Thanks for the kind words Jock, I appreciate it!

Wombat and Jock, you're both right. I don't like to question those in the football community employed by clubs, but I cannot understand how some teams completely overlook genuine footy skills in favor of beep tests and such as you mentioned Jock. Matt Crouch has been compared to Matt Priddis, one of the most consistent midfielders in the game. I reckon if you got that sort of quality out of pick #23, you'd be laughing all the way to the bank.

Someone else also mentioned to me that the Crows may have lucked out somewhat this year due to several teams like GWS, Collingwood, Brisbans and St. Kilda having multiple selections in the top 25 which meant they may have gone for a needs based player with their 2nd or 3rd picks, rather than just taking the best guy on the board.

Absolutely, Jock. Norwood had some talent in their midfield too, so it's not like the opposition only had 1 guy to target. He played senior football for the Redlegs at 16, and Nathan Bassett certainly isn't the type to gift games to people, he played him because he deserved it.

If i'm Collingwood and he slides down to #10, i'd be on my knees thanking the football gods that I just scored a dead set gun midfielder.

Good to hear the Podcast will be back guys, I look forward to hearing some early fantasy football advise to help shape my 2014 team.

Nice list Jock, I tell you what, you'd be doing a couch jump if you guys draft James Aish. He will be a deadset gun, and make an excellent start to your rebuild project.

OK, here's how I see the top 10 going down.

Lock in the first two GWS as easy picks

Pick #1 - Tom Boyd
Pick #2 - Josh Kelly

St. Kilda Pick #3 - Jack Billings. I think they should take Aish or Scharenberg, who i'm bloody high as a hot air balloon for, but they'll still get a great player in Billings.

Western Bulldogs Pick #4 - James Aish. Ignore the stuff about him not being able to handle a tag. He's 18 years old, he'll learn to deal with pressure of AFL football. Add him to a midfield of Boyd, Griffen, Cooney and the young dogs Liberatore and Wallis and that's starting to shape up nicely.

Gold Coast Pick #5 - Everyone seems deadset on the Suns picking Kade Kolodjashnij, so who am I to argue?

Collingwood Pick #6 - Matt Scharenberg. Could be James Aish if he's not selected by the Bulldogs, but most likely Matt Scharenberg. He'll be a great pickup for them and will slot into the vacated Heath Shaw spot, without the temper tantrums. I'll hate Collingwood so much in this draft if they score Aish and Scharenberg though.

Brisbane Pick #7 - Marcus Bontempelli. Could be Cameron McCarthy as the Jonno Brown replacement if Bontempelli is picked before 7, but this looks like a good pick to me.

North Melbourne Pick #8 - Luke McDonald. F/S pick. Next.

Melbourne Pick #9 - Nathan Freeman. Agree with you on this pick, Jock. Melbourne recruited Bernie Vince from the Crows, who'll provide some help, but they'll still need some more bodies in the midfield.

Collingwood Pick #10 - Cameron McCarthy. I know the Pies recruited Jesse White to play alongside Cloke, but he's a bit of an also ran to me and will constantly tantalize the tastebuds with a good game every month, but provide duds the rest of the time. But this will at least allow McCarthy to spend the year in the VFL with White and Lynch ahead of him and be ready to take over the spot when he's good to go.

Absolutely, Mick. Unfortunately I've never been close to being a top ranked SC, so the bye round tank always works well for me!

I tend to follow the "upside" rule of picking guys, so i'd probably have guys like Prestia, Bennell and Libertore on my depth chart ahead of NDS at this stage.

Interesting read, Mick. I can't say i'm the biggest NDS fan around fantasy wise, but I think that's mostly because I felt burned by his 2012 output for what he cost to get him into my side initially. It will be interesting to see his scores though with Goldstein as his ruck. You brought up last week in your McEvoy article about how his poor ruckwork negatively impacts his scores, but i'm sure that also has a trickle down effect to the midfielders he's not giving first use to. NDS will go from playing with a guy who wins the ruck contests 20-25 times a game to a guy who can double that on a lazy day at the park! I initially wrote NDS off as being a "no" when I heard Mick was writing this, but this article has me questioning it somewhat. I think at worst he'll still be a 100-105 point scorer and someone who'd be an easy upgrade to whoever is running on premium at the end of the year, which isn't the worst thing in the world. I can't say for certain that he'll be in my side, but if I reach a point when i'm doing my initial side and I could only fit in a 500K midfielder, then i'll definitely consider him.

As for the byes, does anyone else like to use the "bring the game into disrepute for a week" (remember, there's no such thing as tanking) strategy? I've used this before as I found it less stressful to say for 1 week "OK, I've got 14-15 guys out this week, the rest of you blokes take it easy and we'll regroup for the next 2 bye rounds". That way i'll only have maybe 4-6 guys out for the next 2 bye rounds and not have to worry about wasting trades or being 1-2 guys short to field a full side.

Yes, those 5 look like the pick of the litter for ruckman going into 2014. I do like Kruezer and Nic Nat because they have potential to kick a few goals as well, but Pyke will be pushing for a selection too.

I'll also still be keeping an eye on Sam Jacobs during the preseason. Still a good tap ruckman, so hopefully he can go into pre-season fit and healthy, unlike last year where he supposedly carried an Achilles injury most of the year (which also highlights how bad Adelaides backup ruckman Angus Graham was that an injured Jacobs was considered a better selection than a healthy Graham).

Young Thomas is definitely one i'm looking at next year, even if his Dad is Tony Liberatore, who if I were to express my true opinion of, it would result in me getting my face slapped by every female in the immediate area for using inappropriate language.

Sounds like a bloody character from a Flash Gordon movie.

That's looking like a really good comparison going into next year. Definite avoid if that is the case!