West Coast Draft Discussion

[adagio]

Discuss all things Eagles for the upcoming draft in here.

IMO, we've filled the list pretty well with ball-winning midfielders and talented talls over the last few drafts.

Now we just need to fill the 'holes' in our list, including crumbers, small defenders, flankers, 3rd talls, half-forwards and utilities. Right now our side is quite blue-collar, lacking clean disposal and genuine line-breakers.

While I don't profess to be an expert, I followed the champs pretty closely and watched the last two matches yesterday. With the above requirements in mind, I very much think we should be targeting the following players:


WA:
Anthony Morabito - X-factor. Very quick, flawless disposal, kicks goals. He really is Adam Goodes mk II. I want him to be our 1st pick.
Kane Lucas - elite disposal, good on both feet and quick. Great vision. Could play that outside, link-man role we need to complement all our inside mids. If we miss out on Morabito, he'll do just fine.
Mitch Duncan - very impressed by him yesterday. Can play midfield and forward and uses it well. Just looks like an AFL player.


VC:
Dustin Martin - another with very clean disposal. Quite physically developed and was B.O.G. today against WA, with about 20 disposals to half-time.
Ryan Bastinac - half-back/wing and is very good on both feet. Found the ball consistently throughout the champs.
Gary Rohan - X-factor. X-factor. X-factor. Blisteringly quick and despite an unorthodox kicking action (kicks with a bent knee), actually uses the ball extremely well. And flowing red locks to complete the package too. Just the guy we need in our forward line.
Ben Cunnington - very classy user and an agile mover. Has played deep forward, midfield and half-back in the champs, and the Eagles recruiting staff just love versatility.
Allen Christensen - thought he was quiet yesterday, but appears another player who could be lively for us in the forward line. Just looks classy.

VM:
Ben Sinclair - really liked the look of this kid yesterday. Kind of like Scotty Selwood. Can play back pocket and will just give you 110% all day. Gave a great run-down late in the game which ended up resulting in a goal.
Andrew Moore - real classy performer. Reminds of Ryan O'Keefe, playing off half-forward. Kicked a great goal out of nowhere yesterday, and I reckon he could slot into our forward line next year and complement it really well.
Jayden Hoegol - exciting small forward. Was quiet yesterday apart from a cleverly snapped goal, but looks like he played a couple of good games in the champs.

SA:
Luke Tapscott - watched the game yesterday and all I could ever think of is one word - Porplyzia. He's a dead-set clone! Powerfully built medium forward who never missed a set shot. And he's South Australian. I swear they're cousins or something.
Fraser Evans - he's my smokey. Exhibits a good ability to shut down an opponent and create off him. Should be available in the mid to late rounds so we can take him to fill the small defender role.
Byron Sumner - hadn't heard of him before yesterday, but he played very well off the wing. Probably had 18-20 disposals (haven't seen the stats), he's pretty quick and used the ball well. Kind of reminded me of McLeod just with the way he moves.
Derick Wanganeen - real livewire. Quick, classy user and just fights to the death for the ball. Would fill that crumbing role nicely for us (plus it'd be funny to steal another big SA name ).


NT:
Roland Ah Chee - never saw him in action, but he's an Indigenous ball magnet. Enough said.

NSW:
Jason Tutt - never saw him either, but he plays half-back and his name just kept popping up throughout the champs. Gets plenty of the ball and seems to use it well. Could be another handy pickup late in the draft.


Fire away people.

 

[ROYAL EAGLE]

Not a bad list Adagio.

I would add

Travis Colyer probaly 3rd rounder

Nicholas Winmar

Nat Fyfe

From the WA boys

Jordan Gysberts is a good kid from VM
Alex Carey
Sam Day
Roland Ah Chee will be a very good player, ball use is very good.

Rookies

Rhett Mason
Cameron Kickett
Aaron Black

 

[swannies]

Not a bad list Adagio.

