Lord Travis

He's not a mid sized forward though, he's predominantly a midfielder, and a dominant inside one at that. He'd be a weapon at bounces, not a liability. He's one of the best clearance winners at his level. He was top 10 at the combine for the 2km time trial, so he's fit and has a high cruising speed to make it to lots of contests. He just doesn't have the initial burst that some others do. His fitness, determination and footy IQ make up for it thus far. He projects as an inside midfielder who can rest forward. He's very similar to in style to Bont and Cripps, both are both supposedly slow too. Lack of burst speed didn't stop midfielders like Mitchell, Pendlebury, Selwood, Bontempelli, Hodge, Bartel, Cripps, Fyfe etc from being game changing midfielders. Assuming he develops well, it won't stop Langford either.

Great athlete. Not the best decision maker with ball in hand and average kicking skills, especially short-mid range. Could develop into an explosive inside midfielder. Could develop into a poorly skilled rebounding half back flanker. WA lad rumored to be a flight risk. Would be a brave call but can see the appeal also.

Not officially, but expecting an announcement in the near future. Bassett confirmed when questioned that he's moving to Melbourne for a coaching role but stopped there.

Interesting to see people sour on Jagga. He's the best performed midfielder in it and at worst will be a solid accumulator at AFL level. People saying his inside work wouldn't stack up at AFL level are a bit off IMO. He played a few games in the VFL late in the year and absolutely dominated mature bodies and AFL listed players. Averaged 27 disposals and 7 clearances across the three VFL matches. Had 50+ disposal games at CTL level. He's the best ball winner at underage level since Nick Daicos and projects similarly. If he was available to us at pick 5 it would be a very bold call to pass on him for someone else. I suspect he'll be gone before our pick though.

So did Liam Stocker and Matthew Bate 🫠 Having said that, don't mind Lindsay at 9 as a skilled rebounder if we take a gun midfielder who can win their own ball at 5 (Lalor, Langford, Draper, Smith, Smilie)

Smilie the next FIGJAM?1

He does a form guide based on ranking at the moment. He does a phantom draft based on his intel right before the draft and it's usually 90% accurate for the top 10-15 picks. He's the only journo worth listening to when it comes to the draft. All others are liars making up rubbish for clicks. Cal is actually interested, has connections, and doesn't want to be a Kornes style shock jockey.

Reportedly there and why I think he's not being mentioned more as a top 10 pick. West Coast traded down to pick 12 to grab him. Freo have 14. He will likely go to Eagles at 12 unless a club takes the risk before then.

Not quick for a rebounding defender type, but if his footy IQ is high it can more than make up for slight gap in pace. Others of note who weren't quick are Smilie 3.088 and Langford 3.2. Then again, Cripps apparently 3.23, so shows burst speed not necessary depending on your role, and they're both big bodied ball extractors who could dominate regardless.

He's at his best as an intercept defender floating into packs with his huge leap. He won't be able to do that unimpeded at AFL level, so queries around how solid the rest of his game is. He's not the best with ball in hand, and is undersized for KPP if he doesn't keep growing. He's unproven in midfield and don't think he's quick enough mentally to be a big bodied midfielder around stoppages long term. I see why he's being hyped up as his athletic profile is great. He'd be a good target at 9 if he's there to develop as the Lever replacement long term.

Not sure what vision you watched, but your assessment of him sounds a bit off. He's 190cm, high footy IQ, gets to the right spots, racks up clearances and ball, uses his strength and size to break through tackles, has clean hands both distributing from stoppage and contested marking. He's also a good penetrating kick, one of the better kicks in this draft, and hits the scoreboard big time for a midfielder. He's the most productive mid-forward in this draft. His only weakness is speed. If he had better speed, he'd be a standout pick 1 instead of a likely top 5 pick. Langford and Smith are probably the safest bets to be good AFL players in this draft.

There will no doubt be some bolters and sliders with the draft still a month away. On exposed form though, looks like we'll likely get one of Lalor, Langford or Draper with pick 5. Basically whichever one gets through to us. We need midfielders more than anything, so works perfectly. Pick 9 is where it get interesting. I could see us taking Reid or Tauru if available. Reid gives us class and skill to help with our forward connection. Tauru would become a third tall/interceptor type to slot into our backline long term. Lindsay could also be an option as a classy skilled player like Reid. They'd both likely start on a flank and move into the midfield over time. I'm not sold on Armstrong personally. He seems pretty vanilla and often just on the end of a dominant teams work.

I never referred to his family. Not sure why you've mentioned them? I gave my opinion on a player struggling for form at VFL level who is worse performed than options we already have in the VFL. The common knock on him is poor work ethic. His VFL coach Fraser even called out his poor work ethic in a post game interview late in the year. Unless Johnson has a great season next year, he won't be on an AFL list going forward. He's being kept by the Pies because he's still got a contract, where as Kreuger is out of contract. Kreuger is an injury prone battler and will likely head home to SA to play in the SAFL if he can get on the park.

