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.

 

[2008wasoverDEW!]

WA gun on Gold Coast's radar as Suns seek midfield boost

Gold Coast officials met with Reuben Ginbey and his family in WA this week ahead of next week's NAB AFL Draft

www.afl.com.au

If Gold Coast do take Ginbey that would leave us choosing between Tsatas/Phillipou, Humphrey, Clark, and McKenzie.

 

[Noel Gallagher]

WA gun on Gold Coast's radar as Suns seek midfield boost

Gold Coast officials met with Reuben Ginbey and his family in WA this week ahead of next week's NAB AFL Draft

www.afl.com.au

If Gold Coast do take Ginbey that would leave us choosing between Tsatas/Phillipou, Humphrey, Clark, and McKenzie.

Essendon could take Humphrey which isn’t talked about much

 

[KermitJagger]

Those with a better knowledge of Tastas and/or player development - with his lack of a defensive side what are the odds of him being able to develop this? Are we going to be banking on hoping that the one way he does run is so damaging that it makes up for not running the other way - or is this something he can develop?

This is my major concern for him. This type of thing isn't a skill that you can develop through working hard, it's a mindset. Obviously Tsatas is a better player, but there are shades of Hartung in his attitude and play style, and we all know how that went. It's probably the hardest thing to improve in younger players, and considering his offensive output it's pretty telling how far he's likely to slip on draft night.

A defensive midfield can carry a damaging player who doesn't defend well, we saw that with Richmond and Dusty - but even Dusty averages 3 tackles across his career and he's exceptionally damaging. Tsatas averages 1 tackle a game, and from what I've seen he avoids even applying pressure a lot of the time.

 

[Brishawk]

Alright, I've got a two-hour flight coming up in an hour (hopefully), so I've got some time to do a final little write-up for our first two picks. Now that the order seems to have settled, here are the options.

Needs:
Impactful Midfielder - We have a great core developing with any of Worpel, War, Stephens, CMac, and Jai providing a great base. Now what we need is the one that wins the game. The Petracca to our Vineys, the Dangerfield to our Selwoods, the Dusty to our Cotchins.

Key Forward - Kozi, Lewis, Jeka, Ramsden, and Serong are not enough to take our forwardline to the finals. Sure, a few could come out really crisp and build themselves into the star we need, but if there's a chance at a potential superstar forward we should not be looking to far away.

Forward 50 Goal Kicking - Losing Gunner, and with Bruest and Chad on the way up to our Brisbane-based retirement home in the next few seasons, we will be in desperate need of goals. Players who can spring up as medium forwards and get on the board will prove invaluable over the next few seasons.


Pick 6

Elijah Tsatas - 187cm 80kg - Balanced Midfielder
The kid with the most superstar potential in the draft, Elijah is truly one of a kind. He has the speed, agility, height, composure, and tank to become a force in the AFL. His midfield production is rivaled only by Will Ashcroft, averaging 33.8 disposals, 7 marks, and 8.16 inside 50s over his six NAB league games. He's a player Hawthorn haven't had in a while, he uses his height and length to get his hands to the footy first in stoppages and extracts well for a player of his slight build. When out in space he becomes a real threat, using his insane agility and great speed to get the ball into dangerous positions for his forwards. When his team needs him he lifts, single-handedly willing his team to victory over Sandringham in the final round with 38 disposals and 13 inside 50s. Starting as a wing and moving in the guts as the year went on, Elijah's relentless attack and determination will the ball forward more than they stop it going back, with his defensive efforts showing some disappointing clips this year. This is definitely an issue that will require a good club with strong team culture and competent leadership to correct, but if he was to build that defensive side of his game he'd be the standout player of the draft class. Evidently, Essendon are skeptical that they have what it takes and may pass on the guy who should be a top 3 talent. Tsatas also has strong ties to the Greek community around East Melbourne, making interstate clubs wary of his dedication. The most talked about flaw in Tsatas's game is his kicking, which I feel is slightly overblown as an issue. In space he can be a brilliant kick, occasionally biting off more than he can chew with difficult passes or simply just bad decision-making. When you get 20 kicks a game some are going to go awry, especially as he transitioned into stoppages while recovering from a broken foot. I'll put this simply guys, we need to take Elijah if he is here. His flaws are fixable, his talent is unteachable. He brings consistency, upside, a high floor and had an unlucky year and the lowest he might fall is us. I would even trade up using the WBF2 with Essendon if it meant securing him. He is a better talent than Cadman and Sheezel in my (and a few others') eyes and had the year gone differently could very well have been the clear number-one pick. I'd back our talent development team to mold his undoubted upside into a force that defines our next era. I know he has his detractors, but I have never been more confident that a player would work out in our system more in my life.

