I didn't put any thought in to the name thing, a huge oversight, obviously. Unforgiveable and I apologise.

hypen, I think I bagged us 4 out of the 6 picks, and had Bondy taking 4 for us as well, and that was prior to also suggesting Davenport/Johnson/Moody in the PSD. Surely thats adressing the need in the guts isn't it? If we draft only in 1 area of the ground then we'll be worse off in 2 years than even the most pessimistic think we are now.

Lets also remember the GC17 impact. Mids win games but not without some bigguns about the place. I'd be tipping the GC boys go pretty strong on the talls next year so we should grab some now.

Grover fights out of his weight and height and does a nice job at it. He'd be a gun 3rd backman, but he is only average as the number 1 or 2 backman. He tries his guts out but gets beaten too often over the course of a game and he needs some help.

re Ballantyne - my thinking that he'd be gone by the time we were considering addressing the SF spot. I also rated Jetta/Richardson/Hall above him, thats just me and a reflection on his style, not his ability.

I don't think the Peel boy will struggle at the next level, its just I think his type of SF play isn't what Freo would be looking for.

He was a primary target for Peel. He lead and marked and got goals from the position of number 1 option. At FFC he'll be the 4th target and will need to create his own goals from crumbing & creativity etc. I've seen him enough to think that this isn't his best go and that we might steer clear for that reason.

On the flip side, I think some other teams bereft of forward bite, may take him earlier than we'd consider it. I would be happy if we got him, but not with any of our first 4 picks and I reckon he'll be gone somewhere by pick 50.

micky martyn, now thats a full backs name.

So basically, from what ive seen and heard... Ballentyne plays like medhurst. And hes younger and a freo supporter.

So whats the problem here?

he's not a crumber, which is what we need.

A crumber is just a player who gets in Pav's way.

I think you mean to say:
A player is just a crumb that gets in Pav's way.

i think bally is a good idea he could play forward or mid he got good skills he wont leave us to go home and he wants to play for us. and he's already got a good nick name, belly is gone bring out the bally.

Dolphin, I really enjoyed the blog that you wrote. But you have us taking a key position player with our third pick in the draft and then others are banging on about Ballentyne! It's a necessity to get some more talls in the side but relative to the present plight of the midfield list, maybe it's a luxury? The hole to fill is Mcmanus, Black, Bell, J & M Carr and Wornock and that need is immediate, not in 4 years time.

First five picks go to getting midfielders and the "One", I reckon.

Thanks hyp, I take ur point and you may well be right. Thats what is so interesting about drafts before they happen, the whole "what should we do?" thing is fun to talk about. Its hard to be right or wrong really, unless I take Lisle with pick 3 of course.

I picked Lisle early for a few reasons.

i) I think the mids available for us with that pick are going to be about as good as those available later on, especially the WA kids.

ii) I think the talls later on are nowhere near as good as those available at that pick, particularly if Lisle is still there. Liam Pickering rates him in the top 5 KPP guys in the draft and says he'll go top 20, which makes him a potential bargain there.

iii) The Lisle pick wasn't so much for 4 years from now, its for 2. his size and weight says he's almost good to go so it was about the season after next when we should be ready to compete for a top 4 again that he'll be about the place.

iv) My own feeling is that you can build a midfield by committee. You get there by volume as much as by individual brilliance outside the Judd's, Black's & Voss's of the world. This may seem to be arguing against my pick, but with talls I think you only have room for a few at each end and you need to grab good ones if they're there. With mids the difference between pick 25 and pick 50 is likely to be much less than it is for a biggun taken at pick 25 and one taken at 50. Not least because there are so many more mids out there than there are big guys.

v) Finally on this point, Lisle is who I would take, so its almost a dead certainty that he, or someone like him won't be chosen. I had Freo taking Pearce with that pick and, although perhaps not a true middie, he adds to our midfield by allowing others to move there permanently. So one half of my brain agrees with you.

I agree on the Ballantyne thing. I wouldn't take him for the reasons I've said, unless ofcourse he's still around at pick 60-70 that we have.

