14 minutes ago, Adam The God said:

Just my opinion of course...

I think that’s pretty accurate though. Everything I’ve heard would suggest Langford would go pick 1 in this draft and Lindsay probably top 2-3

10 minutes ago, Ted Lasso said:

I think that’s pretty accurate though. Everything I’ve heard would suggest Langford would go pick 1 in this draft and Lindsay probably top 2-3

Could they then be our Elite, A-graders like Oliver and Petracca that people suggest we lack and build the team around them.

2 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Could they then be our Elite, A-graders like Oliver and Petracca that people suggest we lack and build the team around them.

They are a very good starting point but we still need more A grade talent.

For me we had Clarry, Trac, Max and May as A graders for our flag with Jackson and Kossie as emerging A graders, so 6 established or emerging.8

Max is still A grade as seen by his 8th AA but hasn’t got long left, Kossie is A grade and Langford and Lindsay are emerging.

We’re still short a couple imv.

12 hours ago, Adam The God said:

I agree. So we either go Humphrey again next year or hope we can land one with our two first rounders next year.

I actually think we're two A graders short. But anyway, time will tell.

For mine GC, Brisbane and the Hawks are the 3 clubs we need to knock off in 3-4 years time. As others have noted we need at least 1 more A/B+ grade mid and a A/B+ small forward who can run through the middle as well. I'm kind of hoping we can get them this year and then with some high picks next year either land Humphrey (I presume I'm dreaming here) or add more elite draft talent. On top of that lets hope Kalani can bed down a best 23 spot in 3-4 years and his brothers come on board who i believe are a step up. I'm also always excited by the thought of a young Davey running around in the Red and Blue. With the requisite luck falling our way we could well be pushing hard in 3-4 years.

It all comes down to how JT rates the top 10 (obviously)

If the player expected to go at pick 3 is rated a future star and twice and promising as the player expected to go at pick 8, then of course we will package picks to move up the order

But JTs ranking may be different to general opinion and pick 7 and 8 will still have the players he as targetted

48 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Could they then be our Elite, A-graders like Oliver and Petracca that people suggest we lack and build the team around them.

For sure, i think the thing that seems to be really commonly misread relating to the draft in my opinion is the talent in this years pool isn't bad as much as the talent in last years was exceptional. Harvey Langford would have gone very high in a lot of the recent drafts for example

48 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Could they then be our Elite, A-graders like Oliver and Petracca that people suggest we lack and build the team around them.

They definitely could be, but I still think we need more. I think Turner could be A grade, Kozzy is A grade, depending on how long Max stays around, he's A grade. So there's 5 guys. I hope Windsor keeps developing. I'm not sure where his ceiling is though. Max won't be around for much longer, but I'm still hopeful 2027 is a finals year for us.

1 minute ago, Adam The God said:

They definitely could be, but I still think we need more. I think Turner could be A grade, Kozzy is A grade, depending on how long Max stays around, he's A grade. So there's 5 guys. I hope Windsor keeps developing. I'm not sure where his ceiling is though. Max won't be around for much longer, but I'm still hopeful 2027 is a finals year for us.

I still think Rivers can become A grade

2 hours ago, Ted Lasso said:

I’m curious how the draft watchers rate Josh Lindsay’s contest work. I love his kicking and decision making but my one question mark is if he’s maybe a little bit soft?

Drafting Josh Lindsay would make me nervous.

Obviously good kick off the ball and his teams look to have him use the ball off half back wherever possible. But we’re not drafting him to play juniors or VFL, we’re drafting him to play AFL. He looks very similar in style to Salem but more of a recent Salem without his previous zip or the toughness Salem possesses.

One of the best correlations between drafting and success at AFL level (IMHO as someone who is not a professional!) is your ability to win contests and to play at high speed. These are like hurdle requirements to be an AFL footballer, otherwise you become a liability at the top level. If you can do these things then you give your other traits a chance to shine, like kicking etc. I worry about Lindsay’s ability to pass these hurdle requirements.

As we get towards the draft and I watch more of the players this may change, but these are my early impressions.

2 hours ago, Ted Lasso said:

I’m curious how the draft watchers rate Josh Lindsay’s contest work. I love his kicking and decision making but my one question mark is if he’s maybe a little bit soft?

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/josh-lindsay/

Just now, Bombay Airconditioning said:

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/josh-lindsay/

In 2024 he averaged 1.7 tackles per games, that increased to 3.5 in 2025. You’d think someone spoke to him about improving that aspect of his game.

17 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

I watched all of the available footage on you tube of Dovaston and I’m not sold on him. Kicks a nice goal from the boundary and some other regulation set shots but also misses a couple, nothing that screams natural fwd craft. Field kicking is average to ordinary with a few up and under / turn over kicks, fumbles a bit in certain passages and plays for the high free kick once or twice. Not a lot of vision of his marking ability. As I said earlier in the week he’s very busy buzzing around everywhere and runs hard to link up and create opportunity but doesn’t seem very damaging by foot and that’s what we need.

his highlight reel is just as good as nick Watson. He played against Footscray vfl team as a 17 year old had 18 possessions and kicked 1 goal and 4 behinds. That’s a phenomenal result considering he never played with the hawks team and Footscray finished top of the ladder.

