2018 Draft thread

[Comeback Lions]

I was there too. I personally think you’ve summed it up pretty well.

Jones was phenomenal. Big fan.

Thanks Cotter. Appreciate it. I want to start a Jones bandwagon for us. Is there a reason why Briggs wasn't drafted last year? He really looked like a player today.

 

[Comeback Lions]

Interesting our difference in perspective on McFayden and Walsh. I reckon the truth is somewhere in the middle.

I completely agree on Flanders and McHenry - both impressed. In particular, they both seemed to be one touch players with minimal fumbles. Always a trait I look for.

Yeah, and it wasn't an easy day to be one touch. McHenry looks like a beauty.
It's a different experience watching live and a stream. I thought McFadyen covered the ground well. I did see Walsh around stoppages, but never noticed him doing that much.

 

[Comeback Lions]

Thomas Berry must have just had an off day Comeback Lions , he is top 20 rated in most power rankings, lets hope so anyway. Very promising re McFadyen, just the type of player we need as well.

Thanks for the write up, we draft nerds appreciate it.

Thanks. I wondered if Berry was injured, because I really didn't notice him in the 2nd half, but it could be my blindness and concentration on others. Anyway, one game dosen't make a carnival.

 

[Len S]

Vic Country 3.4.22; 4.6.30; 6.7. 43; 6.12.48

Allies1.1.7; 4.4.28; 6.5.41; 10.11.71

Went to the game at Blacktown without having seen any of these guys before, so it takes a while to get familiar with players and obviously I’m not a professional recruiter, just a dabbler. That said, certain players catch your eye and I was trying to follow Lions boys and anyone else who popped up. Conditions were wet, not much rain during the game, but a soaked ground. Lots of contested footy. Notes on players:

Allies
Kieren Briggs (GWS Academy). Best on ground. Started in the ruck and went forward. A super impressive game. His marking in the conditions was elite, clunking a number when no one else was, beating three guys in one contest. Good below his knees and kicked a beautifully controlled grubber goal on an angle to seal the game. Strong in the ruck and a real target when he went forward. Over-ager, but looks a player, GWS lucky to have him. Kicked 3 goals, confident set shots.

Connor McFadyen (Lions, NB: d before y) Started forward, but went into the midfield for the whole 2nd half. To my mind this is a good sign in itself, for the Allies mids were very impressive. Good below his knees, one lovely gather at pace on the far wing, and linked–up well in the 2nd half. Not the weather for a 190cm mid, but he looked good and ran hard. Put this with his recent game when he kicked 4 and his versatility must be a plus. I like him.

Keidan Coleman (Lions) He tended to be 2nd to the ball, but tackled well. What I noticed was his kicking. A great torpedo in the first quarter, hitting targets both short and long in the last Q, including precise delivery, inside 50 for a goal. Was kicking out after behinds and went over the 10m line once, but they didn’t score from it. Didn’t look to be super fast, but relaxed, solid and always involved. Could fill a need for us and worth tracking.

Jack Tomkinson (Lions) Initially because Briggs was so impressive, I didn’t think as much of Jack, but he always provided a contest. He rucked most of the last quarter when Briggs went forward and was good in the centre and around the ground. At 200cm and an overager, he looks like the sort of player we have a lot of, but his contested work means he could be a project ruck/KP, if Archie doesn’t make it.

Chayce Jones: (Tassy) The best midfielder out there today, really liked his game. He was instrumental in the Allies getting back into it in the 2nd quarter, when he was everywhere. A solid four quarters, he ran all day and hit targets. Definitely worth watching and with no go home factor, could be a good option for us. Looks a high draft pick to me.

Bailey Scott (Suns) Kicked a couple of nice goals and strong in the contest. Impressive.

Baxter Norton (Tassy) Small defender, a couple of super impressive chases. Again, could fill a need for us and I liked his competitiveness.

Tarryn Thomas(Tassy, North academy) Didn’t do much in the first when Country was on top, but shifted forward and was dangerous. Had a great last quarter when the match was in the balance and went back inside. Classy.

Caleb Graham (Suns, KP). Was great in the first quarter when the Allies were under siege and did well when switched forward in the 2nd half. Good in the air and on the ground. 194cm. Promising.

