Draft 2022 AFLW Draft Analysis - Slice of Pie

Feb 14, 2018
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On this sort of wavelength. Clearly, Claire Ransom is going to North but I'm assuming she still goes to school, does that mean she's unlikely to play a game in year 1 since she might never actually train with the main group in Melbourne? (maybe she gets a few sessions in during the school holidays around the draft and the September holidays).

i'm guessing that it'll be a development year for most if not all of the girls this draft with year 12 exams starting later in the year
maybe a few games early in the season for some in the 4 new teams, others who are showing form enough to get a game with the established clubs

then gradually being left out as their school load increases
this draft may well be a draft for next season (2023)

i also would say that most of the draftees would be playing in the lower leagues next year, VFLW, SAFLW etc to continue their development
what happen's at next season's draft in regards to certain criteria (turning 18 at a cut off date, finished year 12 etc) is anyone's guess
 
Feb 14, 2018
2,396
4,354
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Richmond
Do we see Anderson as a first or second round pick? As in a power ranking?
I'm unaware of ever having seen her play. If you have, I'd turn the question back around at you.

I genuinely don't know how teams will judge somebody like Anderson against the rest of the pool

from a read at RMC J'Noemi Anderson didn't play a single game with the Sandringham Dragons this season (unsure why)
only played the 2 U/18 Championships games for the Allies (played well)

she's a AFLW academy player & was invited to combine, so some club(s) is (are) are interested
she's draftable but only on a very small sample of 2 games, has strengths & flaws like most of the middle to lower range girls

she's more of a attacking weapon, not so much defensive, but has some tricks on her
at the AFLW level would be a fwd more so than a mid initially

one player that has dropped off the face of this earth after being in the conversation last year is Lily-Rose Williamson (Gippsland Power)
maybe Pie 4 Life or PMBangers know why ????
 

FoopyNerd

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Jan 23, 2022
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what happen's at next season's draft in regards to certain criteria (turning 18 at a cut off date, finished year 12 etc) is anyone's guess
Spot on. It could actually all stay the same if clubs had larger lists. Right now it's just not realistic for a club to hit the draft hard one year and take 6 high schoolers coz that's 6 of 30 on the list who will have their involvement in the program impacted by school. I suppose list sizes couldn't increase this year due to expansion but it'll need to happen sooner rather than later.
 
one player that has dropped off the face of this earth after being in the conversation last year is Lily-Rose Williamson (Gippsland Power)
maybe Pie 4 Life or PMBangers know why ????
In short, commitment/priority issues is the easiest way of putting it.
 
Oct 8, 2004
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from a read at RMC J'Noemi Anderson didn't play a single game with the Sandringham Dragons this season (unsure why)
only played the 2 U/18 Championships games for the Allies (played well)
If Anderson is down here boarding, she may have had school sport conflicts.

I believe she's also played games up in the NT. How you judge that football against the NAB and VFLW stuff, I don't know. Similar story judging Allies stuff against players from the Metro and Country sides.

I wonder if GC might offer to take her and just let her finish off the year of school. Further to that, I wonder if any players get drafted then get put on the inactive list to focus on studies. My guess would be no, that anybody nominating will want to be as involved as possible, but it wouldn't be shocking.

I suspect the draft age gets pushed back - the question is when and by how much. If anybody asked me, I'd probably do next year the same as this (I think it's too late to change it on the girls), but announce now that the 2024 date will be pushed back by six months with the possibility of going the other six months the following year.
 

FoopyNerd

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Jan 23, 2022
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I suspect the draft age gets pushed back - the question is when and by how much. If anybody asked me, I'd probably do next year the same as this (I think it's too late to change it on the girls), but announce now that the 2024 date will be pushed back by six months with the possibility of going the other six months the following year.
Agreed. They couldn't push back a complete year instantly because then one draft would be filled with girls who missed out in their first eligible year. Doing birthdates between Jan 1 - June 30 2006 for the 2024 draft and then anyone born in 2006 or earlier for the 2025 draft keeps some talent in both pools.

For instance, if they did Jan 1 - June 30 2004 for this draft and then the rest of the 2004 and earlier born for next year that would leave the following (rough list):
2022 - Ham, Hurley, Eardley, Di Donato, C. Hamilton, Ransom, Wakfer, Kusterman, Ewings.
2023 - Fleming, Goldsworthy, Mason, Z. Hamilton, Roberts, Elkington, Bushby, Syme, Goodwin, Baskaran, Clarke.
 
