Forzaport
Brownlow Medallist
Your argument seems to be that if we don't have say, a top 8-10 pick there is no point picking a mid. We'll be picking 10-18 this year and there's a perfectly reasonable chance of picking a high calibre midfielder in that range. Best case scenarios you're talking Nat Fyfe, Callan Ward, Patrick Cripps, Nathan Jones, Brad Ebert, Kane Cornes, Brandon Ellis, Isaac Smith, Mitch Duncan. Or more recently Luke Dunstan.
Take another in the second round, who may have been overlooked for the typical reasons that players do in the AFL draft, and all you're doing is buying another ticket to the lottery.
If we have to wait until we're picking in the top 5 again to address the midfield we'll have have a gap in the list. All I'm saying.
No, by all means we should draft a mid and another KPF. My original question was whether there would be any "out and out" midfielders at our first selection as those types of players tend to go very early in the draft and late first rounders are usually more inside or outside type players. You listed a few mid-late draft players who have by far exceeded their pre-draft ranking and were not relevant to my original question. If anything, those players prove that there few "out and out" midfielders beyond round 1.
Even the players you've just listed now, how many of those were drafted as "out and out" midfielders that would be available at our first pick assuming we finish top 4? Ebert? Pick 13. Fyfe? drafted as a forward flanker. Jones? Pick 12. Dunstan is probably the closest we could get to an "out and out" midfielder at the tail end of round 1 but even he had question marks over his pace and kicking. You're probably going to have to temper your expectation and decide whether we go for a mid with stronger inside abilities or an outside runner because it's unlikely a player with both attributes will be available at our first pick.