Great story but he's coming from a long way back. Its not everything but he was far from dominating VFL goalkicking. 36th on the goal kicking table. McAdam kicked more than him. Didnt kick a goal in the VFL finals series with his biggest haul for the season only 3.  The year before only kick 18 goals in the relative weak WRFL comp. Id expect more from a full forward. Great get for Casey. In JT we trust.

7 hours ago, 58er said:

No Jeffo is a born forward with the right instincts and associated skills. But Disco is learning fast and JVR competes for his life and his ability will surface for 40/50 goals soon. 

Youth is on our side but this left field selection might be a bit Frampton inspired wih bash plus crash to boot. 

Maybe he jumps on opposing teams no 1 players back and sends them to hospital. 

Your lack of respect for this mature age VFL player belies your over confidence with players that haven’t even performed as well as Johnson at VFL level (aside from JVR).

I think Johnson will play early, I think he will take the heat off JVR to back up ruck all the time and I think he will be effective.

11 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

A mature age (24 years), key forward/ruck from Werribee via Lavington in the Ovens & Murray League. Johnson is a 193cm athletic brute who imposes himself on the contest. 

These AI prompt image generators are getting scarily accurate.

Feel like this is a strange selection but clearly we're on a years-long mission to find some forward mongrel to complement tough-but-smooth Van Rooyen and a couple of the lighter bodies we have coming through.

Turner, Kentfield, Johnson and Sestan, hmm, I feel like we should be grabbing Cameron Mooney as a specialist 'forwards who know they aren't the best in the team but who will make sure you know they're playing' coach.

I like the way he pushes Crossley over in that centre bounce highlght.

1 hour ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Encouraging. Has some toe to complement marking, mongrel, kicking distance and clearing opposition droppings from the pursuit of the ball. Nice maturity, too ... done the rounds in good leagues. 

The main source of opposition droppings will be from the sight of AJ bearing down upon them. Will take some clearing, as I suspect they’ll mostly be liquid.

9 hours ago, Supreme_Demon said:

A great video here!

Simon Goodwin surprising big "AJ" with his friends, teammates and family at his house presenting him with a Melbourne Demons jumper and some merchandise.

 

This is the type of social media I like to see!

Well done AJ!  Congratulations on achieving your AFL dream!

GO DEMONS!!! 👹🔴🔵

Also love what this says about Goody and the message it sends to our players and to AJ.  Doesn't matter if you're pick 6 or 68, you're valued and everyone has the same opportunity to perform and play a role for the team.

Unless the video was massively staged (which it doesn't look like to me) I also think it says something about how committed we were to picking AJ with 68, that we would have Goody camped out near by when his name was read out.

Love the highlights packages available especially the Werribee FC Halloween one. Welcome to the Demons Aiden. To quote the Cruel Sea.” Better get yourself a lawyer son, better get yourself a real good one.”

Aiden “The Rock” Johnson with the “people’s elbow”.
Bring on season 2025. Give em Hell !!!!

Edited November 21, 2024Nov 21 by Dee Viney Intervention

i like this kid's background and journey to get here. If he doesn't make it you just know it won't be through lack of effort or application

Plenty of lovely players out there that don't have the heart for the battle. In an either/or situation i'll take competitiveness and mongrel over talent every day of the week.

Delighted to have you onboard AJ. Good luck young man

 

Not sure why all the negativity??

Personally, i love this pick. We absolutely need a competitor in the forward half of the ground (in addition to JVR). This is exactly the reason we persevered with Petty this season when form was nowhere to be seen, and the same reason why Fullarton and Schache were not selected. Playing key forward is more than being tall, you need to want contact, and AJ looks to have that, is physically developed and is plug and play. This also allows Petty to go back if necessary and judging on training reports, is on the cards. 

We've also lost key position depth as mentioned with Brown, Schache and Tomlinson in addition to McDonald and May nearing the end. Not to mention the swing and miss at Derkson.

Many are questioning his spot in the side, but something I think this does provide us with the oppertunity to do is play AJ forward in place of Petty and release the later to go back to defence.

While he has shown glimpses of potential as a forward, I really do feel that Petty's best position is as a defender, where he adds alot of toughness and can lock down capacity.  With both May and Macca getting on in years, both being injury prone at time (though so too Petty), I think our key backing depth is a highly important part of our game, but also an area that I feel has been somewhat neglected in terms of developing tallent in our quest to plug key forward holes.  Think this move has the potential to address that in a round about way.

Too short for a back-up ruck? Nah. John Nicholls was 189cm but won out through strength, jostling, positioning and the occasional mongrel act. Different era? Sure, but those tactics still work to negate a superior ruck.

41 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Some of the criticism of this pick is a bit much IMO.

He might be a bust and never play a game? No [censored]. It’s pick 68. That’s an inherent issue with any pick at this point of the draft. We could have picked a runner, a flanker, anyone, and they could easily have never played.

We don’t need to prioritise Casey with our list management? I hope, if you’ve said this, you weren’t someone who was bemoaning Casey’s lack of competitiveness in 2024. 

Mongrel/competitiveness not enough to constitute a pick? Possibly. But Schache and Fullarton copped it this year for lacking this trait. 

