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Our draft hand has a direct connection as to whether Petracca & Oliver stay or go, post 2025. And there's a good chance that the club won't know for sure, either way And then there is the form of both players and whether either or both get back to their best A safety first attitude would be to draft 2 mids and then if everything works out well, we find a way to manage 5 or 6 dynamic mids Nice problem to have and it should be remembered that Viney only has a few years left and Petracca can play various roles in the forward line (with stints in the midfield) And we'll be looking to cover for the loss of Brayshaw & ANB All things considered, I reckon we'll draft 2 mids and hope that a forward line line that contains 2 or 3 of JVR, Petty, Turner & Jefferson can somehow work to a high standard Looked at in another way, we probably won't be wanting to risk having a B- midfield in the future Our chance to rebuild a stellar midfield is right now

Having tossed up a few options I've settled in on Bo Allan as our preferred option at pick 9. Everything of him screams of Angus Brayshaw in terms of versatility and competitiveness, something the club saw as a great need hence why we targetedDan Houston. He'll start his career off a half back and I have no doubt he can slot in at that role come round 1. This also means Rivers now transition to being a full time mid. I know some have concerns over his disposal but I don't think it's that bad as some are making it out to be. It's his competitive drive, power and speed off the mark, and ability to read the play is why I think he's got enormous potential.

An Adelaide poster on another site who says he has a contact at Melbourne says we won't take Draper due to concerns over his kicking. He also says that Melbourne believe Adelaide want North's pick 2 for O'Sullivan and not the reported interest in Jagga Smith.

Our issue at key forward isn’t a lack of depth, especially not young depth. It’s a lack of a prime aged full forward to take the oppositions number 1 defender. You don’t fix that at the draft, especially not by picking Harry Armstrong or Tauru.

I'd be bitterly disappointed in the list management group if they identify forward depth A priority over the midfield right now. It's a very real possibly in a few years time our midfield will be C grade if we don't take 2 quality mids with 5 and 9 on Wednesday

It may take a little while for things to get back to normal, Tracc needs to re- integrate with the team and the team need to reset the chemistry. The injection of new talent, new coaches, amended game plans and the improvement in our 1-4 year players will help the team meld together and bring some real happiness and joy back for us supporters. Nathan Jones could play a big part in this process.

The only one he got right was Jo!😇

You missed Slarti’s point. If Goodwindees has inside mail it can only harm us to release it. Surely you understand that. The media are guessing from bits of info that could be correct or not, even planted by other clubs as well, or just using their assessment of clubs needs. The media speculates and that is fine. We don’t need to harm our chances by spilling the beans to the whole AFL world.

Agree, any Demon supporter booing Petracca would be shocking. Premiership player, Norm Smith medal winner, should be fully supported so he wants to stay and help create future success. The club seemingly got a number of things wrong, hopefully Petracca can be a key part of getting them right on the field again.

For me, it's about whether Trac gets behind the team!

Sorry i wasn’t talking in general, I meant with this draft. We have taken 2 tall fwds recently with first round picks (outside top 10) so I’m saying we don’t take another one. but i take your point if there is a Cameron or Hogan type gun, you take them I just don’t think they are there this draft

We're linked to Tauru at 5 because of the fake rumour I spread on Bigfooty

They're not solely just pure mids. Langford is a weapon up forward and he showed that at Coates League level this year where he kicked 20 goals playing as a mid who could rest up froward and take strong contested marks. Allan is more half back flanker that will eventually transition into a midfield role similar to Rivers.

Just to back this up on why I think he's got huge potential to dominate in the midfield in years to come. This is from an under 18 Colts game this year where he played mainly as an inside midfielder. Not only does he do the inside grunt work, but his ability to spread on the outside and explode from contest is why he's a tantalising propsect.

Draft night is like Christmas, once you open the presents all the mystery is gone. I love the speculation and this year is special. Don't ruin it @goodwindees, we can all wait and enjoy the suspense. And if you do have quality mail, keep it to yourself, it can't do any good by releasing it but there is a very small chance it could do some harm. We'will know soon anyway! Patience grasshopper.

I'm tipping he gives away absolutely nothing!

There is no objective way of knowing that. His actions/non actions on social media aren't his attitude or behaviour inside the club. If there is bickering on the field it happens all the time ala May/Lever. And People who want to find fault will forensically analyze his public appearances. So people (not necessarily yourself) will probably stick to their opinions as they are and will remain subjective. Forgiveness doesn't come easy to some. As an aside, I read somewhere on DL about booing Petracca next year. I would be horrified. It wouldn't help him wanting to stay. Its time to be united as a club, as a team and as fans.

