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

 

[WCE777]

They’re meeting this morning to make a decision on whether to draft someone this morning or hold the spot open for a train on option

Couldn’t get a read on which way they might go but sounds more like they’ll pass this morning - probably depends on how highly they rate one of the players that’s gone undrafted. Clarke did sound like he was surprised by some of the players other clubs took late

Do like the profile of Oudshoorn-Bennier and hopefully Massey pushes his case. Would soften the blow of missing Banfield if we picked up someone like this

I think from all the commentary around us taking only 5 18yo's in this draft and all the efforts to bring in mature players of list needs through trade we are clearly looking to improve the middle age bracket of our list with ready made AFL level talent.
This probably leans to us taking a player like Blamires in the rookie draft or SSP spot with another 23-26yo player competing for a spot?

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Strikes me as a poor man’s Tyler Brockman and let’s face it, the rich man’s Brockman isn’t even a proven AFL best 23 player 4 or 5 seasons into his career.

Clearly the worst performed of our NGA/father son prospects in his draft year hence why he didn’t attract a bid.

Still no reason not to add him and leave a cat b spot empty. We've added much worse spuds to the cat b list. Hopefully he just had a poor season.

 

[Proeagle]

Read some things about NHH and Greeves not getting picked up because they interviewed very poorly. From a mod on one of the boards, Saints one I think. They didnt elaborate too much but said Greeves came across as a FIGJAM.

A bit of FIGJAM isnt too bad but I guess there is a limit for recruiters.

We do hear a lot from clubs that their selections are also outstanding people etc. You dont want a Steven May

1

Steven May

Age

33

Ht

193cm

Wt

101kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.7

4star

K

10.5

4star

HB

4.2

3star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.5

3star

MG

307.3

4star

D

15.5

4star

K

12.1

5star

HB

3.4

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

0.5

1star

MG

378.4

5star

D

12.4

4star

K

8.8

4star

HB

3.6

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.8

4star

type on your list if you can help it.

 

[Mulldogg]

Still no reason not to add him and leave a cat b spot empty. We've added much worse spuds to the cat b list. Hopefully he just had a poor season.

Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m not averse to taking him and using the Cat B spot, was just an honest appraisal of him in response to Jukes query.

 

[LewyBroome]

Barnett and Johnstone should've been delisted, end of. Both Evans and Banfield showed more in their draft year than both of the latter for me to make that call.

 

[Weshi]

Reality is you need to turn over 15 to 20 players to find a gem. McCarthy the perfect exanple.

Instead we retained Cole and Cripps on 1 yr deals on the main list when they could have been moved without any fuss.

We could have redrafted them late like GWS did with Stringer after securing the nga's we rated.

Time will tell what we missed out on.

Lets see if we use pick 1 in the rookie draft on a BOB or Rodreguez.

Reality is you need to turn over 15 to 20 players to find a gem. McCarthy the perfect exanple.

Instead we retained Cole and Cripps on 1 yr deals on the main list when they could have been moved without any fuss.

We could have redrafted them late like GWS did with Stringer after securing the nga's we rated.

Time will tell what we missed out on.

Lets see if we use pick 1 in the rookie draft on a BOB or Rodreguez.

Rightly or wrongly the club made a decision to limit the number of 18yr olds we would select this draft, they capped it at 5 main list plus a couple of rookies. They seem to have done this based on the number of young players currently on the list we have had significant list changes over the last 3 years. They seemed well aware that the NGA's and Banfield may not make it.
There is always risk and reward from decisions like this, maybe we missed a good one but also we may have given some time and resources to those already on the list to show their stuff.

 

[LewyBroome]

Read some things about NHH and Greeves not getting picked up because they interviewed very poorly. From a mod on one of the boards, Saints one I think. They didnt elaborate too much but said Greeves came across as a FIGJAM.

A bit of FIGJAM isnt too bad but I guess there is a limit for recruiters.

Dovaston seemed very FIGJAM, Clubs can tell if a kid can turn on/off that tap. Greeves may not have that insight.

