DeeSpencer

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.

I think if we want this kid we need St Kilda to suddenly get some Smillie love at their picks so Richmond stick to plan A.

They've shown some interest in Werribee mature-aged small forward Jack Henderson, who dominated this season averaging 22 disposals and booting 15.3, and the same for Oakeligh midfielder Zane Cochrane, Bendigo forward Archer Day-Wicks and speedy small Mitch Kirkwood-Scott. The Demons are also expected to grab NGA prospect Ricky Mentha jnr, most likely as a category B rookie consideration, while they can match a bid on intercept defender Riak Andrew, younger brother of Gold Coast's Mac Anyone got any strong opinions here: Riak's got a thread, Mentha seems strong odds to be a Cat B. The other 4 seem an eclectic mix. Jack Henderson - 25 year old - half forward flanker/mid. Zane Cochrane 187cm Oakleigh mid, played good games when the Vic Metro guys weren't playing for Oakleigh. Played one VFL game for Collingwood. Archer Day-Wicks 186cm Bendigo forward/mid who didn't put the year together that he was hoping for. Looks a bit messy but he's aggressive powerful kid who might be something Mitch Kirkwood-Scott 178cm Sandringham/Haileybury half back with a booming kick

It’s less about team balance, there’s role players for that and more about can he be a star without pace? Many of the games very best mids are quick. The ones that aren’t have what Langford does - size. Marking, kicking, endurance, footy smarts, clean hands. There’s a lot to like.

He also pulled himself out of the Eagles side when he knew the game had gone by him, as well as axed his slow boys at Hawthorn to get more speed in their side. I think for the role he plays it’s not a huge issue but if by any chance he can gain a few yards of pace that would be lovely!

I’ve been a Langford fan for most of the year but now I just have a strange feeling that drafting a slow player with a top 6 pick in 2024 just isn’t all that sensible. Probably just anxiety. He ticks so many boxes but speed isn’t one of them. As for Allan, are we sure we aren’t drafting tagger with a top 11 pick…hmmm. He’s an absolute specimen so why doesn’t he get his hands on the ball or do as much as he should with it?