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

 

[Happy Mastenator]

The thing that really stood out to me is the comment about clubs trading to secure position. Happy to pay a second rounder to get to a spot where they know they will get one player in the tier they want. For us, it was clear we had 3 left in our tier (2 tied to GC and then Lindsay) and we got them. Also sounds like we likely missed out if not.

Either way it puts to bed the idea that we panicked or didn't know what we were doing. We'd been trying to trade up for a number of picks (for Sharp then Dovaston) and GC being able to match Addinsall was a very very close thing.
Those who melted about this (me included) should take the reality check and back the club in.

Agree 100%.

The one thing that we can question is why they didn't do a Patterson bid earlier, but the strategy seemed to be all on track until...

 

[Ilkka Sinisalo]

The thing that really stood out to me is the comment about clubs trading to secure position. Happy to pay a second rounder to get to a spot where they know they will get one player in the tier they want. For us, it was clear we had 3 left in our tier (2 tied to GC and then Lindsay) and we got them. Also sounds like we likely missed out if not.

Either way it puts to bed the idea that we panicked or didn't know what we were doing. We'd been trying to trade up for a number of picks (for Sharp then Dovaston) and GC being able to match Addinsall was a very very close thing.
Those who melted about this (me included) should take the reality check and back the club in.

I still maintain that they stuffed up by not launching earlier bids on Uwland and Patterson, because if you're going to try to put the points squeeze on the Suns then fully commit to it and don't let it come down to a close call on whether they can match Addinsall. Also, given how good a job Richmond and Melbourne in keeping a lid on their draft intentions I think we should have done a better job in hiding our intention to get Addinsall.

That being said, the trade up does make sense because it put more of a point squeeze on the Suns (it would have been very hard to do the points math given all the moving parts in such a short time) and there was also the strong fallback option of Lindsay. If we'd stayed put at 18 it's highly likely that someone else trades with Hawthorn and picks Lindsay, then we still fail the Addinsall bid and end up with someone like Nairn or Mitch Marsh. So that's probably a price worth paying.

Given that the Suns have about 30 good mids on their list there's every chance that Addinsall ends up playing a lot of VFL and starts looking for a new home after a couple of years buried behind Anderson, Rowell, Petracca, Miller and Uwland.

 

[Elite Pete]

Gettable update.

Went into the Eagles draft haul and Cal said he didn’t think the Eagles could go any other way then Duffma. Then just went into why they did the trade up with the Hawks which has already been covered on here. Bombers would’ve went Lindsay with their 3rd pick if Robey was gone as expected by most to Richmond.

3 big rule draft changes expected next year.
-2 picks to match only but can go in deficit into next years first round pick.
-unlikely at the ring of the bell you can trade for more picks then list spots. Can only own the picks you have aligned to vacant list spots (how was this ever a thing anyway)
-10% discount gone.

Went into the big name FA and OOC players and others who might move. As per usual linked everyone to the Bombers, Hawks and Pies.

Jed Walter was mentioned as the Eagles to have interest along with Pies and Dons. Not in a rush to sign ect.

Darcy Wilson one of the 2023 top 20 picks who hasn’t signed on yet from his initial 3 year deal, would be a nice fit imo. Others who haven’t Walter, Z Duursma, Sanders.

Dougie is the clear number 1 atm.

Wes Walley not an offical SSP train on. Has been invited to train with the Blues VFL.

 

[Forward Press]

The thing that really stood out to me is the comment about clubs trading to secure position. Happy to pay a second rounder to get to a spot where they know they will get one player in the tier they want. For us, it was clear we had 3 left in our tier (2 tied to GC and then Lindsay) and we got them. Also sounds like we likely missed out if not.

Either way it puts to bed the idea that we panicked or didn't know what we were doing. We'd been trying to trade up for a number of picks (for Sharp then Dovaston) and GC being able to match Addinsall was a very very close thing.
Those who melted about this (me included) should take the reality check and back the club in.

Was it confirmed it was the Saints F2? For a rebuilding side, our own F2 probably should be off limits tbh but if we ranked the two Gold Coast draftees and Lindsay the same, then it is the right decision to throw the Saints F2 to ensure we got one.

Also, the idea that people who are paid lots of money for weeks (even months) to be completely flummoxed and not have a contingency plan for all scenarios was never a solid one, perpetuated by keyboard warriors and hindsight heroes. Yeah, of course often things don't go exactly to plan but part of their role is to then implement Plan C, D and E when they don't.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Agree 100%.

The one thing that we can question is why they didn't do a Patterson bid earlier, but the strategy seemed to be all on track until...

And even with that, based on the article the Suns had 5 points left up their sleeve by the end, i.e. the squeeze was real.

More weight behind the “they could match, but the Eagles (and others) thought there was a chance they wouldn’t”, given it had them very tight to the line for a bloke who is about 15th in line for the midfield throne.

 

[Altum Volantes]

I think Sharp would've made a great combo with Reid, along with Duursma & Hewett supporting. It's a shame we couldn't get the pick to get him.
Hopefully CDT and Reid will form a long term ruck combination, with one of them replacing Waterman later on.

