Dee-licious

He has had his one obligatory year of performing better than the AA squad, so now they will take notice in 2022. I have no doubt he will be in the AA squad next year and hopefully cement his position in it for the better part of a decade. Cameron, Papley and Greene were the only smalls to kick more goals that him this year, and they all play one-out in the goal square at different times (and are 5-8 years older than him). It just feels like Kozzie has the world in front of him and wants to be a great. I love Weightman and Serong looks like a gun player, but Taylor essentially bucking all the form guides and saying "this is our man" was incredible. Just as good as the pick 3 on Jackson. Damien Barrett asking Twoomey if there was 'group think' now in recruiting and Twoomey tended to agree. Feels like Taylor is the only one who hasn't got that message. Everyone else: "Weightman is the no. 1 small in the draft" Taylor: "nah - this kid that the media has ranked in the 50s is". Kozzie: "Cody, hold my beer".

Absolutely miffed. From what Taylor has said, he let the AFL know exactly what he thought about it, especially considering the amount of work we put in for Andrew compared to the Dogs with JUH. Last year's draft was an absolute nightmare so they had to do something, but the ones that are committing daylight robbery this year are the Saints. 2 NGAs who are ranked 20-25 and will get them both this year, but if it was 2022, no chance as the rule changes to the top 40. But full credit to Andrew, in every interview he talks about the development and opportunities given to him by Melbourne and wouldn't be here without us. He might cost too much draft capital to bring him back to the Dees later in his career, but glad he has had such a good time with us.

Best game I saw Tomlinson play was on a wing at Casey in 2019 or 20 in the preseason. It was against Adelaide and he just dominated. It’s never translated to the regular season but there is some talent there. that said I think it’s more likely he is competing for the Hunt/Hibbo/Smith spot as a lockdown small defender.

You are not wrong, and he is older than most of our core. I’m thinking about the next few years and what we look to do to have a sustained run. Maybe Polec pushes Baker and Rosman to either be the man to push Gus back into the guts or see their chance slip away. im still hopeful we draft a winger, but there is a good one right in front of us so why not take the punt.

Yep - Richmond will be one, Brissy the other, GWS, and of course the Dogs are going to be better again with another year into their forward line. The other two I'd mention are St Kilda and Carlton. They'd be ones who might ride a wave of belief from what we did this year and with an easy draw, find themselves in a good position. In saying that, I think our injuries are the only thing getting in our way, but there are probably 13 clubs who are aiming for the 8 this year.

Polec has been delisted from North with a promise to re-rookie him. So his wage which was an issue has now disappeared (i.e., paid out by North). I wonder if it is worth having another chat to him about coming across.... https://www.afl.com.au/news/686206/roo-d-shock-north-explains-why-its-delisted-high-priced-recruit

I was intrigued by this as well. I wonder if someone like a Sinn, Chesser, Goater, are the ones that they are looking at and thinking that they will go a little earlier than our pick. Or that someone like Knevitt or Williams goes a little higher than 37. All guess work at the moment. Taj seems to not be in the top 40 discussion, so that means the matching points are basically ziltch and we can afford to go into arrears in our future 3rd or 4th. AMZ seems to not be in any conversation, so could be he slides through to a Cat B. We might also to "train-on" 3-4 guys and have the 2 list spots available for them. Might work really well this year if there are a handful of guys that we think could make it, but had no exposed form.

Would love Sinn if he makes it down there. I still think that Wilmot is the guy we take unless someone drops. Wilmot is a Taylor and Goodwin player through and through

I don't think you are wrong with the selections. Since the "go home 5", interstate clubs picking Vic Metro kids with first round picks has become a real exception and when you did deeper into who (e.g., Rowell and Anderson) you can see patterns emerge, or the kid is very well adjusted, or they boarded and played for Metro. More often, it has been kids from their own state or Vic Country or when it has happened they picked a Metro kid, they are not at the club anymore. I looked back at the last 10 years of drafting the other day and you could really see that pattern emerge. We talk about it being a national competition. But I promise you that Jason Taylor and his Victorian colleagues aren't thinking about the go home factor anywhere near as much as their counterparts in WA and QLD. I wouldn't be surprised for Freo to pick Erasmum and Amiss with their picks, Wanganeen-Milera is shooting up the draft boards, maybe Adelaide will trade down a little and ensure he ends up still in SA. Johnson looks a good prospect for WC. Draper great for PA if he gets through. And I'd be putting money on Brisbane taking two Vic Country kids, although you've got them taking team mates Sinn and Chesser which is a good strategy as well.

