- Thread starter
- #3
Last edited:
Draft Review 21st Century draft game - full 22 edition
- Thread starter Guardian Hawk
- Start date
- Tagged users None
- Feb 12, 2008
- 11,277
- 21,932
- AFL Club
- West Coast
Still going to do a full write up on the weekend but very happy with how my team ended up.
- Thread starter
- #2,852
With the 22nd and final selection of this draft....
Hawthorn selects Will Day.
With their last pick, Hawthorn make their first real prospective selection. Looking for a classy inside outside player, they've found the perfect candidate in Will Day. Already his clubs best player, it's no coincidence that the Hawthorn midfield went from awful and winless to one of the strongest units with his return this season. Already a best and fairest winner shortly after his 21st birthday, he does maximum damage with limited possessions and is attracting hard tags to quell his influence. Will win a number of best and fairests and AAs throughout his career.
whatwhatsaywhat
Hawthorn selects Will Day.
With their last pick, Hawthorn make their first real prospective selection. Looking for a classy inside outside player, they've found the perfect candidate in Will Day. Already his clubs best player, it's no coincidence that the Hawthorn midfield went from awful and winless to one of the strongest units with his return this season. Already a best and fairest winner shortly after his 21st birthday, he does maximum damage with limited possessions and is attracting hard tags to quell his influence. Will win a number of best and fairests and AAs throughout his career.
whatwhatsaywhat
Last edited:
eth-dog
Tier 1 WW Player
RedmanWasHere
Rarely in kitchens at parties.
- Aug 23, 2010
- 28,890
- 35,109
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Exers, Gryffindor, Rich+Ess AFLW, Tassie
- Thread starter
- #2,855
Windrunners Summary
We wanted to focus in on a great contested midfield with plenty of skill and marking ability while also creating a really strong defence as we think that is where premierships are most often won.
I would disagree with some criticism that our defenders are too tall - when you look at many of the recent premiers they tend to have at least a couple of tall KPDs and then a at least a couple of medium 188+cm guys like we do as well.
FB: Enright - Weitering – Maxwell (C)
HB: Sinclair - Talia - Goddard
C: Merrett – Parker - McCluggage
HF: Yze - Dixon - B. Green
FF Darling - Walker - Weightman
R: Gawn – Pendlebury (VC) - Thompson
B: Griffen - T. Mitchell - Walla – Hardwick
Defenders:
-Starting with our tall timber in Weitering and Talia – they are two of the best defenders in defensive 1v1s in recent history. This year Weitering is going at a loss % in 1v1s at just 7.3%, last year it was 10.9%. Considerably better than any other KPD in both of those years that have a similar number of 1v1s. That doesn’t take into account his fantastic previous 4 seasons as well. -Talia was not quite as superb as that but was equally one of the best 1v1 defenders in his prime.
-Then we have Maxwell who can happily take a 3rd tall and zone off as required to lend a 3rd man up. He is our captain as he embodies the toughness we want to bring to the contest and everything we do.
-6 x AA Enright can play tall or small and also zone off and impact the contest, intercepting and distributing at will.
-Goddard is also more than capable of a big pack mark and collecting ground balls around the backline – he would likely be the designated kicker as well - while Sinclair will be more than happy to run it out of defence and pierce opposition zones as well.
-Hardwick also comes in off the bench to shut down any small forwards as needed.
Midfielders:
This is where is gets crazy
-Max Gawn – Best ruckman in the comp right now – going for his 7th AA this year. Probably best Demon of all time and possibly best ruckman of all time. Not just in his ruck work but his work around the ground. Only Corey McKernan rivals him for contested marks as a ruckman as they both take more than 2 a game but Gawn was/is the better ruck. For the Windrunners he won’t be drifting forward, I much prefer him drifting into defence and allowing him to use his contested marking there to help the defence stop any opposition forays and allowing Dixon to ruck up forward as needed.
