Lord Travis

I'll put my hand up and say I thought we "reached" with drafting him high at pick 12. I was massively wrong. He's a gun and is super important to our team both offensively and defensively. He's already had back to back 40+ goal seasons as a small forward, which is an incredible achievement. To put that in perspective against other current gun small forwards; Charlie Cameron is 28 and has kicked 40+ 3 times. Papley is 26 and has kicked 40+ once. Kozzie is 21 and has now kicked 40+ twice. He's out of contract end of next season and we need to lock him away. He's the most important of our young future core IMO.

No doubt Gysberts was a product of the woeful Melbourne environment then. The club was a train wreck in that era under Neeld. Gysberts burst onto the scene and then got "Melbourned" like many other highly talented juniors that were unlucky enough to be drafted to by Melbourne during those years. Any kid who is ripping out 26 disposal, 8 clearance, 5 tackle games as an 18 year starting his career in a team getting belted with bugger all senior support has clear talent. Neeld and the poor development of the club at the time ruined his career. If he were drafted now, he'd be a 200 game player. I feel sorry for those kids whose careers we ruined back then. As for pick 37 now, I'm hoping someone like Keeler may be available as a bit of a project player. 13 needs to be ready to go IMO.

Bit of chatter that Hewitt could be the slider this draft. Looked a bonafide top 10 pick all year, but reports he could slide into the teens or early 20s. Does anyone have any insight as to why he's possibly sliding? Is it behavioural issues? Consistency? On my limited viewing and reading, he's got the physical assets to be the best player in the draft. His agility and composure are next level. He's like Pendlebury in the packs, dances through traffic, creates space, always makes good decisions, then bursts away to be a linking option. His agility, speed, power, skill and flexibility make him an intriguing prospect. I really hope he's an option for us at 13.

Probably the best highlights package I’ve seen from this draft crop. His agility and ability to create space and time for himself is very good. He’s got a good burst of pace and plays aggressively. Looks competent inside and outside, could start as a half forward flanker who hits the scoreboard and provides defensive pressure or link up. If he’s available at 13, he’d be a great get IMO. Only downside to drafting him is he’s from WA, so no idea if he’ll be a flight risk!

What are peoples thoughts on Keeler? Not in first round discussions at present, but he looks to have high potential as an athletic ruck/key forward. Floats nicely in the air, decent mark, looks quite agile for his size. Could develop nicely in a key forward/2nd ruckman role. Tied to Crows NGA if he lasts until pick 40, but that seems unlikely. Any chance he lasts until 37 and we take him?

Never got going this year compared to 2021, due to the knee injury. Even when returning the team, he clearly lacked fitness and confidence. He found less ball and wasn't as effective as a precision rebounding kicker. He may have struggle with a clearly defined role and balance of the backline when we had Brayshaw, Bowey, Hunt, Rivers, Hibberd down back. Still a very important player in our teams chances for another flag next season. We need him fit again. He's in the 5th-10th best and most important player bracket (behind Clarry, Trac, Gawn, May, Langdon, Kozzie).

I'd already consider Petty as "broken out", but he's the obvious one who could have an even bigger impact if he's tried up forward and is successful there. Otherwise he could be an AA level KPD on his current trajectory. The other I'd put forward is Rivers. His first two seasons were very good for a youngster, but he struggled with managing a knee injury and lacking preseason fitness in 2022. If he's fully fit and gets a full prison, he could very well have a big impact in defense next year. We need to replace Hibberd in the short term, and Rivers looks to have both the defensive and rebounding side to his game to be effective there. Love his booming kick too, which suits our game style transition forward with both Gawn and Grundy as tall marking targets on the wings in transition.

A few on here called this potential change for next season, hats off to them! Gawn and Grundy pairing could benefit from extra bench option.

Played some good footy this season, but also doesn't have a standout attribute IMO. Hunter will likely take the opposing wing to Langdon, which means Jordon likely needs to find another role. His best footy came as an inside mid, but we're stocked in that area, so he might need to reinvent himself as a half forward or half back. He's consistent and talented enough to make it long term, but he'd need to lock down a new role to do so.

