Whispering_Jack

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.

AFL NATIONAL DRAFT ORDER (after Day 1 of the National Draft) with Draft Points ROUND TWO 21. Fremantle 878 22. North Melbourne 845 23. Hawthorn 815 24. Geelong 785 25. Geelong 756 26. Hawthorn 729 27. Carlton 703 28. Richmond 677 29. Richmond 653 30. Richmond 629 31. West Coast 606 32. Sydney 584 33. Geelong 563 34. North Melbourne 542 35. Adelaide 522 36. West Coast 502 37. North Melbourne 483 38. Melbourne 465 ROUND THREE 39. Sydney 446 40. Brisbane Lions 429 41. Western Bulldogs 412 42. Melbourne 395 43. Geelong 378 44. Essendon 362 45. Collingwood 347 46. GWS Giants 331 47. GWS Giants 316 48. St Kilda 302 49. Essendon 287 50. Melbourne 273 51. Collingwood 259 ROUND FOUR 52. Hawthorn 246 53. Fremantle 233 54. St Kilda 220 55. Port Adelaide 207 56. Carlton 194 57. Hawthorn 182 58. St Kilda 170 59. St Kilda 158 60. West Coast 146 61. Fremantle 135 62. Sydney 123 63. GWS Giants 112 64. Western Bulldogs 101 65. North Melbourne 90 66. Port Adelaide 80 67. Port Adelaide 69 68. Adelaide 59 ROUND FIVE 69. North Melbourne 49 70. Adelaide 39 71. Hawthorn 29 72. Carlton 19 73. Collingwood 9 74. Richmond 75. Fremantle 76. St Kilda 77. West Coast 78. Sydney 79. Essendon 80. Port Adelaide ROUND SIX 81. Gold Coast 82. Adelaide 83. Essendon 84. Sydney ROUND SEVEN 85. Gold Coast 86. Essendon ROUND EIGHT 87. Collingwood 88. Geelong 89. Western Bulldogs ROUND NINE 90. Collingwood 91. Western Bulldogs ROUND TEN 92. Western Bulldogs

Well … well … well

Nailed it!

Blake Howes of the Sandringham Dragons is one of the players Melbourne and a few other clubs are keen on. He's 18 years of age, a 190cm, 79kg outside midfielder and wouldn't take long to fit into a regular spot, even in the premiership side.

I don't think the club is as interested in a KPP selection at that stage of the draft than I am. They're the ones with their jobs on the line so I'll leave it to them.

One of the results of the Covid19 pandemic is that it will take a while before the outcome of last year’s AFL National Draft can be judged. And if 2020 turned out to be an enigma for recruiters then tonight’s national draft is going to be just as difficult for AFL clubs even though we saw a little more football than we did last year. You might not appreciate this if you pick up today’s newspaper or look at on line sites given that nearly every draft expert is predicting an identical top five as follows:- 1. Jason Horne-Francis (South Adelaide, SA) 2. Sam Darcy (Oakleigh Chargers/Vic Metro) 3. Finn Callaghan (Sandringham Dragons/Vic Metro) 4. Nick Daicos (Oakleigh Chargers/Vic Metro) 5. Mac Andrew (Dandenong Stingrays/Vic Country) You can just about lock that in as my draft top 5 for tonight but if you think that this is the order from 1 to 5 of the best players available in this year’s draft pool, then you need to think again. The outcome above is a combination of the machinations of the AFL draft system and the fact that drafting has been compromised by Covid19. Writing in the Herald Sun’s on line section (no link available), former Hawthorn star and “recruiting guru” Gary Buckenara cautioned that the limited number of games and the inability in 2020 and 2021 of recruiters to travel and see players playing live was a major issue. Often clubs have had to rely on the use of video analysis and local part time staff and this is not ideal. Buckenara maintains that the best way to form an opinion about players is to view their games in person. “You cannot actually pick up everything about a player by analysing videos and stats and relying on these two forms of analysis is lazy recruiting”. My reading of much of the draft coverage of the past week confirms this about many of the leading experts in the field. The pen pictures that have been posted about certain players bear such a resemblance to each other that it couldn’t be coincidental. So please forgive me for joining the lazy sheep in posting my top five as above. You would be aware by now that, despite his potential as a future player, I wouldn’t place over-hyped Melbourne’s NGA player, Mac Andrew, in my top twenty “power rating” but spare a thought for GWS Academy player Josh Fahey who will probably have to wait until tomorrow night to be drafted without much fanfare by the Giants in the 20s. Fahey was his team’s only four quarter player for the Australian Academy when it was thrashed by 130 points by Geelong VFL and named its best player. Andrew was unsighted in that game for three quarters but put in a solid final term which catapulted him into top twenty draft rankings. Good luck to both of them in 2022 when they start the season as equals in their quests for long AFL careers. The way things look at the moment, I’ll be cheering Blake Howes from my NAB Boys League club, the Sandy Dragons because most of the draft pundits have already decreed this to be the case.

Van Rooyen has been one of my favourites since the start of the season and looks gettable by the club if you follow the draft experts most of who all seem to be singing from the same choir book on draft eve (the Herald Sun joined in the chorus today). The consensus is that he will be selected by Brisbane with the last selection in Round 1 tonight.