-The grunt work – we have 3 of the best contested midfielders of all time in Pendles, Parker and Thompson. In those players we have the #2, #11 and #17 highest CP getters of all time. We have the #1, #12 & #17 tacklers of all time. We have the #5, #15 and #17 clearances of all time. They are all also incredibly skilled and incredibly good overhead for midfielders.
-After you get past those 3 we have Tom Mitchell the Brownlow medallist and AFLPA MVP winner.
-We have Zach Merrett who can tear it up on the inside or the outside and unless you are tagging him, he is dominating games with his disposal.
-On the wings – McCluggage playing as an attacking winger and one of the best the game has seen while Griffen or Merrett can play a little more defensive side and sweep up the crumbs as needed. Clugg or Griffen also guys you might want to consider tagging…
Forwards:
I feel like we got the underrated forwards.
-Darling is maligned for whatever reason but he is a gun for an undersized KPF. He is 11th for contested marks of all time, averaging more than the likes of Pavlich & Josh Kennedy. He is also one of the best pressure KPFs the game has seen which is so important in the modern game.
-Tex Walker has kicked over 600 goals and is still going. Another great contested marker as well, 13th of all time in marks inside 50 and also great with his forward pressure.
-But then it’s Dixon who is probably our best contested mark of the KPFs, averaging 1.92 a game and with him rotating with Gawn in the ruck they will be providing plenty of arial presence around the ground.
-For the smalls we have Weightman who is pushing up toward that 2 goal a game average but is still relatively early in his career. We have Walla who will create all kinds of chaos with his pressure and is a great kick for goal. We have Yze and Parker rotating up from the midfield as goal a game players as well, though we will probably end up having Yze there most of the time as he can create freakish things when forward.
-Then Brad Green is an inbetweener who can play tall or small, creating a difficult match up and create all kinds of pressure on the defenders with his hard tackling as well.
And don’t forget we have Pendlebury (2nd most goal assist of all time), Merrett, McCluggage and Yze as our main deliverers into the forward 50.
Versatility:
Pendlebury, Goddard, Sinclair and Griffen are more than capable of switching between defence and midfield. Goddard can will drift forward from time to time as well.
Parker, Thompson, McCluggage, Green and Yze can rotate between midfield and forward as required.
The tall timber won’t switch around too much and we prefer to leave them in their best positions with Dixon just giving Gawn a chop out in the ruck as required.
We wanted to focus in on a great contested midfield with plenty of skill and marking ability while also creating a really strong defence as we think that is where premierships are most often won.
I would disagree with some criticism that our defenders are too tall - when you look at many of the recent premiers they tend to have at least a couple of tall KPDs and then a at least a couple of medium 188+cm guys like we do as well.
FB: Enright - Weitering – Maxwell (C)
HB: Sinclair - Talia - Goddard
C: Merrett – Parker - McCluggage
HF: Yze - Dixon - B. Green
FF Darling - Walker - Weightman
R: Gawn – Pendlebury (VC) - Thompson
B: Griffen - T. Mitchell - Walla – Hardwick
Defenders:
-Starting with our tall timber in Weitering and Talia – they are two of the best defenders in defensive 1v1s in recent history. This year Weitering is going at a loss % in 1v1s at just 7.3%, last year it was 10.9%. Considerably better than any other KPD in both of those years that have a similar number of 1v1s. That doesn’t take into account his fantastic previous 4 seasons as well. -Talia was not quite as superb as that but was equally one of the best 1v1 defenders in his prime.
-Then we have Maxwell who can happily take a 3rd tall and zone off as required to lend a 3rd man up. He is our captain as he embodies the toughness we want to bring to the contest and everything we do.
-6 x AA Enright can play tall or small and also zone off and impact the contest, intercepting and distributing at will.
-Goddard is also more than capable of a big pack mark and collecting ground balls around the backline – he would likely be the designated kicker as well - while Sinclair will be more than happy to run it out of defence and pierce opposition zones as well.
