2024 Phantom Drafts

[The Jackson FIX 3,210]

The hair and the red jumper probably leading the witness somewhat but to me Tauru moves like Heeney; his leap, his timing, his pace, his clean hands 

[Mouseymoo 368]

Tauru was always my preference😊

[BLWNBA 1,123]

FWIW: 

- Priority is still Smith, though it seems that he may not be available come our first pick. I'd suggest it's safe to say if here's there, his name will be called by Melbourne. Langford / Lalor / Tauru are in the mix for Pick 5 pending Smith being selected. 

- Murphy Reid in the mix for Pick 9. 

[Ted Lasso 19,549]

1 minute ago, BLWNBA said:

FWIW: 

- Priority is still Smith, though it seems that he may not be available come our first pick. I'd suggest it's safe to say if here's there, his name will be called by Melbourne. Langford / Lalor / Tauru are in the mix for Pick 5 pending Smith being selected. 

- Murphy Reid in the mix for Pick 9. 

The flow on effect seems to be that if North go FOS rather than Tauru we will get Tauru, if North go Tauru, or slide down in their picks, we'll likely get a choice between Langford and Smith. 

[demoncat 1,514]

2 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

FWIW: 

- Priority is still Smith, though it seems that he may not be available come our first pick. I'd suggest it's safe to say if here's there, his name will be called by Melbourne. Langford / Lalor / Tauru are in the mix for Pick 5 pending Smith being selected. 

- Murphy Reid in the mix for Pick 9. 

Thanks BLWNBA - any sense of who we would prioritise should Langford AND Tauru be available at 5? Say if North takes FOS and Adelaide take Draper 

[BLWNBA 1,123]

Just now, Ted Lasso said:

The flow on effect seems to be that if North go FOS rather than Tauru we will get Tauru, if North go Tauru, or slide down in their picks, we'll likely get a choice between Langford and Smith. 

Yep agree on this and Langford and Smith are the most likely picks IMO, pending availability. It's difficult and it seems to be one of the most uncertain years in recent memory. 

Cal Twomey is also on the money that we won't be taking Armstrong.

[Tolstoys Nudge 1,734]

Definitely a title shattered hearing latest that Smith is gone and Smilie now seemingly also gone by 2nd pick..

If we do Tauru/Allan I’m sure they’d be great but I’d be shattered to miss a generational mid like Smith/Smilie or even FOS. 
 

Let’s hope north slide down and FOS gets to blues meaning we still have a shot at Jagga, but whilst I love Tauru he’s not a longer term prospect for sure and less certain than others. Allan I’ve not looked into as he screams go home factor to me and always has — but I trust JT implicitly so let’s see.. 

Maybe we can somehow steal Smilie at 11-12 who knows — and it’d be cool to have the Flying Viking I guess.. 

 

Maybe we shock all and upgrade to 2 ourselves for Jagga 😂😂😂😂😂 and get say pk16 back and can take Horton, Lindsey, Armstrong (def reaching here lol)

 

[Tolstoys Nudge 1,734]

16 hours ago, BW511 said:

I agree, a May replacement is important but we need a lot to go right for Oliver and Trac to both be at 100% and in Melbourne colours beyond 2025.

 

Both good points.. coming round to Tuaru now.. a little albeit shattered re Smith he’s a bloody ripper and still maintain Smilie has highest ceiling in draft (Smith prob the lowest floor also)

[Nascent 9,283]

6 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

FWIW: 

- Priority is still Smith, though it seems that he may not be available come our first pick. I'd suggest it's safe to say if here's there, his name will be called by Melbourne. Langford / Lalor / Tauru are in the mix for Pick 5 pending Smith being selected. 

- Murphy Reid in the mix for Pick 9. 

Would be ecstatic if we picked up Lalor

[BLWNBA 1,123]

1 minute ago, demoncat said:

Thanks BLWNBA - any sense of who we would prioritise should Langford AND Tauru be available at 5? Say if North takes FOS and Adelaide take Draper 

Honestly, I can't really speak with enough nuance on this as I haven't seen a lot of either of them IRL and over the past couple of seasons I haven't paid a lot of attention to the U18s. 

Personally, I really like Langford and I think he has a nice point-of-difference to our current mid-set up. I'm a big advocate for proven bottom-agers in the U18 context too. In addition, I'm of the (strong) opinion we should be taking the two best available mids with our two picks, so if we were able to get say a Smith / Langford / Reid (two of) through, I would be over the moon. 

[Tolstoys Nudge 1,734]

4 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

Yep agree on this and Langford and Smith are the most likely picks IMO, pending availability. It's difficult and it seems to be one of the most uncertain years in recent memory. 

Cal Twomey is also on the money that we won't be taking Armstrong.

Seems to be the way but either way Smith is gone most likely and Langford for me isn’t the one — love to be wrong though  

[Tolstoys Nudge 1,734]

11 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

FWIW: 

- Priority is still Smith, though it seems that he may not be available come our first pick. I'd suggest it's safe to say if here's there, his name will be called by Melbourne. Langford / Lalor / Tauru are in the mix for Pick 5 pending Smith being selected. 

- Murphy Reid in the mix for Pick 9. 

Yep keys hope it somehow s still eventuates — I’d love to have Murphy over Bo 💯 

[BLWNBA 1,123]

Just now, Tolstoys Nudge said:

Seems to be the way but either way Smith is gone most likely and Langford for me isn’t the one — love to be wrong though  

Curious on what your knock on Lanford is? As noted in a pervious post, I haven't really paid much attention to the U18 comps over the past 2 - 3 seasons, so would value your insight. 

From his highlights / bios and bio-data, he seems an attractive prospect - but happy to divert to those with more knowledge. 