I would add

Travis Colyer probaly 3rd rounder

Nicholas Winmar

Nat Fyfe

From the WA boys

Jordan Gysberts is a good kid from VM
Alex Carey
Sam Day
Roland Ah Chee will be a very good player, ball use is very good.

Rookies

Rhett Mason
Cameron Kickett
Aaron Black

Yep RE, really liked the look of Gysberts in the VM game I saw. Really, really like Duncan. Also impressed with Hutchings at WAFL level, although he's probably too blue collar for your liking? I like the hard ball get types though, can't have too many Tony Evans for my liking!!

Fitzpatrick looked a good mover, Donaldson from WA was also good and then there's probably 2-3 at each WAFL colts team that could be rookied or drafted to the senior list proper. Daly, Pullman and Bonnet are my favourites from swans.

 

[JohnnyMacIntyre]

Good list, but I think you need to narrow it down a bit, nearly all of the guys you've mentioned are first rounders or obvious picks (Martin, Christensen, Cunnington, Rohan, Bastinac etc). With where the eagles are likely to finish, I think Morabito or Lucas would be the obvious first round pick. Local boys who have very clean disposal (Lucas probably the best in the draft) and are genuine line breaking midfielders, who can be used all over the ground, and should still be around for pick 4 or 5.

I think Colyer is an ideal second or third round pick if he's still around, showed his ability to break lines yesterday and has good disposal. Has been very effective at colts level as a crumbing forward and can play back. As the commentators said yesterday, you need quick small players who can play back and nullify the Matera type livewire forwards. Would be a very good utility for your list.

I like Royal Eagle's list, could really see Winmar as a possible third rounder and Alex Carey in the second or third as well, both very versatile but showed the most promise as forwards or outside mids. Also if they rookied Black from peel, would be a great move as I think he has a lot to offer. With his size wouldn't use a pick on him at this stage but rather rookie him and see how he develops.

I think it's pretty early to call but I'd like to see the picks go something like this:

Pick 1: Lucas/Morabito
Pick 2: Gysberts/Carey/Colyer/Ah Chee/Duncan (Hopefully Duncan's around)
Pick 3: Carey/Colyer/Winmar/Ah Chee
Pick 4: Winmar/Fyfe/Luff/Ah Chee
Pick 5: Winmar/Fyfe/Luff

And look local or take the best leftovers for the rookie draft.

Pretty biased towards the WA boys, but I think the talents abundant enough to satisfy the needs of the Eagles by staying mainly within the state

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Will Colyer last till the third round, if he does he would be a gem pickup. Type that could have a good impact up forward and then move into the middle later in his career, we need goal kicking midfielders and Lucas, Morabito and Colyer all do that.

Fyfe for a third or fourth round pick, more AFL compatiable than say Ben McKinley as he has better agility and speed.

 

[JohnnyMacIntyre]

I've seen a lot of Colyer and rate him really highly. Not a genuine first round prospect purely because of his size in my opinion. More likely a second or third round. If the eagles opt somewhere else in the second round and the interstate clubs let him slip through the ranks because of size, would be an awesome third round pick up. Has all the star qualities. People laughed when I likened him to Shane Crawford earlier in the year on bigfooty. Hopefully people saw what I saw in the WA vs VC game on Wednesday!!!

Fyfe is an interesting one, want to watch a bit more of him. Definately got that X-factor quality and an unbelievable pair of hands. Someone I could see going to an interstate club a bit earlier than expected. Very exciting player. Anyone given any thought to Lewis Fasolo from East Freo as a late pickup to one of the WA clubs? Or have the Eagles got enough of his type as it is?

 

[adagio]

Yep Fyfe you could throw in there too, and Collica as a rookie/late pick. Both played poorly yesterday so I probably subconsciously discarded them, but Fyfe seemed to play a couple of impressive games.

Colyer I didn't mention because he's too small, ditto Hooper. It's extremely tough for guys of that size to make it at the top level. Woodhouse has shown a clear disliking for small players in the past, so I very much doubt we'd look at them. We've already got Kerr and Masten in the middle - we have to be wary of being 'too small'.

