Lord Travis

What position would he play at AFL level? 191cms and not a super solid May type unit, so wouldn't be a key defender. He projects as a third tall intercept type like Lever? Might be a bit of a tweener if he doesn't grow taller.

He's a competitive beast and the best inside midfielder in this draft. His kicking is decent too. He is not quick, but for his role his speed is fine. He's a similar player to Tom Green. He projects as a future captain and is a big game player. When the whips are cracking, he goes and tears the game apart. He'd be like Gus Brayshaw was for our culture and leadership. The media and uneducated footy watchers can go on about speed and the "modern game", but reality is contest will always be king. When pressure goes up in finals, it becomes a scrap. Recent premierships and finals have been won by the team that controls the contest and clearances. The Brownlow is won every year by the best inside midfielder because they have a big impact on the outcome of games. Gotta get the ball before you can move it. Sharp will have a long AFL career and possibly be the best player from this draft. If he is available at our pick, we should take him as a long term inside bull to replace Viney and Steele properly in a few years. With midfield balance, he'd allow Langford to play both inside, outside, and forward using his brilliant kicking and marking skills. He would feed the likes of Kozzy, Windsor, Rivers etc to use pace and skill on the outside.

As for the draft, a few phantoms have Dylan Sharp falling to our pick. That would be awesome if it played out and he’d be a direct replacement for Oliver but with leadership and a good head on his shoulders. Fingers crossed as he’ll be an elite midfielder, even if he is very inside.

Correction: 39 disposals and TWO goals. He equaled the record for most disposals ever in a grand final. He won a Norm Smith medal in dominant fashion and was good across every quarter. I know some people don’t like Trac, but let’s not rewrite history and downplay how incredible he was as a player. If his Norm Smith winning performance is deemed no good or not four quarters of footy, then no living Melbourne player is worthy of our respect sadly 🤪

I agree. I’ll never call him the Wizard. He remains Watson to me. Good player but the real Wizard was just special and worthy of the moniker.

What about the four other finals where he was one of the most impactful players on the ground including a BOG performance? How impact in finals the last two years are a major reason that small forward are now so in demand by all teams. He’s kicked more goals than any Melbourne player in finals this decade bar peak Frisch and Gawn in 2021 in 60+ point thumpings… You’re living in an alternate reality. Watson is the opposite of a dud, and if Dovaston winds up similar then he’ll have a long and successful career, hopefully with us.

Probably the wrong player to use as an example. He's the perfect example of why we SHOULD take Dovaston, as they're very similar players. Watson is only 19 and has already had an impact in finals. His finals last year were huge, close to BOG in both of them with 4 goals and 3 goals. He also had a big semi final this year where he kicked 2 goals 4 points - if he'd kicked straighter he could've had a bag and another BOG type performance. Small forwards have a big impact on the outcome of finals. It's key forwards who are usually hit and miss and rarely have influence.

If we took him with one of our two top ten picks, we'd need to be very very sure he had the work ethic and discipline to transition to AFL requirements. He's a mature age player who went undrafted the previous two drafts. He was on port's NGA, so they got a good look at him and didn't even bother taking him as a freebie rookie. I know some mature late, but I doubt an elite talent would float by and not get drafted for years. If he's there at our pick 37, sure you'd take the risk. Picks 7 & 8 need to be guaranteed 200+ game players, and hopefully stars. I don't see that with Latrelle, and there are other more proven small forwards who have stronger athletic attributes. If his surname wasn't Pickett, I doubt he'd be getting any attention.

If we want another potential elite small forward in this draft, then it's most likely him. He's being mentioned because he's got great attributes and has proven himself above all others. And yes he's a small forward, but also had good impact up the ground as a connector through the midfield, so has versatility. Leading goal scorer. All Australian small forward. Elite testing. He's a great talent and will definitely be taken by a club in the first round, just a matter of if it's us or not.

Fingers crossed he becomes a Demon. He's exactly what we need and small forwards are just about the most impactful position in the game right now. Kozzie is elite, but as he spends more time up the ground, we need more quality small forward options who hit the scoreboard regularly. Dovaston would add that and has played well further up the ground as a connector too. they'd form a great tag team down the track rooting mid/forward. Other small options like Chandler aren't damaging enough when they only manage to kick 0.7 goals a game year after year. We need more firepower. Dovaston is a high goal scorer, adds defensive pressure, has absolutely elite agility (best in draft class and fourth best ever tested), has good pace, great leap (fourth best in draft class), and importantly has mongrel in him so despite his small size he gets stuck in. Perfect for the modern game. Make him a Dee!

That is a horrendous looking ball drop!

Feels like Cumming will be around out pick and we’ll be keen. He’s a quick mid forward who can impact early in his career. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him and Dovaston as our two early picks. Would add lots of forward half speed, skill, scoring potential, and defensive pressure, with pure midfield scope down the track.

Wrong. Unsure if you’re a liar or troll. We were 5th on the ladder nearing the midway point of 2024. When Trac got injured we plummeted down the ladder to 14th. I know people dislike him, but no point lying or making up rubbish to slander his ability and impact on our team onfield. He was still a star and we were a far worse team without him.

He's an inflammatory shock jockey, but in this case he's 100% right. We're seeing rule changes to counter-act the failure of previous rule changes. These rules are basically all objectively bad and will cause further confusion to an already over-officiated sport with too many interpretations on what should just be clear rules. It's a sad state of affairs when games are deciding by unclear umpiring decisions on a weekly basis, and the media wind up discussing poor umpiring more than the sport itself. Well said by Kane. Sucks having to agree with him when he's right!

Agree with this and have been saying he's a smokey for us. He looks more dynamic and versatile than Lindsay for mine and really came on as the year progressed. Lindsay is a better pure kick, but Oskar seems to have a better balance for taking the game on with both run and carry, kicking and hand balling forward. Lindsay stops, props, and looks for kick every time. Oskar was also the fastest over 20m at the combine, and second behind Dovaston for agility, so he's got an incredible athletic profile. Can see us calling him out with one of our two picks for sure. Questions marks over his contested ability, like Lindsay, but seems to have more scope for positional versatility and to fit the model game.