Bailey Humphrey - 185cm 86kg - Medium Forward/Inside Midfielder

Power personified, Bear is the ultimate game-winner. Leading his team to a minor premiership and Grand Final berth, Bailey is a courageous and fierce competitor with an unrivaled attack on the footy through both the air, the stoppage, and on the ground. A blitzing athlete with the strength to play as a bull and the marking to play as a deep forward, Humphrey is the answer to our "gamewinner" conundrum. Playing like Jai out of the midfield, he tackles relentlessly and is a booming kick around the ground, hitting more targets with good consistency around the ground. His goal-kicking is another story, with a 21 goal 19 behind final line doing him favours through some of his games. What he brings to the club is aggression, a constant sense of danger for the opposition, and brilliant character that could signal a future captain with his vocal on-field directional and tactical talk being heralded by his coaches as game-winning. He needs to work on his fitness to play as a full time midfield, liely follwing the Petracca route of playing as a power half-forward before working his way into some CBAs, and his goal kicking routine requires some work to get consistent and repeatable. But for his upside, character, and sheer agression he's right up there with Tsatas in "must take if there"-land. Tsatas gets the edge for his insane production as a midfielder (did I mention his 33.8 disposals and 8 inside 50s yet?), but there would be plenty of reasons a club might see Humphrey as a better prospect.

Mattaes Phillipou - 192cm 89kg - Medium Forward/Midfielder

I've made my wariness about Phillipou no secret, but there's a definite upside that the club would be frothing over. I'll start this off with the biggest talking point about Phillipou: I love the FIGJAM. The "*-off, I'm good enough to do this" attitude is what we need in crunch time, the guy that still thinks he's got a game-winner up his back pocket even when we're down two goals with thirty seconds on the clock. He's not as elegant as some of the other kids, but I really don't care. He's not a toxic guy, he seems like good fun to get around and he's just supremely confident he can get it done. I like it. What I'm not a massive fan of is his midfield game. I know he racks up the possies and hits the scoreboard, but going through his games it's clear how he gets the footy. He's the last receiver type, the in-and-under like D'Aloia and Ryan work the footy out to him and he gets it forward. In terms of winning his own footy, he scarcely takes the footy after taking contact and will hang outside packs to seagull a loose footy or outlet handball. From there he can use his blitzing speed and booming boot to hit the scoreboard and open up games, but without his teammates, he reminds me of a Jack Billing's type float-along half-forward looking for a cheap footy instead of going and getting it. If he develops an inside game, he becomes the ultimate Bont clone. His marking as a forward is technically brilliant without being super impressive in packs and under pressure, with his leap and speed lending themselves to a beautifully crafted ou-the-back tactic where he sits at the front of the pack and then loops around to lead perpendicular to the kick and get a clean run at the footy. He reminds me a little of Gunner with a less impressive one-on-one craft as a forward. If we take him we'll be confident we have the team to feed it to him, or that we have the staff to bulk up his core and thighs to take contact standing up better and use his height and frame to bust games open when we need him too. I'd also like to see him build his fitness, he really tends to drop off into ball-watching when he get tired and can slip defensively.

Other Options
Those are the three main options it looks like we're going with, but I'd be remiss if I didn't get around to the others who could pop up at our pick.

Cam Mackenzie - 188cm 81kg - Balanced Midfielder
A good, solid producer with great skills and stoppage work. HIs biggest knock is his lack of verticality, he performs really poorly overhead as a tall midfielder. A solid contributor, but without the dynamic upside of THP. Looking an outside chance at our pick for the moment. I would prefer him to Phillipou myself, but I doubt clubs would.

Jhye Clark - 181cm 77kg - Inside Midfielder
A solid contributor with great leadership potential and very good aerial ability, he falls behind some others due to his supposed lack of upside. He also doesn't get the same production as Ashcroft or Tsatas, and doesn't kick goals as well as Humphrey or Phillipou. Another I would prefer over Phillipou, but not a player I think we pick up.