-Hardwick also comes in off the bench to shut down any small forwards as needed.
Midfielders:
This is where is gets crazy
-Max Gawn – Best ruckman in the comp right now – going for his 7th AA this year. Probably best Demon of all time and possibly best ruckman of all time. Not just in his ruck work but his work around the ground. Only Corey McKernan rivals him for contested marks as a ruckman as they both take more than 2 a game but Gawn was/is the better ruck. For the Windrunners he won’t be drifting forward, I much prefer him drifting into defence and allowing him to use his contested marking there to help the defence stop any opposition forays and allowing Dixon to ruck up forward as needed.
-The grunt work – we have 3 of the best contested midfielders of all time in Pendles, Parker and Thompson. In those players we have the #2, #11 and #17 highest CP getters of all time. We have the #1, #12 & #17 tacklers of all time. We have the #5, #15 and #17 clearances of all time. They are all also incredibly skilled and incredibly good overhead for midfielders.
-After you get past those 3 we have Tom Mitchell the Brownlow medallist and AFLPA MVP winner.
-We have Zach Merrett who can tear it up on the inside or the outside and unless you are tagging him, he is dominating games with his disposal.
-On the wings – McCluggage playing as an attacking winger and one of the best the game has seen while Griffen or Merrett can play a little more defensive side and sweep up the crumbs as needed. Clugg or Griffen also guys you might want to consider tagging…
Forwards:
I feel like we got the underrated forwards.
-Darling is maligned for whatever reason but he is a gun for an undersized KPF. He is 11th for contested marks of all time, averaging more than the likes of Pavlich & Josh Kennedy. He is also one of the best pressure KPFs the game has seen which is so important in the modern game.
-Tex Walker has kicked over 600 goals and is still going. Another great contested marker as well, 13th of all time in marks inside 50 and also great with his forward pressure.
-But then it’s Dixon who is probably our best contested mark of the KPFs, averaging 1.92 a game and with him rotating with Gawn in the ruck they will be providing plenty of arial presence around the ground.
-For the smalls we have Weightman who is pushing up toward that 2 goal a game average but is still relatively early in his career. We have Walla who will create all kinds of chaos with his pressure and is a great kick for goal. We have Yze and Parker rotating up from the midfield as goal a game players as well, though we will probably end up having Yze there most of the time as he can create freakish things when forward.
-Then Brad Green is an inbetweener who can play tall or small, creating a difficult match up and create all kinds of pressure on the defenders with his hard tackling as well.
And don’t forget we have Pendlebury (2nd most goal assist of all time), Merrett, McCluggage and Yze as our main deliverers into the forward 50.
Versatility:
Pendlebury, Goddard, Sinclair and Griffen are more than capable of switching between defence and midfield. Goddard can will drift forward from time to time as well.
Parker, Thompson, McCluggage, Green and Yze can rotate between midfield and forward as required.
The tall timber won’t switch around too much and we prefer to leave them in their best positions with Dixon just giving Gawn a chop out in the ruck as required.
