The National Draft - some thoughts

[sylvinator 96]

From what I've seen in the national championships and the other limited knowledge, I have, this is my break down of the first round:

Dean Bailey made in clear there are 4 standouts. Therefore our pick 1 is out of:

1. Watts- KPP

2. Rich- Mid

3. Naitanui- Ruck/ athletic freak

4. Vickery- Ruck/ forward

The rest of the top 10 picks are pretty settled and it is quite clear that these players will most likely be gone by our pick 17/19:

5. Yarran (Bailey rates him 5-7, won't go past 10)

6. Hartlett (many rate the best mid in the draft close to Rich)

7. Hurley (the highest rated true KPP in the draft)

8. Sidebottom (after his GF no way he'll slide to 17)

9. Zeibell (too highly rated to fall any further than pick 10)

10. L. Johnston (highly rated KPF- he's from SA and Adel have pick 10 and need forwards)

14. Ayce Cordy (Father-son pick)

There are therefore 9 more players to be picked till pick 19, two of which will become MFC players.

I will list the players who are in the mix, of which 2 will be our picks...

11. Blease- a VERY fast, highly skilled midfielders. If we were drafting for needs, his pace through the midfield would be perfect for MFC.

12. McKernan- big, strong and agile like his brother. could be great, only query would be if at 197cm is his size stuck between KPP and Ruck?

13. Trengove- behind Hurley, then next most highly rated KP defender in the draft. 196cm and agile.

15. Robinson- played amazingly well in the championships. is a midfielder who could step in rnd1 and probably be in our starting 4 midfielders.

16. Swift- 2 knee recos, but at u16 level was supposed to be the number 1 pick by a mile. a risk, but one that geelong can afford to take. tested well at draft camp.

17. Suban- has the form on the board! 2 AAs in a row, is a great footballer and will be a half back flanker that we need

18. Hill- most agile player ever tested pretty much. looked awesome in the championships. WCE would love him to slip to them.

19. Cornelius- KP forward. We need 2 young key forwards coming through at minimum! this guy looked great for tassie in the championships. strong mark and agile. Watts, Cornelius added to Miller, Maric, Sylvia, Bate and Davey would mean our forward line could actually become a strength!

Another 4 players who would fit in nicely at our picks and could all easily slip into the first round:

- Schoenmakers- agile 192cm forward

- Heyne- clever 185cm forward

- Zaharakis- quick as lightning

- Walters- quick and classy

So ... my picks would be

1. Watts

17. Suban

19. Cornelius

Justification: We need to add 2 keyfowards with Miller and Newton our only current options. Also, with Wheatley (28), Whelan (30) and McDonald (31) our 3 half back flankers atm (i dont rate CJ that highly) we need to look at some quality half backs and Suban is the answer. We drafted Cheney for this purpose last year however he was a speculative pick. I know our midfield needs strengthening, especially some pace, however this can be looked at later in the draft, plus we picked up 2 gun mids last year (Grimes and Morton)!

As i mentioned, you could essentially throw a blanket over the players from pick 11-pick26... so it's a distinct possibility that a guy like Blease could slip to us.

Considering my framework of the players MFC has to choose from, who would you choose for MFC's picks??????[/b]

[DeeMfc 621]

So... my picks would be

1. Watts

17. Suban

19. Cornelius

As i mentioned, you could essentially throw a blanket over the players from pick 11-pick26... so it's a distinct possibility that a guy like Blease could slip to us.

Considering my framework of the players MFC has to choose from, who would you choose for MFC's picks??????[/b]

[DEMON WITHIN 0]

For what it is worth and i did manage to get to quite a few of the TAC cup matches....i would take

1. Watts

17. Cornelius

19. Zaharakis

35. Neville Jetta

It is important to consider what this draft really means to our future...i believe that with the true depth in key position talent, this is the year we MUST cash in. Yes, it may seem tempting to have variety in our picks, but with gaping holes all across the park currently, this must be seen as a 3 year strategy.

Sylvinator...i am on this site regularly looking for morsels of common sense in amongst the Yze Magic's of the world and i find your posts along with some of the sages of this site such as whispering jack et al. to bring some class to this forum. Maybe others will read and follow suit.

