Whispering_Jack

Aaron Nietschke has been delisted with a guarantee of being placed on the rookie list.

From the Herald Sun AFL Draft 2020: The top 30 prospects from the NAB league 18. EDDIE FORD (Western Jets/Vic Metro) Forward, 189cm, 83kg Ford plays taller than his 189cm stature due to his exceptional vertical leap, topping the charts at the Vic Metro combine (94cm). The Jet regularly took flight last year and has strong hands overhead and good speed. The forward was looking to transition into the midfield this season, requesting vision of Fremantle superstar Nat Fyfe from the Dockers to help improve his midfield craft. He goes up a gear in big games, highlighted by his hot start to the All-Stars clash on Grand Final day, finishing with two goals and 20 disposals. 19. ZAVIER MAHER (Murray Bushrangers/Vic Country) Midfielder, 185cm, 82kg A powerful and quick inside midfielder, Maher claimed Caulfield Grammar’s best-and-fairest award after a stellar APS season in 2019. He played just six games for the Bushrangers as a result, showing promise with his contested ball-winning – with 58 per cent of his possessions won in a contest – and burst of speed from congestion. The focus for Maher during the season was improving his endurance, registering a personal best in the 2km time trial at the Vic Metro combine. He also highlighted his speed with a fourth-place finish in the 20m sprint (2.89 seconds).

... pick #28 turns into pick #36:- 36. Melbourne - Matt Allison Height, Weight: 192cm, 80kg Profile: Allison is a strong-marking tall forward who reads the ball well in flight and possesses excellent endurance. Matt is the son of Coburg VFA Team of the Century player, Brian Allison.

... and pick #19 turns out to be pick #24:- 24. Melbourne - Isiah Winder Height, Weight: 180cm, 79kg Profile: An athletic utility, Winder tested strongly at the WA draft combine across the board. While super athletic with his speed and leap in particular exceptional, Winder combines this with strong hands overhead, one-touch ground level skills and excellent composure and placement of kicks out in front of inside 50m targets to lead onto.

In Knightmare’s draft, Melbourne’s pick #18 turns out to be #23:- 23. Melbourne - Sam Berry Height, Weight: 181cm, 83kg Profile: Winning a high proportion of the ball in contested situations, Berry plays with aggression and tackles strongly. He balances the aggression with acceleration out of stoppages, reliable distribution by hand, composure with ball in hand and precise kick placement out in front of leading inside 50m targets.

Every year Chris Doerre (aka Knightmare) puts together one of the best Phantom Drafts. Here are the first two rounds of his 2020 version ~ AFL Draft: ESPN's two-round phantom draft

Cal Twomey's 2020 Phantom Form Guide: November update

That’s the same Collingwood that objected to Melbourne getting draft relief after two years of barely winning a game. Collingwood’s “unusual circumstances” have manifested this year - if they want relief, let them wait another three or four years before it gets onto the AFL’s agenda.

Assuming our draft picks remain as they are then picks #18 & #19 will probably turn out to be around #23 & #24 after academy and f/sons. If we follow the AFL Draft Central picks we would miss out on Finlay Macrae but we would get Jack Carroll and Brayden Cook. I think that would be fair and reasonable for the hand we have at the draft.

It seems logical to believe that next year’s draft crop will be better than this year’s because there are going to be a number of late developers who would otherwise have been noticed this year and who won’t be apparent until 2021. Makes me wonder why we traded out of the 2021 first round.

Stay with it to the end for a nice little piece that might be a topic of conversation for when he catches up with Stephen May at Demons training.

Why don’t we look at someone like Ben Brown for the role?

Collingwood’s football manager Geoff Walsh told Triple M on Friday morning the club's decision to take the aggressive approach that led to four players being traded out of the Magpies had come after their disappointing 68-point loss to Geelong in the semi-final at the Gabba. He said the Magpies had “decided they needed to shake up their list with a better set of picks in December's national draft and sought to do that by trading Treloar, Stephenson and Tom Phillips ...” I’m calling BS on that comment. Would you give away that amount of talent for what is effectively pick 14? Why not call it a salary cap dump, which is what it is and stop denigrating your former players.

Come on down Magpies ~

Yes, why not milk this for all it’s worth?