I was going to do Pick 25 as well, but looking at the options it's impossible to know who will be there without doing a whole RMC worth of profiles. After the first round is done I'll try and get up a write-up for the talents still available. As always, I'm happy to answer any questions regarding players so long as they are directed in an inflammatory and rage-inducing manner. It's just more fun that way.

Do you think pou can be an elite hff/wing who rotates through the middle if he fails to be a genuine contested mid? While I do share the concern, I think he looks so good on the outside he will probably make it there if he isn’t another bont. Plus I feel young taller players with skills do tend to play like does at his age.

 

[hawkinoz]

First two picks are spot on.

However Van Es, Teal and Vickery are all defenders. Massive overkill from a list management perspective. He probably just selected 'best available' in his opinion at these selections.

Lemmey was picked just after Teal
Adam DAloia soon after too.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

This is my major concern for him. This type of thing isn't a skill that you can develop through working hard, it's a mindset. Obviously Tsatas is a better player, but there are shades of Hartung in his attitude and play style, and we all know how that went. It's probably the hardest thing to improve in younger players, and considering his offensive output it's pretty telling how far he's likely to slip on draft night.

A defensive midfield can carry a damaging player who doesn't defend well, we saw that with Richmond and Dusty - but even Dusty averages 3 tackles across his career and he's exceptionally damaging. Tsatas averages 1 tackle a game, and from what I've seen he avoids even applying pressure a lot of the time.

This makes me nervous. If we are going to go with this player type then they would want to have definite X factor. I wonder if this is why we are looking at Ginbey - we will bide our time for the X-factor style midfielder who can play both ways next draft.

 

[RIOLINWITPUNCHS]

WA gun on Gold Coast's radar as Suns seek midfield boost

Gold Coast officials met with Reuben Ginbey and his family in WA this week ahead of next week's NAB AFL Draft

www.afl.com.au

If Gold Coast do take Ginbey that would leave us choosing between Tsatas/Phillipou, Humphrey, Clark, and McKenzie.

The Humphrey dream may still be alive.

 

[TDS7]

Do you think pou can be an elite hff/wing who rotates through the middle if he fails to be a genuine contested mid? While I do share the concern, I think he looks so good on the outside he will probably make it there if he isn’t another bont. Plus I feel young taller players with skills do tend to play like does at his age.

I think he has all the tools to become a Smitty-style attacking wing, but he'd need to build his tank up alot and either work on his defensive running or really hone his kicking skills. A wing who blazes away as soon as they get within 70 meters of goal is a detriment, but if MP can get those angled little bullet passes Amon and Ward do so well just up to scratch he could be deadly at the position. He wouldn't be bad if that was his final form, but you'd wish he could really build the contested game given his height and very solid, strong build.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

This is my major concern for him. This type of thing isn't a skill that you can develop through working hard, it's a mindset. Obviously Tsatas is a better player, but there are shades of Hartung in his attitude and play style, and we all know how that went. It's probably the hardest thing to improve in younger players, and considering his offensive output it's pretty telling how far he's likely to slip on draft night.

A defensive midfield can carry a damaging player who doesn't defend well, we saw that with Richmond and Dusty - but even Dusty averages 3 tackles across his career and he's exceptionally damaging. Tsatas averages 1 tackle a game, and from what I've seen he avoids even applying pressure a lot of the time.

Agree with this completely. And further to that Tsatas isn't an elite kick, which would go some way to compensating for the weaknesses at AFL level.

Honestly his kicking and decision making was terrible in that champs game.

 

[KermitJagger]

This makes me nervous. If we are going to go with this player type then they would want to have definite X factor. I wonder if this is why we are looking at Ginbey - we will bide our time for the X-factor style midfielder who can play both ways next draft.

I don't know the kid, so it might work if he ends up in our system surrounded by a lot of the really self driven players we've already got, but there's also the chance that he doesn't gel with the group so much and it alienates him. I suppose that's what the extensive interviewing is for, the club would have way more insight in this part than we do.

 

[hawkinoz]

Interesting that our second rounder gets pushed out to 28. Our picks from our trades may not come into the 30's after all - which was the biggest coping point on here after the trades were made.

