2008 Draft discussion

[Nico]

How much pressure is on Jack Watts. I don't know that I've heard as much hype about someone. Natinui has gone from head rooster to almost a feather duster compared to Watts.

If as is touted Watts goes to Melbourne then the poor bugger is going to be under heaps of pressure in such a poor team. The mail is he might not play a game in 2009.

[Bas]

I hope we draft a FF or CHF. I'm sick of years and years of drafting backs and centres.

McKernan would do me. He has enough of his brothers team mates to look after him at the Swans.

[Robbo]

As draft day draws closer I'm getting a terrible feeling that we are going to draft midfielders again.

We need KP forwards yes, but we were saying that last year too and we still ended up with mids.

[shaun..]

How much pressure is on Jack Watts. I don't know that I've heard as much hype about someone. Natinui has gone from head rooster to almost a feather duster compared to Watts.

If as is touted Watts goes to Melbourne then the poor bugger is going to be under heaps of pressure in such a poor team. The mail is he might not play a game in 2009.

Nor should he, they should let the kid develop. Riewoldt MkII?

[SimonH]

Emma Quayle is the best writer about young talent in the country; and so unless the Swans go for a real curveball, our #12 will be in her top 25 players.

Based on her descriptions, those players (who might be available) that I'd like us to go for at #12:
Trengove
Hurley
Johnstone.

McKernan, Brown and Schoenmakers strike me as second-tier KPPs and so we can wait and see if players like them are available at #30.

Those players who I hope we don't pick at 12 (no insult to them, they just look like the same type and size of player we've already got millions of):
Sidebottom
Suban.

Apparently the Swans love Nick Suban.

[tombomb]

Apparently the Swans love Nick Suban.

With DOK and vez, sydney picked players that were not expected to go as high as they did ... i would not be surprised if they picked suban, he seems to fit whatever category of player they seem to go for and his a fairly safe bet. I would be super happy if we could get trengrove at 12 and suban at 30.

I doubt either will last that long. I dont think you can have a too many classy midfielders who can kick the ball and sidebottom, hurley, (to a lesser extent) suban would fit this category.

The one player who i dont wanna take is Ziebell as i reckon he really is a player that we have too many off ... hard working players whose skills are only average. reminds me of jude bolton a bit.

[hammo]

I doubt either will last that long. I dont think you can have a too many classy midfielders who can kick the ball and sidebottom, hurley, (to a lesser extent) suban would fit this category.

I agree you can't have too much class in the midfield, but I wonder what sort of forward line they'll be delivering to in a few years?

The buzz-word from pre-season so far seems to be skills. It's a familiar refrain but I wonder if they're serious this time? The best way to immediately inject class is to draft it - and class is usually identified with midfielders.

[Jeffers1984]

The buzz-word from pre-season so far seems to be skills. It's a familiar refrain but I wonder if they're serious this time? The best way to immediately inject class is to draft it

Chris Yarran will give that to us in spades although it may take 2 years of a solid fitness base to get him in the midfield (like Veszpremi). I would love to get him at 12. (I am in the 'Best Available' camp for the first and second rounds).

2nd rounder possibly Mitch Brown if he's still available.

3rd rounder, perhaps redraft Thornton?

[hammo]

(I am in the 'Best Available' camp for the first and second rounds).

Generally I'm of that school as well, however sometimes picking "according to need" over-rides that. This year at least our needs for a key forward could actually coincide with best available. That's what I'm hoping for anyway.

[liz]

Chris Yarran will give that to us in spades although it may take 2 years of a solid fitness base to get him in the midfield (like Veszpremi). I would love to get him at 12. (I am in the 'Best Available' camp for the first and second rounds).

Me too. He'll probably be long gone by the time pick 12 comes around but if he does happen to still be there and the Swans pass over him for another, I think I might have a bit of a weep. Admittedly highlight tapes only give you a tiny glimpse into a player's attributes but he looks to be one of those guys you go to the footy to watch mesmerise you. We're going to lose one in the next year or two when Magic Mick retires. It would be nice to get someone else with sheer class to plonk alongside the blue collars.

[SimonH]

Generally I'm of that school as well, however sometimes picking "according to need" over-rides that. This year at least our needs for a key forward could actually coincide with best available. That's what I'm hoping for anyway.

Ding ding ding! I know what teams mean when they say, 'Best available', but in the back-reaches of round 1 and round 2 of a strong draft, it's a bit of a weasel phrase. In those picks, there aren't likely to be any plug & play guaranteed round 1, 2009 superstars; but at least in this draft, there will be many many strong, bordering on elite, young players. Why won't the theoretically 'best available' 170cm player get picked in the ND at all? Because the nature of the game means that, according to the needs of modern AFL clubs, he isn't best for any of them.

Where very very good players of all sizes are available, you have to make a call: do you want one that's 180cm or 195cm? This choice will starkly present itself to us at pick #12, no matter how the first 11 pan out. (Well, if Daniel Rich gets passed over 11 times I'll relent, but what are the chances of that?)

I was very heartened to see that the Herald Sun phantom draft had us going with Johnston at pick 12, and Suban still being available for us to take at 30. I really hope that stuff like this encourages us to hold our nerve and punt that Suban (or a mid of equal quality) will still be there at 30.

Because the question remains: in 2010 and beyond, who the hell are our wonderful fleet of young mids going to be kicking it to?

[Robbo]

Yarran will slide a little IMO but there's no way he will make it to 30. But he's too big a risk to take at 12 if you ask me.

We desperately need a tall forward so I think we need to address this with pick 12. Whether it's Johnstone, Cornelius or McKernan I'm not too bothered really. But this is a year where we must draft what we need, rather than simply drafting the best available.

A small crumbing forward who can still play in the midfield is what I would go for with 30.

[Nico]

I read somewhere last week that Brisbane are birds to take Yarran at 6.

[BSA5]

Anybody else a fan of Casey Sibosado? It would be completely un-Roos-like, but Yarran at 12 and Sibosado at 30 would be an incredible injection of raw forwardline talent into our side. The trade-off is an elevated risk of failure. Sibosado has been touted as potentially the next Buddy Franklin, but the key word is "potentially". Apparently inconsistent, etc. Quite like Yarran.

[youtube]e630UcTE5fE[/youtube]

[liz]

Yarran will slide a little IMO but there's no way he will make it to 30. But he's too big a risk to take at 12 if you ask me.

There is little chance he'll "slide" to 12. So 30 is not even worth entertaining. All draftees come with risk attached but I don't see why Yarran is considered a greater risk than most of the other highly touted youngsters - especially the physically undeveloped talls. And even if he is ever such a slightly higher risk than a Sidebottom or Ziebell or the like, the upside of injecting some potential genius into the squad is worth it, IMO. Remember that Buddy was considered something of a risk too - hence his "slide" to pick 5. Anyone reckon the Tiges would swap him and Tambling in a flash? And even though Griffen shows signs of becoming a very good mid, I bet the Doggies wouldn't hesitate now either.