guess what, it's another young dee to round out my pine! judd mcvee is already, imo, one of the best lock-down defenders in the competition, and to come from a rookie list, be hopeless in the vfl in his first season with casey, and then emerge as a mainstay of the melbourne side over the last two years has been an absolute joy to watch
i think he can eventually move into the midfield, but given that modern football is set up out of defence, i'm more than happy to have him sit on my bench and learn from the likes of jetta, hodge, lewis, simpson, and his current real world teammate trent rivers how to be an attacking weapon from defence
B: Neville Jetta - Steven May - Jake Lever
HB: Luke Hodge - Chris Tarrant - Kade Simpson
C: Daniel Wells - Sam Walsh - Peter Burgoyne
HF: Kane Lambert - Cam Mooney - James McDonald
F: Justin Koschitzke - Tom J Lynch - Aaron Davey
Foll: Todd Goldstein - Jordan Lewis - Jack Viney
I/c: Jacob van Rooyen - Caleb Windsor - Trent Rivers - Judd McVee
over to you Sphynx , and thank you for setting this up in the first place, Guardian Hawk
i think he can eventually move into the midfield, but given that modern football is set up out of defence, i'm more than happy to have him sit on my bench and learn from the likes of jetta, hodge, lewis, simpson, and his current real world teammate trent rivers how to be an attacking weapon from defence
B: Neville Jetta - Steven May - Jake Lever
HB: Luke Hodge - Chris Tarrant - Kade Simpson
C: Daniel Wells - Sam Walsh - Peter Burgoyne
HF: Kane Lambert - Cam Mooney - James McDonald
F: Justin Koschitzke - Tom J Lynch - Aaron Davey
Foll: Todd Goldstein - Jordan Lewis - Jack Viney
I/c: Jacob van Rooyen - Caleb Windsor - Trent Rivers - Judd McVee
over to you Sphynx , and thank you for setting this up in the first place, Guardian Hawk
RedmanWasHere
Rarely in kitchens at parties.
- Aug 23, 2010
- 28,890
- 35,109
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Exers, Gryffindor, Rich+Ess AFLW, Tassie
Ahead of at least 5 players in top 10…one of the greatest players in colour tv era…stood out in one of, if not the, best midfield of all time…I get the recency bias but those who watched his whole career know how consistent he was and his elite play on the biggest stage
I'm a huge Simon Black fan, I don't think he was disrespected at all.Ahead of at least 5 players in top 10…one of the greatest players in colour tv era…stood out in one of, if not the, best midfield of all time…I get the recency bias but those who watched his whole career know how consistent he was and his elite play on the biggest stage
For pure midfielders it was very close for a lot of them, but in order our top 12 was:
Ablett
Judd
Dangerfield
Fyfe
Bontempelli
Pendlebury
Mitchell
Selwood
Crisp
Black
Cousins
From this line up only Crisp looks out of place to me. Fine margins separated a lot of the rest of them depending on what attributes people were after. And of course recency bias could project a few of those players a little higher, you're right.
RedmanWasHere
Rarely in kitchens at parties.
- Aug 23, 2010
- 28,890
- 35,109
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Exers, Gryffindor, Rich+Ess AFLW, Tassie
Oh right. Well I'm going to exclude both Crisp (half back/mid hybrid) and Dusty (forward/mid hybrid) then and there's our top 10 pure stoppage midfielders. You'd be happy with any combination of 3 of them to represent a "dream" midfield starting line up from this era (although some combos would be ridiculously attacking):
Ablett
Judd
Dangerfield
Fyfe
Bontempelli
Pendlebury
Mitchell
Selwood
Black
Cousins
Last edited:
Purple7x08_24
President: Galactic Federation
Pick 369 Jordan Clark
RedmanWasHere
Rarely in kitchens at parties.
- Aug 23, 2010
- 28,890
- 35,109
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Exers, Gryffindor, Rich+Ess AFLW, Tassie
RedmanWasHere
Rarely in kitchens at parties.
- Aug 23, 2010
- 28,890
- 35,109
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Exers, Gryffindor, Rich+Ess AFLW, Tassie
That's more like it.
Interesting the breakdown.
Ablett Jr and Danger: Geelong Falcons.
Juddy: Sandringham Dragons.
Fyfe: Claremont.
Bont: Northern Knights.
Pendles: Gippy Power.
Sam Mitchell: Eastern Ranges.
Joel Selwood: Bendigo Pioneers.
Cousins and Simon Black: East Fremantle.
- Thread starter
- #2,871
Ahead of at least 5 players in top 10…one of the greatest players in colour tv era…stood out in one of, if not the, best midfield of all time…I get the recency bias but those who watched his whole career know how consistent he was and his elite play on the biggest stage
I absolutly loved Black and for the most part agree (not with him being the best of all time but certainly right up there).
