Whispering_Jack

At the risk of becoming repetitious, Rookie Me Central bring us their AFL Draft Power Rankings – November 2022

I stand corrected here but I read somewhere in the context of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti‘s status at Essendon that the Bombers needed to have him under contract at the next list lodgement date which I think comes after the delisted free agent period so, if that’s right, a decision on Hibberd & Melksham’s contracts is imminent.

An excellent question. We won’t know what club recruiters think until the draft itself. However, I’ve seen some on line gradings that put him in the top 10 after the Academy game.

Promoting young players and even younger interviewers

The first of these began today and the Hawks have swooped. Plus a former Demon is in the sights of one club. Hawks sign forward after impressive VFL season, Dogs consider ex-Dee

Well the next significant date on the calendar is - Thursday 03 November at 9.00am • AFL Delisted Player Free Agency Period (1) commences If Hibberd and Melksham aren’t contracted by Thursday then you would assume that they’re delisted players, wouldn’t you? I couldn’t imagine either of them wanting to go elsewhere at this stage of their careers. I don’t think another club would offer either of them big bucks or guarantee games - surely not?

The story of a player who was riding high in April but cut down in May. I guess that’s life but he’s fighting on to get drafted. ‘Whatever it takes’: The rollercoaster AFL draft year of Harry Lemmey - and why he’s as ‘driven’ as ever

I’m not sure how people here are assessing Munkara. Is it the highlights reel or have people taken the trouble to watch him play in a full game? I had to refresh my memory so I went back in time to April/May, both before and after that Australian Academy game v Collingwood VFL. At the time, the pundits rated his game highly but not top of the top shelf but were impressed enough back then to rate him in the top ten in their rankings. We should accept the reasons he’s given for being off the scene for a couple of months and he’s certainly been forgotten by many during that time but there’s no way this bloke is going to be on a rookie list next year.

Is this based on his ability or just to grab an NGA from another club?

MELBOURNE 3.5.23 5.8.38 7.12.54 11.13.79 WEST COAST EAGLES 0.0.0 0.1.1 0.1.1 0.1.1 GOALS MELBOURNE Hore Zanker 2 Bannan Fitzsimon Hanks Heath Mackin Paxman Purcell WEST COAST EAGLES Nil

3QT: Melbourne 7.12.54 to WCE 0.1.1 Goals: Melbourne: Bannan Fitzsimon Hore Mackin Paxman Purcell Zanker

Half Time: Melbourne 5.8.38 to West Coast 0.1.1 Goals Melbourne Bannan Fitzsimon Paxman Purcell Zanker Percentage 259.78 Still unlikely to catch Brisbane’s percentage.

Quarter Time and we’re 3.5.23 to 0.0.0 which makes it four games in a row that we haven’t been scored against in Q1. The bad news is that the likelihood of catching Brisbane percentage is not very strong.

There’s still a month to go to the 2022 AFL National Draft and amid the speculation as to who Melbourne might take with its first selection (currently at 13) is a player who was edging towards a top ten placing but struggled with injury during the season and ultimately tore an ACL early in the game against the Sandringham Dragons on 27 August. Brayden George might well be one of the hard luck stories of this year’s draft but it’s not all gloom and doom for the talented forward - it’s still likely that he will be selected somewhere in the late teens or early 20s. George might quite well suit a club like Melbourne which has a surfeit of young players waiting for senior opportunity and can therefore afford to “warehouse” a player like him who will miss most, if not all, of 2023 recuperating from that knee injury. NAB League | Brayden George goes down with serious injury as Bushies’ season comes to a close Brayden George still a big AFL Draft prospect despite suffering serious knee injury Should Melbourne make a play for an injured but highly talented player with its pick 13 or possibly get involved in a trade of picks in a risky game to secure him a little later and improve its overall draft positioning?

I’m with you on not having to trade up in this draft in the absence of some special circumstances but I’m not sure about trading out pick 13 for a future first round pick. We are under an obligation to use three selections in the draft (currently our first three are 13, 37 and 90), albeit that we can upgrade rookies with our selections if we choose to do so. As it stands at the moment, we’ve signaled that #90 will be used to upgrade Kade Chandler to the primary list so if we trade 13 for a future first as you suggest, we would either place ourselves in a position of needing to upgrade another rookie or using our last pick on a very late selection - and it’s possible that neither option would suit. I think we either stick with our existing selections or do something creative such as the example I suggested elsewhere and Little Goffy did above - swap 13 and 37 for West Coast's 20 and 26 to possibly give us a preferable outcome. Of course, the good thing with the club these days are that there are less leaks so that we don’t know about the thinking of our recruiters.