Contract for next year, so wasn't traded. Wouldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole. He's got poor attitude and work ethic. He battled away in the VFL for most of the year despite the Pies crying out for forward targets due to injuries to Mihocek and McStay. Struggled in VFL, kicking 10+ goals less than our own youngster Jefferson. Probably best to close this thread and burn it with fire.

Perfect midfield/half forward depth for mine. Won't be a world beater, but offers more at AFL level than some others on our list IMO. No trade cost, likely low salary, free hit.

100%. I've been posting on this site a few decades too, and it's become very toxic the past year or so. Sadly I've had to reduce time spent reading and posting unless it's on a specific question or topic. Hopefully 2025 is a better year for the club and our great draft hand provides us all with some hope and excitement.

Barrett has been proven to be uninformed and a liar repeatedly over the years. Take anything he says with a grain of salt. He's a liar and a cancer on the industry and sport at large

Drafted pick 43 in 2020. 4 years in the system for 16 games. Can't be worth much and will come to us as depth. Pick 54 seems about right. 65 for Derksen.

It is pretty sad. Even after winning a premiership and clearly being a window of success, we weren't able to attract any star players. We've done some weak trades over the the past few years to ensure good will and being a good trading partner too. If we can't get a deal done for a mature age battler who hasn't played a game, then that good will built was for nothing.

Has potential due to his size, but there's a few red flags IMO. He lacks intensity at times, and it's common to see him pushed off the ball by kids 10-15 cms and kgs smaller than him. When they played SA, Draper made him look like a clown tbh, repeatedly shoving off him and bursting away from stoppages. Despite his big frame and midfield projection, he actually played better as a loose half back flanker last year and impacts games most as a link up player with good mid range kicking. He doesn't have power bursting out of stoppage like a Cripps or Petracca do either. It's interesting how he's being described as a midfield beast, but I don't see it and think it's purely a media narrative due to his 194cm size. Some clubs might think he could become a Cripps type, but I have my doubts and would be disappointed if we took him at 5. Players like Langford, Lalor, and Draper all look to have more potential as midfielders. Smillie projects as a similar inside built type to Langford, but lesser in basically every way other than a few cms height. Langford wins more disposals both contested and uncontested, clearances, marks, goals, tackles etc and is 190cms too. Lalor is far more powerful and potent, and if he can build fitness could be a Dusty/Trac type mid-forward. Draper has more speed, agility, skill, ball winning ability, but hits the scoreboard less. He's the most rounded but less x-factor due to lack of forward craft like Lalor and Langford (and Smillie). He's the quick skilled mid if that's our need. I expect O'Sullivan and Smith to be gone by our pick, but O'Sullivan looks to goods as the most rounded midfielder IMO.

Agreed. Small forwards a such an important part of the modern game too. Look at Brisbane in the GF with Lohmann, Ah Chee, Cameron and Bailey as rotating smalls. Bobby Hill the year before. Hawks had Watson fire during finals too. We need more small firepower up forward and it's a clear list gap for mine, especially if Kozzie ever leaves. Outside of Kozzie, we're limp. Guys like Chandler and Spargo don't hit the scoreboard anywhere near often enough. Not saying we chase Kako, but if there are any decent options with other picks in the teens and 20s then we should consider it.

Could go anywhere from pick 1-8. We will likely land one of Langford, Lalor, or Draper. Any of those three could be an elite midfielder for us for years to come. There's suggestions Lalor could go pick 1, and while he's talented and could be an elite mid-forward type, he's less proven than others due to injury issues. He missed most of pre-season, start of year and end of year, and was outperformed by many of his peers too. Does that mean he's got higher ceiling if fit? Maybe. Maybe not. Pick 1 is probably too risky to draft him with though and will likely be used on someone more proven. He'll likely get drafted just before our pick.

Fair well Nibbler. All the best with your family back in SA and thanks for being such a great servant of the Melbourne Football Club. Second round pick is bang on value wise, though he's a big loss for the club.

We're not really in the hunt for Houston, and it would be negligent list management to pursue it further given the asking price. We've now hit the point where we need to rebuild and look to the future, not blow high draft capital on a 28 year old flanker. Procure pick 13 if possible, then take picks 5 and 13 to draft to find the next Petracca and Brayshaw star types to build our clubs future around alongside Windsor, Kozzie, JVR, Rivers and Mcvee.

If we land Draper or O'Sullivan or another quick/skilled mid at pick 5, then Hynes is the perfect balance with our second pick if available. That gives you the quick skilled mid paired with the big bodied ball winning mid. Add them to Windsor, and it's an exciting trio to build our future midfield around. Good point of difference that he's capable up forward too and hits the scoreboard. He's a marking matchup nightmare like Petracca and Cripps. I'm onboard the Hynes train depending on our first pick.