Davos

We are having a great offseason. Go Dees.

Butters upside, but I'm concerned that he hasn't proven himself to be a massive ballwinner yet. I know he's had an injury riddled year, but it's a huge risk to take someone top 5 who hasn't dominated a contest in at least 12 months. Alternatively, you could end up getting crazy value, where a clear number 1 talent slips due to short term injuries a la Joel Selwood. I like others ahead of him, but can see how I can / will be proven wrong in 3 years time.

Yeah, I can see Merrett. I can also see Parish. I think there are 5-10 small accumulator mids you could compare him to. That archetype is obviously valuable, which is why I'm higher on him than @DeeSpencer. I think we have to pick him if we're wiped out of Lalor, Langford and Tauru.

Lachie Neale is also my best case comp for him, although Neale was pretty well built when he was drafted. I don't see Butters or Daicos - the best Butters comp in this draft is FOS.

I wonder if Hannaford at 9 would be an option in that scenario.

Gonna be pretty flat if that how it ends up panning out - was hoping Lalor would be available at our pick. Makes sense that he wouldn't be though. Not keen on O'Sullivan. A lot of water to go under the bridge yet.

Well done Gary. Bloke is about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

Bailey is a forward who can run through the middle a la Kozzy. Ashcroft and Neale are fine kicks, not elite. Rayner is a Petracca level user, capable of the sublime but rarely pulls it off. Lyons sucks. Ah Chee ain't a mid. Neither is Zorko. McCluggage and Fletcher are wingers. Point is if it's pure mids that we're after (it should be), being an elite user shouldn't be the make or break attribute that determines who we draft at 5.

Rucks don't matter, unless they're a total difference maker eg. Gawn. A battler who competes hard would be fine, and they aren't that hard to find.

Brisbane has one midfielder who you'd classify as an elite kick (McCluggage), and even then he is probably still more of a wingman than an out and out mid. The Brisbane mids are all stoppage guns, and that's where they killed Sydney on Saturday. Having said that, we do need better users in the back half. They're the guys pulling the trigger on the 20-35m corridor kicks, and outside of McVee we are devoid of talent in that area. Bowey hasn't developed, Howes has yet to prove himself, Salem is practically a corpse at this point and Rivers is an overrated user who is now probably a full time midfielder anyway. I'd say the club has identified this, hence the pursuit of Houston. Not sure if anyone fits the bill in this year's draft - seems to be a lot of mids, small forwards or key position players.

Take it to the bank if Twomey is reporting it. Thanks for the many memories Claz. Praying those in charge know what they're doing (not confident).

The Harmes deal was a mistake, and likely contributed to this decade's poor track record of AFL recruitment and the depth erosion we've seen post premiership. You can't pay role players overs (speculating in Harmes' case) on long deals when you already have 4/5 guys on top end coin - go and find yourself a Tom Atkins on $100k if you need a defensive minded midfielder who's never going to be a needle mover.

We should be taking a close look at this kid with the ANB pick. Given his performances since moving from half back to the forward line, and how valuable small forwards have become in modern footy, he may not even be available at pick 25.

It doesn't need to be verified by Petracca or his team to still be true. He's obviously not going to publicly state he wants/wanted out, without first lining up a move to his preferred club.

Tom Morris has nailed everything relating to the CP saga. Hate him all you want, but you can't deny he gets good mail.

Very normal stuff Christian...

Nice summation. Seems worth the punt. Don't think we'll be giving up a second though - probably only worth a later pick given he's never featured at AFL level.

And he takes home the Liston. Great stuff.

Can't question his work ethic or determination - bloke is an animal. Pretty unlikely a late 20s, 5'11" athletically limited pure midfielder gets picked up unfortunately. He was BOG again today in the prelim. Mannagh has pace on his side, and hit the scoreboard. He's a better version of Kade Chandler.

I love Dom Brew, but don't think he'll get any real AFL interest. Jack Riding is the one that I've been told has attracted some enquiries from AFL clubs, as well as Bice.

Barrass and Battle are both proven AFL players. Sheldrick is not, although I would like to see us go after him.

You might have him at 20, but Cal Twomey thinks he's shot himself into top 10 calculations. I could see us liking Langford, Lalor and Draper - but there's a chance they all go before pick 5. What then? I personally wouldn't draft Jagga, and I'm lukewarm on O'Sullivan. Lindsay isn't a top 10 calibre prospect for mine. I love Reid but understand his potential limitations at AFL level. Twomey also mentioned on the most recent Gattable podcast that Ough is probably a top 30 guy. Whether he's the right fit for our midfield mix would be the question.

General consensus on here seems to be that we must go midfielder with pick 5, but I wonder whether JT and Goodwin will look at Alix Tauru as a prospect we could't possibly pass up on. We know we always look to competitiveness as a key trait when drafting, and he seemingly has it in spades. Can't say key defender (or potentially forward) isn't a need for us as well - May and TMac are both the wrong side of 30 and we seem committed to keeping Petty forward. JT has also shown a willingness to take a bolter high in the draft - Clarry, Jackson and even Windsor last year to an extent were all taken higher than expected. We could then look to draft midfield depth later on. Jack Ough interests me as an option in the 20s.

Agree with everything (I'll probably be wrong).

This guy is pure silk - footy IQ and hands are off the charts. Will his lack of size and explosiveness hurt him at AFL level, or will his smarts help him overcome those limitations?