Reid/CDT rotating ruck/forwards

....but Jed Walter replaces Waterman right?

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Was it confirmed it was the Saints F2? For a rebuilding side, our own F2 probably should be off limits tbh but if we ranked the two Gold Coast draftees and Lindsay the same, then it is the right decision to throw the Saints F2 to ensure we got one.

Also, the idea that people who are paid lots of money for weeks (even months) to be completely flummoxed and not have a contingency plan for all scenarios was never a solid one, perpetuated by keyboard warriors and hindsight heroes. Yeah, of course often things don't go exactly to plan but part of their role is to then implement Plan C, D and E when they don't.

Yes it’s confirmed it was the Saints F2 that left in the Hawks trade (if that’s what you’re asking, unsure if we ever put our own F2 on the line in any of the reported higher value trades)

 

[Elite Pete]

Charlie was tagged in the cench story about it so had a bit of a look and it appears Charlie might’ve unfollowed West Coast on insta (he might’ve never followed them either)

Still follows the AFLW and Eagles Academy (and Freo) could be an interesting story line with Harper and Drew ect.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

3 big rule draft changes expected next year.
-2 picks to match only but can go in deficit into next years first round pick.
-unlikely at the ring of the bell you can trade for more picks then list spots. Can only own the picks you have aligned to vacant list spots (how was this ever a thing anyway)
-10% discount gone.

You beauty. At first pass, that seems to as good as fix the Academy/FS rorts.

Would still prefer an untouched 1-18, let the bullshit start in the second round, but that’s good for now.

No banking excess picks you can never feasibly take is a big tick.

 

[plays tall 1]

The mids are a guess obviously, but guess the defenders and rucks might be right.

1. Duursma
2. Uwland
3. Patterson
3. Annable
5. Cumming
6. Harry Dean
7. X taylor
8. Farrow
9. Robey
10. CDT

Depends if they view Duursma as a mid or defender I guess.

Very interesting article.

Also shows how highly Sharp was rated. Melbourne weren't interested, hence Essendon were confident he'd slide to their third pick, but everyone else seemed to have a dip at getting up the order to get him.

In general though, it makes all the melts in here about the trades and the matching bids etc., seem a bit like the bed wetting it was. We clearly had a strategy, and we did all we could to get it done, but it didn't quite come off, but we still got Lindsay, who seemed to have a lot of interest from teams above us and could have feasibly gone from the Melbourne picks through to where we got him.

Someone holds a contrary view to Happy Mastenator = bed wetting

The article says the Eagles were interested in the Sharp selection but it doesn’t clearly state that they intended to use it on Sharp. They may have intended to use it on Dovaston (the article notes we were trying to get up the order for him).

There’s always plenty of debate on who the club should select at the draft. This year was probably the most divisive I can recall since Judd v Polak. Time will tell who was right.

 

[eaglevision]

Went into the big name FA and OOC players and others who might move. As per usual linked everyone to the Bombers, Hawks and Pies.

Jed Walter was mentioned as the Eagles to have interest along with Pies and Dons. Not in a rush to sign ect.

Darcy Wilson one of the 2023 top 20 picks who hasn’t signed on yet from his initial 3 year deal, would be a nice fit imo. Others who haven’t Walter, Z Duursma, Sanders.

OOC players I’ll be keeping an eye on:

High priority

GCS-Alex Davies, Jed Walter, Jake Rogers, Max Knobel
GWS-Kieren Briggs (RFA)
HAW-Cam MacKenzie, Ned Reeves
NM-Zane Duursma, Will Dawson
STK-Alex Dodson, Darcy Wilson
WDB-Judd Busslinger, Joel Freijah, Lachlan Smith

Lower priority

CARL-Sam Walsh (RFA)
COLL-Joel Cochran
RICH-Ben Miller
GEEL-Lawson Humphries
ADEL-Charlie Edwards
BRIS-Zane Zakostelsky

Other than Freijah and Walsh I truly believe they are all realistic.

 

[Elite Pete]

OOC players I’ll be keeping an eye on:

High priority

GCS-Alex Davies, Jed Walter, Jake Rogers, Max Knobel
GWS-Kieren Briggs (RFA)
HAW-Cam MacKenzie, Ned Reeves
NM-Zane Duursma, Will Dawson
STK-Alex Dodson, Darcy Wilson
WDB-Judd Busslinger, Joel Freijah, Lachlan Smith

Lower priority

CARL-Sam Walsh (RFA)
COLL-Joel Cochran
RICH-Ben Miller
GEEL-Lawson Humphries
ADEL-Charlie Edwards
BRIS-Zane Zakostelsky

Other than Freijah and Walsh I truly believe they are all realistic.

They mentioned Freijah could be a $1m man.

 

[eaglevision]

They mentioned Freijah could be a $1m man.

He’s a gun. Still pissed we didn’t take him, no way the dogs let him go. Expect Sanders will walk to Tassie.

