ChaserJ

Not likely. He’s part of a group of 8 players at the top that are considered the upper rung of the crop. Next best kpd behind Curtin and now being speculated that he could go as high as 6 (a couple of murmurings suggest we have interest). If we nab pick 4 from GC and take those picks to the draft, I strongly suspect O’Sullivan would be selected with one of those picks. Alternatively, that could be a selling point if we’re trying to trade up with a club that is willing to deal and is also keen to add height at this draft.

4 & 5 will become 5 & 6 when a Walter bid is matched inside pick 4. Could even become 6 & 7 after McKay compo. With that in mind, I’m all for swinging for the pick 1 fences.

The Trade Bell from Whateley's radio show, brings together a few of the trade topics that have done the rounds here:

Bundling up our natural first rounder, our two 2nd round picks for this year & our future first.

Great to see so many Demonlanders secure their seats. Managed to grab tix for the family without too much Ticketek drama. This wait is going to be excruciating…almost glad it’s the Thursday game now.

Oh, excellent, thanks for the update @WalkingCivilWar, hopefully the family and I can get tickets nearby tomorrow 🤞

The two biggest beneficiaries of dodgy goal umpiring decisions face off in an elimination final. Surely this game has to be decided by a goal review.

Thanks @goodwindees, great mail! Hard to see how they wouldn’t, but would be interested to see how the deal effects any Ben McKay deal. Both sides widely reported as being well into McKay. Does Sydney still offer enough to trigger band 1 compo? If Essendon lose Parish, but get McKay, will they still sign as an FA and dilute any Parish compensation?

Were we still being informed on his intentions? It had been reported (I know, I know) that we had stepped that back when Koz resigned.

Any feel for which of Sydney’s targets is most likely?

I suspect you’re right on that @rpfc, my first thought when she gave the info she had was that it was either Brodie’s agent or one of the clubs pursuing that had informed her. The speculation on the trade cost sounded like this was the preference of a buyer (as opposed to what an MFC source would have claimed the cost would be). Was too specific to be a thought bubble from Caro.

I'm in this boat. Looking at some of our direct competitors, Port have Butters, Rozee and JHF as a young powerful midfield combination that will challenge for years, Brisbane have had their midfield supercharged by the arrival of one Ashcroft with another on the way (Fletcher looks more than handy too) and Collingwood have had their entire trajectory changed when Nick Daicos walked through the door. I don't think it's unrealistic to think that a player of that calibre and capacity to impact early can be found in the first 5 picks of this draft.

Swans have Hawks 2nd rd pick from the Weddle trade last year. That probably gets the deal done.

If that’s the case, makes the signing of Ben McKay very interesting. Bombers looking at good compo for Parish if he goes. Signing McKay as a FA would dilute that compo, they may be best served by trading for McKay.

I’m guessing one of Smith or Schache will play as a nullifier on Sicily. Schache played that role well on Allir Allir in ‘21, Smith very capable of playing that role as well. Take your pick of Tomlinson or Schache as the in, Smith will be at the opposite end of the ground to one of those two.

I can understand that Marchbank and the Blues were just so desperate to get a win at all costs. Conning the umpires in this instance is a bit like going up for an appeal, when you reckon it wasn’t really out, but you go up anyway to see what the ump thinks. Worked out for Carlton this time. Made me think what Dee players might have done in the same position. Marchbank might have been injured for this one (odds on at least) so might have missed the example set by Koz:

Apparently the goal umpire thought the ball hit Marchbank’s wrist, Marchbank opined that it hit his fingers but was hoping for anything. Those discrepancies tell me everything I need to know. Whately this morning considered whether we give the ARC the soft call, and if we do, should the goal umpire clarify where the ball was touched to give the ARC something more specific to test. I think either one of those tweaks instantly improves the process.

No Coates League games on last weekend and Duursma wasn’t selected at Casey (good to see Kynan Brown get a run though), so he might have had the week off or played local footy.

Followed this up with 20 touches and 6 marks in a loss against Freo affiliated Peel Thunder on Saturday. Heading into top 3 territory.

Foxsports draft wrap, including a bit on Duursma and the potential for him to line up for Casey on more occasions and be viewed up close by the Dees list management team: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/draft/afl-draft-news-2023-harley-reid-essendon-game-impresses-brad-scott-zane-duursma-melbourne-jordan-croft-western-bulldogs/news-story/f64b7da13b4375b4d6a9cbc7b4f2360c

Reid’s game has been covered off in the Harley Reid thread, but quite a few prospects delivered today. Dan Curtin played well for Claremont’s senior team, picking up 21 touches in a loss to East Freo. Zane Duursma continued his good form bagging 6 for Gippy in the Talent League, with Archer Reid jagging 3. Nate Caddy got himself 4 goals in a loss to GWV, who had George Stevens amongst the best.

Harley’s had a major impact for the Bombers, 14 touches and a goal assist to half time, and this:

The non-partisan in me was pretty chuffed to be able to watch Dusty and Bolton turn it on (the partisan in me was wrapped to see this and still get the win) with the kids watching alongside. Reckon It’ll be one of those games over time where the kids and I look back on and talk about the quality of (a couple of) the players from the other team as much as what we saw from ours. My daughter in particular was petrified whenever Bolton got his hands on the ball in any space!

Nice work @Viscount Cardwell. Good representation of why we should shoot for pick 1, but also why we might want to co-opt the Kangaroos into the process. They could have as strong an influence in shaping this draft as the Eagles.

I’ve been thinking about this. I agree that if Kangas get band 1 compo, that’s a complication for a pick 1 deal for us. I’d wonder if we would include North and make it something of a mega deal to work in a scenario where they get some assets (which may include a key back replacement for McKay - like Tomlinson) whilst also selecting players not named Curtin. There’s a deal there to make it worth everyone’s while in this scenario, Curtin would then only need to make it past the Hawks (at this point, one of Watson, Duursma or Caddy would likely be available for Hawks).