2024 Draft Thread.

[Mat Mann]

Draft Period, November 20–21

• Round 1 of the National Draft: Wednesday, November 20
• Round 2–end of the National Draft: Thursday, November 21
• Rookie Promotions: Thursday, November 21, after the National Draft
• Delisted Free Agency Period (3): Thursday, November 21, after the National Draft
• List Lodgement 3*: Friday, November 22, 10am (optional; required for those participating in the PSD)
• Pre-Season Draft: Friday, November 22, 3pm
• Rookie Draft: Friday, November 22, 3.20pm

 

[Tommy Wigs]

Have heard from someone who is particularly well placed to pass comment on Smillie - the elite environment will bring the best out of him, leader/captain character. I’m very keen on him

My question would be things that we can’t see. So is there a view that he has an underlying hard edge? He moves very well and kicks pretty well for his size as a mid, but less so than more medium sized mids. So my query is whether he is “beast enough” to override those differences? If he’s not you probably finish up with a Setterfield.

I love the look of him, but we can’t see those personal traits. Does your contact believe he has those traits and just needs to be brought out?

 

[akaifu]

Agreed but I’m not rating FOS that highly and Smillie to me looks exactly what we need.
That would be ideal potentially ending with lalor/smillie. Even if we were just able to move up a rung or 2 using future picks can guarantee us a very strong midfield for many years to come.

Why don't you rate FOS?

 

[HeavenlySources]

Agreed but I’m not rating FOS that highly and Smillie to me looks exactly what we need.
That would be ideal potentially ending with lalor/smillie. Even if we were just able to move up a rung or 2 using future picks can guarantee us a very strong midfield for many years to come.

FOS is temu Darcy Wilson

 

[triggering bro]

Wonder if Jagga will slide? He’s been dominant but the oldest from the draft class and didn’t have school to focus on this year. He might be one viewed as not having the ceiling of some of the others. I reckon he’s the most likely to slide to pick 7 along with Smillie. Although Smillie would suit Richmond at 6. Or Melbourne. But surely Melbourne look to future proof their backline with May and Lever getting on and taking Windsor early last year.

Also, surely 2 is a reach for the Viking? And I’m starting to doubt Richmond trade up to 2. There’s not much point TBH. I reckon the top 10 selections will be unchanged.

1. Rich - Lalor
2. Bris - Ashcroft (match NM bid)
3. NM - Langford
4. Carl - FOS
5. Adel - Draper
6. Melb - Tauru
7. Rich - Smillie
8. StK - Smith
9. GWS - Lombard (match StK bid)
10. Ess - Kaku (match StK bid)
11. StK - Travaglia
12. Melb - Shanahan

Reid still on the board.

 

[falkstar]

Why don't you rate FOS?

Probably as he couldn’t touch the footy this year. His injuries were to his hand so that shouldn’t have stopped him being fit and getting to contests etc.

His numbers were crazy poor.

 

[Browny2Carlisle]

Why don't you rate FOS?

He seems more on potential than output this year. It’s a higher risk

 

[akaifu]

Probably as he couldn’t touch the footy this year. His injuries were to his hand so that shouldn’t have stopped him being fit and getting to contests etc.

His numbers were crazy poor.

What's the point in getting to contests when your cooked hand means you can't win contested ball?

I've played with hand injuries before and trust me it makes contested ball-winning a lot harder. He also had finger injuries so that makes it even harder

Below are his stats from the Champs - you can clearly see that he loses a ton of contested ball. He had to rely on uncontested possession

And if you are basing your judgement purely off numbers then I recommend watching him more - his game is based off damage per possession, not accumulation. Things happen when he gets the ball

 

[akaifu]

He seems more on potential than output this year. It’s a higher risk

Because he was injured all year. If you watch his 2023 and 2022 you'll see why people rate him so highly, he was a class above. That body of work is enough to justify the optimism around his potential

After all, you're drafting him for his next 15 years - his output in an injury-prone 2024 is not going to define him as much as an injury-free 2023 and 2022

 

[Tommy Wigs]

Which radio mate? Wouldn't mind having a listen myself.