Others who caught my attention: Thomas Green (Giants, bottom ager), Fraser Turner (Tassy), Mitchell O’Neill, good run and strong in contest (Tassy, bottom ager).


Vic Country
Tye Caldwell I thought he was their best mid, damaging and hard at it. Co-captain.

Sam Walsh I really didn’t notice him until the third quarter, when he kicked nicely into the F50. Obviously it’s only one game, but on this one at least I’d have others ahead of him. Perhaps he was marked, but he didn’t scream out “class” to me and maybe I just missed his efforts. Will be interesting to see how he goes in other games.

Ned McHenry Small mid who really impressed.

Hudson Garoni KP, kicked 2 goals. Good contested mark. Leads well.

Sam Flanders (2 goals) and Caleb Serong: 2 bottom agers who caught my eye. Worth following as future mids.

Bailey Williams Rucked well and good around ground. One eye catching goal at end of 2nd when he ran and battled for a ground ball and kicked truly, but I thought the Allies rucks in Tomkinson and Briggs had the better of him today.

Zac Foot One impressive run, but didn’t notice much.

Tom Berry. Rarely sighted today. Would have to do a lot more than this to get drafted, unless he was injured. Could be a romantic wish on our part.

That’s about it. I thought tactically the Allies outcoached Vic C with their moves. Structured up really well in the last quarter when the match was on the line, both in the centre and forward 50. I liked Tomkinson, McFadyen, Jones and Thomas in the centre and they got on top of the Country midfield.

If anyone has any questions, I’m happy to try to answer them.

These are excellent observations mate.I shall be making my annual trip to watch the Geelong games,and may go to the Etihad fixture,so may compare notes. Thanks again.

 

[Nunez]

Thanks. I wondered if Berry was injured, because I really didn't notice him in the 2nd half, but it could be my blindness and concentration on others. Anyway, one game dosen't make a carnival.

He also played very outside which I found odd. Did some nice things but yeah definitely not much of an impact. May have gone off as I don't recall seeing him much/at all in the second half.

 

[Comeback Lions]

Will be interesting to see how the Allies go the rest of the carnival. Nick Blakey didn't play due to illness, so they can only get stronger. I'm not sure of the strength of Vic Country, but the Allies played good team football today and defended well. Should make for a fascinating carnival.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Thomas Berry must have just had an off day Comeback Lions , he is top 20 rated in most power rankings, lets hope so anyway. Very promising re McFadyen, just the type of player we need as well.

Thanks for the write up, we draft nerds appreciate it.

Berry seems to be ranked a bit all over the place.
Has anyone asked on the draft board a Tom v jarrad comparison? I.e who was better in their draft year.

 

[cotter101]

Thanks Cotter. Appreciate it. I want to start a Jones bandwagon for us. Is there a reason why Briggs wasn't drafted last year? He really looked like a player today.

By memory was a late conversion to the AFL game. He’s pretty versatile. Probably didn’t impose himself on games. The NEAFL has done wonders for his development playing against men. GWS will take him this year.

 

[M Malice]

Berry seems to be ranked a bit all over the place.
Has anyone asked on the draft board a Tom v jarrad comparison? I.e who was better in their draft year.

Good idea, I just asked the question, I'll quote it here when answered.

 

[briztoon]

Berry seems to be ranked a bit all over the place.
Has anyone asked on the draft board a Tom v jarrad comparison? I.e who was better in their draft year.

yep, I asked at the beginning of the year.

All the main draft watchers were saying Jarrod was the better of the two, and it was just Jarrod's injuries that saw him drop out of the top 10.

 

[Beastmode36]

Vic Country
Tye Caldwell I thought he was their best mid, damaging and hard at it. Co-captain.

Interesting about Jye Caldwell when he hurt his hamstring early in the second quarter but I agree that to that point he was their best mid

 

[Beastmode36]

Also having only watched the stream I didn't think Walsh was that damaging, a lot of chip kicks in the defensive half and one-twos to bolster his stats. Serong I thought was Vics best

 

[Comeback Lions]

Interesting about Jye Caldwell when he hurt his hamstring early in the second quarter but I agree that to that point he was their best mid

Yeah, I saw that. Clearly I was struggling to take it all in, not knowing the players and concentrating more on the Allies performance. Walsh had 31 disposals, which surprises me, but the stats don't lie. No wonder clubs have a number of people at games... you really can't follow everyone. It was Caldwell's first quarter that impressed me.

