5 hours ago, BAMF said:

I wouldnt say i'm an expert, but I do get into the draft heavily once the season ends.

Latrelle played for Norwood in the SANFL in 2023 and then went home to Tumby Bay at some point. While it was never explicitly explained, the suggestion is that he didnt have the maturity to cope away from home or in an elite pathway for an extended period.

In 2025 he returned to the SANFL for Glenelg reserves and did the work, proving he was now mature enough to make it. Latrelle has touched on this himself in interviews on draft night without going into the details.

There are interviews with Jason Taylor post draft saying that we had kept an eye on him over the years, which suggests that he likely would have been given a list spot by us or another club earlier if he had stuck in out at Norwood in either 2023 or 2024.

He bolted up draft boards after displaying his talents in the Glenelg seniors and kicking four goals in a game. Glenelg were an excellent side in 2025 so it was a hard team to get into.

Early phantom drafts (July) suggested he would be taken at around pick 30. By November it was clear he would be taken earlier with suggestions a number of clubs were keen. Of note that I can remember being rumoured were GWS, North and ourselves.

We certainly shocked most draft "experts" by taking him as high as pick 12 but we knew he would not make it to our next pick with GWS and North interested. North in particular are of interest as they took Dovaston with their pick who many on here were keen on (not me).

The criticism of reaching for him has its points. He played the majority of 2025 in the SANFL reserves. There were also some teams on the phone during the draft offering us good future picks in exchange for pick 12 with Dyson Sharp in demand (Adelaide all but confirmed and Collingwood rumored).

While at the end of the day we picked up Latrelle at pick 12, its doubtful he would have lasted much longer, but we will never be sure.

In a draft which was rumoured to be shallow, our true draft expert who we pay to do these things picked his man.

If Latrelle doesnt make the grade you will be hearing about it ad nauseam on here for the next 20 years.

Fingers crossed for the boy.

It is easy o forget the dynamics between teams at things such as drafts. I'm sure at times teams jumpin early or wait longer for players due to "market value". At the end of the day teams just want to get the best players they could. If they overpay on one and underpay on another so be it. Ultimately it's still the same outcome.

7 hours ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

Why was he picked up so early this year by us, and no one took him last year?

Like I said, no clue how draft works. Was he injured or another reason teams passed him up last year?

I guess I’m curious why we took him early when we had later picks and I do recall people saying he would not be an early pick.

Sounds like either way, it’s gone really well in our favor and that he’s a jet, just curious on how it works and why really..

If I recall correctly, it was something of a surprise that we went so early with Kossie himself (I seem to recall some concerns on here that we'd used such a high pick on a small forward). Similarly Clayton Oliver was something of a surprise pick. Both were shown to be shrewd picks in the fullness of time.

I think simply in both cases what it was, is that our recruitment saw something in them, that others didn't and were prepared to back themselves and take a risk. Also with Clarry, I seem to recall that we were satisfied that he had responded to feedback to lift his professionalism and get fitter (somewhat ironically in the end). In the same sense, we probably had a better personal insight into Trelly than most via Kossie.

Edited Tuesday at 20:063 days by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

I would think that his joining us makes Kossie very happy, and I imagine that was a factor in us selecting him. This might lead to a very good outcome for us: Kossie secure and happy, and an underestimated player to join him.

On 27/01/2026 at 11:26, GawnOfTheDead said:

Assuming White is low on your list due to needing to beef up, and Matthews re injury?

How’s Heath going? I have seen some really positive posts saying he may be the 5th bench player. Is there someone you could compare him to, ie: Jackson (ground work and follow up)?

Haven’t seen much of his gameplay so curious if he’s a rough and tough ruck, or follows up, or gets around the ground a lot like Gawn - I assume with his body type he’s more a rough and tough ruck..

No hurry with either Matthews or White but I forgot to include two players who were already on the list, so I added them below:-

• Steele

• Sumner-Pickett

• Taylor

• Mihocek

• Jiath

• Kentfield

• Onley

• Heath

• Mentha Jnr

• White

• Berry

• Matthews

On 27/01/2026 at 12:12, lorn said:

Are people ever going to get Sumner-Pickett's name right?

I can promise you i won't - despite my very best efforts

I will stick with Latrelle

At the end of the day no one will care where he was picked unless of course he’s no good and then it’ll be a good old fashioned Demonland pile on.

3 hours ago, binman said:

I can promise you i won't - despite my very best efforts

I will stick with Latrelle

I wonder whether he will get Couzzie to complement Kozzie, especially for those of us with poor eyesight who may just see a flash of indigenous brilliance dashing by.

Edited Wednesday at 10:343 days by monoccular

Today’s Herald Sun on the most likely prospects for an AFL debut:-

MELBOURNE

Yet to make debut: Xavier Taylor, Latrelle Pickett, Thomas Matthews, Riley Onley, Kalani White, Luker Kentfield, Ricky Mentha.

Xavier Taylor, and potentially Latrelle Pickett, will feature early in 2026. Pickett has been especially impressive since arriving at the club in the first round of the draft. Luker Kentfield had a strong 2025 VFL campaign and will push for an early debut if the key forward stocks start to deplete.

Best Chance: Latrelle Pickett.

On 27/01/2026 at 12:12, lorn said:

Are people ever going to get Sumner-Pickett's name right?

Better tell the club

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/players/10179/latrelle-pickett

On 28/01/2026 at 05:01, Go Ds said:

It is easy o forget the dynamics between teams at things such as drafts. I'm sure at times teams jumpin early or wait longer for players due to "market value". At the end of the day teams just want to get the best players they could. If they overpay on one and underpay on another so be it. Ultimately it's still the same outcome.

Good point. I revisited the Tholstrup draft and if you look at the players that came after him we didn't miss anyone except for Logan Morris at 31. I love how our drafting and list management team have managed the draft picks the past few years. It's all about what you end up with not what picks are worth. If there aren't players you rate then the value of picks alters. The points scores are irrelevant if you give up a lot of picks to move up but weren't going to use the later picks because you didn't rate who was there. We actually moved back to get Kossie but picked someone like Latrelle and Tholstrup because obviously the players after them weren't rated as highly by our guru. I think people have gone too early on Tholstrup he hasn't had a consistent chance to get his act together. Let's hold off having that conversation till the end of this season.

Yes, further what I was saying about taking into account "market accepted price" and factoring in other teams bids and potential bids , I bet there are times where a team has taken a player almost solely so the next team could not get him. I mean it wouldn't be every time but if a team's kind of like " we could use a new ruckman some time " they may pick someone two years prematurely solely because they know the next team in the draft list would have been the perfect fit for that player. I don't know I suspect there is a bit of that kind of foul play in drafts.

Especially now we're really seeing this with father and son s elections and teams having to decide whether they will bid on another club's potential father son and know that if the other team declines they don't want to be stuck with someone they paid way over on. Obviously the same thing too with people from interstate.

Edited Thursday at 10:212 days by Go Ds

11 hours ago, Its Time Again said:

I think people have gone too early on Tholstrup he hasn't had a consistent chance to get his act together. Let's hold off having that conversation till the end of this season.

Agreed. While he hasn't burst out of the blocks like Windsor, Langford and XL did in their first seasons, he as shown a few good signs and isn't a bust yet by any means.

If anything I think the club might have overhyped his chances of playing and performing early which probably hasn't helped the expectations on him.