[Scoop Junior 3,513]

I would ideally like midfielders with picks 17 and 19. Our midfield is weak and needs strengthening and we need a couple of guns in there. 17 and 19 in a strong draft is a good chance to pick up a couple of very good midfielders.

I don't know the draftees that well so I can't really comment on which ones in particular I would want.

But I hope that we can pick up two excellent midfielders to add to Jack Watts.

[Dee tention 617]

Pick 35 - Rory Sloane if he gets that far!

[dee-luded 2,959]

So... my picks would be

1. Watts

17. Suban

19. Cornelius

As i mentioned, you could essentially throw a blanket over the players from pick 11-pick26... so it's a distinct possibility that a guy like Blease could slip to us.

Considering my framework of the players MFC has to choose from, who would you choose for MFC's picks??????[/b]

You're spot on there Sylvinator !

If Blease was available at 17 I would take him and take Suban at 19.

I,m similar of mind, but with a slant to our forwardline so here's mine, class this year. :-

1/----- Watts...

17/19-- (Blease/Suban/Zarharakis) + Ryan Shoenmakers...

35/----- DeBoer/Broadbent/Redden

I don't think Cornelious, who I was interested in early in the season, is all that much chop, from what I,ve seen. I fear he lacks the class & not hard enough @ it.

Youv'e either got to be classy or tough, & hopefully with a bit of both.

[bjgc 0]

My wish list would be:

1. WATTS

17. MCKERNAN

19. ROUGHHEAD

35. HALL

[Keepin up with the Joneses 48]

From what i've seen in the national championships and the other limited knowledge i have, this is my break down of the first round.

Bailey made in clear there are 4 standouts. Therefore our pick 1 is out of:

1. Watts- KPP

2. Rich- Mid

3. Naitanui- Ruck/ athletic freak

4. Vickery- Ruck/ forward

The rest of the top 10 picks are pretty settled and it is quite clear that these players will most likely be gone by our pick 17/19:

5. Yarren (Bailey rates him 5-7, won't go past 10)

6. Hartlett (many rate the best mid in the draft close to Rich)

7. Hurley (the highest rated true KPP in the draft)

8. Sidebottom (after his GF no way he'll slide to 17)

9. Zeibell (too highly rated to fall any further than pick 10)

10. L.Johnstone (highly rated KPF- he's from SA and Adel have pick 10 and need forwards)

14. Ayce Cordy (Father-son pick)

There are therefore 9 more players to be picked till pick 19, two of which will become MFC players.

I will list the players who are in the mix, of which 2 will be our picks...

11. Blease- a VERY fast, highly skilled midfielders. If we were drafting for needs, his pace through the midfield would be perfect for MFC.

12. McKernan- big, strong and agile like his brother. could be great, only query would be if at 197cm is his size stuck between KPP and Ruck?

13. Trengove- behind Hurley, then next most highly rated KP defender in the draft. 196cm and agile.

15. Robinson- played amazingly well in the championships. is a midfielder who could step in rnd1 and probably be in our starting 4 midfielders.

16. Swift- 2 knee recos, but at u16 level was supposed to be the number 1 pick by a mile. a risk, but one that geelong can afford to take. tested well at draft camp.

17. Suban- has the form on the board! 2 AAs in a row, is a great footballer and will be a half back flanker that we need

18. Hill- most agile player ever tested pretty much. looked awesome in the championships. WCE would love him to slip to them.

19. Cornelius- KP forward. We need 2 young key forwards coming through at minimum! this guy looked great for tassie in the championships. strong mark and agile. Watts, Cornelius added to Miller, Maric, Sylvia, Bate and Davey would mean our forward line could actually become a strength!

another 4 players who would fit in nicely at our picks and could all easily slip into the first round:

- Schoenmakers- agile 192cm forward

- Heyne- clever 185cm forward

- Zaharakis- quick as lightning

- Walters- quick and classy

So... my picks would be

1. Watts

17. Suban

19. Cornelius

Justification: We need to add 2 keyfowards with Miller and Newton our only current options. Also, with Wheatley (28), Whelan (30) and McDonald (31) our 3 half back flankers atm (i dont rate CJ that highly) we need to look at some quality half backs and Suban is the answer. We drafted Cheney for this purpose last year however he was a speculative pick. I know our midfield needs strengthening, especially some pace, however this can be looked at later in the draft, plus we picked up 2 gun mids last year (Grimes and Morton)!