I swear it was this because I didn’t listen to much trade radio, but I caught this interview. There was quite specific reference to Armstrong and Shanahan as being options with the second pick. He didn’t say we will take, but the specific reference to just two players, particularly when it’s not in relation to pick 1 or 2 when it could be more obvious, was really interesting. But there’s no reference in this podcast.

 

[akaifu]

Wanted to make this so we can reference this for exactly where midfielders sit in this draft. Happy to make changes if there are consensus disagreements with my list or add other players I've missed

Range:

Tier 1:
FOS*
Lalor*
Ashcroft (BRIS FS)
Jagga
Draper

Tier 2:
Lombard (GC Academy)
Langford
Smillie
Reid
Hotton*
Lindsay*
Travaglia*
Allan

Tier 3:
Marshall (BRIS Academy)
Hynes*
Hannaford*

Tier 4:
Gross*
Moraes*
Dattoli*
B.Camporeale (CARL FS)
Urquhart

Tier 5:
Ivisic
Anderson (Hawks Academy)
Ough
Hollow*
Unwin
Herbert*

Tier 6:
Sulzberger
Peckett (STK Academy)
Hargrave
Johnson
Warburton
L.Camporeale (CARL FS)*
Brew

* didn't play full time inside mid but are projected to be mids at AFL level

 

[Joffaboy]

I think it's pointless getting emotional about the system. You just have to do your best to work with in it. I'm guessing he's doing the swings and roundabouts. We are getting more academy players than most other Melbourne clubs and while we haven't got a Gulden yet we are starting to get advantages.

We have turned the club around in the last few years, making good decisions and structured the footy department properly. That will do more than all the little cherries of luck from FS and academy do. We probably wasted 100 plus players careers because we weren't a serious club for a long time.

This is the most relaxed I've been about our future in about 15 years. It looks like we are set up for a sustained period of competitiveness in the near future and we should start to see it next year with a bit of injury luck and a good draw.

So you disagree with the President's strategy of pointing out that we are expected to just make up the numbers and the inequities disadvantage the club?
Fair enough if you wallow in the mediocrity of our history I suppose.
Oh no mustn't grumble. Bend over and say please sir, may I have another.
Personally I was glad the rorts of the system was brought to light even if the timid ones in our fan base weren't.
Inequities and rorting should always be highlighted instead of skulking away infear.
The club HAS worked within the rules and HAS done it very well. The fact is other clubs don't need to work as hardbecause the AFL purposely disadvantage us
You seem happy with being reamed. Good for you.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[malevu]

This is spot on IMO. Twomey's phantom had Patty at 1 but his rankings had Tracc. At 1. https://www.afl.com.au/news/443857/phantom-draft-form-guide-november-update

I am unaware of any expert ranking Paddy at 1 (as opposed to having him in the phantom at 1) though it was a long time ago. Would be interested in seeing any evidence to the contrary.

I spoke to one of the Saints key draft people a few days out and remember being floored when he said Petracca wasn't a lock. I wasn't a draft watcher. I had no expertise. I was floored bc Petracca was the experts' consensus best player.

No lesser draft expert than Kevin Sheehan stated shortly before the draft that Petracca was a generational talent who he likened to Michael Voss. I don't think there's any revisionist thinking in place at all. It was a given who we would draft until a few days out. A poll of the other list guys after draft night indicated that all the others would've selected Trac. We were one out. Possibly there was a second but I'm not sure on that one.

 

[Desperate saint]

I think it took a while for Petracca to become consensus 1, but I remember Saints fans (and me) were kicking the cat when McClure came out with the whisper that we would take McCartin. He said that perhaps 36 hours before the draft IIRC. We had all expected Petracca until that time.

correct was completely left field from the expectation of fans everyone really

 

[sufficientintent]

North will only trade down with Richmond or us if they can guarantee that they'll still be able to get their guy at 6/7. If that's Tauru, then it's highly likely that he'll probably still be on the board, but that's not a guarantee. We're also flogging that hard because it suits our narrative.

At pick 2 you should never draft on need, you always take best available (shout out Stavro). This is probably the best example where a club should realistically be deviating from that, but there's plenty of reasons why North don't trade down or take Tauru at 2. E.g:

• if FOS goes at 1, Lalor is a different enough player that he won't take the role of Wardlaw, LDU, Sheezel, Simpkin, Powell or even Parker immediately. You can easily play him that Dusty type half forward / rotating on ball player for his first couple of years. Why can't they take Lalor at 2, and take key position players next year to develop them in tandem?
• Why can't they trade back in later to this year's draft with a future pick to get a key defender who slides?
• Why can't they target an established key defender through free agency or trade next year?

