CHANGES 2006: TRADING AND DRAFTING - PART ONE

by The Oracle

It's that time of the year again when we start looking at what changes will take place to the AFL club playing lists.

Last week, the best of the nation's young footballers were on show at the AFL National Draft Camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra – 72 of them in all. The purpose of the Camp is to assess the elite of the country's under 18 age footballers ahead of the National Draft, which will be held this year on 25 November. On top of that, provision has been made to test more than a hundred others at half-day screening camps held in the capital cities.

One thing you can count on is that each and every one of these aspiring young footballers was doing his level best to impress the people the various assembled members of the AFL clubs' football departments - the list managers and recruiters in charge of making the decisions as to which new faces will be introduced into their clubs by way of trading and drafting.

The following players attended the 2006 NAB AFL Draft Camp -

Small Midfielders

Name State Club Ht Wt

Adams Leigh VIC Eastern 176 83

Collard Clayton WA Sth Fremantle 177 80

Djerrkura Nathan NT Wanderers 174 75

Hayes Daniel VIC Eastern 180 70

Jetta Leroy WA Sth Fremantle 175 73

Kiel Haydyn QLD Southport 178 79

Moss Garry WA East Perth 178 68

Thomas Lindsay SA Port Adelaide 178 77

Ross Ben VIC Gippsland 177 75

Medium Midfielders

Armitage David QLD Morningside 183 79

Boak Travis VIC Geelong Falcons 182 75

Buckley Caolan SA West Adelaide 182 83

Connors Daniel VIC Bendigo 182 77

Edwards Shane SA Nth Adelaide 180 70

Geary Jarryn VIC Bendigo 182 78

George Lachlan VIC Nth Ballarat 181 77

Gibbs Bryce SA Glenelg 188 79

Grigg Shaun VIC Nth Ballarat 189 79

Hogan Simon VIC Geelong Falcons 181 65

Houli Bachar VIC Western 180 84

Krakouer Nathan WA Claremont 182 62

MacKay David VIC Oakleigh 181 71

O'Keefe Daniel VIC Geelong Falcons 183 74

Petterd Ricky QLD Broadbeach 184 77

Proud Albert QLD Mt Gravatt 179 80

Selwood Joel VIC Bendigo 181 73

Smith Nick VIC Oakleigh 183 78

Williams Ryan VIC Geelong Falcons 188 87

Medium Forwards

Dick Brad WA East Fremantle 184 78

Dzufer Daniel QLD Zillmere Eagles 186 81

Hawksley James WA Peel 187 82

Hislop Tom TAS Burnie 185 85

Morton Jarryd WA Claremont 190 80

Reimers Kyle WA Peel 183 75

Smith Chris QLD Mt Gravatt 184 80

Turner James SA Sth Adelaide 189 80

Warren Ben QLD Zillmere Eagles 185 80

Medium Defenders

Benjamin Clint WA Claremont 188 80

Houlihan Tim VIC Nth Ballarat 189 74

O'Brien Brock WA Peel 180 78

Schmidt Chris SA West Adelaide 187 77

Urquhart Gavin QLD Morningside 186 78

Anderson Joe NT Darwin 188 81

