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Yeah another we have spoken to as well. Unfortunately I think he gets taken way before our 3rd pick. One player I know for a fact that we have strong interest in and should be available at this pick is Tye Hourigan from Traralgon. Genuine country footy star who's very similar to Tom Stewart.

Interesting to see people sour on Jagga. He's the best performed midfielder in it and at worst will be a solid accumulator at AFL level. People saying his inside work wouldn't stack up at AFL level are a bit off IMO. He played a few games in the VFL late in the year and absolutely dominated mature bodies and AFL listed players. Averaged 27 disposals and 7 clearances across the three VFL matches. Had 50+ disposal games at CTL level. He's the best ball winner at underage level since Nick Daicos and projects similarly. If he was available to us at pick 5 it would be a very bold call to pass on him for someone else. I suspect he'll be gone before our pick though.

Gee wiz I'll be sitting there at approx. 3:08am on night 2 of the draft in excitement now (unfortunately I'm being serious)

Watch out for Jack Henderson. Werribee VFL - won the BoG medal in GF that Mannagh won. We interviewed him (Geelong the other) and he said it went really well. I hope we get him!

I don’t really see what he has that is any better than Jefferson who after two years has yet to get a game Tauru above Armstrong for mine

If we draft Jagga, lure Keath out of retirement and employ Jones and Watts as assistant coaches, we'd almost have the original band back together.

I am still a big believer in holding 5 and holding 9. Don’t drift too far down by pick splitting. Don’t try to dilute picks by grabbing 2. There are an elite group in the top 10. We will grab TWO of them 👏👏

Good handy depth.

He's our back up interceptor/ 3rd tall if Lever goes down. We had to keep him after delisting Tommo. Good luck Marty, have a big pre season and stay injury free, we may need to call on you next season.

Thought he was perfectly fine as a depth player and only cost a future third round pick

Cal Twomey's Phantom Form Guide: Top draft prospects' October ranking

My apologies if I haven't done this correctly. I had a check and couldn't see a thread for him already. Fairly good mail we like this guy a lot. If Jagga Smith is selected before our first pick I wouldn't be surprised to see us take Armstrong, that's how much Jason Taylor likes him apparently. Expected to make an immediate impact, and said to be very versatile and good below his knees. I will defer to others who watch the potential draftees closer, as it's not something I take a great interest in. Please take this as reasonably reliable gossip as opposed to absolutely rock solid intel like others post here at times. Again, will defer to others opinions, but passing along what I've heard in terms of where the club rates him.

I couldn't disagree more. The game is turning into forward lines that have more smalls that can run up and back. See Haw or Pies. Bris had 1 tall fwd in Hipwood, a mid size with Morris and a Fwd/ruck in Daniher and 4 smalls (Rayner, Lohman, Cameron & Ah Chee that did all the damage. Syd had 3 talls that didn't touch the ball. I dont see teams next year taking 3 talls fwds into games. Melb has Fritch as a mid size, Roo as the Fwd/Ruck and IMO only room for one other tall. Weather thats Petty/Disco or Jeffo. I think if we play Roo, Petty, Turner and Fritch we are not mobile enough and dont have enough forwards to get up the ground help with the transition game. You dont need to be tall if there is speed on the ball and you are kicking to one on ones in space.

I remember reading Will’s coaches report in his draft year where he stated that he was as good as Harry Barnett, he had an exceptional U17 year, but but suffered from groin and hip issues during U18 preseason which hampered him during that year. He also had an issue with his pelvis during his first preseason with the Dees. Will was injury free this year so I, like all Dee supporters will be hoping that he has a huge preseason and starts to live up to those high expectations voiced by his former coach. 2025 would be a great time for Will Verrall to break into the team and provide that ruck/ fwd relief that we have lacked since Jackson departed. Good luck Will we are all hoping that you have a great year in ‘25.

Nothing against the player personally but I would be extremely disappointed if we used pick 5 on him. Mids, mids, mids please.Even with pick 9 would prefer others. We have Jefferson and Kentfield who replaced a midfielder. Let’s get some balance on our list.