The day was rather surreal because of the AFL’s rule preventing deals from being lodged before 3.00pm. I have a feeling that by clogging up the works it placed greater pressure on the clubs that were trying to sort out the megadeals - most of them got done but it all seemed messy. The disastrous look in the case of Collingwood couldn’t be explained away by Ned Guy’s post draft spin and Eddie McGuire’s relative absence from the scene was particularly telling in the circumstances. Adrian Dodoro had so many balls in the air that he was unable to produce the crowning achievement of bringing Josh Dunkley into the fold which has to be considered a major failure given that more than half the battle would have been to convince the player to cross. At least, he can hang his hat on the fact that the Bombers hold picks 6, 7 and 8 in the draft which is more than you can say for the Pies who probably have more work to do with their current draft hand that starts with 14 and 16 which might be challenged by an early bid for their NGA player Reef McInnes from the Oakleigh Chargers. If a few list managers are walking around with embarrassed looks on their faces then so to should be the AFL which has taken its own good time in sorting out new Covid era list sizes and salary caps. Yesterday, they announced that clubs need only take one pick into the draft instead of three as on previous occasions. Geelong finished the day with its trifecta of seasoned players all secured when it gave away a swag of picks to the Giants who might have lost some talent but will definitely feature prominently in the draft. Melbourne got its man in Ben Brown and held on to Tom McDonald and Neville Jetta while substantially improving its draft position. Here’s how the trades unfolded in the chaotic final 4 ½ hours:- • Richmond's Jack Higgins was traded to St Kilda along with pick 21 and a future fourth-rounder. The Tigers got pick 17 and a future second-rounder. • Ben Brown was traded from North Melbourne to Melbourne. North traded Brown, pick 28 and a future fourth-round pick to Melbourne for 26, 33 and a future fourth-rounder tied to Brisbane. • Brisbane’s Alex Witherden and pick 86 were traded to the West Coast Eagles in exchange for pick 58 and a future third-round pick. • Sydney traded pick 25 for Melbourne's 31 and 43. • Collingwood traded Jaidyn Stephenson, Atu Bosenavulagi and pick 39 to North Melbourne for 26, 33 and 70. • Collingwood traded Tom Phillips to Hawthorn for pick 65. Essendon traded Orazio Fantasia and pick 73 to Port Adelaide for pick 29 and a future third-round selection • Brisbane traded 18, 19 and a future second-rounder to Melbourne for a future first-rounder, and 25, 68 and 69. • Greater Western Sydney traded Jeremy Cameron and two future second-round picks (one tied to Essendon) to Geelong for 13, 15 and 20. • Greater Western Sydney traded Jye Caldwell, pick 44 and 74 to Essendon for pick 29 and a future second-round pick. • St Kilda traded Nick Hind and pick 77 to Essendon for 67 and 74. • Collingwood traded Adam Treloar and 26, 33 and 42 to the Western Bulldogs for 14 and a future second-round selection. And this leaves the indicative draft selections at the end of the trade period as follows:- Adelaide 1 9 22 23 40 56 66 80 Brisbane Lions 25 53 58 63 68 69 94 Carlton 38 48 78 Collingwood 14 16 65 70 75 92 Essendon 6 7 8 44 67 74 85 87 Fremantle 12 32 55 Geelong 51 96 Gold Coast Suns 5 27 37 76 84 GWS Giants 10 13 15 20 44 52 74 88 Hawthorn 4 24 45 46 49 72 Melbourne 18, 19, 28, 50, 89 North Melbourne 2 11 30 39 71 81 Port Adelaide 35 47 57 59 73 95 Richmond 17 36 61 79 97 St Kilda 21 64 67 74 93 Sydney 3 31 34 43 60 82 West Coast Eagles 62 86 91 Western Bulldogs 26 33 41 42 54 90

I don’t like these ratings because they’re not particularly objective and nor do they take in the entire picture of the end of season recruiting process. Every club enters this period from a different position and they have different aims. Richmond’s recruiting was always going to differ from that of Adelaide or North Melbourne. Geelong was interesting in that many were advocating that the club with the oldest list by far should start looking to freshen up its list with young blood but instead, it refreshed with experience and ends with a relatively poor hand at the draft. Even so, the Cats have a good record through Stephen Wells with its recruiting. A better assessment would be achieved after the drafts and an even better one when a few years have passed and we’re aware of the outcome of all of the player movements including their effect on the player group. I wouldn’t be that. confident of the future today if I were a Collingwood fan.

