Player Watch 2022 AFL National Draft Discussion - read the pinned post

[Strapping Young Lad]

National AFL draft Monday November 28(first round only).
All other selections to be held on Tuesday November 29.
The pre-season and rookie drafts will then take place at 3pm (AEST) on Wednesday November 30.

 

[Coach Killer]

Do we really have in and under , first to the drop of the ball stoppage players on our midfield mix? I can see worpel doing it but the rest like ward, newc, McDonald are more your second reciever types from stoppage. That's one thing to consider when looking at someone like Clark.

There is no chance that Clark gets a game in our midfield next year. He could hardly match it with his own peers this year. He is nowhere near AFL ready and isn't getting a game before any of our current midfielders on the list.

The same can not be said about Philipou, Tsatas or McKenzie and others like Gimbey, Hewet, Allan and Humphries.

 

[Dewnior]

Let's hope they go Ginbey or even better take Clark just to piss the off.

Why? They'll just trade Clark to Geelol in a couple of years together with another 1st rounder.

 

[Dewnior]

Heard similar - Dodo had a clandestine meeting with Phil MaCrackin.

Any relation Phil McCreviss ?

 

[Rocket72]

Something about Phillipou's personality that doesn't sit well with me.
I've got doubts he'd fit in with our younger crop, if I'm perfectly honest.
Our young boys seem to be a humble lot. I just can't see them working with this bloke.

Think we’ve got this all wrong because we are judging an unfiltered, unprepared interview from a kid who hasn’t had any media training. Many of the draft hopefuls do media training, he hasn’t. Much of the video you see online will be edited, or otherwise prepared using a framework. Don’t dismiss this kid because he is being ‘real’.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Think we need to be careful judging the character of 17 years old kids we’ve never met, trying to differentiate between confidence and arrogance is near impossible.

Let’s be real most young professional athletes aren’t going to be overly humble, including ours. I think it’s part of what makes most elite athletes great to be honest

The reactions to Phillipou on this board (from a few well known posters too) leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

Middle aged posters going so hard at a confident 17 year old kid, its weird. We even have mods getting involved in the pile-on!

 

[nelk boys]

There is no chance that Clark gets a game in our midfield next year. He could hardly match it with his own peers this year. He is nowhere near AFL ready and isn't getting a game before any of our current midfielders on the list.

The same can not be said about Philipou, Tsatas or McKenzie and others like Gimbey, Hewet, Allan and Humphries.

This is hilarious.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

The reactions to Phillipou on this board (from a few well known posters too) leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

Middle aged posters going so hard at a confident 17 year old kid, its weird. We even have mods getting involved in the pile-on!

Is anyone really going hard?

People are questioning if his supreme confidence will be a red flag to clubs and if he’ll get the best out of himself or he’ll pull a JHF when someone tells him to take an ice bath.

 

[Slainte]

who will it be?

Elijah Tsatas - quick, accumulator, good endurance, contested side is a bit average, wing/first receiver, kicking can be a mixed bag, poor defensively, but thats normal for winger types
Cam MacKenzie - quick, smart, quality disposal, wins contested footy
Jhye Clark - grunt work mid, when in space good disposal, good mark for his size, was good early in season and poor late season, could be lack of endurance or injury or something?
Mattaes Phillipou - long goal kicking mid/forw, accumulator, good disposal, has tickets on himself
Bailey Humphrey - powerful mid, poor kicking at goal, injury history and concerns, good kicking in space as a mid, more first receiver than contested ball winner

When you put it that way, it sounds like the choice is between MacKenzie and selling the pick for more options down the draft.

 

[FB19]

Is anyone really going hard?

People are questioning if his supreme confidence will be a red flag to clubs and if he’ll get the best out of himself or he’ll pull a JHF when someone tells him to take an ice bath.

I’m just glad I wasn’t held to that scrutiny at 17 the expectations of young dumb boys is quite astounding

 

[Blackhawk42]

There is no chance that Clark gets a game in our midfield next year. He could hardly match it with his own peers this year. He is nowhere near AFL ready and isn't getting a game before any of our current midfielders on the list.

The same can not be said about Philipou, Tsatas or McKenzie and others like Gimbey, Hewet, Allan and Humphries.

Clark is on the lower end of my priority list at our selection, but I don't believe any of this is correct. He'd get games for us easily.

 

[BigLittleHawk]

I reckon picking up Phillipou could be a win-win situation. Seemingly, his biggest knock is his ego.

So if we draft him, and he is the best (with realistic expectations), it's a win.

If we draft him and he doesn't meet expectations, he will get a knock to his ego with an ensuing attitude adjustment, which will make him strive harder to improve. Again, a win.

The more I think about it, the more I want Phillipou with our first choice.
C'mon MM, introduce 'the Pou' to the John Kennedy Snr statue!

 

[Coach Killer]

Clark is on the lower end of my priority list at our selection, but I don't believe any of this is correct. He'd get games for us easily.

Maybe if a whole bunch of our midfielders get injured otherwise there’s only 4 potential spots available for Clark (RR, R, C and 1 on the bench) and they’re currently taken up by Jai, Worpel, Finn & Ward and there’s McDonald, Stephens and Nash already competing for those spots. That’s 7 players ahead of him before he walks through the door. Whose spot does he take and who is he ahead of?

The reality is very few 18 yo break through as an AFL midfielder in their first year. Clark simply isn’t going to be one of them, that’s not a knock on him, he’s just nowhere near ready, no matter who picks him. He has a lot of development work ahead of him.

Conversely, the boys listed in my previous post can all play round 1 for most clubs. Either due to been able to play multiple positions, therefore there are more spots available for them, or they are of the very few who have the talent and bodies to compete at AFL level next year.

