Draft Winners and Losers

[RUNVS]

Shouldn't be surprised that half this thread are Richmond posters desperately seeking validation.

They do that every thread.

On a different note I am personally not happy with Sydney's draft haul. Not slighting the players we drafted, I hope they turn out great, but we didn't address our real needs at all.

 

[RUNVS]

It's not a stretch to say Richmond need to be the winners and by a long way in this draft. Coming off a two win season and then culling any remaining players with reasonable value - if they have more misses than an already ugly predicament is only going to get a whole lot worse. You'd be crossing everything if you were a Tiggie hoping you picked the right ones.

Richmond were bad in 2024 but they are going to be a lot worse in 2025. Will be interesting to see if they can develop their kids when being smashed every week.

 

[A Bit Dusty]

Richmond were bad in 2024 but they are going to be a lot worse in 2025. Will be interesting to see if they can develop their kids when being smashed every week.

We were smashed with injuries this year which was our biggest problem but losing so much experience will have us down the bottom again for a couple of years. It's not a bad thing we can stock up with kids get them playing 50+ games together and then push for finals. In the mean time getting a couple of priority picks along the way before Tassie comes in.

 

[Sector 7G]

Losers

Fox Draft Guy who doubled down on Essendon’s trade of pick 9 being a mistake

Yeah cos Melbourne and Saints who don't need small forwards are going to risk getting a player they don't need just to stitch up EFC. Ridiculous to think they would when far higher rated players were available. If they wanted and rated Kako they would still have bid on him. What it cost EFC would have no impact on that decision. Melbourne bid on Ashcroft even though it only cost Brissie a half eaten pack of chips.

Dodoro wouldn't have been psyched out like that. There is a man prepared to stick to his guns

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Richmond fans celebrating after they sold their soul by tanking and trading away all possible talent

Should we have kept them and stayed down the bottom regardless?

 

[JimmyBC]

What Richmond did was smart and might pay huge rewards in a few years.

 

[jdstorm]

Yeah cos Melbourne and Saints who don't need small forwards are going to risk getting a player they don't need just to stitch up EFC. Ridiculous to think they would when far higher rated players were available. If they wanted and rated Kako they would still have bid on him. What it cost EFC would have no impact on that decision. Melbourne bid on Ashcroft even though it only cost Brissie a half eaten pack of chips.

Dodoro wouldn't have been psyched out like that. There is a man prepared to stick to his guns

In the past 2 years we’ve seen a SF win the Norm smith and a pair of good SFs (Ginny + Harry) take a bottom 4 side into the 8 with Chol as their Key Position target.

It’s a position that’s trendy and every team is trying to upgrade/top up.

Also pointing to only Melbourne and Saints ignores Richmond at 6 who had just traded Shai Bolton and drafted a SF at 12.

Beyond that say Essendon get pick 9. They have to trade 28 for points for to get Kako so they end up with no picks in the 2nd and no Gerryn/Clarke and no Melbourne future first.

So basically do you think The player they take at pick 9 Taru, Hotton, Bo Allen, Berry? is worth Gerryn, Clarke, Melbourne F1 and Saints F2

Personally I’d rather the outcome we got

 

[gungho]

It's going to be absolutely fascinating to compare Richmond and West Coast in future years. Richmond cleared the decks and went full rebuild mode (you could argue their hand was forced but they didn't have to let go of contracted players) while West Coast topped up on 3 decent 26-29 year olds, and kept one high end pick.

We will only know the result in 5 years or so, and whoever wins will hold the blueprint for what to do for each club in the same predicament.

 

[Sector 7G]

In the past 2 years we’ve seen a SF win the Norm smith and a pair of good SFs (Ginny + Harry) take a bottom 4 side into the 8 with Chol as their Key Position target.

It’s a position that’s trendy and every team is trying to upgrade/top up.

Also pointing to only Melbourne and Saints ignores Richmond at 6 who had just traded Shai Bolton and drafted a SF at 12.