 

[PRANKSTER666]

We should just draft George Stevens, no different than Saints picking up Banfield.

You put them out there on the market its open season...

 

[ashstores]

I don't. You walk away with best 2 player and a C? You want to give them a C because of latter picks who are extremely likely to be fringe list cloggers.

I'd give them A. Resisted the romance and went with who they thought was best. You can't have integrity in what you do if you make decisions based on what's best for Bigfooty.

On trade for Josh Lindsay, heard Clarke say him, Duff and CDT are best mates. if thats what it took to keep them together, then it's potentially something that will pay off in long term.

We don't know if Hawks were going to take him OR trade their pick to someone else. It was clear Dogs were chasing that sort of player and saints 2nd trumps dogs 2nd.

I think your blind faith in the ability of our recruiting and list Managment personnel is admiral. For me however they need to put some runs on the board first. I understand that have only been in the job for a couple of years. Let's see how the draftees from last year perform next season. If they improve and make a small impact, a lot of us my get a bit of faith back in the club.

 

[chaddy22]

If they rated Banfield and Evans they would've made list spots for them. They didn't so they didn't make it to the rookie draft. Clearly Brisbane and Saints rated them higher. If Batman Barnett can save his career and Williams can turn into a decent forward it might be worth the tough call.

i agree with you.
We could have delisted Cripps and Barnett but still might have gone BPA rather than picking up Banners and Evans.
That's what it is all about. We did what we stated we would. Only five picks (stated that we didn't want to get to young with our list already very young)
We also gave no assurances we would pick up any of our academy/father sons.
To do so with our picks we would have had to use pick 13 on Williams and the last two on Evans and Banners.
It would mean we miss out on Lindsay and Allen who might turn out better players.

 

[WeaponX]

Does anyone in here know if Charlie had some weaknesses that West Coast staffers might have seen or been aware of or was this just a complete blunder again ?

 

[Altum Volantes]

So we are assuming that we don't select today right?

MC seemed to pretty heavily suggest it'll be a train on spot for now with a couple of guys on the radar and Wes Walley does not appear to be a forgone conclusion either.

What time do the melts start?

I don't want to miss another withering assessment from garlic munchers.

 

[jdisc]

What time do the melts start?

did the melts ever really end?

we've had posters melting about the draft before it even happened

posters are still melting about drafts that were years ago

 

[chaddy22]

Who then should be out of contract next year that isn’t?

Owies maybe.

It’s more a case of the worst team in the league bringing in 12 players this year (inc our extra rookie spots), 12 players last, 9 players the two before and 11 the year before that.

Owies not out of contract till 2027. We have 15 out of contract next year and several will have to have a good year to survive a cull at the end of the year

 

[Altum Volantes]

Does anyone in here know if Charlie had some weaknesses that West Coast staffers might have seen or been aware of or was this just a complete blunder again ?

They rated him at Rookie List level and made that pretty clear - whether that was a blunder or not remains to be seen.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

several will have to have a good year to survive a cull at the end of the year

Do they though?

 

[chaddy22]

100% this.
I can’t help but feel embarrassed by our list management team.
How could you justify one more year of football for Cripps or Cole over the chance to give young talents like Banfield and Evans a crack.
I still can’t believe just how poor we were, I’m trying to be excited about a draft haul, but it should have been so much more.

Club has brought in three players as rookies plus Starc because our age profile is too young.
There is a tipping point when we are too young.With a dozen new players this year i suspect Evans and Banners were unlikely to get games anyway.

 

[KERRPOW]

They rated him at Rookie List level and made that pretty clear - whether that was a blunder or not remains to be seen.

Bookmark this...its a blunder.

 

[chaddy22]

Do they though?

if you are not getting a regular game like Harvey Johnston or Batman and out of contract i think you will be gonski

 

[Mr Q]

Will Harper Banfield even nominate us for F/S next year? I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t.

Jake Waterman nominated in the same draft period we delisted Alec.

