List Mgmt. 2015 National Draft discussion thread (Tuesday 24 November)

We don't have one of these yet and there is a pretty comprehensive phantom available from Bound For Glory News, who do have a fairly strong representation of people that go and watch most TAC cup games.

They did a full mock draft in the past few days, and this is who they have us picking:

North Melbourne:

Pick 12: Darcy Tucker (North Ballarat & Vic Country, 184 cm, 78 kg outside midfielder/small defender)
Pick 29: Jade Gresham (Northern Knights & Vic Metro, 177 cm, 74 kg balanced midfielder)
Pick 44: Nick Dodge (Lauderdale & Tasmania, 182 cm, 79 kg general forward)
Pick 59: Oleg Markov (North Adelaide & SA, 188 cm, 73 kg general forward)
Pick 77: Matthew Stillman (Calder Cannons & Vic Metro, 181 cm, 78 kg outside midfielder)

The Kangaroos are one of the great enigmas of AFL football. On their day they can beat anyone, but just when you tip them for great things, they can implode, often against lesser opposition. The Roos would be delighted to pick up a sliding Tucker, with his pace and elite kicking off half back making the half back line a weapon when combined with father/son youngster Luke McDonald. What North really lack however, is spark and X-factor up forward; Wells is seemingly on the wane, Harper hasn’t yet delivered and Harvey is nearing his 90s. With that in mind, their next three picks of Gresham, Dodge and Markov give them a fleet of dangerous small to midsized forwards who can run through the middle. The Vic Metro MVP Gresham drops into their laps in the 2nd round; Gresham showed at the Champs that his titanic ball-winning feats at TAC Cup level were no fluke, and allayed concerns over his height with encouraging and accomplished showings as a small crumbing forward. Dodge plays much taller than his height indicates and his strength makes him a handful for small defenders and Markov’s elite speed and marking ability makes him a threat as a high half forward or wingman. Finally, the Roos make the night of North supporter Stillman, who has had a stellar season for Calder as an outside mid who is also strong in the contest.

Outside of this phantom, we should all be able to agree that our needs are the best available outside midfielder, or to draft the next Gary Ablett.

Fire away.
 
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  • #7
beowulf is picking for us in the BF Phantom Draft, here are his selections:

#8: Luke Partington
Height: 182 cm,

Weight: 75 kg,

DOB: 05/03/1997
Recruited from: Port Adelaide

What do I like about Partington? Where do I start?

[1] Partington isn’t slow.

Many of North’s mids, except for Boomer Harvey and Wells, tend to be a little one paced. While Partington is not an elite speed machine, he would improve North’s leg speed around the ball and in the centre square considerably. He also tends to take the game on, which makes him look like he has pace. He also tends to run intelligently and is usually in the right spot at the right time.

[2] Decision Making:

Partington’s vision is good: he is not just a get it and kick it player. He appears to look around intelligently. He reads the tap quite well, even when his ruckman is not having it all his own way.

[3] Disposal:

You wouldn’t call Partington’s disposal elite, but it is good both by hand and foot. Just don’t expect him to kick it 60 m. It isn’t going to happen. If he is breaking from the centre he is an excellent chance of finding his target instead of spraying it.

[4] He is probably more of an outside player at the moment, but his inside game has improved significantly this year. It is pretty clear that until recently he was always the hunted and had the ability to deal with that. Now that he is in company that includes players as good as he is, he is working on the negative side of his game. He still has improvements to be had in this area, but he isn’t soft. He does run defensively as well as offensively, but it is clearly something he is consciously adding to his play, not a natural part of things.

Partington doesn’t have any single weapon that sticks out – some may even consider him ‘vanilla’. However, if he is vanilla, then he is top of the range, not the cheap supermarket version. He doesn’t have any serious weaknesses, but he can improve in most areas. He is already at the point where he could well fit into an ALF team’s midfield. When he gets there, expect him to get a lot of the ball.