So we have pick 5. But a bid for Levi Ashcroft is surely coming. If not before us then for the sake of the competition we must do it. That will push us back to pick 6. 6 is not a good number. Look at it. It's bottom heavy. It's slow. It's both too full and incomplete. The history of the AFL draft has made it's thoughts crystal clear on the value of 6. 5 is more streamlined. 7 is fast, angular, dynamic. Pick 5: 130 games Pick 6: 69 games Pick 7: 125 games Since 2001 the following players have played 200 games Pick 6: Gary Rohan, Chad Wingard (who fell because he wouldn't leave SA), Jack Macrae Pick 7: Hale, Mackie, Lewis, Ryder, Selwood, Rich, Sheppard, Haynes, Wines The following guys (and sorry to be rude) can be considered what some would call the b word: Pick 6: Sampi, Williams, Dowler, Thorp, Myers, Scharenberg, Marchbank, Francis, probably Stephenson and SPS, McAsey, DGB Pick 7: Kane Tenace, Paul Ahern (dodgy knees), Hunter Clark. Having traded up with Essendon there's no way we bid on Kako. But fortunately the Gold Coast have an extremely athletic high quality young midfielder by the name of Leo Lombard who they are ready and willing to match a bid on. By all reports he's a great young man and I'm sure by getting to the Suns he will be well equipped to handle the curse of pick 6. We must bid with pick 6 on Leo Lombard and therefor slide to pick 7.

I think posters have become myopically focused on the midfield because Trac and Oliver were out/hobbled this year. Yes we need to grab a midfielder but it’s certainly not our only need. We have needs for rucks, tall defenders, tall forwards and small forwards as we transition our past premiership squad into a future premiership squad. Oliver and Trac are contracted for many years still, and we only really need to get one midfielder out of the draft especially since we got a couple of long termers with early picks last year in Windsor and Kolt. Picking Tauru gives us a May succession and Armstrong allows us to play our younger defenders away from the forward line. We just need to hero adding talent and we’ll have a spot for them no matter who it is.

We need a May replacement not a Lever replacement lol

Pick 5: Langford Split 9 and hopefully take Hynes and J Whitlock Or Pick 5 Tauru Split pick 9 and take Hynes and Hotton

It's ''Allan''. One's a mid forward and the other is a defensive mid. Allan would start at half back before graduating through the midfield. I love the combination.

Thanks for that Gator - interesting though that we’d take Allan who arguably has more knocks on his kicking than Draper

Fox Footy will be dropping their phantom draft tonight.

I think Armstrong is at high risk of being a bust. Has the nice looking left foot kick, but doesn't seem to kick many or any goals away from a set shot. He's no Jezza Cameron despite having the same style. His contested marks are mostly the 'uncontested' type of marks where you float across the front with no direct opponent. Weid was the same. Worse still, if you watch some of his interviews I'm just not sure he has the sharpness or desire. An 18 yo footballer, I know, so I'm not expecting Shakespeare - but I don't know - watch it yourself and form an opinion...not sure he has the spark. KPFs in particular at the draft are huge risks, particularly higher up. When you're taller and more developed than other kids your age, and in a system where defensive accountability is generally 2nd priority, it's easy to get on the end of a few and in so doing, actually develop habits that aren't helpful at the top level (see Weid, potentially Jeffo). The biggest difference between all other levels of footy and AFL is defense and pressure. Even Jed Walter, who is a competitive animal and not a flying beanstalk, has struggled to look the level so far. Honestly I think the best KPFs can often be found as KPDs or swingmen at the draft. Naughton, Hogan, Jvr (not that he's quite there yet) all played defense as juniors. Cadman looks ok but is being given lots of time. Jeremy Cameron is a total freak of nature and took a few years to get going at GWS as well, and he's just about the highest talent ceiling a KPF prospect could ever have. You need a strong club to be able to guide through those initial years without actually hurting their development.

But it's okay for guys like Cal Twomey and 50 other journalists to do so? Have you emailed them and advised them to keep their mail and information to themselves as well? Probably best not to read Cals phantom draft tomorrow. It's all a bit of fun. That's why the draft has become a popular spectacle. Now we're seeing heaps of YouTube channels trying to get one up with phantom drafts and information.

