BigFooty Official 2015 Big Footy Phantom Draft

[Adnan]

G

This is a pick based solely on IMO best available player. Its not 100% what we need however what we need thats still available isn't this quality.

Pick 27 : West Coast : Josh Dunkley. 189 cm 82 kg. Inside Midfielder. Gippsland Power.

Full write up latter.

foj1

hes a Sydney Fater-son, Did Sydney not elect to match the bid??

 

[foj1]

Pick 29-Essendon- Darcy Tucker-Midfielder/ Utility North Ballarat

This was as easy as the Aaron Francis selection. I rate Darcy 14th in this draft. I am more than a little surprised he was available here. It would be great for the bombers to recruit another promising product from the wimmera.
Strengths
Darcy has the rare combination of speed and endurance which is perfectly suited to afl footy.
Darcy has got a creative left foot kick and he has the courage to back his skills and generally take the game on.
Darcy has above average overhead marking skills for a player of his height.
I like darcy's defensive actions when the opposition have the ball especially when he runs hard back to help out.
I think Darcy will start as a half back and move through the wings. His challenge and ceiling will be dictated by his ability to run full time in the midfield. I like his use of the ball his challenge will be to get enough of it as an onballer.
Darcy displays great leadership.
Weaknesses
As mentioned Darcy had some games where he simply did not get enough of the ball.
I think Darcy almost tried too hard this year. He had a terrific bottom age year and the expectations got to him a bit. He worked in the rebels office and I think was too consumed by footy and lacked life balance.

Rationale
I wanted two mid/ utility types here. If I was to go tall then Sam Skinner was the only option.
The other bloke I seriously considered is still available.
Pick 50 is best available for me although there are 3 players that I have planned could be available at this pick.

 

[beowulf]

Right. My turn.

Pick 30: North Melbourne – Daniel Rioli
Height: 179cm,
Weight: 65kg,
DOB: 16/04/1997
Recruited from: St Mary’s
Brief Profile: I really like Rioli. He has real pace and football smarts. I am taking something of a risk here, but North have an aging Thomas and not a lot else as far as small forwards go. Rioli would add real pace and x-factor to an aging forward line.
Rioli is in many ways a typical indigenous small forward; he has lots of pace, he can do the improbable, he doesn't tend to pick up his man but he does hunt and chase and tackle and he can mark better than would be expected of a guy his size and weight. he played for North Ballarat and was good, but not outstanding. He played quite well at the Carnival, showing some magic. But he shone out at the Draft Camp with his elite pace.
There are certainly areas of his game he needs to improve; consistency and endurance come to mind very easily. But he has something that few teams have; a mercurial guy who can make goals out of nothing.

In the Practice Draft I went for Kieran Lovell and I am seriously tempted by him. But I saw a need and decided to address it.

 

[Kingofthehill]

Pick 29-Essendon- Darcy Tucker-Midfielder/ Utility
Write up to follow

Who did you have in mind if you hadn't picked up Rice?

 

[TheSunGod]

Harley Balic

At the moment Harley is a talented prospect who has a lot of upside. His performances have been good this year and he has really improved this year. You look at some of the good afl players and a lot of them have had draft years where they have really improved. I look at Harley and see a kid who has a ton of improvement left and has the potential to be a very good midfielder. His awareness is excellent, he has time with the ball, good vision and makes good decisions. He is an above average athlete yet not elite and he moves well. The upside is his disposal is improving and he is good above his head. He wins clearances yet not at a great level yet, he is not soft and is strong over the ball. He finds the ball well and his ball use improved. He is not an elite kick, they float a little and he is not proven as a mid so he is a risky pick. He does have the tools to be an A grade player. I was hoping Francis or Parish slid to this pick but alas it was not to be.

Like this pick Offsider
A lot of other PDs have us taking Milera at pick 6. I prefer Balic myself. What swayed you to take him here above Milera from a Suns perspective?

 

[Sashand88]

Staggeringly in my humble opinion the saints chose not but Rahul knows his footy o
To be fair the draft is very even now
I rate Rice really highly. I love his kicking skills. He has a frame that will develop and can play forward and back. He has also had a taste of the demands at afl level.
In my planning I thought it would be Okearney Rice or Rioli with this pick.
I don't reckon Freo or west coast will go Okearney
West coast perhaps may look at a small forward like Rioli

Speaking of planning for the draft, early on you went Francis & Curnow at pick 4/5.
But if Melbourne went the other way & picked Curnow instead of Parish, I'm interested to know what your selection would have been....? Easy enough as Parish & Francis? Or a diff combo like Parish & Weideman....

