Game Day The 2025 Draft Day Thread

[UseR2006]

And a song to sing as we watch,

Hey Matty Clarke by Kevin (Random260) Wilson :

Hey Matty Clarke you campaigner, where the **** is Sharp
I’ve looked at all these other spuds and there’s no one that I like
I wrote you a ****ing letter and posted about it twice
You dopey ****ing Richmond fart, you forgot my ****ing Sharp

If I wanted a stupid ruckman type, I would’ve bloody asked
And this half back flank and temu mid, you can shove right up your arse
You’ve stuffed the bloody order up, it’s enough to make you spew
But it’s not just me who’s snakey, SGIO is dirty too

Next time I come to see ya, I’m going to punch you in the guts
And I’ll sack the other recruiting knobs and kick Toddy in the nuts
You just wait 'til next year when you go back to the draft
And me and me little GIO come stomping through the door
And we'll say, yeah, you wait for it

Hey Pyke and Woosh you smell his breath
And check his bloodshot eyes
And don't listen to him eagles fans 'cause he tells ****ing lies
He's just a ****ing useless campaigner and he's not even very bright
'Cause the stupid ****in' w***er, forgot me ****in' Sharp

Hey Matty Clarke you campaigner, where the **** is Sharp
I’ve looked at all these other spuds and there’s no one that I like
I wrote you a ****ing letter and posted about it twice
You dopey ****ing Richmond fart, you forgot my ****ing Sharp

A Quick Ai rendition: https://suno.com/s/blQP3cSnulhqYb5g
It's funny how it interrupted the lyrics XD

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

We didn't cut hard enough, it's not as if we had an issue with points. We made choices and I think they're incorrect decisions.

I can't speak to Allen as a talent. He's obviously a great athlete but as far type goes he's another uncontested outside type. Not something I think is a pressing need, hopefully he keeps fit and shows his value.

I love how we almost had a civil war in here today over this lol.

 

[Jootube]

You've decided it's a ****up without any of these kids even playing AFL football.

The kids we've picked could all end up great and the ones people desperately wanted may never play an AFL game.

See Arlo Draper vs Brady Hough.

I'm simply prepared to wait and see what the outcome is before losing my shit over something I have zero control over, for no ****ing reason whatsoever other than I had a massive hard-on for a particular kid late in the draft(gee, that sounds bad... ).

Nope. That's a false equivalency.
Everyone in this thread has explained that it's not about drafting, our drafting has been pretty good the past few years.

It's the inability to free up main list spots to even see what Banfield or Evans would bring.

 

[random260]

Our strategy and vision is simply not sustainable and going to be found out and doom us all-
1. Versality above all else
2. Trading in slow mids with low footy iq
3. Seemingly wasting our excessive draft capital
4. Burning first rounders in order to patch up our 27 plus age group



Eventually this club will draft who I want except it will be at Tasmania comprised draft. Draft High IQ mids with top line picks

 

[ziad]

The comparison is whether Cripps or Barnett is better than Banfield. Allen is fine as a prospect.

positions aside which is obvious, Cripps is more valuable next year, banfield may be in 2-3 years. We need a youth/experience balance or kids get crucified.

 

[TY24]

Have a read of the D&T board.

If it's on bigfooty it MUST be true

 

[ROYAL EAGLE]

Blake Kelly please.

Seconded

 

[KBLT]

Definitely disappointed to miss out on Evans and Banfield.

But the melts on here are honestly pathetic.

 

[ziad]

Our strategy and vision is simply not sustainable and going to be found out and doom us all-
1. Versality above all else
2. Trading in slow mids with low footy iq
3. Seemingly wasting our excessive draft capital
4. Burning first rounders in order to patch up our 25 age group

As opposed to drafting-
High IQ mids with top line picks

Eventually this club will draft who I want except it will be at Tasmania comprised draft.

who are the slow mids with low footy IQ we drafted this year?

 

[TwoStriders]

Alright, just got home from work... what's the vibe like? Are we happy?

 

[twadds]

Definitely disappointed to miss out on Evans and Banfield.

But the melts on here are honestly pathetic.

