List Mgmt. 2025 AFL Draft

[Calcium Man]

Will Smith pick 1

Willem Defoe pick 1!

 

[tigs2010]

Willem Defoe pick 1!

Would love a full forward with them crazy eyes.

 

[Calcium Man]

If his name wasn't Duursma more posters in here would want him.

Would depend on who else is available. I’d take Sharp, Greeves, Grlj and probably Cummings and Fred ahead of him. He’s in the 5-10 range right now, but midfield at champs for VC is his chance.

I also don’t think he’s Zane soft.

 

[tigs2010]

Would depend on who else is available. I’d take Sharp, Greeves, Grlj and probably Cummings and Fred ahead of him. He’s in the 5-10 range right now, but midfield at champs for VC is his chance.

I also don’t think he’s Zane soft.

Is Zane soft or is he just a North player? Xavier isn't soft, he's just a ****wit. Willem straddling that line too with his headband lol

 

[Calcium Man]

Is Zane soft or is he just a North player? Xavier isn't soft, he's just a ****wit. Willem straddling that line too with his headband lol

Shave his head and I’m prepared to take him at pick 1 (I guess same should go for Greeves and Sharp, all looking way too much like cats players)

 

[Nerflardio2424]

Greeves looks so slow. Grill and Dursma pls

 

[KrispyKreme]

Is Zane soft or is he just a North player? Xavier isn't soft, he's just a ****wit. Willem straddling that line too with his headband lol

Yeah Xavier is pretty tough I’ll give him that, watched the west coast game he ends up on the ground clutching his ribs looks hurt and his honesty back to his feet doing the same shit next week. I like that.

 

[KrispyKreme]

Willem Duursma could be a pretty serious weapon used in the right mix.
He’s definitely not soft. He slants more uncontested, but that doesn’t mean he’s soft.

Hes 192cm and can play nearly every position on the ground. His skills are above average, on both sides of his body and has a really nice ability to space himself around contests. He’d compliment Lalor and Smillie very well. He’s would also give Yze a weapon to use in multiple different ways during a game that would provide a serious matchup issue for oppo coaches. He’s also able to accumulate pretty well for a taller mid.
Currently this season only 5 players inside the top 50 in average disposals per game are above 190cm. (Dawson, Cripps, Bont, Callaghan, T.Green).

Hes a Jordan Dawson type (2cm taller than Dawson) which is very important in modern footy.

In Duursma I do see Fyfe in him (skinny version) but I just need to see more of the inside part to convince me. Maybe that’s why I like Sharp so much cause the campaigner runs full steam ahead in a stoppage and finds the ball and finds a way out of it too.

 

[fargothegreat]

Is Zane soft or is he just a North player? Xavier isn't soft, he's just a ****wit. Willem straddling that line too with his headband lol

Xavier's definitely squibbed a few contests

 

[RockJobster0312]

Taranto and Hopper are not considerations. They’re place holders, and so too is probably Dow, otherwise we wouldn’t get smashed in there every week.

You’ve listed 2 guys who played midfield in juniors with any consistency, Smillie and McAullife, and McAullife was a pick 40.

Lalor will likely be a good mid but he really only played 2 midfield games last year. Hotton even less.

You’re basically hoping flankers become midfielders.

There are plenty of exciting mids outside Grlj in this class, as I’ve listed above, we are still only in April and haven’t played champs yet.

Edit: also we are not Norf, we drafted 4 talls last year and, as you listed, have plenty of flankers if you also include Banks, Brown, Clarke and Smith. We lack a ruck but I wouldn’t waste a top 5 pick on one unless they have vice like hands ala Darcy/Thilthorpe (hint cdt doesn’t) and an elite small forward.

A lot of what you say I don’t disagree with.

My point was really around not having to be in any urgency to draft midfielders because of those that we already have.

We have those (Dow, Taranto and Hopper) which fill our needs now, and those (Lalor, Smillie, McAuliffe, Hotton) that could well fill our needs in the future.