Yeah absolutely agree. In my eyes it's incredibly simple; we've lost Brayshaw, Harmes, Jordan, ANB- we have Viney in his twilight, question marks over Oliver's psyche and Petracca's commitment. These issues outweigh and are far more pressing then any concerns over our forward depth. We need midfield doggedness before prospective KPPs. Langford/Smith and Allen/Travaglia/Reid like combo is an absolute must.

Not having a crack at you but this concept of "best available" just doesn't make sense. How can you say "best available" when your comparing a ruck, a key position forward, a small crumbing forward and a mid? Apples, oranges, pineapples and kiwi fruit. What's best? It's not just based on talent, it's based on scarcity, risk, needs and projection. We will be picking based on best available taking into account all of these factors and what we take will be instructive. If we believe Clarrie and Trac will be ours at their best long term then our picks are more likely to take into account May and Tmac's age. If we believe they will both be gone next year then that will impact our choices albeit that we would hopefully have Richmond like suite of first round picks. If we believe Jefferson will succeed then that will influence what we take. Our picks aren't in a bubble and what is "best available" to one club will be very different to another. Just look at NM looking at taking Tauru well ahead of his "best available" statue. Our picks on Wednesday will tell us quite a lot.

You'd almost want to take a punt on a delisted free agent or pick 108 in the draft than have McAdam for another year I reckon

The tea leaves are beginning to reveal themselves more and more, sounds like: If Lalor, FOS, Jagga, Langford are off the board, we will take Tauru Assuming one of the above four midfielders are available (reliant on Norf taking Tauru OR Draper going in the top 4), we would take that leftover midfielder over Tauru

Melbourne has been linked to whichever top-line midfielder slides to the Demons at pick five to add another young first-class ballwinner or a Jake Lever replacement in Tauru if he slides past North.

Allan would be an excellent addition at 9. He has good athletic ability and strong build. Can play half back and then into midfield role (like Riv is doing).

I reckon Langford is our number 1 priority but it will be dependent on what Adelaide do

I'm sure they'd take Draper at pick 9, but he won't be there. Overlooking Draper at pick 5 due to his kicking simply means they rate one of the other mids higher at pick 5. It doesn't mean they don't rate Draper, but have him lower due to his kicking. Pick 9 is a different issue. If there's a slight knock on Allan's kicking, but they love his other attributes and potential ceiling then they'll weigh up those considerations. And 9 is far from a ''reach'' on Allan. He may not make it to pick 9.

They also confirm Melbourne's interest in Allan and that we've seen him in WA more than once.

Surely we wouldn’t pass on Draper at 5 if Crows take Langford? 😱

Yeah I'm sure recruiters are falling over themselves to get inside information off demonland.. Look, you've got a well respected journo who is well connected to the draft and has the best draft intel going around in Cal Twomey who's literally about to release a phantom draft tomorrow to the whole of Australia outlining the inside mail coming out of the dees camp on who they may take at pick 5 and 9. Marc McGowan from the AGE literally did the exact same thing last week. This is literally no different. You also do realise that even if the club has a particular player in mind for both our picks, it doesn't mean it set in stone now. There are always last minute decision changes or that particular player gets taken early or slips through. As I said, it's all a bit of fun..

Just a whisper I’ve heard. I’ve heard we want a combination of either Langford, Allan or the Viking

Surely it is time to stop these interstate NGA advantages.

We must be looking at a different player. In the u18 Championships, he took every mark one grab. It really stood out. His school coach, Matthew Lloyd, says he's the best one grab mark he's ever seen as a junior. Whatever knock you want to put on Armstrong, marking is not it.

Armstrong is a two grabber most times, a HUMUNGOUS NO!