Kieran Lovell
Height: 174cm,
Weight: 80kg,
DOB: 16/05/1997
Recruited from: Kingston Tigers

Lovell has one issue: his height. Like Caleb Daniel last year, Lovell is underestimated because he is small. What a mistake!
I like the way Lovell goes about his game. He is a leader on the field and he gets the ball a lot. In 4 TAC Cup games he averaged 32.5 possessions. He averaged about the same for Tassie in the Championships. He gets the pill – a LOT! He doesn’t waste it often either. I don’t consider his disposal as elite, but it is certainly much better than average. Nor does it have to be short. He kicked over 50 m a number of times at the Champs and managed a number of goals from distance. He puts his head over the ball. He chases. He has a much better musculature than fellow small Caleb Daniel did last year. And the piece de resistance, he can get off the ground to take a mark. He surprised a lot of people by taking some screamers at the Champs. His marking is pretty good for a guy his size normally, but he showed he has the spring to surprise many opponents.

I like the way he plays. I’ll say it again, I like the way he plays.

Note that I haven’t mentioned a 14.9 beep test, a 2.99 sec 20 m sprint or a 7.98 agility test until now. Not bad.

A year or 2 back he was more of an outside player. I have read that he has concentrated on his inside game over the last couple of years. Having not seen him before this season I would never have known he wasn’t an inside player all along. Certainly Tassie expected him to get clearances. He delivered.

This kid deserves to be drafted. Simple as that.

William Snelling
Height: 176cm,
Weight: 75kg,
DOB: 06/08/1997
Recruited from: West Adelaide

Snelling is a leader. He captained SA this year at the Championships. He played for SA last year as well. He is quite an athlete with a 2.88 second 20 m sprint and a 15.1 beep test – last year. I haven’t seen any stats on his athleticism this year as yet, but he does not looked to have slowed down.
He said recently that he moulds his game after Nathan Jones, but he appears to kick better than that to me. He also makes pretty good decisions in the heat, as that is where he is usually found, in the middle of the action. He has played most of the year in West Adelaide seniors and looks comfortable at that level while doing Year 12. He wants the contested ball and his tackle count is pretty impressive as well.
 
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  • #8
Knightmare has us taking Harrison McKay:

10. North Melbourne – Harrison McKay (VIC – KPF/RUCK)
Height: 200cm, Weight: 85kg, DOB: 24/12/1997
Recruited from: Gippsland Power
Range: 10-rookie
Profile: Developing athletic tall forward.

then Greg Clark (Greg!)

29. North Melbourne – Gregory Clark (WA – MID)
Height: 193cm, Weight: 82kg, DOB: 24/05/1997
Recruited from: Subiaco
Range: 15-50
Profile: Promising tall midfielder.

then Brendan Dew

47. North Melbourne – Brendan Dew (SA – MID/FWD)
Height: 181cm, Weight: 73kg, DOB: 08/05/1997
Recruited from: Central Districts
Range: 25-rookie
Profile: Goal kicking midfielder.

then William Sexton

65. North Melbourne - William Sexton (VIC – DEF)
Height: 175cm, Weight: 76kg, DOB: 14/05/1997
Recruited from: Geelong Falcons
Range: 30-undrafted
Profile: Elite kicking backman.
 
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  • #9
Knightmare on Darcy Parish:

