DeeSpencer

Connors Sports held a draft party, would've had jumpers and/or polos ready for every club. The man is a pro.

Essendon trading for Oliver would make sense.

True for a lot of players but mostly because they kick well enough and just make marginal improvements. Get someone who's technique is shoddy and you can break them down and start completely from fresh if you've got someone who can teach it and a player willing to work at it. We hired Choco for this exact reason.

Mostly at school boy level. No body contact and his opponents barely get off the ground. If he was a reliable mark he'd have gone a lot earlier. Looks to suit that wing style running in as the spare man to mark more than a back or forward competing to mark. A reload at the Tomlinson role with more speed and hopefully agility. Up to Choco to work on the skills and game sense.

Vic Metro Draft Combine: Running Vertical Leap – 71cm Speed (20m) – 3.06 seconds Endurance (2km) – 6:24 I love the skills and baulks. He's just not super quick and doesn't seem to have an explosive overhead game. So he'll be best used as a midfielder/high half forward than a crumbing speedy small. The quicker we get him on ball to get a different mix and some skill the better. He's more Shane Edwards/Higgins than Rioli/Bolton IMO. Should list him as a midfielder and develop him as such. The gamble is he didn't get to play midfield for the Chargers due to how strong they were last year and missing this year.

He played 1 practice game this year. One of our directors used to coach him. There wasn't any need to repeatedly interview him or let anyone know we were interested. It wasn't like it was just Holmes we were linked to either. Laurie and Bowey were both heavily linked to us. Jason Taylor even does a Melbourne media hit the night before the draft stating his desire for outside run and skills. Waterboarding might get it through your thick head. Melbourne = dumb club = lose a lot of games. Smart club = no leaks, run misdirection, sneaky, get their picks = win games. I'll be happy when we stop doing stupid things.

No speed. If you don't have speed clubs don't want you. Richmond have shown why. Of course we can only manage to find half quick little fellas but at least it's a step in the right direction.

They moved up right ahead of our pick!!!!! They knew exactly what pick they needed to get him. A week ago Geelong traded for pick 27. Why do you think they moved up again? Because the whole world knew what we were doing!

Unlike Melbourne to continue to not think at all. The draft is so vital. You have to guard your order like state secrets especially with a high upside bolter who fits a huge need. Once again we’ve made it so easy for the opposition.

That just narrows it down to the recruiting team.

From us!!! Who knew who Sydney were taking this year or last year?? No one!!!

No one was talking about Holmes until Twomey’s phantom and then Geelong trade in right in front of us. If we kept things close they wouldn’t have known

The academies And father son is how you win the draft now. They’ve had it so easy with McIness and Daicos next year

We don’t need 2 small forwards. We do need 2 good kicks. Plenty of other needs if we really wanted to patch holes in the 22

Someone needs to get fired for leaking the Holmes pick. Unless it was Mahoney and then he needs to be sued. Bad clubs leak. Good clubs don’t. That’s pretty much it. This shambles of a club can’t keep making unforced errors.

The best explanation is they aren't very smart. Or possibly it does give them more freedom to trade that pick. Secure the 2 you really want first

Doesn't count for stereotyping if you are one, so I'd say...I'm not surprised. A couple of factors from my own experience - very sheltered and privileged which sounds lovely but also creates a lot of pressure, I'm sure those who have grown up with less don't want to hear about the ultimate in first world problems but there's a lot to induce anxiety when you're expected to follow a certain path and not given a lot of freedom to find your own. The second is leverage. These guys have successful (by some definition) parents used to getting what they want especially when it comes to their kids futures. Why are they going to play by the AFL's rules if they don't have to?

I think in many ways it's best to respect the honesty and openness and he's far from the first to make his desires known to recruiters. I've seen 2 other draftees talk about their own wellbeing, it's a whole new world for kids out there these days in terms of mental health education. Whether it's science or pseudo science that they are being peddled I'm not so sure. The question I'd ask him is 'why' does he feel that way? Is it because of a girlfriend? Is it because he has a really close relationship with his family? Oli Florent was desperate to stay in Victoria because his father had passed away, the Swans drafted him anyway and worked with the family. Is it because he likes to muck around with his Brighton Grammar school mates and really he's unaware just how quickly he'll make new friends with 40+ team mates at a club? Or has he had mental health struggles in the past and is he aware of the value of his support system and not afraid to say so? The clubs will know more details and they'll be in a far better position to judge. The reality is the AFL have stuffed with the draft so much with all these academy selections and so on that it's hardly in a position to criticise a kid for being honest. About a third of this draft class gets to know exactly where they are going way before the draft, why should Archie suffer?

If we only take 3 picks tonight we will then have 2 cat A rookie spots (as well as the 1 cat B rookie spot). My guess is we'd take 1 player in the rookie draft and leave a spare spot. But we could just as easily leave both spots spare and fill one over summer and keep the other to fill in season. If I had to bet on it though I'd say we'd take 1 pick.

We’ve got room for 5 if we really wanted to, but every pick after 3 means we’re using a main list spot rather than a rookie spot. In effect we’d be spending 80k salary cap we don’t want to spend. The draft could fall a particular way that makes 4 picks too good to pass up. But 3 seems far more likely.

Bailey Smith claimed some kind of anxiety issue would prevent him playing interstate. The King brothers said buyer beware. Gold Coast overlooked Smith but took the chance on Ben King. The Suns gave him a whole stack of cash to stay but he did stay. Fair play to the kid, can’t blame him for being honest. Not sure it helps his cause tho. The only true way to guarantee you stay home is to not enter the draft

Don't think so Dazzle, almost certain Green was at MGS.

22. Carroll, 23. O'Driscoll. But they've also got Laurie lasting until 25 and I can't see us overlooking him.

Which is fine unless he’s leaking info or clashing with the coach. The reality is though if things go bad we’re stuffed anyway, so why not go for it!

I’m not sure he did all that much for the likes of Dusty. Maybe provided another sounding board as a mentor more than coaching. To me it’s this: “For me to look at people like Kane Lambert, Jason Castagna, Dan Butler and Ivan Soldo, I just smile.” Combined with the skills of the young Giants. They were so sharp with their hands and kicking (and attitude). Goody and the assistants can come up with a game plan. Skills is what Choco can train with the best of them. And skills are what separates the best teams.