Machsy

If I honestly knew, I'd keep it to myself. As long a shot as it is, I'd hate to somehow potentially hurt my club's chances of getting the player they want.

Doubt it. I reckon James Brayshaw might be desperate to recruit him, but nobody else. They wouldn't knock him back if he was the best on the board at their pick, but the club won't go out of their way to acquire him. They are flooded with his type, and the kid barracks for Freo anyway.

That sort of scenario is presumably why there is a panel that oversees all compensation and would make sure we get the first round pick we deserve, most probably in lieu of any priority picks.

Yeah, nah.

I would stay away from Wright unless you intend for him to be a forward. Far too high a pick for a ruckman.

The eternal question. I had doubts that Wines would be able to monster opponents like he did the other kids at junior level. Sometimes you get a Wines, sometimes you get a Tapscott/Sylvia.

I think it's more to do with us all feeling footy starved during preseason. Then again, that's because we're always so desperate to start anew.

Bravo! Take a bow. How long did you work on this for? (*Genuine question, not being facetious) (**honestly, I'm not) (***seriously, I laughed)

Yep, I understand what you're saying, but still, if there is only 1 or 2 players working to make an option, it is a lot easier for the opposition to crowd space and make it hard to hit that target. The good teams have all players working hard, and then the kicker just has to pick to most "gettable" option. But yes, we also have poor kicks in the side. And don't discount the effect of fatigue on kicking players (and those leading for that matter) as we are still learning to run out games under a new and more demanding game style. Recruiting highly skilled kicks will help, but it is not going to be the sole panacea.

If only it were that easy. Only so many players in the draft that possess elite disposal, contested ball winning ability and competitiveness. And they tend to be picked fairly early.

We say this every year, but surely our inability to find a target is most often directly related to the kicker's teammates not workin hard enough to provide an option?

Mick Turner is well know for massively overhyping every single prospective draftee to come out of the Geelong Falcons. He's shameless.

Haven't seen close to enough of Gore, but looked promising. He may even be a distant relation, so I'm keen to follow his progress. Very few players really pushed themselves above the pack at the champs, save for Caleb Daniel, and he's under 170cm, they were saying 167cm at one stage. Now, I'm converted to now seeing that a player of Prestia's size can make the grade... But even he has almost 10cm on young Daniel. I'd happily take him in the 3rd round onwards, however. He was prolific.

Even before I learned that he said that, I was internally questioning his character and intelligence. Treloar is a weird fella. I'm really not sure about him. Will be a successful individual as a footballer, but I'm really not sure beyond that.

I don't think depth is a problem in this draft, just that those projected as the earliest picks just aren't can't-miss blue-chippers. None are in reality, but these guys in this year's crop don't even give the illusion of being that good. So you could very easily pull out a Fyfe at pick 20 this year. Trade down in the draft and get more picks, I say.

As you've touched on, I'm wary of overrating them. I know Fyfe and Mitchell were meant to give an idea of their style, but those 2 are in a league of their own. I'm concerned about the level of quality in this year's draft crop. The kids touted as the real elite picks just don't seem to have enough for mine. I find it interesting to think of where Salem would have been picked if he was in this year's draft crop.

Yep. And I don't agree with that rating from the games I've seen him play. There's also a lot more to Mitchell than just being virtually ambidextrous.

Check previous page.

Yes.

Yeah, Dustin Martin would be my comparison for Petracca. A poor man's Martin, but stronger overhead. Maybe a bit of early ROK in him. Brayshaw is more like... I'm not sure. Matthew Boyd with better disposal? Comparisons with Sam Mitchell or Wines are well off.

I think they are both poor comparisons.

You're... special.

Hilarious!

Under-rated is Durdin. Had a relatively putrid champs, but I'd love to get him onto the list.

Yeah, the bailey ladder predictor on the AFL website gives you a good idea, and I've also done a couple of permutations of iffy matches, but I think we're firmly entrenched in 16th or even 15th depending on the result of our GWS matchup. It'd take a couple of shock results to change that, and I think we've seen signs of Brisbane and St Kilda starting to shut up shop already, sending players for season ending surgery. Us too, possibly.