This is my vibe as well, but people I trust keep mentioning his name, so there must be something there.
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This is my vibe as well, but people I trust keep mentioning his name, so there must be something there.
It as only Fagan who said that. Head coaches don't have a huge say in who comes to the club anyway. They have input but the list managers will have the first and final say. If Naughton is there at 15 it would be a steal IMO. Too good to pass up on and the Lions do lack some quality KPDs with only Andrews the only 'sure' think we have IMO. McStay, and Gardiner are probably more suited to 3rd defender roles and question marks on Skinner due to injury.
Pick 18 Brisbane - Lochie O'Brien
O’Brien was he guy I had initially intended to take at 15 so I am very happy to take him at 18. I think he is one of the most underrated players in this draft and one of the guys that teams are going to be kicking themselves for passing on in a couple of years. He is one of the guys who was talked about in the top 5 coming into the year given he averaged over 24 disposals a game in the TAC as a bottom ager. This year he only averaged about the same and I think a lot of people are judging him against where they hoped he would be rather than against his peers.
O’Brien did not move full time into the midfield and develop the contested game that many hoped he would. He stayed off half back and wing and he continued to have low contested ball numbers. Those marking him down for that I think are underestimating the value that outside players can have at AFL level. O’Brien does need to improve his ability to win the contested ball when he has to but I am not marking his outside game down because of that. Even then I thought he was dangerous around packs in the forward half at the Champs and to me I could easily see that developing as he is called to do more of it.
The player O’Brien reminds me of most is Steele Sidebottom. Sidebottom can win the ball in a contest but he does his best work on the outside. O’Brien like Sidebottom spreads very well and gets to smart places to receive. When they get the ball in space they can pick apart defences and are very damaging by foot. O’Brien has good penetration on his kicks and his feel on long kicks is excellent. He is one of the best in this draft at delivering the ball into 50 and for a Brisbane team who has not been good in that area over the last few years (a bit better this year admittedly) that is an important skill. He can also dob them from 55 and when there are blokes like that running around teams have to pay attention to them and this creates space for others.
Because he can be so damaging teams sat on him a bit this year and he struggled to deal with the attention especially in school football where tagging is allowed. Whilst he is going to have more freedom initially at AFL level this reputation is going to follow him and he is going to need to work out how to effective deal with close attention.
Another area he needs to work on is his disposal under pressure. When the blowtorch goes on the quality of his disposal drops away a lot and he often just focuses on getting it away rather than doing something productive with it. He needs to learn to accept contact a bit more and keep his awareness more when the walls are closing in. As with a lot of left footers his kicking on his non-preferred is also pretty average and needs work. At the moment he too often gets into trouble when he tries to go inside out on his left when he an easy right foot kick is the go.
O’Brien is a former 400m runner and has what I call good long speed. Whilst his first 20m might not be as good as some he has the ability to keep accelerating and hold that speed longer than most. For a bloke running up and down the wing that can be a real weapon. He does need to build his tank more and when he does I think this long speed will really become evident. O’Brien is a smooth mover with an easy change of direction that lets him move through traffic well at pace. He has a frame which I expect to be able to add enough muscle mass to compete at the next level.
Overall I would love to have O’Brien at the Lions running up and down a wing. If we get LDU or Dow at 1 I think our inside group would be fairly set and adding some more quality on the outside would be of value. I see him becoming a hugely damaging player who will progressively add to his inside game. The range on his kicks can break apart zone defences as can his ability to hit targets in tight slots.
O’Brien was he guy I had initially intended to take at 15 so I am very happy to take him at 18. I think he is one of the most underrated players in this draft and one of the guys that teams are going to be kicking themselves for passing on in a couple of years. He is one of the guys who was talked about in the top 5 coming into the year given he averaged over 24 disposals a game in the TAC as a bottom ager. This year he only averaged about the same and I think a lot of people are judging him against where they hoped he would be rather than against his peers.
O’Brien did not move full time into the midfield and develop the contested game that many hoped he would. He stayed off half back and wing and he continued to have low contested ball numbers. Those marking him down for that I think are underestimating the value that outside players can have at AFL level. O’Brien does need to improve his ability to win the contested ball when he has to but I am not marking his outside game down because of that. Even then I thought he was dangerous around packs in the forward half at the Champs and to me I could easily see that developing as he is called to do more of it.
The player O’Brien reminds me of most is Steele Sidebottom. Sidebottom can win the ball in a contest but he does his best work on the outside. O’Brien like Sidebottom spreads very well and gets to smart places to receive. When they get the ball in space they can pick apart defences and are very damaging by foot. O’Brien has good penetration on his kicks and his feel on long kicks is excellent. He is one of the best in this draft at delivering the ball into 50 and for a Brisbane team who has not been good in that area over the last few years (a bit better this year admittedly) that is an important skill. He can also dob them from 55 and when there are blokes like that running around teams have to pay attention to them and this creates space for others.
