Overall what do Demonlanders think?

Myself I reckon we've done well, firstly we got our big forward prior to the draft then we picked up another in the draft. If Sellar fires he will be the bargain of the draft and if they both click we could have one of the best forward lines in the comp. Clark, Sellar, Green, Jurrah, Sylvia (?), Davey, Petterd and maybe Watts if he doesn't play up the ground.

Then we picked up a couple of hard at it backs to complement the other harder type players we have recruited; all of a sudden we are looking more formidable. There will be pressure for spots and if any player throws in the towel in a game he will be replaced with someone that won't.

I think that despite the poor draft and the poor picks we have chosen well, of course only time will tell.

talia would of been better

I think the main story of the draft, is that we needed 2 really huge bodied KPPs to implement Neeld's game plan properly and to play other players (Watts, Jurrah etc) in positions that suit them. We've done that well with Mitch Clark and Seller, both are only 23 years old and we only gave up pick 12 and 54 to get it done. These 2 players will have immediate impact on our team for 2012, which is important, because for too long we've always had our eyes on 2-3 years ahead. The time to start winning is NOW.

With pick 36 and 52 it seems we've got 2 players that we really rated. Both have good height for running players and strong bodies. Both have versatility and had hard-at-it. Exactly what our club needs. Tynan in particular fills an important hole in our list, which is a defensive minded half back flanker who is disciplined and can release Grimes and Tapscott to the midfield.

The other story of this draft was that we did NOT use our compo picks.

That means that we've set ourselves up for a huge draft next year, assuming we finish around 8th next year and activate our 2 compo picks, we will have pick 11, 12 and 13. One of those will be Jack Viney and then we'll still be able to pick up 2 young midfielders in a super strong draft. We'll also have a pick in the 30s. Our midfield at the minute lacks class and depth, but after next year, we should really be able to turn it into a strength

I'm very happy with the first 2 picks - and ill wait and see on Sellar.

If you consider we effectively drafted Mitch Clark with pick 12, we almost certainly had the best results of any club.

talia would of been better

Interesting that you say that, even though we have 5 KP defenders on our list, and that Talia was not really rated even in phantom drafts much higher than 25ish in a draft that was severely compromised and the weakest draft in many years. He is also 192cm, so isn't really in a position to take the super massive key forwards of the AFL, and we already have Rivers, Garland and Davis around that height as key defenders. Talia also was criticised for having questionable decision making.

What we do need is some more defensive minded, big bodied midfielders who have versatility and are hard-at-it... which we got in Taggert. That's something that could really add a new dimension to our midfield and help our Moloney who plays a lone-hand in our team as an agressive bid bodied midfielder.

It's the first time I have ever felt confidence in the club in developing kids. If Bailey and his coaching team where still in charge I would give our recruits very little chance of surviving past the standard 2 year contract.

Just get that feeling that they could be excellent pick ups with Neeld guiding them.

Mctaggert and Tynan are not skinny kids, big bodied and could make an impact next year.

Sellar is great insurance for Clarke and can play centre half back as well , this gives us plenty of options,especially if Tom Macdonald comes on.

I like the clubs thinking on this,and think we have done well.

I think the direction of the footy club is to start winning now. A recycled big pretty much says it all. They are taking a punt on guys who can contribute straight away and Sellar is that guy.

I am always indifferent with the ND, but I feel comfortable with these picks.

talia would of been better

Is it 2009 again?

Groundhog draft.

Sylvinator is right. We have to remember that for us the draft began when we traded pick 12 for Mitch C. I am happy to have a couple of tallish, bodied defender/midfieders.

What intrigues me is who else was in contention when our pick 52 came around. The club says they thought Josh Tynan might have gone in the 30s when we opted for Taggert, yet when pick 52 rolled up the recruiters still went into a huddle because they thought there were choices to be made (having committed to taking Sellar at 54). We also were supposed to have told Tynan's family we'd take him if we could.

So who was causing the uncertainty?

While we will never be sure, it'll be interesting to see how picks 53 (Alex Woodward), 55 (Mathew Arnot) and 56 (Tom Downie) develop.

At 175cm Woodward does not fit our drafting profile this year, and at 180cm I guess Arnot will need something special, and Downie (205cm) is a bit Gawn-like. How many beanpoles do you need if you're not a market gardener?

I wonder if we were thinking about Nick O'Brien who took his 188cm and 91kg (!) frame to Essendon at pick 59.

Anyone with some intel on this?

I'm very happy with the first 2 picks - and ill wait and see on Sellar.

If you consider we effectively drafted Mitch Clark with pick 12, we almost certainly had the best results of any club.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

What a great move that seems to have been.

In hindsight when you look at the Draft picks available to us at pick 12, it ends up being a no brainer that Mitch Clark was an equivalent to a top 5 pick at least, and ready made.

