Skippos's 2015 Draft Resource

[CaptainMurphy]

Hey Skippos, what do you reckon the chances are of Riley Bonner slipping to the Dogs' second round pick (27-30)? You seem to rate him a little higher than others that I've seen.

 

[Skippos]

Hey Skippos, what do you reckon the chances are of Riley Bonner slipping to the Dogs' second round pick (27-30)? You seem to rate him a little higher than others that I've seen.

Slim to none. He's a gun, and a definite first round player.

 

[Skippos]

Josh Schache, Luke Partington and Harley Balic have all stood out statistically to me as potential picks for Carlton. Do you think we are likely to target these players if we were to try and get 3 picks in the top 20?

Depends on your range, really. Clubs don't recruit based on statistical excellence. Schache is a legitimate chance for your first selection. The other two won't be there I don't think at your second pick. If you wanted Partington id be trading into the 6-7 range, Balic the 12-13 range to be sure.

Do I think you'll target them specifically? Probably only Schache.

 

[Skippos]

Hey lads, what would be the interest level in my putting my review footage up on youtube?

Last year I did some highlight tapes which took about ~40 hours to make but they were brief and often poor in quality - and not all I had.

I'm happy to look into uploading everything I've got cut into individual player videos, warts and all. This is the footage I watch and rewatch after the season ends and helps confirm some late season speculation. It's up to 20-25 minutes per player usually. It'd take me a ****load of time to prepare it for youtube though so I've got to know that there is interest (and though I can't tell people to click ads, the people who do click ads are helping to pay for the petrol it takes to drive 2 hour roundtrips to cover all the junior footy in adelaide!). So I'll go ahead with it and gradually get them up over the next month if there's enough people who'd actually watch them.

 

[blue_trinity]

Would be unreal

 

[MightyDons4]

Hey Skippos

I saw that you weren't a big fan of Harry McKay and was just wondering why you don't rate him all that highly?

Secondly, how do you see Hugh Hayman's ceiling?

 

[Skippos]

Hey Skippos

I saw that you weren't a big fan of Harry McKay and was just wondering why you don't rate him all that highly?

Secondly, how do you see Hugh Hayman's ceiling?

I like Harry McKay. I just know better than to rate him. He's exciting, he's quick, he's far too athletic for a 200 cm big man and he's solid below the knees.

But that doesn't make a good key forward. You tell me one key forward in the competition who doesn't have one of the following

- A top tier contested marking game
- A natural sense of when to lead and to where
- Elite ground level skills to compliment one of the above

They just don't exist. McKay's best work I reckon will be done as a defender or between the arcs, not inside 50. He doesn't take pack marks and he doesn't lead to the right places. He's just athletic and smooth. In many positions - athleticism is key. For forwards, it's the cream on top and not the foundation. Players like McKay just don't make it - James Stewart is really the most successful player with none of the above.

Haysman I think might have a higher ceiling than expected. He's small but not a midget - he's tough and happy to win his own ball, he's a very smart kid who's switched on both off and on the field and a leader. He's quick, an elite gut runner with a high work rate and defensive ethic and takes the game on. His kicking isn't elite and he doesn't have the height, but he's got enough about him for me to think that he might just be able to get to a top 5-10 on a list type player.

 

[MightyDons4]

I like Harry McKay. I just know better than to rate him. He's exciting, he's quick, he's far too athletic for a 200 cm big man and he's solid below the knees.

But that doesn't make a good key forward. You tell me one key forward in the competition who doesn't have one of the following

- A top tier contested marking game
- A natural sense of when to lead and to where
- Elite ground level skills to compliment one of the above

They just don't exist. McKay's best work I reckon will be done as a defender or between the arcs, not inside 50. He doesn't take pack marks and he doesn't lead to the right places. He's just athletic and smooth. In many positions - athleticism is key. For forwards, it's the cream on top and not the foundation. Players like McKay just don't make it - James Stewart is really the most successful player with none of the above.

Haysman I think might have a higher ceiling than expected. He's small but not a midget - he's tough and happy to win his own ball, he's a very smart kid who's switched on both off and on the field and a leader. He's quick, an elite gut runner with a high work rate and defensive ethic and takes the game on. His kicking isn't elite and he doesn't have the height, but he's got enough about him for me to think that he might just be able to get to a top 5-10 on a list type player.

