Little Goffy

I think the impact on pick numbers might be a bit of a red herring when planning trade/positioning tactics. There are five players considered first round picks who are not actually available. They won't be available if you have pick 3 and they won't be available if you have pick 33. Quite possible that North would have loved to go Walter & Read for 2 and 3 and get their tall stocks under control. It does fairly represent the impact of the idiotic Gold Coast massive talent subsidy scheme, though. Feels a bit like the French government paying farmers to burn their crops.

Yeah, surely Shane McAdam is at most a 'nice to have' type and far from being essential. With 2024 the 'deep for Victorian midfielders' draft we'd be better off hanging onto the pick. Just doing a quick mental check, McAdam would be competing for a spot with; Neal-Bullen, Hunter, Spargo, Chandler, Sparrow, Pickett, Woewodin, Laurie and even the rookies Howes, Moniz-Wakefield and Sestan. Petracca counts, as will Melksham when he comes back in, and I'd even say Joel Smith though the type is a bit different. Throw in the likelihood that one of the our early draft targets will be something like McKercher, Duursma, Watson, Wilson or even Tholstrup.

I agree completely with the general point, but in this case aren't we talking about Wudinna? Where the Petty family make up 2% of the population! If a player could be paid 200k more, and also move closer to home, and to a city they feel more comfortable in, it would be mentally unhinged not to do so. If that's the situation, then every additional day Petty stays with us is a beautiful gift that we should appreciate as Petty putting the club before himself. And some people are questioning his grasp of loyalty. Gross.

If successful, you gain a skill increase in lockpicking and 'Congratulations, your nose is now open'. If your skill is too low, then there is a risk every time that you will give yourself a cerebral hemorrhage. Make of it what you will.

The interest in him keeps bubbling along. Personally I don't feel like he's that much of a special or game-changing player but it is always possible I have no idea what I'm talking about. If he is just another elite small forward, I'm not interested. But if he has the tank and traffic sense to run through the midfield and be really creative there, he could make a difference to our game from a very early point in his career. Basically I'm asking; is Nick Watson the new Brent Harvey?

You'd need to call Heisenberg. Draft night is the wavefunction collapse.

You're joking, right? Or is this Poe's law in full action?

From the AFL website's article on the Suns trading down of pick 4. After the Bulldogs got 4, there was a frenzy... "It started with the Demons, who shifted picks No.14, 27 and 35 to get to pick No.11. It continued with the Crows, who gave up picks No.23 and 26 to get pick No.14 and defender Chris Burgess from the Suns." Interesting comparisons of values; 14, 27 and 35 were worth 11. 14+27+35 = 11 23 and 26 were worth 14 and Burgess - a steak knives at best depth player. 23+26=14 So, if you compress the equations in this draft; 23+26+27+35 = 11 Meanwhile, pick number 4 was deemed worth three mid-late first round picks; 11, 18 and a future first. We've already worked out that 11 alone is worth four second round picks, with three of them right at the start of the second round. A low-ball estimate would be that recruiters consider a single top-5 pick to be worth as much as seven or eight second round picks.

Good job IT Dept! (It is just nice to have a chance to say that)

Is there where we put the Nick Haynes Pick 7 Salary Dump conversation?

We give six and 11 for North's 3 and 18. North give 2 and 15 (and probably more) for West Coast's 1. North take Reid at 1 and still have 6 and 11 to play with at the premium end. West Coast gets their boy Curtin at 2 and have at least an additional first round pick for their trouble. We get [Taylor's secret herbs and spices] at 3 and [Taylor's pulled beef slider] at 18. Rationale is that North have late first round picks coming out the ears and no real need for them, but 6 and 11 are pointy enough to matter to them. West Coast have to rebuild a list and want those extra late-first round picks, but also would want to be sure of getting Curtin, making 2 necessary for them. Meanwhile we always have our eye on some gun at the top of the table and have a record of drafting high-low rather than a spread. Yeah, I know, just playing a game of 'nearest the pin' here.

