Game Day 2018 AFL Draft - Live Chat

[Ysaye]

So it looks like the most talked about players on this board all struggled to meet expectation.

Hill, expected top be a top 10 pick - pick 24
Carter, expected to go in the main draft - Cat B rookie
O'Reilly , 3rd roundish - undrafted
Medhat, late pick to rookie - undrafted
Stack, 3rd roundish - undrafted
Pickett, late pick - undrafted

Hill went slightly earlier than I expected (was thinking he would be late second to early third). The Hill name and a single youtube video from 2017 with an outstanding game was always going to get people over-excited. I know some people think club recruiters should overlook certain aspects / attributes when ranking, but at the end of the day they generally don't.

Carter - has fallen a long way from where I was thinking he would be at the start of the year but honestly he really struggled this year in both U18s and in the Colts and arguably worse than his early 2017 form, so no suprises he went as a rookie, but I was thinking he would go late because of his work ethic and athletic traits might be attractive to other clubs.

O'Reilly - I thought he would be taken late or in the rookie draft despite the positional queries. Interesting that victorian equivalent Zane Barzen also didn't get taken, and outside of Lukosius and Max King no other solely key forwards were taken (and relatively few players 195+ - Bailey Williams and Will Kelly?) which says a lot about what you have to have if you are even going to make it to list as a tall. Still probably sits in a position as Jeremy McGovern did of if he improves the next year round, he might get taken even in the mid-season draft.

Medhat - whilst some of the highlights were good, the colt stats clearly weren't supporting his case and the state combine probably suggested a few areas to work on, and it was clear it was really only going to be Freo if he went, and when he wasn't nominated, I figured he would be a rookie at best.

Stack - those in the know had flagged the stuff around him really early, so I was sure that we or the eagles weren't going to touch him and the logical outcome was that there was the potential no other club would either.

Are we talking Marlion Pickett? Feels like this gets raised every year for the last four years. Plug and play? IMO it has never been clear into which slot. At 26 years old, was more likely than not to be undrafted. Heck Grigg I thought was a true plug and play and he didn't get picked up, so no surprises here.

I thought Tyron Smallwood not going and Greaves falling to the rookie draft were the biggest WA surprises for me.

 

[Scham]

Totally agree re Medhat and Pickett. Couldn’t understand the hype around those two on here.

I couldn’t get a handle on Hill as the reports were so varying from Luke Ablett saying he’d go top 10 to Knightmare and you not rating him top 30. I admit in the end I got sucked in and thought we’d take him at 17.

 

[nurries]

Overall in the trade and draft period we have filled a lot of needs.

Added forward depth with Hogan,Lobb, Schultz, Sturt and Collier

Midfield depth in Conca, Bewley, Valente

Intercept defender in Watson and running defender in Carter

The list is way more balanced. Good job Freo!!!

 

[Dockernut]

Still absolutely buzzing about getting Valente. What a steal.

 

[Carson Dial]

Still absolutely buzzing about getting Valente. What a steal.

If you haven’t already done so you should check out the West Coast Board for the melts when we picked Valente..lol

 

[Bulldocker]

Still absolutely buzzing about getting Valente. What a steal.

Yeh, Foley pretty handy but still can't believe eagles chose him ahead of Valente. Reckon he'll turn out to be one of those 'if only' types that other clubs will rue not picking up - considering some of the ho-hum players selected earlier in that range.

 

[Caldera]

I found the live trading interesting - and difficult to keep up with. But it was a total contrast to the typical trades, where teams would battle it out to get a “break even” type deal. But live trading - you want to move up the draft you pay through the nose. Our trade to get Valente is an example (3 spots up for a subsequent 16 place drop), but I thought Carlton’s trade to get Stocker was risky, as well as the Swans trading with the Eagles to get back into the 2nd round. All looks great now, I wonder how those clubs will feel in 12mths time.

And I’m not criticising our strategy, I like our draft at face value but like any year, no judgement can be made until all our guys get a chance to show what they have.

 

[Taylor]

I think it should be against the rules to trade once your player is bid on though. That one didn't sit right with me.

 

[Johnny Dalmas]

I found the live trading interesting - and difficult to keep up with. But it was a total contrast to the typical trades, where teams would battle it out to get a “break even” type deal. But live trading - you want to move up the draft you pay through the nose. Our trade to get Valente is an example (3 spots up for a subsequent 16 place drop), but I thought Carlton’s trade to get Stocker was risky, as well as the Swans trading with the Eagles to get back into the 2nd round. All looks great now, I wonder how those clubs will feel in 12mths time.

And I’m not criticising our strategy, I like our draft at face value but like any year, no judgement can be made until all our guys get a chance to show what they have.

With something like the Valente trade you have to think about it as: is getting Valente worth the difference between a Carvarra/Taylor/Parker and Schultz.

 

[Johnny Dalmas]

I'd like to see the 1st and 2nd rounds held in the same session .
I reckon they should also allow clubs to make their 1st round picks after, say, 2:30 or 3:00 mins instead of forcing them to take the full five mins.
The AFL should hire a pro presenter to read out the picks. Watching McLoughlin and Hocking read out picks is tedious.

 

[Bulldocker]

9

I think it should be against the rules to trade once your player is bid on though. That one didn't sit right with me.

That loophole will be closed by next year I reckon. Nobody at AFL house saw that coming - nor the clever swifty the Swans organised with eagles.

 

[Ysaye]

Totally agree re Medhat and Pickett. Couldn’t understand the hype around those two on here.

I couldn’t get a handle on Hill as the reports were so varying from Luke Ablett saying he’d go top 10 to Knightmare and you not rating him top 30. I admit in the end I got sucked in and thought we’d take him at 17.

