Whispering_Jack

Perhaps about 10 or so years too late. When recruiters came around to Neville Jetta’s place, Nev’s mother suggested it might be worthwhile getting in touch with her nephew Lewis but it never eventuated then ... it’s now a bit late.

Collingwood’s 2021 calendar was sent off to the printers before the trade period and now features a Western Bulldog on the front cover. He’s also Mr. January. Then there’s a North Melbourne player featured for the month of October. There were no takers for Mason Cox so he’s still good for the last month of 2021 but will he still be a Magpie by then?

The Herald Sun’s draft dossier ~ 60 potential draftees. Draft dossier: Which junior stars should your club pick?

GWS Giants are showing interest in Suckling.

How bad are we traveling if we can’t get a player to make this list ~

Another half baked idea. Thankfully, they’re not going with it this year but next year ...

Technically, someone else could draft him but why would they in these circumstances? Melbourne has looked after him for two years as he’s been recovering from two ACL’s and he hasn’t played since 2018. Why take a risk with a player who is earmarked as a rookie and will spend a reasonable part of the season just recovering? It wouldn’t be a good look for the club that took him.

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.