As we enter the home stretch and move into the week of the 2021 National Draft, the scribes are looking more and more at the individual clubs and their needs.

Rookie Me Central has come out with its 2021 AFL Draft Preview: Melbourne

These are their key questions -

Will Melbourne again make moves in the first round via live trading?

How early will the Woewodin bid come in?

Will Melbourne pick for needs, or select best available talent for pure squad depth?

Also along club lines is this article in today’s Melbourne Age:- 

How your club stands ahead of the 2021 draft

MELBOURNE

PICKS: 17, 37, 49, 57, 94

KEY DEFENDERS: Steven May, Jake Lever, Adam Tomlinson, Harrison Petty, Joel Smith

SMALL/MEDIUM DEFENDERS: Christian Salem, Trent Rivers, Jake Bowey, Michael Hibberd, Jayden Hunt, Deakyn Smith, Daniel Turner

MIDFIELDERS: Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney, Ed Langdon, Angus Brayshaw, James Harmes, Luke Dunstan, Tom Sparrow, James Jordon, Oskar Baker, Fraser Rosman

KEY FORWARDS: Ben Brown, Tom McDonald, Sam Weideman, Mitch Brown

SMALL/MEDIUM FORWARDS: Bayley Fritsch, Kysaiah Pickett, Charlie Spargo, Alex Neal-Bullen, Bailey Laurie, Jake Melksham, Toby Bedford, Kade Chandler

RUCKS: Max Gawn, Luke Jackson, Majak Daw

It is an obvious take after a flag triumph, but the premiers could not be more primed for a sustained run at success. Headline midfielders Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver are only 25 and 24 respectively, while there is a mix of young and senior depth. 

Luke Dunstan provides an experienced back-up option as James Jordon and Tom Sparrow establish themselves. Precocious half-back winger Jake Bowey is yet to lose a game, Kysaiah Pickett is already one of the best pressure forwards in the league and Luke Jackson will be a frightening ruck prospect for the next decade.

Winger-forward Blake Howes would offer something different with his height and athleticism, while Campbell Chesser would provide more slingshot and speed off half-back. Sam Butler could come into the Dees’ thinking as an attacking outside player.

A key forward is not out of the question given the senior ages of Ben Brown, Tom McDonald and Mitch Brown, and West Australian Jack Williams would be a fine option if he slid into the third round. Melbourne are committed to father-son Taj Woewodin, who may not attract a bid until later in the draft. The son of Brownlow medallist Shane is skilful on both sides of his body and can adapt to multiple roles.

The Inner Sanctum has presented a draft preview for the Demons with the emphasis on the fact that NGA member Mac Andrew won’t be playing for the club because the Dees can’t match a bid for him within the first 20 selections on draft night, which is “all but guaranteed”. It’s not of concern to me if it pans out that way because I can think of a number of players for who a long career at the elite level is more guaranteed.  One of those players is likely to come to us with the late first round pick the club secured during the trade period.

The club will be able to put in a bid for the son of a Brownlow Medallist and another promising NGA player from NT. 

2021 AFL DRAFT: Melbourne continue history of trading into first round

Chesser and Howes seem to be the two most commonly linked to the dees with Butler, Wilmot and Sonsie also mentioned amongst various articles. Van Rooyen and Williams as possibilities as well if we look to add key position depth.

Reads as guess work more so than intel and I'd put more stock into Cals phantom draft dropping on Monday as to the dees likely targets.

If Sinn were to slide I think that would be the dream result.

1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

As we enter the home stretch and move into the week of the 2021 National Draft, the scribes are looking more and more at the individual clubs and their needs.

Rookie Me Central has come out with its 2021 AFL Draft Preview: Melbourne

These are their key questions -

Will Melbourne again make moves in the first round via live trading?

How early will the Woewodin bid come in?

Will Melbourne pick for needs, or select best available talent for pure squad depth?

I think the Woewodin bid question isnt as important as they suggest because so many picks in the likely range are owned by Collingwood and the Dogs and will disappear, which means the impact to Melbourne is minimised from the bid itself and there is less opportunity for clubs to bid in any case. The chance of us being negatively effected by a bid is very minimal I think. 

