DeeSpencer

Wild post. Lindsay’s not particularly a pressure player. AMW hasn’t shown he’s afl standard yet. No mention of Chandler, Kolt and hopefully a healthy Spargo who are our pressure players as well as Windsor who’s a more brilliant chase down tackler. XL is here to provide run and ball use. I suspect it will be half back but it might be wing or forward. This is demons run and spread footy, not the 21 murder ball.

He struggled adjusting to the pace against men early but he hits 4 inside 50 targets in a row in the back half of the clip. Not his fault Samson Ryan can't mark and Sam Davidson drops a soda.

Except not really almost because he went pick 23 and our 28 is out to 32 and no one is trading down. North just gave up a future first to get pick 27. This is the deepest most evenly talented draft between 8 and about 30 that there ever has been, so it's not really a knock that a guy goes 23 over 11. Reports were something in the interviews didn't go well for Armstrong, or maybe some other part of the screening. On pure talent there's still a lot to work with. Richmond give him some cover by picking Faull who probably comes in and plays more early and zero expectations on them as a side. I fully expect if he develops well he'll be a very good player and it will come together pretty quickly too after a couple of preseasons.

The only thing we can trade is downgrading our future 2nd for someone else’s future 2nd, but even if we could, no. He’s a basketballer whose strength is racking up touches. But without the skills to really do a lot of with it or the elite movement of Luke Jackson. He’s very Stef Martin. Useful, but the not the kind of ruck I really value

FF: Toby G Lachie Keeffe Gothard HF: Thomas Cadman McMullin C: Angove Toby B D Jones R: Briggs Hannaford Daniels Heaven

My heroes.

It’s a wing/mid and CHF if they want it to be though. At AFL level Travaglia really profiles as a big midfielder and Lindsay a half back, despite them playing the opposite roles now.

In to 75 with a couple of bids to come. Go you good thing

Only very good players drafted so far and no one with a desperate need for key forwards outside Richmond. Faull’s more ready made which is important for Richmond, they could kill Armstrong by exposing him in a [censored] side. Be surprised if he doesn’t go soon but we’re seeing the crazy depth of the draft right now.

Hannaford my adopted draft son off to the land of the orange. Come back soon please.

PCL but a while ago now, should be fully recovered and if we took him this early he better be a good natural runner. I think half back suits him best no matter what and he should push Salem/Howes/Bowey for the half back ball users

Should’ve been eligible to us under the Great Uncle - Great nephew rule. AFL screwing us again

You rarely go broke picking high quality left footers. Don’t love the value when we potentially sold the farm for the pick, wish he was a little bigger, faster or more explosive but get him the ball and he should produce the goods

I’d have him 3rd in line for Werribee players, would surprise me

Cody Walker, son of Andrew and also in the Richmond nga. And Dougie Cochrane son of Stuart who is exploring his potential indigenous heritage and asking the afl to allow his son to be in the port nga (not with draft access but for training)

5 theories: 1. These things are cyclical, two of the highest rated kids for the next drafts are either indigenous or exploring indigenous heritage. 2. Private schools stopped recruiting indigenous kids in such big numbers due to covid or other factors. Scotch, MGS, Xavier, St Pats Ballarat all had numerous recruits, not sure they do now to the same extent. 3. The NGAs have backfired and disrupted existing pipelines in SA and WA especially where the bulk of indigenous talent has come from. Sanfl and wafl clubs all had their zones and people in the communities even if it was informal links. Rather than a rush to get guys in to the big smoke at a young age they’d come when they were ready. 4. the rise of academies and other elite talent factories at private schools, private coaching clinics, private S+C coaching has widened the void between junior talent and junior performance. Sam Lalor can just roll out of cricket and go number 1 but generally these kids are all trending towards Scully bots. More natural talent is left behind. 5. The city based, hyper professional, hyper scrutinised lifestyle of an afl player just doesn’t mesh with more and more people regardless of race including some (not all, not everyone) Indigenous players. Doesn’t mean there won’t be indigenous players who love it and are desperate for any chance but just like a Jaidyn Stephenson it’s not for everyone.

Yeah he's not great, he gets a bit scrubby at times but the one thing he does seem to do is make quality and quick decisions with the ball. I reckon most Melbourne forwards would rather take their chances with the footy bouncing in front of them but delivered quickly than mucked around and then sat on their heads.

I know everyone hates these for Jagga but now you get to hate it for Sid too. Good stuff in bold, critical errors in italics, neutral stuff for the rest. 0:00 excellent clean clearance at pace, kick is a bit of a mongrel and falls short in front of the defender 0:15 backwards handball 0:22 sprints backwards for 2 backwards handballs 0:41 dives on the ball, htb 0:52 gets a one two, gives it back again! You're the star mate, turn and kick it! 1:02 nothing handball 1:10 great spin and step, but up and under kick 1:29 boundary chip 1:40 great contest win, but handball gets knocked down 1:44 cracks back in, handball to no one! 1:55 ok kick from stoppage under pressure 2:05 short kick under no pressure bounces in front of opponent, helps clean up the mess by conceding a backwards kick to his full back 2:25 takes nice safe diagonal kick 3:00 moon ball kick down the line 3:09 off balance handball goes straight to the opposition 3:22 fast hands, nice 3:45 skips around a couple, picks out his brother with the aggressive loopy corridor kick. Result is nice, but still don't love the process 3:58 wins a nice clearance, kicks the ball wrong way and half way to the moon, bizzare 4:04 sneakily nice over the top handball 4:20 wins a clearance, isn't sure what to do with it, gives it backwards to someone under pressure He's playing seniors after missing a good chunk of the year with a bad stress injury. So you have to give him some credit for getting out there and having 20+ touches and a number of clearances. Plus he isn't afraid to crack in. But at the same time the best of his ball use was a couple of nice handballs and 1 kick that was anything other than a hack forward (which midfielders have to do at times) or a short chip kick. And it hung in the air in the corridor looking pretty risky too. Again, hard to know just how much he was impacted by the injury but I wanted to see his pace result in good things happening even if he's not lacing out kicks.

I’m not saying watch the full game, just watch a few of the footy stuff clips that compile most of a guys touches for a game and tally up (either by hand or just roughly in your head) the quality of his disposals. Draper had a couple of good sanfl games but also a lot where he struggled to get out of congestion or do a lot of damage.

Stop watching highlight videos, watch a full game clip and count the disposals that are good, ok and ugly.

To the the extent that we need a big bodied mid it’s to play in 3+ years time. Langford and Allan aren’t playing significant midfield time round 1 if Oliver, Tracc, Viney, Rivers are up and going.

Doesn't mean all that much be he said 'Duursma last year' indicating it was probably Zane. Although every chance with such a successful family it was probably a family affair.

There's been a drastic improvement since the players came back to training this year. The board review announced a member engagement committee. It's abundantly clear that the club are going to invest more resources in this area.

Kicking is the one thing he does well!

He’ll likely start and perhaps finish at half back, kicking and run are his strengths. Hopefully he’s got enough speed and overhead to get by on a flank and of course midfield upside.