Preview 2021 AFL National Draft | NM - #1, #20, #42, #47,#72, #77, #95

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Oct 12, 2008
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The knee was definitely a concern. For me the bigger concern was the lack of midfield time, I wouldn't want to invest heavily in someone that was only a flanker. Bit of a difference investing a later first round pick on say Simpkin with the hope he could transition into the midfield and doing so with pick 2.

I've always been consistent with the belief that you should ALWAYS take the best mid with an early draft pick unless you have the expectation you are going to be down there for 5-7 years with top 5 picks. Most of the top ruckman going around are recycled, many of them originally drafted way out of the first round. We got mileage out of Ben Brown as a later pick, Larkey is doing well, you can get some really serviceable forwards if you are prepared to put the development time into them but if you have a midfield full of low-skill plodders you aren't going to get anywhere. There are some really good forwards and rucks taken in the first round, there is an absurdly high failure rate though. We just can't afford to blow potential marquee players because we will develop the second tier well enough to be competitive, so our window for finding marquee players in the draft I would imagine is fairly limited.

You can always just commit absolute highway robbery through the rookie draft too. 17 clubs would be kicking themselves for passing on cam zurhaar over and over.
 
Oct 4, 2006
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15 disposals (8 contested), 4 marks, 4 tackles, 2.6 clearances and 0.6 goals a game. 83 rankings points per game (13 games)

He averaged the following in the SANFL seniors last year

10 disposals (7 contested), 2 marks, 3 tackles, 1.3 clearances and 0.6 goals a game. 59 rankings points per game (9 games)

Reflecting on these does show that he has improved, but it needs to be taken into account that he's played more midfield this year than last year. There probably is a sense in which I've been expecting too much from Horne, as his flashes have been amazing, as you've all seen through his highlights.

He's still #1, and there's still a fair bit of distance there from the rest of the pack, but I'd love to see him tear the champs to shreds or have a 20+ touch, 2 goal game.

Also, and I know they are completely different players in completely different positions, but interesting to compare the respective improvement in stats for Thilthorpe and Horne in their U17/U18 years at SANFL level.

From memory Thilthorpe didn’t get quite the bounce some were expecting in his second year.
 
Also, and I know they are completely different players in completely different positions, but interesting to compare the respective improvement in stats for Thilthorpe and Horne in their U17/U18 years at SANFL level.

From memory Thilthorpe didn’t get quite the bounce some were expecting in his second year.
Had OP last year didn't he?

On SM-G965F using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Jun 7, 2019
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15 disposals (8 contested), 4 marks, 4 tackles, 2.6 clearances and 0.6 goals a game. 83 rankings points per game (13 games)

He averaged the following in the SANFL seniors last year

10 disposals (7 contested), 2 marks, 3 tackles, 1.3 clearances and 0.6 goals a game. 59 rankings points per game (9 games)

Reflecting on these does show that he has improved, but it needs to be taken into account that he's played more midfield this year than last year. There probably is a sense in which I've been expecting too much from Horne, as his flashes have been amazing, as you've all seen through his highlights.

He's still #1, and there's still a fair bit of distance there from the rest of the pack, but I'd love to see him tear the champs to shreds or have a 20+ touch, 2 goal game.
two years playing against men, and at state level, not a suburban comp; there won't be many in the pool with those credentials
 
Ideal scenario (IMO).
- Lose the next 3 (sad I know)
- Crows beat Hawks in R19
- Hawks beat Collingwood in R21
- North win rounds 22 and 23, finish the year with some momentum and still get Horne
Looks like the Round 21 games are being brought forward to Round 19. Port v Crows and Hawks v Pies.
 
Looks like the Round 21 games are being brought forward to Round 19. Port v Crows and Hawks v Pies.
Priority pick talk gone quiet despite us still only winning a handful of games out of the last 2+ seasons. Given that, let's troll the industry - get these games out of the way, end up 3 behind the nearest team in 17th... then come out and absolutely destroy the last two teams we play. Just for the laughs and the meltdowns.
 
You can always just commit absolute highway robbery through the rookie draft too. 17 clubs would be kicking themselves for passing on cam zurhaar over and over.

I think there are heaps of kids that could make very good footballers that don't make it to an AFL list, most will just require years of development and clubs really don't have the scope to carry too many players that are high risk development types.

Cam is a good example of what can happen when things click and you aggressively take the game on. He has also shown the difficulty in sustaining both the rage and the form. It is impossible to predict who it is going to work for. That being said, if you were to take the best KPP that nobody takes in the draft and you stick the top 10 at your club and you aggressively develop them for 5 years, I would guarantee you would find 3 decent key forwards out of that 10. Clubs just don't have the scope to carry 10 kids which it knows 7 out of those 10 are going to bomb out for sure.
 
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Oct 12, 2008
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The North of Melbourne
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I think there are heaps of kids that could make very good footballers that don't make it to an AFL list, most will just require years of development and clubs really don't have the scope to carry too many players that are high risk development types.

Cam is a good example of what can happen when things click and you aggressively take the game on. He has also shown the difficulty in sustaining both the rage and the form. It is impossible to predict who it is going to work for. That being said, if you were to take the best KPP that nobody takes in the draft and you stick the top 10 at your club and you aggressively develop them for 5 years, I would guarantee you would find 3 decent key forwards out of that 10. Clubs just don't have the scope to carry 10 kids which it nows 7 out of those 10 are going to bomb out for sure.

We've done very well out of the rookie draft over the years. Josh Gibson, Michael Firrito, Leigh Adams, Nathan Grima, Majak Daw, now Cam Zurhaar. There's more I could list who had solid careers.
 
Oct 12, 2008
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Is Daicos definitely going to Collingwood?

Asking for a mate.....

If he chooses to go into the open draft it'll be a genuine dilemma to pick between him and Horne. Because he's been tied to Collingwood I don't think people have really weighed up who's better of the two.
 

marklovesbeer

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Apr 8, 2010
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If we were to finish 17th and not last who would be the player after Horne we could select?
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