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/how-your-club-stands-ahead-of-the-2021-draft-20211118-p59a1f.html
 

thanks WJ. I was just reading this on The Age website.  Good team summary and write up.  Journalists seem to have correctly classified our players and shown we have good depth and stars across all areas.
 

Agree that youngsters like Howes and Chesser would be excellent additions as Demonlanders have added.  A young development key forward like WA’s Jack Williams could be an option with the pick “37” as it currently stands as the Dees have plenty of time to put into development. 

StK NGA prospect Mitch Owens has a lot of traits we look for.

Owens has proven a real surprise packet this year as one of the biggest improvers among the overall draft pool. His exciting traits are blended with terrific work rate and a desire to compete, which is a mix recruiters are sure to love. Speaking of, some have suggested he could come into consideration within the first round, which would see St Kilda unable to match a bid for him under the new NGA rules. It will prove a tight call, though Owens' value arguably sits a little further down the order. The Saints will surely match if given the opportunity, likely in the second round.

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/mitch-owens/

 

With the recruitment of Dunstan and Woewodin practically guaranteed to come to us, I think we are well stocked for midfielders so we should be targeting half forwards/backs, rucks and talls IMO. Guys like Chesser, Howes, JVR should all be available for our first pick and hopefully someone like Jack Williams, Toby Conway, Aleer will be possibly be available for our second pick. Rentsch would be a handy rookie. 

On 11/20/2021 at 5:32 PM, Nascent said:

Chesser and Howes seem to be the two most commonly linked to the dees with Butler, Wilmot and Sonsie also mentioned amongst various articles. Van Rooyen and Williams as possibilities as well if we look to add key position depth.

Reads as guess work more so than intel and I'd put more stock into Cals phantom draft dropping on Monday as to the dees likely targets.

If Sinn were to slide I think that would be the dream result.

Sonsie looks a million bucks in his highlight videos, reminds me of a player in the Merrett/Parish mould, but I can't imagine he'd fit the JT type given his flaws:

The consistency, or lack thereof, is not shown from his disposal numbers, but more so his four-quarter impact and willingness to get involved with or without the ball. That could partly come down to his gut running, which plenty of the best midfielders in the game have who are on the smaller side like Sonsie at 181cm.

Players like Ben Hobbs, Nick Daicos and Josh Ward work very hard without the ball and have plenty of repeat sprints in their game, whereas Sonsie can coast from time to time.

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/tyler-sonsie/

Edited November 22, 20213 yr by adonski

• Drilling down on potential needs, not necessarily best available
• Trying to trade up draft further

 

Interesting we are going needs.

Logically that means key position sized blokes to replace BBB, TMac  May, Mitch Brown etc.

Might also mean they are looking for a hard running flanker with good skills.

19 hours ago, Grimes Times said:

StK NGA prospect Mitch Owens has a lot of traits we look for.

Owens has proven a real surprise packet this year as one of the biggest improvers among the overall draft pool. His exciting traits are blended with terrific work rate and a desire to compete, which is a mix recruiters are sure to love. Speaking of, some have suggested he could come into consideration within the first round, which would see St Kilda unable to match a bid for him under the new NGA rules. It will prove a tight call, though Owens' value arguably sits a little further down the order. The Saints will surely match if given the opportunity, likely in the second round.

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/mitch-owens/

 

Hi dad is 6'5", so there may be some late growth potential 

12 hours ago, dee-tox said:

Interesting we are going needs.

Logically that means key position sized blokes to replace BBB, TMac  May, Mitch Brown etc.

Might also mean they are looking for a hard running flanker with good skills.

With the even-ness of the talent around our first pick, it makes sense to pick based on needs.

By virtue of the fact that 1 or more probably 2 selections being pre-determined, for list balance purposes we need to be targeted with our early selections.

To my thinking, that means Howes or JVR, and if we can move up the board, Gibcus or even Amiss. 
Personally I think we’d be after Gibcus.

"Round 3, pick number 57 Melbourne (received from Western Bulldogs in 2020)"

Couple of nice symmetries right there.