Plus I don't think Colyer had an outstanding champs, he simply had a good game yesterday.

Note: Christensen and Wanganeen are both pretty small too, so I may be being hypocritical, but are crumbing types rather than midfielders/defenders.


IMO, all of these guys are virtual certain 1st rounders (listed in order of preference):

Morabito
Lucas
Cunnington
Martin
Rohan

So, hopefully one of these guys will slide to our 2nd pick:
Duncan
Bastinac
Ah Chee
Tapscott
Moore

After that it's anyone's guess..

 

[jgb99]

Sheppard would be one I think you'd look at 2nd round ... dashing medium rebound defender that uses the ball neatly and reliably ... could rotate onto a wing or allow Hurn to be used more in the middle ?

 

[swannies]

Nice lists, but there's one bloke we've forgotten and I shouldn't have, because I watch him every week.

If we want more X factor would we take L Jetta at 2nd pick in front of those guys listed by JM? IMO, that's where we're going to have to take him if we want him.

 

[lewigie]

And don't we want him!

 

[Anjahads]

Would Mitch Duncan be as good as the more highly touted Lucas and Morobito.
I have heard good reports of Colyer but size maybe a factor.
Swannies would the player you watch each week be worth a 1st round pick?

 

[jackoisno1]

Don't you guys rate Jack Trengove?

 

[worsfold]

We need to keep in mind that we are drafting for 3 years on the guys we draft wont have a major impact next year.

I think we need at least 1 extra tall defender with glass going.
but a mid in round 1 - Lucas would be nice

Hopefully with not such a strong draft, trades will be made

 

[Monocle]

Don't you guys rate Jack Trengove?

Rate him very very highly ... but alas .....he will be gone in the first three or four picks.

Scully , Trengove and Morabito are the top three for me at this point in time.

Not sold on Butcher as being in the same class as the others mentioned i think he will slide somewhat.

 

[adagio]

Nice lists, but there's one bloke we've forgotten and I shouldn't have, because I watch him every week.

If we want more X factor would we take L Jetta at 2nd pick in front of those guys listed by JM? IMO, that's where we're going to have to take him if we want him.

I never forgot him Just naming some guys from the champs I reckon would be good pickups, that's all.

Hopefully, Jetta will slide to the 3rd round. He's top-aged and very skinny, which takes a few years off his career. On sheer talent though, he'd surely be at least a 2nd rounder, and we certainly might pull the pin there (although Freo or Melbourne will probably chime in first, as they tend to do).

Outside Jetta, I think we seriously need to look seriously at more talent running around in the WAFL too. In a shallow draft, it could be big advantage to ourselves and Freo to pull some smokeys out of the local clubs in the later rounds.

Any prospects you guys can think of? Trevor Oliver has been mentioned a lot, but I think he's got a chronic condition/injury of some sort that makes him nigh-on undraftable. Forget what it was, but it was in the paper a while back.

 

[JohnnyMacIntyre]

I'm not sold that many of the interstate clubs would have enough confidence in Jetta to take him as their second pick... I had similar thoughts when the Dockers took Ballantyne early that he probably would have been there for their next pick...

Jetta has been rated pretty highly but will an interstate club use their second round pick for an upper age player? Personally I think there will be too many good draft age mids for the eagles second pick for them to pass over for Jetta. Could see him being an absolute steal in the third round.

I've watched a lot of WAFL footy this year, and besides Jetta, these blokes have impressed me in the league sides:
Lewis Fasolo (EF)
Conor Davidson (EF)
Jake Murphy (C)
Cory Dell Olio (SF)

To be honest, I think there is more promise in some of the Colts players going around like Foley, Davies, McAllister (All Claremont), Carter (SF), Cooper (EP), Aaron Black (P), and a few others out there. I don't think there's that much to write home about. There was plenty of depth in our 18's squad and I would hope to see as much of it get drafted as possible.

