Demon Blood

Knightmare's mock drafts are usually pretty spot on but usually the week before the draft is the time to read them once he has fully updated all his descriptions, etc. With the amount of detail he puts in (along with a few of the others on BF) he doesnt update a lot of the player descriptions until post the combine. I think if we finish between 15th-13th and given the need for most of the bottom teams to get a KPP (GWS - Ruck; St K - KPF; Bris - KPF; Dogs - KPF/D; Carlton - KPF) we hopefully should get the pick of the midfielders. Like i said before, i would pick Petracca in a heartbeat, but I wouldnt be disappointed if we got Brayshaw as he is a very classy player and would be a handy addition. Pickett is a bit of a luxury pick in my eyes as he is a line breaking HBF, while we definitely need one, my feeling is that we need to get a couple more mids first. Also, given the evenness of this draft we could pick up a quick, outside player with our 2nd round pick (eg: Maishman, Weller, Maynard, Nelson, Clem Smith, etc) plus Billy Stretch is an outside wingman with a pretty nice turn of speed. SCPaige's mock draft was pretty spot on in my eyes with the exception of Pickett to the dogs.

Christian Petracca is the man we want IMO. We still need another midfielder and this guy is what what we have been screaming for since we passed (along with other clubs) on Selwood, Wines, Dunstan et al. The comparison to Sylvia isn't really fair as they are both mid/fwds but thats about where it ends. Petracca has worked extremely hard to move into the midfield this year from just being a mid-sized forward, he has talent but nothing like Col. He has a nice kick, is extremely strong through the core (doesnt get moved easily), great hands and is about 186cm - still growing - so fits in with Roo's admiration of Freo's taller midfield and if he is going down that path. Reminds me of a slightly taller, stonger and cleaner Dunstan in last years champs. I really like Brayshaw and he is by far the classiest mid but he has been playing a very outside role and i find his kicking can sometimes lack penetration. Of the talls Patrick McCartin is my pick, he is very much like Jack Darling as he is an animal for the contest, that said Wright offers a lot more flexibility and Durdin is a 10-year CHB. Like last year, there is an evenness about this draft at the moment but the difference is that a higher pick will give you access to one of the very good KPP's on offer. I think we will have done well in this years draft if we can get Petracca with our 1st round, Maishman with our 2nd round (hopeful as his stock are climbing) and Stretch with 3rd.