Recruiting AFL Draft Watch 2024 - Check out our haul

[Nuggs Bunny]

All over for this year!

Check out our new picks from the draft:
Pick #13 (matched): Isaac Kako - Small Forward, Calder Cannons
Pick #37: Kayle Gerreyn - Ruck/Forward, West Perth
Pick #39: Angus Clarke - Defender, Glenelg
Pick #61: Rhys Unwin - Small Forward, Greater Western Victoria
Pick #70: Zak Johnson - Midfielder, Northern Knights
Pick #6 RD: Archer Day-Lewis - Forward, Bendigo Pioneers
Cat B Rookie: Jayden Nguyen - Defender, Calder Cannons

 

[P Money]

Weren't we 7th oldest in 2024? Or was it 7th 'most experienced' or something..?

Are you asking what I think it means for the team?

If so, I think we'll probably drop down a little, or at best remain around 11th. Which I'm personally fine with - two/three /four years toward the bottom with top 5-ish picks is my hope.

Bryan's going to struggle, with his first year (hopefully) as a full time AFL ruck. Caddy, who we appear to be building the forward line around, is a teenager. Losing Stringer, even though it clearly gives us a better balance, is going to leave a bit of a hole - I think even our fans that don't like him will understand that. Our KPD2 is going to be either 1) Laverde - incapable/undersized 2) Reid - 9 games in 4 years 3) Hayes - 0 games. You'd think a 19yo Roberts has to play based on his 2024 form.

Putting young teams out on the park seldom = wins, but if we don't do it, we're not going to escape this seemingly never-ending cycle of mediocrity.

On the other side of that, we also have a fair amount of older guys around, with the following all 25+

DEF: Laverde (29 in 2025 season), Redman (27), McKay (27), McGrath (27), Ridley (26)

RUC: Goldy (36), Draper (26)

MID: Shiel (32), Merrett (29), Parish (27), Setterfield (27)

FWD: Langford (28), Wright (28), Guelfi (27), Gresham (27)

I think the age demographic of the bombers is quite misleading. We are rebuilding, and regardless of the number of more senior players on the list, the vast majority of our most promising players are 23 and under. Our best 23 probably has one player over the age of 28 (Merrett), and we are desperately trying to phase out players like Laverde (29 in 2025 season), Goldy (36), Shiel (32), Setterfield (27) and Guelfi (27) for younger recruits with more talent/promise (Bryan, Reid, Hayes, Kako, Roberts, El Hawli and upcoming draft prospects).

The 'average age' metric which journos use to determine what position the list is at and whether/when they should be contending would probably suggest we should be pushing to win a final next year - the actual shape of the list and direction of the club says something very different.

The rhetoric of 'X club is older than Y club so should be further advanced' is pointlessly simplistic.

 

[yodellinhank]

Love that. I got extra coconut jelly with my Vietnamese.

Are you sure that's what it was?

 

[Runk]

I think the age demographic of the bombers is quite misleading. We are rebuilding, and regardless of the number of more senior players on the list, the vast majority of our most promising players are 23 and under. Our best 23 probably has one player over the age of 28 (Merrett), and we are desperately trying to phase out players like Laverde (29 in 2025 season), Goldy (36), Shiel (32), Setterfield (27) and Guelfi (27) for younger recruits with more talent/promise (Bryan, Reid, Hayes, Kako, Roberts, El Hawli and upcoming draft prospects).

The 'average age' metric which journos use to determine what position the list is at and whether/when they should be contending would probably suggest we should be pushing to win a final next year - the actual shape of the list and direction of the club says something very different.

The rhetoric of 'X club is older than Y club so should be further advanced' is pointlessly simplistic.

I remember when 27 was considered young.....

 

[faible]

I think the age demographic of the bombers is quite misleading. We are rebuilding, and regardless of the number of more senior players on the list, the vast majority of our most promising players are 23 and under. Our best 23 probably has one player over the age of 28 (Merrett), and we are desperately trying to phase out players like Laverde (29 in 2025 season), Goldy (36), Shiel (32), Setterfield (27) and Guelfi (27) for younger recruits with more talent/promise (Bryan, Reid, Hayes, Kako, Roberts, El Hawli and upcoming draft prospects).

