Game Day The 2025 Draft Day Thread

[UseR2006]

And a song to sing as we watch,

Hey Matty Clarke by Kevin (Random260) Wilson :

Hey Matty Clarke you campaigner, where the **** is Sharp
I’ve looked at all these other spuds and there’s no one that I like
I wrote you a ****ing letter and posted about it twice
You dopey ****ing Richmond fart, you forgot my ****ing Sharp

If I wanted a stupid ruckman type, I would’ve bloody asked
And this half back flank and temu mid, you can shove right up your arse
You’ve stuffed the bloody order up, it’s enough to make you spew
But it’s not just me who’s snakey, SGIO is dirty too

Next time I come to see ya, I’m going to punch you in the guts
And I’ll sack the other recruiting knobs and kick Toddy in the nuts
You just wait 'til next year when you go back to the draft
And me and me little GIO come stomping through the door
And we'll say, yeah, you wait for it

Hey Pyke and Woosh you smell his breath
And check his bloodshot eyes
And don't listen to him eagles fans 'cause he tells ****ing lies
He's just a ****ing useless campaigner and he's not even very bright
'Cause the stupid ****in' w***er, forgot me ****in' Sharp

Hey Matty Clarke you campaigner, where the **** is Sharp
I’ve looked at all these other spuds and there’s no one that I like
I wrote you a ****ing letter and posted about it twice
You dopey ****ing Richmond fart, you forgot my ****ing Sharp

A Quick Ai rendition: https://suno.com/s/blQP3cSnulhqYb5g
It's funny how it interrupted the lyrics XD

 

[mattyc75]

En-vogue and sugar hits aside, maybe your emotions/opinion on this matter are clouding your narrative.
'Macrae was delisted from an aging midfield crying out for youth to displace their oldies'
The exact opposite to our situation - we need experienced oldies to prop up our youth.
(also why regarding Banfield, Clarke said we had to stick to our program more importantly, of not getting too many 18yr olds)(as much as they probably would've liked to have him)

Also we don't know if not taking Banfield is a mistake yet?

Tbf we dont know if taking CDT or anyone is a mistake but just from what I've seen i think not taking Banfield is a mistake. Sure I know next to nothing about talent identification but I'm not just basing it off his surname.
He's going to be really good. I think the 3 delisted guys we got have all proven they have little upside.
I agree we needed a couple of seasoned campaigners but maybe 3 in similar roles was overkill and may come back to haunt us

 

[Cuzz09]

Sticking with the land of the Giants fwd line doesn't feel modern either.

Particularly when we have no decent crumbers or clever smalls (that have made that position theirs yet)

All good having Waterman, Shanahands etc but 90% of the time the balls zipping around the grass level and we look lost

 

[bzparkes]

That's right. Couldn't get on the park after 2 years of battling Glandular Fever? We didn't re-contract him as he wasn't sure he would still be playing?

Came good a year or two later and Essendon drafted, and then delisted, him.

As I understand it, the club and family agreed to part way to give him some time away from footy.

Could be wrong.

Ended up working at the club and playing for the WAFL side but after not being picked up, moved to his old club. That was when Nisbett brought in the rule that rule that if you worked at the club and played WAFL, you had to play for the BEagles. We lost a few from back office that way(Ruscoe, Waterman, Rotham's brother).

Pretty dumb thing to implement IMO. Other clubs don't do it.

 

[eaglevision]

Sticking with the land of the Giants fwd line doesn't feel modern either.

Particularly when we have no decent crumbers or clever smalls (that have made that position theirs yet)

All good having Waterman, Shanahands etc but 90% of the time the balls zipping around the grass level and we look lost

If we can get Lindsay fit and strong enough to get up to a wing delivering it inside 50 to Jobe and Jake that would be sublime.

 

[InTheWings]

As I understand it, the club and family agreed to part way to give him some time away from footy.

Could be wrong.

Ended up working at the club and playing for the WAFL side but after not being picked up, moved to his old club. That was when Nisbett brought in the rule that rule that if you worked at the club and played WAFL, you had to play for the BEagles. We lost a few from back office that way(Ruscoe, Waterman, Rotham's brother).

