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

 

[juice568]

Clarke feels like Mr Bean to me.

Bumbles and fumbles his way though but he always lands back on his feet

Its massey that fixes his mistakes

 

[Keys]

What about the MSD should one of our NGA's like Caton all of a sudden show some promise.

We could draft Caton in the MSD but it would be onto the Cat A rookie list

When it comes to adding NGA players to the Cat B list, it appears that adding them in between the main and rookie drafts, provided they hadn’t received a bid, is the only mechanism available.

Seems an incredibly small window that gives no flexibility whatsoever. Especially when you consider anyone and everyone who nominated for the draft can be added as a Cat A rookie if a club has an opening. But a player who was eligible as a NGA player can’t be put onto a list as a Cat B player. When the AFL is trying to increase indigenous participation rates this is rather shortsighted

The qualification to this is I might be wrong and clubs can add NGA players to their Cat B list post draft but I haven’t seen that spelt out anywhere yet.

 

[Keys]

Its massey that fixes his mistakes

Clarke’s mistakes get over emphasised on here and often mistakes attributed solely to him are more likely to have been more collaborative decisions made by list management as a group - albeit to some extent he has final say as List Manager

For example, the decision to go into the draft with only 5 open spots, which is the most contentious one from this year, would have input from Massey, McQualter and Pyke. As would have the decision to split pick 3 last year and trade for Baker

We added six pretty exciting players to our list this draft and should be celebrating that as we welcome them to the club for what we hope will be long careers. Even if history tells us one or more probably won’t.

Sure there were some things we could’ve done better but those errors are at the margins and most/all clubs could point to similar

Brisbane, for example, used a F3 pick to draft a player at pick 38 who wasn’t rated until much later and who in all likelihood would still have been available at the original pick they had. This was also a club who let Ah Chee walk to the PSD for nothing instead of taking the F2 & F3 on offer

I get we are at the bottom so the margin for error is much smaller, but looking at our overall result I think we’ve come out quite well

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

What an odd post

Ash Johnson being recruited to the WAFL side has zero to do with list management decisions for the AFL side

Livingstone was delisted to open up a Cat B spot which has unfortunately gone unfilled after Evans was bid on by Brisbane and Walley proved unworthy of a list spot

Johnson adds some experience and a mature body to our WAFL side and we could have kept Livingstone whether or not we signed Johnson

Use the money spent on Johnson on a different player is my point...WAFL side needs a winger badly so spend money on that

 

[eagles rule]

Clarke’s mistakes get over emphasised on here and often mistakes attributed solely to him are more likely to have been more collaborative decisions made by list management as a group - albeit to some extent he has final say as List Manager

For example, the decision to go into the draft with only 5 open spots, which is the most contentious one from this year, would have input from Massey, McQualter and Pyke. As would have the decision to split pick 3 last year and trade for Baker

We added six pretty exciting players to our list this draft and should be celebrating that as we welcome them to the club for what we hope will be long careers. Even if history tells us one or more probably won’t.

Sure there were some things we could’ve done better but those errors are at the margins and most/all clubs could point to similar

Brisbane, for example, used a F3 pick to draft a player at pick 38 who wasn’t rated until much later and who in all likelihood would still have been available at the original pick they had. This was also a club who let Ah Chee walk to the PSD for nothing instead of taking the F2 & F3 on offer

I get we are at the bottom so the margin for error is much smaller, but looking at our overall result I think we’ve come out quite well

Brisbane looked to be a very petty team sulking about some issue with the Starc trade ,they have a full academy of Queensland prospects and Evans was the best standout for them ,really ..

 

[ArdentEagle]

Clarke’s mistakes get over emphasised on here and often mistakes attributed solely to him are more likely to have been more collaborative decisions made by list management as a group - albeit to some extent he has final say as List Manager

For example, the decision to go into the draft with only 5 open spots, which is the most contentious one from this year, would have input from Massey, McQualter and Pyke. As would have the decision to split pick 3 last year and trade for Baker

We added six pretty exciting players to our list this draft and should be celebrating that as we welcome them to the club for what we hope will be long careers. Even if history tells us one or more probably won’t.

