Opinion Should the team ask for a Priority Pick 2025 edition.

[AsterixTheGaul]

So just what do we ask for and how much will it be compared to Norf and the Suns?

In 2019, the Suns got a massive leg up. Pick 1 and 3 other top end picks plus the additional spots and pre-listing



In draft capital, it was something over 6,000 points so more than 2 x Pick1 in value.

In 2022 and then again in 2023, Laura Kane gave her old side a mix of picks needing to be traded plus 3 late R1 picks plus extra rookie spots.


In draft capital, it was worth Pick 1 and say pick 10.

What should we go for?
I would ask for pick 11 and 20 this year and require it to be traded for players,
2 additional rookie spots and 4 more Cat B spots with the ability to pre-list nga prospects for 3 years. This also helps on the KPI of more indigenous draftees.

11 and 20 give us just under 2,000 points (pre FA push back) so less than half the NM and less than a third of the Suns.

Picks 13 and 23 would allow us to get a damned fine ruck and mature midfielder of decent quality. If we walk away with Moyle and Davies or Cameron and Neale, they would really help us be more competitive in 2026. And I am not saying we should pay all that across for those players, they would be the corner stones and I would expect something back in return.

 

[Ilkka Sinisalo]

In this mornings west Jackson Barrett makes the case for not granting help to the eagles. He uses the we sold the farm to get Tim Kelly line. He fails to mention how the draft picks we traded to the cats have turned out. The cats bundled them up and on traded them to GWS for Jeremy Cameron. i think those players all turned out to be duds and have probably been delisted. Barrett has chosen to only tell half the story. Typical crap journalism from "The Worst "

All of the criticisms are completely lazy. "They traded the farm for Tim Kelly" yeah it wasn't a great trade, except none of those picks turned into good players, and we are hardly the only team to make a trade that did not turn out well. "They shouldn't be rewarded for being badly run" - okay, except the AFL gave extra picks to Brisbane in the mid 2010s when they were a basket case, and they gifted Matt Rowell to Gold Coast (which has been badly run pretty much since they were established). And then of course there was the assistance to North, which has also been a terribly run club and have learned their lesson so thoroughly that they traded out a first round pick in this year's draft for the 27th pick last year. "They won a premiership 7 years ago" great, except right now in 2025 we look about 7000 years away from our next one, which is the only thing that's relevant. By that standard why should Brisbane have gotten an extra pick at the end of the first round in 2016? They had been triple premiership winners just 13 years earlier!

Pyke was right to say that if we don't qualify for assistance then the whole concept should just be thrown in the bin. Gold Coast had won 19 matches in 4 years leading up to them being given Rowell and another pick (traded to Brisbane and used on Dev Robinson). North had won 12 matches in 4 years. Brisbane had won 24 matches in the preceding 4 years, and hadn't even won a wooden spoon when the AFL gave them a pick at the end of the first round. The Eagles have been worse than all of these clubs and are still not really showing any improvement. Giving concessions to those other clubs and refusing to do the same for the Eagles would be indefensible unless they just decide to completely scrap the concept of assistance to clubs based on persistently bad on-field performance.

 

[Scotland]

Oppo fans and media talking heads salty that we are asking.

The alternative is we don't ask and then the AFL do nothing. Yep great strategy that would be by a club that "got themselves into this mess".

North asked. Gold Coast asked. That's why they got help. That's the system.

I would be asking for priority access to WA players because "we develop them". That would rustle some jimmies.

 

[Grahame]

Clearly we also need to send an email too.

No we need more than an email or press release. I think Don needs to do the rounds of the influential media (mostly vAFL) to refute the many BS reasons put forward for our continued shiteness.

Furthermore, it needs to be face to face. Give some Woosha stare to our accusers. Put them on the spot with hard facts and figures. And present a range of possibilities to create a ‘narrative’ more about what we get rather than if.

What has playing nice got us?

PS: and at some stage our travel has to be raised.

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

The AFL's response is going to be fairly predictable.

They are going to offer us a useless token such as a couple of extra rookie spots. Then if we take it that will form the basis of the excuse for not giving us a PP from this point forwards, i.e. "we just gave you help, you can't ask for help two years in a row, we have to wait and see how the assistance we already gave you turns out before you ask for more" etc etc.

I think if they offer us something worthless we need to reject it and demand to be treated equally with the other clubs. We are going to have to get pushy and aggro with the AFL to get anything worthwhile. I hope we are up for the fight and don't just accept a trinket.

 

[Grahame]

The AFL's response is going to be fairly predictable.

They are going to offer us a useless token such as a couple of extra rookie spots. Then if we take it that will form the basis of the excuse for not giving us a PP from this point forwards, i.e. "we just gave you help, you can't ask for help two years in a row, we have to wait and see how the assistance we already gave you turns out before you ask for more" etc etc.

I think if they offer us something worthless we need to reject it and demand to be treated equally with the other clubs. We are going to have to get pushy and aggro with the AFL to get anything worthwhile. I hope we are up for the fight and don't just accept a trinket.

Maybe but I’ll restate that I think we need to convince, or at least neutralise, the vAFL media. Then the vAFL will be more amenable.

I’m certain there is undue (but under recognised) influence from that group and it scares the bejesus out of the vAFL. Why?