The 'average age' metric which journos use to determine what position the list is at and whether/when they should be contending would probably suggest we should be pushing to win a final next year - the actual shape of the list and direction of the club says something very different.

The rhetoric of 'X club is older than Y club so should be further advanced' is pointlessly simplistic.

It's not helped by a number of our younger guys not being fit and available either.

Hopefully this year we see Reid get some continuity, Cox and Perkins show signs of life as AFL players, Hobbs get a clear injury run, Hayes have the strength to start to be a viable option at AFL level, Davey Jnr and Tsatas with another pre-season under their belt will help and Roberts to build upon a very nice finish to the season.

 

[Keystone agony]

I think 3..?

They've got 100+ extra games out of their picks compared to ours though.

Fair enough - depends on your definition of rebuild I guess.

I think thats because we were further down the line with the 'rebuild' as you said we were older. The older Kelly, Lav Heppell, Shiel, Setterfield, Stringers Goldys wernt getting the job done for us

Also coupled with injury

The hawks success outside of the coach has come from moneyball plays. Ginnivan, Meek, Scrimshaw, Impey, Amon ect

Josh Ward
Cam Mackenzie

Have hardly shot the lights our considering theyre one dimensional/small mids

 

[fairbump_playon]

I have revised my 2025 flag prediction back to 2026.

I hope no-one objects.

 

[Zach Package]

So we’ve cut pretty deep, DFA’s or 18 year old roughies in the back end of the draft?

We really want Ashcroft, Marshall and Lombard to go as high as possible and for Kako to slide a wee bit. All our late selections fold in and we’ll have another pick slide into the middle of the draft.

 

[Snake Charmer]

Down to 31 on the main list and 3 rookies. Interesting draft a head. I think we are a good chance to take 2 DFAs. How many live picks do we expect to take in the ND?

 

[jdstorm]

Down to 31 on the main list and 3 rookies. Interesting draft a head. I think we are a good chance to take 2 DFAs. How many live picks do we expect to take in the ND?

Rosa has said 3-4 publicly

 

[Yoda_]

Down to 31 on the main list and 3 rookies. Interesting draft a head. I think we are a good chance to take 2 DFAs. How many live picks do we expect to take in the ND?

maybe we trade in for an early pick, take Kako, one mid draft pick and leave a spot open for an SSP spot

 

[Keystone agony]

2 DFAs has to be looking likely, i wouldnt be against a late dart in the draft to take 5 either

Preuss
Jaxon Prior
Kako
3 drafted ~40-50s

Would also consider Kreuger and Reef Mcinness especially the latter over Preuss

 

[Cup_o_Jobe]

Would be surprised if it isn't something like this.

1. If no Kako bid by pick 8, trade out 28 and 31 for either two (2) F2s, or to one person for a (likely late) F1.
2. Match Kako bid using the rats and mice picks we have at back end of draft.
3. Trade back in when we see someone we like , either once (late 1st round) or twice (in 2nd round). Can deploy our war chest of future picks to get back in, especially when the likes of Richmond or GWS have eaten their fill. Unless we're getting back in to the 1st round I'd prefer to keep Melbourne's F1, but will have to see what the price is on the night.
4. Take 1-2 sliders at back end of the draft with our remaining selections.
5. Take a look at rookie draft of course but keep at least 2 spots open for train-on selections over summer.

 

[Milanista28]

2 DFAs has to be looking likely, i wouldnt be against a late dart in the draft to take 5 either

Preuss
Jaxon Prior
Kako
3 drafted ~40-50s

Would also consider Kreuger and Reef Mcinness especially the latter over Preuss

Explain picking up another ruckman to me?

 

[Milanista28]

A lot of talk about 'super draft'... I'm trying to read between the lines and I think the reason it's getting labelled as a super draft is because the gap from 1-20 is smaller than it's ever been and not necessarily the quality of the players?

