Draft Expert PMBangers 2023 Draft Thread

[botts]

Watson and Rogers jump out as the best users in my eyes from the top end, w9th Darcy Wilson not bad either but a little more prone to error.

Not top enders in my eyes just yet, but Josh Docking (Saints NGA) and Harvey Johnston are others a little further down the order with generally high end ball use

I can see josh docking being a solid top 40 pick and is missing him. Il spew if that happens two years in a row

 

[Stars align]

One thing's for sure. This is actually going to be a really good championships. Every team claims to have a good squad and from what I can see, they have a right to say that. Even some red hot players haven't been mentioned yet.

Have you got a result from aquinas v scotch
Did any of the state 18 squad play

 

[Futbolista]

Have you got a result from aquinas v scotch
Did any of the state 18 squad play

Scotch won 94 to 35.

Nah didn't see any state 18's. All rested for tomorrow's scratch match v SD reserves.

Coen Livingstone is playing for Perth today but worryingly has quite a few bandages on both legs. Maybe the WA coach is going to use Evan Smith as a ruck/fwd more than Livingstone. Smith's stocks are rising.....he's always been a sturdy honest player but I sense that he has a fair bit of backing. Maybe I've underestimated him?

 

[Stars align]

Scotch won 94 to 35.

Nah didn't see any state 18's. All rested for tomorrow's scratch match v SD reserves.

Coen Livingstone is playing for Perth today but worryingly has quite a few bandages on both legs. Maybe the WA coach is going to use Evan Smith as a ruck/fwd more than Livingstone. Smith's stocks are rising.....he's always been a sturdy honest player but I sense that he has a fair bit of backing. Maybe I've underestimated him?

Where is the scratch match being held

 

[Futbolista]

Where is the scratch match being held

Not sure...hardly any info comes out. I must say Zane Zakostelsky (CL) is also playing today...also has plenty of strapping on the legs.

 

[Yoda_]

Watson and Rogers jump out as the best users in my eyes from the top end, w9th Darcy Wilson not bad either but a little more prone to error.

Not top enders in my eyes just yet, but Josh Docking (Saints NGA) and Harvey Johnston are others a little further down the order with generally high end ball use

how does my man Ryan Eyre compare to these guys? watched a couple of Calder Cannons with interested eyes (Eyre being an NGA) and his kicking looks top notch.


Also, watched today for patches and Kayne Rutley really impressed me as an on baller for Calder. Might be a little small (176cm form last year) but attacked it, looked clean and his disposal was tidy. Draft range?

 

[PMBangers]

how does my man Ryan Eyre compare to these guys? watched a couple of Calder Cannons with interested eyes (Eyre being an NGA) and his kicking looks top notch.


Also, watched today for patches and Kayne Rutley really impressed me as an on baller for Calder. Might be a little small (176cm form last year) but attacked it, looked clean and his disposal was tidy. Draft range?

Eyre is good from the defensive 50 but he's not as piercing as a Rogers or a Watson with his kicking, and isn't really demonstrating it through congestion to the same level as those two, but he's certainly not a bad kick by any means.

Rutleys for next year's draft, and he's only played last week prior to today so it's hard to judge off the one performance

 

[eDPS]

Rutley kicked 5 goals today, another one to add to the very deep 2024 draft

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Rutley kicked 5 goals today, another one to add to the very deep 2024 draft

Hopefully 2024 is so deep I can't touch the bottom with my feet.

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

How do Duursma and Moir rate in terms of disposal? I reckon Watson is the most damaging by foot from what I've seen and right now I'm hoping the Blues are working on some future trading to get a bite at him and another 1 or 2 in the draft.

Feel like Watson, Wilson and Patton would be very good pickups for us as a team that desperately lacks run, kicking skills and dare.

With the way the draft is shaping up though I'm really struggling to figure out what the top 20ish will be placed. For me the top 4 are Reid Watson Mckercher and Walter but I wouldn't have a clue where any of them will go due to height, Tassie factor, academy etc.

 

[SaintsofSteel]

I can see josh docking being a solid top 40 pick and is missing him. Il spew if that happens two years in a row

If rate him we could always select him with our 2nd pick. He might still get taken earlier depending on his championship games? Hopefully not...

 

[ydc55]

Sorry to hijack your thread Bangers but it does look like the cool thing to do around here. At some point should the Dogs pass on Croft? The tall talent feels like it’s reaching a point of excess and losing all their mid tier draft picks guts the depth of your list which shows in their age profile.

It gets hard to even give games and develop the talent properly at some stage

I watched croft play yesterday.
I think he has the ingredients for a centre half back.
he plays fast, has a competitive streak, athletic and takes pride in tackling.
I think he his biggest weakness is his marking.

