Axis of Bob

Hotton also exists.

The difference is that Rivers was as slow as a wet week, whilst Tauru is very much not. This gives Tauru the versatility that Rivers never had because Rivers could be exposed defensively when he didn't have a good matchup. With Tauru you'd be investing in the athleticism and natural traits, and then letting him develop over time into whatever the best version of him there is. He appears to be a late developer so there will be a range of potential outcomes for him, even if his worst case is as a serviceable and versatile key defender.

@Demonstone Here's another one for you. I've seen this version of Tauru written so often that I thought Admiral Yamamoto and Commander Fuchida had started posting on Demonland.

Tauru doesn’t need to have a specific role already in mind when we pick him. As Chaser says, he’s so young and developing late with an awesome athletic profile. I think we would just get that talent in the door and see how he develops in a professional setting. I think he could become a good tall defender as a worst case scenario but he really could be anything with his skill set. Sort of like a turbo Weddle. I could see a version of reality where he becomes Goodes, one where he’s Curnow, one where he’s Caddy, one where he’s Allie, one where he’s Stewart …. and also one where he’s May. An athlete like that will always have a role somewhere, and they’re so hard to get.

If there’s one thing we’ve prioritised when we’ve had early picks it’s been power. Windsor, Tholstrup, Jackson, Koz, Oliver, Petracca, Brayshaw ….. trying to trade up for Humphrey and Reid. Every year people are flummoxed that we pick some power player that doesn’t have the heavy statistical output of some others. JT drafts AFL footballers, not junior footballers. Amateur observers will always overweight statistics when assessing players because they are subconsciously trying to pick the best players in the team, rather than thinking about the massive difference between junior footy and AFL footy and how those players will translate. Grabbing an awesome power athlete in Tauru, with size and a good mark, is absolutely true to form. Bo Allen is another stark example of selecting a power player who can play AFL, since his athletic profile and size makes him valuable no matter how he develops.

Then how do you ever get a decent key forward? Who are the key forwards that you can pick up with late or rookie picks? The top 7 in the Coleman this year were drafted with early picks or were father son picks. Key defenders are often available later on but it’s exceedingly rare that good key forwards are available with anything except early picks.

So when is the right time to draft a tall? If we always have to wait longer for a tall to develop, is there ever a good time to draft a tall? Or do we have to wait until we’re desperate? And then wait a few more years? We're not drafting for a player to win us a flag next year with the old group, we’re drafting for a player to help us win one with the older group. If we were drafting for now then we’d have just traded the pick.

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.

Darcy Parish, as a junior and as a senior, was a much more straightforward player than Smith. Darish was tough and skilled, but played the game very conventionally as a drop-of-the-ball midfielder. He ran hard and got rid of the ball quickly and effectively by hand when he was under pressure. Just a solid style of midfielder played at a very high level. He played old-fashioned 'man's man' football. And that's what you see at AFL level too, without the extra space that allows him to regularly use his clever kicking. Smith is a different style of player, in that he's a slippery, elusive player who moves around congestion unconventionally, which buys him a lot of time. For a player of that size, being able to avoid the power game whilst still winning contests is a real strength. Parish is a very good player but he doesn't have a natural evasive game so needs to dispose of the ball before the big players batter him, limiting his damage. He also doesn't have any support from bigger midfielders at Essendon. For all that, he's been a consistently excellent inside player and it's been his outside game that hasn't translated as well at AFL as you'd have expected. I'm not saying that he's a better or worse player than Parish, they're just a bit more different than they initially appear.

It's odd that nobody ever mentions Neil Erasmus, Brodie Kemp, Paddy Dow, Will Setterfield, Will Brodie or Jackson Hateley.

That’s true but at some point your opponents will also have the ball. You can’t carry too many slow players because it reduces your ability to defend. Generally slow players need to be really, really good because of the defensive limitations and you can’t play too many together in the one team. If that slow player is Bontempelli then you make that trade off but the Bulldogs couldn’t also find room for Macrae and Sanders in that midfield together with him and Liberatore.

I’d want one with one of our two top 10 picks. If we didn’t get one with our first early pick then I’d target one with the second. It appears highly unlikely the cards would fall in a way where I wouldn’t select one with pick 5 though. ‘Probably more talented than Ed Curnow’ is a category that includes about 98% of all AFL/VFL players. I don’t see the Ed Curnow comparison at all. I’m not even really sure where it’s coming from. But it doesn’t mean you’re wrong, just that we see things very differently here, which is why it’s fun.

Apologies in advance, this was posted in the wrong thread. Now you may read the same drivel twice! I think we need to get a centre square midfielder out of one of the two picks (probably pick 5). There are options available and I'd probably choose either Smith or Langford (assuming Lalor and O'Sullivan aren't available). They're very different types of centre square midfielder, so it'd be a difficult choice. I tend to think that the last few flags have been won by fleet footed running midfields, so I'd likely err on the side of Smith. I'm not a big Draper fan and Smilie scares me, so I'd consider going a different direction (Tauru/Armstrong) if they weren't available. As for pick 9, I think we need a bit of a 'difference maker' up forward because they're difficult to find. I'm not dogmatic about the style of forward difference maker, as it could be a big forward, a powerful medium or a clever small. We just need players that can turn small advantages into scores. Armstrong is one, but so is Hynes (who would both complement a JVR/Jeffo combination), and even Reid or Hotton as a high half forward that can turn small advantages into goals.

I think we need to get a centre square midfielder out of one of the two picks (probably pick 5). There are options available and I'd probably choose either Smith or Langford (assuming Lalor and O'Sullivan aren't available). They're very different types of centre square midfielder, so it'd be a difficult choice. I tend to think that the last few flags have been won by fleet footed running midfields, so I'd likely err on the side of Smith. I'm not a big Draper fan and Smilie scares me, so I'd consider going a different direction (Tauru/Armstrong) if they weren't available. As for pick 9, I think we need a bit of a 'difference maker' up forward because they're difficult to find. I'm not dogmatic about the style of forward difference maker, as it could be a big forward, a powerful medium or a clever small. We just need players that can turn small advantages into scores. Armstrong is one, but so is Hynes (who would both complement a JVR/Jeffo combination), and even Reid or Hotton as a high half forward that can turn small advantages into goals.

Draper and Horne-Francis are very different people with very different backgrounds. I don’t think equating the two is fair.