Or are these players legitimately top top talents?

 

[Snake Charmer]

2 DFAs has to be looking likely, i wouldnt be against a late dart in the draft to take 5 either

Preuss
Jaxon Prior
Kako
3 drafted ~40-50s

Would also consider Kreuger and Reef Mcinness especially the latter over Preuss

Why Preuss? Even without Goldy on the list I’d take someone like Crossely over him

 

[bombreys]

7th youngest.

Okay, I've had a look to make sure I'm not getting the wording wrong -

By age, we were 7th youngest - that's list-wise, not by best 22/23.

By experience/games played, we were 7th oldest (again, list-wise).

Of the 23 games this season, we were older than the opposing team in 15 games.

That should obviously be different in 2025, at least as thing currently stand.

 

[ant555]

A lot of talk about 'super draft'... I'm trying to read between the lines and I think the reason it's getting labelled as a super draft is because the gap from 1-20 is smaller than it's ever been and not necessarily the quality of the players?

Or are these players legitimately top top talents?

Think you have nailed it. The gap is small. No stand out super star on form so far.
They could very well be all good just below top level with some who will maybe be stars .
Could easily be the other way and like 2016 there could be a lot of nice B grade players at the top end but no absolute super stars.

 

[faible]

Why Preuss? Even without Goldy on the list I’d take someone like Crossely over him

Preuss is an epic fraud IMO. Been on an AFL list since 2014 (yes, 10 years) for 28 games.

Usually unavailable through injury too, so as ruck support you bring a guy in who's often not available?

Would be a horrendous pick-up.

 

[ant555]

Preuss is an epic fraud IMO. Been on an AFL list since 2014 (yes, 10 years) for 28 games.

Usually unavailable through injury too, so as ruck support you bring a guy in who's often not available?

Would be a horrendous pick-up.

And has not shown any form for 5 years. I’m with you. Big no. Would rather sign someone as a rookie.

 

[FlyingV]

A lot of talk about 'super draft'... I'm trying to read between the lines and I think the reason it's getting labelled as a super draft is because the gap from 1-20 is smaller than it's ever been and not necessarily the quality of the players?

Or are these players legitimately top top talents?

All the top talents have question marks:
FOS - form dropped away, can go missing in games/not high possession enough - but was injured
Smith - slight frame, like butters but will he be able to handle the contested stuff?
Lalor- big boy, how much of a liability is he on the outside?

 

[Lore]

A lot of talk about 'super draft'... I'm trying to read between the lines and I think the reason it's getting labelled as a super draft is because the gap from 1-20 is smaller than it's ever been and not necessarily the quality of the players?

Or are these players legitimately top top talents?

I wouldn't say I'm super well-educated on the topic but I think it's the first draft in a while that isn't super-impacted by covid, so it runs a little deeper than the last few years. I don't think any of the top kids in the draft are really being fawned over the way Reid and JHF and such have been in the past though.

Also interesting that clubs are clamouring for first round picks, but not exactly falling over themselves for top 5 or top 10 picks.

 

[Keystone agony]

Explain picking up another ruckman to me?

Allows us flexibility and some sort of back up plan for

Nick Bryan (OOC 12 months)
Sam Draper (OOC 12 months) - Free Agent
Goldstein - Retire 12 months

 

[Keystone agony]

Why Preuss? Even without Goldy on the list I’d take someone like Crossely over him

Dont really mind who the mature ruckman is

 

[jdstorm]

Allows us flexibility and some sort of back up plan for

Nick Bryan (OOC 12 months)
Sam Draper (OOC 12 months) - Free Agent
Goldstein - Retire 12 months

Feels like a next year issue.

 

[Keystone agony]

Feels like a next year issue.

List management is about preparing ahead

What if you cant get a certain ruckman?

A mature ruck means we can push Draper out for a good pick if thats what we want. If we dont have one, we probably need to over pay to keep him

You also want atleast 3-4 ruckman on the list