 

[ydc55]

Rutley kicked 5 goals today, another one to add to the very deep 2024 draft

Spent a fair bit of time with his opponent chasing the footy rather than manning up on him to be fair.

 

[PMBangers]

How do Duursma and Moir rate in terms of disposal? I reckon Watson is the most damaging by foot from what I've seen and right now I'm hoping the Blues are working on some future trading to get a bite at him and another 1 or 2 in the draft.

Feel like Watson, Wilson and Patton would be very good pickups for us as a team that desperately lacks run, kicking skills and dare.

With the way the draft is shaping up though I'm really struggling to figure out what the top 20ish will be placed. For me the top 4 are Reid Watson Mckercher and Walter but I wouldn't have a clue where any of them will go due to height, Tassie factor, academy etc.

Duursma can be superb and can be poor, unfortunately it changes quarter to quarter currently so consistency is a bit of a concern as he moves to a more inside role at the top level, but he's class out in space. Moir is above average, not outstanding but not a hack

 

[PMBangers]

Not sure what's been happenin with Arie this year, but surely he gets added to the Allies squad. He looked like a good chance to be drafted last year.
View attachment 1701395

Watched the Sandy v Tassie game on the weekend, still has quite a bit to work on in terms of boosting his draft stocks but should definitely be added to the Allies squad

 

[bird_man]

PMBangers what do you think is the chances of Josh Docking being drafted before the top 40?

I see he has made the Metro squad

 

[PMBangers]

PMBangers what do you think is the chances of Josh Docking being drafted before the top 40?

I see he has made the Metro squad

It's a tough top 40 to crack in to at the moment, but there's a lot of good traits there that I think AFL Clubs are going to be or have been prioritizing, particularly his use by foot and ability to take the game on with speed, he's not a like for like obviously but being a shorter winger I think clubs will be optimistic in getting him to play a Josh Daicos sort of role, so that'll appeal to clubs really looking for that niche, plus there's not a lot of genuine Wingers in the crop.

Essentially I think if he can translate his CTL form to the Champs you'd almost be confident in locking it in

 

[botts]

It's a tough top 40 to crack in to at the moment, but there's a lot of good traits there that I think AFL Clubs are going to be or have been prioritizing, particularly his use by foot and ability to take the game on with speed, he's not a like for like obviously but being a shorter winger I think clubs will be optimistic in getting him to play a Josh Daicos sort of role, so that'll appeal to clubs really looking for that niche, plus there's not a lot of genuine Wingers in the crop.

Essentially I think if he can translate his CTL form to the Champs you'd almost be confident in locking it in

God damn it

 

[PMBangers]

Only caught 1 half of each game today, will give some more in depth thoughts through the week after watching the complete vision but wow it is shocking to see SA and WA both so uncompetitive in Champs games. I don't think anyone expected either side to set the world on fire based on the form of reps from both teams, but 68 and 88 point losses respectively are terrible looks, not even the worse Allies teams of the last 5 or so years have put in performances like that.
I think it's a bigger shock from WA, their top end talent and depth is better than SA's from my POV, so whether it was just first game nerves or the WAFL Colts isn't as strong as previously thought who knows, but I think they should at least be 8 goals better most games.

Allies are playing as smooth as a typical Metro side so far, I don't expect they'll end up the 'winners' but certainly should give the Vic sides a good shake in their games over the next few weeks, especially with their Midfield group against the bottom-age dominated Metro sides one, Sanders and McKercher work so well together you'd think they both play club, CTL and school footy side by side every week. Walter as a match up is a nightmare at U18's level, there's no opposition defender in the Champs that can match him for athleticism, strength and smarts, I think O'Sullivan is the only KPD in the pool that might be able to hold him effectively. Metro (Ollie Murphy or maybe Logan Morris) will struggle, Country may be able to manage if Stevens has a really good game against him.
There's been a lot of talk about this being the strongest Allies crop for a good while, but I think it's the quality of the depth moreso than the top enders really lifting them up, it's probably the first year where they've had more 'keep an eye' types rather than 'squad fill in' types.

Metro playing such a bottom-age heavy midfield rotation is certain to get a reaction, and it's only the SA midfield but it looks to be a good call on early form. Ashcroft, Smith and Smillie are all early top 5 contenders for 2023 and really flexed the muscle today, and I think the key for Metro is to keep it in the forward half and let the forwards feast essentially, when Caddy is back in the line up his athleticism combined with Croft is going to be difficult for anyone to stop, and the more small-medium forwards are just as capable of causing headaches.

