Preview 2024 National Draft Preview Thread

[The Nostradamus]

If the club doesn't select smilie then we have some real problem. He is a player that provides some we've never had, i.e. dominant prescence at centre square.

Our biggest weakness is the centre square.

Smilie is nat fyfe size player who is vic product hence no go home factor.

When there is no go home factor, the pull from the big clubs gets reduced significantly and syd won't have any effect.

I’m more worried about beating Richmond later in the year and eagles at home

And leapfrogging an injury plagued over the hill Richmond and missing out on Josh smillie as a result

 

[ChairmanZia]

I’m more worried about beating Richmond later in the year and eagles at home

And leapfrogging an injury plagued over the hill Richmond and missing out on Josh smillie as a result

We can afford to win against richmond but we are like 8% behind them, to leap that would require a 100+ point win.

Beating eagles at home is prob not going to happen.

 

[Johnny99]

We definitely didn't walk away we put in all the ground work and the AFL gifted it to the Bulldogs.

Like Friday night football...

 

[shinboner magic]

I’m more worried about beating Richmond later in the year and eagles at home

And leapfrogging an injury plagued over the hill Richmond and missing out on Josh smillie as a result

By then the tuggers will have a lot of their injured players back. They’ll be a much better team by then.

 

[pitchster]

This guy is my favourite so far.

Absolute elite decision maker who would compliment Sheez and Colby's skills magnificently.

Would go somewhat close to start filling the gaping hole Tarryn left for us.

He was my pick when i had stars in my eyes and thought we would have pick 4 or 5 and no lower.

 

[The Talent Scout]

If the club doesn't select smilie then we have some real problem. He is a player that provides some we've never had, i.e. dominant prescence at centre square.

Our biggest weakness is the centre square.

Smilie is nat fyfe size player who is vic product hence no go home factor.

When there is no go home factor, the pull from the big clubs gets reduced significantly and syd won't have any effect.

Lets wait and see where we finish at the end of the year and see what happens at the champs though it does look like we will be bottom and while Richmond are so finished they will rack up a few more wins when they get some players back.

If though we do have pick 1 unless someone goes "crazy" you would assume it will be Josh or Finn, now I know the height will come into it but also remember that Finn is a bloody good player and runs both ways, watch the champs and you'll see how good he is. Josh is steamrolling everyone at the moment and you'd think you might see something special at the champs as I think he can go to another level, which is frightening! So the champs are a real must watch specially if your a North Melbourne supporter.

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

Based on us complaining about draft guys with club connections, we should be going for trainor, but we need smillie

Unless we know Trainor can be converted into a forward.

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

This guy is my favourite so far.

Absolute elite decision maker who would compliment Sheez and Colby's skills magnificently.

Would go somewhat close to start filling the gaping hole Tarryn left for us.

He moves beautifully, kind of like the way Rozee or Bolton move in tight with incredible agility.

 

[marklovesbeer]

Its pick 42 - I tend to agree but its pick 42. Everyone else including Collingwood passed on McCreery twice. marklovesbeer its your club. Did you think we should have picked McCreery based on his junior form?

He actually went to my high school too.
But to answer your question, I didn’t actually see a heap of him as I was still living in Melbourne. I would only listen to games when I could.
His name was always popping up, but he wasn’t exactly on my radar as a later pick. Would be good to have our time again with that one.

 

[andana]

WA U18 Coach Marc Webb has embraced the opportunity to stage a trial game against an All-Star State Under 21 side at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

Webb has declared the match an important step towards this year’s NAB AFL National Championships.

“It’s very important as we have trained for three weeks and had a camp to help get to know each other and work both as a team and in our positional lines,” Webb said.

“To get our players working together in their roles and to build connection.

“This is the first opportunity to have the group play together.”

Playing against an older group of players is also a challenge for the 18’s side.

“No doubt the opposition have had a year or two of extra development, however it provides a great opportunity for us to play against players who have been performing well at League and Reserve level,” he said.

The match will have extra focus with several recruiting staff from AFL club land expected at the ground to assess the young talent.

“As is always the case, the most important things we focus on are the things as individuals and as a team we can control,” Webb said.

“Our effort and how we work for each other are what we focus on.”

Player availability is not as high as Webb would like for the game, but that should change within a month.

“We have a quite a few on the injury list over the last few weeks, however we will get a bit more availability over the coming weeks,” he said.

“Bo Allan who has being playing League football as a defender, will be playing through the midfield.”

The 21’s side will be coached by Trent Cooper, Manager Female Talent Programs and Coaching Specialist at the West Australian Football Commission.

“This is a great opportunity for the players selected in the 21’s to test their game against the state’s best underage talent,” Cooper said.

