It’s a philosophical difference. Identify young guys you want and run with them, or get the gun for hire using those picks. I have no problem if we wake up in November with Rowell in the team, but I’m thinking the infusion of 4 young guys might be right for us now, then go for a ready made when we are further down the track.
This I disagree with.
Yes he’s a gun, but not the right player for us.
Not unless the club wants to trade a couple of midfielders.
What has this got to do with us?
Our recruiters didn’t draft their players.
Reid isn’t just a midfielder. Reid is the freakish, match-winner type that will win contests all over the ground. Probably the closest thing to having a Dangerfield or Martin in the team. Invaluable.
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Its got everything to do with your point.
Top draft capital isn’t always the answer. The vast majority of top end talent is filled with similar type midfielders. North’s mistake was to not split its picks over the years to get some diverse depth in players.
North Melbourne could have picked any player in the draft…… if they didn’t get it right, it’s their problem.
To suggest that top picks are bad, because they butchered theirs is ridiculous.
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I’m surprised there hasn’t been more Logan Morris talk in the media. Out of contract this year and is a Victorian.
A bit on the shorter side for a KPF (191cm) but has impressed me a lot with his work rate every time I’ve watched him play.
Caddy + Morris forward pairing would be a powerful combo.
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Never suggested they were bad. I was just highlighting that they not necessarily going to ensure any more success. In fact, North would have probably got a better result and be more competitive if they traded out majority of those picks for known talent from other clubs.
All fair – there’s always the possibility that this year’s draft is loaded with stars and you form the basis of a premiership side in a year. I think the best clubs pick the right drafts to trade picks and the right drafts to keep them, and end up doing a mix of both.
Ultimately for me, I think the value of each draft pick fluctuates year by year depending on the players available – there are some drafts where pick 3 is worth the world, and others where it’s worth less because the only projected stars in the draft are going to go at 1 and 2.
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North are in a very different situation to us.
We have had no problems getting picks later in the first round…… we haven’t had picks in the top 3.
Which is where you find the elite players.
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Yep, this is exactly how I feel about it.
In the case of this years draft, it feels like the bar is lower than last years. Therefore a decision to trade out picks for someone like Reid feels like a less risky play.
Oh, I agree on that. But I’m not sure the talk of that, a top 10 and another first is realistic. He might cost us Melbourne’s pick and one other.
If we did do any deal, I’d be trying to get WCE’s 2027 second rounder back. For 2027 points.
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Agree, some turn out to be elite.
But drafting is not the only way to find elite players.
The situation we’re in is an advantageous one. We’re likely to finish mid-ish table this year and therefore don’t have access to the top three picks, but we have accumulated picks via trades and have a crap load of cash to throw around. Therefore we can essentially get a number 1 pick from a collection of mid first rounders.
You do that deal any day of the week.
North are an example of a team that have had all the early draft picks and haven’t been able to pick themselves up - there’s multiple reasons for that and it’s not solely because of the quality they’ve drafted (i.e. losing JHF, development, transition between coaches and atmosphere etc).
Hawthorn are on the opposite extreme, where they have nailed their draft, development and culture. Arguably the only player that they’ve drafted in the last five years that hasn’t delivered is Denver Grainger-Barass.
With Tasmania looming around the corner and the impending draft capital they’ll have for years to come, the time to draft talent is now and yes, there’s no guarantees - but if Essendon get a few more in the mould of an Archie Roberts or Kakko, I certainly wouldn’t say no.
The issue I have with Harley Reid isn’t him; it’s the bulls#it media hype and fanfare circle jerk. Nino himself referred to him the other day as a “generational talent” - my brain is still recovering from that comment. The kid has talent and he might become a generational talent, but he’s not there yet and I’m not sold he’s worth selling the farm for.
As I stated yesterday - if he’s interested, you conduct yourself professionally and negotiate a reasonable trade. If the Eagles want the world plus more, you wish them the best because landing one “star” player in exchange for potentially multiple good players that add depth to your list often isn’t worth it - in our circumstance, it genuinely isn’t worth it. We need depth.
I’m all for giving Rosa a crack and seeing what he can do with the picks he has - his hands have been tied long enough with the Dodoro nonsense the last couple of years.
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I think its kind of irrelevant what blitz thinks and the “what if’s?” floating about. If we get Reid its because its part of Rosa’s plan and if we pull out then clearly Reid’s either not part of the plan, or the possible cost to completing other parts of the plan was too high.
TLDR: In Rosa we trust
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I just take exception to people using other clubs drafting mistakes, as an excuse for why we shouldn’t invest in the draft.
People forget that you get access to the whole draft, not just the group of players that Cal Twomey thinks are in that range.
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Richmond, Melbourne and Brisbane definitely hit the draft though before trading in.
- Richmond got Deledio, Cotchin, Rance, Martin, Riewoldt, Vickery from their period at the pointy end, before trading for Prestia for key pieces. And remember, they got Shai Bolton with the Vickery FA compo and Caddy with the Deledio trade value, so those were still critical picks.
- Melbourne got Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw, Gawn, Salem and others with low finishes before trading for the key backs.
- Brisbane got McCluggage, Berry, Rayner, due to finishing low.
All of those teams blew some picks (especially Brisbane, and Melbourne in their first rebuild attempt) but that is kind of why you need a lot of them.
Geelong and Collingwood benefited significantly from being at the top when the northern clubs were introduced.
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Haha for sure, that’s always been the case. We all have opinions - I’m ultimately powerless and just sharing my two cents.
EDIT: useless factoid about me. Every time Essendon do something administratively different to how I wish we’d do it, I jump into Football Manager to do things my way 
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I mean in theory that is correct, but there’s all kind of pressure on clubs to nail picks so the chances of any club going away from phantom drafts/top rated recruits is very, very low. Can you imagine the ■■■■-storm that would reign down if you selected a bloke rated outside the top 10 with your first pick? Great way to get fired.