Pennant St Dee

Zakostelsky now rated top 25, he’s attracting a fair amount of interest

They aren’t great, probably the poorest they have been in years. WAFC concerned with the development and hired full time 18s coach, whilst also changing their training process. Bo Allan (Peel) and Malakai Champion(Subi) the only 2 who made the AIS squad. This time last year though Zakostelsky was unheard of so I expect a few will climb and announce themselves through the season Champion, Allan, Austin Van Der Struyf, Hamish Davis, Blake Kelly and Cody Angove (my bolter tip) the ones likely to be drafted

I’m talking about Collard, not Mcvee as to who isn’t a midfielder

Doesn’t have a tank, doesn’t two way run, don't believe he has the discipline to be accountable for his opponent, doesn’t win the hard ball. I will counter by saying you can get caught up in what players can’t do and overlook what they can do. His biggest strength is his pace and goal sense. He takes a grab and will tear teams apart if he’s given room inside 50. A lot of work to be done though and I don’t think he will handle being away from family well

He’s certainly not a midfielder

Would need wrecker to be looking after him from very early

Against 16 and 17 year olds you shouldn’t be

It’s a no from me, struggles against good opponents especially those who are physical

He actually said Melbourne’s training is brutal and it’s at a level he hasn’t seen from other teams and he countered it with that it would be difficult to sustain that level of intensity throughout the year. He wasn’t wrong we dipped for a period mid year and started to build strongly after the Brisbane win, anyone who doesn’t think we were into it up to our necks before Petty and Melk went down is trying to rewrite history. Lucks involved and you make your own, but from August onwards despite what he says now in hindsight Kane Cornes had us as favourites, Cam Mooney had us as the team to beat, Brenton Sanderson had us as grand finalists and most pundits had the Pies second half of the season pointing to alarming heading into September Could of, would of, should of I know but IMO the window ain’t close to being closed

I’m swaying towards Schoenmacher as pick 11 if we take a mid with pick 6 and O’Sullivan is off the board. 194 not considered KPD but looks to me like one who has some brutality about how he goes about it and love that left foot

Wouldn’t work because if we didn’t take Watson at 4 the Dogs would take him at 5

I really would be shocked if we even contemplated taking Collard with one of our first two picks

Why would North do that, may as well trade 15, 17 and 18 for 8 and offer West Coast 2 and 8 for 1 and keep 1 and 3 or keep 2,3 and 8

You can but sometimes timing is everything and we finished low down in 2003 had 2 top 5 picks in what wasn’t a great draft. 2004 we finish in the 8 when finishing with 2 picks in the top 5 at 3 and gets you Ryan Griffin and Buddy. We potentially win 06 with those two, although Brock McLean was very important in our 06 finals. Such is the fickle nature of the draft but I think we do it much better now

A lot of clubs looked at Simon Black and the negative was he lacked acceleration, was average pace, kicking was okay and wasn’t a great contested mark. Spoke to a few people who that one wrangles with because in their words they got caught up in what he couldn’t do and overlooked what he could do and in hindsight they actually said what he did well, he did exceptionally well and they kind of knew that at the time. Sometimes it’s like a coach trying to play players in different positions when you are better off getting them to stick at what they do best

Jeremy Sharp as an FA worth a look?

Adelaide and St Kilda have interest in Joe Fonti, seriously fast player with unbelievable lateral movement. Biggest problem I have seen with him is defensive accountability and just trying to do everything at 100mph. Plays a lot like Jayden Hunt, in terms of his run, probably nowhere near as good as Jayden defensively. Can take a decent contested grab

It’s not that it’s 10 players deep it’s that the first round isn’t as deep as previous drafts and those after around 15 are a similar standard to what has gone in the second round of previous drafts. There is a consensus that the second round spread goes quite deep with potential. Would not be at all surprised if there were a few who go in the 30-40 range who surprise in their careers

Yes I quite like the little I have seen of Schoenmaker, just looks like that big competitive type who will transition well to AFL level. Also with a penetration in his left foot gives you some nice options

St Kilda are keen on him, think they may jump before Richmond. Upside is huge, didn’t make Claremont Colts squad in 2022 and certainly worked hard, grew and just improved through the year. Caught the attention of WA talent and earned a spot in the 18s a couple of games in playing as KPD. I saw him play an Ammo’s Colts scratch match North Beach vs Trinity Aquinas at the start of the year and whilst the athleticism was there there were quite a few basics needing work. To see where he ended up by the end of the season is a credit to him and could be just the beginning of a path of development which could lead to a decent return for the club who takes the chance

No played all season as a forward, Claremont had a settled defence, even Curtin barely plaid down back

Good kid, plays a lot higher up the ground than JVR, a link up option who really applies a lot of second efforts at ground level. He’s not at JVRs level but there’s a bit to work with. Think he’ll at a minimum get invited to train with a club over summer. Like JVR can pinch hit in the ruck, played his footy as a CHF but I wouldn’t mind seeing him tried as a defender. Good athlete, competitive, clean below his knees and decent field kick

Prelim is a pass mark, They are difficult to win Don’t kid yourself that a lot of luck isn’t needed, you make a lot of your own luck, but get to the prelim healthy and take it from there

I suspect North will give them 3 and 17 or 18 for 1, there will be an agreement that North don’t take Curtin with pick 2. With those picks I think they get Curtin and one of Collard, Tholstrup, Hardeman

Yes I have rated him for a while, I have watched him play and done some work with him. Some of what I have seen him do on the track has me excited about his ceiling and where he could end up. Some senior players who have played with him talk very highly of him in regards to his professionalism, strength and maturity. Certainly a lot to work with, but again I am biased and been exposed to the WA boys a lot more than others who I’ve only seen on screen