ChaserJ

Very good mates apparently. Have been really impressed with Windsor’s composure in traffic and ability to use his agility to weave out of stoppage. His inside game and ability in the contest is much further along than I saw from him last year and think he’ll eventually get some CBA’s as the season goes on. It’s a massive bonus (and weapon) for us going forward. I know our recruitment team loved Watson, but they were pretty bullish on Windsor. 4 games in and we can already see why.

Marty Hore?

Love RoCo!

The cap size will also increase due to new CBA.

That 3rd quarter just hitting so differently tonight. A lot of emotions across the spectrum tonight, but the main one (outside of sheer sadness) is the hope that Gussy will remain in excellent health for a long time from here.

Hey @jayceebee31, hope you're well mate. Griffith spoke to our injuries in his presentation. Mentioned that we lost 119 games to injury this year, the league average was approx 151, and 87% of our list were able to complete the season without significant injury whilst being one of the hardest two way running teams in the comp. Clarrie was a high profile soft tissue injury, but a good percentage of the rest of our injury list comprised of collision type injuries (noting T Mac's injury was related to carry over foot issues and Ben Brown's knee was preexisting and managed well last year, but back issues arose during the season for him as well), where trauma (e.g. tackle related) resulted in the injury. We did some analysis on these, in particular foot and ankle. To the point that what shoes players wear were analysed and adjusted accordingly. A large part that can't be accounted for in those trauma related injuries is luck. We had some bad luck, particularly in one area of the ground which REALLY hurt us, but overall the results for the fitness program were positive.

Questions ranged from frustration with the fixture to why didn't we chase kpfs in the trade period/why couldn't we kick straight. Pert acknowledged frustrations with the fixture and what it could cost Dees in dollar value ($1-$1.5 million potentially), but one win was not travelling to Geelong. Doesn't know why we have been disproportionately fixture there more than others, to the extent that we'd actually asked the Cats whether they were requesting a home game against the Dees every year (they say they haven't). Re: kpfs, Lamby did say they'd jump if Tom Lynch was available, but there weren't any possibilities that were better options than Petty (he was effusive on what he could bring over a full season up forward), and given we'd gone tall in consecutive drafts (Roo & Jefferson), want to see how they come on. I relayed a question from my daughters on what we can expect to see from Riv and Sparrow, Goody said Tom 'oozes leadership' and they're excited to see how his game builds this year, Riv is building and we can expect to see him in midfield more and more, his speed and agility through the middle will give us a different look. Selwyn Griffiths mentioned a bit later on that something seemed to have really clicked for Riv last season in terms of mindset and that he's ready for more midfield minutes. Overall I enjoyed the event, there was really good access to the key decision makers at the club, and the greatest value (imo) came after the formal proceedings when all staff were available for an individual chat. Given my obsession with all things draft, it was great to chat to Lamby about the recent draft period. Didn't give away a whole lot that wasn't already out in the public domain, but it was clear that we really liked Nick Watson and my impression was that after Harley, Watson was the guy we were targeting. The clubs ahead of us just wanted too much. There wasn't really much of a conversation with WC for a future 1st, that might have been exaggerated in the media (re:offer for our pick, likely a different story at the GWS pick). We talked about Windsor and when we developed an interest (noting the media only tied him to us relatively late). Lamby didn't know how it got out to the media (!), but said that Jase Taylor was a fan of Windsor coming into the year and we probably landed on him (a lot) earlier in the process than when we were eventually linked. Spoke to Pert afterward, and on the new facilities, he is excited about the possibility of having 3 ovals (2 at Caulfield) for our various AFL & VFL sides to have access to. With the introduction of the VFLW & AFLW, maintenance of ovals has become a challenge, so (exclusive) access to three ovals would be terrific for players across the 4 teams. Whilst the announcement was for a feasibility study, Pert did say a lot of work has already been done and that we're a significant way down the track. Reading between the lines, the study is a tick, but we may be closer to really locking in the facility than we have been. That the location would be in traditional Demon heartland was a point of pride.

