First draft pick Mid vs KPP

[Merv]

There is a chance that trade week or luring Judd will decide which way we go here but assuming we don't get Judd or don't do anything big during trade week this first draft choice is a very important pick for our future

If we look forward a couple of years, we could be looking at having a midfield (midfield= wingmen, followers, flankers etc) that would consist of the following players

Davey, Dempsey, Hislop, Hocking, Houli, Jetta, Lonergan, McPhee, McVeigh, Monfries, Nash, Rama, Reimers, Slatts, Stanton, Watson, Welsh and Winderlich.

As for KPP Forwards we would probably have the following

Bradley, Gumbleton, Lloyd, Lucas, Neagle,

Rucks should still be Hille, Laycock and Ryder as a backup

This would leave us with KPP backman consisting of Lee and Ryder unless we teach one of KPP forwards to play back, but they appear to be needed to cover the Lloyd-Lucas loss

Mal will finish next year and i'm assuming that C.Johns will be gone (He better be)

Lee has a very big question mark over him also.

So while we do need to find someone to help Jobe win the ball i am starting to think we need to pick a KPP backman with our first choice

Now before you guys shout D.Daniher at me, i have heard a lot of varying reports on him, but even if we do pick him, i feel we need another one and this draft is supposed to have 1 gun.

Alex Rance.
I will admit I have not seen any of this guy yet, but from what i have been told by people who's opinion i respect, he is a standout.
We will have 1 chance to get him as he will be gone by our second pick, assuming he is still there for our first.

Here is the report given by ant555 is his draft preview

Alex Rance-194cm, 87kg-Swan Districts. ( CHB/FB). The star defender of the National champs. His run out of defence was great. His defensive work was excellent. Has good pace and skills for a big bloke. He worked in well with Browne and Meyers to give WA the killer dash from defence. His handballing was creative and he hits targets by foot. He is simply a defender that every club will rate.
Top 15 pick.

And here is Weavers mid season report

5. Alex Rance (Key Def)
Was superb at FB and at 194cm is a perfect height for the AFL scouts. Should good courage in his aerial work and was a very enthusiastic rebounder racking up touches from the last line. Good kicking is crucial in a modern FB for switching play and maintaining possession and Rance ticks that box. The prototype modern FB.

While we have a fair few deficiencies in our list and need another true ball winner and a young ruckman, i am starting to think we need a FB more and this draft seems like there is a ready made FB, not a KPP that you have to teach to play FB but one that knows how to play it already and is an outstanding talent.

So what do you guys think?

 

[RED AND BLACK SOLDIER]

Go mid with our first, hopefully Masten will be available, if not Ebert. Then with our 2nd (KPP unless there is still a decent mid left eg. Vezpremi), 3rd (Daniher), 4th (KPP or Ruck).
Scott Thomson, the backman from the Geelong VFL side may be an option for us to pick up with one of our later picks.

IMO we're covered as far as forwards go for the future, and we need 1 or 2 quality midfielders, and some (2) decent backman along with maybe one more ruck.

If we get Collingwoods first pick for Hille (14 i think) Rance could be an option if he's still there, but i wouldn't want to waste pick 6 on a KP backman.

None of those players you have mentioned are really "gun midfielder" which is what we need, which is why we should go after one with our first pick.

 

[SOT4]

I recognise the need for us to get defenders, and would love to get Rance but I don't think we will. A player such as Masten, Ebert is probably too good for us to pass up at pick 6. We do have a lot of young midfielders, but not many of them are the hard, in and under type that we desperately need. i would say only Hislop is likely to play that role along with Jobe. With pick 6 we will have a chance to get a high quality mid which will not happen again as we wont be having anymore low picks (well heres hoping). If we were to pick up Prismall with our second pick I think choosing Rance becomes even more of a possibility.

To me its a matter of whether we go for need or best available. I dont think Rance will be best available, but then again teams like the Doggies have drafted for need (Such as Everitt and Williams) and they seem to have turned out well. I'd be happy to have Rance, but I think we'll go for a midfielder.

Also, Dodoro has said we will be targetting a "gun" midfielder with that pick.