On today’s episode of Gettable, Cal said we would be looking at Lalor, FOS, Langford or Jagga if they were still available. If not he listed a second rung of mids, including Allan, Smillie and others. He said we could fit a gun young mid into our team.

too many afl journalists have gotten ahead of themselves, and see themselves as king makers but they are just egocentric scribblers addicted and deluded by the allure of the click

I am visiting Palm Cove on sunday for the day and recall the last time i was there was on day two of the Jacko draft. While my wife was shopping, I was outside counting down to our pick at 30 as I recall. I liked Rivers, as I had posted on DL, solely because of his video highlights and the comments of guys who knew about him. As we got to his pick and he was still there, I hoped JT would take him. When I heard his name announced, I yelled out and my wife ran out of a shop and asked if I was ok and I told her we got Rivers and she just stared at me. I am hoping this is an omen, even though this time I am not there on draft day, that we get great players in the draft this year. Sorry if the story was boring.

Personally I don't think we're in a position to take a developing tall so early in the draft. My understanding is that our draft motive is to bring in players that will be ready to step straight into senior footy next year and I cannot see that with Armstrong. What I see in Armstrong is another Sam Weideman. HA lacks the intensity and defensive efforts as a key forward and can come across as laconic at times. He's not a big possession winner and has been lucky playing in such a successful side as the Sandy Dragons. He's not a solid contested mark as it's been made out too. He tends to double grabs and can sometimes drop the easy one that key forward should just swallow up with ease. If you can't do this at junior level it's very hard to translate to AFL level I take Matthew Lloyd's comment with a grain of salt. He said the same thing about Weideman in his draft year being the academy coach at the time. If I'm picking a key forward, I'd easily take Jobe Shanahan over HA by a fair stretch.

I believe Riak Andrew could potentially be listed as a Cat-B rookie if he goes undrafted due to his previous academy ties though I'm not 100% certain on that.

Thanks for posting Out of interest, I checked his October form guide from 2015 and he had Clarry at 23 and Weideman at 8 ahead of MacKay and Curnow. Things can change quickly! Hopefully JT works his magic - Clarry style, not Weid style I wonder if there will be a Clarry like bolter this year?

As Paul Connors said Melbourne were never giving up a top 5 pick.

The beauty about Max signing on for another 2 years, and Tom Campbell hopping on board is that it allows Verrall all the time in the world to develop

Kozzie was in Bunbury to play in a carnival game last weekend with the clubs blessing along with Neville Jetta. https://thewest.com.au/sport/bush-and-burbs/bush-and-burbs-melbourne-demon-kysaiah-pickett-makes-shock-appearance-in-south-west-football-carnival-c-16477220

I could see him coming in and having a Daicos, Sheezel or Ashcroft type effect on our midfield Not necessarily saying that he’ll be at their level, but each of them has been able to come in and immediately compliment their teams more experienced players

Absolutely, eventually we will need to draft some replacement big body mids, but right now we need a Zak Butters type to compliment our current crop.

I'm warming to the possibility of Jagga Smith making it to our first pick. I think there's a certain joy for mature mids like Petracca, Viney and Oliver to have a noticeably dynamic kid running through the chaos. "Look at the little bugger go!" I'm less worried than some about his relatively small size because he has that sinewy toughness as well as peripheral awareness that will let him ride the collisions efficiently. Plus, he seems to be having fun in there. I can picture him playing round 1 with some small forward time until Pickett returns, to get a taste, with permission to be chaotic, and see how he goes.

I'd rather punt on Smillie than someone like Reid but that's just me.

Although this draft is supposed to be fairly even it still seems like there is an upper echelon on players that ends around 7-8 (maybe sooner), I don't like the idea of splitting 5 and taking the "scraps" of the top 15 or so players, let JT have his pick of the largest pool of players available.

Are you guys just basing this off this one video? Because that would be silly. The kid is 18 years old playing in a high pressure WAFL grand final. I'm cutting him some slack for some poor disposal in a big game. He's certainly not an elite kick but he's decent and has shown this more at junior levels. A raw prospect at the moment but of my Perth friends who have been to a lot of his games have said he looks like he'll developing into a Nat Fyfe / Jordan Dawson mix of player as a powerful big bodied midfielder who can break lines and a terrific mark. He obviously needs to work on his decision making amongst a few other things. But the kids going to be a gun. His draft combine was super impressive, finishing in the top five for agility and vertical jumps. https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/bo-allan/ A ready-made, powerful midfielder, Allan has plied his trade at the coalface and off half-back for Peel Thunder in 2024. From half-back he offers run and carry, coupled with clean ball use by foot and great vision to pick off targets at speed. Through the midfield, Allan’s one-wood is his contested game. He defends hard, closes opponents down quickly with pace, and tackles with intent. Once his side has won the football he uses his big frame to drive his legs and burst away from stoppages, then launch the ball deep inside 50. Allan plays with confidence and dare that encourages him to break tackles, bust through packs and explode into space. Even at WAFL League level he showed an innate ability to shrug off would-be tacklers, including established senior and ex-AFL players. Allan was consistent at whatever level he played at throughout the year; averaging 20 disposals and six tackles per game for Western Australia, 21 disposals and 5.5 marks for Peel Thunder’s Colts side, and 11.5 disposals for their League side.