Sure there were some things we could’ve done better but those errors are at the margins and most/all clubs could point to similar

Brisbane, for example, used a F3 pick to draft a player at pick 38 who wasn’t rated until much later and who in all likelihood would still have been available at the original pick they had. This was also a club who let Ah Chee walk to the PSD for nothing instead of taking the F2 & F3 on offer

I get we are at the bottom so the margin for error is much smaller, but looking at our overall result I think we’ve come out quite well

As you've mentioned, he has the final say as List Manager and therefore, the ultimate responsibility is with him.

If Brisbane used an F3 to nab Evans, that's a good enough indication to me that the kid is worth the risk.
Hell, one of the maniacs on here took him in the early 20's in a mock draft

He's the one I think is going to come back and bite us for not taking.

 

[Cuzz09]

Just gotta get all these individual decent players to get as a team.

Get the footies out from session 1

 

[Bender_]

Use the money spent on Johnson on a different player is my point...WAFL side needs a winger badly so spend money on that

We all no as an AFL player Johnson wasn't a star, but you really have an issue with us recruiting him. What other stand-out options would you have pursued for instead?

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Use the money spent on Johnson on a different player is my point...WAFL side needs a winger badly so spend money on that

WAFL side has Davis, Dewar, Johnston, Grego, Hutchinson, Allen when fit. All can play on the wing.

It's bizarre (or maybe it isn't) that we finally have a decent recruit and you're finding something wrong with it.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Not that I’m aware of

We can add an international rookie if we find someone suitable or maybe someone from a different code - so a kid who’s been off playing cricket or basketball and decides to come back to football

I don’t think we can now add another NGA player or change our mind on Walley

Most likely is that spot sits vacant for 2026 - I guess the hope was Evans getting through the draft so we could add him as a Cat B rookie. And we had to delist Livingstone to create the opening so it’s a bit of a shame there’s no mechanism to add him back on

We must really not have rated Walley, which makes you wonder why we even bothered to nominate him?

Unless there's an international rookie or someone switching codes we have our eye on.

 

[eaglespremiers]

Clarke’s mistakes get over emphasised on here and often mistakes attributed solely to him are more likely to have been more collaborative decisions made by list management as a group - albeit to some extent he has final say as List Manager

For example, the decision to go into the draft with only 5 open spots, which is the most contentious one from this year, would have input from Massey, McQualter and Pyke. As would have the decision to split pick 3 last year and trade for Baker

We added six pretty exciting players to our list this draft and should be celebrating that as we welcome them to the club for what we hope will be long careers. Even if history tells us one or more probably won’t.

Sure there were some things we could’ve done better but those errors are at the margins and most/all clubs could point to similar

Brisbane, for example, used a F3 pick to draft a player at pick 38 who wasn’t rated until much later and who in all likelihood would still have been available at the original pick they had. This was also a club who let Ah Chee walk to the PSD for nothing instead of taking the F2 & F3 on offer

I get we are at the bottom so the margin for error is much smaller, but looking at our overall result I think we’ve come out quite well

Maybe, but the trade of that future 2nd to move up one spot in the draft, do double unsuccessful bids doesn't look great (particularly with the responses from our team captured on camera) and really only can be justified if we were certain that Hawthorn was going to take Lindsay (or trade to some other team who would've taken Lindsay in front of us). Otherwise it was a bit of a head scratcher.
Ditto the lack of a Patterson bid at the start.

 

[InTheWings]

We must really not have rated Walley, which makes you wonder why we even bothered to nominate him?

Unless there's an international rookie or someone switching codes we have our eye on.

The new AFL rules say he can be NGA club-tied for 3 years, so I wonder if that means we had to nominate him to keep him club-tied?