Beyond that say Essendon get pick 9. They have to trade 28 for points for to get Kako so they end up with no picks in the 2nd and no Gerryn/Clarke and no Melbourne future first.

So basically do you think The player they take at pick 9 Taru, Hotton, Bo Allen, Berry? is worth Gerryn, Clarke, Melbourne F1 and Saints F2

Personally I’d rather the outcome we got

I would definitely take elite talent this year over a pick next year in a super compromised draft, plus a couple of players no one rated in the top 30 picks. I guess time will tell.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Geelong walk away with 3 blokes nobody had ever heard of and an NGA that Stkilda didn't bother matching. So yeah I'd say we're the winners obviously.

 

[Username Anthony]

Richmond fans celebrating after they sold their soul by tanking and trading away all possible talent

We had so many injuries this season.

Is it because we beat Sydney at the MCG after they had already beaten Collingwood at the 'G that you believe we tanked? Don't forget we had a half decent team on the park that day, and that half decent team would've beaten Geelong in Geelong no problem, unfortunately our injuries cost us that game in Geelong, just like injuries cost us in many other losses we had this season.

Tigers don't tank.

 

[jdstorm]

Geelong walk away with 3 blokes nobody had ever heard of and an NGA that Stkilda didn't bother matching. So yeah I'd say we're the winners obviously.

That Saints NGA situation was classic Geelong drafting for sure.

Saints draft 3 similar medium defenders higher up and pass on their academy guy who must be decent based on Geelongs interest/happiness (you guys have such a good scouting department)

 

[carlton_99]

If Richmond hadn't won the draft with all their picks they won with that trade at the end of night 1. Great move by them

 

[aussierulesrules]

Up and Down
Saints- didn’t like their early picks where they picked 3 of the same medium defender. Loved their last 3 picks where they got a good mid and highly rated ruck that slipped.

I can see why you call Tauru and Barrat “same”, as they are indeed incredibly similar in a lot of ways, but firstly they’re both 194cm (and possibly still growing, as they both only turn/turned 18 this month), so they’re certainly not “medium defenders”, and one of the other things that they have in common is versatility.

Sure they can both play down back, but Barrat kicked 16 or 18 goals in the first 6 games of the CTL season, and apparently played forward in prior years as well, while Tauru can play probably any position on the ground at a pinch, so it gives us a lot of flexibility.

It’s also pretty clear that we believe Travaglia can or will play as a full time mid down the track, and he’d also be super-well suited to a wing, so he too brings genuine flexibility and versatility to the table.

It’s also clear that we want to have a team of guys who can run, run and then run some more, and those three (and Boxshall, plus the 191cm Irish 18yo we added today) all have high level endurance.

 

[Fadge]

Loser - Laura Kane after 3AW has revealed this morning she pushed the insidious DEI agenda on clubs forcing them to have a women in their "war room" and one of the clubs picked a membership girlie to fill their DEI quota

This can't possibly be fact, surely...

 

[Lsta062]

Winners:

• Richmond. For once, I actually liked the players we picked in the first round. It’s been a while.
• West Coast. Loved their drafting from start to finish. They’d be very happy with their haul
• Port Adelaide. Another club that would be happy with their haul.
• St Kilda. Tobie Travaglia is a gun player.
• Brisbane. Marshall and Ashcroft are going to set them up for the next gen.
• Essendon. May be controversial to some, but I thought they picked well for the picks they had. Kako’s a great prospect.

Hard to see who bombed out. Didn’t particularly like Collingwood and Sydney’s recruiting, but that might just be my ignorance on the players they picked

 

[PhatBoy]

It was pretty obvious Richmond did easily the best out of it, no one would begrudge them that title and they have made the absolute most of the situation they have found themselves in with injury problems, retirements, some good players wanting out etc.

What caught my eye was some of the Fox journos equating it to ‘genius’ though. Isn’t it just making the best - and they did - of the situation they were in, plus some really strange help from north Melbourne?