The concern I have is that most of them are all a similar type (e.g. the likes of Sharp and Greeves), and taking midfielders for the sake of it is going down the North path (bb: regarding North, my point was more that the likes of LDU, Simpkin, FOS, Powell, Wardlaw, Phillips are all of a similar type. Possibly McKercher and Duursma can be the points of difference but they’re not seeing that opportunity. But 100% agree that they haven’t drafted enough versatility).

The type of midfielders we should be targeting I don’t think are in abundance in a draft scenario, and may need to be obtained via trade / free agency.

We are year one into a rebuild, we have some time to ensure we get the right type of player.

 

[lizard man]

Does duursma have a basketball background? Seems to glide across the ground like Pendlebury

 

[KrispyKreme]

I just rewatched some footage of Duursma in his underage year no headband and went head to head with the bull Harley Langford and Cooper Hynes. It must be the headband.

 

[sanaya]

He also has Dyson Sharp at pick 18 to Adelaide. Which annoyed me

gotta be engagement bait. average slop grool dished up by youtubers

pass on watching that

 

[Calcium Man]

A lot of what you say I don’t disagree with.

My point was really around not having to be in any urgency to draft midfielders because of those that we already have.

We have those (Dow, Taranto and Hopper) which fill our needs now, and those (Lalor, Smillie, McAuliffe, Hotton) that could well fill our needs in the future.

The concern I have is that most of them are all a similar type (e.g. the likes of Sharp and Greeves), and taking midfielders for the sake of it is going down the North path (bb: regarding North, my point was more that the likes of LDU, Simpkin, FOS, Powell, Wardlaw, Phillips are all of a similar type. Possibly McKercher and Duursma can be the points of difference but they’re not seeing that opportunity. But 100% agree that they haven’t drafted enough versatility).

The type of midfielders we should be targeting I don’t think are in abundance in a draft scenario, and may need to be obtained via trade / free agency.

We are year one into a rebuild, we have some time to ensure we get the right type of player.

We don't have a sharp type midfielder unless McAuliffe comes on. Lalor is more akin to dusty or danger and Smillie is nowhere near as inside as people on here seem to think. He’s a first receiver type.

Yes we need pace to, but we’ve got a big hole in our pure crash and bash midfielder and Sharp is very much in Rowell mould.

Greeves is also more inside than Smillie but I’m happy to overlook him as he does have a lot of similarities to Smillie.

FOS is very different from LDU who’s very different from Simpkin and all have pace??? Norf have drafted way too many mids the problem is development and no KPF or KPD… we’ve at least got our KPP last year and 3 years before that we smashed out flankers (brown, banks, Clarke).

We are year one into our rebuild but we don’t even have 1 guaranteed future afl level midfielder, two are still playing vfl. We need to find our future midfield and we do that by taking mids in the top 5 where the best are found.

 

[SumTingWong]

We don't have a sharp type midfielder unless McAuliffe comes on. Lalor is more akin to dusty or danger and Smillie is nowhere near as inside as people on here seem to think. He’s a first receiver type.

Yes we need pace to, but we’ve got a big hole in our pure crash and bash midfielder and Sharp is very much in Rowell mould.

Greeves is also more inside than Smillie but I’m happy to overlook him as he does have a lot of similarities to Smillie.

FOS is very different from LDU who’s very different from Simpkin and all have pace??? Norf have drafted way too many mids the problem is development and no KPF or KPD… we’ve at least got our KPP last year and 3 years before that we smashed out flankers (brown, banks, Clarke).

We are year one into our rebuild but we don’t even have 1 guaranteed future afl level midfielder, two are still playing vfl. We need to find our future midfield and we do that by taking mids in the top 5 where the best are found.

What about if we trade in Rowell for a future pick would should we take Duursma and Grlj this year?

 

[tigs2010]

Does duursma have a basketball background? Seems to glide across the ground like Pendlebury

I believe so, along with Greeves, CDT & I think Onley.

