ChaserJ

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.

I figured you’d be torn on that one! Thanks @dazzledavey36

In a straight pick between Tholstrup & Wilson, who would you take @dazzledavey36 ?

Might just be my Melbourne glasses, but parts of Tholstrup’s game remind me Colin Sylvia.

There’s enough speculative mail out there where you could connect the dots well enough at this point, but the writer apparently has talent/recruitment roles at Calder Cannons & Coburg VFL programs. Mail could be aggregated spec, but the profiling and matching to club needs probably has some good insight behind the content.

There’s a pretty good draft preview for each club here: https://houseoffooty.com.au/2023-afl-draft-club-by-club-previews/

This is a pretty good phantom. The rationale for selections is very sound: https://houseoffooty.com.au/2023-afl-draft-phantom-draft/

Final power rankings from ESPN’s Jasper Chellappah. Has deviated a little from the broad view of some players (eg Caddy higher, Watson lower than other rankings), which I like: https://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/38843195/afl-draft-power-rankings-2023-jasper-chellappah-harley-reid-number-one-top-50-prospects

It was interesting that other clubs are the ones that contacted Jason Dover re:Dees consideration of trading p6 for WCE future 1st. Melb would wargame all poss scenarios, so wouldn't be surprised if we’d talked about potential swap for WCE’s ‘24 1st rounder & then canvassed the clubs with picks 7-10 to see if they would potentially do a deal for 11 & a further pick we would get from WC. They possibly then would have fed that on to Dover, hence the convo & line from Melb. Working to get pick 1 would still be the higher ranked objective, so Dees have to say they’d take Curtin (I’d very much hope he’d be in the frame for us regardless), otherwise you lose all leverage in trade talks. Curtin’s camp probably prefer he stay out West, so serves them well to put that out there one way or another.

Hey, remember the last time we had a number 1 pick, Brock?

Re-read your question @Damo and updated my reply.

Yep, providing all of that happens before the earliest current selection being utilised has been utilised.

Would hope we’d wait until after pick 1 was taken to execute a trade for p3 or 4.

Might well have been. Curnow had been hovering around the best 4 or 5 rated players for a chunk of the season and in the mix for our selection before dropping late. A few thought he was the most talented player in it at the time.

Yeah, I was a little flat when I had a look ahead yesterday. Still, never know, just look at Bombers Eagles.

I think it’s Crows v Roos this week. Is it the Saints we’re barracking for against the Lions? If trophy is decided on percentage (rather than split amongst teams tied), a win for us & Lions loss virtually wraps it up. I suspect it’ll come down to that last game though.

Good yarn on Dan Curtin in today's Age: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/why-top-afl-draft-prospect-put-a-media-ban-on-himself-20231019-p5edl2.html

Was recently chatting to a former Tassie premier about the team and its prospects. They said that the team was effectively no chance to be in place on current timelines. Horrible contracts for Tas government re: stadium build (unviable based on current contract) and ongoing fees to AFL, not enough fed money, variable support from sections of the public who believe the money could be spent elsewhere and only vague backing from the AFL (unlike the northern franchises) who want to look like they are supporting a Tassie team. The opposition (who are the same colour as the fed government that provided funding) have said they will scrap plans and will only go ahead with establishment if contracts are renegotiated. The path ahead is littered with significant obstacles. I don't think we should be tailoring our recruiting based on the framework of the plan for commencing establishment of a Tassie team sometime in the future.

From the linked article, the below immediately precedes the statement about Caddy not getting to Geelong: 'Hawthorn likes small forward Nick Watson and Western Bulldogs are eyeing gun midfielder Ryley Sanders at pick five, leaving star goal kicker Nate Caddy for Melbourne at pick six.'

We’d probably need something else back as well if we’re playing a decisive role in helping those clubs achieve their goals. Would think one of those later 1st round picks North have stashed or WC’s 2nd rounder.

Twomey’s Phantom Form guide has dropped. Last one before the phantom draft: https://www.afl.com.au/news/1054452/cal-twomeys-phantom-form-guide-top-draft-prospects-october-ranking (just pipped me @Nascent!)