 

[RED AND BLACK SOLDIER]

I recognise the need for us to get defenders, and would love to get Rance but I don't think we will. A player such as Masten, Ebert is probably too good for us to pass up at pick 6. We do have a lot of young midfielders, but not many of them are the hard, in and under type that we desperately need. i would say only Hislop is likely to play that role along with Jobe. With pick 6 we will have a chance to get a high quality mid which will not happen again as we wont be having anymore low picks (well heres hoping). If we were to pick up Prismall with our second pick I think choosing Rance becomes even more of a possibility.

To me its a matter of whether we go for need or best available. I dont think Rance will be best available, but then again teams like the Doggies have drafted for need (Such as Everitt and Williams) and they seem to have turned out well. I'd be happy to have Rance, but I think we'll go for a midfielder.

Also, Dodoro has said we will be targetting a "gun" midfielder with that pick.

Why? It's not like Prismall is a quality young gun, he's just a very good young player. We can't just keep on getting great midfielders (i.e Prismall) because it will get us nowhere, we need quality outstanding midfielders if we're going to build a good team for the future.

 

[VanDerHaar]

BUT - our illustrious leader Mr Knights has said the he will be looking for a tall running defender....I wonder whether that flags he will go for a Rance type at Pick 6....??

 

[GoDons]

I rate Alex Rance very highly, I think he'll be a very good player.

However, I think this is our chance to get a real quality midfielder. If one of Trent Cotchin, Chris Masten, Brad Ebert and Rhys Palmer isn't available at pick 6, I'd be very surprised and I feel that one of those four will carry us a lot further than Alex Rance.

Thta's just personal opinion though. I've only see Rance at the Champs and he didn't stand out to me as much as he did to others.

Ebert is the one that I've had my heart set on.

 

[boms]

We need a quality KPP Full-Back

People like Alex Rance dont come along every year.
Draft him with pick 6 please.

 

[GoDons]

BUT - our illustrious leader Mr Knights has said the he will be looking for a tall running defender....I wonder whether that flags he will go for a Rance type at Pick 6....??

I think that's more of an idea for Trade week.

However, off the top of my head, I'm struggling to think of any that we could get without giving up too much.

 

[RED AND BLACK SOLDIER]

We need a quality KPP Full-Back

People like Alex Rance dont come along every year.
Draft him with pick 6 please.

1. If we had a quality midfielder like Masten winning the ball, the ball wouldn't even be in our backline as much.

2. How many KP backs who are drafted early become elite backman? Darren Glass is the only one that comes to mind. The rest i think are drafted late, or were rookies.
Lets go through all the Full backs of the comp:

Rutten:Rookied
Merrett: Pick 30
Thornton: Rookied
Wakelin: Pick 31
Michael:Rookied
Parker: Pre Draft Selection
Scarlett: F/S
Gilham: Pick 16, Then Rookied
Carrol: Rookied
Watt: Pick 14
Thurstans: Pick 39
Thursfield:Rookied
Barry: Zone Slection
Hudghton: Pick 15
Glass: Pick 11
Harris: Pick 71

Notice that most of them have been drafted later, and there has not been 1 top 10 pick used on a successfull Full back that i know of.

 

[SOT4]

We need a quality KPP Full-Back

People like Alex Rance dont come along every year.
Draft him with pick 6 please.

I would say people like Rance do come along every year. He's not an uniquely outstanding prospect. Last year there was Hansen, and next year there will be Hurley.

That said, he looks good from the little I've seen. But so do Masten/Ebert, and I think we should take the opportunity to get an a grade mid while we can.

 

[deanos_28]

shoulda taken hansen with 2 last year.

IMO

 

[Slattery_20]

BUT - our illustrious leader Mr Knights has said the he will be looking for a tall running defender....I wonder whether that flags he will go for a Rance type at Pick 6....??

Who's the other tall defender in this draft - Collier? - who gets compared with Cornes? Would he be more of a "tall running" defender?
Wouldn't be all that surprised if Knights has his eye on a VFL player, he should be able to grab a smokey from therr

 

[KING-JAMES]

Who's the other tall defender in this draft - Collier? - who gets compared with Cornes? Would he be more of a "tall running" defender?
Wouldn't be all that surprised if Knights has his eye on a VFL player, he should be able to grab a smokey from therr

I was very hopeful we would pick him up late last year but it wasnt to be. He then improved a ton over summer and performed fantastic in the VFL this season until getting injured. We cant complain with it though, Reimers and Houli have been great pickups to date.