 

[59Stanley]

So far grlj looks like an absolute gun. We get him then we forget about missing Jagga. Then Lindsay looks like a star. This would turbo charge our rebuild

 

[tigs2010]

I believe so, along with Greeves, CDT & I think Onley.

A quick look shows CDT played for Country under 18s and Greeves against him for Metro.

They've pumped up CDT a bit so assume Greeves is pretty decent too

 

[THE_GUN]

Elite kicking and Elite pace = Fred Rodriguez
Sure has had a slow start to the year but im confident he gets better towards the end of season and still goes top 5

We need Elite kicking and speed , Kids got it on both feet

 

[RockJobster0312]

We don't have a sharp type midfielder unless McAuliffe comes on. Lalor is more akin to dusty or danger and Smillie is nowhere near as inside as people on here seem to think. He’s a first receiver type.

Yes we need pace to, but we’ve got a big hole in our pure crash and bash midfielder and Sharp is very much in Rowell mould.

Greeves is also more inside than Smillie but I’m happy to overlook him as he does have a lot of similarities to Smillie.

FOS is very different from LDU who’s very different from Simpkin and all have pace??? Norf have drafted way too many mids the problem is development and no KPF or KPD… we’ve at least got our KPP last year and 3 years before that we smashed out flankers (brown, banks, Clarke).

We are year one into our rebuild but we don’t even have 1 guaranteed future afl level midfielder, two are still playing vfl. We need to find our future midfield and we do that by taking mids in the top 5 where the best are found.

Think the North example has gotten us way off track as I largely agree with what you’re saying. But there are multiple reasons why their rebuild as it currently stands hasn’t progressed further, and a general samemess to the type of midfielder that they’ve drafted is just one of those reasons in my eyes.

The ‘crash and bash’ midfield type is becoming less and less important. Teams are valuing skill execution more and more. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have value, just it isn’t as important as the modern game moves forward.

The reality is that no prospect is guaranteed. Harley Reid is the best prospect I’ve seen for a long time and whilst I still think he’ll be a top 10 AFL player, his start to year two is concerning.

Then there are names like Toumpas, Phillips, Dylan Stephens, Paddy Dow, Pretrevski-Seaton etc. all top 5 picks and all turned out not to be guaranteed.

As I said before, the players that we have for both the now and for the future doesn’t mean we have to draft with a sense of urgency any midfielder for the sheer sake of it. If at either of our picks Sharp is the best player available, no issues (although the one-paced nature of our midfield wouldn’t be addressed), but if he isn’t, we shouldn’t forego a better prospect simply because Sharp is a midfielder.

 

[Calcium Man]

Think the North example has gotten us way off track as I largely agree with what you’re saying. But there are multiple reasons why their rebuild as it currently stands hasn’t progressed further, and a general samemess to the type of midfielder that they’ve drafted is just one of those reasons in my eyes.

But there mids are not the same? I’m very much of the opinion they shouldn’t have drafted FOS as their rebuild is ****ed because of how many mids they keep taking. But again we haven’t really taken a mid before Smillie last year(outside McAuliffe) since Dow and he was a pick in the 40s. Otherwise it’s been flankers, rucks and small forwards

That’s 5 years of drafting overlooking the most important position on the ground.

The ‘crash and bash’ midfield type is becoming less and less important. Teams are valuing skill execution more and more. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have value, just it isn’t as important as the modern game moves forward.

Is it? And when I say bash and crash basically mean the clearance and defensive mid that Cotch used to play, Smillie and Lalor are not that type, McAuliffe could be.

Lions have Dunkley
Hawks have Worrel/Nash and want Harley
GC have Rowell
Crowd have started using Crouch again
Port use wines/drew
Blues have Hewitt/Cripps
Cats use Atkins and used Stewart in that role last year
Freo have Brayshaw
Sydney use rowbottom

Our current one is Hopper and we have zero after him.

The reality is that no prospect is guaranteed. Harley Reid is the best prospect I’ve seen for a long time and whilst I still think he’ll be a top 10 AFL player, his start to year two is concerning.

