Analysis 2021 draft thread

[M Malice]

Ah, I can't actually remember where Goater and Johnson were ranked, sorry.

Would have liked to meet you Zo .... keeping a low profile?

Are you Eric Hipwood, Dom Fay, Mike Whiting, Greg Swann, Chris Fagan or Andrew Wellington?

 

[jjami15]

I find it funny how people melt after getting attached to players off phantom draft lists.

It should all be a bit of fun really. I have no issues people wanting player x or player y. I also have no issues with them getting upset but it’s just the level of angst that they exhibit. Also other posters are allowed to voice their opposing opinions but again understand that it really shouldn’t be taken all that seriously.

Edit: I also don’t think people should purely go on phantoms but this and last year it’s been pretty hard to actually watch any of these players to help build your own opinions.

 

[Clarkythelion]

One thing draft watchers, experts and gurus don't factor into their calculations is what is known inside clubs about player unrest, injuries, personal circumstance and possible trades. Gold Coast might know [PLAYERCARD]Ben King[/PLAYERCARD] is going so the take Mac Andrew at the hope he can play the same style yet the draft pundits call him a 'bolter'. I'm sure there are lots of things about our own Lions players we don't know that would have a bearing on our recruiting. Team needs are those we see on the surface + what medical and recruiting staff see underneath.

 

[dlanod]

On CEY, I saw he had nominated for the national draft. Is this simply because we want to re-draft him in the rookie draft, and you have to nominate for all three via a single nomination? (I only learned about this after that ****-up with those Port players)

Correct. You need to nominate for the ND to be eligible for the rookie draft.

 

[M Malice]

One thing draft watchers, experts and gurus don't factor into their calculations is what is known inside clubs about player unrest, injuries, personal circumstance and possible trades. Gold Coast might know Ben King is going so the take Mac Andrew at the hope he can play the same style yet the draft pundits call him a 'bolter'. I'm sure there are lots of things about our own Lions players we don't know that would have a bearing on our recruiting. Team needs are those we see on the surface + what medical and recruiting staff see underneath.

The recruiting team put a high premium on character/resilience as well as having a point of difference/high impact/tricks(as briztoon pointed out).. and generally favour Victorian country over Victorian metropolitan draftees, mentioned that a lot of the country boys have already moved away from home into boarding schools so are more likely to be able to adapt to a move interstate.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Would have liked to meet you Zo .... keeping a low profile?

Are you Eric Hipwood, Dom Fay, Mike Whiting, Greg Swann, Chris Fagan or Andrew Wellington?

Yes.

 

[Mighty Lions]

The recruiting team put a high premium on character/resilience as well as having a point of difference/high impact/tricks(as briztoon pointed out).. and generally favour Victorian country over Victorian metropolitan draftees, mentioned that a lot of the country boys have already moved away from home into boarding schools so are more likely to be able to adapt to a move interstate.

The go home factor has always been (& probably always will be) the biggest concern when drafting these young men. There is a lot of analytic work put into how likely it would be for a draftee to want to go back home. That said, no matter how much homework you do on any given player (young or old), that problem will never go away. The stability that the club has at the moment is probably the glue that holds all these boys intact. The closeness of the list is enormous & that goes a long way in keeping them all together.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

I heard a lot pre-draft about how Jye Amiss was from Busselton, so he had to make a 6 hour round trip for training and games with East Perth, and hadn't been in an elite program before this year so he has a lot of untapped potential. It turns out all those things apply equally to James Tunstill.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

I won't give a full account

That was an abridged version?

 

[briztoon]

What you thought of the players we picked up after attending the draft night and getting an insight into the recruiters thoughts behind the players.

I’ll reply tonight when I have a lot more time.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

I LOVED Brisbane's haul, getting two of my favourites in Wilmot and Lohmann.

ModernArtillery writes for Rookie Me Central.

 

[Dalions]

ModernArtillery writes for Rookie Me Central.

They have become 2 of my favourites too.

 

[RoyBoy17]

Happy with our work. Addressed specific needs.
Backline player that can defend and has good rebound ability and scope to push onto a wing. A lot of our defenders are either one or the other.

Taller midfielder that’s looks ultra competitive and has good athleticism.

Forward that looks like Rayner Version 2 which can allow Rayner, McCarthy to perhaps play more mid minutes.