And at the other end of the pole, pick 40 could drop well into the 30s given the vast collections of picks which are going to be cashed for points. Gold Coast currently have four second round picks and pick 18, which will likely all be cashed. Bulldogs will probably set themselves with two late second-rounders to build points for Ashcroft. Hawthorn may well upgrade a second pick into the late 30s to be ready to get Will McCabe. Plus, Kynan Brown might get bid on in the second round, in which case, well, bugger it, why burn the second-rounder we had anyway when a couple in the 40s will do? Still, seems a lot to pay to go from 14 to 11.

Remarkable that we got more for Grundy than Collingwood got for Taylor Adams. Starting to think that AFL clubs don't measure their trades in standarised currency!

Well, in the end we turned pick 27, 2022 into Pick 47, 2023 and [second round pick] 2024. Is it too early to start a "Death Riding the Sydney Swans" thread?

On the face of it, 14, 27 and 35 for 11 looks just plain silly. Trying to rationalise it, some possibilities; - We've got no real interest in the available draftees from the second round and we're happy to catch sliders with our selections from 40 on. - We have a very specific interest in one or more players who will be available at 11 but not 14. - We have a very, very specific interest in something that can get done that needed 11, with a club that had no interest in second round picks.

Goes to the Bulldogs and instantly lifts their tattoo game by four ladder spots. Really happy for him to have secured an extra two years on his contract. He'll always be welcome back, that much is certain.

Can we please find a way to turn him into a restricted free agent? We'd get consecutive pick 1s if McKay is anything to judge by.

Not sure he ever delivered two consecutive AFL-standard games, and there have been murmurs about his attitude for years. Part of the reason Carlton spent a decade out of finals. No thanks.

This is not only a rort for North, it is also a rort for Essendon who the AFL have helped out by allowing them to offer McKay a package which North would have matched if the FA compensation had been appropriate. Which also illustrates; does anyone in their right mind thing Essendon would have traded a top-3 pick to get McKay? Or even their current top 8? So now not only has every club had its second round and later picks moved back two places (North's compensation pick AND the 'future' compensation pick North got which has since traded its way to Port) but now also everyone's first round pick has been bumped back one slot. I mean, can we all at least have the 150 draft points as compensation, to use next time a F/S etc comes up? F'ing ridiculous. Such bad governance. This is 'rule by decree' stuff.

I was irked and began looking back over premiership teams which had topped up from the draft just prior. A couple of obvious winners were Cyril Rioli and Joel Selwood. Then I realised; Jackson, Rivers, Pickett + Bowey. Except for out tragically wounded forward line we aren't too bad for depth and I'd suggest any mature top-4 team which had a pick roughly every eight selections up to pick forty (5, 13, 26, 34, 40) would be and should be laughing. I don't think there's ever been a top-4 side with a draft hand that strong.

Well, now, if Darcy decides he'd like to come to Melbourne I'd be willing to offer a pretty good four-year contract.

Okay Adem, we see you!

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1051386/western-bulldogs-secure-pick-no4-from-gold-coast-suns-in-first-trade The Suns will now listen to offers for pick No.10 – with Adelaide and Melbourne both interested in the selection – as they look to accrue more points to match bids

If McAdam is a spare Neal-Bullen and Duursma is a spare Hunter... Well, actually, I don't know how I feel about either! I have been thinking that Hunter going closer to goals would mitigate the downside and get the most of his debatable habit of looking for trick-shot ways to keep the ball moving. Close to goal a bit of unpredictability and keeping the ball alive is more useful, and the damage from turnovers and counter-attacks is less instant compared to wing turnovers which should have been stoppages. Duursma is at least young and has shown good signs prior to a string of injury interruptions. - insert your fresh start and clean run at it cliches here - Of course, one thing we all know is that if he goes to Essendon he'll never make any progress. Is it our responsibility to save him?

10 and 17 are of interest if Gold Coast had them from the Dogs for 4. Same basic scenario, though not quite such a premium pick. Would a future first and a collection of our points-effective second-rounders do the job?