Tall Forwards

Allen Jarryd VIC Calder 192 85

Brown Mitchell VIC Nth Ballarat 193 92

Dawes Chris VIC Sandringham 194 101

Garland Colin TAS North Hobart 193 84

Gumbleton Scott WA Peel 195 92

Lee Alex VIC Dandenong 192 86

Reid Ben VIC Murray 193 81

Riewoldt Jack TAS Clarence 193 84

Tarrant Robert VIC Bendigo 195 91

Thorp Mitchell TAS Northern Bombers 195 85

Tall Defenders

Austin Mark SA Glenelg 194 83

Brown Nathan VIC Nth Ballarat 194 89

Collier Tom TAS Lauderdale 192 86

Currie Daniel VIC Northern Knights 199 90

Everitt Andrejs VIC Dandenong 193 76

Frawley James VIC Nth Ballarat 192 81

Grose Gavin QLD Mt Gravatt 193 85

Hansen Lachlan VIC Gippsland 195 92

McKenzie Eric WA Claremont 195 91

Schofield Will VIC Geelong Falcons 194 81

Thomson James WA Claremont 193 80

White Jesse QLD Southport 197 95

Rucks

Hampson Sean QLD Mt Gravatt 202 93

Hardy Justin VIC Nth Ballarat 195 95

Jacobs Sam SA Woodville-WT 201 99

Leuenberger Matthew WA East Perth 202 92

Renouf Brent QLD Southport 199 92

Sellar James SA Glenelg 195 92

Tippett Kurt QLD Southport 199 98

Below are the results from the Camp:-

Height

Matthew Leuenberger - 203.2cm

Sean Hampson - 200.8cm

Kurt Tippett - 200.6cm

Daniel Currie - 200.4cm

Brent Renouf - 200.3cm

Scott Gumbleton - 197.1cm

Lachlan Hansen - 196.7cm

Ben Reid - 196.4cm

Jesse White - 196.3cm

Eric McKenzie - 195.8cm

Mass (Weight)

Jesse White - 101.4kg

Justin Hardy - 97.3kg

Kurt Tippett - 95.9kg

Chris Dawes - 95.6kg

Sean Hampson - 93.1kg

Matthew Leuenberger - 92.9kg

Scott Gumbleton - 92.8kg

Brent Renouf - 92.5kg

Robert Tarrant - 91.9kg

Alex Lee - 91.8kg

Agility

David Armitage - 7.88 sec

Daniel Hayes - 8.04 sec

Andrejs Everitt - 8.06 sec

Tom Hislop - 8.10 sec

Simon Hogan - 8.14 sec

Kyle Reimers - 8.16 sec

Gavin Urquhart - 8.17 sec

Nathan Djerrkura - 8.18 sec

Colin Garland - 8.18 sec

Brock O'Brien - 8.19 sec

Repeat Sprints - 30 metres

Simon Hogan - 24.67 sec

Tim Houlihan - 24.72 sec

Clint Benjamin - 24.74 sec

Joe Anderson - 24.76 sec

Nathan Djerrkura - 25.00 sec

Nathan Brown - 25.07 sec

Nathan Krakouer - 25.08 sec

Mark Austin - 25.09 sec

Mitchell Brown - 25.34 sec

Jarryd Allen - 25.36 sec

Vertical jump - standing

Shane Edwards - 69cm

Daniel Hayes - 68cm

Clint Benjamin - 67cm

Eric McKenzie - 66cm

Jarryd Morton - 66cm

Clayton Collard - 66cm

Brent Renouf - 65cm

Joel Selwood - 65cm

James Sellar - 65cm

Nick Smith - 65cm

20-metre sprint

Nathan Krakouer - 2.83 sec

Nathan Djerrkura - 2.90 sec

Nathan Brown - 2.91 sec

Simon Hogan - 2.91 sec

Brock O'Brien - 2.92 sec

Shaun Grigg - 2.92 sec

Ben Reid - 2.93 sec

Ben Ross - 2.94 sec

Clint Benjamin - 2.95 sec

Travis Boak - 2.96 sec

Shuttle Run (Beep test)

