Colm

You wouldn’t be concerned that both of the lack leg speed? I’m locked in on Langford too but not sure we can pick up two players who have question marks about their pace.

Just over a week to the big night. Really looking forward to seeing who JT goes for. If anybody that doesn’t follow the under age stuff to much but wants to have a good look at the players linked to our picks I fully recommend watching the Vic Country V Metro game from earlier in the year. It was the Champs decider and therefore the biggest game most of them had played in. Most of the players around are picks played. It was at Marvel so the camera work is pretty decent too. It’s a cracking game if anybody has a couple of hours to kill or needs a sports fix. https://www.afl.com.au/video/1173111

100% agree with where are needs are Binners. If we are asking Santa for everything we want with two players I’d probably add in contested marking and leadership. We have a few who can clunk them but not enough IMO. We still rely on Max for most of our contested marks and he won’t be around for much longer. Having someone on the middle of the park who can take a good grab would hopefully stop us turning it over as much. I said in another thread but after JVR and maybe the Kolt I’m not sure we have many natural leaders in our younger group. Luckily if the draft goes the right way for us I think we can get everything we need over our two picks. In JT we trust

As others have stated I can see leadership in JVR and wouldn’t mind if he was brought into the leadership group as early as this season. He leads by example and brings a great positive energy. Would be great for him to learn of our current leaders and provide a good link to the younger players. Beyond that I’m not too sure what’s there. I could see the Kolt standing up once he goes up a level or two but I’m not sure we have many younger player that are born leaders. I think that leadership qualities is something we should be looking for with our top 10 picks this year.

I’ll also assume Tauru is gone by our first pick. Pick 5- Langford. Good left peg and great contested mark. I think we will draft for right now as much as the future and I think Langford makes most sense to have an impact next year. Very versatile, could interchange with trac, play mobile half forward or take Sparrows spot. Could even play a game or two instead of fritter if he refuses to work hard enough again this year. Pick 9- Lindsay will play half back and is a great kick of the ball. Can play outside mid in few years. There’s heaps of others I like but I think these two would improve us significantly next year. If not them I’d still like a pair that combine ability to play forward and back as well as in the middle with contested marking and kicking skills.

Agree, has improved since 2021. I really thought after that finals series he would really kick on. Unfortunately if anything he’s gone backwards. Hopefully being dropped at the end of the season and some new mids coming in via the draft might give him the motivation to kick in a little bit. Might pay to ten down a bit as he doesn’t really used his size.

Brilliant 😂

Now that the Saints have put pick 8 on the table I think we can be pretty sure we will take pick 5&9 to the draft. We would have had to get overs to part with pick 9 and that’s unlikely now with a lower pick being up for grabs.

Ok I’m sold- let’s sign up Riak

Other thing he said that caught my attention was that the thinking is that Richmond will take midfielders with their first two picks and go for talls later. Could mean one of Tauru or Armstrong gets to pick 9 if North don’t grab one at 2

Sliding back one or two draft spots in a very even draft may still see us picking the same players. Agree we have a need for quality but we also have a number of areas to improve on as shown by your want for a key forward and others preferring two mids. Getting a third pick in the first round could allow us to pick up someone like Shanahan or one of the Whitlock’s if we don’t go for a tall with our first two selections. If we turned our second and third pick into Kossie and Rivers level of players then we would come out in front. As I said I happy if we stick with what we have either. Hard to lose with the hand we have.

I’m in the same boat as you- happy if we stick with 5&9 but if JT is happy to do that trade then I’d be very happy with that too. I proposed the same thing a while back but had us getting 18 or 20. 23 or 24 makes more sense. Given the evenness and depth of this draft I feel the end of the first round is a real sweet spot for JT to really pick up a gem there similar to getting Rivers in 2019.

Wow- Langford at 20. That’s a bit different.

I’d be surprised if we did take Armstrong at 5 but in recent years the player we are linked too in the lead up to the draft is normally the one we take.

Are you starting to believe we will take Armstrong at 5? Is this due to some of the media links is to him? I thought those links were just people assuming we’d take him as we have had forward issues.

Yeah I’d love if by some miracle we landed Langford and Tauru. Won’t happen but would be best possible result for us. Loved Tauru’s interview on Gettable this week, came across very well. Very confident in his abilities but not arrogant at all. If JT thinks he’s good enough at pick 5 I’d be more than happy with him.

Cheers, he looks a bit better by foot in those highlights than I thought he was. Pick 5 is such a good pick we really can’t lose. That 40 point loss to the filth in the last round was the difference between 5th& 8th. Sucked at the time but massive for us now.

Didn’t stand up in the champs. Given our recent finals history I want someone who is more likely to stand up in the big games.

If North take FOS instead of Tauru it may mean that Langford is gone by our pick. Who would you choose between Smith and Tauru at pick 5?

The only deal I can see being on offer is 5 and 9 for 6,11 and 18. Would you take that if it was offered?!

I think you’ve nailed that Sons, unless North trade pick 2 or there’s another real bolter other than Tauru I think this has to be real close.

I agree with holding pick 5 for sure. There seems to be a clear top 6( not including Ashcroft)with little between them. Barring a big surprise we will have two of them to choose from. Can’t really lose. Im probably holding onto 9 as well but if an offer came in that allowed us to still pick up a player we want and get another solid pick I’d be open to it depending on how it unfolds on the night.

I think you can make a case we need both an inside and outside mids. Viney is wrong side of 30, Trac and Clarry both had injury and fitness issues and both wanted out this year. Sparrow hasn’t come on as we would have hoped.

Starting to think we might call out his name at pick 5. If there’s two things JT loves in a draft pick it’s a competitive streak and a lot of upside. Tauru and Lalor offer the best combo of both at the top end of the draft. Lalor will probably be gone. We seem to be linked with Allen at pick 9 which has me thinking we go for Tauru at 5. We still get our mid bull at 9.

I think he’s a gun and would improve our backline from round one next year. Can see the River comparisons but feel Tobie is much better in the air. If we get a mid bull at 5 I think Tobie or Lindsay at 9 makes the most sense.