Sanders - Best pure footballer in the draft; best footy IQ and foot-skills. Rarely makes a poor decision and works hard getting from contest to contest as well as impacting on the spread. Needs to be played in the midfield, but I'm not sure when that happens for him considering how many guys you have running through there.Thanks for the insight - why do you think other clubs didn't quite value him as high (i.e., where are the improvement areas?)?
Curious to hear if you have any thoughts on any of our other selections - Sanders, Croft, Smith, O'Driscoll - if you don't mind, too.
Croft - Firstly, his ball drop is quite awkward and leads him to fluffing some kicks - needs to work on developing a ball drop that will help him develop some consistency by foot. I personally think his career will be best served as a key defender, but he could get it done as a forward too. Reads the flight of the ball and picks the drop-zone really well, but I think he lacks some tricks in the forward line which is why he's stalled this year. Despite having a really good tank, he struggled this year to impact as he only found it 10 times a game on average.
Smith - Best performed ruck at Coates level for sure and as silly as it sounds, he's going to be an undersized ruck at AFL level. The reason guys like Green, Goad and Edwards went ahead of him is because they're taller and better at the tap ruck aspect. Smith will be a hustle and bustle, aggressive ruck, whereas the blokes who went ahead of him have much better ruck craft and will be good tap ruckmen. The numbers for comparison:
Smith - 202cm, 72cm vertical
Green - 204cm, 87cm vertical + easily longest arms in draft at 95.6cm (next best was 93.7cm)
Goad - 206cm, 85cm vertical
Edwards - 206cm, 94cm vertical
O'Driscoll - I see him as a very Western Bulldogs type pick. That half forward who will work hard up and the ground and back, but isn't a traditional crumber who will kick bags of goals for you. He's very athletic and will break the lines with his pace in space. Well worth a late selection to see whether he can make it.