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Game Day The 2025 Draft Day Thread

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squashface said:
Feels like there has been the least amount of fanfare after this draft ever. I remember post-Reid draft the noise was huge and then even last year with Lalor we had so much "Oh gee Richo, he's the next Dusty!!"

This year there's almost nothing. I guess with the draft crop being perceived as not as good this year coupled with a West Australian side having the top two picks means nobody seems to care. On the other hand I consume next to 0 footy media these days so maybe there is more noise than I am seeing.

In any case, I feel that Duursma is going to prove a lot of the "this draft sucks" camp wrong pretty quickly.
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That’s going to be hard come Rd 1 vs GC on the Gold Coast, when Jarrod Witts taps down to Noah Anderson, Matt Rowell, long kick to King…..goal, and reality sets in.
We still don’t have a ruckman that can compete against the best rucks in the comp. I’m happy we’ve drafted Dev, who will give it a red hot crack in the midfield.
I’m hoping that we can maybe halve the belting that the GC gave us in the 1st round this year.
 
PremiershipNo4 said:
That’s going to be hard come Rd 1 vs GC on the Gold Coast, when Jarrod Witts taps down to Noah Anderson, Matt Rowell, long kick to King…..goal, and reality sets in.
We still don’t have a ruckman that can compete against the best rucks in the comp. I’m happy we’ve drafted Dev, who will give it a red hot crack in the midfield.
I’m hoping that we can maybe halve the belting that the GC gave us in the 1st round this year.
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Cool, not sure what that has to do with my post
 
WCE777 said:
Agree but he must have a contract for next year and we are already spending a lot over the soft cap for footy department spending according to Pyke recently.
Also just finished paying Simpson this year, so I can see significant change coming next year around our football department, personel, resources etc.

Again the biggest problem is we have to overpay to get the best to WA.
I think we will need lots of different skill sets and personel to finish out the group around McQualter and co.

I would suspect Clarke will have/need some more help and expertise around him so Woosha can be the actual head of football across all programs and create an elite program and implement the WC goals with our club.

This last 2 years has seen massive change across all parts of the club and the same will happen going forward imo.

Some may have different views about Pyke & Woosha but the have both been around AFL clubs for a long time and different clubs and successful programs and I think they know what they want and what is needed.
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Just on the soft cap, I took Pyke's comments with a bit of scepticism. No doubt we did spend over the cap, but that could simply be due to Simmo's payout. I don't think the AFL would look too kindly on a club spending over on an ongoing, operational basis. Neither would the WAFL (as it takes money from them).

I think he said it more as a response to guys like Hird, who said we were wrong not to.

On your other points, Pyke and Woosha definitely have a medium term vision and that's to win a flag (with no care how many bottom 4 finishes that requires in the short term).

I am very excited to see this team in 3 years time, they look to be building a quick, counter-attacking and high scoring team. Not to mention a bunch of giants in the middle who are strong in the contest.
 

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PremiershipNo4 said:
That’s going to be hard come Rd 1 vs GC on the Gold Coast, when Jarrod Witts taps down to Noah Anderson, Matt Rowell, long kick to King…..goal, and reality sets in.
We still don’t have a ruckman that can compete against the best rucks in the comp. I’m happy we’ve drafted Dev, who will give it a red hot crack in the midfield.
I’m hoping that we can maybe halve the belting that the GC gave us in the 1st round this year.
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The good thing with going up against a likely top 4 team rnd 1 is that you're not going to be able to kid yourself for long. Get belted and get an early reality check. Be competitive or win and you get some confidence. Then onto North at home.
 
Rowan18 said:
Just on the soft cap, I took Pyke's comments with a bit of scepticism. No doubt we did spend over the cap, but that could simply be due to Simmo's payout. I don't think the AFL would look too kindly on a club spending over on an ongoing, operational basis. Neither would the WAFL (as it takes money from them).

I think he said it more as a response to guys like Hird, who said we were wrong not to.

On your other points, Pyke and Woosha definitely have a medium term vision and that's to win a flag (with no care how many bottom 4 finishes that requires in the short term).

I am very excited to see this team in 3 years time, they look to be building a quick, counter-attacking and high scoring team. Not to mention a bunch of giants in the middle who are strong in the contest.
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I think you are right on the Simmo payout, this has slowed down what we have been able to do off field.
I totally agree with the medium term vision to win a flag the way you mentioned.

We have obviously sold a lot of assets/players and put that into the draft as strong as we can while bringing in experienced players to help to build that premiership winning team.

I just hope this time WC realise when some players are near the end that we start rejuvinating our list underneath a couple of years earlier for some sustained success.
 
WCE777 said:
I think you are right on the Simmo payout, this has slowed down what we have been able to do off field.
I totally agree with the medium term vision to win a flag the way you mentioned.