 

[wirra44]

Charlie was tagged in the cench story about it so had a bit of a look and it appears Charlie might’ve unfollowed West Coast on insta (he might’ve never followed them either)

Still follows the AFLW and Eagles Academy (and Freo) could be an interesting story line with Harper and Drew ect.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Harper dropped out of the program, will be interesting to see.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

Depends if they view Duursma as a mid or defender I guess.

Someone holds a contrary view to Happy Mastenator = bed wetting

The article says the Eagles were interested in the Sharp selection but it doesn’t clearly state that they intended to use it on Sharp. They may have intended to use it on Dovaston (the article notes we were trying to get up the order for him).

There’s always plenty of debate on who the club should select at the draft. This year was probably the most divisive I can recall since Judd v Polak. Time will tell who was right.

Oh i wet the bed on draft night. I'm not pretending I'm not capable of premature melts.

 

[bzparkes]

Wouldn’t be surprised if Harper dropped out of the program, will be interesting to see.

He's not an NGA, so he's not in the program to begin with, I'd have thought but we have had father sons train with the club during the offseason before.

I highly doubt he'd give up on the opportunity to participate in an AFL environment just because his brother got drafted to a different club.

You'd think people would be more pragmatic than that.

 

[Broken_Chairs]

Really interesting article from Twomey - releaved to hear we're not a completely incompent organisation haha.

• Essendon's interest in offering two top 10 picks was for pick 1 only - they baulked at the price for pick 2 being similar.
• We were trying to move up the order from the Dees pick 11/12 (unaware of their interest in Pickett)
  • We offered a F2 to Dees & Essendon to move up for Sharp
  • We offered a F2 to NM to move up for Dovaston
• We traded F2 to Hawks to make sure we got 1 of the 3 remaining players we ranked at the same tier (Murry, Addinsall & Lindsay)
• Our play for Addinsall was essentially undone when the GWS bid for Kyle was matched by Swans - though Suns still had options to match Addinsall regardless.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Moving an 18 year old newly pro athlete across the country to live with the CEO of TAB.

Great work as always from the AFL.

 

[CountryLad]

It also shows how highly rated everyone had cumming!

Most in the mock draft afl nuffy space and most in here thought he would slide outside the top 10 open pool players.

I didn’t, had him rated as the best midfielder for most of the year just behind Duursma.

 

[OldBlueEagle]

Does the AFL website have correct info as looks incorrect?

 

[Chris_6678]

Wouldn’t be surprised if Harper dropped out of the program, will be interesting to see.

Doubt you risk the exposure to extra development.

 

[Coasters7]

OOC players I’ll be keeping an eye on:

High priority

GCS-Alex Davies, Jed Walter, Jake Rogers, Max Knobel
GWS-Kieren Briggs (RFA)
HAW-Cam MacKenzie, Ned Reeves
NM-Zane Duursma, Will Dawson
STK-Alex Dodson, Darcy Wilson
WDB-Judd Busslinger, Joel Freijah, Lachlan Smith

Lower priority

CARL-Sam Walsh (RFA)
COLL-Joel Cochran
RICH-Ben Miller
GEEL-Lawson Humphries
ADEL-Charlie Edwards
BRIS-Zane Zakostelsky

Other than Freijah and Walsh I truly believe they are all realistic.

Should be going after that GC quartet.

Our next two first rounders should be going straight to them for a combination of those 4 depending on where their value sits come the end of the year.

 

[Ilkka Sinisalo]

And even with that, based on the article the Suns had 5 points left up their sleeve by the end, i.e. the squeeze was real.

More weight behind the “they could match, but the Eagles (and others) thought there was a chance they wouldn’t”, given it had them very tight to the line for a bloke who is about 15th in line for the midfield throne.

It really grinds my gears that a very good team which has an absolute wealth of midfield talent and had already taken three players (including two in the top 5) gets to use a bunch of mediocre late picks to match a bid from a team that is desperate for midfield talent. Really feels like a guy who's eaten seven-eighths of a pizza eating the last one because screw it, he can and who cares if the other guy at the table is hungry.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Does the AFL website have correct info as looks incorrect?
View attachment 2485875

I believe our data there is correct, over the course of the entire trade and draft period. Eg it doesn’t list Saints F2 as an in then an out, it just skips it in our section.

Next year we own:
R1 (WCE)
R2 (WCE)
R3 x 2 (WCE and SYD)
R4 x2 (WCE and WB)

In 2027 we have our own 1/2/4, and have Hawks R3 instead of our own.

 

[Coasters7]

It really grinds my gears that a very good team which has an absolute wealth of midfield talent and had already taken three players (including two in the top 5) gets to use a bunch of mediocre late picks to match a bid from a team that is desperate for midfield talent. Really feels like a guy who's eaten seven-eighths of a pizza eating the last one because screw it, he can and who cares if the other guy at the table is hungry.

The fact their entire draft strategy is built around accumulating and trading for draft points says it all really.