Game Day 2023 AFL Draft Live discussion Rd1, 2-4 and Rookie Draft

[D BRIDGE]

He did mention that they rated Caddy and O'Sullivan about equal. Therefore, it can be surmised, they were happy to move back a spot, and get the extra pick, knowing they would get one of those two for sure.

I’d take what he said with an absolute grain of salt.

He ain’t gonna come out and say that we didn’t rate Caddy but needed to keep up appearances to ensure a profitable trade could be made with Essendon.

We knew the Dons wanted Caddy… we wouldn’t let another club decide our future with a flip of the coin on a top 10 pick just because we’d come out with the eventual pick 36 as an extra selection.

We took the player we preferred and scored a bonus pick… which was good trading.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

He ain’t gonna come out and say that we didn’t rate Caddy but needed to keep up appearances to ensure a profitable trade could be made with Essendon.

We knew the Dons wanted Caddy… we wouldn’t let another club decide our future with a flip of the coin.

We took the player we preferred and scored a bonus pick… which was good trading.

Absolutely. He's the smiling assassin is our Wellsy.

He's hardly going to come out and say...

"That idiot Dodoro seriously thought we'd take that spud Caddy? Spare me. No wonder that club has been f**ked for 20 years. We took the deal and ran for the hills"

All about keeping your cards close to your chest. He's done it before and he'll do it again.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Ruck is pretty interesting. Most were convinced we'd get a mature ruck. But it looks like it's Stanley and Conway to get us through.

I think I prefer that to getting a mature ager that we don't really rate.

SDK actually looked very competent in there at times. Not saying we should want that but as a break glass option he's far from the worst. Especially because Blicavs is a very good around the ground ruck.

If sdk is playing as a frontline ruck list mgt ought to be criticised for it.
Hopefully blicavs stays durable until conway is ready or until we draft/trade a mature ruck.

 

[Hamingja]

Absolutely. He's the smiling assassin is our Wellsy.

He's hardly going to come out and say...

"That idiot Dodoro seriously thought we'd take that spud Caddy? Spare me. No wonder that club has been f**ked for 20 years. We took the deal and ran for the hills"

All about keeping your cards close to your chest. He's done it before and he'll do it again.

Although I did find it funny they clearly edited that video after the O'Sullivan question. Probably more likely that Wells ducked under a bouncer from the interviewer on that topic instead though.

 

[ShaunWDT]

Ruck is pretty interesting. Most were convinced we'd get a mature ruck. But it looks like it's Stanley and Conway to get us through.

I think I prefer that to getting a mature ager that we don't really rate.

SDK actually looked very competent in there at times. Not saying we should want that but as a break glass option he's far from the worst. Especially because Blicavs is a very good around the ground ruck.

What state leaguer is actually a more competent Ruck than Blitz and SDK? People keep going on and on about this but you can't recruit what isn't there.

 

[CatsDoItBetter]

If sdk is playing as a frontline ruck list mgt ought to be criticised for it.
Hopefully blicavs stays durable until conway is ready or until we draft/trade a mature ruck.

I’ve been as keen as anyone to add to our rucks, but they have added two this off season. Edwards doubtful he can play afl this year but without seeing him maybe furphy is at a stretch.
I’m happy we’ve at least invested in developing rucks, hopefully Conway can stay injury free. Edwards looks like he might also be able to develop as a forward in the vfl.

 

[Live in hope]

From first impressions - think that Wells has absolutely nailed this draft. Aside from covering list needs, like the flexibility and the attributes of picks. Even the speculative picks - Whiltshire, Humphries, Jeka - have some fantastic attributes and if the Geelong system is effective with just one, it could pay off handsomely.

Delighted we didn’t pick a ND player with a chronic injury (although rookie Jeka’s hammy issues might be an worry).

IMO - while the pass on Caddy could come back to haunt us, think it was right -looks to be similar type to Ollie Henry and I think you can only have one in our forward line, at least until Cameron retires, and that could (hopefully) be years away.

So glad we picked up Mannagh - got the size, attributes, fitness and smarts to immediately make an impact midfield and forward. Think he’ll play AFL early in the season and we’ll know almost immediately how good he’ll be. And if he’s as good as I think he’ll be then it won’t matter if he’s starting at 26.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Mullin played more games than Dempsey last year. And Dempsey hasn't shown much at AFL level yet despite his VFL form.

I love the look of Dempsey but I think people are wildly underestimating how good Mullin was last year and what he could do this year.

Mullin is my tip for a “most improved” in 2024.
He has all the attributes and seemed to pick up the pace of the game more and more as the season progressed.
His disposal quality improved and he looked more assured - if he banks that and seized the opportunity to use his pace and take the game on he’ll really be something in year 2

 

[Oisin_the_Goat]

Mullin is my tip for a “most improved” in 2024.
He has all the attributes and seemed to pick up the pace of the game more and more as the season progressed.
His disposal quality improved and he looked more assured - if he banks that and seized the opportunity to use his pace and take the game on he’ll really be something in year 2

Imagine him in the midfield in a couple years. He'd be cracked

 

[FootyLad0]

Do you go for the somewhat proven commodity in Smith next year or use the pick on a highly rated young mid of which there are quite a number in the 2024 draft?

Multiple teams need points for their F/S picks eg Levi Ashcroft, Camporeale bros, Welsh.
I'd go after Brisbane's, Carlton's or Adelaide's 2024 FRP by giving them back ended picks for points.

That way we have two first rounders. One we can offer for Smith and the other we can use to Draft a young talent in the first round in an apparently strong draft.
Win/Win

 

[year of the cat]

Multiple teams need points for their F/S picks eg Levi Ashcroft, Camporeale bros, Welsh.
I'd go after Brisbane's, Carlton's or Adelaide's 2024 FRP by giving them back ended picks for points.

