I think we need the psychological profile of Langford
I meant if he fits the profile. I’ve seen him play, I’ve listened to him speak in interviews… he seems like a driven and intense young man, but the club will know better and have more insight that we will.
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I havent seen any footage, or heard any interviews, but Im calling it now.
A 190cm competitive midfielder forward with occupationally scrappy kick…
…certain to be our next James Hird
Lol
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We really need to find a way to grab 3 in the 1st 20, Kako and 2 others would be great.
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Unfortunately there are a number of other teams with the same idea, which makes it difficult.
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I’d trade for picks in the 30s and 40s, I want to go all in on this draft and try bring in 6-10 blokes.
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We’d need to trade a lot more than just Stringer in order to have picks to trade up. I can’t see us doing it.
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Yep, you have to give up something to get something
That’s all well and good noober but who would you take?
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My (realistic) preference would be:
1 - lalor
2 - Langford
3 - travaglia
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2023- Caddy & Roberts are firey and driven.
2024- Travaglia/Allan/Langford have all been aggressive and competitors. Kako has an edge, as does Nguyen.
That’s 4 players across 2 years, plus we have Jye, Duz, and Zac. There’s 7, that can shift a needle
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We will never know. Nothing would’ve improved back then if the club didn’t address its cultural problems etc. full rebuild or not.
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I’d be prepared to take the risk on Hotton if it meant we were accessing a guy who is genuine class and who in all likelihood would have been destined to go top 8 ish if not for his injury.
His profile suggests that he’s
- Agile
- Clean (non fumbler)
- Beautiful kick
- Intelligent player who knows how to find the footy
- Hits the scoreboard
Yeah I know, injury cloud and EFC isn’t traditionally a great combo but meh, yolo, sometimes you got to risk it. Let’s pray we are entering a new era of better drafting and strength & conditioning at the club with the changes made 
Either way, whilst I’m still sh¡tty that we are picking this late at a stage which belies our percentage, there should still be someone handy who gets through to us.
Son of ex-Pie, Blue emerges as serious draft prospect as Dragons teammate catches the eye
By Andrew Slevison 5 months ago
Talented Sandringham Dragons youngster Taj Hotton was simply dominant in the Coates Talent League last weekend.
Hotton was everywhere in his side’s 52-point win over the Oakleigh Chargers in Round 2, racking up 32 disposals and booting four goals to go along with 10 marks, five tackles and five inside 50s.
The son of former Collingwood and Carlton player Trent and brother of St Kilda’s Olli was already considered well and truly in the draft mix and a performance like this only solidifies his standing as a serious prospect in 2024.
James Pitcher, from Bravo Talent Management, was blown away by what Hotton produced for the Dragons and is keen to see what he delivers as the season progresses.
“To put it simply, he was just where the ball was. It just kept coming to him,” Pitcher said of Hotton’s game on SEN’s Future Stars.
“He was really strong one on one, he competed well, used the footy well and hit the scoreboard.
“So he really put himself out there on Saturday. Whatever Hotton touched turned to gold.
“He played in a high half-forward role and was really clean. For his size, there were a couple of situations one on one in a marking contest and took it cleanly. He just showed really good class with ball in hand.
“I know he’s been spoken about a little bit in the past, but keep an eye on this kid.”
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His numbers in pre-season testing were truly elite from memory. Placed top 10 in the 20m sprint, agility and vertical leap. Sub 2.9 second 20m spint time… blistering pace.
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Just having a look at the highlights of that 5 goal, 32 disposal match in question rather than just going off that ESPN draft profile I read, I’d say his kicking action and overall kicking skills aren’t bad or anything, in fact they’re decent, but by the same token he doesn’t strike me as being at a level where he typically makes the ball do as he pleases i.e. that Zach Merrett, Massimo, Gulden, Sheezel like ability to shape kicks with exceptional weight and trajectory to kick it off the line, over and out of the way of the opposition and to the advantage of your teammate.
I’m extrapolating that from one video though 
And obviously very few are in that realm.
But my word he can turn on a dime, has great spatial awareness of where his teammates are around him, strong one on one, has a thirst to tackle and seems just a natural forward.
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Richmond are likely to have multiple picks when the dust settles on their trade outs. Our best opportunity would be to interest them in trading up to our pick 8. eg 2 of their picks, hopefully in the early teens, for our picks 8&28.
That would get us 2 picks before Kako as long as no-one bids early on him. Seeing we don’t want or need a mid, that could work well eg Shanahan & Berry.
I just don’t think that’s going to work. You’re taking a massive risk that nobody comes in with a Kako bid before we get to use both those two picks. All it would take is for a team to bid on Kako at pick 10 and you’re completely screwed.
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Imagine Richmond trade us two late firsts for 8 and then bid on Kako at 8
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Is this draft good enough to risk trading the 2025 first rounder into the 2024 first round?
Ie as a live trade before a Kako bid, 2025 first rounder for pick 11-14 range.
Could possibly result in a draft result of:
Langford
Shanahan
Kako
Plus, later picks such as Nguyen.
Its been mentioned a few times. I’ll say what I’ve said before… I don’t like trading future first round picks away when you’re a team with no clear sign of being a legit contender. There’s too much risk that you end up sucking and suddenly realise you’ve given up a top 4 pick.
Just my take on it.
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