And Country coming in will be interesting, they're not clearly the best in any department across the 5 sides but probably have a better balance than most squads in their talent spread across the ground, but I see their backline as a key part of the success to their series, they have some really good distributors so if they can win possession back there I don't see them coughing it up easily.

From an overall draft POV, I think the top 14 or so for me from a pure rankings POV has solidified itself as ahead of the pack currently, but then there's a good 45 or so more that I'm thinking are more draftable than not and still most of the Champs to play out, for reference this time last year I think I had 35 total, so I definitely think there's more depth here, but like most people have noted there's not the same amount of top end mids we usually see. It is an unusually good draft for ruck prospects though, with Read and Edwards in my mind legitimate top 10 contenders atm

 

[ydc55]

Only caught 1 half of each game today, will give some more in depth thoughts through the week after watching the complete vision but wow it is shocking to see SA and WA both so uncompetitive in Champs games. I don't think anyone expected either side to set the world on fire based on the form of reps from both teams, but 68 and 88 point losses respectively are terrible looks, not even the worse Allies teams of the last 5 or so years have put in performances like that.
I think it's a bigger shock from WA, their top end talent and depth is better than SA's from my POV, so whether it was just first game nerves or the WAFL Colts isn't as strong as previously thought who knows, but I think they should at least be 8 goals better most games.

Allies are playing as smooth as a typical Metro side so far, I don't expect they'll end up the 'winners' but certainly should give the Vic sides a good shake in their games over the next few weeks, especially with their Midfield group against the bottom-age dominated Metro sides one, Sanders and McKercher work so well together you'd think they both play club, CTL and school footy side by side every week. Walter as a match up is a nightmare at U18's level, there's no opposition defender in the Champs that can match him for athleticism, strength and smarts, I think O'Sullivan is the only KPD in the pool that might be able to hold him effectively. Metro (Ollie Murphy or maybe Logan Morris) will struggle, Country may be able to manage if Stevens has a really good game against him.
There's been a lot of talk about this being the strongest Allies crop for a good while, but I think it's the quality of the depth moreso than the top enders really lifting them up, it's probably the first year where they've had more 'keep an eye' types rather than 'squad fill in' types.

Metro playing such a bottom-age heavy midfield rotation is certain to get a reaction, and it's only the SA midfield but it looks to be a good call on early form. Ashcroft, Smith and Smillie are all early top 5 contenders for 2023 and really flexed the muscle today, and I think the key for Metro is to keep it in the forward half and let the forwards feast essentially, when Caddy is back in the line up his athleticism combined with Croft is going to be difficult for anyone to stop, and the more small-medium forwards are just as capable of causing headaches.

And Country coming in will be interesting, they're not clearly the best in any department across the 5 sides but probably have a better balance than most squads in their talent spread across the ground, but I see their backline as a key part of the success to their series, they have some really good distributors so if they can win possession back there I don't see them coughing it up easily.

From an overall draft POV, I think the top 14 or so for me from a pure rankings POV has solidified itself as ahead of the pack currently, but then there's a good 45 or so more that I'm thinking are more draftable than not and still most of the Champs to play out, for reference this time last year I think I had 35 total, so I definitely think there's more depth here, but like most people have noted there's not the same amount of top end mids we usually see. It is an unusually good draft for ruck prospects though, with Read and Edwards in my mind legitimate top 10 contenders atm

Harry OFarrell played on walter earlier in the year and was very good.
granted Walter is fitter now and has a bloody good midfield feeding him
ofarrell projects to go high next year i reckon

 

[PMBangers]

Harry OFarrell played on walter earlier in the year and was very good.
granted Walter is fitter now and has a bloody good midfield feeding him
ofarrell projects to go high next year i reckon

Certainly looks the goods early on, big job for a bottom-ager at the Champs level to take Walter on as the main match up, personally would prefer to see Murphy show that part of his game against the best KPF in the class, but we'll see

 

[PMBangers]

Felt cute, might delete later x

 

[weltschmerz]

View attachment 1711950
Felt cute, might delete later x

I want Darcy Wilson for so many reasons, but one of them is because we have a Wilson Darcy coming up as f/s in a few years.

 

[PMBangers]

I want Darcy Wilson for so many reasons, but one of them is because we have a Wilson Darcy coming up as f/s in a few years.

What a career in football will do to a mf, or maybe Luke is just a massive Tom Hanks fan

 

[RedmanWasHere]

I want Darcy Wilson for so many reasons, but one of them is because we have a Wilson Darcy coming up as f/s in a few years.

Like North Melbourne in 2009.

Benjamin Warren.
Warren Benjamin.