WA kid, grown up Freo supporter. Father captained Freo and bailed from Vic to "go home to WA" when they were established in the 90s. If he makes it, he'll wind up at Freo regardless of which club drafts him. Nothing surer. Don't think we'll use pick 13 on him anyway, so we'll avoid the inevitable. Definitely has exciting attributes though. Bloody Freo lol

Second year blues for mine. He was decent at the start of the year but was deservedly dropped mid late season. He doesn’t really impact games at he moment, and I don’t think half back suits him due to his lack of size and foot speed. If he was quick then I’d say fine, but for a small player he’s not got good acceleration and relies on footy smarts to create space. He’s also not great defensively, hence why Hunt relaxed him. He played half forward and wing as a junior and excelled there. I’d like to see him trialed in the front half of the ground where he become more offensive and not worry as much about a direct opponent. He’s still very young and I think he’ll have a good career, but I’d hope he cements a spot and starts impacting games or he might get passed by others.

I actually don’t think Cripps is a great leader. He can lead through action, but he doesn’t appear a good organizer or motivator on field like a Luke Hodge for example. More that for a long time he was the only good player in a [censored] team, so carried a burden beyond him, similar to Nathan Jones.

The coaches have voted Oliver the best player in the league the past two years running. No other player has achieved that feat since Gary Ablett Jnr in the late 2000s. Cripps has never won this award. The coaches are more knowledgeable about the game than any media personality or umpire. They know what roles a player has been asked to perform and the true value of their effort, output and impact on the game. I trust their view above all others. Oliver is the best player in the league. It's scary he's somehow still got more improvement in his game. If he adds consistent goal scoring to his repertoire, he could reach the Ablett Jnr, Dusty, Judd levels and be considered one of the best players in the AFL this century. Cripps may have (wrongly) won the Brownlow medal, but he is an inferior player in basically every facet. He's also far less durable.

I apparently signed up early 2006. My god that’s a long time ago. My username was referring to the great Travis Johnstone. At the time Travis was my favorite player and was the most exciting demon going round. He had just had a few great years where he lead the league for inside 50s and score assists. His kicking was sublime and he was impacting games in a way I hadn’t seen before. I loved watching him stream down the wing of the G and blast laser passes through Neitz’s chest. He also stood up in big games, and was always amongst our best in finals matches. After decades of failure and no superstars, it felt like we finally had a superstar midfielder on our hands. History shows he didn’t reach those superstar heights we’d dreamed of, and it would take another 15 years until we had our superstar midfielders in Oliver and Petracca. I still love Travis though and feel he’s underrated by demon fans and football public in general. As for me, much like Travis’ form, my mood and posting is very up and down!

Battler. Pass.

Actually looks like the perfect target with pick 37! He's shown a lot and looks more likely than some other higher fancied tall forward names IMO.

Are his initials JK?

Get it done for peanuts Dees. Future 3rd is fine as we likely won't even use it at the draft next year with multiple early picks now. Then tie him to Jack Viney so he is held to the highest standards possible and gets the sh*t kicked out of him if he doesn't!

Fixed that for you. By the time his body is AFL ready in a few years our premiership window will likely be closed unless we can become Geelong/Richmond and just land endless quality trade requests to stay in the hunt.

Pick 27 for Grundy on paper is a great trade. Still hard to picture how him and Gawn will work together without diminishing each others strengths, but at least the club is being creative here and has replaced a ruckman in Jackson immediately. Worried how much his salary is going to cost us though!

This is stupid. Talk about milking it for all it's worth. Media discussion has been all day every day for weeks at this point. It's got more coverage than a [censored] war impacting the entire globe. It's shameful.

Remember this pick will become pick 15 after the two likely bids. Doubt Phillipou or Humphry will slide to 15, so we're likely to get scraps or someone like Jefferson here. We desperately need a KPF, but Jefferson seems the only one around this mark in phantom drafts, and he's less than 80kgs and looks years away from having a body ready for AFL. On the vision I've seen, he looks more a like a pick 40 project player than a first round elite talent. Hollands could be a best case scenario to give us more outside run and skill. Disappointing result to not get a higher pick, as we're losing elite talent and likely not replacing it with elite talent. Hopefully there's still more dealing to come and we get inside the top 10 and give ourself a better shot at replacing elite talent with elite talent. As suggested earlier in this thread, we may be better off trading this pick out for future 1st rounders in hope that we can access elite talent next year instead of average talent this year.

What the [censored] did I just watch?!

If we give up 13 for 16 I’ll spew

He’s not a demon anymore, so I look forward to Steven May belting the back of his head “spoiling” a few high balls next year. He’s already missing two front teeth, what’s a few more 😉