Jump to content

Featured Replies

24 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Jack Bytel remains the mystery.  If the medicals show promise, he could be a huge steal.  

Agreed. He’s a first round talent who’s slid due to back injuries this year. He’s not really what we need, but if his body is ok he’d have to be considered. Very talented and determined young ball winner.

 
20 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Agreed. He’s a first round talent who’s slid due to back injuries this year. He’s not really what we need, but if his body is ok he’d have to be considered. Very talented and determined young ball winner.

Why isn't he what we need?

Our list has enough grunt and inside ball winning ability, but needs more players with elite kicking skills who can provide run.

We also need more tall forward coverage, as there are only two on our entire list now.

So while we are well stocked for inside mids, Bytel is a talented player who is well worth considering if his body is right.

If we do hit the draft with 23 and 28 I’m hoping for Williams and O’Halloran.

Edited by Lord Travis

 
5 minutes ago, WERRIDEE said:

Why isn't he what we need?

Probably because we have several inside midfielders on our list. If he has come back to full fitness, i wouldn't hesitate to draft him. After all, we did lose Tyson and Jones is getting long in the tooth and you can never have too much quality.

Need to keep the midfield age profile well spread too.

8 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Our list has enough grunt and inside ball winning ability, but needs more players with elite kicking skills who can provide run.

We also need more tall forward coverage, as there are only two on our entire list now.

So while we are well stocked for inside mids, Bytel is a talented player who is well worth considering if his body is right.

If we do hit the draft with 23 and 28 I’m hoping for Williams and O’Halloran.

I think I'll be happy with whoever Taylor picks at 23 and 28 he has the runs on the board. I would seriously think Williams is off the table after watching Taylor on inside Melbourne. Mids, mids and more mids he's obsessed with mids. Next year we will probably look tall depending on how Bradtke develops but they must rate him pretty highly to put your eggs in the Bradtke basket.


6 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

I think I'll be happy with whoever Taylor picks at 23 and 28 he has the runs on the board. I would seriously think Williams is off the table after watching Taylor on inside Melbourne. Mids, mids and more mids he's obsessed with mids. Next year we will probably look tall depending on how Bradtke develops but they must rate him pretty highly to put your eggs in the Bradtke basket.

Good to hear, I feel the same.

tonight will tell the story - 1st round

in a way it helps MFC for pick 23 (3rd or 4th pick on Friday morning) as we can sit down and talk through our options and who is available 

it is a midfield focus according to Taylor’s discussion

might have to see if any top 20 player slides as is usually happens but then consider why (work rate, attitude, other teams draft  priorities)

 

41 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

tonight will tell the story - 1st round

in a way it helps MFC for pick 23 (3rd or 4th pick on Friday morning) as we can sit down and talk through our options and who is available 

it is a midfield focus according to Taylor’s discussion

might have to see if any top 20 player slides as is usually happens but then consider why (work rate, attitude, other teams draft  priorities)

 

Completely agree the two day draft really helps us pause and rethink all possibilities with 23 and 28. Even more so gives me confidence that whoever Taylor chooses will be the right picks. 

 

would we entertain trading 23 and 28 to get a pick inside the 20s?

That would mean one less pick but could use 62 to promote Tim Smith (guessing 91 to promote Maynard is a lock)

1 hour ago, Red and Blue Flame said:

would we entertain trading 23 and 28 to get a pick inside the 20s?

That would mean one less pick but could use 62 to promote Tim Smith (guessing 91 to promote Maynard is a lock)

 

Really depends on whether the “sliders” are high on our list or not.


Been some talk the Bulldogs may look to trade down if Bailey Smith is gone before their pick. If he is, I'd be offering 28 and next years' first rounder for pick 7. Pick 16 is worth 1067 (was going to say pick 18, which is 985 points :pj:) and 28 is worth 677. Pick 7 is worth 1644 so it is in fair trade territory. Means any bids for Bedford cost less as well.

Our draft position has slipped a bit - pick #23 is now pick 27 to 29 in a number of the 'phantom' drafts and pick #28 is now in the low to mid 30's, courtesy of the high number of F/S and Academy 'Tied' players at the pointy end of the draft?

Most of the clubs to which a player is 'Tied' have traded out their first round picks for later pick points.  This distorts the draft as both they and the club that now holds their 1st round pick get a top player pushing the rest down the order.