That is cause all 4 FS gets called before our pick but Davey gets called right after their pick 22. LMAO. In reality Davey will get called in late teens & Max in late 20's.

We will have 2 30's pick for sure.

in this mock draft Vickery is called at pick 47 which should have swallowed up pick 48, which means pick 50,52,63 still needs to be used. Even if you say 63 gets used for Seamus, still need to see 50 & 52 but only see one used. Why? Why did they decide we will keep 1 spot for rookie pick & pass on 52 & 63( Seamus)?

 

[Hawk the Talk]

Won't matter. Phillipou already pumping up how he'd like to play at the Dons. Sounds done.

I’m not going to take too much from this. He was just asked if he’d like to be picked by the Bombers wasn’t he?

 

[RIOLINWITPUNCHS]

I actually suspect GC and Hawthorn are trying to spook WC into thinking they will take Ginbey in the hope of a trade.

 

[TDS7]

I actually suspect GC and Hawthorn are trying to spook WC into thinking they will take Ginbey in the hope of a trade.

This still works for us getting Humphrey or Tsatas. I don't care how sneaky we have to get, getting one of those two makes this whole offseason a massive A+ win. I know people are off of Tsatas, and I'm aware I just did a whole spiel about him but let's not get silly here guys. I would still take Tsatas with the first pick if we had it, he's got the production of Ashcroft with higher upside. Call it a hot take, call it delusional, just make sure we call his name out.

 

[Hawk the Talk]

I actually suspect GC and Hawthorn are trying to spook WC into thinking they will take Ginbey in the hope of a trade.

I think we just do our homework, I really don’t think we’re playing games

 

[2008wasoverDEW!]

This still works for us getting Humphrey or Tsatas. I don't care how sneaky we have to get, getting one of those two makes this whole offseason a massive A+ win. I know people are off of Tsatas, and I'm aware I just did a whole spiel about him but let's not get silly here guys. I would still take Tsatas with the first pick if we had it, he's got the production of Ashcroft with higher upside. Call it a hot take, call it delusional, just make sure we call his name out.

Agree. The fact Tsatas might slide to pick 6 shouldn't be spooking people. He's an exceptional talent, even if he still needs to improve certain aspects of his game. All draftees do. His numbers have been off the charts this year, and he will be a very good inclusion to our midfield mix if we are lucky enough to select him.

 

[Hawk the Talk]

The Humphrey dream may still be alive.

The opportunity to choose from 2 of Tsatas, Humphrey or Phillipou would be bloody amazing!

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Take away the Essendon gushing I really enjoy this kid's brashness. We have enough hard working types - if this kid backs up his bumptious manner on the training track and on gameday then I would love him at the club.

I guess all kids would like to go as early as they could in the draft, so I get why he’s outwardly saying he’d like to go to there..

 

[MrPremiership]

I guess all kids would like to go as early as they could in the draft, so I get why he’s outwardly saying he’d like to go to there..

I don't really take much note into anything draftees say about clubs before the draft. They just want to get drafted and make everyone happy

 

[Rocket72]

I've enjoyed reading this thread, so much so that I painstakingly mined all of the posts to calculate frequency of words and produced a wordcloud. My hope was that it sumerised all of the discussion we've been having. Check it out below.

 

[TylerDurden]

To be fair, Cal is probably the authority here.

Keen to see his Sunday night picks.

 

[hawkmang]

To be fair, Cal is probably the authority here.

Keen to see his Sunday night picks.

it’s dropping on Saturday night this year, one sleep closer already

 

[Ned Ryerson]

I guess all kids would like to go as early as they could in the draft, so I get why he’s outwardly saying he’d like to go to there..

Not to mention the question is likely being posed to him 'there's lots of talk the Bombers will take you, would you be excited to go there' - so of course he's not going to hang the proverbial on them in response, much as it would be funny.

 

[Hawk the Talk]

Not to mention the question is likely being posed to him 'there's lots of talk the Bombers will take you, would you be excited to go there' - so of course he's not going to hang the proverbial on them in response, much as it would be funny.

Imagine it!!

“Nah, I don’t like drug cheats and I’d rather go to a team that will win a finals game before I retire”

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Imagine it!!

“Nah, I don’t like drug cheats and I’d rather go to a team that will win a finals game before I retire”

He'd be a hall of famer the second we drafted him.