Hey everyone, so here we are on the day of the 2016 AFL National Draft. A historic day for the Essendon Football Club and us the supporters as we hold the No. 1 pick for the first time in the clubs 143 year history and in the 20 year history of the draft. It’s an exciting time to be a Bombers supporter!
I was asked by the mod group to make this special event thread so we can discuss the draft as it happens and the potential options available to us. So let’s get stuck in!
So what is our draft strategy? Although suitably vague, Adrian Dodoro described it as follows:
PICK 1
“We’re taking the player we think is the best in Australia, and we think is the best fit for us. He just happens to tick both those boxes”
PICK 20
“A couple of the kids we’re looking at for pick 20 were names that we thought would be top-five picks at the start of the year. I think we’ll get a very good player”
PICK 29 and 41
“It’s not a draft we’ll go in with an exact order. It’s, ‘Get the first one, get the second one and then see what we’ve got and take a nice balance’. We’d like at some stage to get a tall, but we’ve also discussed it might be next year”
PICK 68
“It’s OK to get the No.1 pick right, but we need to get 67 right as well. We’re going in with the intention of using all our selections”
ROOKIE DRAFT
“We’ve got three selections. We have offered some previously listed players a spot and they have accepted, which we are really pleased with”
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So what can we make of all of this?
Obviously it’s been well documented that Pick 1 is a three horse race between speedy half-back/inside midfielder Andrew McGrath, the goal-kicking and skilful midfielder Hugh McCluggage (my personal favourite in case I haven’t mentioned that before), and the tall Bontempelli-like Will Setterfield.
Opinion is split fairly evenly between McCluggage and McGrath with both viewed as potentially filling key roles in our side in years to come.
From there it starts to get interesting as given this is perhaps the deepest and most even draft in recent memory, it is difficult to predict where players may fall. For example, talented but raw key forward Todd Marshall was viewed as a certain top 10 prospect earlier in the year but after tailing off in form towards the end of the TAC Cup season could very well be available to us at Pick 20, as could combative forward Josh Battle who has been mentored by Bombers legend and all-time leading goal-kicker Matthew Lloyd, could we even see
eth-dog's man-crush Will Brodie slide after an indifferent finish to the season? Unlikely but who knows! What is certain is that we are likely to get a very good player at Pick 20.
After this it seems we’ll look to fill needs to balance it all out. One player rumoured to be in the mix at Pick 29 is the big-bodied forward/mid Josh Begley after
don patch sword confirmed that Adrian Dodoro had said at a game he felt that one of the Eastern Ranges players was being severely under-rated. Whether those of us who have discussed this are on the mark remains to be seen, but even at Pick 29 we will doubtless be getting yet another very good player.
Picks 41 and 68 is where it really starts to get interesting as these are almost certainly needs based picks. Many seem to want crafty small forward Willie Rioli at one of these selections, with other names doing the rounds as well. Do we go with Xavier Richards at Pick 68 to gain some key forward depth? It will be an interesting one to see, as looking at the list we are in desperate need of a ruckman as well with Mathew Leuenberger and Tom Bellchambers both having injury issues, and Shaun McKernan being demoted to the rookie list and not really up to AFL standard (he looks a likely candidate to be permanently delisted next year).
The rookie draft will again prove interesting as with the likelihood of Yestin Eades and Shaun McKernan being re-listed, it looks likely that we will only be making one live selection. Could that spot belong to Xavier Richards? Or could we look to add another mature-ager (Brett Eddy, Mason Shaw, Darcy Cameron and Jye Bolton spring to mind) or add a developing ruckman?
And let’s not forget the apparent certain addition of American Category B rookie prospect Travis Wilson.
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Hope you’re all looking forward to the draft starting, because it’s going to be an absolute ripper.
Please note player threads have already been created, ready for the draft. Please do not start any new threads for the players drafted.
As always please remember to keep the discussion respectful and open. Go Bombers!