 

[Wizard17]

Knightmare you are up.

 

[Bishop]

Apologies for the delay!

Pick 15 Richmond:
# 15 Richmond - Clayton Oliver

187cm, 86kg
DOB: 22/7/1997
State: Vic Country
Tea: Murray Bushrangers
Inside Midfielder

Morrish Medalist Clayton Oliver is off to Richmond with Pick 15 in the 2015 Big Footy Phantom Draft.

Oliver is a contested hard nut playing as an inside midfielder for the Murray Bushrangers. Oliver was picked in the original Vic Country squad of 52 before the U18 Championships- However Oliver missed the final squad applying his trade instead at Richmond VFL & TAC Cup level.

Oliver is an aggressive midfielder who propels the ball forward with his long boot. He averaged 24 disposals, just over 6 clearances & 14 contested possessions per game. Throughout the TAC Cup season, he also kicked 20 goals in 16 games for the season. Oliver is a stoppage king and is one of the better inside midfielders in the draft. A strength of Oliver is his handballing in stoppages which allows for him to clear the ball from the contest helping his team move forward. Oliver also averaged 6 tackles a game for Murray & is a fierce competitor playing on the inside. His aggressive approach can sometimes cost him when he goes in too hard, tackling opposition players high resulting in some free kicks against- However his tackling in the final for Murray single handedly nearly got them over the line against Oakleigh.

Oliver screams out 'Pick me' after his impressive year- The fact that nobody picked him in the last Big Footy Phantom shows how quickly he has developed and come on as a prospect. There is a big chance that Oliver makes into the Top 10 on draft night with Essendon, Melbourne & Gold Coast all interested.

Oliver hardly completed a preseason for Murray and had been injured earlier in the year with OP. A few question marks have appeared on Oliver's endurance/body size, but I believe all Oliver needs is a few preseasons under his belt to develop in an AFL environment & is a player I firmly believe could be one of the better from the 2015 draft crop after his rapid development since April.

Combine testing results:
20m- 2.99sec
Agility- 8.11sec (third overall)
3km- 10.45min
Goalkicking- 30 out of 30. (equal first)

Best game?

TAC Cup vs Bendigo Pioneers
Disposals: 27 (85% efficiency)
Contested possessions: 13
Clearances: 6 (4 Throw In, 2 Ball Ups)
Tackles: 8
Goals: 6
Inside 50s: 4


Highlights:

 

[sharks33]

Apologies for the delay!

Pick 15 Richmond:
# 15 Richmond - Clayton Oliver

187cm, 86kg
DOB: 22/7/1997
State: Vic Country
Tea: Murray Bushrangers
Inside Midfielder

Morrish Medalist Clayton Oliver is off to Richmond with Pick 15 in the 2015 Big Footy Phantom Draft.

Oliver is a contested hard nut playing as an inside midfielder for the Murray Bushrangers. Oliver was picked in the original Vic Country squad of 52 before the U18 Championships- However Oliver missed the final squad applying his trade instead at Richmond VFL & TAC Cup level.

Oliver is an aggressive midfielder who propels the ball forward with his long boot. He averaged 24 disposals, just over 6 clearances & 14 contested possessions per game. Throughout the TAC Cup season, he also kicked 20 goals in 16 games for the season. Oliver is a stoppage king and is one of the better inside midfielders in the draft. A strength of Oliver is his handballing in stoppages which allows for him to clear the ball from the contest helping his team move forward. Oliver also averaged 6 tackles a game for Murray & is a fierce competitor playing on the inside. His aggressive approach can sometimes cost him when he goes in too hard, tackling opposition players high resulting in some free kicks against- However his tackling in the final for Murray single handedly nearly got them over the line against Oakleigh.

Oliver screams out 'Pick me' after his impressive year- The fact that nobody picked him in the last Big Footy Phantom shows how quickly he has developed and come on as a prospect. There is a big chance that Oliver makes into the Top 10 on draft night with Essendon, Melbourne & Gold Coast all interested.

