Resource 2024 AFL Draft discussion thread (Wed Nov 20 to Fri Nov 22)

[baldandbroke]

Trade!!

<from the very start of the draft>

This got me too ... WHY of WHY did they flash up "TRADE!" over the top of "Next - North Pick 2" ??

Horrible horrible decision to not separate those inconsequential trades off to the side.

Wrapped with Draper - he spoke brilliantly, cannot wait to see him with Curtin and Soligo and Rankine in our centre mid rotations!

I love how they call our mids one-speed ... when really they are talking about Crouch and Laird.

As if Nicks would play those old bones instead of these awesome new shiny toys!!

Next you'll be telling me that Smith will keep Oscar Ryan out of a position

 

[StonesThrow]

So are you saying they should have picked Smith?

Yep. I would have been happy with Smith.

 

[StonesThrow]

I wish we'd draft a genuine small forward (Rachele doesn't count).

 

[Golumless]

I wish we'd draft a genuine small forward (Rachele doesn't count).

Eh, genuine small forwards just means they're too small to be seen as a midfielder. Or too shit.

The joy of the most important position on the ground being one that is purely about talent.

 

[DJ75]

Sydney love a sneaky SA pick and they did it again last night. I have a feeling Bowman is going to be very good for them.

 

[Bayno82]

Still criminal due to list spot availability they had to send 45 into next year's draft. With th FS bids that probably would have been around pick 40 just in front of Geelong to grab Dodson, without having to trade. That's my only gripe this offseason

 

[StonesThrow]

Eh, genuine small forwards just means they're too small to be seen as a midfielder. Or too shit.

The joy of the most important position on the ground being one that is purely about talent.

We lack a good genuine small forward. Rankine should be playing majority midfield. Rachele is the closest thing (great goal sense), but he's still probably a hybrid player.

Talking Papley, Cameron, Hill, Stengle (argh), Pickett types. Most of these can be found later in the first round all the way to the rookie draft.

 

[Danger in Texas]

I wish we'd draft a genuine small forward (Rachele doesn't count).

Rachele clearly counts, he’s just not a speedy one like we could probably do with

That said, with ANB/Keays probably having 3+ more years, we can probably afford to draft one next year, rather than this (even though there’s a few I like in this crop, there’s good small forward prospects every year)

 

[eaglevision]

For all the mega melts about WCE trading pick 3 out - Bo Allan, Liam Baker, Matt Owies and pick 45 doesn't look too bad for a team that needs to fill out a 22 that is competitive.

You’ve bought our BS media spin as well! Owies also cost two late picks and we would have got pick 45 regardless. Would have much rathered Smith or Draper. Desperate for elite midfielders and we draft a HBF, I’m sure you can relate to that.

Well done for holding your nerve and taking Draper, he’s the surest thing in the draft to make it as a very good AFL player.

Dodson still on the board and Keane still not yet upgraded… you know what to do, Vader will love it.

 

[Floating Doughnut]

No number 9 for Sid is a bit disappointing.

 

[crows dude]

You’ve bought our BS media spin as well! Owies also cost two late picks and we would have got pick 45 regardless. Would have much rathered Smith or Draper. Desperate for elite midfielders and we draft a HBF, I’m sure you can relate to that.

Well done for holding your nerve and taking Draper, he’s the surest thing in the draft to make it as a very good AFL player.

Dodson still on the board and Keane still not yet upgraded… you know what to do, Vader will love it.

So you're saying to pay out Burgess and leave Keane on Rookie list. Trade back into the second round to grab Dodson. Love it. But will we do it. Doubt it.

 

[Golumless]

We lack a good genuine small forward. Rankine should be playing majority midfield. Rachele is the closest thing (great goal sense), but he's still probably a hybrid player.



Talking Papley, Cameron, Hill, Stengle (argh), Pickett types. Most of these can be found later in the first round all the way to the rookie draft.

No we don't. We've picked up 60+ goals and 35 goal assists out of Ben Keays and Josh Rachele last year. We've had one of the more productive small forward groups in the league in the past two years. Equally we won't lose a lot of goalscoring power from Rankine with the midfield switch. The only thing you could argue is a genuine need is a super quick lad for pressure reasons


If Josh Rachele was 174 cm instead of 180 cm, he would be seen as a genuine small forward with no tinkering to his game. The only reason Rachele is seen as a hybrid player is he lacks the critical flaw to his game that caps his ceiling to being a small forward at this juncture. It's a damned with faint praise kind of phrase. After all, everything you need for a small forward to be successful, you need in the midfield. The only thing that really separates the two is that the threshold of skills/physical traits you need to be a successful small forward is lower.