Perhaps I am being sucked in on the McKay hype, do you still think he could make a decent 2nd tall forward?

Haysman has to be one of my favourites this year, really hope we pick him up.

As always, thanks for the response. Btw, I would really appreciate if you put up your review footage on YouTube, provided yor have the time to do so. I for one will click the ads

 

[DraftGuru_]

Do you rate Gresham Skippos? What do you think are his strengths and weaknesses?

 

[Zach Package]

Hey lads, what would be the interest level in my putting my review footage up on youtube?

Last year I did some highlight tapes which took about ~40 hours to make but they were brief and often poor in quality - and not all I had.

I'm happy to look into uploading everything I've got cut into individual player videos, warts and all. This is the footage I watch and rewatch after the season ends and helps confirm some late season speculation. It's up to 20-25 minutes per player usually. It'd take me a ****load of time to prepare it for youtube though so I've got to know that there is interest (and though I can't tell people to click ads, the people who do click ads are helping to pay for the petrol it takes to drive 2 hour roundtrips to cover all the junior footy in adelaide!). So I'll go ahead with it and gradually get them up over the next month if there's enough people who'd actually watch them.

They would be an incredible resource man.

I reckon linking them here would also preempt so many questions you'd get otherwise as well

 

[Skippos]

Do you rate Gresham Skippos? What do you think are his strengths and weaknesses?

I tentatively rate him. I have very little doubts that he's going to make it but I just don't like players like him. He's athletically okay, works hard, can hit the scoreboard and accumulates like crazy. He's able to hurt inside and out.

My question marks on him are two fold - his kicking I believe is overly safe and conservative. He rarely takes risks, instead preferring lateral options with no territory, but not only that I'm not particularly sure if he's that inside/outside mid at AFL level. He's got an inside game now but it's not like he's a natural reader of the tap nor a bullocking type on the inside - so he'll just be beaten on the inside by the more natural and bigger players - which makes me think he's an outside leaning mid at the next level. And he neither breaks the lines nor hurts by foot so I'm just not sure. Best case he becomes a Dion Prestia type, but it's unlikely.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

Hey lads, what would be the interest level in my putting my review footage up on youtube?

Last year I did some highlight tapes which took about ~40 hours to make but they were brief and often poor in quality - and not all I had.

I'm happy to look into uploading everything I've got cut into individual player videos, warts and all. This is the footage I watch and rewatch after the season ends and helps confirm some late season speculation. It's up to 20-25 minutes per player usually. It'd take me a ****load of time to prepare it for youtube though so I've got to know that there is interest (and though I can't tell people to click ads, the people who do click ads are helping to pay for the petrol it takes to drive 2 hour roundtrips to cover all the junior footy in adelaide!). So I'll go ahead with it and gradually get them up over the next month if there's enough people who'd actually watch them.

Would be brilliant!

 

[Skippos]

Hey lads, what would be the interest level in my putting my review footage up on youtube?

Last year I did some highlight tapes which took about ~40 hours to make but they were brief and often poor in quality - and not all I had.

I'm happy to look into uploading everything I've got cut into individual player videos, warts and all. This is the footage I watch and rewatch after the season ends and helps confirm some late season speculation. It's up to 20-25 minutes per player usually. It'd take me a ****load of time to prepare it for youtube though so I've got to know that there is interest (and though I can't tell people to click ads, the people who do click ads are helping to pay for the petrol it takes to drive 2 hour roundtrips to cover all the junior footy in adelaide!). So I'll go ahead with it and gradually get them up over the next month if there's enough people who'd actually watch them.

Okay, seeing as there was interest I've spent the best part of half a day starting on this.

Link to first video - Oleg Markov

That's the first video I've uploaded, I'll do the rest tomorrow - there's Agostino, Ah Chee, Allen, Bonner, Brind, Clark, Combe, Dew, Haysma, Markov, Milera, Nunn, Oleklans, Parella, Partington, Petrevski-Seton, Redman, Ridley, Shaw, Smith, Snadden, Snelling, Surman, Tahana and Wildman. No Francis as Crusha already did one for him (and can be found here)

Does take quite a considerable amount of time to do, worked out it was about $2 an hour last year and the way I plan to do it this year takes longer (but gives a better quality video and more complete experience for the viewer) so full disclosure - I'll only continue doing it if it's worth it. For ad reasons they won't be embeddable as embedded videos don't show pre-roll ads which are the important ones.

