I’ve commented many times on here on how much I’ve rated him since watching him at U16’s level. I really like what he offers and have little doubt that without his injury he would have had a very good national champs and pushed for that top 20;spot or higher
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Appreciate that.
Given that our picks are likely to be outside that real top end, would you be happy using one of our firsts on him?
I’d love two of Lindsay, Hibbins-Hargreaves or Phillipou given we likely miss the Sharp’s and Duursma’s of the draft.
Hopefully we miss Duursma and he goes before our pick. Pretty unimpressed by his style of game. If he could show forward craft it might be a different conversation.
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Another strong Champs game from Willem who seems to be a permanent fixture now as a tall defender. He was matched up on Noah Chamberlain for much of the game and kept him quiet, while also intercepting a number of balls and dashing off his man with incisive moments of play. His kicking was still inconsistent as always, but the extra time and space he gets in this defensive role helps with his efficiency.
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This was a decent outing for Grlj but we’re still waiting for that real breakout Champs performance that we expect from a kid with his talent. He was able to showcase his trademark dash and evasion on a few occasions, but struggled with the strong wind as most did on the day.
A note for the commentators. A little bit of professionalism would be nice. This is the pinnacle of junior footy. Many of these kids will go on to become stars of the AFL but regardless of that, all have earned the right to have you put in a little bit of effort to research how their names are pronounced… and pro tip, Grlj is not pronounced “Groo” or any of the other wild guesses you made. If a job is worth doing then its worth doing well.
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What are your overall thoughts on Grlj @noobermensch ?
I feel he would offer a point of difference in our midfield and compliment someone like Durham nicely. Durham is really our only mid with pace and we are desperate for some more line breaking talent in the midfield.
I’d be fine with him, but to me he’s like a lot of kids in this first round mix in that he’s raw. Has some exciting attributes but plenty of stuff that he would need to work on.
He’s not someone I would normally be recommending as a top 10 pick for that reason, but in this pool that’s where we’re at. A lot of these guys are going to be a bit riskier than other drafts.
In general, he would add elite pace, agility and endurance to our group, which would be a point of difference with what we already have.
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Sorry for the questions - what players that are first round in this draft look like pretty safe bets for any recruiters - no trust us but generally in your opinion @noobermensch ?
There aren’t many.
You don’t always pick for safety with high picks. Guys like CDT and Duursma are also not completely safe bets but you would always pick them early due to upside.
Annable and Uwland are pretty safe bets but club tied.
I’d say Sharp is probably the safest. He’s going to be an inside mid at AFL level guaranteed, even if some might contend that he lacks the superstar, perennial AA candidate type potential you’d want to see in a number 1 pick.
Greeves I believe is a very safe pick as a future AFL inside midfielder. I understand and agree with the contention that he lacks defensive intensity, but with his size, power and agility he’s going to be a dominant contested ball winner and it seems as though he’s got a coachable attitude so I’d bank on him being able to develop his defensive stuff. He’s excellent aerially, hits the scoreboard, his kicking form is excellent and his DE been improving all year. There’s not a lot missing.
Josh Lindsay is about as safe as it gets. You can lock him in as a rebounding half back for the next 10 to 15 years barring injury. Where you pick him depends on how highly you rate the importance of half back playmakers. I would include Jacob Farrow in the same bracket, but as a Colts kid he’s had fewer reps against elite opposition so he’s a little more of a risk but still very safe.
Mitch Marsh is the safest tall forward option in the pool. I don’t think there’s a lot that can go wrong with him honestly. He’s shown he has the craft, is clean in the air, can take marks on the lead or in 1v1s, and has elite kicking skills. The only thing you might want is ground ball skills where he’s okay but not great… he doesn’t kick a lot of scrappy goals off loose balls in the F50. But I reckon you’d be very confident that he’ll become at least a solid AFL forward.
That’s probably it, but as I said… there are qualities other than being safe that would have guys like CDT, Duursma, Cumming, Grlj, NHH etc as highly valued draft prospects.
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thank you @noobermensch amazing stuff you really put a lot of thought into that - would you ever want to do draft power rankings and mock drafts?
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I make videos every so often that have my updated ranking list
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Agree with your take, that Vic Metro/WA game wasn’t overly inspiring albeit the conditions didn’t help. Just as much class in the under 16s
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I just can’t see a world where Josh Lindsay isn’t our #1 target, absolute elite foot skills off half back.
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I was just looking at the U18 championship schedule because it felt like I’d heard a lot more about some teams than others, and what the hell is that mess?
SA played all 4 games in 28 days, while Vic Metro had a 28 day gap between their first and second games. One team plays all their games and wraps up the championship with fully half of the games left to play. Seems kind of bad?
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Surely we must get Riley Onley. Great pace, big body and neat skills. Looks very composed as a player.
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He reminded me a bit of Finn Callaghan - is that a fair comparison? Or is he a poor mans version? I’d love Finn Callaghan. Blokes a jet.
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I wouldn’t touch Onley with a 50 foot pole myself. There have been all sorts of red flags this year. Horrible attitude.
I heard reports that he blew up at the coaches in the Academy game because they wouldn’t give him more time on ball. Whenever things don’t go his way in game his body language is awful and he stops making any effort. His defensive efforts in general are consistently terrible.
No thanks. I’m sure a club will take a chance on him, and there are clubs out there that could afford to take their time with him and back in their culture/leaders to develop him in the right way… but I don’t think we’re that club.
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Also horrible by foot - can’t see him going in the top 40 to be honest.
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Sam Cumming had his senior SANFL debut for North Adelaide on the weekend and produced a creditable and promising performance. With his team copping an almighty shellacking at the hands of Sturt, Cumming could have been forgiven for getting a bit lost, but he worked hard all game and might even have snuck into the Roosters best. He showed no fear of the mature bodies, cracking in and laying his share of bumps and tackles. His kicking wasn’t as effective as we’ve come to expect, possibly due to him being rushed by the increased pace of the game, or possibly because his tall targets were getting soundly beaten by their opponents.
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Probably worth noting that Sturt is utterly dominant this year and would be the best Tier 2 side in the nation. A good performance for against them has some merit 
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