I am not the draft was focused on long term talent. 6xrucks (apparently), a couple of late 20s, etc etc. The way the clubs used this draft did not seem to have a focus on getting “best available”, it was all about perceived club needs.So who knows how your talent spotting was going…..
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No, let it go
So, no mention that I can see in this thread of Hall-Kahan. He has looked every bit a readymade player in the first half tonight. And he’s 22. How did he go unnoticed? Not one of the draft watchers on here mentioned him in the lead up.
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Hugo Hall-Khan has been mentioned every mid season draft since delisted from the swans I think.
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When you say “mentioned”, do you mean he has nominated? I haven’t seen anyone on here who thought he might be a good option for us. He was very impressive last night.
If you went back to the 2021 MSD he was a relatively well liked option on here when we took D’Ambrosio and Menzies.
Since then his name has come up, including this year. I think he received less hype because “already a failed MSD pick”
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I made a video on Hall-Kahan. Not my fault you didn’t watch it.
He wasn’t posted in here because he was never going to end up at Essendon.
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why wasn’t he ever going to end up at Essendon. On what I saw the other night, he looks like a taller version of Artemis.
Just a suggestion, maybe dont overreact to one game
He looked okay, but no world beater. We haven’t even seen Artemis yet.
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No I can readily appreciate that. Some players play out of their skin in their first game and struggle to reproduce it regularly. Monteath in our VFL last year, for example. It would seem unlikely he could be as good as he looked on Thurs night and have failed to make it at the Swans. But then there are the examples like Martin and Humphries whose abilities seem to have been unappreciated for a long time.
The MSD is pretty chaotic. There’s generally one or two guys that have a bunch of suitors such as Artemis, then after that teams will typically have their eye on a guy they feel can chop out and help them. Some teams use it to add younger talent to develop, some teams want an established player in his prime.
Its much lower commitment than an end of season draft pick as you’re swapping them into an LTI rather than a permanent primary list spot or rookie spot. If they’re good enough to earn another contract you don’t have to worry about it until the end of the season. Kind of a free hit.
For me there are a dozen state league stars like Hall-Kahan that could be picked up in the MSD every year. The odds of them working out long term are low. But perhaps Hall-Kahan will beat the odds, who knows? He’s already spent time on the Swans list so he knows the expectations of a professional AFL environment which should help.
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I think for a lot of footballers fit, opportunity, and timing makes a massive difference. HHK was a forward when selected at Sydney, and is a different player as a HBF now. He’s also likely significantly more mature, and knows what is required. And has been picked by a team with an immediate need at the position, as well as with a pretty strong structure around that position. That gives him a much better chance of succeeding than someone taken as “best available” 18yo to a crp team in a rebuilding phase, where he just becomes another young guy trying to make something happen. Or an old guy who is just an injury fill in for a significantly better player who will be back next year.
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Both have played well in their first games, really adjusted to the level straight away.
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Missed a opportunity to find a player
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There wasn’t an opportunity. I think some forget a doctor has to clear it with the AFL. If Johnson is right 5-6 weeks before then end of the season, then he is not long term and can’t be counted as one. If the Doctor was allowed to basically lie and Johnson was asked to sit out the year…If I am Johnson…i seek a trade out of the club. It would be so disrespectful to Johnson who is borderline best 23 to say hey you give up your 5-6 games that you could play so we can maybe bring in someone to take a senior spot you’re after. We got Artemis in. That’s a good result. We move on
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Makes you think should bring back the old rules where can put people on inactive list, then make them active again once a injury happens.
Looking at the injury list now we likelty have 5 guys out with sesason ending injuries
Martin - Replaced - Setterfield
Fiorini - Replaced - Artemis
May - Shoulder
Hayes - Knee
Roberts - SHoulder, likely season
Im a but uninformed but why was Martin not an option?
We used his spot with re-signing Setterfield in March
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That’s entirely allowed (rule 26.5 if you like reading AFL rules). The rule for declaring a player inactive is that their injury is likely to prevent them playing for the rest of the season. The AFL mostly don’t care, as long as it’s not clearly a ■■■■ take. We drafted Jayden Davey and immediately put him on the inactive list for an ACL he’d done in March. Players come off the inactive list pretty regularly.
If a player (Johnson) does a several month injury in round 10, nobody’s going to object to him going on the inactive list. Well, he might, and player consent is required.
The risk would have been that Johnson’s fit in round 18 or whatever, and every single other player on the list besides Martin is expected to be available for selection before the end of the year, so there’s nobody to replace him on the inactive list. Was that really a risk at Essendon in 2026? You can decide.
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