I'll post links to the rest tomorrow and have a look at the amount of hits we get. At the moment it's available only to people who get the link through this thread and not indexed. Let me know any feedback about the style/quality/anything else so I can try and improve them.

 

[LemmingMaster]

I tentatively rate him. I have very little doubts that he's going to make it but I just don't like players like him. He's athletically okay, works hard, can hit the scoreboard and accumulates like crazy. He's able to hurt inside and out.

My question marks on him are two fold - his kicking I believe is overly safe and conservative. He rarely takes risks, instead preferring lateral options with no territory, but not only that I'm not particularly sure if he's that inside/outside mid at AFL level. He's got an inside game now but it's not like he's a natural reader of the tap nor a bullocking type on the inside - so he'll just be beaten on the inside by the more natural and bigger players - which makes me think he's an outside leaning mid at the next level. And he neither breaks the lines nor hurts by foot so I'm just not sure. Best case he becomes a Dion Prestia type, but it's unlikely.

I have some of the same question marks over his game myself, so you're not alone.

I want to watch him a few more times before locking in my thoughts.

 

[Gollo]

I'll be editing it every week from here on in - however I'd like to see if I can obtain some footage from the WA/VM game before I do my update. Assuming I don't notice anything I'm not expecting to in that game, I'll give you a sneak preview of the top 20 that'll be edited in this week

No Jade Gresham? I see the issue with his height but in terms of a power rankings I would have thought most would have him inside a top 20. Just my opinion, and I do rate him really highly.

 

[Gollo]

Or it could be an instance of a player being over-hyped and therefore overrated on bigfooty? Mathieson isn't in the same league as Parish or Weitering.

To be honest I rate Mathieson a bit higher than Parish. Mostly due to me rating Mathieson, not particularly criticising Parish.

 

[blue_trinity]

To be honest I rate Mathieson a bit higher than Parish. Mostly due to me rating Mathieson, not particularly criticising Parish.

Each to their own

 

[Gollo]

Slim to none. He's a gun, and a definite first round player.

Do you think that there is a reason why his tackle and uncontested mark numbers have been so low over the U18 Champs? Really talented and a smooth mover, but for a rebounding half back you would expect that at least his uncontested and intercept mark numbers would be around 5-6 a game.

 

[Gollo]

Do you think that there is a reason why his tackle and uncontested mark numbers have been so low over the U18 Champs? Really talented and a smooth mover, but for a rebounding half back you would expect that at least his uncontested and intercept mark numbers would be around 5-6 a game.

Talking about Bonner.

 

[Gollo]

I tentatively rate him. I have very little doubts that he's going to make it but I just don't like players like him. He's athletically okay, works hard, can hit the scoreboard and accumulates like crazy. He's able to hurt inside and out.

My question marks on him are two fold - his kicking I believe is overly safe and conservative. He rarely takes risks, instead preferring lateral options with no territory, but not only that I'm not particularly sure if he's that inside/outside mid at AFL level. He's got an inside game now but it's not like he's a natural reader of the tap nor a bullocking type on the inside - so he'll just be beaten on the inside by the more natural and bigger players - which makes me think he's an outside leaning mid at the next level. And he neither breaks the lines nor hurts by foot so I'm just not sure. Best case he becomes a Dion Prestia type, but it's unlikely.

I'm surprised you say that he is just 'athletically okay' and doesn't break the lines. From what I've seen he is very quick and moves well, with good endurance. Also, while he is somewhat conservative with his kicking, he still is very effective and though he doesn't often pinpoint passes, he will do more set up play from switches into space, something I quite like in players.

 

[Skippos]

Do you think that there is a reason why his tackle and uncontested mark numbers have been so low over the U18 Champs? Really talented and a smooth mover, but for a rebounding half back you would expect that at least his uncontested and intercept mark numbers would be around 5-6 a game.

I was at a SA v Norwood reserves trial three weeks before the champs where he was second best on ground and he intercepted well. That said, it's not his game at the moment. Bonner is a running player - he normally receives the ball instead of winning it which has always been the knock on him. We don't draft complete players out of the 18s, we mold them once we have.

As for tackles - a lot of it is down to the openness of the game. Congestion increass tackle counts like you wouldn't believe. It's easy to tackle a bloke when he's just won the ball surrounded by five other blokes. It's a lot harder when the game is played in space with a high volume of uncontested marks retaining possession. High tackle counts in the champs primarily will come from players who play on the ball, as the congestion that causes tackles is only found around ball ups.