The thing about a draft of this nature is I don't think anyone would actually rank Black down at no 34 but people need to draft the rarer elite commodities first. As such, the top key forwards (and key position players in general) and the uber elite rucks tend to get taken first. In terms of mids, people also tend to go for the 'burst from the stoppage' line breaking mids (many of whom can also rotate forward) (i.e. Judd, Danger, Fyfe, Bont etc) first as they too are rarer. The real inside clearance beasts get pushed down as there are more of them and there is more chance you'll get a good one late. For example, Tom Mitchell (obviously not near the class of Black) went all the way down at pick 228.
I actually prefer those inside beasts (and think often too much is made of 'athleticism'), especially if they have the skills, class and vision of someone like Black. For me, Ablett Jnr is the only mid I would definitely take ahead of Black, with he, Sam Mitchell (acknowledging my own bias) and Chris Judd in my next tier of players as best of this period.
Westside Pavlovas select Cam Guthrie.
An absolute steal, if I do say so myself. I was never going to consider a 3rd Cat before my last pick for the starting 22, but I'm taking one now.
Guthrie actually started off as a very capable small defender who could both shut down opposition small forwards (Purple7x08_24 take note) and offer rebounding drive from the backline.
He then moved into more of a wing role where he did battle for consistency at times but was considered more of a burst player who would offer a classy goal or inside 50 kick. Elite decision making and precise skills are a feature of his game. His versatility allows him to slot into a number of roles as needed in this team.
Always an incredibly hard working two way runner, Cam then moved into a permanent stoppage midfield role in 2020 and truly excelled as an inside/outside skilled distributor. He won a Best and Fairest in a grand final side in 2020, then another B&F in the 2022 premiership season. Sadly injuries have derailed him since but he has been a fine servant for many years at Geelong.
I'll discuss my team later on, but here is the completed squad:
FB: T.Stewart J.Frawley N.Vlastuin
HB: H.Lumumba J.Sicily N.Malceski
C: A.Embley S.Goodwin D.Hannebery
FOL: M.Gardiner J.Selwood L.Davies-Uniacke
HF: B.Harvey M.Pavlich B.Deledio
FF: C.Wingard J.Hogan C.Cameron
IC: C.Guthrie T.Miller J.Harbrow J.Schulz
An absolute steal, if I do say so myself. I was never going to consider a 3rd Cat before my last pick for the starting 22, but I'm taking one now.
Guthrie actually started off as a very capable small defender who could both shut down opposition small forwards (Purple7x08_24 take note) and offer rebounding drive from the backline.
He then moved into more of a wing role where he did battle for consistency at times but was considered more of a burst player who would offer a classy goal or inside 50 kick. Elite decision making and precise skills are a feature of his game. His versatility allows him to slot into a number of roles as needed in this team.
Always an incredibly hard working two way runner, Cam then moved into a permanent stoppage midfield role in 2020 and truly excelled as an inside/outside skilled distributor. He won a Best and Fairest in a grand final side in 2020, then another B&F in the 2022 premiership season. Sadly injuries have derailed him since but he has been a fine servant for many years at Geelong.
I'll discuss my team later on, but here is the completed squad:
FB: T.Stewart J.Frawley N.Vlastuin
HB: H.Lumumba J.Sicily N.Malceski
C: A.Embley S.Goodwin D.Hannebery
FOL: M.Gardiner J.Selwood L.Davies-Uniacke
HF: B.Harvey M.Pavlich B.Deledio
FF: C.Wingard J.Hogan C.Cameron
IC: C.Guthrie T.Miller J.Harbrow J.Schulz
Last edited:
RedmanWasHere
Rarely in kitchens at parties.
- Aug 23, 2010
- 28,890
- 35,109
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Exers, Gryffindor, Rich+Ess AFLW, Tassie
Clarifying something.
Is the sub someone who's played 10 games total since last season's start?
Is the sub someone who's played 10 games total since last season's start?
Similar threads
- Locked
