IMO the selection of a short player like McG puts a lot of pressure on Langford and maybe Laverde to become the big bodied mid in the medium term to replace Jobe, unless of course we do manage to get Fyfe in a trade next year. ( its a fair assumption that Francis will never have the tank to play as a mid) To get Fyfe we need to demonstrate in 2017 the trajectory that will take us to top 4 in 2018 and and ultimately beat GWS in 2018/19. Apart from McG, any of the mids we drafted this year who last that long will peak in the 2020s , after our next flag window.
Why do certain posters on here think that because we didnāt draft any indigenous players this year, that our draft is a fail?
Eades was a total fail last draft, being delisted after one season, and from what Iāve seen at training and at the VFL is just not good enough, so they donāt always prove good picks.
Iām very happy with our draft, despite not getting some of the players I wanted, but Iām not rating the draft as a fail because I didnāt get what I wanted.
I said earlier, Iām struggling to get excited by this draft, they all look ok and I hope they all turn into stars, but I just canāt seem to get into them.
Even McGrathās vids just donāt do it for me, hopefully watching him live and seeing the passages of play unfold in front of me will totally change my mind as I do find it hard watching 5 second snippets pieced together to make a 2 minute clip.
Riddles and Begley look like they could turn into great players, just have to wait and see.
Clarke is a known clearance beast so that ticks a box.
One thing I keep reading about Mutch is that he is quite good left or right foot but I am totally not seeing that at all in his vids, on the contrary, his foot disposal looks to be trash.
Only seen two vids so maybe itās not a fair judgement, happy to be corrected by anyone who has seen him live.
Ill keep reading and watching and hoping to get more excited, whilst building the anticipation of seeing all these kids turn into solid Bomber men.
I reckon this will be a draft where will come out looking like geniuses or idiotsIt was a ripper crop this year and Iām underwhelmed with what we ended up with TBH
How many games did you watch these guys play? Maybe you can remove your anti-vanilla glasses every once and a while!
McGrath will be a gun mid. Plain and simple.But based on Dodoro and the teams plans for how they approach the draft which was:
āClass talent with top picks, upside players middle picks, mature bodies later picksā
I think we got completely thrown out at pick 20, there wasnāt anyone who we expected to be there but rated higher available. English. Venables etc.
English in particular as our ruck situation is dire, only 2 genuine main list rucks. Both injury prone, 1 already injured again. And all the higher rated rucks to be selected later kept getting nabbed before our 41 & 65 (Sean Darcy- 38, Darcy Cameron -48)
Ridley at 20 as per Discoās video clip was a player they saw as having some of the most upside, and that aligns with Brett anderson having him ranked 14/50
Begley has come from the clouds and still has so much development. A big bodied inside mid who is very competent fwd. Disco rapt with that one.
Mutch the EFC supporter who knows how to find the footy, good on both sides and an āoutnumbererā Disco says, meaning he works hard to get from contest to contest. Was rated much higher (18) by draft scribes so good get.
Clarke just a āmachineā, inside mid brute who is super professional is seems. All Australian. Needs to have his kicking sorted out but it can be done. McGraths best mate is a great result for him and EFC also on the Connors front.
Generally happy besides spewing missed out on English at 20. And not taking Rioli at 41 even if it was a reach.
Rookie draft we need a ruck (going to be Smack it seems as insurance) and a mature small defender.
Yeah, English & Rioli (maybe Long) hurt me the most. But you canāt have it all, and to be honest I reckon clubs fancying themselves a finals chance are heading more and more to the days of trading in specific talls instead of recruiting. With FA being as it is and becoming more so, and talls taking so long to develop, with years of opportunity to find a club via their managers that will pay more, it is a hellava risk spending big on an 18yr ~200cm.
McGrath will be a gun mid. Plain and simple.
But based on Dodoro and the teams plans for how they approach the draft which wasā¦
āClass talent with top picks, upside players middle picks, mature bodies later picksā
ā¦I think we got completely thrown out at pick 20, there wasnāt anyone who we expected to be there but rated higher available. English. Berry. Venables etc.
English in particular as our ruck situation is dire, only 2 genuine main list rucks. Both injury prone, 1 already injured again. And all the higher rated rucks to be selected later kept getting nabbed before our 41 & 65 (Sean Darcy- 38, Darcy Cameron -48)
Ridley at 20 as per Discoās video clip was a player they saw as having some of the most upside, and that aligns with Brett anderson having him ranked 14/50
Begley has come from the clouds and still has so much development. A big bodied inside mid who is very competent fwd. Disco rapt with that one.