But really, Harrison Wigg went 35 odd last year. Wigg is 5-6 inches shorter than Bonner so doesn't have the same scope to develop an intercept game, much slower, a slightly worse kick and receives the ball as opposed to winning it too. Bonner a far more draftable player in a weaker draft. He goes first round - clubs back themselves to use his height and athleticism to mold that intercept game. He's very much an offensive minded player at the moment.

 

[Skippos]

I'm surprised you say that he is just 'athletically okay' and doesn't break the lines. From what I've seen he is very quick and moves well, with good endurance. Also, while he is somewhat conservative with his kicking, he still is very effective and though he doesn't often pinpoint passes, he will do more set up play from switches into space, something I quite like in players.

Yes, I can tell - it's why you have the master of conservative kicking in Jackson MacRae as your avatar

Rule of thumb is that short guys look quicker than they are. Caleb Daniel looked the fastest player alive but really he runs a 3 second 20 metre, to give one example. You might consider it tactical conservatism by foot, I see it as considered - he either doesn't back himself or doesn't want to take risks. All he does is pass the buck over to someone else to make gains. It's not a turnover, but it's not positive play.

 

[eth-dog]

Yes, I can tell - it's why you have the master of conservative kicking in Jackson MacRae as your avatar

Rule of thumb is that short guys look quicker than they are. Caleb Daniel looked the fastest player alive but really he runs a 3 second 20 metre, to give one example. You might consider it tactical conservatism by foot, I see it as considered - he either doesn't back himself or doesn't want to take risks. All he does is pass the buck over to someone else to make gains. It's not a turnover, but it's not positive play.

Except Travis Colyer. He really is quick.

 

[Gollo]

Yes, I can tell - it's why you have the master of conservative kicking in Jackson MacRae as your avatar

Rule of thumb is that short guys look quicker than they are. Caleb Daniel looked the fastest player alive but really he runs a 3 second 20 metre, to give one example. You might consider it tactical conservatism by foot, I see it as considered - he either doesn't back himself or doesn't want to take risks. All he does is pass the buck over to someone else to make gains. It's not a turnover, but it's not positive play.

Haha, I guess I tend to overlook conservative disposal a bit, and I know that he isn't the most influential kick in the world, however to me, watching him play, it hasn't seemed like he has gone out of his way to find an easy option, and hit some very good targets in the WA game. On his speed, the main reason I pointed it out was because rather than line-breaking speed, he has better breakaway speed. You see him a lot bursting out of packs, even if he hasn't read the tap, because of his acceleration towards the ball. The smaller guys have much better acceleration, simply because they make smaller, quicker strides. This is also why, out in the open, players like Gresham and Daniel won't burn players in a 80m run on the wing, rather, they'll accelerate faster away from them over a 10-15m distance.

 

[Skippos]

Haha, I guess I tend to overlook conservative disposal a bit, and I know that he isn't the most influential kick in the world, however to me, watching him play, it hasn't seemed like he has gone out of his way to find an easy option, and hit some very good targets in the WA game. On his speed, the main reason I pointed it out was because rather than line-breaking speed, he has better breakaway speed. You see him a lot bursting out of packs, even if he hasn't read the tap, because of his acceleration towards the ball. The smaller guys have much better acceleration, simply because they make smaller, quicker strides. This is also why, out in the open, players like Gresham and Daniel won't burn players in a 80m run on the wing, rather, they'll accelerate faster away from them over a 10-15m distance.

I disagree with nearly everything you've said here.

Breakaway speed isn't about shorter steps or pure acceleration, it's about power. Alec Waterman last year was 183/89 and an absolute plodder, but has the breakaway speed - not because of short steps but because of power. Very rarely, especially at the highest level, do you get a free path out of traffic. You've got to burst through opponents. Waterman had a powerful enough first step and enough weight behind him to break that pressure and touch as well as the low centre of gravity to not be pushed off his path. The best burst playees may have speed, but it's far more about the core strength, first step, balance, centre of gravity and power/force. Gresham doesn't have that pure strength and power to burst like that. I suspect his ability to breakaway is more due to the weaker juniors and less defensive pressure and congestion applied at this level and its not something I expect to translate fully to afl level.