DeeSpencer

Cal’s had Caddy and Curtin to us but I don’t think either have been definitive, both seem to be based on his order. He’s been stronger on the top 5 than any link to us. The link to Leake comes from the HS. He’s been strong on Windsor as a top 10/top 12 pick. Which means us, GWS, Geel, Adel or Ess. That surprises me a bit.

The only one that matters in the Twombstone seems confident on 1. Reid, 2/3. McKercher/Duursma, 4. Watson. 5. Sanders With talk that Curtin might fall further than that. Perhaps: 6. Melb. Leake 7. GWS. Caddy 8. Geel (?trade) Curtin 9. Ess. Wilson 10. Adel. O’Sullivan 11 Melb ??? Plenty to play out but Twomey usually gets it right at the top

If this is to be believed https://www.wafootball.com.au/news/24511/state-combine-duo-impress-afl-recruiters Then Van Twoyen ran a way quicker agility time than anyone at the national combine and one of the fastest times in draft history. If that’s the case I think we’d be really keen on him. We’ve often valued guys with good agility.

It’s certainly a win for the President and CEO as well as all the admin who work across The men finishing 4th with a strong percentage gave the women a great platform to top it off. Hopefully it creates a stronger bond between the two playing groups as they can work together for success. Over 5k per bonus per bloke, 8k odd for the girls based on list size of 31, not bad going.

And deal that doesn’t get North 1 doesn’t get them Reid. North have had a stack of picks and young talent, they’re in the perfect position to really go hard for pick 1. And so far it seems the Eagles won’t accept 2 and the late picks, they might not accept 2 and 8. Dealing with Melb and North simultaneously is how the Eagles get three picks inside 11.

Trademark inexcusable mistake from Birch and then Wilson beat dead in the foot race.

‘What’s the motivation to play today’ asks the commentator of the assistant coach of the team currently in 8th, [censored] me

If there was ever a good shot for goal that ended up a point that one from Galway Gall was one. Most AFLW players wouldn’t get near the distance kicking in to the breeze from there. She looks a talent

Might’ve been Mackie just talking for talks sake but the Cats pick has been fairly consistently linked as been open for a trade down. Cats pick 8 will be 10+ come draft night, they may well rate 2 bites at the next range of talent over 1 player already outside the top range. The Dees were very keen to move to 11 but I’m struggling to see just who’s available there who’s a clear standout over the next few aside from potentially getting more tall options still on the board. The 10-20 range all look talented but far from a sure thing to me before a further drop off from 20+

Melbourne to North: 6 + 11 for 2 North to Geelong: 15, 17 for 8 North to WC: 3, 8, 11 for 1 North turn 2, 3, 15, 17 in to 1 and 6. Maybe a future 2nd from Eagles to Geelong for a later cats pick? I’m sure they’d be 100 other picks involved.

You need the salary cap space and the players wanting to join to get Rankine and Dawson, purely on picks it’s not nearly as good a deal, especially when they asked for a North second rounder back as well which would’ve cancelled the Dawson pick. If we could swap 11 and a future first (providing we play finals which is far from a guarantee) for eagles 2nd or even 3rd rounders suddenly we aren’t giving up nearly as much in that part of the trade. If 11 and a future first got us some high profile trades in then I’d say let’s use them for mature star players, but we just had our 3rd trade period without bringing in any quality so we are either cash strapped and/or far from a destination club. Looking at our list build our best pathway to bringing in stars is the draft and particularly the top 5 or so picks.

He can seriously mark a footy and kick it too and he seems to have got stronger and more athletic as the year went on. I’m not surprised to see him in top 10 contention

I’m almost certainly wrong because those 2 are very solid prospects but am I completely crazy to like a 3rd Bushranger as much if not more? He’s not nearly as proven or well rounded but give me Phoenix.

Not a surprise, strikes me as a JT type of player, he’s been my preferred option at 11 for a while but might to be picked at 6 if we want him.

