Review Rate the draft and trade period

[chaosball32]

A-

The only real negative is we could have squeezed more out of the trade period, but it's minor.

A Grade rebounding defender in McVee.

Four forwards!! Switta cover in Sweid, ready to go small in Murray, project small in Kickett and Luke could be anything.

Got our potential wing, at worst another half-back in Toby Whan. Both NGAs in the Cat B.

Even our new backup ruck can kick a goal.

Looks like we'll be a more exciting team next year.

Pretty much echoed my exact thoughts.

Overall pretty happy. I’d say A- with the only real negative being the pick trade.

Clearly there is a small forward meta at the moment and when you look at the top 8 from this year I don’t think it’s a surprise that teams like Brisbane, Geelong, Collingwood, Hawthorn with the best small forward fleets batted deep while the taller forward sets up of Freo, Adelaide, GWS crashed out early. Clearly the #1 objective this off-season was to improve the pace and the pressure in the forward half. The addition of McVee and (hopefully) Simpson off the half-back will see our transition improve and we’ve got options now for the wings.

This team should be right up there, another year of scrapping for a spot in the 8 (or now 10) isn’t enough.

 

[Superkoops]

Nice work, in the wash, a shit trade in isolation became far more palatable.

Not much we were essentially a late second or early third short changed.

It could have been palatable with Brisbane’s F3. We should have demanded that to allow the trade impasse between WCE and Brisbane to go ahead.

 

[Dirty_banchez]

I think we did pretty well. Not much to fault our club over at the minute.

 

[Ge3ks]

Cox for two years is the only blemish in my eyes.

 

[theGav56]

Great trade and draft period.

Cox for two years is the only blemish in my eyes.

I'm tipping that having Cox wins us a game next year.

 

[Eski3]

The trade wasn't great but we got extremely lucky with Sweid so it worked out ok.

I only wish we could have used a later pick on Fred when he was available at the back end of the draft. We had the list spot. It's slightly anticlimactic when we always keep a list spot open for an SSP pick, particularly when it's not clear who we're having train on with the ruck depth sorted with Cox signing

Overall a B+

 

[WilloTree]

As others have mentioned I just assumed the pick swap had a handshake deal that Eagles/Brisbane wouldn't stand in our way if we wanted Evans or Williams. Why else would be be remotely interested in gifting?

Worse still it severely weakened our draft.

Evens went to Brisbane and Eagles matched our bid on Williams anyway.

We were played.

Fooled us once at the trade. Shame on them. Fooled us twice at the draft. Shame on us.

 

[lint]

Not much we were essentially a late second or early third short changed.

It could have been palatable with Brisbane’s F3. We should have demanded that to allow the trade impasse between WCE and Brisbane to go ahead.

I think there are a few things getting lost in the pick trade analysis (20,34 for 25,28) and (37,43 for 40)

a) We used the pick 28 we added in the trade to get Judd Mcvee. That's objectively a very good value trade. There's arguments he was worth a first round pick, given he's played 65 games since his debut in 2023, won Melbourne's Best Young Player Award, and recorded two top-10 finishes in their b&f in 24 and 23. There's also arguments he was worth a future third pick on top of the pretty mediocre pick 28 we gave them. We needed to trade our second round pick 34 up, in order to get our man.
b) Given the poor quality of the draft, we were on record as looking at 2 live draft picks, a rookie and some SSP's, with some cat b's. That meant our extra third rounder (50) had little value to us. The pick was eventually 43, utilised by Brisbane to draft Cody Curtin. We had little need for such a player.
c) Brisbane are famously difficult to work with (I could use some less savoury terms). If you look at Ah Chee walking away for nothing instead of them agreeing to a pick they thought too low, they take no prisoners, and gain no fans. It is unlikely we would have traded up to the higher second rounder we needed to grab Mcvee without giving up the extra third round pick with nothing coming back, and without the pick swap, we may not have been able to get our man.

