2023

Draft: 7/10 Trades: 2/10 Pick swaps: 2/10 

When you are only one year in, it’s hard to be categorical about players but in round 10 in Perth it is was categorical. We needed to offer West Coast more than the kitchen sink for pick 1 – Harley Reid was that good! Our pre-season had largely been dominated with our offers for Harley with both our first rounders (Freo’d pick had fallen to No.6) and our 2024 one in the mix. At the time I thought we were being way too generous, but once he lined up for the Eagles you could see why – stars don’t fall in your backyard everyday. 

Behind the scenes Tim Lamb had made some plays – lining up Tom Fullarton and Shane McAdam to help our forward line. While the Clayton Oliver hospital night was all the rage, Lamb was also discussing with Goody on whether to keep our new forward project Harrison Petty with the Crows apparently talking two first rounders for him. On the basis of six goals in 17 games so far as a forward this season, you’d have to say we should have sold. The Crows were also into Tom Sparrow, while I think Charlie Spargo was also courted for a bit by the Roos before both decided to stay. 

But Lamb’s clearout did continue. Brodie Grundy was offloaded to Sydney for pick 46 and a future second rounder – that wasn’t far off what the Pies got from us. But lafter failing to re-sign  premiership sub James Jordon, losing him to Sydney for nothing (he was a UFA because he was demoted to our rookie list three years earlier) was another blow to our midfield reserves which were also hit by popular team man James Harmes going to the Dogs for a future third rounder.   

Lamb also cleared out our draft picks 14, 27 and 35 to the Suns for minimal gain – we moved up three spots to No.11, which became 13 after the Academy kids. The Saints ended up getting Darcy Wilson with the pick, but I suspect we would have been able to secure Tholstrup anyway with it.  

We ended up giving a future second rounder to the Crows for McAdam and pick 47 to the Lions for Fullarton. Based on AFL output this year, we lost both deals and given the reluctance of Goody to play Fullarton in the AFL even with Gawny out, you have to wonder whether the coach was fully consulted on this move beforehand. 

Then late in the trade period it became clear Jack Billings was out-of-favour with Ross Lyon and the Pies had the inside running on him until we made a late bid for his services. Jason Taylor did really like him back in 2014 and Goody was worried Lachie Hunter’s left-side wing spot might become available. So we snared him with our future third rounder. Billings is classy, but like Schache, the physical nature of today’s game has gone past him.

With the Eagles ignoring us on Harley, the spotlight was on Taylor with his first two picks – 6 and 11. It’s too early to tell if Taylor was on the money, but I was surprised that we didn’t go Nate Caddy – given his lateral movement in testing and our forward failings. Windsor is a clear talent though, but so far Caddy is shaping up as the next Charlie Curnow and after Harley, the best pick in the 2023 draft – apologies in advance to the classy top 10 who all look the part with the Crows Daniel Curtin (pick 8) the only exception.

7 Caleb Windsor – He has pace and a touch of Robbie about him. Whether he develops into an elite midfielder will be decided in a couple of years when he graduates to our onball division. He does read it well and his height means he’s good defensively in the air. I’d actually play him off half-back next season, especially if we don’t get Houston, as we need that Jordan Clark style dash off half-back and unlike our other small defenders, he can aerially cope with a three-quarter tall.

13 Koltyn Tholstrup – Taylor jumped him up the order after visiting him in WA and he does have that brashness that we needed. He’s also got the hardness and a thumping kick, but whether he has the pace to replace Clayton as our inside mid hard-ball getter is unclear and it’s hard to see Goody moving him in there until 2026 anyway. We apparently were also interested in Tassie’s James Leake (pick 17), who is yet to play for the Giants, but probably will make their team come finals. So Lamb’s late pick swap didn’t help as we could have had either Tholstrup or Leake plus Brisbane forward Logan Morris if we’d been smarter.