Pretty dumb thing to implement IMO. Other clubs don't do it.

We lost Hamish Brayshaw working for the club that way too, if I recall.

 

[bzparkes]

We lost Hamish Brayshaw working for the club that way too, if I recall.

Ah yep, he was the other one. He also only left due to covid uncertainty to begin with. Was captain of the side at the time but ended up signing a 3 year contract with East Perth because everyone thought the BEagles were being put in the bin.

 

[EagleEgo]

We have some good tall NGA waiting next couple of years. We need quota for those.

 

[Forward Press]

I thought we drafted Alec waterman? Delisted him after glandular fever?

Well we selected him then delisted him without playing a game. Then Essendon picked him up and there was much wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth. Along with Jacob Brennan as an example, they were prematurely delisted from West Coast but that's the game for you.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

Still bitterly disappointed and I think overall you should be willing to slightly overpay for Father sons. There’s an extra level of buy in that they have and passion for the club. There’s a reason there’s so many father sons in premiership teams and I dare if someone had the time to look, they have a higher success rate in terms of games played than the average player.

Brennan was never a world beater but when he was out there he gave it his all and Waterman been the heart and soul of the team for two years.

Not Giving a guy 2 years instead of 1 we hoped to give made no sense. Never will. His rig looks like he could be a monster. Long arms and all.

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

The media in Melbourne often call the draft quality based on things very much in front of them.

That includes: -

• Stand out top end (think Harley in 2023)
• Number of KPF with wow factor (think Kings and Lukosius in 2018)
• How many likely to be drafted
• Strength of Vic Metro and Vic Country
• Strength of Sandringham Dragons and to a lesser extent Oakleigh Chargers, and number from these 2 clubs likely to be drafted (Brayshaw, Ashcroft x 2, etc)
• Dilution with club tied prospects

A number of people called this draft weak. I think it was more compromised with 4 in the top 10 being club tied.

Looking at raw facts:

1. Depth being number of players drafted
2025 = 60
2024 was the deepest draft in some time with 71 selections
2025 much the same as 2023 = 64, 2022 = 59

2. 2025 was the most compromised with club tied prospects at the very pointy end with 8 in the first round but 2 of these did not go to the club they were tied to. This is not far off 2023 where there were 6 club tied players in the first round but (5 taken by their club but WCE were not allowed to match Collard).

3. SA were the dominant U18 Carnival team. The other 4 teams were pretty much a similar strength.

4. There were no Sandringham Dragons and only 1 Oakleigh Chargers drafted in the first round this year. Extremely unusual.

5. We still had clubs trying to get back into the draft in the teens offering up future R1 picks.


On reflection, I do not believe this was as weak a draft as Vic media stated. Time will tell but getting Lindsay at 19 and Allen at 29 represents good value to me.

 

[BartBart]

So after the draft & much said about squad age profile to ensure the youngsters learn from the more experienced, etc. ... I hope we have fixed the big issues with our player development that we seem to have struggled with for a few years. Whilst other clubs have developed we've stagnated.

Yes... we have made some changes, but we are yet to see if they'll bear fruit. And the WAFL Eagles team setup looks like is yet to improve considering there is an open conspiracy amongst the other clubs & WAFC to prevent them improving/being competitive.

I think that will be a bigger factor than our small numerous but consistent little errors we uncaringly make in drafting, trading, etc.

 

[Bender_]

As opposed to Schoenberg?.. and MacRae's brother?
I know which one id like the club to develop

Totally not the point I was making - it wasn't complicated.

 

[Proeagle]

Bakes and graham said on coming here that the standards were lacking.

A bottom up rebuild of non negotiables.
I mean Harley Reid thinking it was ok to rock up looking like he’d had a bike pump up his arse was a clear symptom of what we had fallen to.

Circus run by the monkeys…

And a key thing I noted from their comments were we have one less training session a week than VIC clubs due to our travel. AFL didn't do us any favours next year either by making us travel 9hrs more than 2nd on the list Dockers.