Then there are names like Toumpas, Phillips, Dylan Stephens, Paddy Dow, Pretrevski-Seaton etc. all top 5 picks and all turned out not to be guaranteed.

I never said top 5 is guaranteed? It’s just the easiest place to find A grade mids.

Plus you could just as easily list all the HBF and small forwards who failed going early from ploughman, kolodjashni, billings, Pickett, McGrath Ainsworth, lukosious etc…

As I said before, the players that we have for both the now and for the future doesn’t mean we have to draft with a sense of urgency any midfielder for the sheer sake of it. If at either of our picks Sharp is the best player available, no issues (although the one-paced nature of our midfield wouldn’t be addressed), but if he isn’t, we shouldn’t forego a better prospect simply because Sharp is a midfielder.

We literally have too many flankers/wingers/small forwards, brown, banks, Clarke, Mrj, green, mansell, Seth, Hotton, trezise, Alger, Ralphsmith, Ross, smith, Sonsie and right now lalor (he’s probably our future Dusty/bont attacking mid)

Our talls are Gibcus, Grey, trainor (though he could also be a flanker), Armstrong, Fawcett, Bauer, Faull, Balta and Blight

These guys are blocking each others road to the side, competition is great, but we also need to sort through what we actually have and find out who is a future afl level talent.

Our midfield on the other hand is Smillie and pick 40 McAuliffe neither of whom have cemented themselves in the AFL side.

We need genuine mids (and a ruck but much easier to trade for one), sitting around waiting for the perfect KPP in top 5 is part of reason Norf have a shite tonne of mids, they keep taking best available and hoping talent wins out instead of having a hard long look at the gaping holes in their list.

As for sharp, he’s kicking problems are over blown. From last year to this year they’ve improved a lot imo, a lot flatter and more fluid kicking motion. He’ll never be Lalor but he can be tidy kick ala Prestia/Neale/Cripps etc…

I’m also not even convinced we should draft Sharp. His performance for academy was the first time I’ve really considered it as he was that good in first half controlling game and contests, but we have to take the 2 highest rated mids we can, and a haul of him and Grlj fills two obvious holes in our midfield. Greeves also I think can play far more inside than Smillie, I still like what Fred did in last years champs and futures game, he’s probably the only player who uses the ball as consistently well as last years top 7 (ignoring Draper). And there are plenty of other intriguing mids I’d like to see get their chance at champs (holmes, wrightx2, cumming, swadling, NHH, Allen etc.).

The only 2 reasons we should take 1 mid come end of year, McAuliffe becomes the centre square mid of our dreams, or Kellaway/Leys/Armstrong turn into top 5 picks.

Besides in later drafts, like an nfl draft, you can get the best small forward or HBF taken in the draft at 5-15 as other clubs prioritise mids and kpp.

 

[RockJobster0312]

But there mids are not the same? I’m very much of the opinion they shouldn’t have drafted FOS as their rebuild is ****ed because of how many mids they keep taking. But again we haven’t really taken a mid before Smillie last year(outside McAuliffe) since Dow and he was a pick in the 40s. Otherwise it’s been flankers, rucks and small forwards

That’s 5 years of drafting overlooking the most important position on the ground.

Again, think we are getting side tracked on the North stuff. I used it as an example nothing more.

We also have Ross, and traded for Hopper and Taranto. I don’t disagree on your original point that these are ‘stop gaps’, but they’re also tied to the club for a minimum of three more years, so we can’t totally disregard them as much as some would like to do so.

Also drafting flankers and small forwards isn’t irrelevant to the midfield if players can rotate through there. Think Edwards, Lambert and Bolton. Campbell and Mansell have already started to get burn through there. Green also a bit as well. Between them you’re looking to replicate an additional midfielder by accumulative minutes through there.

Is it? And when I say bash and crash basically mean the clearance and defensive mid that Cotch used to play, Smillie and Lalor are not that type, McAuliffe could be.