Because he can be so damaging teams sat on him a bit this year and he struggled to deal with the attention especially in school football where tagging is allowed. Whilst he is going to have more freedom initially at AFL level this reputation is going to follow him and he is going to need to work out how to effective deal with close attention.
Another area he needs to work on is his disposal under pressure. When the blowtorch goes on the quality of his disposal drops away a lot and he often just focuses on getting it away rather than doing something productive with it. He needs to learn to accept contact a bit more and keep his awareness more when the walls are closing in. As with a lot of left footers his kicking on his non-preferred is also pretty average and needs work. At the moment he too often gets into trouble when he tries to go inside out on his left when he an easy right foot kick is the go.
O’Brien is a former 400m runner and has what I call good long speed. Whilst his first 20m might not be as good as some he has the ability to keep accelerating and hold that speed longer than most. For a bloke running up and down the wing that can be a real weapon. He does need to build his tank more and when he does I think this long speed will really become evident. O’Brien is a smooth mover with an easy change of direction that lets him move through traffic well at pace. He has a frame which I expect to be able to add enough muscle mass to compete at the next level.
Overall I would love to have O’Brien at the Lions running up and down a wing. If we get LDU or Dow at 1 I think our inside group would be fairly set and adding some more quality on the outside would be of value. I see him becoming a hugely damaging player who will progressively add to his inside game. The range on his kicks can break apart zone defences as can his ability to hit targets in tight slots.
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Do head-coaches really not have much say in who is drafted? Coaches are clearly a pretty significant stake-holder in who comes into their team so it strikes me that the coaches and recruiters would have a consensus based approach to who to draft. Obviously, I have heard this many times before (that coaches do not have a huge say) so there must be something in it but I can't imagine that the coaching group, the recruiters, and other footy department employees would not agree on a drafting strategy that would determine the types of players needed. It seems likely that it would then be up to the list managers to determine who fits that need? Is this not correct?
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Great picks Quigley. I'm glad you went for the value pick at 15 and still picked up a good midfield prospect at 18. Hope the club brains trust similarly go for value if it's there, rather than limiting themselves to midfielders only with the first three picks.
Don't think so. I remember asking this a few years ago and apparently they do get a slight say but in the end it's the list managers job. After all they are the ones who spend months going over everyone on the list with their assistants and determining who fits where and what roles or type of player are needed for the team to take the next step.
Well, my uneducated view is that the coaches must know what "type" of player they want but the recruiters know "who" to recruit. Seems unlikely that a coach would have any idea about the who but surely they must say, "midfielders this year please". Of course, not sure what happens when the list managers are faced with, say, a KPP who has slipped down the draft order but who they really rate above others available. I am sure there are people on this board who know the answer to this but it may differ from club to club and it may depend on the stage a particular list is up to.
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Surely the coaches and the list managers would have had numerous meetings discussing the needs of the club so that everyone is aware of the direction the coach is wanting to take. As part of that there would be some discussion about players likely to be around the available picks. Clearly though the coach is going to know significantly less about the available prospects so plays a back seat role after that.
I know it is a different part of list management but in the Weller trade Lyon weighed in heavily stating that if pick 2 wasn't on the table we won't trade him (or something along those lines).
I know it is a different part of list management but in the Weller trade Lyon weighed in heavily stating that if pick 2 wasn't on the table we won't trade him (or something along those lines).
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Was interesting that Alan Richardson supposedly went to see Coffield play late in the season. Don't hear of that sort of thing too often.
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Good pick, exactly who i wanted. Hopefully D_P_S has a certain mature mid in mind for Geelong's pick.
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Personally I don't want to take any mature age players for Geelong, I think you guys should make the best of your decent draft hand this year and go after some exciting young talent. I'll be targeting attacking players that will try and push the older players at the club.
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Normally i would agree re kids but i don't think there is great depth in quick outside mids/wingers in this draft and that is what we really desperately need (we also need a good key forward but they are harder to find) so there is a certain WAFL mid i would reach for, but thats just me. Be interested to see what pans out.