9. Darcy Parish (VIC – MID)
Height: 181cm, Weight: 73kg, DOB: 25/07/1997
Recruited from: Geelong Falcons
Player Comparison: Marc Murphy
Range: 1-10
Best position/role: Midfield – combination.
Strengths:
Inside/outside ability – Parish in this draft of all the midfielders has the best inside/outside game balance, and it is unusual for a midfielder to be proficient in both areas. Parish can win the contested footy to a good level and can win some clearances, but then also has the footskills, pace, composure and ability to find the outside ball in bunches.
Footskills – Parish is a very good user of the footy. He uses it efficiently and can hit his targets over short, medium and long distance. In traffic he is quick getting the ball onto his boot. He has good penetration with a 50m – 55m kick on him and can finish when within range from goal.
Vision – Parish has excellent vision finding some good targets other will often miss. When a guy is in a central position and open he’ll find them and similarly kicking into the forward 50 he finds the open man and puts it out in front of them for the easy mark.
Decision making ability – Parish is an excellent decision maker, particularly with time and space on the outside. On the outside he will find his targets up the field but also picks and chooses the right time to go to a target in the centre of the ground or go for a higher risk long target up the field.
Run and carry ability – Parish is a very good run and carry player consistently showing a real willingness when he has space in front of him to take on the game with his run. He is not freakishly fast, but has above average pace and critically uses it in game.
Versatility – Parish is a very versatile player. He is able to play both as an inside and outside midfielder to a high standard. He can also play in the back half having spent most of the 2014 season playing off a back flank where he showed he could set up play by foot, provide some run and carry and take some intercept marks.
Ability to read the flight – Parish reads the flight very well behind the ball, reading the flight early on a consistent basis enabling him to peel off his direct opponent for easy intercept marks. He has clean hands overhead and uncontested is a reliable mark.
Contested ball winning ability – Parish has developed into a very capable contested ball winner this season, managing high contested possession numbers throughout the season.
Inside game – Parish has proven that he can win the contested footy and clearances this season, proving that he is able to play as an inside midfielder to a high level. When under pressure after winning the footy he can release the ball quickly by hand and foot, and generally do so reliably, which in combination with his good contested ball winning ability and good tackling ability makes him an effective inside player.
Production – Parish has the performances behind him as a long time high level performer and accumulator and he has only increased that now that this year he is playing as a permanent midfielder. With his performances on the board with his ability to find the footy inside and outside the contest, provide run and carry, use the footy and the read the flight of the ball, it is fair to assume that he can play as soon as round one, year one as an AFL standard performer today.
Athleticism – Parish is not a great but certainly a very good athlete. He has excellent agility and very good pace and leaping ability. His endurance is also good. So while he is not elite in any one athletic category and it is not a point of difference for him, he none the less athletically stacks up well in each category.
Questionmarks:
Height/size – As a relatively smaller and shorter midfielder Parish to an extent may be limited as to just how good he can become. At 181cm he is hardly likely to get forward and take contested grabs or lead his team in contested possessions or clearances through the midfield. But it’s hardly stopping him from being a high level pro. It’s more just what probably stops him from being the absolute number one best player in this draft class.
Weaknesses:
Lack of a point of difference – Parish overall is a very well rounded footballer but he lacks that one thing that sets him apart from everyone in the competition which for me suggests he won’t be a franchise level player for a team and more likely one of your better 2-3 midfielders.
Contested marking ability – Parish while a clean and reliable mark overhead is not someone who will take contested grabs or 1v1 marks with frequency as evidenced by the fact that he only took one contested mark through 14 TAC Cup games last season.
 
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  • #10
Skippos gave us Callum Ah Chee at 13:

10. Callum Ah Chee - WA (182 cm, 71 kg midfielder/small forward)
Style: Chad Wingard

Callum Ah Chee is the mercurial and exciting player of this draft crop. He is often typecast as your typical indigenous livewire crumbing forward or line-breaking outside midfielder but in reality, he is none of that. He is a pure footballer. He possesses an excellent vertical leap and a hunger to get as high as possible and as a result takes some excellent pack marks. His hands are sticky and for his size, he's an excellent contested mark - like Rioli or Wingard. Byfoot he is exceptional too, possessing a bullet-like, creative and accurate kick off both feet and by hand he distributes well. With ball in hand he's very aware and composed. When forward, he can pop up in the right spots but it's not what defines his game. He is capable of breaking lines but it is not something he does as regularly as you would expect, backing his skills to do the work. He lacks a real inside game, with his only contested ball winning coming in the air. While his kicking is excellent it lacks range, with Ah Chee excelling over 30-40 metres maximum. He also struggles with consistency and defensive work ethic but as a high character kid he will likely learn quickly about what's required in an AFL system. As a player he shares a lot of similarities with Chad Wingard.
 

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A few academy players above which we won't get such as Hopper, Hipwood and Keays. A few bottom agers not eligible either like Ainsworth.

I like Balic, Partington, Parish and Lovell.
Also like Darcy Tucker who didn't make AA
 
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A few academy players above which we won't get such as Hopper, Hipwood and Keays. A few bottom agers not eligible either like Ainsworth.

I like Balic, Partington, Parish and Lovell.
Also like Darcy Tucker who didn't make AA
Something startled Rhys Mathieson in that photo and Spud has been doing the Postman's best work with Weitering's mum!
 
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