Nope exactly — it was industry wide. Key fwds esp are difficult to get right but I still think in hindsight he was less of a risk but what they can’t measure is self belief and Weid els way his career transpired, just could never get out of his own head, but behaviourally exhibited better work ethic, had better hands.. as shown in that 2018 finals series — however having the pressure of Jesse leaving and being ‘the guy’ was something he admitted he never was able to handle and the form he showed became something of a nightmare for him to try and live up to. Curnow was seen as a loose unit with huge behaviour issues that at time were seen as a no-fly zone when combined with his previous injury problems! Despite the obvious talent! Anyone who looks back with hindsight and sues it to knock JT has no idea and no concept of recruitment and the plethora of what-ifs that carry weight — it’s more about the players he has plucked that NO ONE else rated as highly and the sheer amt of picks he has gotten right! Inc ones he wanted but got usurped on ie Holmes, Georgiadis etc

If this is some sort of veiled dig at Trac personally I think that’s out of line Have you not seen any of the vision of Trac working super hard to get as fit as he possibly can be for 2025? Trac is not due to be back yet just like a dozen other senior players that are not training atm - Clayton looks a lot less physically ready than Trac imho so it’s great he recognises that and wants (and frankly needs) to start asap Whatever our personal views are of off field events in the off season I think it’s time everyone puts that all behind us and focus on being the best the club can be - that’s of course what we expect of our playing group so as supporters we should too

armstrong and tauru??? this is the worst mock draft ive watched

Did a phantom draft taking into account the proposed North Melbourne - Adelaide trade. Ended up with O’Sullivan and Bo Allan which would be a great result I reckon.

So good to have Nathan Jones back at the club he has had time to get over his hurt, he has had a spell in the Media, watched lots of games and would have his own ideas about game plans, midfield strategy and how to inspire his midfield group plus he has Sam Radford in his corner who has years of experience developing teams. Not to mention his 306 games, that puts him up with the legends of the game plus a multiple Bluey Winner. Looking forward to seeing the midfield changes in ‘25, welcome back Champ.

It's always folly trying to predict difficulty based on the 6 double-up matches. Someone in 2025 is going to be like 2024's Hawthorn, or Collingwood/Melbourne. It's more important to look at travel and spacing/breaks between games, and on those fronts it looks like we've done alright. So we lose two MCG games, one of which is taken off us as a home game and forced over to Marvel, but our travel is much better in 2025 - 7 games total, down from 8, but only 5 genuine away games with our NT game and a neutral Gather Round game. In 2024 we had 8 genuine interstate away games, so that's three fewer in 2025. I can't recall the last time, if ever, we only played 5 genuine away interstate games. Notably there are no Saturday night home games in our fixture - wholly unsurprising after the crowd-size debacle of our mid-winter Saturday night MCG home games. 1.20pm on a Saturday is going to suit plenty but also be inconvenient for plenty others. IMO, it's not perfect but it's better than Saturday night games. 3.20pm Sunday games are similar but they are at least on FTA which helps our exposure. The lack of Thursday and Friday night games is unsurprising given they need to cram as much "Hok ball" down the public's throats whilst still satisfying Collingwood, Carlton and Essendon. But if we're doing OK mid-year we have four big games that can net us prime time fixturing in the remainder of the fixture: Carlton, the Dogs, Hawthorn and Collingwood all at the G. Only 1 game outside of Victoria in the first 7, no genuine interstate away game until Round 8, plus no travel in the last 7 weeks, gives us a great chance to both start the year strong and finish strong. But the intensity of the 10-week block from Round 8 to 18, featuring 6 road trips, including three in four weeks around our bye, will put us under immense pressure. Let's hope the loading programme is spot on through that period...

Absolutely, we had injuries to almost all our key forwards BBB, TMac, Petty when he was breaking out, Fritsch foot fractured, then Melksham goes down in last round playing football of his life, Clarrie went off the rails mid season, Brayshaw taken out by that scum in first final! We were very unlucky with injury in 2023! Any one of the above had been 100% for the season and I think we would have won the flag! Next year with a solid preseason and luck with injuries Demons can give it a real shake! we still have top end talent in: Petracca, Oliver, Gawn, May, Fritsch and Kossie emerging stars in: JVR, Windsor & Rivers proven premiership players: Viney, Lever, TMac, Langdon premiership players with something to prove: Bowey, Salem, Sparrow, Petty, Spargo (2024 injury ruined) Up and coming: McVee, need to step up: Turner, Chandler, Kolt, AMW, Howe Draft: one of 5 or 9 to be top 18 and if both top 18 would be great!! External pressure off Goodwin and some new assistants will help and Jones can only help with the Petracca, Oliver turmoil!! I think there is a lot to be positive about! Also off field starting to settle will help. Smith on board will help! Go Demons!

I wouldn’t count 2023 as a dismal year. We finished 4th and then lost two finals by 7 and 1 point. The finals were disappointing but not dismal. Last year was a bit dismal, but still won 11 games with a lot of negative stuff going on.