“Recruiters will be watching this match closely with an eye to the national draft at the end of the year, but clubs will also be considering players for the upcoming mid-season draft.”

Cooper’s side will have just one training session together, at Subiaco Oval on Thursday.

“We will just be working on connection and learning a very simple game plan that will hopefully give the players the best chance to display their strengths,” he said.

“Most of our team are only 19 years-old, so there won’t be a huge advantage for those players, but we would expect to have a strength and conditioning advantage with the players who have completed two or three WAFL pre-seasons.”

Selection for the 21’s side was the result of WAFL clubs nominating players they believe deserve an opportunity and all 18 AFL clubs put in requests on who they would like to see in the game.

“We then selected those with the most interest and have put together an exciting and well-balanced team,” Cooper said.

“Jack Cleaver was considered unlucky to be overlooked in the draft two years ago and he is playing really consistent league football for East Fremantle.

“Scott Tuia has been toiling away in the Colts and Reserves at Peel for the last four years and has developed into a very good League player this year and I’m looking forward to seeing him play.

“Ashton Ferreira played in the State 18’s last season and he has taken his game to another level on a wing at South Fremantle this year.”

The match begins on Saturday at 10.30am at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

 

[Colby Cheer Squad]

Unless we know Trainor can be converted into a forward.

I am not at all confident that a 17 year old playing in defence is going to be a good candidate as a forward at AFL level. Let's be honest, every kid who is talented enough to be drafted was almost certainly the best player in his team at his junior footy club and most likely the best player in his league. Junior footy coaches at the local level don't put their best player behind the ball; they play in the middle or else up forward where they kick 10 goals a week.

Unless Trainor did all that but only recently became a defender at Under 18 level, then he probably isn't a natural forward. It would be like drafting a flanker or small forward with hopes that he might become a top flight midfielder (a trap we've also fallen into over the years).

 

[Colby Cheer Squad]

If you go look at my posting (for years) pre the 2020 cull I was always pretty against bottoming out cos I knew we'd end up here. But it was obvious something had to happen by the end of that season and once the decision was made we had to follow it thru. No point going half arsed to jag a few wins here and there.

The CCJ trade was bad but that's about it and that's with hindsight. Someone (maybe you?) said we "sold the farm" for him but we just swapped a 2nd rounder that we traded back in the following year then the AFL gave an extra one anyway so we never lost anything on that trade. He's just been disappointing.

Jacob Edwards was an obvious choice and his lack of effort i on him no one else.

People keep saying this late pick or that late pick should have been some random player instead of whoever we got but I don't remember any of those players being on anyone's rader during the draft threads of those years. Before we got JHF I did wonder if we should trade pick one - we would have ended up with Van Rooyen, Callaghan and Goater with any luck but who in their right mind would have done that?

People need to let Logan McDonald go

I agree with you on the CCJ trade not being as costly in draft picks as many people seem to think but what it has done is given our list management team a false sense that we were covered for the second tall forward and ruck relief spot and so we didn't need to chase tall forwards in 2022 or 2023. Jacob Edwards was the double gut punch in that space. If we have neither of them on our list at the end of 2022, and if you could look into a crystal ball and see that Charlie Comben would be playing in defence in 2024, then maybe we are not so eager to do the super trade that allowed Aaron Cadman to go to GWS with our pick 1. If ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

 

[LB2Snake]

I am not at all confident that a 17 year old playing in defence is going to be a good candidate as a forward at AFL level. Let's be honest, every kid who is talented enough to be drafted was almost certainly the best player in his team at his junior footy club and most likely the best player in his league. Junior footy coaches at the local level don't put their best player behind the ball; they play in the middle or else up forward where they kick 10 goals a week.

Unless Trainor did all that but only recently became a defender at Under 18 level, then he probably isn't a natural forward. It would be like drafting a flanker or small forward with hopes that he might become a top flight midfielder (a trap we've also fallen into over the years).

I've mentioned this before on here, but I watched Luke kick 6(I think) straight goals in a quarter in under 16's against my son's team at the time. He can def play forward. I'd luv to see us draft him, but he's gunna be in just the wrong spot for us unfortunately.

 

[ohmygewd]

I am not at all confident that a 17 year old playing in defence is going to be a good candidate as a forward at AFL level. Let's be honest, every kid who is talented enough to be drafted was almost certainly the best player in his team at his junior footy club and most likely the best player in his league. Junior footy coaches at the local level don't put their best player behind the ball; they play in the middle or else up forward where they kick 10 goals a week.

Unless Trainor did all that but only recently became a defender at Under 18 level, then he probably isn't a natural forward. It would be like drafting a flanker or small forward with hopes that he might become a top flight midfielder (a trap we've also fallen into over the years).

