1 hour ago, Oxdee said:

since you are so knowledgeable, please tell me which of these players Nairn is better than going off their highlights?

Robey

Sharp

Grlj

Taylor

Cumming

Greeves

Farrow

Lindsay

Dovaston

The AFL have added Nairn to that list of invitees first draft night. So the AFL/recruiters rate him highly.

2 hours ago, Oxdee said:

since you are so knowledgeable, please tell me which of these players Nairn is better than going off their highlights?

Robey

Sharp

Grlj

Taylor

Cumming

Greeves

Farrow

Lindsay

Dovaston

Mate, I'm more interested in you than Nairn.

I'd rather slip to the media guys we don't want that we are "interested in". Try and get a club to take them before our picks. It should be a game of poker. Don't reveal who we want.

16 minutes ago, kurtneverdied said:

I'd rather slip to the media guys we don't want that we are "interested in". Try and get a club to take them before our picks. It should be a game of poker. Don't reveal who we want.

2 hours ago, Dee Boys said:

10 hours ago, kurtneverdied said:

I'd rather slip to the media guys we don't want that we are "interested in". Try and get a club to take them before our picks. It should be a game of poker. Don't reveal who we want.

A lot of the intel on “who we want” doesn’t come from us, it comes from the information that is in the market place about who we spoken to in terms of parents, under age footy coaches, teachers and any other people we can find who can give us an insight into the person and not necessarily “the skills”, which of course are there for all to see.

Clubs knew we wanted Kolt because two of our blokes flew to WA to have lunch with his parents says before the draft; you don’t do that unless you’re very interested, and that interest may have been narrowed down in the last week. Hence the “bolt” up the board.

So it’s got very little about keeping cards close to your chest and more about who knows who you’re putting time into. That’s why Cal gets it pretty right in his mock draft rather than his player ratings. He’s clearly very well connected.

22 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Hey, BangBnagBang - where would you play Viney? Clearly not as a small forward, but given the comments you've made about him, do you still see him as a midfielder? I would I have thought your views about him might make him more of a liability as a midfielder than a small forward.

Will struggle to get a game!

Recruiting is an opinion based role and not one AFL recruiter gets it right every time.

Luck, development, opportunity, injury, game style and a host of other factors come into it and no one can predict all of them ahead of time.

Star juniors may not make it and yet others not as good early on do.

The good recruiters nail most of their early draft picks and some of the later ones.

That is about the best you can hope for.

Now to the $64 question, who do we take, I wouldn’t have a clue and only 4 more sleeps until I find out.

Edited November 14, 2025Nov 14 by Redleg

so is it really that soon. One good player will slip to us, perhaps two, might need to trade the 37 and something else, or from next year to get who else we like. But we only have 3 to pick ?

Anyway we get 4 ?

Juicy...

21 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Juicy...

Xavier Taylor, hopefully.

CDT..

Didn't we pluck Seston out of obscurity at a similar event?

28 minutes ago, adonski said:

Didn't we pluck Seston out of obscurity at a similar event?

And?

If Sharp is available @ 8 wonder if crows trade 16 + F1 for our pick

Leaves us with pick 7 + 16 in 2025 (avenue to Pickett?)
2026: 1st round (Melb), 1st round (Crom), 1st round (GCS)

Edited November 15, 2025Nov 15 by adonski

5 minutes ago, adonski said:

If Sharp is available @ 8 wonder if crows trade 16 + F1 for our pick

Leaves us with pick 7 + 16 in 2025 (avenue to Pickett?)
2026: 1st round (Melb), 1st round (Crom), 1st round (GCS)

I'm not opposed to drafting LSP but at 16 it seems a huge reach. Played SANFL reserves all year with pretty modest return. His one senior game late in the year was a 4 goal effort (including two that were gifts) and he was dropped after the following week.

Personally, rather the two best available at 7&8 then Sam Allen at 37 hopefully if still there

Just my humble take and I'm glad it's not up to me as this year and next are pretty important drafts for the club

On 13/11/2025 at 18:52, Oxdee said:

Then why up until yesterday cals draft had him at pick 25

Hi Oxdee. It’s probably worth understanding that Phantom Drafters, including Cal base their Phantom Drafts and Power Rankings almost exclusively based on watching these players simply play under age football.

Recruiters base their decisions so much around information that simply isn’t available to Phantom Drafters, eg very strategic interviews, psychological testing, historical behaviour in and out of the football environment, factors around the family environment, etc etc.

To give this some context, rightly or wrongly, some Victorian clubs were worried about the interference by the father of one Victorian draftee last year that they took other options who were similarly rated, this turned out to be a boon for Freo.