20 hours ago, adonski said:

• Drilling down on potential needs, not necessarily best available
• Trying to trade up draft further

 

Thanks.  He’s very open and we are in good hands.
 

Trying to think what are the “needs”.  We look strong across all lines.
 

As DL posters have discussed, it could be another young Key Foreward (like a JVR in 1st round or Jack Williams in 2nd round if they are available). Or it could be to add another mid sized defender with run such as Chesser, Brown or Wilmot.  

In #JT we trust 🏆❤️💙

Edited November 23, 20213 yr by spirit of norm smith
U

8 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Thanks.  He’s very open and we are in good hands.
 

Trying to think what are the “needs”.  We look strong across all lines.
 

As DL posters have discussed, it could be another young Key Foreward (like a JVR in 1st round or Jack Williams in 2nd round if they are available). Or it could be to add another mid sized defender with run such as Chesser, Brown or Wilmot.  

In #JT we trust 🏆❤️💙

I think our needs at the moment are:

Developing ruckman

Developing key forward

That's about it. We are stacked for mids, though you can never have enough really.

We have some guns on the half back line in Rivers, Salem and Bowey plus Hibbo and Hunt.

We have a great small forward brigade and key backs.

I think JT has done well drafting for needs previously (though I don't remember him ever saying that was our plan) - arguably Bowey / Laurie were needs in terms of best kicks / decision makers last year.

The previous draft Jackson was best available but Kozzie was for needs - although some around us were keen on him, the discussion at the time is you don't use a first rounder on a small forward unless it's the next Cyril and aside from his highlights package, people said Kozzie didn't get enough of the ball / didn't play well often enough at the highest level etc.  

Looking forward to seeing who we get this year.

Hope we look at an outside mid, that's a need imo

Outside/classy midfielder the biggest need, and we know the club also acknowledged that given their interest in Isaac Smith last year

From a long term perspective, a project tall forward with our second pick

26 minutes ago, Action Jackson said:

I think our needs at the moment are:

Developing ruckman

Developing key forward

That's about it. We are stacked for mids, though you can never have enough really.

We have some guns on the half back line in Rivers, Salem and Bowey plus Hibbo and Hunt.

We have a great small forward brigade and key backs.

We need taller flanker depth ideally with speed. 

Our forward depth is either talls, smalls or Melksham. Someone with some height would be handy. Even in the grand final side we had Sparrow and Harmes mostly play half forward and JJ as sub. They’re our first line of midfield cover and a more pure forward flanker to compete or fill in for them would be ideal. 

Same for the wing and even down back to a lesser extent where the depth is skinny. 

Developing ruck/tall fwd is our number 1 need imo.  hard to trade in these blokes.  When Max is gone in a few years Jacko will be solo. depends if there are good prospects available

then a winger/outside mid with skill

then best available i reckon

I suspect JT is playing games and we have our eye on a specific target which is why we traded up.  hopefully he pulls off another young gun (so to speak!)

2 hours ago, adonski said:

Outside/classy midfielder the biggest need, and we know the club also acknowledged that given their interest in Isaac Smith last year

From a long term perspective, a project tall forward with our second pick

Agreed. Wait and see. JT has nailed it over several years so we are in good hands 👍🏻

I’m heating we are trying our hardest to find a way to get GWS’s 2nd pick to try and get Wilmott

Just now, Demons11 said:

I’m heating we are trying our hardest to find a way to get GWS’s 2nd pick to try and get Wilmott

If thats the case, one complication with executing that plan is that a package of our first two picks wouldnt be if much value to the Giants as the second pick would be swallowed matching a bid for Josh Fahey, they just dont get any benefit unless they can quickly trade it for something futuristic.  Otherwise there is just nothing in it for the Giants to the naked eye.

2 minutes ago, IvanBartul13 said:

If thats the case, one complication with executing that plan is that a package of our first two picks wouldnt be if much value to the Giants as the second pick would be swallowed matching a bid for Josh Fahey, they just dont get any benefit unless they can quickly trade it for something futuristic.  Otherwise there is just nothing in it for the Giants to the naked eye.

This is the problem, so it may not happen