 

[Coach Killer]

I reckon picking up Phillipou could be a win-win situation. Seemingly, his biggest knock is his ego.

So if we draft him, and he is the best (with realistic expectations), it's a win.

If we draft him and he doesn't meet expectations, he will get a knock to his ego with an ensuing attitude adjustment, which will make him strive harder to improve. Again, a win.

The more I think about it, the more I want Phillipou with our first choice.
C'mon MM, introduce 'the Pou' to the John Kennedy Snr statue!

The Poo is a jet. Every recruiter knows it. We won‘t be passing on him if he’s available. 100% lock it in.

 

[Blackhawk42]

Maybe if a whole bunch of our midfielders get injured otherwise there’s only 4 potential spots available for Clark (RR, R, C and 1 on the bench) and they’re currently taken up by Jai, Worpel, Finn & Ward and there’s McDonald, Stephens and Nash already competing for those spots. That’s 7 players ahead of him before he walks through the door. Whose spot does he take and who is he ahead of?

The reality is very few 18 yo break through as an AFL midfielder in their first year. Clark simply isn’t going to be one of them, that’s not a knock on him, he’s just nowhere near ready, no matter who picks him. He has a lot of development work ahead of him.

Conversely, the boys listed in my previous post can all play round 1 for most clubs. Either due to been able to play multiple positions, therefore there are more spots available for them, or they are of the very few who have the talent and bodies to compete at AFL level next year.

We said the same thing last year leading into round 1 but Sam gave priority to Ward and Macdonald to fast track our rebuild.

It will likely happen again no matter who we select at pick 7.

 

[BigLittleHawk]

The Poo is a jet. Every recruiter knows it. We won‘t be passing on him if he’s available. 100% lock it in.

Wow. Hope you're right.
Phillipou or Tsatas.

 

[TDS7]

The Poo is a jet. Every recruiter knows it. We won‘t be passing on him if he’s available. 100% lock it in.

Just like Hewett and B. George?

Running out of locks here CK.

I still don't want Phillipou at our pick. I don't think he cracks it as a midfielder and his forward craft is good but not outstanding. Without getting into the ego debate, I'm not a fan of how switched off he can get as a midfielder, he's on blitzing half the time and ball-watching the other half. He doesn't take contact well in spite of his solid frame and doesn't put in a ton of defensive effort. Makes for a good highlight reel though. From what I've seen from other draft watchers, pretty much everyone has at least three of Tsatas, Clark, Humphrey, and Mackenzie ahead of him. I'll back our recruiters to make the right decision, but in the lead up he's still my least favorite player the board has been enamored with this week.

 

[burner1]

Every year posters become more confident on who are the ‘right picks’ in the weeks leading up to the draft despite no footy being played and not many people actually watching more than highlights. Just getting ready for the melts when X player is picked over X player who was rated higher on BigFooty.

 

[RIOLINWITPUNCHS]

Sam Mitchell was never short of confidence as a player. I do wonder if he sees a bit of himself in young Phillipou.

 

[HODGEYROAD]

Lance Franklin had some sort of ego going into the draft.

 

[RIOLINWITPUNCHS]

Lance Franklin had some sort of ego going into the draft.

These big ego types are really hit and miss aren't they.

Not sure we are in a position to risk it like we were in 04 when we had 3 top 7 picks.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Big LOL on all the Sigmund Freuds on this board, comical reading

Crazy stuff indeed.

Unless anyone has heard actual anecdotes about something he's done, or how he interacts with his team mates and coaches etc, or exactly how he's presented in the interviews, then we're all just having a laugh.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

I can’t figure it either. He does sound mature with the way he talks about most things and still needing to work on his game, but he also says these things in such a way that it sounds like he’s just giving lip service to them.
It’s quite obvious that he’s convinced that he’s going very early, but it remains to be seen if this is something that clubs embrace or if they see trouble.

Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Sam and Mark finished their interview with him at Marvel.

So what's the difference between Phillipou saying all of that - and Tsatas saying he thinks he should go #1, and also talking about himself as being in the frame for being a top three pick (playing alongside Wardlaw etc)?

IMO nothing is wrong with either.

I understand we have spoken to him a few times, so he must be in consideration for our pick.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

I reckon picking up Phillipou could be a win-win situation. Seemingly, his biggest knock is his ego.

So if we draft him, and he is the best (with realistic expectations), it's a win.

If we draft him and he doesn't meet expectations, he will get a knock to his ego with an ensuing attitude adjustment, which will make him strive harder to improve. Again, a win.

The more I think about it, the more I want Phillipou with our first choice.
C'mon MM, introduce 'the Pou' to the John Kennedy Snr statue!

I don't see how a young player who is full of confidence won't be completely embraced by Mitchell (provided they work of course).

One of the changes that Mitchell brought in as soon as he was announces was telling the players (DGB, etc) that he wants them to back themselves and play to their strengths. Mitchell wants his players to be confident in their abilities.

Even when he was an assistant this was part of his vision, as evidenced by CJ's transformation. Which CJ has credited him with, thanks to their chat during the 2020 off season (or around that time).

 

[burger09]

Honest interviews with the players coaches and team mates are gold.
Harder to get though. Most like to promote the player and not play the rat when on the record.

Second hand info becomes the most reliable, unreliable source.

 

[cryptor]

Clubs are making their selection at pick 1 based on expected future performance, informed by past performance and influenced by a varying combination of intangibles.

Nothing arrogant about any kid who is widely accepted to be a top 10 pick to think he could provide the most future performance from his draft pool. Really it should be expected from any likely first round pick for them to think they would deliver that to their club in time.