Simon Hogan - level 15.04

Tim Houlihan - level 15.04

Shane Edwards - level 15.04

Bachar Houli - level 14.09

James Thomson - level 14.08

Joe Anderson - level 14.04

Nathan Djerrkura - level 14.04

Will Schofield - level 14.04

Lachlan Hansen - level 14.04

David Armitage - level 14.03

Handspan

Jesse White - 26.7cm

Kurt Tippett - 26.3cm

Brent Renouf - 25.4cm

Tom Collier - 25.2cm

Chris Schmidt - 25.2cm

Justin Hardy - 25.0cm

Sean Hampson - 25.0cm

Mark Austin - 24.9cm

Andrejs Everitt - 24.9cm

Daniel Currie - 24.6cm

Three-km time-trial

Tim Houlihan - 9:37 mins

Simon Hogan - 9:55 mins

Shane Edwards - 10:00 mins

James Thomson - 10:13 mins

Daniel Dzufer - 10:14 mins

Bachar Houli - 10:23 mins

Brent Renouf - 10:27 mins

Will Schofield - 10:34 mins

Haydyn Kiel - 10:35 mins

David Armitage/Jarryn Geary - 10:36 mins

These tests all have significance to the AFL recruiter but that is not all that happens at the Draft Camp. Club recruiting officers also have the opportunity to interview players and they will also review a number of other aspects of the player’s make up including their history, academic record and aspirations. The players who impress during the Camp will often be prominent when the first names are called out at the AFL National Draft at the end of November.

Football is a sport that strongly emphasises youth and the spring and early summer are devoted in the main to the uncovering the right youngster for your team but you still have to find room to make way for up and coming talent. The recruiting officer knows only too well that while uncovering new players is the good part of his job, he also has the burden of making the decision as to who is surplus to their clubs' requirements and must therefore be put off the team’s list. While a few such players might manage to make their way back through trades and the drafts, for the majority, it’s the end of the road.

Next Monday, the exchange period begins and the question is whether it will be a week of boredom or a week of bloodshed as the clubs try to discard their unwanted cattle. I get the impression from reading the words of the various club recruiting officers that they want us to believe that things will be somewhat low key at least in the early stages but don’t be surprised if a few shock waves are felt before the week is out.

And the trade period is just the start for these blokes. Here's the full agenda for the coming two months: -

October

Monday October 9 to 2pm Friday October 13, 2006

Exchange Period

2pm Tuesday October 31, 2006.

List Lodgement One Maximum of 35 players, Rookie Promotions, Father/Son selections, Retained (second-year) Rookies

November

2pm Wednesday November 15

Draft Nominations Close

2pm Friday November 17

List Lodgement Two

2pm Wednesday November 22

Delisted Players Nominations Close

10am Saturday November 25

2006 NAB AFL Draft, held at Victory Room, Telstra Dome

2pm Tuesday November 28

Uncontracted Listed Players Nominations Close

December

2pm Friday December 1

List Lodgement Three and TPP Estimates; International Rookie Player Nominations

2pm Friday December 8

Delisted Player Nominations Close

10am Tuesday December 12

NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft

10.15am Tuesday December 12

Nomination of Eligible Rookie Players (Brisbane Lions and Sydney)

10.30am Tuesday December 12

NAB AFL Rookie Draft

You can be sure that by the end of December there will be changes made to the club's playing list which currently stands as follows: -

MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - PLAYING LIST (SEASON 2006):

SENIOR LIST:

Clint Bartram, Matthew Bate, Daniel Bell, Clint Bizzell, Nathan Brown, Cameron Bruce, Simon Buckley, Nathan Carroll, Aaron Davey, Lynden Dunn, Ryan Ferguson, Simon Godfrey, Brad Green, Ben Holland, Mark Jamar, Chris Johnson, Paul Johnson, Travis Johnstone, Nathan Jones, James McDonald, Brock McLean, Brad Miller, Brent Moloney, Shannon Motlop, Heath Neville, Michael Newton, Alistair Nicholson, Byron Pickett, Phil Read, Jared Rivers, Russell Robertson, Nick Smith, Colin Sylvia, Daniel Ward, Paul Wheatley, Matthew Whelan, Jeff White, Adem Yze.

VETERAN LIST:

David Neitz.

ROOKIE LIST:

Jace Bode, Andre Gianfagna, Daniel Hughes, Shane Neaves, Matthew Warnock*

* uplifted rookie