It somewhat defeats the purpose of trading to get into the top quartile of the draft.

This situation will happen more and more with so many Academies in place and F/S players.  Feel the current trading/bidding system needs to be revisited by the AFL.  Removing the point discount might be a good start.

Edited by Lucifer's Hero

Based on watching nothing more than highlights and what I think is realistic based on our selections my preferred 4 picks would be OHalloran, Bytel, one of Turner/McKenzie and Bedford. Assuming no long term back concerns our list and development support allows us to give Bytel the time to get himself right and risk a boom or bust pick. My view is Walsh aside his video highlights show the next best rounded midfield attributes. 

17 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

The latest Twomey phantom draft -

LATE MAIL TOP 30

Pick 1 – Carlton – Sam Walsh
Pick 2 – Gold Coast – Jack Lukosius
Pick 3 – Gold Coast – Izak Rankine
Pick 4 – St Kilda – Max King
Pick 5 – Port Adelaide – Connor Rozee
Pick 6 – Gold Coast – Ben King
Pick 7 – Western Bulldogs – Bailey Smith
Pick 8 – Sydney (matching Adelaide's bid) – Nick Blakey
Pick 9 – North Melbourne (matching Adelaide's bid) – Tarryn Thomas
Pick 10 – Adelaide – Jye Caldwell
Pick 11 – Greater Western Sydney – Jackson Hately
Pick 12 – Port Adelaide – Jordan Clark
Pick 13 – Greater Western Sydney – Riley Collier-Dawkins
Pick 14 – Geelong – Chayce Jones
Pick 15 – Collingwood (matching Adelaide's bid) – Isaac Quaynor
Pick 16 – Adelaide – Zak Butters
Pick 17 – Fremantle – Ian Hill
Pick 18 – Port Adelaide – Xavier Duursma
Pick 19 – Adelaide – Ned McHenry
Pick 20 – Richmond – Liam Stocker
Pick 21 – Brisbane Lions – Ely Smith
Pick 22 – Greater Western Sydney – Sam Sturt
Pick 23 – West Coast – Curtis Taylor
Pick 24 – Greater Western Sydney (matching Adelaide's bid) – Kieren Briggs
Pick 25 – Collingwood (matching Adelaide's bid) – Will Kelly
Pick 26 – Adelaide – Luke Valente
Pick 27 – West Coast – Luke Foley
Pick 28 – Western Bulldogs (matching Melbourne's bid) – Rhylee West
Pick 29 – Melbourne – Xavier O'Halloran
Pick 30 – Gold Coast – Jez McLennan

So Sydney will pick up a gun fwd rated around pick 6 without using a pick in the top 30?  wow that academy point system is a rort! Sydney will never slide too far

2 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Our draft position has slipped a bit - pick #23 is now pick 27 to 29 in a number of the 'phantom' drafts and pick #28 is now in the low to mid 30's, courtesy of the high number of F/S and Academy 'Tied' players at the pointy end of the draft?

Most of the clubs to which a player is 'Tied' have traded out their first round picks for later pick points.  This distorts the draft as both they and the club that now holds their 1st round pick get a top player pushing the rest down the order.

It somewhat defeats the purpose of trading to get into the top quartile of the draft.

This situation will happen more and more with so many Academies in place and F/S players.  Feel the current trading/bidding system needs to be revisited by the AFL.  Removing the point discount might be a good start.

The players taken with the academy and father/son picks would not have been available to us anyway. So while the pick number slides down, we are still selecting from the exact same players being available.


1 hour ago, DubDee said:

So Sydney will pick up a gun fwd rated around pick 6 without using a pick in the top 30?  wow that academy point system is a rort! Sydney will never slide too far

Correct technically, however unlike in the past they now go into a deficit with their points. So in 2019 their points will be negative xxxx, meaning they lose all their highest selection downwards until the deficit is met. So they'll likely lose their first and second round selections next year to pay for Blakey this year, if they makes sense.

2 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Our draft position has slipped a bit - pick #23 is now pick 27 to 29 in a number of the 'phantom' drafts and pick #28 is now in the low to mid 30's, courtesy of the high number of F/S and Academy 'Tied' players at the pointy end of the draft?