Give people time to grieve.

And rage

 

[Coasters7]

Lots of real head scratcher moments

- Take out the actual trade period having all these little losses where we slightly overpaid... Or slightly didn't get enough back. All good though, it's all about strengthening our draft hand ya see.

- Take out the Liam Ryan walking for unders and everyone on here saying "Don't worry gaiz, F2's are going to be so so so valuable next year, everyone is banking them, it's a good trade"..

- There was then the list lodgement deadline and the very obvious decision we all knew about on here to rookie Cripps and/or Barnett to give us the flexibility for this EXACT situation, which we didn't do.

- Then comes night 1 of the draft, the 3 players we walk away with are all fine but the Hawthorn trade up, attempted bid and fail not realising Fold Coast would match and burning of the Liam Ryan F2 which was apparently so so valuable only a few weeks ago is now totally fine...

- Then along comes draft night 2. Oh boy. Wowee. Disaster. Ignoring adding a bloke coming off an ACL.. The sheer ineptitude of not realising that other clubs might actually rate our NGA's and Banfield is really unforgiveable. Losing 1 of the 3, fair enough but 2 of 3?? And the best 2 no less?? The 2 mids?? Inexcusable and very much avoidable. All goes back to the off season list management decision.



Not a good offseason I reckon. It's nice having the shiny new toys like CDT, Durrsma and Lindsay, but it's all the little pieces that add up to a successful rebuild.

We burnt so many picks, made so many basic errors, lost so many trades (just slightly), and to cap it off just put all that time and effort into our club tied players for nothing.

I also think committing to Schoenberg and not taking an extra rookie pick has gone under the radar a bit as well. What an odd thing to do. Unless I'm missing something there? At least wait until the draft is finalized to see what talent is still on the table before doing something like that ffs. NHH/Fred/Greeves who could potentially have upside... Or a delisted ex crow midfielder after you've already added 2x other delisted ex midfielders in Macrae and Dev?


2025 offseason is going to be a juicy topic on here for years to come I reckon. Even if all our players turn out amazing, you can't look past all the clear errors that were made.

It’s just the premature calls that have plagued us for years and left us no room for flexibility if things change.

Early contract extensions for no reason leading to limited spots for matching early bids or picking up sliders in the rookie draft.

It’s the same sort of close minded strategy that has got us into this position to begin with.

Keeping stale blokes on the list for years and not keeping options open. Being passive and assuming GC won’t match.

Its all the same loser mindset. We don’t have a proactive list management team who are winners. They dont do what it takes to make sure the job is done right.

 

[KBLT]

Alright, just got home from work... what's the vibe like? Are we happy?

 

[squashface]

positions aside which is obvious, Cripps is more valuable next year, banfield may be in 2-3 years. We need a youth/experience balance or kids get crucified.

It didn’t have to be Cripps OR Banfield.

It could have been Cripps AND Banfield if we just moved him to the rookie list. He could have stayed on the same pay and played every game in 2026 but we could have had Banfield there too.

 

[Bender_]

Alright, just got home from work... what's the vibe like? Are we happy?

The vibe:

That's it for me for the year, lads. I'm only coming back to post AFLW Eagles stuff but as far as the mens side goes I'm scorched.

Catch everyone come finals time

 

[bzparkes]

I will state my point again. We didn't have to choose between Williams and Allen Vrs Banfield/Evans. The choice was between the fringe/almost retired players currently on the list Vrs Banfield/Evans.

No, the choice was more than that, as I said.

 

[Wooshaaaa]

Seconded

Knows how to find it.


Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central
Aussie Rules


Swan Districts
Swan Districts
Midfielder
#10
Blake Kelly
height: 183cm

weight:

D.O.B: 03-01-2007

Leagues: AFL U18 Championships

STRENGTHS:

• Clean hands
• Competitiveness
• Consistency
• Contested ball

IMPROVEMENTS:

• Kicking
• Outside game

Blake Kelly was one of the WAFL Colts' best on-ballers this year, averaging 26 disposals a game for Swan Districts. A victim of WA’s stacked midfield, Kelly was at times pushed forward at representative level, where his superlative ground ball skills and competitive streak made him a useful option.