Oliver hardly completed a preseason for Murray and had been injured earlier in the year with OP. A few question marks have appeared on Oliver's endurance/body size, but I believe all Oliver needs is a few preseasons under his belt to develop in an AFL environment & is a player I firmly believe could be one of the better from the 2015 draft crop after his rapid development since April.

Combine testing results:
20m- 2.99sec
Agility- 8.11sec (third overall)
3km- 10.45min
Goalkicking- 30 out of 30. (equal first)

Best game?

TAC Cup vs Bendigo Pioneers
Disposals: 27 (85% efficiency)
Contested possessions: 13
Clearances: 6 (4 Throw In, 2 Ball Ups)
Tackles: 8
Goals: 6
Inside 50s: 4


Highlights:

A real draft bolter, don't be surprised if he goes even higher.

 

[sharks33]

Right. My turn.

Pick 30: North Melbourne – Daniel Rioli
Height: 179cm,
Weight: 65kg,
DOB: 16/04/1997
Recruited from: St Mary’s
Brief Profile: I really like Rioli. He has real pace and football smarts. I am taking something of a risk here, but North have an aging Thomas and not a lot else as far as small forwards go. Rioli would add real pace and x-factor to an aging forward line.
Rioli is in many ways a typical indigenous small forward; he has lots of pace, he can do the improbable, he doesn't tend to pick up his man but he does hunt and chase and tackle and he can mark better than would be expected of a guy his size and weight. he played for North Ballarat and was good, but not outstanding. He played quite well at the Carnival, showing some magic. But he shone out at the Draft Camp with his elite pace.
There are certainly areas of his game he needs to improve; consistency and endurance come to mind very easily. But he has something that few teams have; a mercurial guy who can make goals out of nothing.

In the Practice Draft I went for Kieran Lovell and I am seriously tempted by him. But I saw a need and decided to address it.

Don't think it's a risk, I think Rioli will go a lot higher. Clubs were very enthused by his Grand Final day performance. I think people may be surprised by how early he is taken.

 

[Knightmare]

Naturally I was hoping that a Clayton Oliver, Mitch Hibberd, Luke Partington, Kieran Collins or Ryan Clarke would slide. But given they didn't...

32. Collingwood - Kieran Lovell (TAS – MID)
Height: 174cm, Weight: 80kg, DOB: 16/05/1997
Recruited from: Kingston Tigers
Reminds me of: Cory Gregson
Brief bio: Lovell is a high production, extremely athletic small midfielder with rare agility and excellent pace and endurance. Lovell will regularly burst out of traffic and run around guys easily as if they’re stationary and look to take on the game with his pace. Lovell finds high disposal numbers through the midfield and has a nice balance between contested and uncontested ball winning numbers, with his contested ball winning numbers particularly excellent, with his strong body for his age helping with this. Lovell as a ball user is generally clean but has also at times shown that he can shank some balls by foot for some awful turnovers. From a versatility standpoint I am not convinced that Lovell while he could play forward, would necessarily be as effective as he is through the midfield, as he doesn’t quite for me have that front half talent where he could offer heavy scoreboard impact or provide any particularly meaningful offense. Additionally from a tackling and pressuring standpoint while it’s something Lovell can do, it is not something he does as well as other smalls with his quickness.

Rationale: Best available talent. Lovell has the performances on the board as a super high production mid and in my view has the highest probability of an AFL career of those remaining talents. Collingwood with the list losses of Seedsman, Freeman and to a lesser extent Kennedy badly lack pace and Lovell while he'll be in a dog-fight for minutes through Collingwood's improved midfield, with his acceleration he offers a dynamic Collingwood otherwise lack through the midfield.

From a Collingwood perspective Lovell can be considered a supercharged, more complete Ben Kennedy with his acceleration, agility and more importantly willingness to use his acceleration in game on another level. Lovell is just as good a contested ball winner but critically has a much better ability to find the outside ball giving him a more suitable balance to his game.

Also critical to consider for Collingwood is with Blair and Elliott Collingwood's only sub 180cm players, Lovell does not make Collingwood too short.

 

[Snoop Dog]

beowulf

 

[beowulf]

That came up quickly.

Pick 33: North Melbourne - Callum Moore
Height: 193cm,
Weight: 85kg,
DOB: 03/09/1996
Recruited from: Calder Cannons
Brief Profile: Moore is an over aged player in the TAC Cup who can take a nice mark and kick a nice goal. He is quite an athletic package.
At the moment most of North's forwards are much nearer the end than the beginning of their careers. So I went for a guy to succeed them in the coming years. Moore is a good height for a modern forward, although not the extra height that has become popular. He moves well and he has the potential to take the spot of a Jarrad Waite or the like in a year or so.

