Colm

Have only watched highlights of Draper but he looks the goods and would really compliment someone like Reid who is a strong possibility for us at 9. Is he locked in to go to the Crows? I did see a headline that he had been critical of them of late. Also for those that have watched him- could our midfield accommodate him, a full fit and firing Clarry and Viney or is that too many bulls in the paddock?

Recently watched a replay of one of his games and his lack of size really stood out. I think giving our lack of player trading we need at least one of our draftees to be an option round 1. Smith seems very under sized for AFL. Probably as slight as pup brown in his draft year. Having said that he still racked up good numbers in his VFL game.

Is there any of the mids likely to be available at our picks that you do like genuine question). I thought Lindsay looked a weapon in the Vic Country v Metro game and if you picked him with a Lalor or Langford think they would compliment each other and the Duke and Kolt.

He clearly sees it a bit different than a few others which is not surprising given the evenness of it. I did take note of North list manager saying they went for Daniels so that Mckercher could spend more time in the middle, you’d imagine Sheezel will spend more time in there too this year so I’m thinking the will spilt or take the flying Viking with pick 2 rather than another mid. Also with their history of MaCartin and concussion I can’t see the Saint going for Trainor with their first pick.

Good call I think. Also the majority of mids we are linked to in the draft are good forward of the ball and may rotate with Trac.

I really looking forward to seeing what we do at the draft night. No matter we do I’m going to be pretty happy. Going to have 2/3 high end picks in a very strong draft, with JT at the wheel I’m super confident we will get a couple of cracking players. It’s fun to think of players or picks we might end up with. How about trading picks 5&9 for Tigers picks 6,11 and 18?

I can see why you’d think that and time might prove you right. But the likes of Baker, Bolton and Rioli are unlikely to still be playing when they next win a flag. Hit the draft hard this year and next and then trade in mature players like we did with Vince, Lewis, May and Lever. Yze is certainly going to have a tough job ahead of him over the next couple of years though.

Tigers went all in on their rebuild. Didn’t have to trade players out as they were under contract. Got overs in both the Rioli and Bolton deals. Now have the strongest draft hand ever held by a non expansion team in a draft that’s rated the best in recent history. Pulled the trigger and got aggressive with their rebuild before Tassie team comes in. I think they have done well.

Gday jnrmac, pretty sure he was speaking about last year and this year. Not this year and next.

Daves Phantom Draft 1. Rich - Lalor 2. Bris - (bid) Ashcroft 3. NM - J.Smith 4. Carl - FOS 5. Adel - Draper 6. Ess - (bid) Kako 7. Melb - Smillie 8. GCS - (bid) Lombard 9. Rich - Langford 10. StK - Armstrong 11. StK - M.Reid 12. Melb - Tauru 13. Rich - Berry 14. Frem - Bo Allan 15. WCE - Travaglia 16. Port - Gerreyn 17. Rich - Lindsay 18. Carl - (bid) B.Camporeale 19. GWS - Hotton 20. GWS - Ough 21. WB - Trainor 22. Rich - Hynes 23. Syd - Shanahan 24. Bris - (bid) Marshall 25. Rich - Stumpf

After listening to Tim Lamb yesterday I thought the above would be a good option but I had a look at Dave’s phantom draft on BigFooty. I don’t think the draft will pan out as he has it but it’s starting to get a bit skinny for too end talent from GWS picks onwards. Still good players there- just a lot less options.

Yeah I’ll second that. Think Lindsay would be good pick up at 9 to compliment not just Lalor/Langdord but also Windsor and the Kolt.

Think Port end up with pick 13 Dub.

When looking at these trades you have to bear in mind how this draft is rated. Carlton gave up a future first and second to get 14. We gave up a future first a second and a heap of lesser picks for 9. West Coast should get two good players at 12&14 plus Owies as steak knives. It’s a good deal for them. Carlton rumoured to be after FOS, I’m hoping we land Langford or Lalor so don’t mind them jumping into 3.

I think it makes sense for WC. They have lots of holes to fill. Local boy Bo Allen is predicted to go around 12.

Really hope that the Suns refuse to trade Pies Pick 13 if it’s not part of a bigger trade. Pick 23 is more than enough for Noble and they have other takers for 13.

I’m not against trading our F1st but I don’t think it’s being overly cynical to think we might find ourselves in the bottom 6 again next year.

If Sydney get pick 13 it means we can then go after pick 19 or 22. Either way we should be improving our draft hand this year.

I heard Barrett on trade radio a couple of days ago saying he knows for a fact that the AFL are very concerned about how MFC is being run. Think what he wrote is him being a mouthpiece for AFL.

Haven’t seen him play but going off what others have said and his RMC profile it looks like a smart bit of business. I have been critical of our trading over the past few years and particularly Tim Lamb, but I’m happy with our moneyball approach to trading this year. Both Sharp and Derksen( if GWS play ball) would fill and need, have upside and cost bugger all leaving our main chips for the draft, given our current situation I think it’s a very good approach.

In the games I saw him play towards the end of the year it struck me that he had already put on a fair bit of muscle. I sure he will have an AFL ready body after this preseason. He has a very unusual body shape with his hunched over upper back but seemed have pretty on a bit of beef in his legs. 2025 will be the year that defines him I think.

Did you mean IN COMING TO PLAY WITH YOU.

Hi Red&Blue thanks for all your good work. Do we know for certain that Melksham was retained as a rookie and not put back on the main list?

Gday FFD, agree 5/6 draftees be that via main draft, rookie or SSP is on the high side but I think it makes sense for us this year. We will have 7/8 list spots to fill this year and probably close to that again next year. So we will turn over a lot of our list and don’t have an enormous amount of draft capital. This year’s draft is touted to be perhaps the deepest of recent times. It also isn’t as compromised as recent drafts by academy and F/S picks In addition it has a very strong Victorian representation and is also stacked with mids that is a need for us. Its shaping up as the perfect draft to top up on young talent before Tassie comes in in a couple of years I think We are rumoured to want 2 picks inside 15 and another inside top 30. I’d be happy if we added another 2/3 at the tail end of the draft via late, rookie or SSP. I think(could be wrong) that Riak Andrew is also available to us though our NGA.

Given the depth of this draft and the fact that we have 3 academy or F/S options at the tail end or rookie selections I’m hoping we take 5/6 via the drafts. We could always leave a couple of spots to fill via SSP and have a handful of players train with us for the last couple of spots. We have a lot of spots to fill this year and next and will have to find a few different ways to acquire talent.