I don’t have high hopes for Johnson, but I don’t really care at all that the club’s given this a go with pick 68.

Yeah I'm starting to come around. Still think he's more the kind of talent you get down for a training block but sometimes you just have to pull the trigger and get him in the full time environment. 7th in the Werribee B+F is impressive given they've got 2 star mids, Bice who was drafted 30 picks earlier and a lot of other proven performers.

I'm still not sure this helps Casey. They have no shortage of forward talent and a big reason they struggled was because they didn't have quality runners. The best think to help Casey would've been to take a mature midfielder. I think the hope is it helps Petty play CHB and helps JVR stay out of the ruck!

I guess my frustrations are we really are heavily reliant on our first rounders coming in and filling gaps because we only added Harry Sharp as a mature runner. And at the same time we haven't restocked the cupboard with the next wave of developmental kids, we are really backing in Howes, AMW, Sestan, Woey, Kynan Brown - we're going to need a few of them to play this year if we have anything like last years injury run 

3 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Yeah I'm starting to come around. Still think he's more the kind of talent you get down for a training block but sometimes you just have to pull the trigger and get him in the full time environment. 7th in the Werribee B+F is impressive given they've got 2 star mids, Bice who was drafted 30 picks earlier and a lot of other proven performers.

I'm still not sure this helps Casey. They have no shortage of forward talent and a big reason they struggled was because they didn't have quality runners. The best think to help Casey would've been to take a mature midfielder. I think the hope is it helps Petty play CHB and helps JVR stay out of the ruck!

I guess my frustrations are we really are heavily reliant on our first rounders coming in and filling gaps because we only added Harry Sharp as a mature runner. And at the same time we haven't restocked the cupboard with the next wave of developmental kids, we are really backing in Howes, AMW, Sestan, Woey, Kynan Brown - we're going to need a few of them to play this year if we have anything like last years injury run 

True DS but Woey and Howes played a lot of games this year as did AMW (5), Brownie debuted only Sestan hasn’t played yet. Look at Aidan Johnson replacing Josh Schache on our list, sorry Josh but this bloke brings what he lacked in spades.

20 minutes ago, Bingo said:

We've also lost key position depth as mentioned with Brown, Schache and Tomlinson in addition to McDonald and May nearing the end. Not to mention the swing and miss at Derkson.

Great points. The club obviously identified Derkson as a role we needed filled. Likley that Aiden brings a similar set of skills and a mature body to fill a role. At 68 as the next option identified, it's a low risk that could pay off well. 

Are any of the people slagging off this pick saying that Marty Hore doesnt' deserve a place on our list too?  38-42 places on most lists. If we were unlucky enough to be hit hard by injury, you want players who can physically hold up. These selections help us both at Casey and for the senior team.

Welcome to the club Aidan, grow the mo out to be a chopper and we're going places !!

Welcome to the Dees Aidan Johnson and although I was at first surprised by the choice the more that I am reading, viewing and hearing the more I like you joining our club. Loved that Goody presented Aidan with his guernsey in front of his family friends and teammates says a bit about our club. Will follow this choice with much interest, we are going for competitive beasts and I love it.

Good points raised. I agree Dees tried to get Derksen as a mature body key forward for more impact and play a physical role as well.  
Whilst similar but different, Johnson brings energy and plays as a physical contested type.  
In summary… 

Edited November 21, 2024Nov 21 by spirit of norm smith
K

 

This is a Casey pick

VFL team has been depleted, and he helps

2 minutes ago, SthSea22 said:

This is a Casey pick

VFL team has been depleted, and he helps

The senior coach doesn’t camp outside someone’s house if they are destined for a role befitting a 32 year old journeyman. The FD saw a glaring hole with mature age forwards with aggressiveness and natural forward ability (who can also pinch hit in the ruck) and wanted him enough to have the press release teed up (the initial release had him at pick ‘X’ and to have the coach do a nice little thing for social media.

I reckon the FD want to try him up forward but think he can move into defence. Seems to have a very similar athletic profile to Steven May

like others have said, at pick 68 you’re always going to take someone speculative, so in JT we trust.

 

My draft philosophy is simple - pick Werribee players and prosper. 

Welcome AJ!

5 minutes ago, rpfc said:

The senior coach doesn’t camp outside someone’s house if they are destined for a role befitting a 32 year old journeyman. The FD saw a glaring hole with mature age forwards with aggressiveness and natural forward ability (who can also pinch hit in the ruck) and wanted him enough to have the press release teed up (the initial release had him at pick ‘X’ and to have the coach do a nice little thing for social media.

Reckon the coaching staff got sick of watching Petty get out marked every time the ball went inside 50 last season. 

That, or they're thinking about relieving JVR of his ruck duties next season.

13 hours ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

This draft has now delivered my mother's and my father's birth surnames.

Did we draft a Redden and an A'Blew?

The Assassin will play seniors, why would he leave a proper club in the Bees to traipse out to Casey? 

15 minutes ago, In Harmes Way said:

Did we draft a Redden and an A'Blew?

Ther are all red and blue now.😁