 

[JimmyBC]

It was pretty obvious Richmond did easily the best out of it, no one would begrudge them that title and they have made the absolute most of the situation they have found themselves in with injury problems, retirements, some good players wanting out etc.

What caught my eye was some of the Fox journos equating it to ‘genius’ though. Isn’t it just making the best - and they did - of the situation they were in, plus some really strange help from north Melbourne?

When you come out of recent dynasty as they have I think it's easier for the supporters to stomach a few bad seasons, I'd much rather clean out the stale and satisfied and have umpteen picks in a highly rated draft than play for the now and hover mid table.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Yeah cos Melbourne and Saints who don't need small forwards are going to risk getting a player they don't need just to stitch up EFC. Ridiculous to think they would when far higher rated players were available. If they wanted and rated Kako they would still have bid on him. What it cost EFC would have no impact on that decision. Melbourne bid on Ashcroft even though it only cost Brissie a half eaten pack of chips.

Dodoro wouldn't have been psyched out like that. There is a man prepared to stick to his guns

All we need is 1 player from Gerryn, Clarke, Unwin and next years Saints pick to be better than a player taken 11-15 and we are better off.

 

[juss]

We had a lot of picks but with any strike rate they won't all be AA players. If we can snag a couple of guns, a few good players / long term best 22s we've done well. I'm assuming there'll be a few that don't make it with us / get traded eventually as is the case with any draft, you can't hit every pick.

What I'm really happy with is we seemed to get exactly who we wanted, we were long linked to Lalor and Smillie, and obviously Hotton and Faul were prime early targets we were prepared to get in early for. I think Armstrong was a big win, I'd have taken him at the Faul pick and I think Armstrong is going to be the pick of the KPFs from that draft, just seems to have a lot of potential as a goalkicker.

Big win was getting North's future 1st. We're a small chance of having pick 1 and 2 next year, a decent chance of having 1 and 5, and I think at worst we have pick 1 and 10, and that's from losing two picks likely in the mid/late 20s, big win.

 

[jdstorm]

I can see why you call Tauru and Barrat “same”, as they are indeed incredibly similar in a lot of ways, but firstly they’re both 194cm (and possibly still growing, as they both only turn/turned 18 this month), so they’re certainly not “medium defenders”, and one of the other things that they have in common is versatility.

Sure they can both play down back, but Barrat kicked 16 or 18 goals in the first 6 games of the CTL season, and apparently played forward in prior years as well, while Tauru can play probably any position on the ground at a pinch, so it gives us a lot of flexibility.

It’s also pretty clear that we believe Travaglia can or will play as a full time mid down the track, and he’d also be super-well suited to a wing, so he too brings genuine flexibility and versatility to the table.

It’s also clear that we want to have a team of guys who can run, run and then run some more, and those three (and Boxshall, plus the 191cm Irish 18yo we added today) all have high level endurance.

For me 186-194 is midsize. Kids these days are tall.

I get the theory lots of versatile multi skilled switchable players. I suppose as an Essendon supporter I’m skeptical about it due to our draft history of picking lots of versatile multi position players/midsize flankers hoping they turn into something else going badly.

I liked your later picks Boxhaull ect just the early picks I’m skeptical about.

 

[FootyLad0]

Geelong walk away with 3 blokes nobody had ever heard of and an NGA that Stkilda didn't bother matching. So yeah I'd say we're the winners obviously.

There’s 3 Premiership players and a multiple time AA player in that group lol

 

[Meteoric Rise]

It was pretty obvious Richmond did easily the best out of it, no one would begrudge them that title and they have made the absolute most of the situation they have found themselves in with injury problems, retirements, some good players wanting out etc.

What caught my eye was some of the Fox journos equating it to ‘genius’ though. Isn’t it just making the best - and they did - of the situation they were in, plus some really strange help from north Melbourne?

There was some pretty decent moves by Blair Hartley & the recruiting team in constructing the draft hand, it didn't just magically materialise.

Obviously having picks 1(Lalor), 28(Sims) were just the result of dumb luck with injury to get those good picks.