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Bishop
Club Legend
Pick 20 - Richmond
Noah Balta
195.0cm | 94.85kg
Key Position Utility
Calder Cannons/Vic Metro
Stats:
U18 Champs: Av. 9 disposals, 3 marks, 2 rebound 50s, 2 inside 50s
TAC Cup: Av. 15 disposals, 12 hit outs, 4 marks, 4 tackles and a goal
Testing (average in brackets):
Vertical jump: 74cm (64cm)
Running vertical jump (right): 77cm (75cm)
Running vertical jump (left): 89cm (80cm)
20m: 3.05s (3.1s)
Agility: 8.38s (8.5s)
Yo-Yo: Did Not Test (hamstring soreness)
2km: 6min 50s (6 min 49s)
Kicking test: 24/30 (25)
Goal kicking test: 3.2 (3.0)
A possible Alex Rance type? Yes please. That's the feeling from some recruiters. If Balta can get everything right, he should be able to develop as a key position defender under the guidance of Alex Rance.
Richmond have shown some interest in him, so he's definitely in the mix at 17/20/25. I can't see him being snapped up before Richmond's picks, so his certainly likely to fall in the 17-25 range.
Balta is an athletic key position tall who has plenty of X-Factor. Coming into the season some predicted he could challenge for the No.1 pick. His mix of elite speed/agility/leap means some of his highlights are exceptional and he's definitely an eye-catching prospect.
In the Under 18 Champs he played as a key defender, while at TAC Cup level he has been used as a key forward/ruckman.
His strengths are his leap, versatility and his booming right foot kick. His leap is outstanding, where when he plays in the ruck for Calder he will out jump his opponents who are sometimes 5cm taller. His long right foot kick is a tool that he can use when playing right around the ground, to get the ball moving forward for the Cannons. It probably wasn't seen as much in the U18 Champs, but he was learning that KPD craft. His versatility means he can play up forward (pinch hit in the ruck) or back. But most recruiters feel defence will be his home long term.
Balta does need to improve his decision making and running patterns when up forward. At times he rushes things and can often look to try and take on his opponents rather than passing the ball off to his teammates. His running patterns were average earlier in the season, but they seem to have improved up forward for the Cannons. Not a naturally smart person, he has plenty to learn in defence - but fans will need to be patient as he could well be one of the better talls in this draft pool in 5 years time. Like most young talls, he'll need to find some consistency at the VFL level first.
Noah Balta
195.0cm | 94.85kg
Key Position Utility
Calder Cannons/Vic Metro
Stats:
U18 Champs: Av. 9 disposals, 3 marks, 2 rebound 50s, 2 inside 50s
TAC Cup: Av. 15 disposals, 12 hit outs, 4 marks, 4 tackles and a goal
Testing (average in brackets):
Vertical jump: 74cm (64cm)
Running vertical jump (right): 77cm (75cm)
Running vertical jump (left): 89cm (80cm)
20m: 3.05s (3.1s)
Agility: 8.38s (8.5s)
Yo-Yo: Did Not Test (hamstring soreness)
2km: 6min 50s (6 min 49s)
Kicking test: 24/30 (25)
Goal kicking test: 3.2 (3.0)
A possible Alex Rance type? Yes please. That's the feeling from some recruiters. If Balta can get everything right, he should be able to develop as a key position defender under the guidance of Alex Rance.
Richmond have shown some interest in him, so he's definitely in the mix at 17/20/25. I can't see him being snapped up before Richmond's picks, so his certainly likely to fall in the 17-25 range.
Balta is an athletic key position tall who has plenty of X-Factor. Coming into the season some predicted he could challenge for the No.1 pick. His mix of elite speed/agility/leap means some of his highlights are exceptional and he's definitely an eye-catching prospect.
In the Under 18 Champs he played as a key defender, while at TAC Cup level he has been used as a key forward/ruckman.
His strengths are his leap, versatility and his booming right foot kick. His leap is outstanding, where when he plays in the ruck for Calder he will out jump his opponents who are sometimes 5cm taller. His long right foot kick is a tool that he can use when playing right around the ground, to get the ball moving forward for the Cannons. It probably wasn't seen as much in the U18 Champs, but he was learning that KPD craft. His versatility means he can play up forward (pinch hit in the ruck) or back. But most recruiters feel defence will be his home long term.
Balta does need to improve his decision making and running patterns when up forward. At times he rushes things and can often look to try and take on his opponents rather than passing the ball off to his teammates. His running patterns were average earlier in the season, but they seem to have improved up forward for the Cannons. Not a naturally smart person, he has plenty to learn in defence - but fans will need to be patient as he could well be one of the better talls in this draft pool in 5 years time. Like most young talls, he'll need to find some consistency at the VFL level first.
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Hard to slip when picked.
My guess is clubs feel like once they get him focused purely on football and get him full time playing the game, he'll be good. In essence, he'd be much better if he stuck to football ahead of cricket.
