@Gator @BLWNBA keep your eye on the red and the blue.

Maybe we can start a rumour about Sullivan Robey to try and get Essendon and Richmond to pass on him, anyone know our internal leakers? we can get them to pass on word to Tom Morris.

3 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

@Gator @BLWNBA keep your eye on the red and the blue.

Pretty sure that's the arm the Predator blows off before impacing Dillon.

2 hours ago, BLWNBA said:

There’s a few things to pull apart here, but the fact you can’t correctly apply the ‘jumping at shadows’ idiom says it all.

Keep yelling at clouds, old fella.

Still cut. Great.

2 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

@Little Goffy 🤣🤣🤣let’s prioritize Sam’s

7-Sam Grlj

8-Sam Cumming

37- Sam Allen

I mean... A speedy line breaker who can also get into the packs happily when it is his turn to go, a powerful 'high impact' midfielder-forward with more pace than you'd expect, and a super-athletic tall winger with a bit of development to be done. We could do worse.

I guess this means Kalani White is the baked beans?

16 hours ago, Random Task said:

Is it just me or is the draft coverage pretty poor so far considering it's only a week away now?

There's usually the "get to know" draftee videos on the afl website that cover 30 players in a countdown towards the draft. I haven2025 AFL Draft Profiles - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central't seen any of shifters "best prospects" broken down by position either.

Additionally, last year there was a dedicated afl.com search engine/function that allowed the average fan to look up player profiles and highlights.

Haven't seen any of that this year unless I'm looking in the wrong spot.

Try this site

2025 AFL Draft Profiles - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central

My understanding is next years draft crop is going to be deeper and of a higher standard than 2025. Then in 2027 Tasmania comes in with 5(?) of the 1st 13 picks. We currently have our own F1 and Suns F1 for next year.

There is growing anticipation of this years draft. At 7+8 it seems to me, all if not most, of the very best will be gone. If WC and NM (and Maybe Ess) are as keen as Ive heard rumours, to have more picks this year it would seem a good idea to swap our 7+8 (and possibly GC F1) for their 1st pick 2026.

I realise many here would like to eat their cake this year. But a few A+ players including Humphrey, Butters and King may be in the mix as well as some gun youngsters next year. We can do swaps Draft night and I believe this would be the best result for Dees.

On 07/11/2025 at 07:45, rpfc said:

I may be missing your point as I provided an alternative:

We may not have put a few names down because we may not want to give other teams a read on who we might take. Especially if we want to trade down.

I dare say you might be very close to the mark on this. We are notoriously quite clever at the 'picks' game. Many of the top ten picks are something of a Turkey shoot among clubs with their academy and other liens. We haven't those kind of cards.

If we want to pull off whatever heist the club has in mind then indeed, keep mum.

Let others guess...and worry.

4 minutes ago, Damo said:

There is growing anticipation of this years draft. At 7+8 it seems to me, all if not most, of the very best will be gone. If WC and NM (and Maybe Ess) are as keen as Ive heard rumours, to have more picks this year it would seem a good idea to swap our 7+8 (and possibly GC F1) for their 1st pick 2026.

If we can't trade up, I don't mind this at all. Especially if we can trade into next year's draft with picks from likely strugglers and get picks lower down the order in this year's that let Taylor find a gem or two in the second or third rounds. Everything I see and read suggests that realistic expectatoons with players at 7 and 8 in this draft you're hoping become solid Bs but could be Cs, with the faint possibility they surpass all expectations. Surely the top 10 is for players you genuinely think could be A-graders and are confident will be very solid Bs. (In 2024, you might even have higher expectations than that.) I know not all top 10 picks turn out this way, but I'm not sure this draft even gives you the hope.

So trade out, have a look at what the list can do in roughly its current state. Get 15 or 20 more games into Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, Turner, maybe Kentfield, Tholstrup, Adams and Culley. Find out what kind of influenceJiath and Steele can have, and whether Mihocek is good for three seasons or more like one and half. Then take stock at the end of the season - understand how far off we are and go hard in the 2026 draft.

Of course, the other way is to say "Who cares what number the picks are? Just let Jason Taylor pick his faves and trust that he can find one or two exceptional players at any point in any draft." Not sure too many recruiters have the track record to justify such an approach - he might, though.

34 minutes ago, Damo said:

My understanding is next years draft crop is going to be deeper and of a higher standard than 2025. Then in 2027 Tasmania comes in with 5(?) of the 1st 13 picks. We currently have our own F1 and Suns F1 for next year.

There is growing anticipation of this years draft. At 7+8 it seems to me, all if not most, of the very best will be gone. If WC and NM (and Maybe Ess) are as keen as Ive heard rumours, to have more picks this year it would seem a good idea to swap our 7+8 (and possibly GC F1) for their 1st pick 2026.

I realise many here would like to eat their cake this year. But a few A+ players including Humphrey, Butters and King may be in the mix as well as some gun youngsters next year. We can do swaps Draft night and I believe this would be the best result for Dees.

Surely there are at least a dozen kids with enough potential to warrant selection for our picks this year? I'm keen to get as much youth in as quickly as possible and this time next year those kids will have the benefit of 12 months in the system rather than newbies who remain speculative picks. If we are serious about Humphrey next year then he needs to want to come to us so its critical we build a promising list asap. We should be in his ear constantly all year and hope he finds the brand is taking over his preferred role at GCS.

5 minutes ago, Sydee said:

Surely there are at least a dozen kids with enough potential to warrant selection for our picks this year? I'm keen to get as much youth in as quickly as possible and this time next year those kids will have the benefit of 12 months in the system rather than newbies who remain speculative picks. If we are serious about Humphrey next year then he needs to want to come to us so its critical we build a promising list asap. We should be in his ear constantly all year and hope he finds the brand is taking over his preferred role at GCS.

This

We’ve always valued bringing in more talent sooner to allow for more development time

The faster we bring in high quality talent - even if they don’t become stars - the faster we’ll begin to improve and attract FAs

Besides, we have two firsts next year, so we’re well set from a trade and draft perspective anyway

1 hour ago, Damo said:

There is growing anticipation of this years draft. At 7+8 it seems to me, all if not most, of the very best will be gone. If WC and NM (and Maybe Ess) are as keen as Ive heard rumours, to have more picks this year it would seem a good idea to swap our 7+8 (and possibly GC F1) for their 1st pick 2026.

Sounds good in theory but I just can’t imagine any of those teams putting first rounders on the table to really come up. Even with the Suns first rounder going back the other way.

North maybe, but they need talls and this draft is very light on them. Essendon already have 2 picks, I doubt they do it. The Eagles the same, lots of rumours about them trading up from 13 but surely not risking a first.

Dropping back from 8 to 13 with the Eagles and banking an F2 might be the best we can do.

38 minutes ago, Sydee said:

Surely there are at least a dozen kids with enough potential to warrant selection for our picks this year? I'm keen to get as much youth in as quickly as possible and this time next year those kids will have the benefit of 12 months in the system rather than newbies who remain speculative picks. If we are serious about Humphrey next year then he needs to want to come to us so its critical we build a promising list asap. We should be in his ear constantly all year and hope he finds the brand is taking over his preferred role at GCS.

This, the draft this year doesn’t bat deep however IMO there’s still going to be over a dozen picked who play over 150 games.