That way we have two first rounders. One we can offer for Smith and the other we can use to Draft a young talent in the first round in an apparently strong draft.
Win/Win

Good in theory, but we haven’t got those back ended picks other than our standard ones. Think the Tigers may have traded during this draft for some future picks I assume with the same intentions. Unless we trade out players for picks at the end of next year then we aren’t really in a position to do what you are thinking. Like the idea though.

 

[FootyLad0]

Good in theory, but we haven’t got those back ended picks other than our standard ones. Think the Tigers may have traded during this draft for some future picks I assume with the same intentions. Unless we trade out players for picks at the end of next year then we aren’t really in a position to do what you are thinking. Like the idea though.

That's what i meant though, trade a bunch of F3/F4 from 2024 and 2025.
You can always trade back into those picks if you need to.

Just save up 1st and 2nds and go from there.

 

[year of the cat]

That's what i meant though, trade a bunch of F3/F4 from 2024 and 2025.

Ok. Thought you meant 2024 future picks. Wasn’t thinking 2025.

 

[FootyLad0]

Ok. Thought you meant 2024 future picks. Wasn’t thinking 2025.

Do you think it would be enough to convince any of those team's?

 

[year of the cat]

Do you think it would be enough to convince any of those team's?

Have no idea. If you included our 2025 FF that might help?

 

[Footy Smarts]

If sdk is playing as a frontline ruck list mgt ought to be criticised for it.

Why?

I'm not saying we should start him there but Tim English was playing as number 1 ruck at his age with a similar body type. It didn't seem to harm his development. And SDK has a lot of similar attributes.

As a 3rd or 4th option if s**t hits the fan it seems perfectly fine.

 

[Turbocat]

Same spiel every year. Very dull.

Mackie is a bald faced amateur ..Wells can hypnotise and induce sleep with his comments. Actually his recent comments about the Academy system is unusual in that it was a little bit newsworthy.

 

[Turbocat]

Do you go for the somewhat proven commodity in Smith next year or use the pick on a highly rated young mid of which there are quite a number in the 2024 draft?

As much as I like the fresh faced kid .. If Smith says he wants to come ..we will probably just trade for him and take the known ready to play commodity. Be nice if they changed FA to 6 years... and have both

 

[moond0g]

Do you think it would be enough to convince any of those team's?

No. We won’t tempt them with our 2023/24 junk picks.

Obviously it depends where they (and we) finish. But GC is a good example this year. They’ll want to trade their first rounder for 2 (or more) picks at the end of the first/start of the second round. That way they can on-trade those picks for even more points.

Even in that scenario the bulldogs would probably want more than 1 first rounder for smith.

 

[Turbocat]

The one thing that has really roused emotion from this years draft ..is the academy picks..the bids... the R1 going all the way to P29. Makes a total mockery of the 2 R1 picks every 4 years

Id expect some sort of review. Unlike some I support access to the northern players for the Fort Apache type clubs ... the more players developed from the north means more southern kids for everyone else .....but the discounts have to be looked at. Full rate may have to be paid for R1 picks. And the way tehy accrue the points for those pick might have be looked. And perhaps ..the number of players in one year has to be looked at. The AF could have had a huge public relations issue... if no club had bid on any of the players. Or worse.. what if all the clubs had bid on them all with P3,4,5 and 6. Probably Graham would not have got to GC.

 

[Turbocat]

That's what i meant though, trade a bunch of F3/F4 from 2024 and 2025.
You can always trade back into those picks if you need to.

Just save up 1st and 2nds and go from there.

Something to keep in mind..but probably not much different to this year

 

[Hinkley29]

The one thing that has really roused emotion from this years draft ..is the academy picks..the bids... the R1 going all the way to P29. Makes a total mockery of the 2 R1 picks every 4 years

Id expect some sort of review. Unlike some I support access to the northern players for the Fort Apache type clubs ... the more players developed from the north means more southern kids for everyone else .....but the discounts have to be looked at. Full rate may have to be paid for R1 picks. And the way tehy accrue the points for those pick might have be looked. And perhaps ..the number of players in one year has to be looked at. The AF could have had a huge public relations issue... if no club had bid on any of the players. Or worse.. what if all the clubs had bid on them all with P3,4,5 and 6. Probably Graham would not have got to GC.

When we have a situation where North did not bid on Walter at pick 2, but did bid at pick 3, then clubs cannot complain about the bidding system.

If the clubs don’t hold each other accountable and make the NGA clubs pay the legit price for their bids then why should the AFL have to do the job for them?

 

[dudusmaximus]

One drawback minor inconvenience of Wellsy's out-of-left-field selections is there is so little footage for fans to savour! Recent exception being Ollie Dempsey's footage from his dad.

We literally have to wait for the first practice/VFL matches to get a good glimpse of them.

Has anyone unearthed more of Oliver Wiltshire & Lawson Humphries than is out there? Clamouring to see more of them.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

When we have a situation where North did not bid on Walter at pick 2, but did bid at pick 3, then clubs cannot complain about the bidding system.

If the clubs don’t hold each other accountable and make the NGA clubs pay the legit price for their bids then why should the AFL have to do the job for them?

I get what you're saying but I also want to point out that these guys have relationships to maintain and taking small opportunities to help each other out that don't cost you anything might help them in ways unrelated to a draft bid.

Agree the mechanics of bidding should see best options for clubs get bids per value but might be some complexities. Technically you can still complain about the bidding system and still be trapped by conventions

 

[year of the cat]

All moot now but if either we had finished one position lower or GWS had taken Gothard with their first without trading down we would have been presented with the same offer by Adel that they were.

Would have been able to pick up both O’Sullivan and either Leake or Wilson under that scenario.