 

[Monocle]

Offsider

 

[Chris25]

Pick 26 Fremantle - Greg Clark (193cm, 82kg midfielder from Subiaco)

First off, no this isn't a need at all for Fremantle. But there was really only one key position player still on the board that I would genuinely consider at this pick. Perhaps it's time for Fremantle to start reaching on those types of players, but I'm sticking true to Fremantle's recent recruiting form. Hopefully it payoffs when my next pick comes around...

So the obvious thing that sticks out about Greg Clark is his size - a 193cm midfielder. Everyone talks about the likes of Curnow and Francis and whether they can become midfielders, but this guy already is a midfielder. And taller than both of them. While we're talking about measurables, it certainly looks as though Clark has the frame to support another 5-10kg. A couple of preseasons and he should be in excellent shape and a scary midfield prospect.

As a player, Clark at the moment tends to lean more towards being an outside midfielder. His best games this season came in that sort of role. He can create mismatches with smaller players, and has elite endurance so can burn off a taller opponent too. He also offers real versatility. In the U18 Championships alone, Clark played as an outside midfielder, inside midfielder, lead up half forward and that sort of roaming general across half back. But long term, you'd need to be developing his inside game and playing him there. He played a few games in the middle for WA this year and while he didn't dominate, he certainly showed some nice glimpses. What I like is that his clearances this year were from his footballing smarts and body positioning, he doesn't have the out and out strength to just bulldoze his way through. And that's always a positive to me.

Just in terms of his football alone, his greatest strength to me is just his smarts. He reads the play well, positions himself nicely and seems to make things happen. His biggest downside however is probably his kicking, sometimes he doesn't have the boot that matches his vision. He knows the kick to make, but he doesn't always have the power and gets a bit too much loop on his kicks. His handballing though is very good, particularly in traffic.

What does he offer Fremantle? Well, it's just a best available selection and a really high character guy. The combination of Clark and Blakely will hopefully be the Mundy/Barlow in 5 years time, and Clark would be a guy who could rotate through allowing the likes of Fyfe and Bennell to spend more time forward.

Don't want to read all that? Long story short, Clark is a tall midfielder with top line endurance and vision. Still developing inside, needs to put on some more muscle and tighten up his kicking. I see him as a reasonably safe draft prospect, Michael Barlow may end up being the best comparison for him.

 

[Quigley]

Interestingly I see the biggest problem with Clark as being his football IQ. I just think he doesn't read the play well and know where to go to receive. He works hard but he lacks the feel for the game. His measurable are great (actually measured 194.4 fm) and I liked some of his leadership at the Champs but I just don't see him every racking up disposals.

 

[Chris25]

I think Clark will be one player who divides opinion more than most. Numbers wise, he certainly isn't winning huge amounts of ball consistently at the moment. But you have to take a long term view with him. I'm banking on him adding weight and becoming that inside player. I personally feel like his potential is as high as anyone's, if he does go inside.

Can't say much about his football IQ. I personally think it's quite good.

 

[Offsider]

Gold Coast select Aidyn Johnson the speedy and athletic wingman who had an injury wrecked year.

 

[Wizard17]

Western Bulldogs select Brayden Fiorini.

 

[theGav56]

Pick 26 Fremantle - Greg Clark (193cm, 82kg midfielder from Subiaco)

First off, no this isn't a need at all for Fremantle. But there was really only one key position player still on the board that I would genuinely consider at this pick. Perhaps it's time for Fremantle to start reaching on those types of players, but I'm sticking true to Fremantle's recent recruiting form. Hopefully it payoffs when my next pick comes around...

So the obvious thing that sticks out about Greg Clark is his size - a 193cm midfielder. Everyone talks about the likes of Curnow and Francis and whether they can become midfielders, but this guy already is a midfielder. And taller than both of them. While we're talking about measurables, it certainly looks as though Clark has the frame to support another 5-10kg. A couple of preseasons and he should be in excellent shape and a scary midfield prospect.

