Welcome to the Bulldogs Joel Freijah

[Bulldogs85]

Really excited about this one, he has a hell of a build for an 18yo winger - not just height but already solid & not far off his playing weight at 88kg. Just looks like a broad build too, he’s going to be huge.

Get the feeling we were genuinely stoked to get him too. Might turn out a blessing we missed on Lual which would have wiped out this pick and who knows if he would have gone before our next.

Probably why the club didn’t try and trade up because they rated Joel more highly then Lual

 

[GetDimmaBack]

Probably why the club didn’t try and trade up because they rated Joel more highly then Lual

I'd like to know if they'd have traded up for Lual if Smokin' Joel had gone before pick 30ish...

 

[Saintsone]

I'd like to know if they'd have traded up for Lual if Smokin' Joel had gone before pick 30ish...

Joel will be the steal of the draft. Hard worker, athletic and a great footy brain. Has great size and genuinely a great kid

 

[doggie dog]

Boarding with Libba. What mind expanding experience that would be.

How amazing would that be for a young player to get inducted into the dogs, to get the experience from doggies royalty than the libertores.

 

[House_of_Dahl]

Joel will be the steal of the draft. Hard worker, athletic and a great footy brain. Has great size and genuinely a great kid

Was available at 39...

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

Just get the feeling this kid might be the smokey of the draft, actually...

I'm thinking the same thing

 

[SPower]

Hope we get some pics from Nona's night

You beauty.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Wasn’t sold on limited pre draft footage/info, but seeing a little more and hearing what the recruiters saw, he could become a nice player. Has a bit of Isaac Smith

7

Isaac Smith

Age

35

Ht

188cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.3

5star

K

13.0

5star

HB

8.4

5star

M

5.5

5star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.7

4star

D

19.4

4star

K

11.1

4star

HB

8.3

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.5

3star

CL

1.3

4star

D

19.2

5star

K

10.6

4star

HB

8.6

5star

M

7.6

5star

T

2.0

4star

CL

0.6

3star

about him.

One knock is his lack of physicality. A bit of turtle necking in some of his highlights. Not the most important thing for a winger but hopefully we see that improve with natural growth/development.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

One thing that does stand out is his skills and overhead marking.

Haven’t had a winger with that skill set for a while.

 

[Mutt]

Wasn’t sold on limited pre draft footage/info, but seeing a little more and hearing what the recruiters saw, he could become a nice player. Has a bit of Isaac Smith about him.

One knock is his lack of physicality. A bit of turtle necking in some of his highlights. Not the most important thing for a winger but hopefully we see that improve with natural growth/development.

I also thought of Isaac Smith when watching his tape. If Joel can achieve half of what Smith did in his career, we will be overjoyed with this selection.

 

[Freshwater]

Wasn’t sold on limited pre draft footage/info, but seeing a little more and hearing what the recruiters saw, he could become a nice player. Has a bit of Isaac Smith about him.

One knock is his lack of physicality. A bit of turtle necking in some of his highlights. Not the most important thing for a winger but hopefully we see that improve with natural growth/development.

I reckon Geelong wanted Bailey Smith to replace Isaac Smith, who was still playing good football this year.

 

[bobs head soup]

One thing that does stand out is his skills and overhead marking.

Haven’t had a winger with that skill set for a while.

The one winger from yesteryear of ours I'd compare him to (based on limited footage) would be Neil Cordy. Cordy was a very nice player at his peak.

 

[Libbaaaa]

American Pie was on yesterday and Joel reminds me of Jason Biggs.

 

[Merlins Revenge]

Came 3rd in the 2km time trial. Not a bad effort!

 

[bobs head soup]

American Pie was on yesterday and Joel reminds me of Jason Biggs.

Charlie Clarke is also a bit like the shermanator.

 

[Souup]

Just for some background, I do some work in recruiting for a club and Joel Freijah was my favourite player in this draft - I had him in the top 20 and I see him as close to the prefect modern day winger.

I think he was the best value for money pick in the draft - I'll be watching with interest and hope he kills it.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Just for some background, I do some work in recruiting for a club and Joel Freijah was my favourite player in this draft - I had him in the top 20 and I see him as close to the prefect modern day winger.

I think he was the best value for money pick in the draft - I'll be watching with interest and hope he kills it.

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.

 

[flipper83]

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.

If love to hear what Souup thinks too.

One thing all the draft watchers have said was that it was incredibly even after the first 15 or so picked so there could be a huge variance in where different recruiters saw each prospect and things like list needs and personality fits might have come into consideration more than they normally would.

 

[doggies ftw]

If love to hear what Souup thinks too.

One thing all the draft watchers have said was that it was incredibly even after the first 15 or so picked so there could be a huge variance in where different recruiters saw each prospect and things like list needs and personality fits might have come into consideration more than they normally would.

Also just gut feel I haven’t done the research to back this up, but felt like a weird draft in that most teams either had picks early and then not in the middle rounds, or they had lots of picks later in the draft and nothing early.