Twomey reporting it’s unlikely that there’s much or any movement in the top 10 draft picks. Only mentioned Essendon as having a crack to move up the board.

1 hour ago, Adam The God said:

Just my opinion of course...

Of course. But it's entirely plausible - drafts where Xavier Lindsay is as good as it gets aren't unheard of - and it does conform to a worry/warning about this draft that seems to have existed for a very long time.

I kind of bought the (I hate this word, but) narrative that we very deliberately traded out of this draft not just because we wanted two high picks in a really strong draft, but because we knew we were giving up a future pick in a significantly weaker one.

Now we're being asked to get excited about 7 and 8. I don't think the Petracca trade was terrible, but I do wonder if the 2026 GC first rounder ends up being a better player than 7 and 8 in this draft.

Pure speculation, I know, and in the end, if Jason Taylor likes a couple in this draft in those spots, I'm all for it. But I'm a little bit nervous.

23 minutes ago, Axis of Bob said:

Drafting Josh Lindsay would make me nervous.

Obviously good kick off the ball and his teams look to have him use the ball off half back wherever possible. But we’re not drafting him to play juniors or VFL, we’re drafting him to play AFL. He looks very similar in style to Salem but more of a recent Salem without his previous zip or the toughness Salem possesses.

One of the best correlations between drafting and success at AFL level (IMHO as someone who is not a professional!) is your ability to win contests and to play at high speed. These are like hurdle requirements to be an AFL footballer, otherwise you become a liability at the top level. If you can do these things then you give your other traits a chance to shine, like kicking etc. I worry about Lindsay’s ability to pass these hurdle requirements.

As we get towards the draft and I watch more of the players this may change, but these are my early impressions.

The Tapscott trap?

40 minutes ago, Ted Lasso said:

I still think Rivers can become A grade

As a mid or a half back? I hope you're right.

I think Lindsay would be a good pick without being married to the idea.

An elite kick is one skill that transfers very well from juniors to the AFL, unlike sometimes speed/agility (look at Josh Sinn) and ball winning/explosiveness (tsatas). It’s not to say he will be elite, or that the speedy and powerful mids in this draft won’t be but it’s a good trait to have

13 minutes ago, Roddog said:

Twomey reporting it’s unlikely that there’s much or any movement in the top 10 draft picks. Only mentioned Essendon as having a crack to move up the board.

So he's changed his stance.

4 minutes ago, Adam The God said:

As a mid or a half back? I hope you're right.

I like him as a mid

3 hours ago, Mouseymoo said:

What else do we get?

Nothing. I'm assuming Port finish in a similar ladder position and the next draft is stronger. Port's F1 for 7 or 8.

Just now, old55 said:

Nothing. I'm assuming Port finish in a similar ladder position and the next draft is stronger. Port's F1 for 7 or 8.

If we did this deal, it'd tell us very clearly what JT thinks of this draft crop, and potentially what he thinks about the next.

When we traded out of this year's draft last year, we also would have been aware of the likelihood of Trac requesting a trade again this year (despite pizzas) and would have planned to get back into this year's first round via picks from Trac.

This sort of planning would almost certainly be done.

15 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

The Tapscott trap?

Dare I say, and this is certainly not a direct comparison nor even any acknowledgement of similarity with Josh Lindsay, the Toumpas trap.

Toumpas was a great kick, clever, high character, classy and had a whole lot of very good AFL traits. The problem is that they were stuck behind ordinary athleticism from a low-contest player. That meant that we barely got to see his clever ball use because we didn’t get much of it and was smashed as soon as he did.

If I were to pick up that type of player I’d prefer to do it later in the draft where I’m hoping to get role players rather than core pieces of the team.

As for Lindsay, I’d like to see more before having a strong opinion about him.

23 minutes ago, old55 said:

Nothing. I'm assuming Port finish in a similar ladder position and the next draft is stronger. Port's F1 for 7 or 8.

They'd have to pay a premium if they're wanting to fast track a kid this year instead of waiting for next year's draft. It should cost them their second round pick this year. I'd do that deal - use that pick for Pickett.

Edit - scratch that, their first pick is #49 this year. The [censored].

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Mouseymoo

2 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I think Demonland will become mayhem if we draft draft both Xavier Taylor and Josh Lindsay. The ensuing confusion over whether posters are referring to Xavier Lindsay, Josh Lindsay or Xavier Taylor will be quite something.

I had a stroke just reading that. Imagine trying to commentate that passage of play live.

4 hours ago, old55 said:

I wonder if Port would do F1 for 7 or 8 to get access to Schubert or Marsh?

Port have stated they dont rate the draft at all and have traded almost completely out of it to a point they may just upgrade 3 rookies and not take take anyone on draft night.