As a player, Clark at the moment tends to lean more towards being an outside midfielder. His best games this season came in that sort of role. He can create mismatches with smaller players, and has elite endurance so can burn off a taller opponent too. He also offers real versatility. In the U18 Championships alone, Clark played as an outside midfielder, inside midfielder, lead up half forward and that sort of roaming general across half back. But long term, you'd need to be developing his inside game and playing him there. He played a few games in the middle for WA this year and while he didn't dominate, he certainly showed some nice glimpses. What I like is that his clearances this year were from his footballing smarts and body positioning, he doesn't have the out and out strength to just bulldoze his way through. And that's always a positive to me.

Just in terms of his football alone, his greatest strength to me is just his smarts. He reads the play well, positions himself nicely and seems to make things happen. His biggest downside however is probably his kicking, sometimes he doesn't have the boot that matches his vision. He knows the kick to make, but he doesn't always have the power and gets a bit too much loop on his kicks. His handballing though is very good, particularly in traffic.

What does he offer Fremantle? Well, it's just a best available selection and a really high character guy. The combination of Clark and Blakely will hopefully be the Mundy/Barlow in 5 years time, and Clark would be a guy who could rotate through allowing the likes of Fyfe and Bennell to spend more time forward.

Don't want to read all that? Long story short, Clark is a tall midfielder with top line endurance and vision. Still developing inside, needs to put on some more muscle and tighten up his kicking. I see him as a reasonably safe draft prospect, Michael Barlow may end up being the best comparison for him.

So....we went for a midfielder. ..

 

[Chris25]

So....we went for a midfielder. ..

Is that not what we need?

Although if he did measure in at 194.4cm like Quigley suggested, then that pretty much makes him a tall. And he can play as a hit up forward from the 50m line...Fyfe and Clark could be our tall forwards. Problem solved.

 

[Monocle]

Pick # 36 West Coast. Sam Skinner. 197 kg . 96 kg. KPP . Gippsland Power.

WC will take a tall at some point in the draft and pre his ACL injury Skinner was a late first / early second rounder IMO.

So to take him at this point feels OK.

You can't ever have too many versatile talls on your list.

WC arnt requiring him to be ready right away so they can afford to invest the time in him to get over his knee injury. Will need 3-4 years development and the fact that he can play both ends is a bonus. He should be ready to impose himself at about the same time Kennedy, Mckenzie , Brown and Schofield are about ready to retire .

I was torn between Skinner and Tahana as Tahana is very impressive and plays a role that WC could do with.
Also like James Parsons at this stage of the draft.

However at the end of the day I think it's always prudent to sure up your talls early as it's much easier to trade and draft around a spine . Vozzo has gone on record and stated , after the trade period just gone , that WC would go to the draft and start thinking about replenishing it's list of talls to go forward with.


Gee Dub

 

[Snoop Dog]

Pick # 36 West Coast. Sam Skinner. 197 kg . 96 kg. KPP . Gippsland Power.

WC will take a tall at some point in the draft and pre his ACL injury Skinner was a late first / early second rounder IMO.

So to take him at this point feels OK.

You can't ever have too many versatile talls on your list.

WC arnt requiring him to be ready right away so they can afford to invest the time in him to get over his knee injury. Will need 3-4 years development and the fact that he can play both ends is a bonus. He should be ready to impose himself at about the same time Kennedy, Mckenzie , Brown and Schofield are about ready to retire .

I was torn between Skinner and Tahana as Tahana is very impressive and plays a role that WC could do with.
Also like James Parsons at this stage of the draft.

However at the end of the day I think it's always prudent to sure up your talls early as it's much easier to trade and draft around a spine . Vozzo has gone on record and stated , after the trade period just gone , that WC would go to the draft and start thinking about replenishing it's list of talls to go forward with.


Gee Dub

nice one. Was hoping he would last to Demons next selection.

 

[Chris25]

Skinner is my usual pick for Fremantle's first selection. I was very close to taking him at 26 again in this draft.

 

[Snoop Dog]

I think Clark will be one player who divides opinion more than most. Numbers wise, he certainly isn't winning huge amounts of ball consistently at the moment. But you have to take a long term view with him. I'm banking on him adding weight and becoming that inside player. I personally feel like his potential is as high as anyone's, if he does go inside.

Can't say much about his football IQ. I personally think it's quite good.

I like Clark and am drawn to him but i think he needs to develop his kicking and probably his marking as well.

If he can round those two things out then he presents as a very good prospect because he has most other things.