INDICATIVE DRAFT ORDER (after the 2020 Trade Period) ROUND ONE 1. Adelaide 2. North Melbourne 3. Sydney 4. Hawthorn 5. Gold Coast 6.Essendon 7. Essendon 8. Essendon 9. Adelaide 10. Greater Western Sydney 11. North Melbourne 12. Fremantle 13. Greater Western Sydney 14. Collingwood 15. Greater Western Sydney 16. Collingwood 17. Richmond 
 18. Melbourne 19. Melbourne 20. Greater Western Sydney 21. St. Kilda ROUND TWO 22. Adelaide 23. Adelaide 24. Hawthorn 25. Brisbane 26. Western Bulldogs 27. Gold Coast Suns 28. Melbourne 29. Greater Western Sydney 30. North Melbourne 31. Sydney 32. Fremantle 33. Western Bulldogs 34. Sydney 35. Port Adelaide 36. Richmond 37. Gold Coast Suns 38. Carlton 39. North Melbourne 40. Adelaide ROUND THREE 41. Western Bulldogs 42. Western Bulldogs 43. Sydney 44. Essendon 45. Hawthorn 46. Hawthorn 47. Port Adelaide 48. Carlton 49. Hawthorn 50. Melbourne 51. Geelong 52. Greater Western Sydney 53. Brisbane 54. Western Bulldogs 55. Fremantle 56. Adelaide 57. Port Adelaide 58. Brisbane 59. Port Adelaide 60. Sydney 61. Richmond ROUND FOUR 62. West Coast 63. Brisbane 64. St Kilda 65. Collingwood 66. Adelaide 67. St Kilda 68. Brisbane 69. Brisbane 70. Collingwood 71. Collingwood 72. Hawthorn 73. Port Adelaide 74. St Kilda 75. Collingwood 76. Gold Coast Suns 77. Essendon 78. Carlton 79. Richmond ROUND FIVE 80. Adelaide 81. North Melbourne 82. Sydney 83. Hawthorn 84. Gold Coast 85. Essendon 86. West Coast 87. Essendon 88. Greater Western Sydney 89. Melbourne 90. Western Bulldogs 91. West Coast 92. Collingwood 93. St Kilda 94. Brisbane 95. Port Adelaide 96. Geelong 97. Richmond

Since you can keep trading picks right up to the National Draft, is there any limit to Josh Mahoney’s pick trading finesse? Could we possibly even finish with pick 1?

And, as if the Magpie faithful aren’t furious enough, they also threw Joffa’s nephew into the deal.

Traded to North as the first pawn in Collingwood’s fire sale.

The two obvious ones are to secure Ben Brown and to improve our draft position if possible (although we know the latter can be done at any time right up to and including the actual draft). I don’t have any further hopes or expectations for today but I would like to think that Tom McDonald, if he stays, can revitalise his career and show all the naysayers that they were wrong.

Aussie Rules Draft Central on Finlay Macrae

The hype level of the trade period is reaching a crescendo as the penultimate day of business nears a close. After days of back and forth meetings and handwringing Carlton and Essendon have agreed to a deal for Adam Saad and it was an Adrian Dodoro supersonic special that saw - Saad, pick 48 and 78 to Blues in exchange for picks 8 and 87. For the moment, the Bombers have picks 6, 7 and 8 but, in a dramatic moment of karma, the Bulldogs have demanded two of these picks for Josh Dunkley - otherwise there’s no deal. What a pity the trade period wasn’t designed to end at around Xmas/Boxing Day! The Cats got involved but the impasse over Jeremy Cameron wasn’t part of it. They offloaded Lachlan Fogarty and pick 38 to Carlton for picks 30 and 51 and flicked Nakia Cockatoo to Brisbane for a future 3rd round selection. They then moved pick 30 on to the Kangaroos for Shaun Higgins. The overall effect of these moves pushed the average age of their list into the stratosphere and it ain’t over yet. Meanwhile, Port Adelaide Power struck a deal for versatile Swan Aliir Aliir in exchange for a future second-round pick. And in a very late in the day deal, Sydney receives Tom Hickey, picks 34 and 60 in return for picks 58, 62 and a future second-round and future third-round pick. There are lots of balls still in the air and a few new names came up for discussion (including a “Chip” Frawley” comeback at the Saints) which leaves us with a really exciting day ahead tomorrow. Apparently, the AFL’s idea of adding to the drama of the final day of trading is that while clubs can still agree on deals, they can only lodge them between 3.00pm and 7.30pm. How exciting?