Many of that vAFL mafia, sorry media, work for the broadcasters who have the vAFL by the short and curlies.

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

Maybe but I’ll restate that I think we need to convince, or at least neutralise, the vAFL media. Then the vAFL will be more amenable.

I’m certain there is undue (but under recognised) influence from that group and it scares the bejesus out of the vAFL. Why?

Many of that vAFL mafia, sorry media, work for the broadcasters who have the vAFL by the short and curlies.

Intimidation from the Vic media definately has a lot to do with it. The new CEO looks like a total weak sister Beta male to me. Very unimpressive. Not sure how he got that job. But you can see that is someone who would be scared of the media.

 

[Grahame]

Intimidation from the Vic media definately has a lot to do with it. The new CEO looks like a total weak sister Beta male to me. Very unimpressive. Not sure how he got that job. But you can see that is someone who would be scared of the media.

I guess we’ll see whether this ‘good bloke’ has more than just a good nickname. Swaneeeee!

 

[Seadog]

Intimidation from the Vic media definately has a lot to do with it. The new CEO looks like a total weak sister Beta male to me. Very unimpressive. Not sure how he got that job. But you can see that is someone who would be scared of the media.

If you look like a weasel and sound like a weasel fair chance you are in fact a weasel.

 

[southcoast]

And here’s Damo (who sounds like Ralphy)

 

[Tugga27]

And here’s Ralphy.

View attachment 2382653

Barrett.

 

[wce_all_da_way]

Barrett.

He's been very consistent on this to be fair, even when it was his own team.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

And here’s Damo (who sounds like Ralphy)


View attachment 2382653

And until they fix the ****ing draft, teams will continue to require assistance as the draft is failing as an equalisation tool!

 

[Coasters7]

And here’s Damo (who sounds like Ralphy)


View attachment 2382653

Using the compromised draft as a reason to not hand out priority picks is peak vfl media.

The compromised drafts are the majority of the issue. We hit the rebuild right as the system shat itself and being one of two very isolated clubs compounds the issue (no easy FA acquisitions or savvy cross town moves)

Freo would be no different if their list was at the same stage as ours. The draft is our only way to build a list and it has been completely broken

 

[Goldfish]

And here’s Damo (who sounds like Ralphy)


View attachment 2382653

That's actually quite funny. He uses the reason we need help, as the reason we shouldn't get help...

The draft is way too compromised, which is why our second pick last year was pick 30 not pick 19. How is a club supposed to rebuild in the current system via the draft when its picks keep getting pushed out?

 

[ziad]

This is a line in the sand claim, well justif red with daya but no certainty. If denied the club must start to be more agressive in demanding a level playing field. For example, length of break pre and post intrerstate travel - omn a sliding scale as Syd Melb is a 70min commute with no time zone issues.

 

[Broken_Chairs]

And here’s Damo (who sounds like Ralphy)


View attachment 2382653

I like that he also makes our point for us - the draft is way too compromised, so how can we rebuild?

 

[EagleEgo]

We really need help. The AFL is not counting us as Footy Supporters,
even though we are paying more for the tickets!
GF tickets among rewards as AFL launches Thank You Month - https://www.afl.com.au/news/1377245

 

[Grahame]

We really need help. The AFL is not counting us as Footy Supporters,
even though we are paying more for the tickets!
GF tickets among rewards as AFL launches Thank You Month - https://www.afl.com.au/news/1377245

Oh why am I cynical? Multi billion organisation who stops fans seeing live FTA Saturday night games gives out a few GF tickets.

Feckin’ wow! Generosity! Thank you oh magnanimous AFL.

 

[Lia]

That has been Damo's consistent position even for his own team, and I'd actually agree with him if precedents hadn't already been set.

 

[Lia]

We really need help. The AFL is not counting us as Footy Supporters,
even though we are paying more for the tickets!
GF tickets among rewards as AFL launches Thank You Month - https://www.afl.com.au/news/1377245

Struggling to see your point as usual. Deranged scheduling and ticketing from the AFL has nothing to do with priority picks.

 

[new breed]

Damo thinks this way spells the end of North Melbourne then , been a great club but recent drafting and trading blunders must rule them out also from priority assistance .

 

[EagleEgo]

Struggling to see your point as usual. Deranged scheduling and ticketing from the AFL has nothing to do with priority picks.

Did I say priority pick? I said help!

 

[mad_eagle]

All the people screaming about any granting of priority picks will be the same people crying when their team misses out on top 4 and blames it on the fact they only got to play WCE once, but the other team got to play us twice...

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

I don't agree with this "Damo has been consistent" crap. Maybe at some point in the hours and hours of content he does every month he can go through and cherry pick out some quotes from the past where he expressed some discomfort about AFL assistance to other clubs. But that wouldn't be representative of his overall stance.

He certainly didn't wage a jihad against help to other clubs like he has with us. He is writing articles bitching and moaning about it all season with us and using very aggressive and emotive language to galvanise his audience to join his jihad. He was absolutely NOT doing that when the AFL helped North. So i do not accept that he has been consistent at all.

And if his reason is that the draft is already too compromised then maybe he join the majority of AFL fans in demanding that that be rectified. Which he hasn't so far. He has toed the AFL's line in supporting the free kicks to the Northern clubs. But now he admits and cites that problem as a reason not help a club whose rebuild has been severely impacted by it.