Trainor was interviewed on the Gettables and he said it's only recently that he has being playing down back:

Full interview: Draft prospect Luke Trainor on Dragons start, famous family ties, Bomber comparisons - Gettable

Sandringham Dragons draft prospect Luke Trainor joins Riley Beveridge and Cal Twomey on Gettable to discuss his season so far and more.

omny.fm

 

[GoRoos2023]

I agree with you on the CCJ trade not being as costly in draft picks as many people seem to think but what it has done is given our list management team a false sense that we were covered for the second tall forward and ruck relief spot and so we didn't need to chase tall forwards in 2022 or 2023. Jacob Edwards was the double gut punch in that space. If we have neither of them on our list at the end of 2022, and if you could look into a crystal ball and see that Charlie Comben would be playing in defence in 2024, then maybe we are not so eager to do the super trade that allowed Aaron Cadman to go to GWS with our pick 1. If ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

Should just offer GWS pick 1 this year for Cadman then it’s all the same difference.

 

[Slamming Sam]

Unless we know Trainor can be converted into a forward.

On the Gettable podcast two.weeks ago, Luke Trainor was invited on as the weekly guest. During the podcast, Luke revealed he uses to play as a forward in his junior days. It was only this year they moves him to defence, for Sandringham Dragons. He told the story that one day he kicked 6 goals in a game to his Grand dad Doug Wade. Doug then replied that's not bad but then tells Luke that one day I kicked 7 goals in a quarter.

 

[Euge]

This is a bit of a Roy Lion thing whenever it gets raised, as it means Euge is not far away to set the record straight so standby for that.

As I recall, it was a state election campaign promise by the Labor government of the day to build the Ballarat stadium and have us play games there but they lost that election. The Libs had no incentive to fulfil the campaign promise of their opponents. We went full-on into Hobart after that, but with a desire to retain links to Ballarat should the opportunity arise once again. As you say, the AFL did not consider it appropriate for any club to have a secondary and a tertiary market so they took Ballarat away from us once the state Libs screwed the pooch as one-term wonders and handed power back to Labor. The stadium deal came back as policy and the Bulldogs were gifted the opportunity.

This is and remains a real sore point for me. I am limited with what I can say about how this deal slid away from us, but I can say that post-election, we did talk to the Libs (in person), and they were certainly open to the possibility of reinstating the offer. They understood the electoral advantage in building a stadium, but due to factors beyond my control, the Club did not seize the moment. It became one of a number of factors that lead to my eventual departure from the Club. By the time the ALP was back in power, North had firmed up its commitment to Hobart (and probably did not see the opportunity that I felt Ballarat could be). Peter Gordon from the Bulldogs saw that opportunity for what it was and was able to pick up where we left off - the rest is history. In a subsequent phone call, Peter "thanked" me for having pushed the concept of AFL games in Ballarat. That annoyed me no end!

 

[ChairmanZia]

Lets wait and see where we finish at the end of the year and see what happens at the champs though it does look like we will be bottom and while Richmond are so finished they will rack up a few more wins when they get some players back.

If though we do have pick 1 unless someone goes "crazy" you would assume it will be Josh or Finn, now I know the height will come into it but also remember that Finn is a bloody good player and runs both ways, watch the champs and you'll see how good he is. Josh is steamrolling everyone at the moment and you'd think you might see something special at the champs as I think he can go to another level, which is frightening! So the champs are a real must watch specially if your a North Melbourne supporter.

I firmly hope for smilie, he is a bulldozing wrecking ball with his size and speed that we've never had in our history.

He will be truly unique.

 

[giantroo]

Draft Power Rankings: Key position twins rocket up the top 20

In an AFL draft crop top-heavy with midfielders, a pair of key position players -- twins, in fact -- have made their move up ESPN's May Power Rankings, writes Jasper Chellappah.

www.espn.com.au

 

[giantroo]

 

[kool kangas]

Unless we know Trainor can be converted into a forward.

Give him number #23, play him at full forward just like his grandfather (Doug Wade) did for North during the 70s.

 

[justroyal]

Sounds like he is our guy

 

[Val Keating]

Trying to strongman the argument for Smillie, because of his size, are there any concerns about Smillie being found out at AFL level?

He looks like a man playing against teenagers in the clips ivd watched.

 

[LB2Snake]

Trying to strongman the argument for Smillie, because of his size, are there any concerns about Smillie being found out at AFL level?

He looks like a man playing against teenagers in the clips ivd watched.

I kinda get where you are coming from, has crossed my mind. Harley and Judas were kinda the same though. Would like to see Smillie play some VFL before EOY

 

[Colby Cheer Squad]

Trying to strongman the argument for Smillie, because of his size, are there any concerns about Smillie being found out at AFL level?

He looks like a man playing against teenagers in the clips ivd watched.

The last one of those that we drafted was Jack Ziebell.