1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The problem is this draft is meant to be a stinker. If it was 7 & 8 last year you'd take it and run but this year? Consensus seems to be it will be extremely difficult to hit on a winner past pick 2 or 3.

On a side note this doesn't fill me with much confidence about White either who isn't projected to go in the top 40-50 or so.

The funny thing about the draft, and one of the variables that is entirely unpredictable, is that some top picks just cannot adapt to the high pressure of AFL, while others way down the draft order, start to shine; weird, I know, but one reason why I’d be loathe to write of these picks in a ‘supposedly’ weak draft.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by hardtack

2 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

Well no one owes me Calvin Klein Euphoria that’s for sure 😭

I dare say one J McV owes you more than some perfume @Ghostwriter . Much much more 😡

17 minutes ago, Adam The God said:

Problem is, Binners, 7 and 8 very likely become 11 and 12 after academy and F/Ss, so two mid first round picks for him essentially. And we may well therefore give up other picks to allow them to match academy picks.

Exactly what I have been saying constantly and it seems no one registers. Draft is already reputed to be shallow and these picks are going south due to academy/father sons.

Shallow drafts dont mean there is no talent, but sometimes that its just way harder to get it right.

6 minutes ago, Sean Balor said:

Will have talent available to us regardless if it's pushed to 12 or so anyway. We'll work it out. 2 (hopefully) decent young lads who you can train up and could be anything, whilst losing a 30yr old in the backend. It is what it is. We'll find something. White and Sinnema coming in is cool too ☺️

7 & 8 regardless of what they become is still the 7th and 8th best available draft pick open to general. 👍🏻

The looming problem is next season. End of year we will have 20 OOC at this stage. 15 on the PL if Woey gets a year.

13 of those 20 have question marks about either injuries, talent, or possible retirement…

1 minute ago, Rockets said:

7 & 8 regardless of what they become is still the 7th and 8th best available draft pick open to general. 👍🏻

Yes, don't quite understand some of the discourse here. By definition, Academy and F/S picks aren't available to us, we were only ever selecting from who was left.

3 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Yes, don't quite understand some of the discourse here. By definition, Academy and F/S picks aren't available to us, we were only ever selecting from who was left.

The issue appears to be that beyond the 7-8 academy & FS picks, the talent isn’t there like most years.

Some draft folk have said this years first round crop without the FS & Academy picks would be second round and early third in other drafts.

2 hours ago, binman said:

Nah.

Tracc was flying before Moore pole-axed him.

And all things considered he had a pretty good 2025 season.

As I post every off season I don't mind skimming all the trade and draft speculation, and think it's great the thought many put into all the variables.

I particularly like reading Informed views about possible draft options

But personally I don't really care, particularly about the trading palaver. And I don't really have an informed view about value of trades etc

However I'm curious the consensus seems to be picks 7 and 8 is a bad deal.

I get that the context is its Humphrey or picks 7 or 8 and everyone is super keen on Humphrey so perhaps 7 and 8 seems bad in comparison.

But to be honest, assuming the Suns pay all of his salary, picks 7 and 8 for tracc ain't that bad.

Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe he is still a gun. But the reality is he is 30 next year, his kicking, which has never been elite, got worse last season and if I was brutally honest I'd say post injury he's still, 100% understandably, a little cautious in the heat of the battle.

Added together he's a ways off his AA best.

He may well get back to that level - and I sincerely hope he does whether that's at the dees or another club.

But as a punter I'd give no better than even money he will get back to his AA best.

In that context picks 7 and 8 is ok I reckon.

And if we take those picks to the draft (Ie as opposed to on trading for a player) that's pretty exciting.

It tends to get ignored on here, but I’ve suggested (influenced by my son who is much better informed than I), that those who think 7&8 is a bad deal for a player who, let’s face it, is well off his best, and has never been great with his disposal, I’ve suggested they check out the Chris Judd Wiki page. Just look at the deal made to get one of the greatest of all time, when he was much younger than Trac, and already incredibly well credentialed (just look at the list of his achievements up until that move), to Carlton… some posters here would have been screaming “daylight robbery!!” while passing out on the floor!

My take - Bailey tested the water to get GC used to the idea so that next year he can nominate Hawthorn as his destination. Lock it in!

3 hours ago, Rockets said:

Just now, Demon Disciple said:

I dare say one J McV owes you more than some perfume @Ghostwriter . Much much more 😡

Judd is young and not terribly worldly. He’ll learn in time. I care more about Lily than I do about him. She’s the one who’s left fielding questions about him and his choices. Lily’s a sweet girl and I know her teammates are wonderful to her which is why she wants to remain a Demon. That said, she may well up and leave to be with Judd in which case I’ll be on the market for a cute little loved-up couple of voodoo dolls 😂

16 minutes ago, Rockets said:

7 & 8 regardless of what they become is still the 7th and 8th best available draft pick open to general. 👍🏻

Looking at past drafts the chances of picking up a very good to excellent player in the back half of the first round are only slightly worse than the front half especially if there are no standouts. Thats what we are looking at after academy and compo picks.

18 minutes ago, hardtack said:

The funny thing about the draft, and one of the variables that is entirely unpredictable, is that some top picks just cannot adapt to the high pressure of AFL, while others way down the draft order, start to shine; weird, I know, but one reason why I’d be loathe to write of these picks in a ‘supposedly’ weak draft.

Yes HT, the same people who make the call on the quality of the various draft's also make the call on all the individual players

And let's face it, as you've correctly ascertained, they can't help but get it wrong with some of the individual players, because of the nature of drafting

But Jason Taylor swims against the tide, despite all the variables

One year we might give him a few extra choices in the late 2nd round or in the 3rd round of picks

As previously stated, we should be reasonably confident that if we end up with 2 x top 10 picks, that Taylor will come up trumps with his choices

2 quality mids will do as you can't have enough quality mids (see Brisbane)

2 minutes ago, Macca said:

Yes HT, the same people who make the call on the quality of the various draft's also make the call on all the individual players

And let's face it, as you've correctly ascertained, they can't help but get it wrong with some of the individual players, because of the nature of drafting

But Jason Taylor swims against the tide, despite all the variables

One year we might give him a few extra choices in the late 2nd round or in the 3rd round of picks

As previously stated, we should be reasonably confident that if we end up with 2 x top 10 picks, that Taylor will come up trumps with his choices

2 quality mids will do as you can't have enough quality mids (see Brisbane)

Agree 💯%

There was no medical today was there...

8 hours ago, harveylangfordisthegoat said:

the club is more than happy with two top 10 picks though

Yep. Just don’t want to give up pick 24 going back to GC.

8 minutes ago, Sean Balor said:

There was no medical today was there...

Lol. There most likely were never any follow up in person meetings either. Demonland was duped by a couple of trolls. Glad everyone had fun. Now we can all come to terms with the picks.

1 hour ago, Norm Smith's Curse said:

Exactly what I have been saying constantly and it seems no one registers. Draft is already reputed to be shallow and these picks are going south due to academy/father sons.

Shallow drafts dont mean there is no talent, but sometimes that its just way harder to get it right.

Having said that, I'd be happy with Josh Lindsay and others.