Nov 7, 2017
27,654
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Melbourne
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GWS
Other Teams
Manchester City, Collingwood AFLW
If Anderson is down here boarding, she may have had school sport conflicts.
I don't believe so, Dragons made attempts to get her down for trainings at the very least and, well....
 

Arbiter

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May 9, 2022
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Collingwood
Do we know what the story is with the NGA picks yet. Only one has been signed by Sydney. Has that time passed or does it follow delisted free agency into next Wednesday?
 
Do we know what the story is with the NGA picks yet. Only one has been signed by Sydney. Has that time passed or does it follow delisted free agency into next Wednesday?
The amount of additional priority picks granted a couple weeks ago gives the impression, to me at least, that the NGA players will just be drafted by their corresponding clubs with those picks.
 

Arbiter

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May 9, 2022
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The amount of additional priority picks granted a couple weeks ago gives the impression, to me at least, that the NGA players will just be drafted by their corresponding clubs with those picks.
Why not sign them before the draft? Or are your thinking those late picks will be locked picks for NGA kind of similar to what Collingwood had in 2018 with Sophie Alexander and Erica Fowler?
 
Why not sign them before the draft? Or are your thinking those late picks will be locked picks for NGA kind of similar to what Collingwood had in 2018 with Sophie Alexander and Erica Fowler?
Not sure why. I am thinking of something like Richmond's inaugural draft: Didn't pre-list any juniors unlike St Kilda, got better priority picks than the Saints but used them on somewhat strange players (who weren't actually from the Tigers' NGA zone, but it does seem like they were given exclusive access to GWV).
 

Arbiter

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Not sure why. I am thinking of something like Richmond's inaugural draft: Didn't pre-list any juniors unlike St Kilda, got better priority picks than the Saints but used them on somewhat strange players (who weren't actually from the Tigers' NGA zone, but it does seem like they were given exclusive access to GWV).
Actually I believe the zones for Richmond at that time were very talentless, they had Bendigo and Murray as their zone. Millie Brown was the only player from both clubs drafted, but she was an F/D, and was only going to Geelong.
 
Oct 8, 2004
1,143
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St Kilda
If they're doing development zone signings, it's at a very different time in the process than when the Saints signed McDonald and Shannon. Again, though, I'd think that a positive change as I believe St Kilda and Richmond had to pre-sign the players extremely early in the process (I think it was before their top-age season had even started).

I'd take the complete lack of communication on the subject since the initial expansion announcement to mean there won't be any zone signings. I won't be surprised, however, if I find one day that Hawthorn has signed Austin and Busch. I could see the league doing a nomination process a bit closer to the draft, perhaps with a deadline around the same time as the FD nominations. My guess is it will all be live picks, though. I would bet the expansion clubs were pushing for more picks rather than a free hit at locals.
 
If Hawthorn don't draft Montana Ham & Charlotte Baskaran, but rather Jasmine Fleming & Sofia Hurley, it'd appear fairly categorical (in my mind) that the new clubs surrendered the right to pre-list from their academies in exchange for extra picks... on the AFL's condition that the top several picks are still used on players from certain zones (i.e. Hawks draft Chargers/Dragons, Bombers draft Jets).

Theory being it'd compensate for a lack of perceived future genuine stars to pre-list from Hawthorn and Essendon's NGAs, while still keeping it kinda clean with regards to where each new club sources junior talent. I'm guessing this is what will happen, emphasis on guessing.
 
Feb 14, 2018
2,396
4,354
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Richmond
Actually I believe the zones for Richmond at that time were very talentless, they had Bendigo and Murray as their zone. Millie Brown was the only player from both clubs drafted, but she was an F/D, and was only going to Geelong.
yes 100% this
If Hawthorn don't draft Montana Ham & Charlotte Baskaran, but rather Jasmine Fleming & Sofia Hurley, it'd appear fairly categorical (in my mind) that the new clubs surrendered the right to pre-list from their academies in exchange for extra picks... on the AFL's condition that the top several picks are still used on players from certain zones (i.e. Hawks draft Chargers/Dragons, Bombers draft Jets).