Let's 100% offer them a deal for pick 2 and let them take it if they want, but otherwise we shouldn't worry about what happens before our picks as it's out of our control. Just take the midfielder rated highest by the club at 7, listen to offers for 8 but probably just take the next highest rated midfielder.

 

[Joffaboy]

correct was completely left field from the expectation of fans everyone really

Was not completely left field. The argument had gone on for months prior.

I was firmly in the Petracca camp, but is absolutely false and revisionist to say it was totally unexpected.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[wannabewinner]

So you disagree with the President's strategy of pointing out that we are expected to just make up the numbers and the inequities disadvantage the club?
Fair enough if you wallow in the mediocrity of our history I suppose.
Oh no mustn't grumble. Bend over and say please sir, may I have another.
Personally I was glad the rorts of the system was brought to light even if the timid ones in our fan base weren't.
Inequities and rorting should always be highlighted instead of skulking away infear.
The club HAS worked within the rules and HAS done it very well. The fact is other clubs don't need to work as hardbecause the AFL purposely disadvantage us
You seem happy with being reamed. Good for you.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

Brother… I feel your angst.

 

[MOLTEN GANGLANDS]

Was not completely left field. The argument had gone on for months prior.

I was firmly in the Petracca camp, but is absolutely false and revisionist to say it was totally unexpected.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

it was somewhat of a shock when the rumor came out we would take paddy, the argument was there because people were questioning trac's character, not because they thought paddy was the better player, and even still I can't remember anyone really being firmly in the paddy camp. It was a generational **** up on our behalf, thought we were smarter than everyone else only to prove the opposite

 

[Call Me Cake]

trip up like Essendon did with Tsatas over Phillipou

Bookmarked.

 

[SaintSteele9]

My question would be things that we can’t see. So is there a view that he has an underlying hard edge? He moves very well and kicks pretty well for his size as a mid, but less so than more medium sized mids. So my query is whether he is “beast enough” to override those differences? If he’s not you probably finish up with a Setterfield.

I love the look of him, but we can’t see those personal traits. Does your contact believe he has those traits and just needs to be brought out?

Yes has them for sure. Not like a “oh, he’ll finally try at AFL level”, but very much a “he’ll continue to find new levels” on and off field. Is also very unsure he slips to us so I’ll be over the moon if he does.

 

[Geezington]

Bookmarked.

Who goes to another board just to bookmark a comment u weird campaigner

 

[Darkhour]

I would not discount Clark. Things happen when he is on the ball.

Hopefully he can hit 2025 fully fit and unhampered for a change.

The problem is we cant at the moment rely on Clarke. He's a bonus if we comes on. Steele has been our only constant in our midfield which tells us a lot.. I really like him, but we haven't had a reliable midfield at all for some time.

 

[Call Me Cake]

Who goes to another board just to bookmark a comment u weird campaigner

Just a bit of fun mate

 

[ScrappyDo]

it was somewhat of a shock when the rumor came out we would take paddy, the argument was there because people were questioning trac's character, not because they thought paddy was the better player, and even still I can't remember anyone really being firmly in the paddy camp. It was a generational **** up on our behalf, thought we were smarter than everyone else only to prove the opposite

I thinh Paddy's ya Daddy might have something to say about this.

 

[Sarcoidevo]

Saints to give Tigers pick 8 + F1 for Tigers picks 10 & 11

Tigers get a 2 pick upgrade to get ahead of Melbourne's pick 9 and shed a pick to get another in next year's draft

We still have 7 and get 10 & 11 ... get 3 high picks .... but lose our F1 (anywhere between pick 6 & 14) which I think we were happy to trade out anyway

Would anyone be happy with that?

 

[Rogue Warrior]

Just a bit of fun mate

Philipou’s trajectory provides plenty of reason for optimism, but it is far from a guarantee he tuns into a star.

Do you have any confidence that Tsatas will become a star of the comp?