Most of the clubs to which a player is 'Tied' have traded out their first round picks for later pick points.  This distorts the draft as both they and the club that now holds their 1st round pick get a top player pushing the rest down the order.

It somewhat defeats the purpose of trading to get into the top quartile of the draft.

This situation will happen more and more with so many Academies in place and F/S players.  Feel the current trading/bidding system needs to be revisited by the AFL.  Removing the point discount might be a good start.

I anticipate clubs will soon have to employ an actuary just to ensure they calculate points value correctly.

16 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

The players taken with the academy and father/son picks would not have been available to us anyway. So while the pick number slides down, we are still selecting from the exact same players being available.

If the club to which an Academy or F/S player is 'Tied' kept their 1st round pick (eg pick 11) it would be used to draft their player.  By trading that pick out the 'Tied' club uses junk picks late in the draft to match a draft bid on him and the club that received their 1st round pick eg pick 11 draft a player.  Effectively, two players are removed from the draft instead on one so less players to then chose from. 

Eventually, late in the draft it evens out when the 'junk picks' are used but the top end of the draft is distorted and valuable picks slide eg our #23 to #29.

49 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Correct technically, however unlike in the past they now go into a deficit with their points. So in 2019 their points will be negative xxxx, meaning they lose all their highest selection downwards until the deficit is met. So they'll likely lose their first and second round selections next year to pay for Blakey this year, if they makes sense.

A team works very hard to not go negative into the next year.

eg Sydney will have the points for Blakely @ 6/7/8 with picks 26/33/38 and maybe 39.  They will still have picks 39, 40 and 88 to fulfill their draft quota without going into deficit.

55 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Correct technically, however unlike in the past they now go into a deficit with their points. So in 2019 their points will be negative xxxx, meaning they lose all their highest selection downwards until the deficit is met. So they'll likely lose their first and second round selections next year to pay for Blakey this year, if they makes sense.

No they won't. They've got plenty of picks this year to match an early bid without going in to deficit.


2 hours ago, DubDee said:

So Sydney will pick up a gun fwd rated around pick 6 without using a pick in the top 30?  wow that academy point system is a rort! Sydney will never slide too far

Yes and no.

They did trade pick 13 to Carlton in a 3 way deal with the Crows for picks 26, 28 and 40. 

They'll probably get a top 5/top 7 player for pick 13. Not a bad return for employing John Blakey for a decade.

When added to Mills and Heeney it allows them to never go down the ladder to acquire elite talent, although the other main aspect of rebuilding - bringing in bulk picks to get younger - is a little harder for them.

32 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

sorry for the ignorance but does MFC get a pick tonight or is it tomorrow?

thanks

Our first pick is currently in the second round which will be part of the remainder of the draft starting tomorrow morning.

However, in the unlikely event that we could somehow trade into the first round, then we would get a pick at the selection into which we trade. I wouldn’t hold my breath for that. 

 
4 hours ago, big_red_fire_engine said:

Based on watching nothing more than highlights and what I think is realistic based on our selections my preferred 4 picks would be OHalloran, Bytel, one of Turner/McKenzie and Bedford. Assuming no long term back concerns our list and development support allows us to give Bytel the time to get himself right and risk a boom or bust pick. My view is Walsh aside his video highlights show the next best rounded midfield attributes. 

Based on watching 4 national championships matches live and 7 under 18s matches live ... plus highlights ... I agree with you. 

Ohalloran is a star.  Bytel can be the steal of the draft.  McKenzie is exactly what we need for outside pace whilst Turner is a jet who needs some refinement. All would be good picks. 

Mostly watched Stingrays games so I am biased. Bedford is a lock. Other Stingrays such as Will Hamill, Zac Foot, Bailey Williams and Sam Sturt should be drafted.  Riley Bowman is also not to be overlooked.

Saw GF v Chargers. Collier-Dawkins is a absolute gun. Impressed by James Jordan and Will Kelly. 

Not sure that's a great result for us. Ely Smith, Sturt, O'Halloran all gone. 

Ian Hill, Curtis Taylor, Luke Valente, Luke Foley the highest media rated still left I guess.

Nervous with Sydney ahead of us as well as West Coast and Adelaide. 3 of the better drafting sides.


