Machsy

Brayshaw makes Petracca look better than he is.

There's a lot of hype around Petracca, but I still see a lot of Colin Sylvia in him. Passable, but certainly not great skills. A lot of long kicks to no target whatsoever, more kick and hope. Handballs landing at teammates feet. Not exactly a strong football IQ or a good decision maker. Tends to make a quick decision (not always the best), run with it, take a few on, then get a hurried kick long down the line. Not necessarily a negative. Wins a lot of the football around packs through strength and mobility, but not really smarts. Positioning is off, but that will be worked on. Reading the play I'm not sold on. Misses the odd soda goal or kick. Excuseable, but it's also clear he doesn't have skillset of a Dustin Martin, or a Watts, Salem, Hodge - for mine a requisite to be be declared such a clear cut top 3 pick and future star. Exceptionally strong overhead and in one-on-ones, or even one-on-twos. Rides contact well, good at improvising. Excellent athleticism. Can he run all day? Yet to see it. Can he win easy touches and link up play? Not sure. There's a lot to like, but many are blinded to his weaknesses by all the positives and want to believe he's the 2nd coming, in the hope we'll secure him.

Probably not great until he is a man himself. It's usually the way, even with these proclaimed prodigies.

Lloyd on Footy Classified just said if GWS had pick 1 they'd choose Petracca, if Saints had it they'd choose McCartin... and if MFC had it, they'd select Wright. Not heard that until now, and he didn't elaborate as to what he's basing that comment on.

Further to that, we can always revisit this post-draft and consider what you'd heard.

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.