DeeSpencer

Good athlete and great competitor but his decision making and skills seem iffy. Think he projects better as a mid (as does Riv for that matter).

Even if we don’t think Tracc and Clarry are great long term prospects (neither is Kossie or Viney for that matter) I suspect they’ll only go 1 big bodied mid at most because Rivers and Kolt are the best long term mids on the list and we need to compliment that too. But it’s still JT and Melb so I imagine correctly so the default will be to favour bigger, stronger ball winners. But I wouldn’t bet on Smillie if we get Langford. If we get Langford the next pick will be all about pace, skill and a ball movement player (forward, mid or back).

Essendon somehow don’t have any picks after 31, I’d hope they’d chuck us a bunch of 50’s and 60’s to send to Brisbane for 32/34. Maybe they chuck us some F3’s and F4’s that we can bring forward and on send

I think they love Tauru and everyone knows it. They also know Richmond and Adelaide are highly unlikely to grab him, and the Eagles probably can’t leave Harley Reid one out in the midfield either. I’d do 5 and 9 for 2 and North’s future first (if that can get us back in at pick 12-14).

Best available always the way to go but both of those lads might be 3 years away, I suspect one or both picks will be runners ready to play early and help transform the game plan. Langford or FOS would be nice results for pick 5. Hynes, Travaglia, Berry, Lindsay at pick 9. A combination of midfield and flanker run and skills would help us play the way we all want us to play.

Assuming the top 8 are gone: Lalor, Langford, FOS, Smith, Draper, Armstrong, Tauru, Smillie. Talls: Trainor, Shanahan, Faull, Whitlock x2, Sims Med/Smalls: Hynes, Berry, Reid, Lindsay, Travaglia, Allen, Hotton, Dattoli Positions us just one pick away from one of the top guys getting though. Could potentially do a live trade back if someone wants one of them bad enough.

Bad things happen when this side abandons the fundamentals to try miracle pieces of play

Lily Mithen you are now on the hate list

She’s dead scared of winning a hard ball and - whilst it might be fitness related - she’s slow. You take a small forward at the top of the draft it’s not unreasonable to want them to have some wheels

Mucking around with it because they’ve lost faith in hitting tall targets inside 50. Come on girls, pick a target out, put some air in the kick, it’s not too hard

These holding the ball decisions are yuck.

Pisano

The meatball has been a disappointment so far. Hopefully it clicks for her soon

Dees getting an exceptional run with the umps for once! Huge quarter for Zanks, Banno and Gall to go big

Is there any evidence they want him as a forward? He was out of contract last year and we didn’t get him. Maybe his defensive form is the interest?

I think some of what Richo was referring to was how young our side got at the end of the season. Young flankers, trying new guys on ball, really inexperienced tall forwards. ANB is the only best 22 player we’ve lost since the end of the year. Our best backline is still experienced and the young flankers have more seasoning. Tracc back in hopefully does a lot for the midfield/forward line. Spargo and Sharp hopefully cover some of what we lose from ANB. Maybe add a delisted free agent too. And it’s at least another year for our young key forwards. Plus perhaps we can still get Derksen. Can we get something from McAdam and even Fullarton? The side should have a nice smattering of youth including at least 1 kid taken high this year but ideally doesn’t reach the levels of youth we hit late in the season.

Mentha is in our Next Generation Academy, just as AMW was. NGA players can have bids matched at any stage of the draft, but if they go undrafted in the main draft they are also eligible to become Cat B rookies to increase NGA players on a list (Cat B is for international, NGA, other sports). Andy was a multicultural player from a Darwin zone we had. Ricky would be the first player taken from our Alice NGA zone. Not sure if AMW gets elevated to a main list or stays cat B. I think our plan is for Mentha and/or an Irish lad to be added as additional cat B rookies in 2025.

Sid has the most advanced stoppage craft of any non Ashcroft player in this draft, he looks really good getting in and out and through traffic. He looks like a right footed Zach Merrett when he’s up and running. He’s balanced, quick, attacking. But his ball use struggled at SANFL level in amongst the bigger bodies and in less space. Whether that’s something that will fix with time or not will be a big question for recruiters. I suspect North won’t muck around and will grab Tauru with pick 2. Elite intercept markers are just too valuable and they need one. Smilie’s one of the trickier players to rate, he does some stuff that looks like pick 1 but he needs a lot of development. Tom Green fell way too far in his draft, teams might be repeating the mistake if Smillie falls too.

Nothing says serious football club like handing out token debuts to kids who haven't earnt them.

If Carlton can get 12 to the Saints pick 8 using a combination of late picks and players (which won’t be easy as they have no middle round picks and no high quality players on the market) they could potentially do 8 and 14 for 3. The Eagles might consider that if it nets them Draper (rumoured Eagles target) and Liam Baker. Realistically I doubt it happens. They’d probably need a FOS slide to get him in range where 12 and 14 for the Saints pick 7. And even then I’m not sure the Saints are giving up quality for quantity.

Assuming the top 8 are gone: Lalor, Langford, FOS, Smith, Draper, Armstrong, Tauru, Smillie. Plus exclude academy and Ashcroft. Talls: Trainor, Shanahan, Faull, Whitlock x2, Sims Med/Smalls: Hynes, Berry, Reid, Lindsay, Travaglia, Allen, Hotton, Dattoli We’d get at worst the 5th best guy from those guys. No doubt a good player, but I think you want someone who’s got special upside and falls or is a hidden gem. Is it Hines? Is it a gamble of Hotton?

Neal Bullen and what could be a top 5 pick for what probably ends up at 16. Its a heck of a gamble. Effectively asking JT to really out draft his rivals. I know the recruiters love this draft but personally I’m not seeing where the talent is off the charts at 16? Better talls in that stretch than a lot of years but otherwise?

I don’t think they’re going to have a live pick in the draft. Match Lombard and that’s it. Even still, paying with peanuts and trading back in is a better option.

You’d be hard pressed to find a less important opinion on the draft https://www.sportingnews.com/au/author/kieran-francis

You don’t match a bid for Lombard with a premium pick of 19, you do it with junk in the 30’s and 40’s. If they took the Swans deal they’d probably trade both those picks in different deals.