Even one of the players you mentioned there in Pickett is Melbourne fifth most used player in CBA's and someone they've been willing to use as a front line midfielder at times in 2024 (noting he had three games where hit picked up >60% CBA).

 

[LC40]

he will be too slow for AFL

Yet a team used a round one pick on him. Won Vic Metro's MVP ,Fremantle did well.

 

[eaglevision]

So you're saying to pay out Burgess and leave Keane on Rookie list. Trade back into the second round to grab Dodson. Love it. But will we do it. Doubt it.

Exactly! We’ve been here before and don’t want to clog up your board so let’s move on. Any chance there isn’t a bid for Welsh?

 

[WaynesWorld19]

This got me too ... WHY of WHY did they flash up "TRADE!" over the top of "Next - North Pick 2" ??

Horrible horrible decision to not separate those inconsequential trades off to the side.

With all the discussion around NORTH trading pick 2 .....it was all theatre to get people believing NORTH were tradiing pick 2

Fact was, it was a pick trade that had been confirmed well B4 7pm .....pragmatically, it should have been announced pre-draft what pick swaps had been agreed upon .....but no, the broadcaster wanted drama & theatre

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Rachele clearly counts, he’s just not a speedy one like we could probably do with

That said, with ANB/Keays probably having 3+ more years, we can probably afford to draft one next year, rather than this (even though there’s a few I like in this crop, there’s good small forward prospects every year)

Don’t we have Jermaine Miller as a top NGA prospect in 2026?

 

[Danger in Texas]

Don’t we have Jermaine Miller as a top NGA prospect in 2026?

Good point, hard to know how his form will go over the next couple of years but he sounds promising at least

 

[Vader]

Just too easy to match bids. AFL have this wrong.

That's why the AFL has changed the points system, for 2025 and beyond. I still think they need to mandate clubs using a pick within 10 positions of the bid when matching 1st round bids, but the new points system is definitely an improvement.

 

[crows dude]

Exactly! We’ve been here before and don’t want to clog up your board so let’s move on. Any chance there isn’t a bid for Welsh?

If there is no bid then hes ours with our last pick.

 

[Vader]

Matching should require a pick in the same round

A bit hard when the bid comes in with one of the last few picks in the round. I would settle for "within a round of the bid", so a bid at pick #15 requires using a pick in the 16-33 range.

 

[Vader]

But how much of a difference will this really make?

Will make it a lot harder to match bids using junk picks in the 3rd & 4th rounds. Picks in the 4th round will be worth 0 points, and picks in the 3rd round have had their points roughly halved.

It should force teams to use earlier picks when matching - the points really fall away quickly after the 1st round.

 

[Thunderstruck]

Sydney love a sneaky SA pick and they did it again last night. I have a feeling Bowman is going to be very good for them.

Also love a St.Peters College lad I've noticed. Stephens, Hayward, Roberts and now Bowman.

 

[Vader]

So we have currently have pick 58, which i gather with 20% discount covers Welsh from pick 55.

There's a 197 point discount which applies to all bids after the 1st round. We're now covered to pick 44.

 

[Golumless]

With all the discussion around NORTH trading pick 2 .....it was all theatre to get people believing NORTH were tradiing pick 2

Fact was, it was a pick trade that had been confirmed well B4 7pm .....pragmatically, it should have been announced pre-draft what pick swaps had been agreed upon .....but no, the broadcaster wanted drama & theatre

They did. It was just pick 2 in 2025.

 

[StonesThrow]

No we don't. We've picked up 60+ goals and 35 goal assists out of Ben Keays and Josh Rachele last year. We've had one of the more productive small forward groups in the league in the past two years. Equally we won't lose a lot of goalscoring power from Rankine with the midfield switch. The only thing you could argue is a genuine need is a super quick lad for pressure reasons


If Josh Rachele was 174 cm instead of 180 cm, he would be seen as a genuine small forward with no tinkering to his game. The only reason Rachele is seen as a hybrid player is he lacks the critical flaw to his game that caps his ceiling to being a small forward at this juncture. It's a damned with faint praise kind of phrase. After all, everything you need for a small forward to be successful, you need in the midfield. The only thing that really separates the two is that the threshold of skills/physical traits you need to be a successful small forward is lower.

Even one of the players you mentioned there in Pickett is Melbourne fifth most used player in CBA's and someone they've been willing to use as a front line midfielder at times in 2024 (noting he had three games where hit picked up >60% CBA).

I disagree. There's a reason we've been stuck with Murphy and mchenry for years