Onwano, from what I have seen, Hayden and Medders are very good comparisons. I now delve in to more roman numerals to explain my thougts on him;

i) He is a lead up player like Medders yet will never be as big, or as strong and is not as good in the air.

ii) Medders at Claremont was still the 3rd wheel. He had Anthony Jones and 1 other different taller option in his fwd line with him and was therefore used to being more damaging with less opportunities.

iii) Medders is far more creative than Ballentyne.

iv) Ballantyne actually loses quite a few of his close one on one contests. By weight of opportunity and the fact that the only other guy in the Peel fwd line is the corpse of Dean Buszan he gets crack after crack and wins enough of them to make it pay off. At AFL level he'll need a similar setup (in my humble opinion). Richardson, Hall, Jetta, Walters et al are better options for US, I think.

v) I really couldn't give a rats who he supports in the AFL, neither should we and neither will the recruiters. By week 2 of preseason he'll hate everyone. By the way, Brad Bootsma was a freo supprter too.

As I said, I think the guy will be effective at AFL level and that people will say "why didn't we grab him" as he kicks his 50th for Melbourne, Essendon or North in a couple of years. But what they will forget as they say that, is that his game isn't best suited to Freo's current setup. Now maybe Harves is going to change that and they take him anyway, or maybe I'm plain wrong, but thats my read on current info.

Roger - now there's a real footballer's name.

We've got one already, but we could use a bunch of Rogers and show Eyebrows what we're made of - we could give the AwFL an almighty Rogering.

"Draft primer" for the club (click)

...but we already know pretty much everything there.

Now you're on to something polly. I couldn't find any Roger's worth taking but hell, deed poll's exist so we should be getting all our backline to change their names to Roger.

Pants - take that to the Board when you're elected will you. Freo needs to make sure our opponents get more Rogering down back.

Dolphin your reference to taking Ballentyne over or before Moody, I don't agree with. Moody,s past history at South Freo colts was a showcase of his natural talents, that being a true forward position player with the ability to run midfield or off a wing. Moody struggled whilst at the Lions after an amazing start, however this was mostly due to a long term groin injury which was only operated on late in 2008. I for one hope the Dockers pick him up in the PSD, with his past history as a junior Bulldog and Scott now an assistant coach I think the Dockers have all the information they need to decide if he is a required player for them or not.

Hi Quadrant, I don't think I did suggest Ballantyne over Moody. I certainly said that Davenport or Johnson should be picked up before him though. I'd have Davenport ahead of the Moody/Johnno quinella which is hard to split.

Totally agree with you on the info they will have about him. So if he is taken ahead of the guys I've suggested then I would be convinced simply because those guys will know lots more about him than me.

If we were to start drafting talls, is anyone familiar with a player who has nominated - Casey Sibosado? I saw some footage of him at work today, and he looked really impressive.
Big fella who is going to get bigger, really strong hands and quite agile. Mock drafts (not of this quality) have him going in the 80's and 90's, he is better than that.

Any news on him?

Edit: I see Dolphin did consider him as a fourth round pick, it will be interesting to see where he goes. I think he will be second round.

What sort of work was he doing?

more than me.

I haven't seen anyting of him but he sounds a real goer in the info that I had on him. I didn't have him available with our last picks in the 60 & 70's because I think he'll be gone if we don't take him in the 50's.

The reason I didn't "take" him with my picks was because I took a bigger guy earlier and thought we needed middies given that. The reason I didn't have Freo taking him was because I thought Richardson would attract them more.

I wouldn't be surprised if he goes earlier than I considered him available because of his size and agility and that there will obviously be recruiting guys who've seen him play and I haven't. He is a WA boy who played for **** in the underage Nats.

He may even be someone that Freo take in the 20's picks instead of Lisle if Rich falls to us at 3 if his play matches his bio information.

For what its worth, Matt Burgan at AFL.com has done his usual Phantom Draft. He's usually OK in terms of accuracy. This year I think he's got it wrong a bit with us but if you like draft info, this is worth a read.

http://afl.com.au/Ne...SARTICLE/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=70169

For those who don't want to read the whole thing he has us taking;
Rich, McKernan (Vic Ruck), Heyne (Vic Mid), Ballantyne, Benjamin (WA mid), Pearce, Hill (Vic Ruck), Moody.

Poor NikNat to the filth by his guess.

Wouldn't upset me at all if we ended up with that lot, although I'd swap Cockie/deBoer for Benjamin.

2 more Vic ruckmen?
They take 2-3 years to develop, just in time to attract interest from one of the many Vic teams who can offer them an all inclusive expenses paid trip home.