A Recruiter told me the other day that they were very keen on a tall key forward in this year’s Draft, until the interview revealed that footy probably doesn’t mean enough to him and was supported by the fact that none of his closest friends are footy heads.

The psychological testing also indicated he can get quite anxious.

I was also told recently by an Assistant Coach who sits in on interviews that he thought Robey is one of the most impressive young men his Club has interviewed in many years He said he’s the person that his teammates & coaches will both love.

He thought X Taylor is a ripper, in a cheeky, confident way and that he’s so determined to do well, it means EVERYTHING to him

He said that the Sydney Academy player, Max King interviewed superbly and again, based on his desire to do whatever it takes, might get bid on a little higher than what Phantom Drafters think.

He also said that a kid called Hugo Mikunda from the Geelong Falcons absolutely knocked the interviews & testing out of the park

2 minutes ago, goodwindees said:

Hi Oxdee. It’s probably worth understanding that Phantom Drafters, including Cal base their Phantom Drafts and Power Rankings almost exclusively based on watching these players simply play under age football.

Recruiters base their decisions so much around information that simply isn’t available to Phantom Drafters, eg very strategic interviews, psychological testing, historical behaviour in and out of the football environment, factors around the family environment, etc etc.

To give this some context, rightly or wrongly, some Victorian clubs were worried about the interference by the father of one Victorian draftee last year that they took other options who were similarly rated, this turned out to be a boon for Freo.

A Recruiter told me the other day that they were very keen on a tall key forward in this year’s Draft, until the interview revealed that footy probably doesn’t mean enough to him and was supported by the fact that none of his closest friends are footy heads.

The psychological testing also indicated he can get quite anxious.

I was also told recently by an Assistant Coach who sits in on interviews that he thought Robey is one of the most impressive young men his Club has interviewed in many years He said he’s the person that his teammates & coaches will both love.

He thought X Taylor is a ripper, in a cheeky, confident way and that he’s so determined to do well, it means EVERYTHING to him

He said that the Sydney Academy player, Max King interviewed superbly and again, based on his desire to do whatever it takes, might get bid on a little higher than what Phantom Drafters think.

He also said that a kid called Hugo Mikunda from the Geelong Falcons absolutely knocked the interviews & testing out of the park

Can you elaborate on the 'interference' of the now Freo's players father?

Thanks GWD...

2 minutes ago, adonski said:

Can you elaborate on the 'interference' of the now Freo's players father?

Thanks GWD...

Just over exuberance, a little too forthcoming in his opinions.

Look, it doesn’t take much to sway opinions when the perception is that there is so little between players and draft picks are so valuable/expensive in so many ways.

There’s a highly rated small forward in this year’s draft that some clubs are spooked about due to some historical behaviour. Nothing serious, but just enough to cause that little concern. Phantom Drafters wouldn’t be aware of this.

I’ve probably said too much.

Let’s hope for a great Dees result during the week.

Neither side giving up a heck of a lot shows you the picks aren’t overly rated but still rated enough to climb up.

If I had to guess. Sharp for Essendon at 9. Thredgold for North at 11.

Wonder where the bid for Dean comes. West Coast not getting their hands on 9 might tempt them to bid early. Otherwise Richmond or it will fall to us.

54 minutes ago, adonski said:

For us to get one of those, what do we give up? Blues just after points for this year for Dean and better off trading them vs the penalty on them for selecting Dean? GC future 1st and a future 2nd. Or trade 7 or 8 to someone for 2 picks in the teens and on trade one and a future 2nd to Blues?

2 minutes ago, kurtneverdied said:

For us to get one of those, what do we give up? Blues just after points for this year for Dean and better off trading them vs the penalty on them for selecting Dean? GC future 1st and a future 2nd. Or trade 7 or 8 to someone for 2 picks in the teens and on trade one and a future 2nd to Blues?

Sounds like those deals are pretty much done unfortunately

It does. Perhaps a good way of advertising the auction, though that has probably already been done in private between clubs.

18 minutes ago, kurtneverdied said:

For us to get one of those, what do we give up? Blues just after points for this year for Dean and better off trading them vs the penalty on them for selecting Dean? GC future 1st and a future 2nd. Or trade 7 or 8 to someone for 2 picks in the teens and on trade one and a future 2nd to Blues?

Our best offer - GC future first and 37 - probably doesn’t beat either deal.

We effectively gave up a pair of second and some to get pick 8 from GC. So we’ve already done that kind of deal.

It probably isn’t smart to want one of those picks anyway. We’d just be drafting our 3rd best choice at 7/8.

Better to wait and see if someone falls to the 20 mark and is available for a cheap trade up. Or wait until 37, where there might be a good option especially if bids keep chewing up picks.