Probably the favourite to land at the Kennel with pick 1.

Small forward from Eastern Ranges that is prodigiously talented and tipped to go at the top of the draft and become a fan favourite? Sounds familiar!

Thanks for the insight @The Jackson FIX. Have a couple of kids playing junior footy in the West and my observation has been the AFL will happily make recommendations about club officials wearing bibs and clubs providing umpire escorts, but too often leave clubs on the vine on other matters of substance (e.g. protocols or action on concussion in junior footy).

Especially when you’ve already rated McKercher & Duursma inside North’s best 5 youngsters.

Why does he want to ignore our draftees from the last two years when he hasn’t with other teams? That’s 3 players taken in the first round he’s choosing to ignore.

Sorry, just realised I was overly definitive with my wording, that was my gut feel when they selected Fonti on draft night, so was more of my connecting the dots.

I think the presumption was that Dees were taking Windsor, so was never looking likely to get to 8. I do think pace was on the agenda for them, which is why they were very keen on Fonti later on. He might have been their Windsor-lite.

I may have phrased incorrectly, I think we’re saying the same thing. By end of season I was meaning post finals and season in entirety, not h&a season.

That’s correct @binman, draft order is set at the end of the season and final placings are confirmed. Premier should notionally hold the final pick of the first round. Also, would happily give our double chance back to erase the memory of at least one of those finals losses!

If not too late to put forward q’s for JT: - Did the Eagles genuinely engage in talks re: pick 1 trade, or was it just due diligence? - When did we round in on Tholstrup as a player for selection 13? What sort of player (positionally) do you project he’ll develop into over time (e.g. mid/fwd or predominately a fwd)? - Was WC future 1st on the table for pick 7, and if so, how tempting was the trade?

Bombers swooped for Robert’s a good opportunistic strike from them. Always figured that Cats might take him and they’ve just pounced. Other recruiters don’t seem too high on him (running, athleticism prob hurt him) Schoenmaker a bit of a surprise. I’m stoked to see Charleson get to Port, I know a couple of the family, bit of sporting ability there. Brown looks all but certain to get to us as a rookie.

Waterworth from Foxsports has a similar view too: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/draft/afl-draft-2023-live-updates-night-two-picks-blog-round-2-and-beyond-draft-order-selections-start-time-how-to-watch-news/news-story/266df471b9b8ee1a37f1df2e5605c213

When you factor in where the bids came, 14, 27 & 35 became 17, 34 & 40 (40 got swallowed up by bid matches). Depending on when you do the math we gave up the equivalent of either pick 17 to land move up to 10 pre draft or pick 25 to get up 4 spots to 13 as it stands.

Yes, have a reasonable degree of satisfaction about this as well. Eagles backed themselves in on Reid, but wonder how much was driven by hubris and how convinced they were that they'd be able to do deals for additional first rounders whilst taking Reid as well. They've staked a good part of their rebuild on Reid now. Whether they rightfully stuck to their convictions or were just plain stubborn/arrogant in not maximising the return for pick one, time will tell. I do heavily suspect the latter will be borne out.

Petty came to mind for me as well. Welsh is a beauty, they may be hoping to have have WC’s pick land ahead of a bid for Welsh and have 2 high draft pick-worthy kids to look forward to.

Crows eying off WC future 1st with Sid Draper in mind: https://houseoffooty.com.au/2023-afl-draft-draft-day-whispers-part-2/

There’s a lot of projection involved with Windsor. I have a huge amount of trust in our recruitment team to get it right. If I was picking, I’d still have Windsor in the 10-15 bracket, and would pick Curtin first. Windsor had a good year and he grew as the year went on, but didn’t see the signature game or performance that really turned a game in his sides favour, which stuck in my head. Can pick out games from the Reid, Curtin, Watson and the others inside top 5 range, even Caddy had some truly standout games. That projection is really where the recruiters earn their dollars I guess, because the risks can be quite high.

That's now both the Age & HS that are thinking we'll take Windsor at 6.