Here’s hoping lalor makes it to 83

Do not rate him at all. Would be a genuine mistake wasiting pick 5 on an average tall forward. Both our picks should be purely focused on getting elite mids in.

I mentioned in another thread, but Clanny Dennis would be my pick if he lasted to our pick. Under 18 All Australian CHB this year. May has a couple of years left in him, we need to think about recruiting some tall defenders after delisting Tomlinson. Tmac and May being 32 and 33 respectively, we need some fresh blood in defence.

There is no way this kid is born in 2006.... [censored] looks 35!

Decent cover for the moment. The list isn't what it was.

Update for Hore extension and Melksham upgrade Only Smith pending now...

I wouldn't be upset if we picked him, but i think pick 5 will be a gun mid, and pick 9 will be the best available talent regardless of position, and if it's a tossup we'll probably take another mid

Were we watching the same finals series? All I saw was small forwards dominate. Ah Chee and Lohmann kicked 8 between them on GF day. Sydney’s 3x talls had 6 marks between them.

Not at 5 pls

Draft Night… boring ‘on the clock’ drivel, fillers about those selected, plenty of ads. thats how it will go. except for 5 and nine, when new heroes are announced….

I agree with holding pick 5 for sure. There seems to be a clear top 6( not including Ashcroft)with little between them. Barring a big surprise we will have two of them to choose from. Can’t really lose. Im probably holding onto 9 as well but if an offer came in that allowed us to still pick up a player we want and get another solid pick I’d be open to it depending on how it unfolds on the night.

Hahaha! I actually remember this! 🤣 There's no way Jason Taylor is making this mistake again. His top 30 for this year's draft will be fascinating though. Easily 3 or 4 players could go number #1 in the 2024 AFL National Draft. The Melbourne Football Club could almost sell "tickets" for behind the scenes access to members before draft day. Join Jason Taylor and the recruitment team on a day doing a mock draft. But the prize winners would probably have to only quietly observe and sign NDAs until a few months after the draft. Anyway, just a suggestion.

Does your $1k-poorer mate know if Houston had to rip up his cover letter or did he just use white-out to change it?

Why drop back 15/16 looks exactly where the very top level tapers off. But a fair chance you could get a B grader by 2 instead of a real A choice at 9 who would have a greater impact.

Well said. I see the same things with Smilie. I do wonder about his work rate. He can break tackles and use that body to break lines but more often then not he will back track and end up kicking high off balance kicks under pressure. I've been to a few of his games and its what he does when he doesn't have the ball that worries me as well. Doesn't always stay engaged or work hard for his team mates whether its running hard into space as an option, or defensively, laying sheppards. He doesn't get on the move after disposing the ball and often stands still asking for it back. Not sure if its an attitude thing but time will tell. Hopefully I'm wrong. I think its these little things that will see him slide to the 7-10 range. I do however think a lot of these things are fixable. I don't see him playing midfield his first season (or two) but with his size he could start in a different position and build up to playing AFL midfield.

Would love to see JTs draft ratings table. Remember in 2019 where the club's draft clip showed he rated Jackson at no 2? Here's a blow up of the screen grab:

If we got Smith and Smilie I'd be dancing on the ceiling. Is that a saying? Anyway, I'd be very happy.

Love his speed and aggression in the contest but gee his disposal leaves a bit to be desired.

Trainor has slid in drafts substantially throughout the year. Most likely due to multiple concussions, poor kid. I can't see us taking a risk on him at pick 9 especially given the recent history with Gus etc. As a side note I saw it mentioned somewhere that earlier this year a new rule came in where any player that suffers a concussion in games outside the AFL, if they were to get concussed again at the professional level (AFL, VFL) they must sit out 21 days at minimum. Crazy that this Mock Drafter thinks we wouldn't take Tauru at 9. If he's off the board which I think he is most likely to be on the night, I can see us taking Travaglia which is a great backup option.