Taggert 85kg already a big body. I'd love to think Sellars will turn out good, but can anyone tell me why he was only given 21 games at the crows under Craig. Yet Craig has been the one pushing to get him. Has he had injury problems or other issues.?

What intrigues me is who else was in contention when our pick 52 came around. The club says they thought Josh Tynan might have gone in the 30s when we opted for Taggert, yet when pick 52 rolled up the recruiters still went into a huddle because they thought there were choices to be made (having committed to taking Sellar at 54). We also were supposed to have told Tynan's family we'd take him if we could.

So who was causing the uncertainty?

Melbourne was keen on Jackson Paine, who Collingwood took with Pick 50.

I'd love to think Sellar will turn out good, but can anyone tell me why he was only given 21 games at the crows under Craig. Yet Craig has been the one pushing to get him. Has he had injury problems or other issues.?

that was the first thing that came to mind too, and through all the reading i have done since we drafted him the answer is not out there yet.

i guess is that he was drafted for insurance purposes

that was the first thing that came to mind too, and through all the reading i have done since we drafted him the answer is not out there yet.

i guess is that he was drafted for insurance purposes

I agree. Yes we have Mitch Clark, but should Clark go down with an injury, we're the same list as per 2011. Sellar adds that extra flexibility to swing players all over the place. We now have the ability to play clark, sellar, jamar, martin all fwd or in the ruck and some of them in the back line.

I think the main story of the draft, is that we needed 2 really huge bodied KPPs to implement Neeld's game plan properly and to play other players (Watts, Jurrah etc) in positions that suit them. We've done that well with Mitch Clark and Seller, both are only 23 years old and we only gave up pick 12 and 54 to get it done. These 2 players will have immediate impact on our team for 2012, which is important, because for too long we've always had our eyes on 2-3 years ahead. The time to start winning is NOW.

With pick 36 and 52 it seems we've got 2 players that we really rated. Both have good height for running players and strong bodies. Both have versatility and had hard-at-it. Exactly what our club needs. Tynan in particular fills an important hole in our list, which is a defensive minded half back flanker who is disciplined and can release Grimes and Tapscott to the midfield.

The other story of this draft was that we did NOT use our compo picks.

That means that we've set ourselves up for a huge draft next year, assuming we finish around 8th next year and activate our 2 compo picks, we will have pick 11, 12 and 13. One of those will be Jack Viney and then we'll still be able to pick up 2 young midfielders in a super strong draft. We'll also have a pick in the 30s. Our midfield at the minute lacks class and depth, but after next year, we should really be able to turn it into a strength

Nicely summed up Sylvinator. If you had have asked yourself what we needed at the end of the season it would have been 2 big bodied fwds. Job done. Sellar and Clark are good to go now. Bery important. And if Sellar doesn't work we have plenty of talls in the pipeline that are developing.

If you read the summary of draft review from the club it is clear to see that they crawl over every snippet of info about players. They do their homework. More than everyone posting here.

My mail is we were very close to taking Jackson Paine a tall skinny fwd but decided that big bodies in the end were essential. Taggert you see is also 86+kgs. Won't get knocked off the ball too easily.

Interesting that you say that, even though we have 5 KP defenders on our list, and that Talia was not really rated even in phantom drafts much higher than 25ish in a draft that was severely compromised and the weakest draft in many years. He is also 192cm, so isn't really in a position to take the super massive key forwards of the AFL, and we already have Rivers, Garland and Davis around that height as key defenders. Talia also was criticised for having questionable decision making.

Bate and Dunn are 192cm so its not as if we need more players that height.

Honestly, I'm not overly happy. Yes, we had some pretty poor picks to use, but I don't think we addressed any of the critical needs with these selections. I maintain that our greatest current holes are in the forward and back pockets and yet we drafted two big-bodied mid/HBF style players and a general purpose tall. Obviously Neeld wants stronger bodies all over the ground, and with Collingwood he's had a lot of experience getting the best out of these sorts of players, but I would have loved to have seen the real weaknesses addressed.

RM, I agree that the genuine crumbing forward and a quick tight defender to play on opposition equivalents are holes in the list, but I think the crumbing forward is an icing on the cake position: for a crumber to be effective he needs contests to crumb off. We have drafted players to make contests. It really looks to me that we will start kicking it to contests, which we may not expect to win (i.e. mitch clark won't be taking 20 marks a week) but we will expect contests rather than kicks to unmarked opposition defenders like happened sometimes this year.

RE the small quick defender, I am not sure how critical this position is. Sure we struggle to match up on a couple of these players, but we often use Frawley or Garland on La Cras or Milne to reasonable effect, and Benell and Bartram can fill that role without excelling. Unless we were going to pick up a player that would do the role better than any of our current options, it would be redundant drafting for it. And TBH I thought that was the sort of role that Josh Tynan currently plays (small defender, 187cm 76kgs, although perhaps he is more of a running defender rather than a tagging defender?).