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Draft Review 2020 - Revisit the 2020 AFL Draft

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Powell, yeah, umm, we have a decent one there.

Kid plays like Simon Blacks love child.

Basketball bouncing the ball in congestion, 25m left handed hand balls in traffic, lightning look away hand balls in packs. He also clocked the fastest speed on the ground on the weekend.

Way more inside/outside than he was made out to be pre-draft, a lot faster than he was made out prior to the draft also, and he looks physically about 15 years old. Huge ceiling.


I have a hard time believing this kid wouldn't have trounced the championships last year. I'm also amazed he never got a run at league level for Sturt given how good he's been against even bigger bodies at AFL level just a few months later and given the numbers he was averaging for the u/18's. Big opportunity lost for Sturt.
 
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Powell, yeah, umm, we have a decent one there.

Kid plays like Simon Blacks love child.

Basketball bouncing the ball in congestion, 25m left handed hand balls in traffic, lightning look away hand balls in packs. He also clocked the fastest speed on the ground on the weekend.

Way more inside/outside than he was made out to be pre-draft, a lot faster than he was made out prior to the draft also, and he looks physically about 15 years old. Huge ceiling.


I have a hard time believing this kid wouldn't have trounced the championships last year. I'm also amazed he never got a run at league level for Sturt given how good he's been against even bigger bodies at AFL level just a few months later and given the numbers he was averaging for the u/18's. Big opportunity lost for Sturt.
Powell was such a insane ball magnet at his level. If he continues to develop he could be a massive win for your recruiting team.

while I love both Powell and Phillips, and think that both will be considered draft successes, I can’t help but look at MacDonald and think how much a MacDonald and Powell draft, especially with Horne possibly coming a year later would set you up.
 

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Jones debut went better than expected. Will develop a cult following. Found plenty of it in his first game but I was really impressed by the way he hit contests at speed and was able to win the ball or keep it in front of him.
He was fantastic.
I saw him last week in the SANFL and he looked miles off but he is one of those classy blokes who adapts easily to the higher level
 
Powell was such a insane ball magnet at his level. If he continues to develop he could be a massive win for your recruiting team.

while I love both Powell and Phillips, and think that both will be considered draft successes, I can’t help but look at MacDonald and think how much a MacDonald and Powell draft, especially with Horne possibly coming a year later would set you up.

I get what you're saying, but equally I'm not going to be disappointed with Phillips, Powell & Horne.

Powell is the best young player to walk into North Melbourne that I can remember. His strengths as a ball pig have been well documented, but it's the other parts to his game that have impressed me most:

- His running patterns are elite, had 17 disposals in a half playing on forward flank in one of the preseason games (Hawks or Saints), where most first game mids would go missing
- His tricks, whether it be his vision in traffic/hand & foot skills, already capable of doing things that no one on else on our list can



 
I get what you're saying, but equally I'm not going to be disappointed with Phillips, Powell & Horne.

Powell is the best young player to walk into North Melbourne that I can remember. His strengths as a ball pig have been well documented, but it's the other parts to his game that have impressed me most:

- His running patterns are elite, had 17 disposals in a half playing on forward flank in one of the preseason games (Hawks or Saints), where most first game mids would go missing
- His tricks, whether it be his vision in traffic/hand & foot skills, already capable of doing things that no one on else on our list can








 
Some pretty exciting talents without seeing pick 1 and 2 on the field yet

The Sydney trio and Powell look terrific and its hard not to get excited about the point of difference Cox could be on the wing for Essendon in his career.

Bit more under the radar but Chapman has Freo fans pretty excited, particularly if he ever makes the move to the midfield. Competitive, a great kick and crazy fast, could be anything
 
Quietly, reckon Powell and Cox may push the early bolter in Gulden for the rising star.
Cox for the stupidly classy things he can do for his height, Powell for genuinely being top 3 quality early days. Looks a natural out there (quietly jealous...god i hope Reid is good)
 
So, "the most compromised draft in history" for those participating, whose picks were relatively worthless compared to previous years as belted out in thousands of posts and by the media.... Who would have thought this draft is throwing up as much top end talent as 2018 by the looks of it for non NGA and FS pick takers?

Like has been said, we haven't even seen JUH, Thilthorpe, Hollands or DGB yet, Phillips has barely even got going yet because of injury and already the 5-15 range of players looks as good as most other years top 5 players.


This draft has the potential to be better than 2018 on early showing.
 

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So, "the most compromised draft in history" for those participating, whose picks were relatively worthless compared to previous years as belted out in thousands of posts and by the media.... Who would have thought this draft is throwing up as much top end talent as 2018 by the looks of it for non NGA and FS pick takers?

Like has been said, we haven't even seen JUH, Thilthorpe, Hollands or DGB yet, Phillips has barely even got going yet because of injury and already the 5-15 range of players looks as good as most other years top 5 players.


This draft has the potential to be better than 2018 on early showing.

There'll be some absolute bargains, kids who slipped through to the late first or second round because they didn't get to show their stuff last year.
 
There'll be some absolute bargains, kids who slipped through to the late first or second round because they didn't get to show their stuff last year.

I don't think it was so much lack of development, it was the lack of National Championships etc for some of these kids that's left them jumbled up.

Tom Powell was the Clayton Oliver of this group, on absolutely no recruiting radar or pathway in 2019 a year out from the draft, put out ridiculous numbers in the SANFL u/18's, but because he couldn't face up against Metro, VC, Allies etc he's certainly been underrated by some recruiters. I think the fact for whatever reason he didn't play Sturt seniors, it also affected his draft position, as he certainly would have been rated higher if he averaged 20+ disposals a game in the SANFL.

Oliver won the Morrish Medal, killed the NAB League finals and the rest is history.

In saying that, Powell was still technically the second genuine mid taken in the draft, if you considered Hollands and Perkins fwd/mids.
 
I don't think it was so much lack of development, it was the lack of National Championships etc for some of these kids that's left them jumbled up.

Tom Powell was the Clayton Oliver of this group, on absolutely no recruiting radar or pathway in 2019 a year out from the draft, put out ridiculous numbers in the SANFL u/18's, but because he couldn't face up against Metro, VC, Allies etc he's certainly been underrated by some recruiters. I think the fact for whatever reason he didn't play Sturt seniors, it also affected his draft position, as he certainly would have been rated higher if he averaged 20+ disposals a game in the SANFL.

Oliver won the Morrish Medal, killed the NAB League finals and the rest is history.

In saying that, Powell was still technically the second genuine mid taken in the draft, if you considered Hollands and Perkins fwd/mids.

Not having much exposed form as a cohort through 2020 made it challenging, Perkins is a good example actually; he was slated to play through the midfield in 2020 so would have risen or fallen based on how that went. Instead he's got exposed form mostly as a FWD, with the guess that he might be able to run through the middle, so he went fairly high but behind a Phillips who'd already had some midfield time in 2019.

The interstate boys certainly had more chance to show their abilities, but not having played seniors for someone like a Powell, and the lack of the champs to show how he compares to other guys in his draft year probably helped him slide back a little.

With a guy like Bruhn it's even more speculative, having (from memory) played minimal games in 2019 even.
 
Have any of Geelong’s draftees from the retirement village debuted as yet?
Max Holmes. He did pretty well but still skinny for the role. Everyone thought he was going to be a winger but he's played inside mid in his 2 vfl hit outs and was best on in both. Fairly excited but a bit to go yet before anything definitive can be said.
 

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