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Featured Content

  • NON-MFC: Round 05

    Gather Round is here, kicking off with a Thursday night blockbuster as Adelaide faces Geelong. The Crows will be out for redemption after a controversial loss last week. Saturday starts with the Magpies taking on the Swans. Collingwood will be eager to cement their spot in the top eight, while Sydney is hot on their heels. In the Barossa Valley, two rising sides go head-to-head in a fascinating battle to prove they're the real deal. Later, Carlton and West Coast face off at Adelaide Oval, both desperate to notch their first win of the season. The action then shifts to Norwood, where the undefeated Lions will aim to keep their streak alive against the Bulldogs. Sunday’s games begin in the Barossa with Richmond up against Fremantle. In Norwood, the Saints will be looking to take a scalp when they come up against the Giants. The round concludes with a fiery rematch of last year's semi-final, as the Hawks seek revenge for their narrow loss to Port Adelaide. Who are you tipping this week and what are the best results for the Demons besides us winning?

    • 10 replies
    Demonland
  • CASEY: Geelong

    There was a time in the second quarter of the game at the Cattery on Friday afternoon when the Casey Demons threatened to take the game apart against the Cats. The Demons had been well on top early but were struggling to convert their ascendancy over the ground until Tom Fullarton’s burst of three goals in the space of eight minutes on the way to a five goal haul and his best game for the club since arriving from Brisbane at the end of 2023. He was leading, marking and otherwise giving his opponents a merry dance as Casey grabbed a three goal lead in the blink of an eye. Fullarton has now kicked ten goals in Casey’s three matches and, with Melbourne’s forward conversion woes, he is definitely in with a chance to get his first game with the club in next week’s Gather Round in Adelaide. Despite the tall forward’s efforts - he finished with 19 disposals and eight marks and had four hit outs as back up to Will Verrall in the second half - it wasn’t enough as Geelong reigned in the lead through persistent attacks and eventually clawed their way to the lead early in the last and held it till they achieved the end aim of victory.

    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • REPORT: Geelong

    I was disappointed to hear Goody say at his post match presser after the team’s 39 point defeat against Geelong that "we're getting high quality entry, just poor execution" because Melbourne’s problems extend far beyond that after its 0 - 4 start to the 2025 football season. There are clearly problems with poor execution, some of which were evident well before the current season and were in play when the Demons met the Cats in early May last year and beat them in a near top-of-the-table clash that saw both sides sitting comfortably in the top four after round eight. Since that game, the Demons’ performances have been positively Third World with only five wins in 19 games with a no longer majestic midfield and a dysfunctional forward line that has become too easy for opposing coaches to counter. This is an area of their game that is currently being played out as if they were all completely panic-stricken.

    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • PREGAME: Essendon

    Facing the very real and daunting prospect of starting the season with five straight losses, the Demons head to South Australia for the annual Gather Round, where they’ll take on the Bombers in search of their first win of the year. Who comes in, and who comes out?

      • Thumb Down
    • 212 replies
    Demonland
  • NON-MFC: Round 04

    Round 4 kicks off with a blockbuster on Thursday night as traditional rivals Collingwood and Carlton clash at the MCG, with the Magpies looking to assert themselves as early-season contenders and the Blues seeking their first win of the season. Saturday opens with Gold Coast hosting Adelaide, a key test for the Suns as they aim to back up their big win last week, while the Crows will be looking to keep their perfect record intact. Reigning wooden spooners Richmond have the daunting task of facing reigning premiers Brisbane at the ‘G and the Lions will be eager to reaffirm their premiership credentials after a patchy start. Saturday night sees North Melbourne take on Sydney at Marvel Stadium, with the Swans looking to build on their first win of the season last week against a rebuilding Roos outfit. Sunday’s action begins with GWS hosting West Coast at ENGIE Stadium, a game that could get ugly very early for the visitors. Port Adelaide vs St Kilda at Adelaide Oval looms as a interesting clash, with both clubs form being very hard to read. The round wraps up with Fremantle taking on the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium in what could be a fierce contest between two sides with top-eight ambitions. Who are you tipping this week and what are the best results for the Demons besides us winning?

    • 273 replies
    Demonland
  • PODCAST: Geelong

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 7th April @ the all new time of 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect another Demons loss at Kardinia Park to the Cats in the Round 04. Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human.

      • Thanks
    • 62 replies
    Demonland