Gawndog98

Absolutely thrilled with this pick, he's going to be a cult figure starting his career as a reliable defender that can do everything but I think he has a lot of traits to also develop into a star inside midfielder in a few years time.

Does anyone have access to this? https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/a-clear-no-1-bolters-and-bidders-who-your-afl-club-will-pick-in-the-draft-20251103-p5n7e7.html if so who does McGowan have us, tiges, and dons taking? the age final phantom is usually the next most accurate one to Twomey’s.

Agree he was quite impressive moving into the middle with his willingness to get from inside to outside the contest and take the game on. He reminds me most of Will Day with the way he moves and his ability to be versatile across the ground, be effective overhead and use the ball well.

Based on Cal's phantom our second round pick would be the next pick (pick 31), every other pick in between would have been swallowed up by a bid if the giants trade their pick 35 to suns like Cal mentions. If Essendon get too cocky and take farrow over sharp knowing we aren't going to take him how would people feel about trading out one of our firsts to collingwood for their future first and pick 39 (would come in to pick 33)? This would be contingent on Farrow, Cumming, Robey, Taylor being off the board. I know pies are really keen on sharp, I don't think it would be too bad a deal and think pies could slide next year if things go against them.

The way I’m reading it is we see a big tier break after Robey, Taylor, Cumming, Farrow, Nairn. If only Nairn is available with 2 picks I could definitely see us shopping the other pick for a club looking to get up for Sharp. It would seem incredibly risky for Essendon to bank on us not trading the pick if they rate Sharp as their best player with the picks before us. Would imagine in the top 10 you just have to pick best available.

Very interesting, would be interested to know the other players available that we passed on at 7 & 8 and if there was writeups on the 2 picks?

Cumming has way more X-factor than Sparrow & Jordan - this game playing exclusively as a forward showcases what the damage he can do forward of the ball Sam Cumming - SANFL U18s Round 7. Cumming has all the tools of a prototype modern day midfielder with no clear-cut deficiencies in his game, but his kicking and decision making under pressure would be his greatest area of development to take his game to the next level. One more thing to add something that goes under the radar with Cumming is he is a very reliable shot on goal and has range from outside 50.

I would be all in favour of going with Dovaston & Schubert, more so because I think they both profile as really good prospects rather than drafting based on needs, they just also happen to suit our needs. You can't ask for much more in a small forward prospect than Dovaston, he impacts the game in all areas whether that be effectively linking up high up the ground, applying defensive heat, and he finds ways to get lots of shots on goal every game he plays in, he just needs to work on the consistency of his finishing. For me profiles very much like Papley and he also plays with that same [censored] mentality Papley brings which I think would be great. I think many are turned off by Schubert from PTSD of our lack of success of drafting key forwards early particularly with Jefferson. I wasn't much of a fan of Jefferson as a prospect in his draft year due to him profiling as a one trick pony close to goal only finisher with not particularly great hands, I see Schubert as a significantly better prospect than what Jeffo was. Schubert has a rare blend of size & athleticism at 198cm with an enormous wingspan but with great mobility running a 6:21 2km time trial which was top 10 for all prospects. You'll see in his clips there seems to be no one on him quite a bit which is from his ability to work his opponent over and get in the right position. He does show flashes of clean hands with his contested marking which can be improved but he never gets outmarked and shows craft with bodywork in contested marking situations. The main thing that foes under the radar though with Schubert is his ruck work is really good, he shows good craft with his tap work and his mobility around the ground allows him to rack up lots of marks and touches around the ground, highlighted by a 24d, 1g, 35 hitout game late in the year playing as a pure ruck. If he played the full year as a pure ruck he probably would also profile as a top 10 prospect as a ruckman. There's no doubt he is raw at the moment with this year being his first year solely focusing on footy with previously balancing his time as a high level basketball athlete. He's got work to do on his kicking in front of goal and around the ground, as well as his ground level craft. There is so much to work with though with his versatility he's shown to play close to goal, high up the ground (never had less than 15d in SANFL U18 and only 5 games under 20d), and ruck. For me I think he profiles similarly to Sam Darcy if he was 5-10 cms smaller where he is effective deep, high, and as a ruck, no doubt it is going to take some time but upside is sky high. I rate both quite higher than Grjl & Lindsay who I don't think will translate as well to AFL level.

