Sylvinator1

Unfortunately it shows the state of our disgustingly bad midfield (currently only 4 AFL quality midfielders) that the 5th, 6th and 7th best midfielders are first or second year players. Let's just be thankful we got lucky this draft and last year's 2 for 1 deal (Tyson and Salem) was so successful. There's a reason we were 17th last year. That reason was the midfield. Most teams and certainly the top 4 teams, have at least 10 high quality midfielders and usually 1 or 2 stars (we have none)

Newton, Riley and Michie have the opportunity to be the midfield depth/role players that are absolutely critical to every AFL-quality midfield. I think with an eye on the future (next 2-3 years), the coaching staff would see our core midfield group as: 1. Jones 2. Tyson 3. Viney 4. Vince 5. Petracca 6. Brayshaw 7. Salem 8. Toumpas (perhaps Neil-Bullen and Stretch, but not going to put any expectations on them) The current depth is below AFL standard = McKenzie, Matt Jones, Bail, Cross (putting Cross in here because he'll retire in 12 months and his body means he can only play 15 games next year most likely). My hope is that Newton, Michie and Riley step up and be those 9th to 11th best midfielders that make the top teams great. When injuries happen, and they will, the top teams are great because their versions of Newton, Michie and Riley are rock solid. That's where these players fit in.

Considering only 2 ruckman were picked in the national draft, and considering the success of ruckman coming from the rookie list, we'd be silly not to pick up a ruckman with pick 2. Get the 3rd best ruckman from this year's crop and develop them.

If you assume that Hogan is already a best 22 player, see Dawes and Pederson as stop-gap players and Fitzpatrick as pretty useless (as I do), then we have a grand total of ZERO key forwards developing on the list. The problem is that it's extremely rare to get a great high-quality key forward in the rookie draft. Rucks is also a problem, Jamar is 30 years old and Gawn has injury issues. Max King total unknown. I think another ruckman on the list developing seems logical, especially considering how many successful AFL ruckman started on the rookie list. Would certainly not be opposed to Tyler Roos. I want Roosy to stick around for many years in a development capacity, and Tyler sounds like he has potential too.

It seems like Oscar had an awesome TAC cup season, but can anybody answer whether he played in the national championships? If not, why not? Considering his highlights and that most Phantom drafts had him picked in the mid-20s, it's suprising that he doesn't seem to have been picked by to play in the championships to compete against the best kids in the country?

Post draft Best 22: Garland Frost Dunn Grimes McDonald Lumumba Watts Jones Vince Kent Hogan Howe Garlett Dawes JKH Jamar Tyson Viney Int: Brayshaw, Petracca, Salem, Gawn Reserves 22: Jetta xxxxx Terlich Neil-Bullen O McDonald Bail Cross Matt Jones McKenzie Michie Pederson Newton Stretch Fitzpatrick xxxx Spenser Toumpas Riley Int: Trengove (Injuried), Hunt, Harmes, King Summary of outside our best 22: - Depth mids: Matt Jones, Cross, Riley, Newton, Miche, McKenzie, Trengove (injured) - Developing mids: Toumpas (has the talent to be best 22 next year if he can take the next step), Stretch, Neil-Bullen, Hunt, Harmes - Depth flankers: Jetta (the most unlucky outside the best 22), Bail, Terlich - Depth talls: Pederson, Spenser, Fitzpatrick - Devleoping talls: O McDonald, King A couple of musings: - I think this shows that we have (absolutely rightly) really stocked up well the last 2 years on our midfield. We had a bit of luck with 3 high quality midfielders in this draft off the back of Tyson and Salem last year, but we deserve a bit of luck after the last 8 years. We now have lots of talent coming through and even some of our depth are young with scope for improvement (ie Riley, Newton, Michie). We did have the worst midfield in the league 2 years ago, but now there is some hope. - Super happy we picked up O McDonald and Frost this off-season, 2 young big, tall, agile KP defenders at 194cm+ to have developing is important. Were it not for these 2, it would be a big hole in our list. 2 very good off-season moves. The Frost trade in retrospect looks a massive winner, GWS picked a speculative kid at pick 23 in Patrick McKenna, who most predicted was a 30-50 range pick, and in return we got Frost, Neil-Bullen and O McDonald - there's still plenty of dead-wood on the list (Bail, Terlich, Fitzpatrick, McKenzie), but not as much as in past years For next off-season, looking at our best 22/reserves 22, I think we definitely need: - another high quality big key forward to help Hogan. It's is a big hole in the list. Pederson and Dawes are stop-gap, but this is where Mitch Clark hurts. We don't even have any KP forwards developing either and getting quality key forwards onto a list is only getting tougher. Unfortunately a lot is resting on the shoulders of a kid who hasn't played a game; - a ruckman to replace Jamar when he retires (Gawn is not a lock to become a great ruckman and has injury issues, although there's still hope and Spenser is only mediocre backup). Luckily, ruckman are usually not too hard to pick up through trade or free agency. Most clubs have 3-4 ruckman and if you're the backup and see an opportunity to be the number 1, I don't think it would be too hard to entice someone across to replace Jamar; - some more class and creative drive off half-back. Lumumba is a step in the right direction, but it's still a weakness. Almost every one of our current defenders lack polish with their disposal and lacks real drive and creativity. They know how to defend, but the modern game requires class off half-back. Unfortunately the best ones are hard to come by.

