Whispering_Jack

It’s unlikely that the club will need to resort to the Pre-Season Supplemental Selection Period unless a long term injury crops up. AFL confirms rookie rules for SSP, Mid-Season Draft

We can let Stuart Dew worry about it now.

Judd McVee was named on the interchange for WA for this game which I watched as it was streamed live. I was mainly interested in two players - Taj Woewodin who I knew was going to be a Demon and for JVR who was close to best on ground and who I hoped would become a Demon. I didn’t notice McVee all that much but welcome to the club JMcV! To get three players from a state side in these times is a great effort.

The end of the trading and drafting period means that a new cycle of drafting life begins ~ Eye on the future: 10 draft prospects to watch in 2022

With the drafts done and dusted for the time being, the SEN commentators have turned their attention to the season ahead with 10 WAY-TOO-EARLY PREDICTIONS FOR THE 2022 AFL SEASON These are their top ten predictions:- • COVID will have a tangible impact on 2022 results • An unpredictable year on and off the field • The Tiger train to rumble back into the top four • Emerging Saint to announce himself as a star of the competition (Max King) • West Coast to accept their fate and commit to a rebuild • If you thought Collingwood had hit rock bottom … • The Blues will make the top eight • Two key Bombers will reinvent themselves in other positions (new roles for McGrath and Shiel?) • We'll see more variation in how teams play • Former Brownlow Medallists to reassert themselves as league’s best (Dangerfield and Fyfe) What are your predictions?

Mid West products Jed Hagan, Judd McVee feature in Swans win against South Australia

Started the season really well but had an ankle injury. Northern Knights player from the same club as Josh Ward who went to Hawthorn.

Williamstown key defender Charlie Dean (195cm, 89kg) who won the Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal as the VFL's most promising young talent was unlucky not to be drafted. Probably not for us but I can see Carlton taking him.

By my count, the club has one vacancy on its Category A Rookie List but whether it decides to make another selection is unknown. I believe clubs can take three Category B rookies - we don’t have any at present.

The 2021 AFL National Draft had something for everyone and predictably on the morning after, the media is talking about how each of the 18 clubs nailed it. Plenty of hidden gems picked up with late picks and lots of bargain basement acquisitions and steals that render their recruiters in the genius class. I liked the fact that after the predictability of the top 10 selections, the rest of the draft veered away into unexpected regions, a factor that added interest to an event that often drifts into boredom. The event was also spiced up with an array of side issues such as controversy about trading of draft picks present and future, some Covid19 diagnoses and even the news of one “draft hopeful” (who nobody seems to have heard of previously) allegedly getting busted for using a banned stimulant and thereby putting his playing future in doubt. The one thing for sure about any recruiting process is that despite all of the hype and sometimes misinformation, the fact that a player has been drafted is merely the start. Whether you’re Jason Horne-Francis, the first player selected on night one, or Taj Woewodin, the last name called out last night, you begin your AFL career on level pegging. It was noted earlier in the week that the average a drafted player lasts on an AFL list is three years. To gain credibility they have to work hard and gain credibility - usually after the first fifty games. The same can be said about players chosen with today’s third crack including the Preseason and Rookie Drafts. Actually, it’s a busy day today with an array of activities listed on the AFL’s calendar (see below). I will leave the evaluation to another time but the result to date of Melbourne’s post 2021 premiership recruiting (and doesn’t that sound great?) is the addition of Luke Dunstan, Jacob Van Rooyen, Blake Howes and Taj Woewodin. At around lunchtime today, we can expect to welcome another selection - Northern Territory NGA Andy Moniz-Wakefield as a Category B Rookie. After that, kick your heels up or relax because it’s almost over for another year. The club may or may not pick a rookie in mid afternoon or … it might wait until the Pre-Season Supplemental Selection Period in March next year. Today’s Calendar • 10.00am – AFL Club List Lodgement (3) • 12.00-12:30pm – Pre-Selected Rookies; NSW and Queensland Eligible Pre-Selected Rookie Player Nominations Lodged; Father-Son Pre-Selected Rookie Player Nominations Lodged; Academy Pre-Selected Rookie Player Nominations Lodged; NGA Pre-Selected Rookie Player Nominations Lodged (Note: These nominations remain confidential until announced between NAB AFL Pre-Season/Rookie Draft) • 3.00pm – NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft Selection Meeting • 3.15pm – Notification of Pre-Selected Rookies Nominated on Friday 26 November by 12.30pm if not selected in the NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft • 3.20pm – NAB AFL Rookie Draft Selection Meeting

1. We weren’t going to use Pick 51 so it was of no use to us at all. 2. We could potentially put that Round 4 pick together with another pick or a player in a future trade to improve our position or get a player we want next year. 3. There were very few other clubs wanting a pick.

