IF we had 7,8,9
Assuming Josh Smilie and Havey Langford are taken
my hopes would be for
Lalor 187cm - could be genuine gun mid / fwd
Armstrong 195cm - could be decent KPF
Allan 191cm - just tough and compromising could slot in HBF
IF any of those are gone would grab Xavier Lindsay for kicking.
@noobermensch Would it be worth trading up for a Josh Smilie or Harvey langford type?
I see no need for us to pick any of the smaller mids
Ashcroft, Jagga Smith, O’Sullivan or Murphy Reid
Are there any 200cm utility’s we could nab with our first pick?
My thought is that there are two ways to approach this draft. Temprament, or positional fit. Temperament meaning that we need more intense competitors on the list, guys that wont fold when the going gets tough. Positional fit wise, we have a lot of holes to fill apart perhaps from midfielders and tall defenders.
Disclaimer - judging temperament is very difficult from the outside looking in, whereas the club will have access to interviews and inside info.
I like Langford as a temperament fit, he’s driven/led his teams to excellent results all year, but I only think its worth picking Langford if he shows improvement in his athletic traits at the combine. If he runs another 3.2+ sec 20m sprint I think he’ll slide probably later than our pick, and if he does improve significantly on his pre-season test he could go in the top 3 which would be tough to get into. Not the best positional fit, he’ll likely be more of a midfielder or winger than a forward long term I feel.
Smillie is more of a pure midfielder so not a good positional fit, and not as intensely competitive from what I can gather as other kids in the pool. I don’t think the “BBM” is as much of a need any more personally and Smillie hasn’t shown much of a defensive mindset.
Not this year
The Whitlocks (Jack & Matt) are 200cm but look like will be big boys - ruck/kpf/kpd.
Dodson 203cm ruck
Jonty Fuall looks like Patty Voss 195cm,
Given the whole Merrett to the Aints rumour has now been thoroughly squashed, this is up there with saying if my uncle had bewbs he’d be my auntie
Just say we got two firsts for Zac would you go and get Reid from West Coast or hit this years draft and build.
merc, plz.
Harley is worth a lot more than picks 7&8.
Plus stringer
I think targeting players that stepped up in big games rather than wilted is a good indicator.
The deciding championships game between Metro and Country, state league finals, Coates League u18’s GF, VFL GF this weekend.
I remember Steele Sidebottom went from being rated as a second round pick to dominating the GF and Collingwood ‘reached’ and took him at 11. That’s turned out pretty well for them ever since.
10 goals in the grand final was pretty dominant. Matty Knights saw enough, but Dodoro overruled him.
If we had three in the top 10, which we won’t, I’d take one for a pick next year take two of Langford/Lalor/Lindsay.
Wait for the Kako bid, then trade the '25 1st for a bunch of second rounders this year
Would then look to add Hannaford, Faull, Gerreyne in the second round.
Later I’d add Nguyen and some maturer options from the state league like Bice, Davidson, Grey, Derkson
Lalor/Langford (powerful mid), Lindsay (outside class), Kako (X factor forward pocket), Hannaford (defensive goalkicker), Faull (solid FF), Gerreyne (Skillful, tough, Ruck/forward).
…in favour of Michael Hurley. Injuries and the saga ruined Hurls but it’s hard to say Dodoro got that one wrong.
Hurley is probably the last draftee where I’ve gone “wow” we have one here. Getting the same vibes with Caddy.
Malthouse mentioned they had a specific drafting strategy to take big game players. It’s why i also wanted grian miers in his draft year.
You know who was awarded BOG in the TAC Cup Grand Final the very next year? Jake Melksham. One Andrew McGrath also won that medal.
We also were impressed by Jake Melksham’s finals games and picked him with our first pick. As. they say, YMMV.
If I remember right Jack Ziebell was also huge in that grand final, and he ended up an honest jobber at AFL level.
One game is still only one game.
Geez this kid would look good at half back. A few turnovers but some cracking kicks and stood up in a tight champs game.
And they might just be big game players, they just weren’t gonna get the opportunities with us