We have got a nice mix. Then next year we go pure mid with Ashcroft and target a KPP. There is also a plethora of ruck options next year so could be a good time to snag one unless Lane and Smith progress well

 

[Balony_pony16]

It should all be a bit of fun really. I have no issues people wanting player x or player y. I also have no issues with them getting upset but it’s just the level of angst that they exhibit. Also other posters are allowed to voice their opposing opinions but again understand that it really shouldn’t be taken all that seriously.

Edit: I also don’t think people should purely go on phantoms but this and last year it’s been pretty hard to actually watch any of these players to help build your own opinions.

yeah I don’t mind opinion and disappointment post draft as it’s fine to have favs. But the anger some display is a bit disturbing lol

it wasn’t that long ago people were disappointed in drafting guys like Zac Bailey

I thinkPeople should focus on looking into what made our recruiters pick certain players and their role going forward.There is heaps of positives with our latest draft class

 

[Quigley]

I have really only seen Tunstill in the WA v SA games and whilst there is a fair bit to work with I do think he is coming from a long way back. He is very much an inside player and he did not find space away from the contest in that game. Inside he hunts the ball well and reads it reasonably off hands. Skills are solid but unspectacular and mostly he just gets the ball moving along. He is a loose limbed mover (think Yeo or Lappin) who will need to add some bulk to play his preferred inside role at AFL level but he does move through traffic nicely. Athletically he has a lot going for him and he does improve the athletic profile of our squad.

I thought the fact that he was one of the starting onballers for WA in the state match was a big positive for how he is viewed by the coaching staff and in the first game he started with a real burst getting a lot of touches early. He has only had one year in an elite program and his development this year would not have been helped by the large amount of travel he had to do to get to games. So I am sure there is upside there but at the moment I am not seeing any particular trait I am in love with with his game.

I now LemmingMaster is a fan of his might be willing to put in his thoughts.

On the night I was disappointed that Bazzo didn't quite make it to us but there is no guarantee he would have been taken anyway. I have no problem passing on Taylor and Draper as personally I did not really rate either of those guys. I would have gone a mature KP to provide the depth we are lacking and if small was the option I would have liked a more mature guy like Clark or Bailey Rogers from WA. Fejo would also have been hard for me to resist.

 

[morsie]

One factor which teh commentators kept harping on was "local drafting" by various teams. Unfortunately we seldom have that luxury.

 

[David C]

Saw a fair bit of melting on the first night when Kai was taken. I'll just post a comment taken from a poster on the Richmond draft board. It doesn't sound like it was much of a reach at all.

"Take Brisbane taking Kai Lohman at 20. It was thought to be a large reach. Yet, multiple teams have since said they’d have taken him between 15 and 20 if they had the pick."

 

[twhowler]

Saw a fair bit of melting on the first night when Kai was taken. I'll just post a comment taken from a poster on the Richmond draft board. It doesn't sound like it was much of a reach at all.

"Take Brisbane taking Kai Lohman at 20. It was thought to be a large reach. Yet, multiple teams have since said they’d have taken him between 15 and 20 if they had the pick."

I guess we'll never know. Looking at our 3 picks

Wilmot seems a very logical choice and not a reach.

Lohman - the $64,000 question is could we have got him later? Presumably we were not sure so we grabbed him. If he is a bust then it has to be a cross for our recruiting. But of course he doesn't have to be better than EVERY other pick after!

Tunstill - a risky pick here as others have said is perfectly fine. If someone like Draper is a gun it might be harder to justify. Would be interesting to know if we were going to take Bazzo - seems a perfect fit, 195cm interceptor. Seems we were prepared to not take a KPD having signed up Buzza for the 2s. Will be interesting to see how the 2s line up. You wouldn't think any of Henry Smith / Darcy Fort / Kalin Lane can play defence. So Tom Fullarton could well be sent back there. I don't hate that as he seems to be someone that struggles to see where the ball will end up. But can he do it?

In a broad sense we addressed our speed issue. I think that's a good thing seeing as we are not a super fast best 22, and we have quite a few slower mids in our nominal 2s side.

As for the in / out, I think it mostly retains the balance of the list, if you factor in Coleman becoming a defender.

The main change is that we have effectively swapped Ballenden, who we were playing as a defender, for Fort who can't do that.

OUT Archie Smith (ruck) IN Kalin Lane (ruck)
OUT Grant Birchall (mid defender) IN Darcy Wilmot (mid defender)
OUT Keidean Coleman as a forward IN Kai Lohman as a forward
OUT Brock Smith as a defender IN Keidean Coleman as a defender
OUT Tom Joyce (mid) IN James Tunstill (mid)
OUT Connor Ballenden (ruck / defender) IN Darcy Fort (ruck)

The biggest imbalance in our list I think now is the number our talls are mostly giants, and that means they can't play defence very well.