I'd be stoked with Paddy McCartin alongside Brayshaw. The extended highlights real to me shows a super talented KP forward who is competitive and aggressive. Those two qualities are essential for a KP forward, as Watts has shown. Key forwards developing together - Hogan and McCartin - is absolutely ideal. Dawes and Pederson will happily be the lesser talented bash-and-crash forwards to protect them early on, but long term that combination could be great. A powerful dual KP forward combination long term would also allow players like Howe, JKH, Kent and Watts and Garlett to be way more effective. Our midfield next year is still going to be a huge problem. We need another 3-4 high quality midfielders. Our current core group contains only 4 players - Jones, Vince, Tyson and Viney. We will have Brayshaw, Salem and Toumpas developing but we don't know if they'll step up. Guys like Matt Jones, Riley, Bail, Cross, McKenzie etc are just filling the gaps. End of next year we absolutely need to go super hard at a top line midfield free agent.

Newton certainly can be starting for us round 1. The best 22 will usually have at least 8 midfielders. We have 4 certainties for midfield - Jones, Vince, Tyson, Viney. That leaves 4 spots. The rest of our midfielders can be split into 2 categories - We have developing midfielders - Brayshaw, Toumpas, Salem, Stretch. Then we have the rest - Cross, Matt Jones, Newton, Michie, Riley, McKenzie We can't have too many developing midfielders in the round 1 team, probably a maximum of 2. So for Newton to make the team he simply has to prove his worth over the likes of Riley, Michie, Jones etc... If he's any good he should be able to do that quite comfortably. Next year we really need to recruit 2-3 free agent midfielders. Our midfield is still so weak, teams like Port, Sydney, Freo, Brisbaine etc have 8-10 high quality midfielders, compared to our 4.

Also, I'd prefer a key forward and a midfielder, fills 2 needs, than getting a KP defender (Lever) or an athletic utility (Laverde). Wright to me looks like a bigger risk and haven't seen any phantom draft or draft expert rate him higher than McCartin as a forward. Apparently Wright is not a good ruckman, so if he's being drafted as a forward, I'd prefer McCartin.

I think Brayshaw and McCartin as pick 2 and 3 makes sense. Brayshaw looks a really good midfielder and we really do need a second key forward coming through to partner Hogan. History tells you most of the best key forwards are picked very high in the draft. I like that McCartin is a true big forward, we haven't had one since Neita. Our midfield will still be terrible next year, but we'll probably throw huge money at a free agent midfielder at the end of next year.

Assuming Saints take McCantin, we absolutely should take Brayshaw and Petracca with our first two picks. Our midfield is embarassingly weak, but I think both those two boys could hopefully set up our midfield for a few years and importantly both should be able to make an immediate impact next year. If Saints take Petracca, I think we definitely pick up McCantin and Brayshaw. Brayshaw is the obvious one, he's a lock imo. Safe bet for 200 game midfielder. McCantin is highly talented and we really need another key forward desperately. Dawes is a bullocking trier, but we don't want him to be our forward target long term. Apart from Hogan we literally have no other key forward options. Fitzpatrick and Gawn are not natural forwards and will never be the big target, more the ruckman who floats forward. If we pick up McCantin we'd have 2 young KPFs developing together. I think that's ideal. This is our list as I see it, and I think it shows that McCantin (ie another KPF) is really critical going forward. I'm being a little bit forward looking and including McCantin and Brayshaw, who realistically won't impact greatly until 2016. Garland Frost Dunn Howe McDonald Lumumba Brayshaw Jones Vince Kent Hogan Watts Garlett Dawes McCantin Jamar Tyson Viney Int: JKH, Grimes, Cross, Salem, Toumpas, Gawn, Jetta, Matt Jones Cusp: Bail, Michie, Riley, Terlich, Peterson, Spenser, McKenzie, Fitzpatrick Developing: Hunt, Barry, Stretch, pick 40, pick 53 Injured: Trengove Delisted: Byrnes, Clisby, Nicholson, Frawley, Flark, Blease, Strauss, Evans, Tapscott