 

[LemmingMaster]

Talia looks ok as well, someone worth considering in the 3rd round maybe?

 

[JohnnyMacIntyre]

if talia is around for the third round pick woodhouse will be doing nude runs around subi

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Nice lists, but there's one bloke we've forgotten and I shouldn't have, because I watch him every week.

If we want more X factor would we take L Jetta at 2nd pick in front of those guys listed by JM? IMO, that's where we're going to have to take him if we want him.

Lucas
Colyer
Jetta
Fyfe

My Perfect draft.

 

[JohnnyMacIntyre]

EH, if eagles draft like that, im gonna convert from geelong.

 

[adagio]

Lucas
Colyer
Jetta
Fyfe

My Perfect draft.

Screw that!

Morabito
Bastinac
Jetta
Fyfe
Tutt

 

[ROYAL EAGLE]

I'm not sold that many of the interstate clubs would have enough confidence in Jetta to take him as their second pick... I had similar thoughts when the Dockers took Ballantyne early that he probably would have been there for their next pick...

Jetta has been rated pretty highly but will an interstate club use their second round pick for an upper age player? Personally I think there will be too many good draft age mids for the eagles second pick for them to pass over for Jetta. Could see him being an absolute steal in the third round.

I've watched a lot of WAFL footy this year, and besides Jetta, these blokes have impressed me in the league sides:
Lewis Fasolo (EF)
Conor Davidson (EF)
Jake Murphy (C)
Cory Dell Olio (SF)

To be honest, I think there is more promise in some of the Colts players going around like Foley, Davies, McAllister (All Claremont), Carter (SF), Cooper (EP), Aaron Black (P), and a few others out there. I don't think there's that much to write home about. There was plenty of depth in our 18's squad and I would hope to see as much of it get drafted as possible.

Totally agree mate much rather

Black
Cooper
Mason (this one is special)
McAllister

EH like your list

would add Winmar in there.

 

[swannies]

Great post JM, can't believe I forgot about Davidson as well. The new Liam Anthony I like to call him!

There's a heap of kids that they could rookie, or take in later picks, that may be solid players.

Totally agree mate much rather

Black
Cooper
Mason (this one is special)
McAllister

EH like your list

would add Winmar in there.

Why you so sold on Rhett? Angry little ant he is, spraying my Swans boys with water bottles

 

[JohnnyMacIntyre]

RE, only reason I left Mason out of that list was because he was a member of the WA academy, i.e. already on the radar. The late picks and rookies for the WA teams could be a lottery, IMO the most depth in local talent I've seen by far. I think there are up to about 10 players in the WAFL, both league and colts competitions that are all worth an opportunity.

What does everyone else think of Davidson? He won the Prendergast Medal last year as the fairest and best player in the WAFL reserves, while being still eligible for Colts and is playing good footy for East this year. Only 19 turning 20 so I don't think he has missed the boat in terms of age. I would hope he gets picked up late or rookied. But then again, the WA clubs overlooked Ian Richardson who was a similar age after winning Claremont's best and fairest last year. With such a strong and consistent 18's team this year, it could be a tough year for these older age type players to get taken. I would love to see some of the good performers in our local competition get rewarded and given opportunity to play AFL football though!!!

Also, something tells me the way Naitanui is going, he doesn't want Morabito at WCE next year. I would think it would be a minor miracle if he's around for the Eagles at pick 5 or 6 or whatever they get they way he's going. Lucas is a much more likely option. I wouldn't be surprised to see Morabito go at 2 after Scully if Melbourne get the PP. Something a bit different, Scully and Trengove are relatively similar and they stole Blease last year.

And personally, if Winmar is still around later on, him before Fyfe .

 

[jazou]

Lucas
Colyer
Jetta
Fyfe

My Perfect draft.

and somehow manage to get Matera or Darling next year....

I am already sold on Lucas - watched replays of the 18's matches, and I thought there were brief glimpses of absolute, PURE quality