For me speed of ball always beats running.
You just get burnt so much on the rebound with poor foot skill
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Everyone has already picked Footy Smarts,running and kicking and neither were at the top. Contest/competitiveness is the number 1 trait scouts look for in junior draftees.
Choco listing it first should have been the giveaway 
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Choco called it contested work, rather than competitive-ness, which was why I added that as an extra.
I’d say all are super important in their own ways. Hobbs was clearly competitive and good at a contest. It didn’t really help due to deficiencies elsewhere.
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In a sense I feel it’s the difference between getting drafted or not rather than being a top line AFL player. Most of the top players are genuinely elite in atleast one of those things.
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If we intend to finally start taking indigenous talent again, I’d be getting choco Williams as a development officer. Hearing him today he builds great relationships and everywhere he has gone he has been successful in development. Gotta be better than some of our current guys and would be a father figure to any young indigenous talent.
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I feel like a top player is elite at multiple. Role players can survive on being very good at maybe one or 2. And for the case of role players, different recruiters and coaches look at it differently, and you need a consistent club view on what the non negotiables are for their team.
I see this as one of Essendon’s failures for a decade. There has been so many different views from the coaching staff, list management, football department and board, which has led to inconsistent list management and development over multiple years.
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Unsure if this is new intel or not (probs not) but from somebody that would know, The Crows are incredibly keen on Dyson Sharp. Feel he’s the perfect running mate for Sid Draper of their future midfield.
They don’t have the ammo to get into the top 6-7 picks but they’re a live trade up option if he slips past us and Melbourne.
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Given the number of draft picks vs list spots we haveavailable, I can’t see us taking a pick outside the 2nd round, except for a matched bid on Huss (hopefully as a cat b rookie).
So not sure that it is likely to be us.
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We have the duo, poor speed and poor skills 
It would be interesting if Sharp is still there at our pick 5; I wonder what Adelaide would offer us to trade up to it. They have 16,48,55,64 this year, then their 2026 1st and 2027 1st.
I don’t think i would do it, but they might be willing to offer 16 + 2026 1st + 2027 1st. But too risky as to where they might finish in 2026 and 2027 for mine.
Plus you know, we need good players like Sharp, so might be a good idea to just select him if he’s the best one there that we want.
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Has no speed
Yeah I’d rather just pick him tbh.
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Cue @Stallion
Have mentioned this a few times already but yes the Crows have spoken to him constantly and if he slides past us they would look at trading up for him
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I have a friend who was a jnr u18 player. The coaches at the level were always pushing competiveness.
Thanks for the info, good insight.
I guess the fact that we just delisted one of the most competitive kids we’ve ever drafted goes to show that (as you hinted) its a necessary trait to be drafted, but its not sufficient to carry you all the way if you don’t have other elite traits as part of your package.
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I think you’re talking about Lual…and I wouldn’t have minded keeping him around purely for this factor.
You need blokes that optimise competitiveness and hunger. This flows down to the rest of the group and we could really use players like Lual to set and example.
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No I’m talking about Hobbs. When he was drafted we were inundated with puff pieces from AFL media about how insanely competitive he is at everything he does in life.
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I recall there was rhetoric at the time that he was so competitive he once pushed a teammate out of the way to get a ground ball. Which always sounded like a dumb thing to do but hey.