Lions have Dunkley
Hawks have Worrel/Nash and want Harley
GC have Rowell
Crowd have started using Crouch again
Port use wines/drew
Blues have Hewitt/Cripps
Cats use Atkins and used Stewart in that role last year
Freo have Brayshaw
Sydney use rowbottom

Our current one is Hopper and we have zero after him.

How many of those listed were drafted in the last five years?

Look at Hawks have used the likes of Will Day and Cam McKenzie. The Dogs using Ed Richards through the midfield etc.

The other element of that list is how many were traded into the club or selected as later, mature picks in the draft. Other than Rowell, Brayshaw (who I personally don’t see as crash and bash type), Dunkley and Cripps, all those other guys you’d say are probably role players

Again, it’s not to say that these types don’t have value; but you saw early in the year that the ‘crash and bash’ style of game that was optimized by the likes of Carlton and Melbourne doesn’t work anymore. Both teams are changing their game style to be more expansive and both look better for it.

I never said top 5 is guaranteed? It’s just the easiest place to find A grade mids.

You said we didn’t have any ‘guaranteed future AFL midfielder’ and I took your stance to imply that taking a midfielder in the draft was the surest thing to getting a guaranteed future AFL midfielder. As you also added, nothing is guaranteed when it comes to the draft.

We literally have too many flankers/wingers/small forwards, brown, banks, Clarke, Mrj, green, mansell, Seth, Hotton, trezise, Alger, Ralphsmith, Ross, smith, Sonsie and right now lalor (he’s probably our future Dusty/bont attacking mid)

Our talls are Gibcus, Grey, trainor (though he could also be a flanker), Armstrong, Fawcett, Bauer, Faull, Balta and Blight

These guys are blocking each others road to the side, competition is great, but we also need to sort through what we actually have and find out who is a future afl level talent.

Our midfield on the other hand is Smillie and pick 40 McAuliffe neither of whom have cemented themselves in the AFL side.

We need genuine mids (and a ruck but much easier to trade for one), sitting around waiting for the perfect KPP in top 5 is part of reason Norf have a shite tonne of mids, they keep taking best available and hoping talent wins out instead of having a hard long look at the gaping holes in their list.

What we need above all else is talent. Talent trumps all. We are year one of a rebuild and whilst I really like what all eight draftees have shown, the likelihood is that one or more won’t make it.

Look at the 2021 class, and our five picks inside 30. I really like Gibcus, but his injury history is concerning. Ditto Clarke. Sonsie looks to be on the edge too.

The part of a competitive side is that in theory, those that will make it will rise to the top.

Yes at some point you need to diversify your selections and not fall into the North trap, but we are year one into our rebuild, not year seven like North.

As for sharp, he’s kicking problems are over blown. From last year to this year they’ve improved a lot imo, a lot flatter and more fluid kicking motion. He’ll never be Lalor but he can be tidy kick ala Prestia/Neale/Cripps etc…

I’m also not even convinced we should draft Sharp. His performance for academy was the first time I’ve really considered it as he was that good in first half controlling game and contests, but we have to take the 2 highest rated mids we can, and a haul of him and Grlj fills two obvious holes in our midfield. Greeves also I think can play far more inside than Smillie, I still like what Fred did in last years champs and futures game, he’s probably the only player who uses the ball as consistently well as last years top 7 (ignoring Draper). And there are plenty of other intriguing mids I’d like to see get their chance at champs (holmes, wrightx2, cumming, swadling, NHH, Allen etc.).

I used Sharp as an example only, as he’s the best non-Academy linked mid in the draft at this stage.

Like you, I’m looking forward to the Champs to see some of these guys who may not have held too much midfield time a chance to show their wares and get into that top echelon of the draft.

The only 2 reasons we should take 1 mid come end of year, McAuliffe becomes the centre square mid of our dreams, or Kellaway/Leys/Armstrong turn into top 5 picks.

Besides in later drafts, like an nfl draft, you can get the best small forward or HBF taken in the draft at 5-15 as other clubs prioritise mids and kpp.

