DeeSpencer

I can only justify passing on a mid at 5 if they think Tauru is a cut above the mids AND they think the selection of top bracket mids stretches to 9 - which is possible if you think Smillie, Travaglia, Allan, Reid etc are on the same level as the top guys.

The afl probably shouldn’t pay for Cal to fully ruin the draft. Honestly he should get a few in the top 10 and more in the top 30 wrong just to make it more interesting! That said, I’ll read every bit of it and I’m happy for any classic demonland mail!

But for every argument about our declining midfield depth and future doubts on current guys I think you can make the exact same argument for our talls. BBB gone, May, Max, McDonald not much left. Even Lever not a consistent force any more. The top line midfielders available at 5 are seen as very high level prospects. Personally I think the reason no one can decide who goes 2 and who goes 6 is because they’re all good without being great. The second tier mids are obviously considered by consensus another level lower. At some stage if they aren’t rated all that highly and one of the talls are then we should go the better rated tall. Even more so if we can get a sneaky trade back too. I believe the club are super high on Rivers. Add in Windsor and pick 5 that’s the basis of the next wave of mids. Plus Kolt. Depth is iffy right now but rebuilding midfield depth isn’t as difficult as finding stars.

He’s clean at times but there’s a lot of two grabbing or the ball going off his hands. If he was an exceptional mark to go with his rare athleticism for a tall and straight set shot kicking he’d be a sure thing top 5 pick. Lloyd is pumping up his guy, not really an unbiased opinion.

I'd like to know just how people can see the fitness of Clarrie in photos. He's always had that pale complexion and solid build that never photographs well. I'm glad to see some strength back in his legs. If you look across the group there's clearly a focus on building muscle for power and speed over the offseason

The article that starts with North working on a trade to take Tauru at 4. I’d be shocked if North don’t take their man.

All along I’ve been team Langford but FOS is one that makes you consider the options. Great athlete. Lovely sidestep. Exceptional mark for his height. Booming kick. The knocks are he just hasn’t had a chance to demonstrate his inside ball winning consistently and his ball use runs hot and cold too. He’s a great fit as a half forward, wing, inside-out mid but whether that’s enough to overlook Langford’s combination of size and class I’m not sure.

Spot on. I reckon North have played this beautifully if they get an F2 out of Adelaide and pick him at 4.

Might want to look to who the Saints recruiting manager is (it’s not Sos)

Second cousin too! First cousin is a stretch, second is just silly Vossy is a contest first coach, I reckon Draper is a real chance

No it didn’t, just got to get to the 3rd image. We’ve never talked much about father sons and academy players pre draft, not sure the club is well served by coming out and announcing they don’t rate a player

Love the outside the box thinking, but teams aren’t giving up the chance to develop players in a full time environment. Especially when the best alternative for him to get proper development would be at the Suns VFL program. It’s not like he’s a Victorian who could be hooked in to Port Melbourne. Maybe he could train at pokies FC but in reality the kid will be keen to start his professional career, just has a choice to make where. We should offer flexibility to go home through the season and other ways to keep the family engaged/ happy tho. So I don’t mind outside the box, just not sure you’ve nailed it yet.

Northern state academies are open to anyone not based on ethnicity like NGA.

I wouldn’t be sure of that. Lalor is still the pick 1 favourite but Cal sounds nervous. The North and Adelaide pick swap seems genuinely possible. And Draper to Carlton has momentum too. Every chance Cal’s phantom looks like this. 1. FOS (Rich) 2. Lalor (Adel) or Draper 3. Draper (Carl) or Lalor/Langford/Smith 4. Tauru (North).

It wasn’t so much a negative a realistic good outcome if he doesn’t play routinely in the midfield. Comparing any draft pick to a high level (fringe All Aus even) player is positive. I just imagine they’ll want to use a pick that high on a genuine prime mover and/or a forward who wins contests as well as creates for others. If they pick Reid I can already picture Jase Taylor in his straight forward style saying he’ll start forward but he’s a midfielder. And I expect the footy department want Spargo back to his best, think Kolt grows in this area and wants to use Chandler’s kicking more too.

He reminds me of early half forward Sidebottom but doesn’t have the same overhead ability which has always been a crucial bonus factor in Steele’s game no matter what position he plays but has helped him excel on the wing even with no pace. Plus Sidebottom has elite endurance. I also feel like Sidebottom would’ve played a lot more of his career as a permanent mid if not for Pendles, but it was better to have Pendles inside and Sidey outside for team balance.

Jagga over Lalor at 4/5. Tauru over Smillie at 8/9. Hmmm what could be the reasons for those changes - both joined gettable as guests in the last 2 episodes! Bo Allan over TT at 11/12. Combine hangover? Joe Berry up 3 (Freo keen at 14?). Jack Whitlock up a couple (Rich, Port keen). Trainor slides a couple more. Dattoli up (Rich, Syd interest). Gross slides 3 spots at the back (he’s a 35+ prospect IMO).

I’ve often thought the same and as everyone knows I’m not a huge Jagga fan but he does have a fraction more pace and maybe more importantly more of a strength to win the footy and escape in tight without getting pushed around. With a decent amount of confidence you can say he’ll be a pretty solid midfielder. I love Reid’s hands and his vision, they are special attributes. But if he doesn’t flash the natural strength and physicality to play as a mid he’s a one paced small forward. It all becomes a bit Gyran like. Mind you, if you said the following percentages are how his career players out: 20% Bill Laurie, 40% Gryan, 20% Josh Daicos and 20% Sam Mitchell how high would you take him?

just a different link for anyone interested Cal actually says very little on the draft prospects. Saving it for tomorrow

Despite being very underdone and down on confidence especially early in the year Petty was 11th in the league for contested marks. Im not against the idea of a key forward because Petty probably goes back long term but the big thing we need is to stop relying on contested marks on the wing for ball movement. Long kicks to packs down the line means you’ve failed in your ball movement. We have to study the way Brisbane spread their forwards out, move the ball in different ways and kick to isolate forward on the lead or one on one.

Wonder if we can match a bid in the 3rd round with pick 70 whatever (currently has no points) or by going in to deficit (when we have Brisbane’s 3rd rounder next year anyway). I suspect rookie list is the goal but assuming he gets through to the 3rd round we might snap him up.

Again, that doesn’t specify anything about cat B’s staying as cat B. I suggest you’re right but it’s not unreasonable to think there’s still a 3 year limit on cat B after which they transfer to cat A for up to 2 more years. We’ll soon find out.

The Age seemed to think he had to slide across to the Cat A list. Not sure the AFL ever publicly clarified if players can stay as Cat B rookies for longer than 3 years. The 5 years might be for the overall rookie list. Either way, we'll have 3 main list spots. Judd McVee will be upgraded to the primary list, and Andy Moniz-Wakefield can no longer be a category B rookie.

Yes we are. That was known. Main list still at 33 with 3 spots. Our 6 man A Rookie list is full, hence Melk getting re-promoted: Hore, AMW, Sestan, Verrall, Brown, Kentfield. Cat B Rookie list is empty.

6 Brisbane for 2 picks. +4 3 Gold Coast for 1 pick. +2 7 Essendon picks. Not sure what they'll do with them but assume at least 2 go for Kako. +1. 5 Carlton picks post 38 that probably go on 3 players. +2 there St Kilda have some pick shuffling to do to get in position to match their academy players No doubt a few clubs pass and go with rookies/train on instead once it gets right to the back. Probably ends up around 60-70. Cal says somewhere between 63-72 picks and ours will be somewhere between the 5th and 10th last.