The pick swap deal wasnt great. But I don't think you can exclude the value we extracted from the Mcvee trade from the overall picture, given it was the whole impetus for the deal. The trade looks even better when you see that pick 23 became pick 28 (Avery Thomas), which is very low value in a below average draft, for a ready-made player of Judd's calibre, in a position of obvious need.

 

[Purple_Turtle]

Trade period was fine. McVee fills a need and has the potential to be a very good player for us. Cox is good quality cover for Darcy and Jackson.

End of the day the question is:

1. Did we get what we need to be successful?
2. Did we put the club at significant risk?

Answer is yes and no, so that's a solid trade period.

Give me three years before commenting on the draft. Sweid looks like a great character and Murray looks like he'll immediately compete for our forwardline, but no guarantees in the draft.

 

[rgauci]

I think there are a few things getting lost in the pick trade analysis (20,34 for 25,28) and (37,43 for 40)

a) We used the pick 28 we added in the trade to get Judd Mcvee. That's objectively a very good value trade. There's arguments he was worth a first round pick, given he's played 65 games since his debut in 2023, won Melbourne's Best Young Player Award, and recorded two top-10 finishes in their b&f in 24 and 23. There's also arguments he was worth a future third pick on top of the pretty mediocre pick 28 we gave them. We needed to trade our second round pick 34 up, in order to get our man.
b) Given the poor quality of the draft, we were on record as looking at 2 live draft picks, a rookie and some SSP's, with some cat b's. That meant our extra third rounder (50) had little value to us. The pick was eventually 43, utilised by Brisbane to draft Cody Curtin. We had little need for such a player.
c) Brisbane are famously difficult to work with. If you look at the Ah Chee example, they take no prisoners, and gain no fans. It is unlikely we would have gotten the second rounder we needed to grab Mcvee without giving up the extra third round pick with nothing coming back, and without the pick swap, we may not have been able to get our man.

The pick swap deal wasnt great. But I don't think you can exclude the value we extracted from the Mcvee trade from the overall picture, given it was the impetus for the deal. The trade looks even better when you see that pick 23 became pick 28, which is very low value for a player of his calibre.

I’m not sure you should isolate the pick trades like you have.

It was;
12, 33, 44, 50
FOR
for 19, 23, 46

That is quite bad.

They then become
20, ??, ?? , ?? For
25, 30, 40

I’m struggling to follow the picks accurately. Does anyone know for sure where our 2nd, 3rd and 4th picks went.

 

[Cesoir]

I think we did pretty well. Not much to fault our club over at the minute.

Come on DB, unlike you to accept mediocrity.

 

[TheLastCall]

I’m not sure you should isolate the pick trades like you have.

It was;
12, 33, 44, 50
FOR
for 19, 23, 46

That is quite bad.

They then become
20, ??, ?? , ?? For
25, 30, 40

I’m struggling to follow the picks accurately. Does anyone know for sure where our 2nd, 3rd and 4th picks went.

Brisbane #16 (#23 - Schubert ) + #22 (-) + #44 (#37 - Swadling) + #50 (#43 - Curtin)
Fremantle #19 (#25 - Sweid) + #23 (-) + #46 (#40 - Murray )
West Coast Starcevich + #12 (#20 - Nairn) + #33 (#29 - Allen + #52 (-)

So 22 was used for points, 23 for McVee was used for points.
Carlton Reidy + #53 (#48 - Mikunda ) + #71 (-)
Fremantle #50 (#43 - Curtin, Bris ) + #68 (-)

 

[rgauci]

Brisbane #16 (#23 - Schubert ) + #22 (-) + #44 (#37 - Swadling) + #50 (#43 - Curtin)
Fremantle #19 (#25 - Sweid) + #23 (-) + #46 (#40 - Murray )
West Coast Starcevich + #12 (#20 - Nairn) + #33 (#29 - Allen + #52 (-)

So 22 was used for points, 23 for McVee was used for points.
Carlton Reidy + #53 (#48 - Mikunda ) + #71 (-)
Fremantle #50 (#43 - Curtin, Bris ) + #68 (-)

So our pick 12 and pick 33 were used for points?

