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AFLW 2024 - Round 9 - Indigenous Round - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Analysis 2024 National Draft
- Thread starter WalshistheGOAT
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- Jul 7, 2018
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Jagga just strikes me as one of the smartest footballers you could possibly get. His positioning, planning, reaction time, decision making and ability to evade opponents in a phone booth and dispose of the ball quickly is just unmatched.
You look at his physique and think it’s a weakness but he is just so damn difficult to lay a glove on that it barely matters. Opponents may break a few of his tackles in his early years which would be the only concern.
What I love is how he gets involved in transition footy. He creates overlap run and when working alongside someone like Walsh I
think it will only amplify their strengths, rather than be redundant.
I see him as someone who can enhance our ability to cleanly exit stoppages and be part of a unit that can improve the flow of our transition footy and thereby give Charlie, Harry and Ashton more opportunities for 1on1 contests.
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You look at his physique and think it’s a weakness but he is just so damn difficult to lay a glove on that it barely matters. Opponents may break a few of his tackles in his early years which would be the only concern.
What I love is how he gets involved in transition footy. He creates overlap run and when working alongside someone like Walsh I
think it will only amplify their strengths, rather than be redundant.
I see him as someone who can enhance our ability to cleanly exit stoppages and be part of a unit that can improve the flow of our transition footy and thereby give Charlie, Harry and Ashton more opportunities for 1on1 contests.
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Jacks Seething Rage
Team Captain
- Apr 13, 2024
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Which in terms of pure football ability was pretty damn good.
Like Godfather 3, the ending marred an incredible body of work.
I think decision making is one of the few things that can be seriously improved on with experience. Imagine Draper with AFL experience and confidence who finds the space that he can do with his speed and gut running - then with the ability to slow down and make the right decision. Getting into space is the hard part, he can improve what he does when he has the space.
An elite midfielder will play about 300 games spanning about 10 years or so.
One shouldn’t be too concerned about the initial impact of the first 1 or 2 years as their bodies adjust to AFL seniors aerobic fitnesses and physical maturity demands. Every youngster will adapt at their own peace , it’s absolutely essential they have proper mentoring and support during the journey.
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See my post in the context of the discussion leading to it.
I am of the belief we need to focus on the best player out of the consensus top 4-5 picks that can deliver in the next 3 years to deliver a premiership while we have Cripps / Curnow / McKay / Weitering in their prime.
I could honestly see Richmond taking Tauru at 7
A player either has good footy IQ, meaning decision making , vision, reading and creating the play or just doesn’t, it’s a trait that just can’t be taught, it’s an innate talent, natural and can’t be replicated.
I disagree. While some absolutely can't. I think it's naive to say that players can't improve their footy IQ and decision making and in fact I would say that is absolutely farcical.
bradfisher14
Not actually Brad Fisher
Tend to agree with this.
Very rare that a player goes from making poor decisions under the pressure of junior footy, to making good decisions under the significantly higher level of pressure in AFL footy.
They could … but the mail is they love Smillie who theyd have to take at 7
Will be interesting to see how he goes. Struggled to dominate in a comp where he has a massive size advantage which will be lessened when he gets into the AFL. Will he just become smallish KPP like Francis or Fogarty.
Which is another reason they should just bite the bullet and put 6 on the table for North in a trade up for 2.
Seems as though after trading with GC , they believe they can have it all …
- Sep 28, 2018
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Am I going mad…(rhetorical)
…or did I just see a report from Cal that we've traded 38 for Brisbanes F2?
…or did I just see a report from Cal that we've traded 38 for Brisbanes F2?
bradfisher14
Not actually Brad Fisher
We already have Brisbane's F2
- Sep 28, 2018
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Ahhh … the joys of instagram
Don’t suppose they have another one?
Seeing myself out…
3weeks ago
11. Brisbane gets Pick 34 and 66. Carlton gets Pick 73 and the Lions’ future second-round pick.
12. Carlton gets Pick 14. Hawthorn gets the Blues’ future first and second round picks.
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Can't agree with this, FBI - it's the difference between the Sam Mitchells and Nick Grahams of the world
As I said in my post, clearly there are some who can't - i.e Young's greatest deficiency is that he has not improved his decision making, but I don't think that suggests it cannot be done.
Particularly for a player like Draper who finds himself in space - decision making opportunities will arise because of that space. The difference in someone like Graham and his average athletic capabilities means he was always under pressure and never able to make better decisions. Draper should be able to generate both the physical and mental space to allow him to make better decisions and I think that will develop with experience.
Further, I think context matters. You look at players like Young and Graham and say they never improved their IQ but they weren't given the environment to do so. Neither have substantial AFL experience and experience at VFL level may actually have a negative influence on AFL level footy IQ because they may have more time or space at VFL level that compound their decision making flaws under higher pressure at AFL level. I think if you take any player playing 200+ games at AFL level their football IQ will increase overtime, it has to. In the case of a player like Draper his physical capabilities and talent give him the opportunity to come in and play AFL, even if his decision making may not currently be the best, but playing at the level and using his physical capabilities and talent to get him out of trouble at AFL level will allow him opportunities to grow and develop, that is not the same as a player like Graham or Young.
I think there are clearly opportunities to develop Footy IQ at AFL level and would say there has to be as a fact of life.
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I don't think you can predict improvement in that space. It's not like physical strength, where you can put a player in a gym and 12 months later they're wrestling Tom Hawkins. It's not like goal-kicking, where you can break down and rebuild a set shot routine and teach a player to account for all the environmental factors.
Yes, some players will improve their decision making over the course of their career. But it's going to be over the course of their whole career, and it could be anything from a 1% improvement to something more significant, though far more likely to be on the lower end. It's earned through experience.
Yes, you can teach a player where to look and which players they should target when they're kicking inside 50. You can try to teach them to recognise when a gap is a genuine gap and when the time it takes the ball to get there means it's going to be an intercept or a spoil instead.
But some players, and Jagga Smith appears to be one of them, just get it. He's always present, always watching, always active - he rarely has a moment where he switches off or sits back, when he doesn't have the ball he's working out where he can get the ball, and what his options will be once he has it. He's constantly aware of the state of play around him, where his exits are, how much time he's likely to have after he takes possession, which teammates are outside or goalside of their opponent and can receive a handball into space. He can look ahead and make snap judgements on whether a short lead should be honoured or if the opposition are in position to pick it off. And I highly doubt much of it is conscious - his speed of thought is lightning quick, which indicates that this is mostly predicated on instinct.
You might be able to teach and improve decision making in certain situations, but instinct can't be taught. Players with a lower base on that front will go their whole career trying to hone it, and still never come close to what Smith has by nature.
I'm happy with any of these kids, they're all potential stars. But Smith is the standout to me because he has what you can't teach...and anything else, you can teach.
In my view the most important traits for great midfielders are ball-finding ability, evasiveness, decision making and quick disposal from congestion - if they can run on and create overlap even better.
Smith is already showing these attributes and to me is the best of the lot, taking all these areas into account.
Reminds me of Simon Black, arguably one of if not the best midfielder in that Lions triple premiership era. Black's reaction time in getting the ball, disposal and 360° decision making left players in his wake. Interestingly, he was overlooked in his draft by many recruiters who thought he wasn't as quick as others and didn't get selected until pick 31!
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