If we could get him with our 2nd round pick it would be a really great pick up for us, and if we took one of Ebert/Masten/Palmer would shape as an excellent draft by us. Even if we took Rance and then Collier we would be in a good shape. It would remind me of the backline we had back in 2000 with Hardwick, Fletcher and Wellman all stars.

I still havent really picked who I want this year. Last year I was dead set keen on Gumbleton from the day I first saw him. Draft camp will probably change the order a little. I cant wait to see what Knights has in mind for the future Essendon side.

 

[macca69]

Also, Dodoro has said we will be targetting a "gun" midfielder with that pick.

When did he say this?

 

[Slattery_20]

Do you think Knights vs Sheedy will change our drafting much, if at all? The way Knights came out and said "tall running defender" really sounded like he already had someone lined up, mb a guy who can't get a run, or possibly a VFL/SANFL guy he's coached/coached against?

 

[SOT4]

When did he say this?

On Sport 927 (Bomber radio) a couple of weeks back.

 

[Ealesy]

Always been of the opinion that you take the best available player.

 

[ant555]

It all depends on drafting strategy as well. Is there a bloke deeper in the draft that you think may well handle the role. If you take a Jackson Hall or Pat Dangerfield who are both around 192/193cm and mobile with pretty good skill can they handle a defencive at AFL level similar to what they have don in the TAC Cup. Maybe someone like Dulic who will go later in the draft along with Daniher will prove to be enough on the defencive side.
I would be looking at
Masten/Ebert/Palmer first round
Dangerfield/Hall/Collier second round
Daniher third round
Dulic (if available) /Quinton / Spitiri / Chivers fourth round
Putt/ Livingstone fifth round

 

[Merv]

It all depends on drafting strategy as well. Is there a bloke deeper in the draft that you think may well handle the role. If you take a Jackson Hall or Pat Dangerfield who are both around 192/193cm and mobile with pretty good skill can they handle a defencive at AFL level similar to what they have don in the TAC Cup. Maybe someone like Dulic who will go later in the draft along with Daniher will prove to be enough on the defencive side.
I would be looking at
Masten/Ebert/Palmer first round
Dangerfield/Hall/Collier second round
Daniher third round
Dulic (if available) /Quinton / Spitiri / Chivers fourth round
Putt/ Livingstone fifth round

I understand what you are saying but we are at a stage that a mistake with a Defensive player, will have us in big trouble.

What are your thoughts on Rance, as from what i've been told, he is a special player and NOT the type that comes around in every draft.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

I have been thinking along the same lines recently in terms of needing a KPP backman and using pick 6 on him.

But in the end I think we'd be making a grave mistake as we should always draft best available and look to either trade or pinch hit in positions where we are a bit weak.

Unless the recruiters think Rance is next best at 6.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

... and also the Wakelin brothers have shown this year that you can still be pretty effective in your 30's.

Fletch and Mal could play another 2-3 years but we'd need to start grooming replacements this year or next.

 

[VanDerHaar]

Perhaps Knights may look at the guy (cant remember his name) who had a great GF for Geelong in the VFL. He was a player (running HB/Wing) who I underatand is not on an AFL list...(Scott Thompson maybe?) - not necessarily tall though

 

[GoDons]

Pick 6: Brad Ebert/Chris Masten/Rhys Palmer
Pick 23: Scott Selwood/Levi Greenwood/Tayte Pears/Steven Browne/Patrick Dangerfield
Pick 39: Darcy Daniher
Pick 55: Mitch Farmer/Lachie Hill/Hugh Sandilands
Pick 71: Dean Putt/Joel Smouha

 

[RED AND BLACK SOLDIER]

Perhaps Knights may look at the guy (cant remember his name) who had a great GF for Geelong in the VFL. He was a player (running HB/Wing) who I underatand is not on an AFL list...(Scott Thompson maybe?) - not necessarily tall though

I would have said Scott Thomson if he was tall, but since it wasn't him, maybe Callan?

 

[Burzum]

I think we need to go for a classy mid with our first pick. A lot of the best defenders in the league come from the later rounds/rookie list.

These are my choices for the draft:

Pick 6: Chris Masten
Pick 23: Patrick Dangerfield
Pick 39: Darcy Daniher
Pick 55: Travis Dulic
Pick 71: Key Def/Ruckman