I think with such a player it was natural to have a range of views and 17 was not at all unreasonable to think that he might go there.

I knew that RoyalEagle who sees a lot of the WA boys and in general has strong knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses didn't rate Hill that highly. I totally accept that I could be way out with how they get picked but at some point you have to back what you think you have seen, balance sometimes with what others have said and how you think recruiters will react. In my book there is a decent probability that Hill could really make it as an elite forward but at the other end there is also a very decent chance he won't make it to 20 games, so a very wide scope - how does that then play out in a drafting sense? IMO recruiters have become more and more conservative over the years and very wary of low floors, so they tend to be very cautious with a player like that.

 

[G Mus]

Totally agree re Medhat and Pickett. Couldn’t understand the hype around those two on here.

I couldn’t get a handle on Hill as the reports were so varying from Luke Ablett saying he’d go top 10 to Knightmare and you not rating him top 30. I admit in the end I got sucked in and thought we’d take him at 17.

Ithought we'd give him a go only as Cat B, no list spot taken up no salary cap taken up - on the off chance he blossoms under a professional environment and depth for Peel if not

 

[Randomizor]

9

That loophole will be closed by next year I reckon. Nobody at AFL house saw that coming - nor the clever swifty the Swans organised with eagles.

The AFL approved the strategy beforehand

 

[SHill Shall]

With something like the Valente trade you have to think about it as: is getting Valente worth the difference between a Carvarra/Taylor/Parker and Schultz.

Presumably we'd already set our sights on taking Schultz and Bewley with our third and fourth picks - so we traded down our third pick knowing it was unlikely to cost Schultz but giving us the benefit of picking before WC's third. If so, that worked out very well - it also eventually provided us a greater opportunity to pick up one of the biggest sliders in the draft.

 

[Unique Name]

Has there been any radio interviews with the new boys. Usual have a raft of them by now.

 

[SHill Shall]

If you haven’t already done so you should check out the West Coast Board for the melts when we picked Valente..lol

Yeah - and a bit later the comments changed to one's like this:

Valente is almost a ready to go player but has a low ceiling. You cant have to many of his type playing midfield as it limits your ability to spread the ball out of stoppages and you end up like us in 2017 or saints this year .
We chose O'Neill over him as an inside mid to go with ainsworth , brayshaw and matt allen all not best 22 inside mids yet .
Adding valente would be too much .
Foley on the other hand is an outside mid which we need .
We passed on valente because we value footspeed
​

It is tough for folks to reconcile the pre draft consensus of who's good and who's not to the reality of who their recruiters took - many of our tribe had the same problem post draft over Hill. But the Valente slide sure helped us get over it!

 

[theGav56]

I am not expecting to be putting away a highlights video of Valente into my vault to watch in my rapidly approaching dotage. There is a bit of meat and potatoes about him. Honest player lacking in the spectacular. Does his job, and does it well, week in, week out.

Also just to say, I think that is exactly what we need, and very happy to have a Mr Reliable coming through. We needed to find a replacement for Neale, and while I wouldn't see them as overly similar, they get the ball and use it pretty well.

 

[mightymouse75]

I am not expecting to be putting away a highlights video of Valente into my vault to watch in my rapidly approaching dotage. There is a bit of meat and potatoes about him. Honest player lacking in the spectacular. Does his job, and does it well, week in, week out.

Also just to say, I think that is exactly what we need, and very happy to have a Mr Reliable coming through. We needed to find a replacement for Neale, and while I wouldn't see them as overly similar, they get the ball and use it pretty well.

Instant neale replacement. Like it lots. Had a need. Fixed it.

 

[Tundrawolf]

Jordan Clark was our number one target on draft night, and Ian Hill was never a chance with either of our first two picks even if he was available.

 

[Scham]

Jordan Clark was our number one target on draft night, and Ian Hill was never a chance with either of our first two picks even if he was available.

Can you say why Tundrawolf? Was it just his size and lack of form at 18? Didn’t suit our needs?

 

[Tundrawolf]

Can you say why Tundrawolf? Was it just his size and lack of form at 18? Didn’t suit our needs?

I went back and forth on how to word a response. Nothing to do with size or ability, there is a definite leaning towards players who the club believe can improve the overall workplace environment (some would say culture).

One of the most attractive features for the draft team is personality (including family background and support) , it's no secret that given players of similar ability, a club will always choose the "model citizen", that's not to say that Hill wasn't, he just wasn't as highly regarded as the guys we took.

Not sure I articulated that particularly well but there has been a shift towards improving the club off the field.

 

[Scham]

I went back and forth on how to word a response. Nothing to do with size or ability, there is a definite leaning towards players who the club believe can improve the overall workplace environment (some would say culture).

One of the most attractive features for the draft team is personality (including family background and support) , it's no secret that given players of similar ability, a club will always choose the "model citizen", that's not to say that Hill wasn't, he just wasn't as highly regarded as the guys we took.

Not sure I articulated that particularly well but there has been a shift towards improving the club off the field.

Very well put. And I for I am very happy to hear it.

 

[greatgatsby]

I went back and forth on how to word a response. Nothing to do with size or ability, there is a definite leaning towards players who the club believe can improve the overall workplace environment (some would say culture).

One of the most attractive features for the draft team is personality (including family background and support) , it's no secret that given players of similar ability, a club will always choose the "model citizen", that's not to say that Hill wasn't, he just wasn't as highly regarded as the guys we took.

Not sure I articulated that particularly well but there has been a shift towards improving the club off the field.

But you did!

 

[Mr Fonebone]

Great draft...but we are one developing KPD short I reckon.

Young Cox may have to put aside his preference for being a forward.