Kevin Sheehan's 2022 NAB AFL Draft Top Prospects – Medium Forwards

Ed Pascoe’s colourful draft rankings

Good get. No way he slips out of the top 25.

From the Herald Sun online (no link available) - “The Demons have access to Finn Emile-Brennan as an NGA prospect this year. Considered a potential pick later in the draft, the Dandenong Stingrays defender is part of the club’s Academy given his mum hails from Mauritius. He played three games for Vic Country during the under-18 national championships and was invited to the state draft combine in October. Emile-Brennan’s kicking is his strength. Riak Andrew is an NGA prospect to watch for next year, being the younger brother of Gold Coast’s Mac Andrew. Basketballer Kyah Farris-White has signed on as a Category B Rookie ahead of the draft.”

Today’s Herald Sun at page 44 has its October Phantom Draft – (paywall) Phantom Draft: Early look at how first 25 picks will fall 1. GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY Aaron Cadman 194cm Forward, VIC 2. BRISBANE (MATCH NORTH BID) Will Ashcroft 183cm Midfielder, VIC 3. NORTH MELBOURNE George Wardlaw 182cm Midfielder, VIC 4. NORTH MELBOURNE Harry Sheezel 183cm Forward, VIC 5. ESSENDON Elijah Tsatas 188cm Midfielder, VIC 6. GOLD COAST Reuben Ginbey 189cm Mid/Defender, WA 7. HAWTHORN Bailey Humphrey 184cm Mid/Forward, VIC 8. GEELONG Jhye Clark 180cm Midfielder, VIC 9. WEST COAST Jedd Busslinger 196cm Defender, WA 10. ST KILDA Cam Mackenzie 187cm Midfielder, VIC 11. CARLTON Oliver Hollands 183cm Midfield, VIC 12. WESTERN BULLDOGS Mattaes Phillipou 190cm Fwd/Midfielder, SA 13. WEST COAST Ed Allan 194cm Midfielder, WA 14. MELBOURNE Matthew Jefferson 195cm Forward, VIC “The second-best key forward in the draft behind Cadman, Jefferson is firmly in the sights of the Demons if he is still available. Key forwards are the weak spot in Melbourne’s list. Jefferson’s marking ability is his weapon and he has improved his goal kicking this year. Likened to Essendon’s Harrison Jones, he booted seven goals from eight kicks against WA.” 15. SYDNEY Lachlan Cowan 188cm Defender, TAS 16. GWS GIANTS Lewis Hayes 197cm Defender, VIC 17. BRISBANE (MATCH BID FROM COLLINGWOOD) Jaspa Fletcher 184cm Midfielder, QLD 18. COLLINGWOOD Henry Hustwaite 194cm Midfielder, VIC 19. SYDNEY Olli Hotton 181cm Forward, VIC 20. GWS GIANTS Charlie Clarke 182cm Forward, VIC 21. GWS GIANTS Coby Burgiel 183cm Utility, VIC 22. ESSENDON Darcy Jones 175cm Mid/Forward, WA 23. WESTERN BULLDOGS Brayden George 185cm Forward, VIC 24. ESSENDON Josh Weddle 191cm Defender, VIC 25. NORTH MELBOURNE Max Gruzewski 192cm Def/Forward, VIC

I feel somewhat uncomfortable saying this but I hope the Pies win next Friday or at least hold Brisbane to a close margin. As it stands, we need to catch up 50 points on percentage

I remember watching him play for the Tiwi Bombers in the days when the ABC used to telecast the NTFL matches. He was highly skilled like a number of his teammates and definitely looked like he could have made it but the environment here is so different. I would hope that an indigenous player coming to our club would have the right type of support to give him every chance to succeed.

Great teamwork for the Zanker goal. Demons lead by 19 points.

Great goal to Kate Hore. Fantastic composure.

3 Big Ins for Tomorrow INS – Sherriff, L.Pearce, Goldrick OUTS – Duffy (soreness), Caris (omitted), Brown (omitted)