I think Latrelle is a prgamatic choice in that:

1. He fits our need for a dynamic and creative small forward.

2. His inclusion in our 22 allows Kossie to spend more time in the midfield, while both Pickett's in the forward line makes for a dynamic mix.

3. Latrelle's weaknesses such as defencive workrate can be worked on and Kossie is an excellent role model for his cousin.

4. Strengthens Kossie's ties to our club provided Latrelle performs well.

People are expecting him to be as good as Kysaiah because of the surname

47 minutes ago, binman said:

Memory is a funny thing.

If asked before last night when Koz was taken in his draft, I suspect many dees fans might have guessed top 10 such has been the level he has played at since being drafted

And many might also have forgotten that he was not projected by most draft watchers to go as high as 12. If IIRC many pundits had us linked to Cody Weightman, who ended up going to the dogs at pick 15. Weightman is an excellent player but i very much doubt there's many dees fans who regret the fact we took Koz.

Side note:

It would be a fascinating hypothetical exercise to redo the 2019 draft order - Rowell and Anderson were the deserved top 2, but geez in hindsight i'd be taking Koz over Jackson at pick 3, or for that matter any other player who went top 10, with the possible exception of Caleb Serong.

Speaking of Jackson an interesting factoid is only three first rounders have played in a winning flag from the 2019 draft - Jackson, Koz and Sam De Koning. And i think I'm right in saying of the 2019 first round draft picks only Koz, Anderson Rowell and Serong have been All Australian.

I still recall Ash’s Demons being unhappy when we selected Salem over Nathan Freeman, draft can be very unforgiving at times.

I’m sceptical on the pick given the other players available however will back JT to have got it right

53 minutes ago, binman said:

Memory is a funny thing.

If asked before last night when Koz was taken in his draft, I suspect many dees fans might have guessed top 10 such has been the level he has played at since being drafted

And many might also have forgotten that he was not projected by most draft watchers to go as high as 12. If IIRC many pundits had us linked to Cody Weightman, who ended up going to the dogs at pick 15. Weightman is an excellent player but i very much doubt there's many dees fans who regret the fact we took Koz.

Side note:

It would be a fascinating hypothetical exercise to redo the 2019 draft order - Rowell and Anderson were the deserved top 2, but geez in hindsight i'd be taking Koz over Jackson at pick 3, or for that matter any other player who went top 10, with the possible exception of Caleb Serong.

Speaking of Jackson an interesting factoid is only three first rounders have played in a winning flag from the 2019 draft - Jackson, Koz and Sam De Koning. And i think I'm right in saying of the 2019 first round draft picks only Koz, Anderson Rowell and Serong have been All Australian.

Correct Binno.

This is always a good reference for seeing how successful a draft has been over the years:

https://www.draftguru.com.au/years/2019/national_draft

2 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

The last line under "IMPROVEMENTS" is "Exposure". What does that mean?

Maybe they’re anticipating him having a similar debut game to Sam Lalor of Richmond’s first game this year, with his televised wardrobe malfunction “exposure” moment…

1 hour ago, demoncat said:

We seemed to have Pickett locked in by Tuesday, so I’m guessing we would have only taken one of Taylor or Farrow to keep balance (one def/mid and one small fwd)

Also we supposedly rated Robey, Cumming and Taylor the highest, so perhaps Farrow was actually further down our draft order than suspected 🤷

Taylor/Pickett would've been highly likely, I think.

Edited 20 hours ago20 hr by BLWNBA

1 hour ago, JeffWhitesShinguard said:

Dovaston was clearly the best small forward in the draft

Jason Taylor might have a different view there. especially as we could have taken Dovaston instead of Pickett.

17 minutes ago, Pennant St Dee said:

I still recall Ash’s Demons being unhappy when we selected Salem over Nathan Freeman, draft can be very unforgiving at times.

I’m sceptical on the pick given the other players available however will back JT to have got it right

Have you seen him play live PSD? If yes, would be interested in your impressions.

By the by, another semi related query - what's your opinion on the draft age?

(for transparency, whilst get raising it runs the risk of creating a post junior footy and VCE gap year with players not having an elite system to roll straight into, particularly outside of Vic given the SANFL and WAFL and NFL are not as strong as the VFL, i'm of the view that, with some caveats, that it should be raised to 19)

5 minutes ago, Bay Riffin said:

Jason Taylor might have a different view there. especially as we could have taken Dovaston instead of Pickett.

Dovaston looks like a w⚓️ let’s be honest glad he’s not on my team

3 hours ago, Demonland said:

LP clearly has the better moustache

1 minute ago, binman said:

Have you seen him play live PSD? If yes, would be interested in your impressions.

By the by, another semi related query - what's your opinion on the draft age?