[Winter Dan 470]

Thought this player review was quality and very interesting: 

 

 

[Willy's Warriors 109]

18 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

Curious on what your knock on Lanford is? As noted in a pervious post, I haven't really paid much attention to the U18 comps over the past 2 - 3 seasons, so would value your insight. 

From his highlights / bios and bio-data, he seems an attractive prospect - but happy to divert to those with more knowledge. 

The knock on him is his speed.  Here are the combine stats for some of the others around the same mark:

Bo Allan:  Agility test: 7.94 secs 20m sprint: 2.99 secs 2km time trial: 6:37 mins
Harry Armstrong:  Agility test: 8.132 secs 20m sprint: 3.09 secs 2km time trial: 6:50 mins
Tobie Travaglia: Agility test: 8.261 secs 20m sprint: 3.19 secs 2km time trial: 6:13 mins
Leo Lombard: Agility test: 7.81 secs 20m sprint: 2.851 secs 2km time trial: 6:39 mins
Finn O'Sullivan: Agility test: 8.14 secs 20m sprint: 2.99 secs 2km time trial: 6:28 mins
Josh Smillie: Agility test: 8.391 secs 20m sprint: 3.09 secs 2km time trial: 6:38 mins
Harvey Langford: Agility test: 8.642 secs 20m sprint: 3.24 secs 2km time trial: 6:24 mins
Jagga Smith: Agility test: 8.484 secs 20m sprint: 3.038 secs 2km time trial: 6:27 mins

Basically - he's slow and not particularly agile compared to others.  Can run though. 

[Lord Travis 10,763]

22 minutes ago, Willy's Warriors said:

The knock on him is his speed.  Here are the combine stats for some of the others around the same mark:

Bo Allan:  Agility test: 7.94 secs 20m sprint: 2.99 secs 2km time trial: 6:37 mins
Harry Armstrong:  Agility test: 8.132 secs 20m sprint: 3.09 secs 2km time trial: 6:50 mins
Tobie Travaglia: Agility test: 8.261 secs 20m sprint: 3.19 secs 2km time trial: 6:13 mins
Leo Lombard: Agility test: 7.81 secs 20m sprint: 2.851 secs 2km time trial: 6:39 mins
Finn O'Sullivan: Agility test: 8.14 secs 20m sprint: 2.99 secs 2km time trial: 6:28 mins
Josh Smillie: Agility test: 8.391 secs 20m sprint: 3.09 secs 2km time trial: 6:38 mins
Harvey Langford: Agility test: 8.642 secs 20m sprint: 3.24 secs 2km time trial: 6:24 mins
Jagga Smith: Agility test: 8.484 secs 20m sprint: 3.038 secs 2km time trial: 6:27 mins

Basically - he's slow and not particularly agile compared to others.  Can run though. 

It's an interesting one as no-one is talking about Travaglia being slow despite his sprint time for a running half back flanker being poor.

[DeeZone 10,100]

4 hours ago, Roddog said:

I know JT knows more than me, but the risk of passing up on one of Langford/Draper/Jagga/FOS for Tauru is just something I can’t wrap my head around if it comes to fruition 

JT has stated that this year it is best available,  not looking at specific roles to fill.

[Gawndog98 364]

12 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

It's an interesting one as no-one is talking about Travaglia being slow despite his sprint time for a running half back flanker being poor.

Went very under the radar because he ran a great 2k time trial. I think because of his competitiveness he doesn’t look slow on the field but yep doesn’t have lightning speed.

[picket fence 17,498]

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

This is my prediction.

Richmond - Lalor

North Melbourne- FOS

Carlton - Smith

Adelaide - Langford 

Melbourne - Taura

 

I wouldn't be happy drafting a back Flanker with pick 5 NO NOT AT ALL!! 🤮

[RedFox 533]

Who do you propose takes Rivers spot when he becomes a permanent mid? Time to start trusting the people who do this for a living 

[BLWNBA 1,123]

17 minutes ago, RedFox said:

Who do you propose takes Rivers spot when he becomes a permanent mid? Time to start trusting the people who do this for a living 

To be fair, I’m not sure that Riv will ever be a full time mid. I think this is somewhat overstated on ‘land. 

[Ted Lasso 19,549]

Every Carlton fan i've spoken to is absolutely convinced they're going to take Sid Draper at pick 3 regardless of who else is available, it may be media hype and what not, but they're not buying the Jagga Smith talk at all. 

[BAMF 4,385]

32 minutes ago, RedFox said:

Who do you propose takes Rivers spot when he becomes a permanent mid? Time to start trusting the people who do this for a living 

Then we shut down all discussion apart from

"Yay, the club know what they are doing and have never made a mistake!"

[Willy's Warriors 109]

49 minutes ago, RedFox said:

Who do you propose takes Rivers spot when he becomes a permanent mid? Time to start trusting the people who do this for a living 

Our smallish defenders include: Salem, Rivers, McVee, Howes, Woewodin, Bowey, Hore

I think we can probably cover Riv if he goes into the midfield permanently without another draftee to repalce him.  Salem, Howes, McVee and Woewodin play the same role, just not as well. 

Bigger issue is that Tauru isn't a half back flanker.  He reminds me a bit of Jared Rivers back in the day.  If that's the kind of player he could be (minus the injuries) I would have no issues using pick 5 on him. 

Edited November 18 by Willy's Warriors

[Mike 329]

23 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

To be fair, I’m not sure that Riv will ever be a full time mid. I think this is somewhat overstated on ‘land. 

I agree. Yes he's looked good in patches, but is he going to be good at enough going head to head against other gun midfield groups? I'll be rapt if he is, but it's still touch and go I think.