Mutch the EFC supporter who knows how to find the footy, good on both sides and an āoutnumbererā Disco says, meaning he works hard to get from contest to contest. Was rated much higher (18) by draft scribes so good get.
Clarke just a āmachineā, inside mid brute who is super professional is seems. All Australian. Needs to have his kicking sorted out but it can be done as per Jobe. McGraths best mate is a great result for him and EFC also on the Connors front.
Generally happy besides spewing missed out on English at 20. And not taking Rioli at 41 even if it was a reach, WC picked him at 52.
Rookie draft we need a ruck (going to be Smack it seems as insurance) and a mature small defender.
Take colyer, Raz and Walla out of our side and aside from Morgan we would be one of the slowest teams in the AFL, we really needed pace
Whoa Bennyā¦
I accept you are hurting because of EFC seem to ignore our indigenous heritage, but if you took the three fastest guys out of any team it would relegate them down an imaginery list.
We need more than one excitement machine, so I am disappointed that none of the boys you mentioned were picked. Guess I will have to expect more and more from Walla.
New dawns at the draft, as Essendon and Gold Coast reboot
Emma Quayle
Something strange happens to the No.1 draft pick between the last slow, painful rounds of the season and draft night. Avoided, resisted and the last thing anyone wants, it becomes something to celebrate and sell. Like hope, and optimism. It signifies a new start.
Essendon have begun again a few times in the past few years. And it feels like yesterday that the Suns were getting going for the first time. Only time will tell which club made the best investment in the 2016 draft, but every year it seems to be a bit more important to one, two or three teams than the others, and the Bombers and Suns were two obvious storylines.
Essendon had never held the No. 1 pick before they kicked things off, and their choice was not simple. In different ways and for a long list of reasons, Andrew McGrath, Hugh McCluggage and Will Setterfield had good things to offer, and the club made its decision from a different position to most clubs who finish a season on the bottom of the ladder.
Who knows how well the suspended players will fit back in, and what the Bombers will be capable of, but they made their decision in the belief that the player they chose could play an influential part for a team that could climb back towards the top eight quickly. Usually, teams picking at 1 see September as being two, three or more years away.
Their choice was McGrath, who brings so many things. He has been painted in parts as ājustā a half-back flanker, with McCluggage put in the goalkicking midfielder basket, as well as a short player. Neither descriptions really do him justice. He is a midfielder who gets a lot of the ball and distributes it smartly. He is a strong, powerful and quick runner, who was on track for the youth Olympics before deciding football mattered more.
He is 179 centimetres but a big leaper, who takes marks and stops others from taking them. He is combative, competitive and strong in one-on-one contests. He can quieten a small forward, while also providing some rebound run. He could go into the forward line and do the same thing to a half-back causing his team trouble. Essendon will see him playing all sorts of parts, in almost every part of the ground, whenever they need him to do it.
He will also bring something else: ambition, a level head and natural leadership to a group that regardless of the returning players has a strong core of young players now: Joe Daniher, Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish, Orazio Fantasia, Kyle Langford and Jayden Laverde among them. They will need those players ā plus their other top picks in Sydney, tall utility Jordan Ridley and the strong Josh Begley ā to be the ones who take them where they want to go.
The Suns held a stronger hand, with four picks in the top 10. It was not a hand they necessarily wanted to have; having a fit and healthy Dion Prestia and Jaeger OāMeara playing in a top-eight side was more the plan, but the departure of those two players to Richmond and Hawthorn gave them the opportunity to do a mini-rebuild, or perhaps a reboot.
They got Ben Ainsworth first, a crafty small forward who can take a mark and who has a habit of taking games over completely at times. They added Jack Scrimshaw next, a defender who sees things before others do, can use the beautifully and has enormous scope. That decision left Fremantle to choose defender Griffen Logue, and with no bid coming for academy midfielder Jack Bowes, were able to choose Will Brodie with their third pick.
That left them with two midfielders, one who is arguably the best clearance player in the draft (Brodie) and the other a smooth mover they would probably have had to pay a bigger price for had they not held so many early selections. Scrimshaw will start back but has shown some midfield potential, and Ainsworth will play a part straight away in the forward line and will also bring with him some serious ambition and want-to-win attitude.