(for transparency, whilst get raising it runs the risk of creating a post junior footy and VCE gap year with players not having an elite system to roll straight into, particularly outside of Vic given the SANFL and WAFL and NFL are not as strong as the VFL, i'm of the view that, with some caveats, that it should be raised to 19)

No just the highlights, with regard to the draft age personally would like to see it raised to 20 TBH. I see a lot of boys struggle in their draft year with school and expectation. Don't get me started on managers/agents either filling their heads with nonsense and bad advice. For boys who are born in the second half of the year the can be lucky to play half a dozen games of colts footy in their draft year if they are tied to a PSA school.

I'd like to see players drafted at an age where their bodies are almost fully developed and they have been exposed over a period of time playing against bigger bodies. Off field I believe they would also have an apprenticeship of degree/diploma behind them and some security should the AFL dream not work out.

But that's just my personal opinion

40 minutes ago, chookrat said:

I think Latrelle is a prgamatic choice in that:

1. He fits our need for a dynamic and creative small forward.

2. His inclusion in our 22 allows Kossie to spend more time in the midfield, while both Pickett's in the forward line makes for a dynamic mix.

3. Latrelle's weaknesses such as defencive workrate can be worked on and Kossie is an excellent role model for his cousin.

4. Strengthens Kossie's ties to our club provided Latrelle performs well.

I think what would have been truly pragmatic would have been to take Latrelle as a Rookie selection in past years during which the Club has been monitoring him.

I believe that one of the main reasons for the Rookie category is to give speculative choices an opportunity.

Even if he wasn’t ready, you were at least assisting a homesick Kossie with only a Rookie pick.

That said, I believe that apart from Dyson Sharp the Club hasn’t overlooked too many low risk options after Latrelle, and it appears the Club didn’t rate Sharp as high as most, so welcome Latrelle and we hope you do great things.

By the way, was told this morning by a Recruiter that it was a staggering decision by Essendon not to be able to match the Freo bid for Adam Sweid as they had Adam rated much higher than even where he was taken.

2 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I feel like his nickname should be Julius.

1 minute ago, goodwindees said:

I think what would have been truly pragmatic would have been to take Latrelle as a Rookie selection in past years during which the Club has been monitoring him.

Whilst that looks great in hindsight I think the track record of plucking guys from obscurity across most clubs is poor, they need to go through the grades. In this case Latrelle needed to live and settle in Adelaide away from home in Tumby Bay.

If you want to identify an error it was not getting Isaiah Dudley last year as a train on player.

5 minutes ago, goodwindees said:

By the way, was told this morning by a Recruiter that it was a staggering decision by Essendon not to be able to match the Freo bid for Adam Sweid as they had Adam rated much higher than even where he was taken.

Matching without trading to get more picks in - which would’ve cost them at least a future 2nd - would’ve given their first rounder next year a points deficit. Adding a points deficit to probably an early first round pick is a bad bad decision.

Really they made their decision with the trade up and selection of Sharp that Sweid was on the table if he went in the first round. They came up 1 pick short!

4 minutes ago, Pennant St Dee said:

No just the highlights, with regard to the draft age personally would like to see it raised to 20 TBH. I see a lot of boys struggle in their draft year with school and expectation. Don't get me started on managers/agents either filling their heads with nonsense and bad advice. For boys who are born in the second half of the year the can be lucky to play half a dozen games of colts footy in their draft year if they are tied to a PSA school.

I'd like to see players drafted at an age where their bodies are almost fully developed and they have been exposed over a period of time playing against bigger bodies. Off field I believe they would also have an apprenticeship of degree/diploma behind them and some security should the AFL dream not work out.

But that's just my personal opinion

Totes agree - for all the reasons you note. I said 19 because of that gap issue but I'd be happy with 20.

The other things i's add is the current system is too weighted to players coming up thru the elite junior systems, a problem that has bedeviled soccer in Australia (ie players not on that pathway don't make it and gifted players are lost to the elite senior level)

I actually think the gap year(s) issue could actually be made into a positive by the AFL pouring some resources into the SANFL, WAFL and VFL to ensure their fitness and other programs are closer to the AFLs in standard.

That combined with an expanded 'train with' model (ie prospective players sometimes train with an AFL club) would improve the standard of the leagues on the rung below the AFL. And allow young men to settle post VCE and focus on their development.

The thing is its not the Rowels, Langfords and Andersons that we need to worry about - the top 5 draft footy robots will almost always make the next step ok. It's the players like Latrelle Sumner-Pickett that we risk losing to the AFL level ie players who have followed a different path, for example have not gone to a private school and/or played in the Coates league etc.

And on that point, i'd argue the current model disadvantages Indigenous players, as evidenced by the shocking drop in the number of Indigenous players being drafted.

13 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

Why is it so?

31 minutes ago, Bay Riffin said:

Jason Taylor might have a different view there. especially as we could have taken Dovaston instead of Pickett.