As i mentioned, you could essentially throw a blanket over the players from pick 11-pick26... so it's a distinct possibility that a guy like Blease could slip to us.

Considering my framework of the players MFC has to choose from, who would you choose for MFC's picks??????[/b]

Great Post

For mine, analysing snippes from everyone here.

1 - Watts (please oh god please make this happen)

17 - Blease (As above)

19 - Zaharakis / McKernan Depending on who is left over

I am not entirely upset by not loading up with talls this draft (aside from Watts) , as I believe that we will have the pick of the best 2 in the land next year, and whilst their names escape me, a couple of videos that were posted a while back show there is some talent available next year also.

Of course it depends who is left by our picks.

My sole request, don't recruit flankers! Give me genuine midfielders with skill and speed, and genuine key position players, 195 and above.

Please

[Goodvibes 3,596]

I'm in the Watts camp for our first pick. 17 and 19 are going to be very interesting. Based purely on reading truckloads of first hand reports, I'd be happy if we could snare two of Swift, Hill, Blease, Zaharakis, Robinson, Heyne and Walters. Of the talls many consider to still be available at the start of the second round, I'm most interested in Shoenmakers or Trengove. Cornelius (lack of speed), Mckernan (in-between size) Johnston (ordinary kick) and Lisle (agility) all have question marks that conern me. I'm with Scoop. Two midfielders at 17 and 19 would be very nice indeed. If one became an "A" grade midfielder we might just have a future.

[mo64 5,880]

I would ideally like midfielders with picks 17 and 19. Our midfield is weak and needs strengthening and we need a couple of guns in there. 17 and 19 in a strong draft is a good chance to pick up a couple of very good midfielders.

I don't know the draftees that well so I can't really comment on which ones in particular I would want.

But I hope that we can pick up two excellent midfielders to add to Jack Watts.

Scoop, are you suggesting that we draft according to needs, rather than the old chestnut of "best available"? If so, I totally agree.

And you were honest enough to admit that you're not in a position to nominate any particular players. Neither is Bailey, let alone most of the posters on this forum.

[Scoop Junior 3,513]

Scoop, are you suggesting that we draft according to needs, rather than the old chestnut of "best available"? If so, I totally agree.

Not necessarily. If our recruiting staff deemed the KPP as a much better prospect than the midfielder, then I would be happy to go for the KPP. But if there are a bunch of players that we rate around the same mark, and that bunch includes KPPs and midfielders, then I'd like us to err towards midfielders.

I don't think it's absolutely critical to have two gun tall KP forwards (assuming Watts will develop into our gun tall KP forward). It is critical though to have a few gun midfielders.

[Freak 100]

i dont want hill. he isnt good enough by foot. sure he has a straight long kick when no under pressure...but under pressure he puts a blowtorch to the ball too often. a poor mans shane edwards. i prefer zaharakis. cornelius is a clone of brad fisher from carlton..an absolute clone.

[BAMF 4,385]

great post!

Yeah im on the 2 midfielder bandwagon!

Preference for who is left after your predicted top ten -

Swift - mortons best mate, stats at draft camp were apparently awesome, very quick

Blease - very quick! there is some good footage of him on youtube

Don't know if these guys would slip back to our picks though.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,936]

Just get some speed in the midfield. That's the priority!

Also if McKernan turns out to be half as good as his brother was in his North days, then we could be onto something.

The let-down of trade week will be offset by a great draft for the MFC. I reckon we'll be get a gem at pick 17!

[Goodvibes 3,596]

i dont want hill. he isnt good enough by foot. sure he has a straight long kick when no under pressure...but under pressure he puts a blowtorch to the ball too often. a poor mans shane edwards. i prefer zaharakis. cornelius is a clone of brad fisher from carlton..an absolute clone.