In a superb outing late in the year, the dogged Swan District's midfielder almost single-handedly propelled his side into the second week of the WAFL Colts finals series. It was a late reminder of his potential to play as a genuine on-baller at the next level, setting the tone for his side at the source.

While combative on the inside, Kelly has had to work hard to boost his hurt factor on the outside. He is prone to rushing his disposals due to the high-intensity style of footy he plays, impacting his effectiveness by foot. But when the ball is in his sights, he is a fearsome competitor and you know what you're going to get from him each week.

 

[footy_basis]

It’s been explained to you a few times but i’ll go again.

Massey is responsible for the draft yes but our issue is not having enough list spots which is in list management which is Clarke’s domain.

Clarke is just an absolute spud at this. Leave as a recruiter if he must stay, but get him off list manager already.

 

[Coasters7]

positions aside which is obvious, Cripps is more valuable next year, banfield may be in 2-3 years. We need a youth/experience balance or kids get crucified.

34 yo Cripps who would still be on the rookie list?

If we pick up Fred or Blamires tomorrow I guess it mitigates it somewhat because it’ll be the same difference, but I think I’d still prefer 3 of Fred/Blamires/Evans/Banfield over Cripps and Barnett

 

[footy_basis]

Again as a club we've gotten ourselves into a mess because from the outside looking in it looks we have become sloppy and are not doing the little things right.

The club may not rate those players but if they did some pretty basic list management they could have had at least one list spot open to have a free swing without costing us anything (moving Cripps to the rookie list).

You can say these things don't matter and we should just be happy and trust the right decisions have been made. I feel like that's how the club has been operating for quite a while, it's only a small thing - it doesn't matter. Well if enough little things aren't looked after you might finish bottom 4 four years in a row and have the worst season in AFL history.

They've even confirmed on the website that they wanted them and thought they'd go rookie draft. Just disgraceful they didn't plan for this

 

[new breed]

Blake Kelly please.

Most consistent player

 

[bzparkes]

Nope. That's a false equivalency.
Everyone in this thread has explained that it's not about drafting, our drafting has been pretty good the past few years.

Ok.

It's the inability to free up main list spots to even see what Banfield or Evans would bring.

Ok. That clearly wasn't the plan at all, based off the fact that WCE indeed didn't free up the spots for those 2.

Clarke said it himself: they'd take those 2 if they made it to the rookie list and they didn't.

You may not like the plan, and that's entirely fine, but that obviously was the plan going in and not some random **** up because someone couldn't count list spots

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

It’s just the premature calls that have plagued us for years and left us no room for flexibility if things change.

Early contract extensions for no reason leading to limited spots for matching early bids or picking up sliders in the rookie draft.

It’s the same sort of close minded strategy that has got us into this position to begin with.

Keeping stale blokes on the list for years and not keeping options open. Being passive and assuming GC won’t match.

Its all the same loser mindset. We don’t have a proactive list management team who are winners. They dont do what it takes to make sure the job is done right.

I think they lack balls. It takes a certain amount of ruthlessness to pay somebody out and delist them. And enough self confidence to admit you made a mistake contracting them for as long as you did in the first place. It also takes balls to tap long serving players on the shoulder when they don't want to retire yet.

 

[CoastersFlag No.5]

A bit of a explanation. Williams was the priority. Sam Allen is the speculative pick that he keeps improving on his trajectory pre ACL.

 

[eaglesnutcase]

And that's it - 60 picks taken.

We saw the top 2 picks, an inability to count, another flanker, another perma injured mid, a skinny forward and some of the worst list mismanagement that has ever been seen by any club at the draft.


What a ride. Fck this shit.

The sooner this nightmare ends the better.

Oh go home ya drop kick!

 

[footy_basis]

Definitely disappointed to miss out on Evans and Banfield.

But the melts on here are honestly pathetic.

We'll leave the ass kissing to you then. Are you happy to see those incompetent clowns in there making decisions? Half of them are the old wce boys club, and the other half oversaw the old richmond finishing 9th days.