Theory being it'd compensate for a lack of perceived future genuine stars to pre-list from Hawthorn and Essendon's NGAs, while still keeping it kinda clean with regards to where each new club sources junior talent. I'm guessing this is what will happen, emphasis on guessing.

i'm not so sure "on the AFL's condition that the top several picks are still used on players from certain zones (i.e. Hawks draft Chargers/Dragons, Bombers draft Jets)."

at a "guess" i believe the Hawks and Dons chose to forgo NGA pre-selects for a few extra top picks to get the best talent and not constrained by particular regions

disclaimer: i'm guessing :)
 

FoopyNerd

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Jan 23, 2022
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chose to forgo NGA pre-selects for a few extra top picks to get the best talent and not constrained by particular regions
It would make sense, those extra picks are probably better than Ranges/Power prospects at a guess. Not to mention there are no guarantees that girls from the aligned clubs want to sign with an expansion team.

As always a great topic that the AFL will make zero public mention of.
 
yes 100% this


i'm not so sure "on the AFL's condition that the top several picks are still used on players from certain zones (i.e. Hawks draft Chargers/Dragons, Bombers draft Jets)."

at a "guess" i believe the Hawks and Dons chose to forgo NGA pre-selects for a few extra top picks to get the best talent and not constrained by particular regions

disclaimer: i'm guessing :)
Chargers are Tigs/Pies too. In saying that, Fleming is a Hawks fan so I’m expecting they take her. They might want to take Ham, but Bombers would say we’re taking the other and forcing them to pull the trigger one way or another.
 
Nov 7, 2017
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It would make sense, those extra picks are probably better than Ranges/Power prospects at a guess. Not to mention there are no guarantees that girls from the aligned clubs want to sign with an expansion team.

As always a great topic that the AFL will make zero public mention of.
I think it's most likely that the clubs opted for extra picks as we got closer to the Trade period, earlier in the year Essendon recruiters said they would have Calder Cannons players as pre list options but I would've thought those would've been confirmed already if they were going to happen
 
Oct 8, 2004
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St Kilda
One potential sign that there might not be any zone signings this year was the Tamara Smith signing today. That would leave Hawthorn with one more list spot before they start to eat into their first round picks. If they were going to be signing Ranges for free, I'd expect them to be signing at least Austin and Busch. It's possible they'd just go Busch (I can't see them leaving Busch out), but I'd be surprised if they didn't take a free tall since they haven't got a lot in that area on their list so far. Perhaps they still grab those two in that block of picks they have at 11-13 in the Vic draft order.

Speaking of which, Carlton gave up quite a bit to move up a few spots in the Vic order. That would indicate that at least one club also sees a bit of a dropoff somewhere between pick 10 and pick 12. I thought that was interesting given some of the conversation on here.

EDIT: McCarthy signing leaves Hawthorn with only first round picks.
 
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Arbiter

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May 9, 2022
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One potential sign that there might not be any zone signings this year was the Tamara Smith signing today. That would leave Hawthorn with one more list spot before they start to eat into their first round picks. If they were going to be signing Ranges for free, I'd expect them to be signing at least Austin and Busch. It's possible they'd just go Busch (I can't see them leaving Busch out), but I'd be surprised if they didn't take a free tall since they haven't got a lot in that area on their list so far. Perhaps they still grab those two in that block of picks they have at 11-13 in the Vic draft order.

Speaking of which, Carlton gave up quite a bit to move up a few spots in the Vic order. That would indicate that at least one club also sees a bit of a dropoff somewhere between pick 10 and pick 12. I thought that was interesting given some of the conversation on here.
I'm guessing Paige Scott and Bridie Hipwell. They need forwards desperately.
 
Oct 8, 2004
1,143
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St Kilda
I'm guessing Paige Scott and Bridie Hipwell. They need forwards desperately.
Could be. After their offseason, I think they need a lot of things desperately, though. My guess is they take whatever falls to them, but they do have a habit of taking runners. They did a similar move last year and took Sherar, which I don't think many were expecting. Not sure what the equivalent pick would be this year. Gatt, maybe?
 

Arbiter

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May 9, 2022
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Lulu Beatty & Charlotte Blair: Where does these girls rank? They seem to have some genuine pace.
 
Nov 7, 2017
27,654
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Melbourne
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GWS
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Manchester City, Collingwood AFLW
Isabelle Khoury didn't get a combine invite, any chance of her getting drafted ???
I thought I had answered this sorry. I really like what Khoury brings to the game with her speed and dare the real eye catcher. I actually think she improved quite a bit this year, starting hitting more of her kicks, developed a second position and was good without being exceptional at VFLW level. Realistically though her best bet was to get prelisted like we saw with Deed, Barbakos, Anthony, so unfortunately it seems more unlikely than likely, especially without a combine invite
 
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