Also, a few posters have said the club was unimpressed that he missed some training sessions that they expected he would be at, so not drafting him this year is setting the standard we expect.

Maybe they were hoping to use Livingston’s Cat B spot on Evans.

 

[Avalor]

The new AFL rules say he can be NGA club-tied for 3 years, so I wonder if that means we had to nominate him to keep him club-tied?

Also, a few posters have said the club was unimpressed that he missed some training sessions that they expected he would be at, so not drafting him this year is setting the standard we expect.

Maybe they were hoping to use Livingston’s Cat B spot on Evans.

Your last point is most likely so. Almost definitely so.

 

[The_Reaper]

We must really not have rated Walley, which makes you wonder why we even bothered to nominate him?

Unless there's an international rookie or someone switching codes we have our eye on.

Maybe as back up if we didn't get Williams?

 

[WCE777]

Clarke’s mistakes get over emphasised on here and often mistakes attributed solely to him are more likely to have been more collaborative decisions made by list management as a group - albeit to some extent he has final say as List Manager

For example, the decision to go into the draft with only 5 open spots, which is the most contentious one from this year, would have input from Massey, McQualter and Pyke. As would have the decision to split pick 3 last year and trade for Baker

We added six pretty exciting players to our list this draft and should be celebrating that as we welcome them to the club for what we hope will be long careers. Even if history tells us one or more probably won’t.

Sure there were some things we could’ve done better but those errors are at the margins and most/all clubs could point to similar

Brisbane, for example, used a F3 pick to draft a player at pick 38 who wasn’t rated until much later and who in all likelihood would still have been available at the original pick they had. This was also a club who let Ah Chee walk to the PSD for nothing instead of taking the F2 & F3 on offer

I get we are at the bottom so the margin for error is much smaller, but looking at our overall result I think we’ve come out quite well

100% this, great post.

The list management decisions are from all of the men in the room that matter, Clarke, McQualter, Massey, Woosha & Pyke.
Its clear from overall list decisions, trade targets, draft targets that Woosha an Pyke have taken an over arching list management plan/strategy from last year and implemented a plan to execute this.

A clear plan going forward and a major shift from the past, we forget easily there has been a massive change in strategy over the last 15 months or so.

Clarke, while I don't have inside knowledge to his attributes it seems this is a collaberative approach by him Woosha and Pyke.
He is obviuosly not a media performer of the highest order but at the end of the day he doesn't have to be if he gets the list right!

I think internally at WC both Woosha and Pyke have stepped in and arrested some skill deficiencies with our recruiting/list management/football department and stepped back those that are not performing at the highest level.

Massey, seems to have a good handle on talent and the drafting the last 2 years I would rate VERY highly, takes a talent view, character view, and able to identify players that McQualter wants in his system without prejudice.

Gavin Bell, what is your job??

 

[Keys]

Maybe, but the trade of that future 2nd to move up one spot in the draft, do double unsuccessful bids doesn't look great (particularly with the responses from our team captured on camera) and really only can be justified if we were certain that Hawthorn was going to take Lindsay (or trade to some other team who would've taken Lindsay in front of us). Otherwise it was a bit of a head scratcher.
Ditto the lack of a Patterson bid at the start.

I think the only way we truly could have squeezed the Suns for points would’ve been to go 1-2 on Uwland and Patterson. Personally, I’m content we gave the honour of being pick 1 to Duursma - he certainly deserved it and was genuinely the best prospect in the draft regardless of club ties

The Suns had the ammunition to be able to match our bids on Murray and Addinsall even had we bid on Patterson at 3, so not doing that isn’t the tactical error it’s being made out to be

For whatever reason the club seemed to think Gold Coast wouldn’t match our Addinsall bid (a view shared by Twomey by the way) which would explain the clear surprise/disappointment in the bunker when they did.