Players 200cm or more who I can't imagine as defenders include:

Daniher / Kalin Lane / Henry Smith / Darcy Fort / Oscar McInerney / Hipwood / Fullarton?

7 players in that category seems a bit high for mine. Perhaps I am being pedantic though...

 

[royboys4eva]

Wilmott was the player who stood out to me the most watching some of the under age footy this year and he has the biggest ceiling due to his age. So that is a massive tick for me. Lohmann sounds like a nice pick. Hasn't had as much exposure as some due to injuries but sounds like he has exciting attributes and Fagan is spot on when he says you need players who have that X factor. I think he might need a few years of solid reserves footy to get his body ready for AFL but that's fine - we shouldn't really need him to walk into the club and be a best 22 immediately. The thing I like about his recruitment is its another country boy. The club has made it very clear thats a policy we are going to encourage going forward and who could argue with that principle. It's served us well so far. We can get our knickers in a twist and say we should have drafted this kid - but if the kid wants to to return to Melbourne after 2 years we have wasted 2 years development.

Our 3rd choice seems a bit more of project selection that could also be based on WA boys having more matches this year and therefore more vision and I note he is also a country boy.

If we are being honest our best 22/25 players should be the guys who have served us so well in the past few seasons. I'm hoping Ely Smith can finally make the jump into best 22/25 this season but it's not the worst scenario to have your draft picks playing reserves for a couple seasons and then when its time for them to step up they are more than ready and have earned it. Not every kid will be a [PLAYERCARD]Hugh McCluggage[/PLAYERCARD].

 

[Crusha]

I have really only seen Tunstill in the WA v SA games and whilst there is a fair bit to work with I do think he is coming from a long way back. He is very much an inside player and he did not find space away from the contest in that game. Inside he hunts the ball well and reads it reasonably off hands. Skills are solid but unspectacular and mostly he just gets the ball moving along. He is a loose limbed mover (think Yeo or Lappin) who will need to add some bulk to play his preferred inside role at AFL level but he does move through traffic nicely. Athletically he has a lot going for him and he does improve the athletic profile of our squad.

I thought the fact that he was one of the starting onballers for WA in the state match was a big positive for how he is viewed by the coaching staff and in the first game he started with a real burst getting a lot of touches early. He has only had one year in an elite program and his development this year would not have been helped by the large amount of travel he had to do to get to games. So I am sure there is upside there but at the moment I am not seeing any particular trait I am in love with with his game.

I now LemmingMaster is a fan of his might be willing to put in his thoughts.

On the night I was disappointed that Bazzo didn't quite make it to us but there is no guarantee he would have been taken anyway. I have no problem passing on Taylor and Draper as personally I did not really rate either of those guys. I would have gone a mature KP to provide the depth we are lacking and if small was the option I would have liked a more mature guy like Clark or Bailey Rogers from WA. Fejo would also have been hard for me to resist.

No need for me to comment ...... backs up what I saw editing the video ........ Tunstill is #20 for WA

 

[Quigley]

The other thing with Tunstill is that he really needs to work on his tackling. Lots of half hearted arm tackles and grabbing type interactions which are easily broken. Something he will definitely need to improve.

 

[Crusha]

Some may say good, some may sad bad ....... but reminds me a little of Matheson in some of the vision.

What I did notice focusing on the one player whilst editing was a lot of selfless running both ways between the arcs ....... but all one paced (again reminding me of Matheson).

 

[Crusha]

The other thing with Tunstill is that he really needs to work on his tackling. Lots of half hearted arm tackles and grabbing type interactions which are easily broken. Something he will definitely need to improve.

Yeah ........... I left those out (which I normally wouldn't) ............. trying to be kind to the kid I guess (given the negative reactions for Lohmann after rnd 1)

 

[Quigley]

I think he has pretty high cruising speed.

 

[mattsmob]

Doesn't have the class or vision of McCluggage but I think they'll play similar styles. Probably won't play pure inside or outside mid but looks like a bit of a linkman between the two receiving the ball from the inside then moving well through traffic finding an outside runner, doesn't look explosive but moves well and seems hard to tackle. Just from those clips it looks like he's got a few things to clean up, mainly hitting targets more consistently and not putting teammates under pressure but in a full time system and a couple preseason's looks like he'll be a pretty silky mover that's hard to tackle.