​	​	​	​
​	​	No' Games Traveling​	Hrs Traveling​
1​	West Coast​	10​	78h 40m​
2​	Fremantle​	9​	69h 50m​
3​	Gold Coast​	12​	63h 25m​
4​	Brisbane​	11​	54h 25m​
5​	Sydney​	11​	48h 25m​
6​	GWS​	11​	45h 50m​
7​	Hawthorn​	10​	39h 30m​
8​	Port Adelaide​	10​	39h 0m​
9​	Adelaide​	10​	38h 35m​
10​	Melbourne​	8​	34h 55m​
11​	N Melbourne​	8​	31h 15m​
12​	Western Bulldogs​	7​	28h 25m​
13​	Geelong​	7​	28h 0m​
14​	St Kilda​	6​	27h 50m​
15​	Richmond​	6​	26h 50m​
16​	Collingwood​	6​	25h 20m​
17​	Essendon​	6​	25h 20m​
18​	Carlton​	5​	23h 55m​

 

[mattyc75]

Well we selected him then delisted him without playing a game. Then Essendon picked him up and there was much wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth. Along with Jacob Brennan as an example, they were prematurely delisted from West Coast but that's the game for you.

I liked Brennan's endeavour but he lacked any afl level qualities
Was the right decision on waterman, was drafted as a highly rated inside mid but after his illness was never the same

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Still bitterly disappointed and I think overall you should be willing to slightly overpay for Father sons. There’s an extra level of buy in that they have and passion for the club. There’s a reason there’s so many father sons in premiership teams and I dare if someone had the time to look, they have a higher success rate in terms of games played than the average player.

Brennan was never a world beater but when he was out there he gave it his all and Waterman been the heart and soul of the team for two years.

Not Giving a guy 2 years instead of 1 we hoped to give made no sense. Never will. His rig looks like he could be a monster. Long arms and all.

Brennan was unlucky to not be tall enough to be a KPD at AFL level.
Waterman could have been a good inside mid, perhaps a slightly quicker Priddis-like player with a strong centre of gravity. I was really excited about him and wanted to see him make it.
Continually staked his claim for a spot in his debut season but wasn't able to run out games in the WAFL because of his glandular fever.
WC had no choice but to delist him since it was uncertain when he would return, and what sort of player he would be if he did.
He turned himself into a forward, and was okay, but was never gonna have a long career there at AFL level due to his lack of pace/mobility. His glandular fever stopped him from continuing as a midfielder.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

When are the ssp lads going to be announced by the club?

Monday, but the 3 of them are all but confirmed.

 

[squashface]

Brennan was unlucky to not be tall enough to be a KPD at AFL level and too slow/not nimble enough to be a medium defender.
Waterman could have been a good inside mid, perhaps a slightly quicker Priddis like player with a strong centre of gravity. I was really excited about him and wanted to see him make it.
Continually staked his claim for a spot in his debut season but wasn't able to run out games in the WAFL because of his glandular fever.
WC had no choice but to delist him since it was uncertain when he would return, and what sort of player he would be if he did.
He turned himself into a forward, and was okay, but was never gonna have a long career there at AFL level due to his lack of pace/mobility. His glandular fever stopped him from continuing as a midfielder.

From memory Brennan was pretty quick, he just couldn’t hit the side of a barn with his kicks.

 

[chaddy22]

I feel like we're confusing strategy with outcome.
Neither of us can critique the outcome - that will come in the next 5 to 10 years.

What we CAN criticize is the plan to go into the draft without enough free list spots, and missing Banfield when it would've cost us SFA to match.

It has been said ad nauseam, but we've prioritized Schoenberg, Macrae, Cripps main list, and Barnett's final year over giving Banfield a chance.

Feels like we're going in circles here where you respond that the club followed their plan, and I repeat that I think the plan was a mistake.