 

[Comeback Lions]

Also having only watched the stream I didn't think Walsh was that damaging, a lot of chip kicks in the defensive half and one-twos to bolster his stats. Serong I thought was Vics best

Yeah, I liked Serong's game. Impressive for a bottom ager.

 

[trikster]

afl.com's match summary : http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-06-09/allies-draw-first-blood-at-u18-championship

 

[M Malice]

Berry seems to be ranked a bit all over the place.
Has anyone asked on the draft board a Tom v jarrad comparison? I.e who was better in their draft year.

Answered, for those who don't frequent the draft/trading/FA board Pie4Life is a new contributor, in his flesh and blood life he is chief editor of AFL Draft Central.
He doesn't agree with the assessments briztoon got early this year.

Thomas. Jarrod was a better kick but Thomas has more hurt factor. I know talking to the Rebels last year they thought the same - Thomas is likely to be the better player long-term. the only problem is he’s has heaps of injuries on and off which has stunted his ability to perform. He’s stronger than Jarrod down forward, probably not quite as versatile yet, but also better on the inside than Jarrod.

 

[Robbo18!]

Jarrod Cameron named for WA and James Rendell has been picked for Metro at CHF

Might just be coincidence but any chance WA's Deven Robertson (also wears number 18) is a relation to Nick? Robbo18!

No relation mate

 

[Carlos Danger]

Answered, for those who don't frequent the draft/trading/FA board Pie4Life is a new contributor, in his flesh and blood life he is chief editor of AFL Draft Central.
He doesn't agree with the assessments briztoon got early this year.

If anyone is watching the sun's right now. They will get the spoon. Lynch will prob leave & they will get 1 & 2.

Carlton will be 17th & we will be 16th. So pick 4 is what I think we will get to work with.

So 2nd pick will be 21 you would think after FA compo it could slide back to 24/25 at worst. Will that bring us into tom berry range or will there be some others that will be too good to pass up before him?

 

[M Malice]

No relation mate

Haven't seen you much in these parts lately R18, I always enjoy reading your posts, with some subtle insider knowledge thrown in there.

 

[trikster]

Will that bring us into tom berry range or will there be some others that will be too good to pass up before him?

As it stands now yes he could be around that range. As for picking others before him, you couldn't even take a wild guess until after the championships, abn even then it could/would change again right up until the combine and then draft.

 

[POBT]

If anyone is watching the sun's right now. They will get the spoon. Lynch will prob leave & they will get 1 & 2.

Those three wins are pretty important though. They’d have to go winless for the rest of the year for us/Carlton/Saints to all catch them, I suspect. Outside the expansion clubs, 3 win years have been relatively rare in the past few years.

They also get to play St Kilda, Essendon, Carlton and us at home.

 

[Carlos Danger]

As it stands now yes he could be around that range. As for picking others before him, you couldn't even take a wild guess until after the championships, abn even then it could/would change again right up until the combine and then draft.

I think it's interesting to track, a very good outcome would be to get a gun mid top 5 & berry with our 2nd.

If he projects better than jarrad, I think Id happily pass up 4 or 5 "better" projected players just for how beneficial it could be to our team.

 

[jjami15]

Personally I hope the club drafts players that are going to make us even better than we already are. The romantic part of all of us hope that Tom Berry is in that mix but currently there are a lot more in front of him at our second pick where it currently stands unless he picks it up.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Those three wins are pretty important though. They’d have to go winless for the rest of the year for us/Carlton/Saints to all catch them, I suspect. Outside the expansion clubs, 3 win years have been relatively rare in the past few years.

They also get to play St Kilda, Essendon, Carlton and us at home.

They won't beat anyone, we will beat Carlton & them plus 1 or 2 others.
The only way they don't win the spoon is if Carlton don't win anymore games other than GC.
I do feel sorry for them cos they're going worse than us & I know how bad we are

 

[POBT]

They won't beat anyone, we will beat Carlton & them plus 1 or 2 others.
The only way they don't win the spoon is if Carlton don't win anymore games other than GC.
I do feel sorry for them cos they're going worse than us & I know how bad we are

I’m not saying it’s impossible that they go winless but I reckon it’s unlikely, based on history.