I don’t want us to not take the next Lachie Whitfield or Toby Greene in year two of our rebuild because we focused solely on position over player and drafted a rotational mid instead.

The NFL draft isn’t really a great comparison, because there is a more definitive hierarchy in positional important (QB, LT, WR, CB etc.). I get what you’re saying, but it’s only really rucks that have historically had their draft range significantly impacted their position.

Again, if a midfielder is the best available at either or both our picks I have no issues. I do think we lack a bursty midfielder as our midfield group both now and into the future could be relatively one paced. I also think we should acknowledge that the likes of Lalor, Hotton and Smillie all have potential to become very good midfielders. You spoke in your response about players getting in each others’ way for development, don’t we owe it to those (and McAuliffe) to see how they fare at the level over the next little while?

 

[spky1234]

But there mids are not the same? I’m very much of the opinion they shouldn’t have drafted FOS as their rebuild is ****ed because of how many mids they keep taking. But again we haven’t really taken a mid before Smillie last year(outside McAuliffe) since Dow and he was a pick in the 40s. Otherwise it’s been flankers, rucks and small forwards

That’s 5 years of drafting overlooking the most important position on the ground.



Is it? And when I say bash and crash basically mean the clearance and defensive mid that Cotch used to play, Smillie and Lalor are not that type, McAuliffe could be.

Lions have Dunkley
Hawks have Worrel/Nash and want Harley
GC have Rowell
Crowd have started using Crouch again
Port use wines/drew
Blues have Hewitt/Cripps
Cats use Atkins and used Stewart in that role last year
Freo have Brayshaw
Sydney use rowbottom

Our current one is Hopper and we have zero after him.




I never said top 5 is guaranteed? It’s just the easiest place to find A grade mids.

Plus you could just as easily list all the HBF and small forwards who failed going early from ploughman, kolodjashni, billings, Pickett, McGrath Ainsworth, lukosious etc…



We literally have too many flankers/wingers/small forwards, brown, banks, Clarke, Mrj, green, mansell, Seth, Hotton, trezise, Alger, Ralphsmith, Ross, smith, Sonsie and right now lalor (he’s probably our future Dusty/bont attacking mid)

Our talls are Gibcus, Grey, trainor (though he could also be a flanker), Armstrong, Fawcett, Bauer, Faull, Balta and Blight

These guys are blocking each others road to the side, competition is great, but we also need to sort through what we actually have and find out who is a future afl level talent.

Our midfield on the other hand is Smillie and pick 40 McAuliffe neither of whom have cemented themselves in the AFL side.

We need genuine mids (and a ruck but much easier to trade for one), sitting around waiting for the perfect KPP in top 5 is part of reason Norf have a shite tonne of mids, they keep taking best available and hoping talent wins out instead of having a hard long look at the gaping holes in their list.

As for sharp, he’s kicking problems are over blown. From last year to this year they’ve improved a lot imo, a lot flatter and more fluid kicking motion. He’ll never be Lalor but he can be tidy kick ala Prestia/Neale/Cripps etc…

I’m also not even convinced we should draft Sharp. His performance for academy was the first time I’ve really considered it as he was that good in first half controlling game and contests, but we have to take the 2 highest rated mids we can, and a haul of him and Grlj fills two obvious holes in our midfield. Greeves also I think can play far more inside than Smillie, I still like what Fred did in last years champs and futures game, he’s probably the only player who uses the ball as consistently well as last years top 7 (ignoring Draper). And there are plenty of other intriguing mids I’d like to see get their chance at champs (holmes, wrightx2, cumming, swadling, NHH, Allen etc.).

The only 2 reasons we should take 1 mid come end of year, McAuliffe becomes the centre square mid of our dreams, or Kellaway/Leys/Armstrong turn into top 5 picks.

Besides in later drafts, like an nfl draft, you can get the best small forward or HBF taken in the draft at 5-15 as other clubs prioritise mids and kpp.