Father/son Kynan Brown – with no-one bidding on him during the main draft, we automatically were able to take Nathan’s son who had a ripper season with Oakleigh and Vic Metro but probably didn’t tick the great prospect boxes needed to be taken early. That’s a blessing for us as he certainly has a great work rate, seems to have a great character, plenty of smarts and tackles with passion – he logged an amazing 24 tackles on a wet day in a VFL game against Frankston recently and he will never forget his Nick Larkey tackle which saved the game for us in his AFL debut. He certainly deserves more AFL game time and don’t be surprised if, after another season of weights, he lines up for us in AFL rd 1. With Hunter and Billings on the way out, I’d be preparing him to play left side wing next year as he kicks well on both sides and has his dad’s determination.  

We also reinstated Jake Melksham via the rookie draft and went back to Marty Hore after he dominated for Williamstown. Both safe moves, but not requiring the use of Taylor’s skills.

As a footnote, when you watch videos of players you often don’t get the full picture. But aside from the videos of the kids who go in the top two or three, there has been two that have stood out to me as amazing over the years. The first was Caleb Daniel’s highlights from the U18 carnival in 2014 – what a player. The second was Arie Schoenmaker last year – wow what a left foot – think Paul Wheatley and add some. Daniel was deemed too small and fell to pick 46, while Schoenmaker’s attitude cost him and only Ross Lyon and the Saints were willing to give him a go at pick 62. I reckon the Saints like the Dogs with Caleb are on a winner.

Friday: The conclusion of the series and the coming draft

Very well researched & well thought out.  I've seen some very good signs from Tholstrup & also a few concerns. I sincerely hope he turns pit to be elite.

Thanks Deespicable I have enjoyed the series to date, great research into our drafting and trades, however, still early days with our current draftees . I think your musings about what could have been or who we should have taken dilute’s the enjoyment of the review.

Glad you highlighted the Hollywood pick swap.14 27 and 35 for 11.It made little sense at the time and even less sense now .Look forward to the final installment .

Windsor has been fantastic to date, and hopefully he has more levels to rise through. 

I'm not convinced by Tholstrup, and I certainly didn't want us to trade up to get him. Not taking more picks in that draft, plus the McAdam misfire, are both major negatives to me. 

Great series by the way. 

21 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

Very well researched & well thought out.  I've seen some very good signs from Tholstrup & also a few concerns. I sincerely hope he turns pit to be elite.

out of interest what are your concerns? 

I think his strengths are: good vision decent disposal, plenty of mongrel

Weknesses: no great elite talents athletically, ok but not great pace and not overly big at AFL level. . at present a bit off the pace at AFL level which is nothing to be worried about long term. 

Windsor looks a gun so hes nailed the first most important pick. the rest we will know in a few years. 

Both the first 2 picks will be long term players for us, if we keep up our development of them.  Kynan just looks small, but he'll be a heart and soul player with his determination, the sort of player every coach needs 1 of.  

As for the trades, but miss than hit at this stage,

Grea series.

Windsor looks like an incredible pick. The best debut season for Melbourne since Oliver, and there isn't a single player taken after him in 2023 that i'd take instead if the draft was redone. It will take years to know whether that will remain true, and it's almost guaranteed that some kid taken late will become a gem.

Honestly i'd rate the draft higher than 7/10 on that pick alone.

Tholstrup we'll wait and see. At the very least, he has the right attitude and attack on the ball. Seems to me the type who can build a body then become an imposing midfielder. He might time his run just right to eventually take over from Viney.

 

1 hour ago, Bay Riffin said:

out of interest what are your concerns? 

I think his strengths are: good vision decent disposal, plenty of mongrel

Weknesses: no great elite talents athletically, ok but not great pace and not overly big at AFL level. . at present a bit off the pace at AFL level which is nothing to be worried about long term. 

Tholstrup was very poor v Fremantle & should have gone back to Casey.

Last game he seemed to ball watch a bit too much instead of diving in for the it.

Just a young player learning the ropes but I thought he should have shown a bit more aggression & desperation for the ball & for opposition players.