapscott Jack Trengove Josh Tynan Jack Watts National Draft Picks 4 27 (Jack Viney) 49 53 70 73 and 74* ROOKIE LIST: Tom Couch Michael Evans James Magner Dan Nicholson 2014 PRIMARY LIST Jesse Hogan * the places of these draft selections can be taken up prior to the National Draft by delisted free agents secured by the club and during the National Draft by rookie elevations.

I was wondering who on D'land believes they can see into the mind of MFC's Coaching and List Management Staff and are able to successfully pick 3 players not currently on our list, who will be at the Demons after all the different the trade period ends. (29 November 2012) You can say why you think the Club would have them if you like but it not essential. Get your picks in Before Oct 1 2012. Then when November 29 2012 rolls up we will go back over and see who the was the closest. The winner will receive no accolades or prizes other than the knowledge that for a short time in their life they won a meaningless competition, and Something to do in the lull between Footy Seasons, and A little smugness (and only a little please), and A little strutting action, and finally, A head held high. My Picks 1. Josh Drummond 2. Chris Knights 3. Jordan Russell

BACK TO SQUARE ONE by Whispering Jack Much of the discussion concerning this year's AFL National Draft has been on the subject of whether the quality and depth of the players available are such that would make it a "super draft" in much the same way as it was back in 2001 when Luke Hodge, Luke Ball and Chris Judd went 1-2-3, Jimmy Bartel and Nick dal Santo also went in the first round, Stevie J, Sam Mitchell, Dane Swan and Brian Lake went further down the list and Melbourne bombed out as usual. Emma Quayle, who is the resident draft guru at the Age newspaper, considers this year's version to be "Good, but not quite a 'super draft'." She cites the AFL recruiters (and they should know) whose feeling is "that the coming draft hovers somewhere between 'normal' and 'pretty good,' but that it is not one with the potential to solve everyone's problem in one hit." To that, I say "darn" because, from a Melbourne perspective, the club continues to have problems after five years of rebuilding and with plenty of early draft picks on its list. Destined to finish bottom four and having activated both Scully "compensation" selections and with the advent of free agency, the Demons must make the most out of its recruiting at the end of the year. This horror year for the club in terms of on and off field disappointments must be turned around by some deft work at the trade table, some smart use of free agency and by getting its draft picks right. There have already been suggestions that it will not be relying simply on the draft to regenerate its list and perhaps, the recruiters have been looking to ladder leading Sydney for inspiration. At the end of season 2009, the Swans were on what seemed to be a downward spiral into possible oblivion before trading into an extra first round draft pick for Darren Jolly. They ended up with Gary Rohan and Lewis Jetta as first round selections followed by Sam Reid at number 38 to go with trade picks Shane Mumford, Josh Kennedy and Ben McGlynn. That was on top of securing the NAB rising star from the previous year's draft (at 30). They develop their players well up there but there's no doubt that Sydney's recruiting has been first class. Meanwhile, we Melbourne fans have been waiting patiently for our bevy of early draft picks to come on stream and show us more than just promise. There are some extenuating circumstances behind the performances of the Demon youngsters including some extraordinarily bad luck injuries but, on the whole, "disappointment" is the best description of the club's recruiting efforts over the past half decade (and beyond). We have yet to develop a player into a champion or even one who might one day wear that mantle and, after all this time, the feeling is very much that we are back to square one. There might still be a few months of football left in this season, but for those of us who support clubs that can't make the finals, it's time to look to the off season trading and drafting period that will last till close on Christmas. For Melbourne, this is the time frame it has to repair a list that has a number of deficiencies, most notably its substandard midfield and its lack of forward fire power, particularly those who can apply pressure to keep the ball in attack and to crumb and kick goals. Fortunately, the club does have one piece of the jigsaw under control in the form of father/son prospect Jack Viney who is a small midfielder of the inside variety who is hard at it and committed to the club. Viney is already within the system and has played one game at Casey where he acquitted himself well until Geelong's David Wocjinski connected with his jaw and broke it. The youngster came back in time to play two fairly decent games for Vic Metro in the national under 18 championships but he missed out on All Australian selection (see below). The trade/draft period kicks off officially soon after the grand final with the Draft Combine followed shortly thereafter by an elongated trade "week" which starts with the father/son bidding and the GWS Mini Draft. Viney's fate is therefore likely to be one of the first outcomes of the off season activities. The big question is whether he will cost the club a first or second round draft selection under father/son bidding and, given that most experts consider him to be just outside the top five, this would depend mainly on the integrity of the clubs finishing below Melbourne on the ladder. Would a club like GWS bid for Viney simply to act as a spoiler for Melbourne to force it to use its first pick? One would have thought such a move to be counterproductive. It could take a potential pick out of contention for use in the GWS Mini Draft and even more so, would benefit a number of rival clubs by effectively moving them up one rung in selection. And that's even before one considers issues such as draft tampering and clubs acting as honest brokers. I recall Craig Cameron once commenting on how important honesty and straight dealing have become in the modern, professional era of recruiting. There will be days when the actions of those who act in spite, will come back to bite them on the bum. This year, the GWS Mini Draft will be interesting and Melbourne is a likely player with three first round picks currently at its disposal and two WA 17 year old sensations in Jack Martin and Jesse Hogan already front and square in the calculations of the recruiters - Young guns Jack Martin, Jesse Hogan remain stoic. Both lads are All Australians and most good judges consider the wait for their services (they can't play AFL until 2014) more than worthwhile. Next time, I will take a look at the likely prospects for the national draft. Foremost among them will be the 22 who made the 2012 NAB AFL All-Australian team:- Defenders: Sam Colquhoun (SA), Matt Scharenberg (SA), Luke McDonald (Vic Metro), Jimmy Toumpas (SA), Jesse Hogan (WA), Nick Vlastuin (Vic Metro) Midfield: James Aish (SA), Oliver Wines (Vic Country), Lachie Whitfield (Vic Country), Brodie Grundy (SA), Jonathon O'Rourke (Vic Metro), Nathan Hrovat (Vic Metro) Forwards: Jack Billings (Vic Metro), Taylor Garner (Vic Country), Jack Martin (WA), Ben Kennedy (SA), Joe Daniher (Vic Metro), Matthew McDonough (SA) Interchange: Andrew Boston (QLD), Dayle Garlett (WA), Jake Neade (NT), Jackson Thurlow (TAS) Later: Whispering Jack will reveal his favourite among the young up and comers. Hint: last year he picked Jack Viney who wasn't drafted and this year's pick wont be drafted either!

At the risk of sounding delusional, (given Billy Stretch looks about 8yrs old in the 2010 articles I've seen), we do have a couple of promising father and son mids coming through in Viney this year and Billy Stretch in 2014. The wraps on Billy Stretch out of Adelaide are extremely encouraging ie Chris Judd comparisons. When you think that a number of our young players will have 50 - 90 games under their belts by then, this makes current developments a little easier to take. Stating the obvious, a couple of damaging mids would solve a lot of issues.