The only thing they might have missed was a tall defender to join Steven May and Rory Thompson. But the one who looked most like a top 10 prospect was Logue, and in prioritising Scrimshaw there was always the chance he was going to get grabbed by the Dockers.
Importantly there is some determination in the group, who in combination with Peter Wright, Touk Miller, Callum Ah Chee and others, will play a very big part in doing for the Suns what they hoped Prestia, OāMeara, Josh Caddy and their other early picks might have already achieved together.
Essendon arenāt the only side trying to edge back into the eight. Gold Coast arenāt the only team whose original plans didnāt unfold as anticipated, hoped and expected. And neither are they the only teams that see a large part of their future in their up-and-coming players. Carlton bolstered their midfield; Port Adelaide found a tall forward; Sydney got some run and excitement; the Bulldogs got the best ruckman in the draft. But this was a night they both needed to get right, as they try to get themselves going again.
NOVEMBER 26 2016 - 7:59AMAFL draft 2016: Bombers see a bit of Wanganeen in top pick Andy McGrath
See, @benfti, weāre not neglecting indigenous players, weāre just picking white guys that remind us of them.
The only issue I have with the draft was that I wanted Mc#3age, and I wish our next three picks were all about five spots higher.
Chose the other guy, and our picks were where they were.
Given that, not unhappy.
And of course Iāll get right behind them all.
Uninspired... Do we have the lowest number of Aboriginal players in the comp now? So very disappointed we didn't pick Long or Rioli. We have a relationship with Tiwi supposedly but don't seem to be capitalising on it. Hope the new recruits do well but... meh.
There were three aboriginals in the last game we played (two still with us) and we still have the PSD and Rookie draft to go.
NOVEMBER 26 2016 - 7:59AM
AFL draft 2016: Bombers see a bit of Wanganeen in top pick Andy McGrath
Emma QuayleEssendon sees a bit of Gavin Wanganeen in Andrew McGrath, who became the clubās first No. 1 draft pick on Friday night.
The Bombers chose McGrath over Hugh McCluggage and Will Setterfield because they see him as the ideal modern-day midfielder who plays with a balance of attack and defence.
The recruiting team was struck by the fact in most games, McGrath improved as the matches went on.
Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro said there was a bit of Wanganeen - the clubās 1993 Brownlow Medallist - in the way McGrath shut players down and rebounded from defence.
āHeās got blistering speed and his agility is Gavin Wanganeen-like,ā said Dodoro.
"He turns the game sideways and upside down. He changes the direction of the game and itās so important to get those guys.
"The forwards love guys who can set things up in the midfield, and he can do that. Then thereās his work rate, his professionalism, his leadership.
"Every time he plays he steps up and he gets better as the games go on. If you track his possession rate he gets more possessions in the last quarter than he does in the first quarter.
āHeās a pro. He can play multiple positions and the good thing about him is he values defence. He can be such an attacking player but he values defence and that makes him the modern day midfielder.ā
McGrath, who captained Brighton Grammar and was best on ground for the Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup grand final was one of three onballers drafted by the club.
Essendon also picked the powerful Josh Begley, who was thrown into the Eastern Ranges side after starring at local level and dropping several kilograms, with their third pick, No. 31.
Greater Western Sydney opted not to match a bid for Kobe Mutch, leaving him for the Bombers, and they chose another Ranges player, Dylan Clarke, at pick 63.
The club also thinks Jordan Ridley, a tall utility chosen at pick 22, has the potential to develop into a midfield option over time.
I reckon this will be a draft where will come out looking like geniuses or idiots
It was a ripper crop this year and Iām underwhelmed with what we ended up with TBH
I canāt help thinking the rating of the draft got better the closer we got to it. Iām suspicious that it wasnāt as good a draft as some have started calling it. Weāll see.
I think we were really strategic in getting players that werenāt only good footballers but had good foundations around them, were linked to the essence of the club and also had enough ability to be successful at the club. Itās not just about best position or filling a need but getting the whole package.
The speculative, maybes with a bit of unknown elements that need more support are for the rookie draft. We did well.
Seemed to fit here.