Stop this rubbish.
If we wanted Banfield and Evans we could have done it or would have done it.
We move Cripps to the rookie list (sorry Fred)
We then pass on Sam Allen and take Williams, Banfield and Evans in the main draft instead of hoping both make the rookie list.
One thing i would guarentee would happen if we did this is in a couple of years time some would be looking at who we missed out especially pick 29.
You are the only one bringing up Schoenberg and Macrae rubbish for missing Banfield.
Nearly everyone bar you realises that Cripps was the logical one to be dropped off the main list as he has only one year in him and no other team likely to take him. It is time for you to move on.

 

[Doashuey]

This I consider pivotal. It is entirely the purpose. WAFL winning, creates winners, creates positivity, creat competition for spots.....creates.

A large part of our problem is between the ears, not football talent.

Listening to Jamie Maddox on the Max Sports pod that someone posted last week. He said it is imperritive that for young players to improve they need quality senior players in the squad so they can train against quality opposition. We really havent had that so it is a clear list need and why we are trying to balance out the age/experience on the list.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Schoenberg & Macrae are both delisted players and are so for a reason. It's more about cost. No trade required or offering a higher contract than the original club in FA. We're hedging our bets on senior mids regardless of AFL quality being able to help develop our younger ones. That is what Clarke says they are mainly there for, although being AFL depth would be a bonus.

 

[BartBart]

Schoenberg & Macrae are both delisted players and are so for a reason. It's more about cost. No trade required or offering a higher contract than the original club in FA. We're hedging our bets on senior mids regardless of AFL quality being able to help develop our younger ones. That is what Clarke says they are mainly there for, although being AFL depth would be a bonus.

The WAFL team situation has to play a part in that too.

 

[chaddy22]

The WAFL team situation has to play a part in that too.

With Ash Johnson and Jammo signing on for the Beagles plus the three SSP players you would hope to see a improvement of the team but more importantly development of our younger players having some senior players and some leadership

 

[Bacchus]

A lot have been talked about Banfield. I am sure with old mates Don Pyke and John Worsfold overseeing the draft process, WCE have made the correct and justifiable decision.
Edit: We made similar decision on Jacob Brennan, but it didn't work.

Jacob Brennan not in the same league as Banfieid - that's the point.

 

[juice568]

I reckon a massive fail would be adjusting your long term plan (that you've spent months putting together with a whole group of people paid to do exactly that) so that you don't put a bunch of people on the Internet's preconceptions out of whack?

Every club makes misjudgements in every draft, but if you go in without a plan you'll stick to, there's no way you can succeed. Sounds like the plan never had taking our aligned players other than Williams in the main draft.

I think they expected to match williams earlier then pick banfield last. I think they picked allen over banfield.

 

[Jumpoff Joey]

Watch us now overpay to get 2Rs next year to match Kenh and possibly Harper/McGlade.

With a young squad, a travel itinerary of below, I don't see us doing much next year. I personally think there will be close games, but we won't win any of them and finish the season with fewer than four wins.

I would again be playing the same game everyone else does.

This time, asking Vafl house to pre-list our kids as a minimum and maybe asking for Pick 11.

And a key thing I noted from their comments were we have one less training session a week than VIC clubs due to our travel. AFL didn't do us any favours next year either by making us travel 9hrs more than 2nd on the list Dockers.

​	​	​	​
​	​	No' Games Traveling​	Hrs Traveling​
1​	West Coast​	10​	78h 40m​
2​	Fremantle​	9​	69h 50m​
3​	Gold Coast​	12​	63h 25m​
4​	Brisbane​	11​	54h 25m​
5​	Sydney​	11​	48h 25m​
6​	GWS​	11​	45h 50m​
7​	Hawthorn​	10​	39h 30m​
8​	Port Adelaide​	10​	39h 0m​
9​	Adelaide​	10​	38h 35m​
10​	Melbourne​	8​	34h 55m​
11​	N Melbourne​	8​	31h 15m​
12​	Western Bulldogs​	7​	28h 25m​
13​	Geelong​	7​	28h 0m​
14​	St Kilda​	6​	27h 50m​
15​	Richmond​	6​	26h 50m​
16​	Collingwood​	6​	25h 20m​
17​	Essendon​	6​	25h 20m​
18​	Carlton​	5​	23h 55m​