Maybe just a case of the teams with picks in his range had other preferred targets due to list needs etc whereas the teams who rated him didn’t have the picks?

Idk just that’s how it felt watching anyway

 

[VitalDread]

Boarding with Libba. What mind expanding experience that would be.

I'm looking forward to Libba insta stories

 

[Souup]

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.

5 things come to mind:

1. Speed: 3.050 20m at the combine, which isn't too bad, but potentially not quick enough for some
2. Agility: 8.729 agility test at the combine. Probably his weakest athletic trait
3. Sub-par champs: Averaged 12.3 touches, 2.8 marks and 1.8 tackles at the U18 Champs vs. 19.6 touches, 4.1 marks and 2.5 tackles at Coates level. So there's a perceived issue with his ability to play well in big games.
4. Perceived lack of ceiling due to already being a good size at 190.3cm, 87.6kg
5. Inconsistency from game to game at Coates league level, tapering off in the second half of the season: He had some real boom games this year (26 touches 6 goal game, 29 touches 10 score involvements, 21 and 2 goals) but then also some real poor ones, particularly towards the back end of the year (12, 17, 18 and 9 touch games to finish the season).

I'll answer the second part later in more depth when I have some more time, but I'll leave you with my perspective that Sanders will be the best kid from this draft crop. I'm on record as saying Harry Sheezel was/is the smartest footballer I've seen at U18's level, Sanders would take 2nd place.

 

[stefoid]

Im also not seeing Joel being quite the 'steal of the draft' either, but Im heartened by the low age bracket which is a pretty big factor. Not worried about leg speed so much as decision speed.

 

[doggies ftw]

5 things come to mind:

1. Speed: 3.050 20m at the combine, which isn't too bad, but potentially not quick enough for some
2. Agility: 8.729 agility test at the combine. Probably his weakest athletic trait
3. Sub-par champs: Averaged 12.3 touches, 2.8 marks and 1.8 tackles at the U18 Champs vs. 19.6 touches, 4.1 marks and 2.5 tackles at Coates level. So there's a perceived issue with his ability to play well in big games.
4. Perceived lack of ceiling due to already being a good size at 190.3cm, 87.6kg
5. Inconsistency from game to game at Coates league level, tapering off in the second half of the season: He had some real boom games this year (26 touches 6 goal game, 29 touches 10 score involvements, 21 and 2 goals) but then also some real poor ones, particularly towards the back end of the year (12, 17, 18 and 9 touch games to finish the season) in finals.

I'll answer the second part later in more depth when I have some more time, but I'll leave you with my perspective that Sanders will be the best kid from this draft crop. I'm on record as saying Harry Sheezel was/is the smartest footballer I've seen at U18's level, Sanders would take 2nd place.

I like you and from here on out take your opinions as gospel, you can stay

 

[doggies ftw]

Im also not seeing Joel being quite the 'steal of the draft' either, but Im heartened by the low age bracket which is a pretty big factor. Not worried about leg speed so much as decision speed.

Whilst he obviously has some big games to his name and big moments in his highlights, I don’t think as a package they’re particularly ‘sexy’ but that’s fine for a winger, you want reliability in a wing and I think he will have that in time.

Looks to have a pretty simple/efficient game to my eye - keeps his width, runs hard both ways, takes damaging options. Big body who can compete in the air and get his hands free in congestion.

I think there’s a pretty high ‘floor’ there personally, doesn’t look like a whole lot that can go wrong in his mechanics for a winger. Really like him a lot for our particular needs

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

5 things come to mind:

1. Speed: 3.050 20m at the combine, which isn't too bad, but potentially not quick enough for some
2. Agility: 8.729 agility test at the combine. Probably his weakest athletic trait
3. Sub-par champs: Averaged 12.3 touches, 2.8 marks and 1.8 tackles at the U18 Champs vs. 19.6 touches, 4.1 marks and 2.5 tackles at Coates level. So there's a perceived issue with his ability to play well in big games.
4. Perceived lack of ceiling due to already being a good size at 190.3cm, 87.6kg
5. Inconsistency from game to game at Coates league level, tapering off in the second half of the season: He had some real boom games this year (26 touches 6 goal game, 29 touches 10 score involvements, 21 and 2 goals) but then also some real poor ones, particularly towards the back end of the year (12, 17, 18 and 9 touch games to finish the season) in finals.

I'll answer the second part later in more depth when I have some more time, but I'll leave you with my perspective that Sanders will be the best kid from this draft crop. I'm on record as saying Harry Sheezel was/is the smartest footballer I've seen at U18's level, Sanders would take 2nd place.

Thanks, really appreciate your insights. I've not seen much of this year's draftees and your posts give a lot more nuance than highlight videos. Super exciting to hear re: Sanders and Freijah. We've really lacked running power and footy IQ at times over the past couple seasons, so it's great to hear about their strengths fitting nicely with this. Cheers.