I actually like this draft quite a bit. Ok, I agree it's a little bit on the safe side. However, given our circumstances, is that a bad thing? We lost the possibility of key top end talent with those terrible draft sanctions. In that context, getting some greater 'bankability' in this supposedly 'deep midfield pool' draft with 5 picks inside 45 seems quite reasonable.We picked a genuine gun at pick 1 - a smart, courageous, speedy, strong, defensive midfielder with an attacking mindset who can take the game on and change its complexion single-handedly. He will almost certainly play next year. No doubt, Hugh is silk - a beauty for Brisbane, but our boy has the will and killer instinct that may well help him get more out of himself and the game than the more easy-going McC.
We picked 2 other all-Australians, one the biggest ball-winner in the U-18s - a contested possession beast, and the other a clean-handling, high work-rate inside/outside type with good footy IQ, who kicks well off both feet.
We picked a super-skilled (won the kicking test at the combine), strong marking, highly versatile utility, who Brisbane were apparently looking to take at the very next pick to ours. He is a bit light-bodied, but itās probably a whole lot easier to put some meat on him than to get say, a Bolton type, to the elite kicking level Ridley is already at. Lots of upside about him.
We picked a strong, big-bodied forward/mid who is aggressive, powerful, and has a great boot on him. He is a super set-shot for goal and actually kicked more goals (27) in TAC thanā¦ McCluggage this year (though admittedly, he did play more permanent fwd than McC did, especially early in the season). If we can get him fit, I reckon there is a LOT to work with here.
Sure, we didnāt pick up a whole lot of X-factor, though McGrath certainly has some of it, and maybe Begley, but we most definitely picked some very decent footballers with strong AFL quality potential, and I actually donāt think any of them were a huge āreachā. Clarke and Mutch were probably āundersā, McGrath was consensus top-two, Ridley was expected to go 20-27 per most phantoms, and Begley (maybe our biggest āstretchā) was top 40 for a lot of good judges (Knightmare had him at 36 I think, and Tigers were apparently thinking about him at 27). We also still have the Rookie Draft and B-list to fill with a few more āexcitementā types (and a ruckman).
And then there are Fantasia, Tippungwuti, Long, Colyer, McKenna, Laverde, and Green, so itās not like we are struggling for X-Factor at the club. They are also mostly quite young and should be around a while. Watson, Goddard, Stanton, Kelly, Hocking, and Baguley on the other hand arenāt and most probably wonāt. Hibberd is already gone, Myers is quality, but too often broken.
Playing the odds, I reckon Dodoro has done beautifully this draft (and trade period), complementing the existing list, looking at upcoming major holes, and picking 5 players in a (supposedly) deep and even midfieldersā draft (with no real āslidersā), who have a very strong chance of making it, with at least one or two having the potential to be top 5 quality on our list.
I believe we are building well.
time will tell, but reckon we blew a monster opportunity to set the clubs midfield up for the next decade.
so much hinges on how our later picks pan outā¦
I didnāt know anything about any of them, bar a little about McGrath.
It seems we picked five blokes who are all very safe but very similar.
Iām worried we just picked five more Kyle Langfords. Letās just hope theyāre not all Jason Ashbys.
Another one transplanted.
I see a draft taken with returning players in mind , a distinct line in the list between 'era's" and aimed totally at 2018 and beyond.Begley and Clark look the possible midfield beasts post Jobe/Myers.
Ridley i really like (based largely only on footage though). Intercept marking backman with excellent kicking skills who has great hands in the marking contest all over the ground. Thereās a post somewhere on these boards where i thought he was worth looking at at #29. Something about the kid.
Mutch is a genuine mid ball magnet. Bendigo are usually ordinary but he churned out good performances anyway. Might surprise a few when surrounded by better players.
Mcgrath. Well, my preference was Luggage. But everyone at TAC thinks the kid is a jet and i trust Rob Shaw that heās a genuine mid option. He lead and willed his side(s) to victories. The kids a winner in outlook, it seems. Zerrett was relegated to a fringe flanker in his draft year due to the strength of his teams midfield. McG is higher rated than that. Fingers crossed.
None of these kids need to be best 22 next year. They just need to be ready to go as the new layer when the older part of our list is done in a year or two.
We didnt get a Ruckman. Thats the only eye-on-the-future piece missing. Hartley and Brown (plus of course Francis) cover the kpp depth until at least next draft.
Uninspiredā¦ Do we have the lowest number of Aboriginal players in the comp now? So very disappointed we didnāt pick Long or Rioli. We have a relationship with Tiwi supposedly but donāt seem to be capitalising on it. Hope the new recruits do well butā¦ meh.