What pick were they at when consumed?

 

[TheLastCall]

So our pick 12 and pick 33 were used for points?

What pick were they at when consumed?

12 ended up with Hawthorn 20, drafted Cam Nairn
33 ended up at WC (29) Sam Allen

So we dropped from 20-25, rather than 12-20.

 

[nurries]

12 ended up with Hawthorn 20, drafted Cam Nairn
33 ended up at WC (29) Sam Allen

So we dropped from 20-25, rather than 12-20.

Walls had Sweid in the top 20 so there is a chance we may have taken him at 20

 

[Big Animal]

Rather than rate it, I'm just going to enjoy watching this year's gem that Wallsy has unearthed perform on the field in 2026 showing everyone again, why he is the best in this business.

 

[rgauci]

12 ended up with Hawthorn 20, drafted Cam Nairn
33 ended up at WC (29) Sam Allen

So we dropped from 20-25, rather than 12-20.

What about 23, what did that blow out too before being consumed for points? Struggling to follow its journey…

 

[Eski3]

Walls had Sweid in the top 20 so there is a chance we may have taken him at 20

By all reports he had him higher than 20. As Jasper from ESPN put it "Essendon liked Sweid, but Freo loved him"

 

[TheLastCall]

What about 23, what did that blow out too before being consumed for points? Struggling to follow its journey…

Probably 4 picks lower when it was used for points. Hard one to work out.

 

[rgauci]

Probably 4 picks lower when it was used for points. Hard one to work out.

Is it just not pick 30 used by Melbourne?

Or did they trade it. Melbourne don’t have an academy pick before pick 30.

 

[TheLastCall]

Is it just not pick 30 used by Melbourne?

Or did they trade it. Melbourne don’t have an academy pick before pick 30.

Fairly sure it was on-traded on draft day. Lost track of who to.

 

[rgauci]

Fairly sure it was on-traded on draft day. Lost track of who to.

Just found this…

AFL National Draft Tracker 2025: See all 60 players selected and every deal

AFL Draft Tracker 2025: See all 60 players selected and every deal

www.foxsports.com.au

It’s right at the bottom

 

[fnerd]

Just another typical wallsy “flex” at the rest of the AFL clubs pleb list managers with who he’s recruited to our club fir next year .

As for WAs overall junior development and performance at the draft well I really don’t know what all the wrist slashing and teeth gnashing has been all about!!
….according to WAFCs Adam jones ,WA has capped off just “another” successful season of player development !!!

“Still a chance”: WA young gun set for Carlton training stint — SEN

"He is getting an opportunity to travel over to Carlton and do some training with them."

apple.news

At this point ,I’d say your more of a chance to get less biased view out of the North Korean regimes thoughts on the kim family dynasty than you are of the WAFC admitting fault … in anything

 

[TheLastCall]

Just another typical wallsy “flex” at the rest of the AFL clubs pleb list managers with who he’s recruited to our club fir next year .

As for WAs overall junior development and performance at the draft well I really don’t know what all the wrist slashing and teeth gnashing has been all about!!
….according to WAFCs Adam jones ,WA has capped off just “another” successful season of player development !!!

“Still a chance”: WA young gun set for Carlton training stint — SEN

"He is getting an opportunity to travel over to Carlton and do some training with them."

apple.news

At this point ,I’d say your more of a chance to get less biased view out of the North Korean regimes thoughts on the kim family dynasty than you are of the WAFC admitting fault … in anything

Every commentator is hoping for Wes Walley get a shot. The day he plays the Where's Walley puns will fly thick and fast.

 

[Eski3]

Any inside word on who the train-ons might be?