 

[chaddy22]

Let me get this right, even the apologists in this thread admit that not moving Cripps to the rookie list and matching Banfield was a mistake?

Very few (if any) posters are saying it was a mistake to run out of main list spots.

It was a deliberate choice to prioritize Cripps' feelings, Barnett's career, and Schoenberg's opportunity over giving Banfield a chance.

Majority of Eagles fans clearly think that's a terrible choice.

It's pretty clear this whole debacle has been discussed ad nauseum - fingers crossed on Fred/Ollie tonight

Schoenberg has not cost anybody a main list spot. he is going on the rookie list.
You are the second person to get this wrong.
People may not be happy about our three mature age rookies but they are free hits and not costing anybody a spot on our main list.
Not delisting a extra player may have cost Banners/Evans a spot but the recruiters might still have gone BPA.

 

[Chris_6678]

Look if he wasn't a F/S I'm not sure we would have picked him? Doubt his family will be too pissed off as they would know its part of the AFL these days and happens quite a bit. IF his brother Harper ends up being a gun and we pick him up there is every chance he wants to come back and play with his brother.

ALSO we have to make room next year so the likes of Cole, Barnett, Cripps and a few others will no doubt be off the list.

Though i am pretty happy with the players we have and i feel if we use the first pick in the Rookie draft on one of Freddy or Greeves we will have done even better.

Another thing you can tell how happy Will, Copper and Lindsay were all being picked up by WC! they generally looked pumped and think this will take the pressure off Harley and let him play the way we want him too.

 

[6285sutto]

Just read up about Sam Swadling who was taken at 37, his bio looks pretty good so surprised WCE took Allen instead of them. Speculating that committing to the Roberston/Macrae/Schoey may have turned their heads to other positional needs rather then the inside mid role that we all wanted to be filled.

 

[plays tall 1]

They rated him at Rookie List level and made that pretty clear - whether that was a blunder or not remains to be seen.

I’m guessing that he lacked the speed they want for the positions he’d be most likely to play. He showed an ability to win contested ball, to stand up under pressure, he plays tall and can hit the scoreboard.

When he arrived at the club, McQualter flagged that he wanted to see greater capacity to play the running game. So the drafting is consistent with that. He said that this type of footy has stood up in finals, and he’s obviously thinking of Richmond in saying that. But Richmond had a lot of key players who were great at winning contested ball. I do wonder if we’ve swung too heavily in favour of athleticism over contested ball winners, following the GWS roadmap of running the opponent into submission.

Brisbane have won the last 2 flags. They seem to target guys who win contested ball and win their position.

It’s all well and good to say Koby Evans was taken late so it’s no problem. But he has elite traits and injury interrupted his season, and he can win contested ball. Brisbane’s recruiting team have a great track record (even disregarding the FS guys who were gimmes). The fact that Brisbane rate Evans is cause for concern.

 

[Mr Q]

Schoenberg has not cost anybody a main list spot. he is going on the rookie list.
You are the second person to get this wrong.
People may not be happy about our three mature age rookies but they are free hits and not costing anybody a spot on our main list.
Not delisting a extra player may have cost Banners/Evans a spot but the recruiters might still have gone BPA.

Schoenberg didn't directly cost a main list spot, but it's likely the committment to him (and Dev and Macrae) means that we didn't have the rookie spots available to move Cripps or Barnett, meaning indirectly there wasn't a spot.

If you consider that the official purpose of these extra rookie spots was for the Eagles to bring in some experienced bodies to bolster an otherwise very very young list, then it makes sense what's happened. Whether you agree with it or not, the reasoning makes sense.

If you accept the premise that the Eagles also didn't want to bring on more than five more 18 year olds (on the main list), then you have to accept that we found four players that the club saw has having a bigger upside than Evans or Banfield before they were bid on, and when the bids came in, the specific one the club wanted to keep was Tylah Williams.

You don't have to agree with the reasoning, but irrationally screaming out that it was all a pile of incompetent blunders (rather than reasoned choices) is just insane.