Hopefully he keeps missing until we draft him.
Kicking four straight would up the bid cost massively
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It’s actually a good thing, keeps his draft position low but since Rath all our poor kicks for goal have improved a fair bit imo. Caddy and kako were super inaccurate in under 18s (from the eye test i dunno about their stats), draper couldn’t hit the side of a barn.
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My thought too.
I’d worry when he is missing the gimmes.
A lot of his shots are low percentage attempts that he has created from nowhere and would be 50/50 at best. And that doesn’t account for the terrible windy conditions that the juniors are exposed to.
It would have been great to give the champs games a boost by having them as curtain raisers on AFL grounds.
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Seems like Sweid had a poor game? 9 disposals (although he did have a game high 6 tackles). Was he playing pure midfield role?
Both the lads pinned for this years draft have had an opportunity or two at representative / VFL footy. A big step up. Whilst difficult to take conclusions from a small sample, I get the impression the shine and excitement around their prospects as AFL players has taken a slight debt. There’s little being posted or talked up the last couple of weeks.
From those in the know, have the past couple of weeks seen the industry hype around these two boys subside slightly? Are we still looking at top 20 type expectations for El Achar / Sweid?
I sense we’ve regained some equilibrium in the hype meter the last couple of weeks.
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I’m not a draft watcher as 99% of what I know is from following others. So take that into account.
There has only been one VM game so far where they got drubbed.
My impression is both are generally showing what was expected of them. Sweid has had less impact playing at higher levels as expected, partly from playing a different role partly as not as good. El-huckar has gone well in both the VM and VFL games if he had kicked straight. He’s the higher rated player.
I think Blitz was always overrating Sweid. Top small midfielders like Daniels and Neale went late. He’s not as good, he’s not getting significant midfield time in a poor VM engine room. I think 30s to 50s is more likely. El-Huckar has shown more, but is only the fringes of the top 20 at best.
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Agree I’ve been saying this since the start of the year.
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Regarding Sweid, he’s not really the player type we are craving anyway. But of course we’ll still take him for a discount if he’s rated in the top 40.
Huss on the other hand is someone we need.
This is the type of crap that will kill off the nga’s which are otherwise a really good idea to bring actual multicultural talent into the afl more.
“He’s NGA-eligible … his mum was on a work secondment as a veterinarian in Hong Kong and conceived him and gave birth to him."
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HA! They’re more than welcome to Kye Fincher.
I get that’s not really your point Bully but Fincher aint exactly a coup.
Classic Ralphy “some believe he’s a late first or early second”… who are those “some people” Ralphy? You and your pet dog?
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Would be funny for the afl to say nah actually you don’t get him just for the extra whinge
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Such bullshit that children of Australian citizens working overseas are NGA eligible. Also cases like Rodan’s kids, where he played in the AFL. That should cancel out any NGA thoughts.
They should put me in charge. I’ll sort it out.
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You are more than welcome to sort it out After we sign Tavita Rodan yeah.
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I get it. Self interest prevails, but in terms of attracting people to play the game from non-traditional backgrounds, it doesn’t pass the pub test.
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Don’t forget his multiple younger brothers either
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An early look at bottom aged Essendon NGA Blake Justice who’s looking to be a likely type for the 2026 draft. He’s tall and rangy for a midfielder, with clean and quick hands. He lacks strength right now which is not unusual for a bottom-ager but doesn’t shy away from the physical side of the game.
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He looks a good size for a mid, I’ve never seen him play before i thought he was a forward or ruck at local level coz of his height. I know he’s another Muslim kid in the bachar houli academy though, coz his mum is Malaysian or Indonesian or something along those lines. Bachar is basically doing our academies work for us.
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Watched him live today and he stood up through contact and got off a handball or two that smaller mids wouldnt have. Very hopeful for him next year.
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We might finally have found our big bodied mid 
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