great get, terrific kid
Please talk down his draft value
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Whatās Blakes background? How is he able to be tied to our NGA? Looks like he might have an asian parent?
Yes itās his mother
His mother is Indonesian
Blake Justice podcast will be out tomorrow afternoon. Interview was done tonight. Such a great guy & spoke so well about the Essendon NGA program & what he has got out of training at the Hangar. Also his relationship with Bewick & aspirations to be the captain at Calder
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FYI - Tevita Rodan is training with PAFC this week as a father son.
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Pretty sure Aceman said heāll choose Port over Essendon
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Honestly i think thats a smart move by him. He is in the same draft class as Bewick and Darwish who personally i think will be better players. He would know with the new points system we may struggle to get him.
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Donāt Port have Pilot, Salopek, and I think moreā¦
Edit: following a possible number 1 academy kid this year.
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Fair chance Rodan just goes to the club that bids for him. Will be hard for either team to match
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burgoyneās kid is same draft
but if they lose butters, they wont be worrying about draft picks to match
Can he nominate for both NGA and FS?
He has to pick one is my understanding. But that can happen a month out from his draft
Cochrane this year - Salopek, Pilot and potentially Rodan in '27.
Actually thats correct. So yes like above ā¦ may just end up with draft selection
Young Blake and his family stayed at my place in Brisbane 2 weeks ago. He attended a training camp up on the sunny coast, trying to do extra work to give himself every chance of getting drafted.
He was quite disappointed in his year last year and is Super keen to show what heās got this year and be more involved and consistent.
Fair to say its not just Essendon that has shown interest, has had meetings with more that one club already. Its possible I might get to see him play more up this way 
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Wasnāt this year somewhat of a breakout year for him?
He had a decent year for sure but I guess its just a good sign that he feels heās got much more to offer. He wants to be a leader this year and take responsibility to bring his game and team up with him. I get the feeling this season we will see him take on more and build his game quite a bit
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Certainly less of a concern, but canāt imagine it completely alleviates itās. A lot depends on further rule changes, but no discounts and a maximum number of picks to use would give them lots of issues (along with the Tassie pick inflated draft). Theyāll be hoping for 3+ first rounders for Butters. Not sure anyone would do it, but the likely destinations will all be later pick clubs as well.