ChaserJ

In many aspects of their game Smith & Draper are similar players, but Drapers edge in acceleration and top end pace has me leaning his way slightly. Would change the dynamic of our midfield and help us add some speed to transition game.

Thanks for sharing Bob. Being involved in community sports at that age group rams home for me how devastating this will be for the community, never mind poor Jack’s family. Tragic.

This week’s Gettable is up:

I was watching Brian Lara being interviewed by the late, great Dean Jones in St Kilda that night. I had the Fox coverage on mute streaming on my phone. Had to stifle a Riv related cheer whilst Lara was recalling how he retook the test hs record against England.

And the corresponding Gettable ep is up as well:

Apparently was managing injury and illness at times through the year.

Cal’s latest phantom form guide is up: https://www.afl.com.au/news/1248177

Wouldn’t be disappointed with that outcome. Big fan of how Lindsay can change the angle of attack with his kicking. The sort of player Hawthorn has a habit of loading up on (and that we sorely lack). Langford’s had a magnificent season and well worth a pick in the top 5 (even if his pace is lacking).

He showed so much improvement this year (noting that he won last years B&F for Bendigo ahead of Harley), and was so competitive on field, I reckon he will get as much out of himself as possible. I agree Daz, I think he’ll take off once in an AFL system.

That would throw a cat amongst the pigeons. Apparently the Tiges are bullish on him as well and is a possibility at 6. Clubs will be spending a lot of time between now & draft day going back over vision. Not uncommon for the order to get thrown around a bit as recruiters revisit prospects. Smillie’s early season stuff in CTL was compelling. He dominated games early on, winning clearances for fun and kicking goals. Tapered a little, but probably only suffered by comparison with his earlier output. It’s hard to say O’Sullivan or Lalor had better seasons than Smillie given their injury woes, but both have been sitting higher on experts boards (FWIW I also rate their potential higher as well). A case of exposure not being a prospects best friend I guess, but maybe some recruiters have gone back and reassessed.

Salo should have been in the All Aus team that year. He was outstanding in ‘21.

He’s a high IQ footballer and is very clean with his skills in all conditions. Stood out as one of the best for Metro in wet conditions against the Allies…his cleanliness and quick mind gave him much more time than others. His creativity in tight is as good as I’ve seen at junior level. Went on to dominate champs. Can see him being a game breaker, BUT the limitations with his pace had created a perception that he won’t become a true mid at the level (won’t be able to break away on offence, run quick enough defensively on transition). He’s a smart footballer, so maybe he’ll find a way to compensate, he had been compared to Pendles, but SP has around 8cm on him and has always been good overhead. Probably sits in a rung just below the first group and it gets very even there. Could go 8, could go 18.

If North are comfortable we won’t take Tauru, I reckon they’ll split the pick with Tiges for p6 (+ one of their other bazillion picks).

On the topic of small/medium defenders, Shifter Sheehan’s profiles for this year’s crop of defenders: https://www.afl.com.au/draft/u18s?webview=true

Our biggest issue here is connection from defence/midfield into the forward line. We lack polish and speed with ball movement (partially in order to preserve defence first focus), in trying to change the game plan last year it really exposed our lack of polish by foot. We tried to address at draft by bringing in Windsor (& trade by bringing in Billings), but it takes a couple of periods to reshape your list to facilitate that change in ball movement (when you don’t have the personnel already) Clearly this was at play with our chase of Houston and will probably inform at least one of our selections at the draft. We could have had Carey in his prime up forward and he would have battled with our entries.

Ecstatic. Have zero expectation that we'll get both.

Yep, there was always a high degree of uncertainty on the talent pool due to the loss of underage footy in that period.

Try and get a live trade done.

Joe Berry. Ollie Hannaford slightly further back. I also wonder whether Carlton have a player in mind at 12. Even when they were in the Houston race they were adamant in holding on. Which I’m turn makes me wonder whether we were very keen to get ahead of them (rather than be sandwiched between Carlton picks if we secured p13 from GC).

Not if it was just 9 for North’s F1st. Would have left ESS with just pick 31 and staring at a points deficit. We had points matching capital to add and looks like that put us in box seat.

The issue for Bombers is that Kanga’s future pick, whilst appealing, does nothing to help them match Kako bid in first round.

We could agree beforehand to trade our future first and 28 (and maybe our third rounders to bolster points for Bombers) for 9, but manage via live trading. Our leverage is willingness to bid…we don’t really want to leave that to Saints. We bid, Bombers then have time to trade, we exchange F1st & 3rd rounders via live trade and then they match bid. The remaining Bomber picks get reallocated following the bid match. Then separately we live trade 28 for something like a Bomber future 3rd and they get to select a player in the second round. We would use pick 7 and newly acquired p11 and the Swans 2nd rounder if we still have it at that point.

Love Tauru and wouldn’t necessarily be disappointed if we took him, but if one of Lalor or O’Sullivan were on the board I’d find it very hard to overlook one of them. That said, would not surprise if North took him at 2. They want to split the pick, but reckon they wouldn’t want to slide down too far. I can see them looking at a split with Essendon, but that seems to low for Tauru now. Maybe Richmond or Saints?

We’re capitalising on a poor year in the same way we did in 2019.

From the Age's trade article today: "In other trade news, Melbourne are interested in securing one of Fremantle’s first-round picks to have an even stronger presence in this year’s draft, repeating a formula that worked well for them in their rebuild by securing two top-10 picks. The Demons, who already hold pick five, could get their hands on the Dockers’ No.10 or 11, in exchange for a future first-round selection and other assets to give them two high picks in a deep draft. The Dockers are open to the prospect, having put two of their three first-rounders on the table for contracted Richmond forward Shai Bolton. They are happy to trade picks 11 and 18 for Bolton, but refuse to hand over both 10 and 11." From: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/giants-weigh-up-a-play-for-jake-stringer-as-the-bombers-hold-firm-20241007-p5kgh6.html