You seem to expect that 17 or 18 year olds are the finished product. At 17 or 19 we're not going to be selecting the complete midfielder. It's all going to be about which package we think we have the best shot at turning into a gem. In the case of Hill, it seems you're on the money in regards his weakness. Composure comes with experience and hopefully good coaching. It's tough to teach speed and agility.

[Vipercrunch 2,827]

I know nothing more than what I have read or heard about this years draft, but I will say that our picks 17 and 19 are massively important. We really need to get one, if not both of these right. The chances of getting a champion are very small, but we can't afford to get duds. I think the midfeild needs to be the target area and if both these picks are used on genuine, fast and skillful midfeilders then I will be very happy and will then sit back patiently and hope they develop into very good AFL footballers.

[timD 994]

Mo64 I hope to god that the club is more sophisticated that the false 'needs' vs 'best' argument. It makes no sense.

Scoop, I agree about mids. We need some desparately and having two picks this draft adds to the three we used last draft. Here's hoping that 2-3 of the 5 selected are at least 'very good'.

[Adzman 2,154]

I am of the belief that we need 2 mid fielders with 2 of our top 4 picks. Should there be some strong quality on the table pick 17 and 19 (depends on selections prior to those picks as to who is still on the table).

We have JNR on the down slope of his career, and lack player who can dispose of the ball cleanly. Some crisp ball users are paramount to our rebuilding. I think we have those slower "under the pack" types in Mclean, Jones and to a lesser extent valenti, leaving a void for a classy midfielder or two to blitz clearances and deliver the ball in a clean manner to your forward line. Mclean is a nice balance of both, but his job would be made easier with a class act at centre bounces.

Have heard a few whispers about Jetta around the place, have not seem him in action but know he is a bit of a sleeper this year. Not sure of he is the type of player we are after, but could be wort a later pick.

I am just kicking myself that we did not try and get another pick in this draft.

[Hannabal 4]

I saw Cornelius at Casey Fields and he looked very very good in one quarter. He's slight, but reads the play well and has sticky hands. He ran a slowish 3.12 for 20 metres at DC which really concerns me. Can his reading of the play and marking ability overcome a lack of leg speed ?

Too many doubts for me.

[Goodvibes 3,596]

we did not try and get another pick in this draft.

Where are you getting that information from?

[mo64 5,880]

Mo64 I hope to god that the club is more sophisticated that the false 'needs' vs 'best' argument. It makes no sense.

Scoop, I agree about mids. We need some desparately and having two picks this draft adds to the three we used last draft. Here's hoping that 2-3 of the 5 selected are at least 'very good'.

timD, there comes a time when you have to have a balanced list. If the best available player at pick 17 was a key defender, would you automatically draft him, knowing that we have Garland, Rivers, Martin, Warnock, Frawley, McNamara and bloody Carroll on our list?

Hawthorn didn't draft the "best available" when they picked up Roughhead with pick 2. It was a massive shock at the time. But they did address their needs.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

timD, there comes a time when you have to have a balanced list. If the best available player at pick 17 was a key defender, would you automatically draft him, knowing that we have Garland, Rivers, Martin, Warnock, Frawley, McNamara and bloody Carroll on our list?

Hawthorn didn't draft the "best available" when they picked up Roughhead with pick 2. It was a massive shock at the time. But they did address their needs.

Roughhead was indeed in the top echelon is his year. They were fortunate that there were good talls early. They took the best available

[Bruce Almighty 0]

Pick #1 Jack Watts

Pick #17 Toughest Mid in the draft available

Pick # 19 Toughest KPP available

Pick #35 Another tough mid

Any pick after that try and draft a ruckmen

2009

Pick #1 Steven May

Pick #2 Scully or Butcher

Pick #17 Toughest mid avaiable

Any pick after that try and draft a ruckmen

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

McKernan was a big surprise for me. He's not been mentioned a whole lot, but looking at the way he moves, I thought he was a ripper...

[H.B.K 0]

I'm going for Watts at 1

At 17 if we want a mid who could play rd 1 next year I would go for Mitch Robinson and McKernan could potentially be a good pick up..

I wouldn't mind Roughead at 35