I don’t think there’s one simple fix, I think it needs to be a blend of our gameplay needs to adapt with more attacking flair, as a team they need cover defensively to make up for ANB, and obviously ANB has left the club someone does need to step into the defensive mid role (I consider the role a defensive mid as that what it was rolling into the midfield when trac rolling forward). I do think Riv is a permanent mid will help cover as he is defensively sound, he can be accountable defensively and provide that attacking flair at the same time, you could make an argument he takes ANB spot where he starts at half forward but then plays as a permanent extra mid, a modified version of ANB role where we always have an extra mid around stoppages. I think Riv though takes Gus’ old role that 4th mid who does everything (defence & offence, inside & outside) which I actually think having Trac, Clarry, Viney there with him will be great for his development as a mid as he gets to be more of a supportive role rather than needing to do everything himself which is when it felt like he tailed off as a mid end of last year. ANB’s role needs to be taken by someone who can play as a mid as it’s a lot of important work around stoppages. I think Kolt is being groomed to take ANB’s spot as he has that sacrifice for the team mentality and ability required to fulfill it. Whilst he won’t have the same running capacity next year as ANB, he does have more x-factor which allows for that attacking flair. Sparrow is the other one I think who could do it but I don’t see him being in the best 22 if Langford (and Kolt) are going to play. I don’t think all 3 of Kolt, Langford, and Sparrow can all play in the same forward line, for me sparrow will be a clear 3rd choice out of those 3. My midfield and hf mix would be: C: Langdon, Clarry, Windsor R: Max, Trac, Viney HF: Kolt (defensive HFF), JVR, Langford (attacking HFF) I: Riv (4th mid)

For me the player he actually reminds me the most of is Salo (prime Salo) with maybe a bit more penetration in his kicking which would still be a great get. Think he can have a pretty decent impact next year off half back which was great to see us take 2 ready made players.

Sorry do you mean they are looking to move one of their later picks down so they can move 10/11 up ahead of us to get Allan? Like for example they trade 10/11 & 20/23/24 to Saints for 8 & 32? Feels like a win for both teams as Tiges get their guy with Allan and still maintain 8 picks inside the first 2 rounds, Saints will still get their guy might’ve been picking anyway in Lindsay or Berry and move up to put themselves in the range to grab a mid like Hynes or a tall like Trainor who is similar to Tauru.

My biggest takeaway from Marc (the age) is that there seems to be more momentum building on Adelaide going Draper over Langford, he said it would be a surprise if it went the other way. He also is under the impression Allan won’t get past our second pick which is quite interesting comparing it to Twomey saying Allan and Lindsay is a 50/50. My gut feel is someone is going to trade for saints pick 8 to take Allan whether that be Freo or Tiges to jump ahead of us which would leave us with Tauru at 9.

If Jagga is available he won’t get past our pick but he’s not going to be available because he won’t get past Adelaide. Which means what it comes down to is if Langford is available he will be a Dee, if Adelaide take him over Draper Tauru will be a Dee. As long as Draper is picked before our pick we will get Langford, if not it will be Tauru.

Cal would’ve linked us to Smilie with either pick if we were interested in him, I think it’s pretty safe to say we aren’t going to pick him hence why Richmond is thinking about locking in Allan with 6 knowing Smilie just has to get past the Saints. Which I am happy we’ve got no interest in Smilie he screams bust potential to me, he just doesn’t do the team things and tries to play hero ball way too much, for me I like Allan much more than Smilie.

Would be super happy with Langford & Allan, if we somehow landed Langford & Tauru (might need someone to trade up for Allan at 8 or saints take another mid like Lindsay) we will have won the draft by a landslide IMO. Doomsday scenario for me would be if Adelaide take Langford meaning we would take Tauru and then Tiges play funny buggers and take Allan with 6 betting on Smilie making it to 10 (we aren’t going to touch him) would result in us likely ending up with Lindsay who I don’t love because I don’t think he has the capacity to be in an inside mid meaning we leave the draft without a future inside mid. Langford & Lindsay is he fine with because that’s a nice inside/outside balance.