In terms of the Dovaston / Pickett debate, from Melbourne's perspective it was always going to be Pickett over Dovaston.

3 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

In terms of the Dovaston / Pickett debate, from Melbourne's perspective it was always going to be Pickett over Dovaston.

Personally I agree but would love to hear the reasons.

Yeah. I have my doubts. But somthing tells me Pickett is a calculated risk. Clubs do this kind of thing all the time; resting players, tagging, consigning an older player to VFL to blood a younger player, changing playing styles which short-term make a team underachieve etc It's not like we've picked the 723rd best draft prospect. I think we need to have faith the club know what they're doing. I wouldn't be surprised if many players and staff have not enjoyed their work/workplace for the last year or two. Not only will Kosi be happier next season but quite possibly so will the other indigenous players be. This all could rub off on the whole team and staff and happier people tend to perform better.

And if Pickett #2 becomes a regular best-23 player what's to say we don't end up getting someone like a Stengle or Bobby Hill-type trade and we look back and laugh at the current doubts and how monumentally astute this risk was.

Our indigenous brothers bring magic, genius and gobsmacking athleticism to our indigenous game. X factor to the max. 

Just imagine how inspiring Latrelle’s selection is for Kozzi, AMW, McAdams, Mentha and Matthew Whelan. The romance and poetry of that selection will bring excitement to the entire team - club. 

In the recent finals series and the season just gone, Brisbane and Geelong showed how critical small forwards have become. 

At the same time, Jason Taylor stated Koz is expected to spend more time in the midfield and less time as a forward. Consequently, the trade and draft period had to address the Dees lack of X-factor, goal scoring, defensive pressure forward. 

Kingy becoming coach emphasises MFC’s dynamic small forward prioritisation. Geelong read the game’s evolution and prioritised dynamic small forwards after our 2021 flag. 

JT also mentioned Kozzi specifically wants mentor responsibilities. The best organisations inspire their people by ensuring they continue to grow professionally and as human beings. Having a generational talent like Koz - who makes us all catch our breath when he's near the footy - guide Latrelle's development? It’s a win for Koz and Latrelle which we all hope will lead to a huge win for the MFC. 

Let me add our other X-factor – Kolt. Missing a chunk of pre-season negatively impacted his 2025 game. I like to believe a full pre-season will see Kolt back to his best. 

Latrelle gives us what we desperately need. Given this bigger picture and the environment Steven King is building, in selecting Latrelle over Dovaston the strategic thinking is sound and the cultural significance is profound. 

1 hour ago, Spirit of '87 said:

Maybe they’re anticipating him having a similar debut game to Sam Lalor of Richmond’s first game this year, with his televised wardrobe malfunction “exposure” moment…

Nope, expecting him to outdo Seth Campbell by doing a double backflip after kicking a goal

3 hours ago, Dee Boys said:

Means he hasn't played a lot of top level footy at either underage or state level.

could also mean he hasn't been exposed to (the benefits of) elite pathway programs (like all the other draftees)

now he is in an elite level program he should/could have a higher ceiling

4 hours ago, Demonland said:

Latrelle with the precision moustache to match Kysaiah, Xavier looks like he just got back from the proverbial 'visit to Turkey'.

Gotta admit, them Pickett's are a good-looking family.

1 hour ago, binman said:

The thing is its not the Rowels, Langfords and Andersons that we need to worry about - the top 5 draft footy robots will almost always make the next step ok. It's the players like Latrelle Sumner-Pickett that we risk losing to the AFL level ie players who have followed a different path, for example have not gone to a private school and/or played in the Coates league etc.

We're getting a bit off topic here (sorry for the people who dislike that) but I do wonder if the funneling of Indigenous players in to NGA's rather than just putting that money in to state league clubs hurts players.

Port NGA seemingly did nothing for Pickett. Where as if those resources were with Norwood he might've stuck around for more than 3 matches in 2023. And the SANFL and WAFL clubs have 100 years of connections to their regional zones

And in Victoria I really wish the Coates leagues clubs would align with VFL standalone clubs (or reform the VFA) and actually have a clear pathway for guys who miss out. There's some for alliances, Geelong to Geelong, Eastern to Box Hill, Oakeligh to Port, Dandenong to Frankston but largely it's up to the kids to make it and without reserves or a history in that organisation they have to find a way to star at local footy just to get a good look in the VFL most of the time.

1 hour ago, binman said:

I actually think the gap year(s) issue could actually be made into a positive by the AFL pouring some resources into the SANFL, WAFL and VFL to ensure their fitness and other programs are closer to the AFLs in standard.

That combined with an expanded 'train with' model (ie prospective players sometimes train with an AFL club) would improve the standard of the leagues on the rung below the AFL. And allow young men to settle post VCE and focus on their development.

Yeah, but how does the AFL make MONEY out of this - NOW?

Who cares about the future product? That's not linked to anyone's bonus this year.