That’s correct. They weren’t in the market for a key defender that late, but they said it was a gift too good to refuse.

It’s more this is how big the drop off is after the top 2. If we had 1 and were offered 3 and 4 id still want us to say no. Yes, he is that good.

Have a look at his highlight video on afl.com.au. It will make you both really sad that we don’t get him and jealous that pick 17 isn’t going to be anywhere near the range he is being picked at. GWS aren’t wrong contemplating pick 2 on him.

Kind of. We were under by 2 players on our senior list last year as we had 6 Cat A rookies. So we had 2 spare spots on our senior list coming into this year anyway.

JT’s mentality. 1st round is best available. Later in the draft you can draft needs. I’d try not to guess too much on who we will take. It’ll be the best player on our board. Just hoping it’s closer to our thought at 10 rather than 20 =)

I was hesitant about the 49, but then realised that this will come right in with Collingwood and WB having the picks in the 40s before it (so really, what is the difference - we are picking around the 44 mark then anyway). Love returning to the first round and seeing what we can do. We know that we have a Woey and a AMW if we want them in the later order, and we might get 2-3 picks before their names are read out. Plus, that top 15 is not a bad top 15. Hopefully one shakes out to us.

Damn damn damn. He’s a rookie and out of contract so trading is basically not a thing. Would have loved him to stay for depth, but understand the lure of playing 22 games. Good luck to him. Damn!

Exactly. We talked so much about culture in the post-GF interviews and Melksham has this is spades. Wants to be best 22, works hard for the footy club off the field, and when he was playing for Casey he was playing his [censored] off. Understand the knocks about his two way running, but 2018 saw clutch goals and tagging JJ. He is more than better than depth and means that Spargo, ANB and TMac have to get better to hold their spots. He might even push Sparrow, Jordan and Harmes as well. Great problems to have :)

No? Maybe? It’s a really tough year because you don’t get to see them play against each other in the championships and today they had a couple of training sessions together before playing. So no real system or understanding of the players around them. Woey knows where to stand, runs both ways, and his teammates know where he is for the outlet. So looks better in the WA system. AMW has flair to his game and a turn of speed. He takes the game on and is exciting. But he was either not getting a handball or he’d break away and have nothing to kick too. I’d love to have both in the Dees next year and I think we are lucky to have them available to us. My “gut” feel, compared to last couple of years, is that they are 38-55 sort of range. Real late second / third round players who have good ceilings.

In the games I’ve watched he’s a “component of a winning team” rather than the man. I can’t really liken him to anyone of our list. I’m a fan and would love him at the Dees. Fitness base is going to be a big thing for him. The flair is great; it’s the non-negotiables that id want to see when he comes into the side.

Played well. Neat kick. Runs forward very quickly. Can’t say he is running that hard in defence. Stands away from the contest and drives it forward with his good kicking skills. Been unlucky not to have 10 more disposals as he has often been burnt.

Agree. And allows us to go for inside mids down the order who might be a little bit of smokey. Like Howes and Knevitts who are bigger bodies and have no real exposed form and see what happens. If they dont come on, so be it.

It was in someone’s Insta post. Can’t remember who.

Apparently Brown has a new contract and so does Baker which is a nice sign. Herald Sun also reporting that Hibberd, Chandler and Bedford are going to be signed as well. AFL reporting Daw is going to get another year. Herald Sun assume that Turner and Declase will get extensions, but Hore and Deakyn Smith will have to wait till after trade period. I have that as 32 senior spots (I assume that Chandler will be upgraded as well for 33) + 2 rookies (Daw + Brown). So 5-6 senior spots available if we want them.

Mentioned here about the work that he does off the ball. Have a look on the AFL site / app of his game. You can watch just his disposals and what he was involved in. First, so many of the big moments have Sparrow in them (which surprised me, I didn't realise) and then what he does after he gets rid of the ball. He protects the kicker and then runs hard. I didnt think that he'd stay in our best 22, but clearly I am wrong, and he is going to be a staple going forward.

He was right with this "to find players that bring those four non-negotiable traits – skills, footy smarts, competitiveness and character." We didn't need to find them, we already had a list full of them :)