Like most, I’d love to know why we traded up with Hawthorn. The move only added 83 points, at most, to the cost of matching so that wasn’t going to make a difference which means the only logical assumption is we wanted to make sure our next preference if the bids were matched (Lindsay) was still there. Whether that’s because we thought Hawthorn would take him or, more likely, they traded their pick to the Bulldogs who would have we don’t know

That said there was clearly some calls being made and discussion post the bid match which suggests picking Lindsay wasn’t necessarily the automatic next step. Maybe we were checking to see whether the Bulldogs or Geelong what they might offer to trade up ahead of Hawthorn - but that’s a total guess

Tbh, I’m happier with Lindsay over Addinsall and probably Nairn, Carmichael, Marsh, Schubert or Barker who were the next players drafted. Unfortunately, that cost us the Saints F2

Hopefully, Lindsay proves worthy of the trade up and I think he will. Has the potential to be this draft’s Murphy Reid - a highly rated talent who slid down the order for perceived flaws that overshadowed his clear strengths. Freo got a bargain for him using pick 17 in 2024, the same pick Lindsay would’ve been in 2025 had we not bothered bidding on the two suns players.

Put your money on Lindsay for the 2026 Rising Star

 

[txbyhull]

Just gonna ignore the Sam Allen pick then?

Sam clearly fits the bill for what the club wanted to do with the draft. Lots of athletes with good kicks that are positionally versatile. Lindsay the worst athlete but best kick, Allen the best athlete seriously elite but the most average kick. Generally speaking a pretty clear direction

 

[cookiesncream]

Banfield gets drafted close to Hugh Boxshall and Evans goes ahead of Angove comfortably.

Based on your views, surely if Evans would have been picked ahead of Angove in a stronger draft last year, he would have been taken a lot earlier than pick 38 in a more compromised draft this year. Other players with long term injuries were taken before Evans. All things considered it seems club recruitment teams did not rate Evans and Banfield as highly a few posters here.

 

[juice568]

Based on your views, surely if Evans would have been picked ahead of Angove in a stronger draft last year, he would have been taken a lot earlier than pick 38 in a more compromised draft this year. Other players with long term injuries were taken before Evans. All things considered it seems club recruitment teams did not rate Evans and Banfield as highly a few posters here.

Gws always reach early for random players. Where was angove expected to go

 

[Wooshaaaa]

Not that I’m aware of

We can add an international rookie if we find someone suitable or maybe someone from a different code - so a kid who’s been off playing cricket or basketball and decides to come back to football

I don’t think we can now add another NGA player or change our mind on Walley

Most likely is that spot sits vacant for 2026 - I guess the hope was Evans getting through the draft so we could add him as a Cat B rookie. And we had to delist Livingstone to create the opening so it’s a bit of a shame there’s no mechanism to add him back on

Isn't it about time we had a crack at an Irishman?

 

[cookiesncream]

Gws always reach early for random players. Where was angove expected to go

Clubs pick players on their rankings. If Evans was that highly rated, why was he not taken in the first round by any club in a more compromised draft? If Evans and Banfield were not NGA/FS affiliated would posters still have the same sentiment?

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

We all no as an AFL player Johnson wasn't a star, but you really have an issue with us recruiting him. What other stand-out options would you have pursued for instead?

A midfielder... The place we get destroyed in week in week out

 

[Bender_]

A midfielder... The place we get destroyed in week in week out

No, name someone.

 

[THE A5]

Duursma was offered number 1,5 and 12 in the meeting before the draft. Sounds like he picked 1 (really wanted 4 but Starcevich already selected it.

They should have waited till post draft to give everyone numbers tbf. Wasn’t a fan of them giving Hunt Sheps 5 and now allowing Starcevich to take 4.

 

[Bender_]

They should have waited till post draft to give everyone numbers tbf. Wasn’t a fan of them giving Hunt Sheps 5 and now allowing Starcevich to take 4.

That dual premiership player that just signed a four year deal with the wooden spooners should prove himself in number 47 before being allowed to choose his number.