That’s a fairly good basis to move into next year’s draft. Allows us to possibly maneuver our way into an even better position through trading picks or a combination of picks and players.

Probably will be named tomorrow.

No surprise here.

Picked up in a trade for #43. That’s stumps after we pick up young Woey.

Tipped this 😀

The thing that's up in the air is whether there's a bid for Taj Woewodin, in the absence of which he could potentially be rookied. I suppose we wait and see.

Great vision of JVR including that clutch goal against SA. IMG_7793.MOV

Not half as unflattering as Van Rooyen’s arm girth which should now be the subject of much greater importance to Demon fans and which I’m sure the Club’s fitness people will attend to ASAP.

It might have escaped you that I was responding to Ivan’s comment in a discussion which involved Andrew. If you don’t like what I say then feel free to block me.

Fair enough. The point that you make about Van Rooyen not having played on someone like Weitering is precisely that which I’ve been making about Mac Andrew. He’s never come anywhere near to having been tested by a quality opponent and even more so. That’s not his fault of course and I’ve been saying all year that he needed testing at National Championships level and in the combines before being rated as highly as some of the draft watchers were doing with him. Historically, has anyone so raw and untried gone top 5? Perhaps Richard Lounder but that was a long time ago.

For most of the early part of last night’s first round of the draft, things were going as planned with the exception of some brief disruptions when a couple of the pick trades were announced. The surprises came later on in the evening with the early selection of players not widely expected to be in the top 20 - players like Leek Alleer (GWS Giants), Angus Sheldrick (Sydney) and Kai Lohmann (Brisbane Lions). A couple of others such as Darcy Wilmot (Brisbane Lions) and Tom Brown (Richmond) only entered the top 20 picture in the last fortnight. All this leaves us with an interesting array of players ready to be selected in the second round and beyond who have, for the most part of the journey, been considered as probable/possible first rounders. Here are the names that should be prominent early and there’s some quality there - Rhett Bazzo Sam Butler Judson Clarke Toby Conway Arlo Draper Josh Fahey (GWS Giants NGA) Josh Goater Blake Howes Matthew Johnson Mitch Knevitt Alastair Lord Connor Macdonald Jesse Motlop (Fremantle NGA) Cooper Murley Mitch Owens (St KIlda NGA) Matthew Roberts Tyler Sonsie Zac Taylor Corey Warner Jack Williams Marcus Windhagen (St KIlda NGA) That should well and truly cover Round Two of tonight’s draft and there are another eight more rounds to follow (albeit rounds 9 & 10 are allocated to the Western Bulldogs). I think Melbourne did well with its first selection and tonight we can expect at least two more although one of them might be father-son pick Taj Woewodin. The Demons’ next pick is currently scheduled at number 38 so you can safely wait until after 8.30pm before tuning it. The club also holds picks 42 and 50 so it should be a much earlier night than last year’s draft which was wrapped up at close to midnight when someone bearing a close resemblance to Jordan De Goey was sighted stepping out for an exciting evening ahead.

I think you’re being tough with our boy JVR, noting that he was diagnosed with glandular fever in May and that illness can knock you about even if you’re a fit young person. That makes his efforts both in the WAFL Colts and for the WA Under 19s even more admirable. I did watch him in those state games and he was impressive in both in defence and attack. Moreover, my understanding is that he was sent down back after already proving himself as a forward at Colts level and in earlier state games to test his capability in defence. He not only did that but also from memory was sent forward late in the game and kicked the winning goal. He’s gone a long way to proving his versatility and he’s lucky to be at Melbourne where there’s absolutely no pressure on him to hold a place in the senior straight away.

Best of luck to him and he will need it up there. He sounds very level headed when interviewed and he clearly wants to succeed in a place where it’s going to be difficult for him. That said, I don’t think he would have been a Demon under the old system where we could have matched the bid for him. I’m much happier with Van Rooyen who better suits our needs and, at this stage of the journey is far more developed for the game.