Again, think we are getting side tracked on the North stuff. I used it as an example nothing more.

We also have Ross, and traded for Hopper and Taranto. I don’t disagree on your original point that these are ‘stop gaps’, but they’re also tied to the club for a minimum of three more years, so we can’t totally disregard them as much as some would like to do so.

Also drafting flankers and small forwards isn’t irrelevant to the midfield if players can rotate through there. Think Edwards, Lambert and Bolton. Campbell and Mansell have already started to get burn through there. Green also a bit as well. Between them you’re looking to replicate an additional midfielder by accumulative minutes through there.




How many of those listed were drafted in the last five years?

Look at Hawks have used the likes of Will Day and Cam McKenzie. The Dogs using Ed Richards through the midfield etc.

The other element of that list is how many were traded into the club or selected as later, mature picks in the draft. Other than Rowell, Brayshaw (who I personally don’t see as crash and bash type), Dunkley and Cripps, all those other guys you’d say are probably role players

Again, it’s not to say that these types don’t have value; but you saw early in the year that the ‘crash and bash’ style of game that was optimized by the likes of Carlton and Melbourne doesn’t work anymore. Both teams are changing their game style to be more expansive and both look better for it.



You said we didn’t have any ‘guaranteed future AFL midfielder’ and I took your stance to imply that taking a midfielder in the draft was the surest thing to getting a guaranteed future AFL midfielder. As you also added, nothing is guaranteed when it comes to the draft.




What we need above all else is talent. Talent trumps all. We are year one of a rebuild and whilst I really like what all eight draftees have shown, the likelihood is that one or more won’t make it.

Look at the 2021 class, and our five picks inside 30. I really like Gibcus, but his injury history is concerning. Ditto Clarke. Sonsie looks to be on the edge too.

The part of a competitive side is that in theory, those that will make it will rise to the top.

Yes at some point you need to diversify your selections and not fall into the North trap, but we are year one into our rebuild, not year seven like North.




I used Sharp as an example only, as he’s the best non-Academy linked mid in the draft at this stage.

Like you, I’m looking forward to the Champs to see some of these guys who may not have held too much midfield time a chance to show their wares and get into that top echelon of the draft.


I don’t want us to not take the next Lachie Whitfield or Toby Greene in year two of our rebuild because we focused solely on position over player and drafted a rotational mid instead.

The NFL draft isn’t really a great comparison, because there is a more definitive hierarchy in positional important (QB, LT, WR, CB etc.). I get what you’re saying, but it’s only really rucks that have historically had their draft range significantly impacted their position.

Again, if a midfielder is the best available at either or both our picks I have no issues. I do think we lack a bursty midfielder as our midfield group both now and into the future could be relatively one paced. I also think we should acknowledge that the likes of Lalor, Hotton and Smillie all have potential to become very good midfielders. You spoke in your response about players getting in each others’ way for development, don’t we owe it to those (and McAuliffe) to see how they fare at the level over the next little while?

We are simply taking the best players available at our picks. Of course Pace and Foot Skills are the 2 things highest on our lists, but we aren't going to reach on our picks at this stage of a rebuild.

We do need an in and under accumulator type like Sharp, and we also need the pace of Fred/Duursma, and Josh Lindsays ability to play of Half Back and his foot skills. All of these guys have things that we need so we aren't position restricted.

 

[noobermensch]

Once again playing primary out of position as a key defender (although he did get a run onball in Q4), Willem turned in a fairly strong performance here. He took a couple of nice intercept marks but was most impactful with his involvement in the Academy teams run out of defense. I've had a watch on his disposal by foot this year and he put some of those concerns to rest with some composed and attacking darts onto his teammate's chest.

 

[KrispyKreme]

Look at the 2021 class, and our five picks inside 30. I really like Gibcus, but his injury history is concerning. Ditto Clarke. Sonsie looks to be on the edge too.

The only players from 2021 class I see succeeding are Clarke, Gibcus and Brown. The rest are duds.