- Pick 23 Harry Armstrong came about because Hartley had the foresight to slide picks back last year & pick up points for this draft with this exact scenario in mind.

- Picks 7(Smillie) 12(Hotton) 14(Faull) 21(Trainor) came about because the list management team let valuable players Rioli, Bolton, Baker know if they wished to depart to certain clubs with suitable trade capital then Richmond was open to it. There are a lot of moving parts in all of that & it would be very easy to make a total mess of it.

- Pick 27, which when added to f2 was traded for Roos f1(likely top 5 pick) was also extracted for Rioli in a deal that saw more carefully accumulated late picks go to the Suns. So you could fairly say Rioli(who will be 28 early season 2025, & is not a marquee player,) along with very late junk picks has netted Richmond around 1.6 x top 7 picks with no salary relief. That is a fantastic effort by any list manager to produce that outcome.

- The trade with north could easily have cost more if Hartley had blinked at an earlier point. So that was a very good piece of negotiation.

- topped off with the worthless f4 traded to Suns to get 58 & acquire Alger. This looked a pretty sharp piece of business, that probably owed to some goodwill Hartley had built up with the Suns over time, & good persistence to stay focussed right to the end. Some list managers we have seen would have been off gloating to the media long before this.

There was a hell of a lot to synchronise to get all those deals to line up for Richmond like that, & it required having the foresight & humility to trade out established players, and goodwill with other list managers & the traded players to meet with co-operation. Hartley is an excellent list manager. Our supporters are absolutely rapt with his work, not just in this instance. Also the players recruited seem to have met with universal approval, and given the shocking illness & death of the Head of Recruiting Chris Toce in recent months it seems to have been a job really well done.

I am with you about flippant use of superlatives like "genius" but he is a top class list manager, Richmond are very lucky to have him.

 

[JimmyBC]

Whoever Geelong picked they'll look like seasoned 25 year olds after one preseason in the 'gym'

 

[PhatBoy]

There was some pretty decent moves by Blair Hartley & the recruiting team in constructing the draft hand, it didn't just magically materialise.

Obviously having picks 1(Lalor), 28(Sims) were just the result of dumb luck with injury to get those good picks.

- Pick 23 Harry Armstrong came about because Hartley had the foresight to slide picks back last year & pick up points for this draft with this exact scenario in mind.

- Picks 7(Smillie) 12(Hotton) 14(Faull) 21(Trainor) came about because the list management team let valuable players Rioli, Bolton, Baker know if they wished to depart to certain clubs with suitable trade capital then Richmond was open to it. There are a lot of moving parts in all of that & it would be very easy to make a total mess of it.

- Pick 27, which when added to f2 was traded for Roos f1(likely top 5 pick) was also extracted for Rioli in a deal that saw more carefully accumulated late picks go to the Suns. So you could fairly say Rioli(who will be 28 early season 2025, & is not a marquee player, along with very late junk picks has netted Richmond around 1.6 x top 7 picks with no salary relief. That is a fantastic effort by any list manager to produce that outcome.

- The trade with north could easily have cost more if Hartley had blinked at an earlier point. So that was a very good piece of negotiation.

- topped off with the worthless f4 traded to Suns to get 58 & acquire Alger. This looked a pretty sharp piece of business, that probably owed to some goodwill Hartley had built up with the Suns over time, & good persistence to stay focussed right to the end. Some list managers we have seen would have been off gloating to the media long before this.

There was a hell of a lot to synchronise to get all those deals to line up for Richmond like that, & it required having the foresight & humility to tade out established players, and goodwill with other list managers & the traded players to meet with co-operation. Hartley is an excellent list manager. Our supporters are absolutely rapt with his work, not just in this instance. Also the players recruited seems to have met with universal approval, and given the shocking illness & death of the Head of Recruiting Chris Toce in recent months it seems to have been a job really well done.

I am with you about flippant use of superlatives like "genius" but he is a top class list manager, Richmond are very lucky to have him.

Fair enough.