We have obviously sold a lot of assets/players and put that into the draft as strong as we can while bringing in experienced players to help to build that premiership winning team.

I just hope this time WC realise when some players are near the end that we start rejuvinating our list underneath a couple of years earlier for some sustained success.
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We always need to make the tough decisions on our list. No way should we keep players who haven't started getting regular games after 3-4yrs.
 
I've been thinking about the Lindsay trade up with the Hawks, and those criticising what looked like 'panic' in the Eagles room after GC matched the addinsall bid.

I'd had a rewatch and it seems to me to be a fairly solid process being worked through. Not panic.

From what I can see:
  • WC trade up to get either addinsall (Plan A) or lindsay (Plan B) - Reasonable logic if you believe WB were targeting Lindsay.
  • GC Match our original bid on Addinsall - a surprise but now we're glad we traded up.
  • Clarke receives calls - assume these are offers for our new pick from others who want Lindsay.
  • Process seems to dictate that Clarke write this offer down on a whiteboard for everyone to discusss.
  • Boards / magnets are moved around and the value of this offer is considered
  • Everyone agrees that Lindsay > this offer and so we take him.

We're talking about very high pressure decision making environments, so while you may have an issue with the overall plans (A and B) I don't think you can complain about the process followed.

/random monday thoughts
 
Couchpotato said:
I've been thinking about the Lindsay trade up with the Hawks, and those criticising what looked like 'panic' in the Eagles room after GC matched the addinsall bid.

I'd had a rewatch and it seems to me to be a fairly solid process being worked through. Not panic.

From what I can see:
  • WC trade up to get either addinsall (Plan A) or lindsay (Plan B) - Reasonable logic if you believe WB were targeting Lindsay.
  • GC Match our original bid on Addinsall - a surprise but now we're glad we traded up.
  • Clarke receives calls - assume these are offers for our new pick from others who want Lindsay.
  • Process seems to dictate that Clarke write this offer down on a whiteboard for everyone to discusss.
  • Boards / magnets are moved around and the value of this offer is considered
  • Everyone agrees that Lindsay > this offer and so we take him.

We're talking about very high pressure decision making environments, so while you may have an issue with the overall plans (A and B) I don't think you can complain about the process followed.

/random monday thoughts
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Looked like panic? LOL who exactly panicked? All I saw was young guy right at the centre moving his head, like he misplaced his phone and didn't know where it was. What weight do you put at him?

I saw them pivot as a team. Thats what you do. We don't know if Addinsall manager gave assurances to eagles GC weren't going to match. Reckon that conversation didn't happen before draft? You can't control what other clubs do, especially if they change their mind.

As for Lindsay, clearly they wanted to make sure they had him, with other discussions with Hawks pick, given how close mates he is to at least CDT.

Maybe they panicked after they saw who is available and saw what next 5 picks looked like if they couldn't get Lindsay. I'd panic too.

One thing for sure, they didn't look panicked when it came to punting Banfield and evans before, during and after the draft. If people want to see panic, they should go back and see BF board when Williams bid was matched. The mob mentality was in full swing.

I get it, obese people sitting on their couch looking at the draft would feel panicked if asked to move their ass and they think everyone else is the same.
 
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Wes Walley training with Carlton apparently.

This could be interesting, but good enough for a free hit for us but another team seems to think there might be something there.
 
Elite Pete said:
Wes Walley training with Carlton apparently.

This could be interesting, but good enough for a free hit for us but another team seems to think there might be something there.
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they ALL have something there. Every single player drafted or that just missed out. But you can't have them all and you can't make them motivated. perhaps penny will drop.
 
ghostbat12 said:
they ALL have something there. Every single player drafted or that just missed out. But you can't have them all and you can't make them motivated. perhaps penny will drop.
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But we could’ve had Walley at no cost? Maybe putting him in a professional environment might make the ‘penny drop’ (unless we have a Bballer or Irishman on the way)
 
Elite Pete said:
But we could’ve had Walley at no cost? Maybe putting him in a professional environment might make the ‘penny drop’ (unless we have a Bballer or Irishman on the way)
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well there is a cost. a list spot for a start. who do you leave out? oh oh I know, Barnett and Cripps. But Barnett COULD have his own penny drop.

I am not a fan of taking players who lack some professionalism. this is professional sport. you have to be dedicated and self-motivated. clearly the club thought that this may not happen or may not happen if stays in Perth.
 

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ghostbat12 said:
well there is a cost. a list spot for a start. who do you leave out? oh oh I know, Barnett and Cripps. But Barnett COULD have his own penny drop.

I am not a fan of taking players who lack some professionalism. this is professional sport. you have to be dedicated and self-motivated. clearly the club thought that this may not happen or may not happen if stays in Perth.
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The vacant Cat B spot we have?
 

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