If I’m west coast and I rate Curtin as either the 2nd best player or the best option for them I’m trading; pick 1 to the Roos FOR 2 and ideally North’s future first (or another first) and a late first trading pick 2 with Melbourne FOR 6 and 11 or 6 and a future first. That way they end up with 6 and 3 other firsts. Not sure a team has ever traded anything for 4 first round picks. And if it includes Norths future first and pick 11 from us then it’s a good collection of them too, not just later ones

Watson to the Hawks at 4, Sanders to the Dogs at 5 is the early mail, which makes it Curtin the only one standing from the so called top 6 (non-academy). But I always stress at this stage of the process the narratives about sliders and bolters are always nonsense, it's a small sample size of both media and games for these kids. Cal Twomey and the Rookie Me guys are about the only ones who are seriously studying the draft and clubs are tight lipped about their orders. Most of the other journos just repeat the same stuff. For all we know Curtin might have been overvalued the whole time, Caddy might be undervalued and there could be a stack of other names in the 6-11 range I remember Twomey never had Jackson near his top 3 and was surprised by it when he learned of Melbourne's intentions and then after the draft a number of clubs confirmed they had him very highly rated too.

Trent Williams was a huge loss for the Niners. He gives them a lot in the run game, but also provides Purdy and Kyle confidence in the pass game that the backside is locked down. So I wasn't totally shocked to see the Niners offense struggling. My guess is they kind of have some up and down weeks for the next stretch of the season whilst they contemplate how much they can ask of Purdy in the playoffs. The Vikings offense surprised me, but Kevin O'Connell knows the Niners D from his time at the Rams and is a good coach, so I guess it shouldn't have been a total shock that they had some chances. The big surprise was Kirk didn't go full prime time Kirk and was making plays late in the game.

He makes sense for both clubs but I wouldn’t be surprised if Freo don’t try to trade either Collingwood or Port’s future first round pick to North for 17 or 18. Doesn’t make a lot of sense for North to have 5 picks in the same draft and Freo will be desperate to get a first rounder in rather than wait for 3 next year.

I wouldn’t be sure of that, we’ve still only moved 7 players out and bought 3 in. 2 picks and 2 rookies is just as likely, with the flexibility to take Kynan Brown in either draft. Id be pretty surprised if we used 42 straight up. If it doesn’t go in an earlier deal I’d expect it to either be traded out for future picks or possibly a trade up for a slider

I think you’re underselling Caddy’s athleticism, his agility is great and his pace is good given he’ll have a powerful frame and won’t be matching it with skinny back flankers. His kicking penetration looks fine to me too, but he’d be in for a fair amount of work with Choc Williams to get consistency. Would be nice if he was a little taller or a little cleaner with the ball but to me it comes down to how sticky his hands are. If the belief is he’ll hold a good share of his marks then I’m fully on board.

Towards the middle of the year we were using the rucks less and less in the forward line but the reality was we then had a pretty youthful JVR and were short on rotations. Given Gawn could do 90% we didn’t need the 2nd ruck. Playing 2 rucks who mostly sit on the bench is fine. Pies did it in finals, but you need key forwards who can do the game time. Women’s game has more on the bench so you can get away with it. Plus Zanker, Bannan and Hore could handle the forward line too. GC is great fun but I’m still not sure she’s in the best team once Harris is back barring other absences.

I assumed he was Indigenous but a search says his eligible as his mother is from East Timor

They effectively used one on Fisher and Stephens which isn’t unreasonable, they then spun the other 2 in to picks 17 and 18, which shows how silly the AFL were because there’s just no need to give a team with picks 2, 3 and 15 those 2 picks. And my guess is barring a Reid trade they’ll be very likely to trade 17 or 18 back a year for either a future first or a pair of seconds because there’s no reason to draft a 5th player in the first round. Effectively banking the priority pick by moving it up and then back.

I disagree, the biggest mistake would be abandoning best available for an inferior player. Whilst we do need some young midfielders on the list there’s other options to get them this year and in the next few years. When we drafted Oliver we were loaded with mids and taking Clarry pretty much ended Tyson’s career and impacted on Gus and Tracc’s midfield time at various stages, but of course it was worth it. Meanwhile going for need for Weid because he was theoretically a great fit with Hogan ended badly.

Has another year of eligible as a cat B rookie so I doubt this makes any difference. Expecting them to make a decision on him soon though