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No matter who we draft , the main criteria we need to improve in 2017 are speed,elite kicking and toughness.Hawks bashed us up in 2014 and Dogs beat us with greater outside run this year.
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"be tough, only when it gets tough"
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Gee Berry tests well across a pretty wide range of the Combine criteria doesn't he and quite a few guys mention his leadership.
I think that one of him and Logue will probably be available when we get our pick. From despatches you'd think McCluggage, Bowes, McGrath, Brodie and Ainsworth will be taken top 5 and I fully expect Freo to take a WA boy (English or SPS). Ignore Setterfield who'll be taken on Academy points and there's a nervous wait of two selections until our point. It won't happen but we should be rooting for Essendon to bid for Setterfield at Pick 1
Callum Twomey is usually pretty on the ball and he has the following around Pick 6 - 8 : English, Petrevski-Seton, Scrimshaw, Logue, Taranto. Strangely enough he only has Berry listed for the Bulldogs (18). For my other two favourites, Galluci gets a mention early teens whereas Florent does not, given that Galluci tested his arse off at the combine I can't see him being available but Battle or Witherden seem to get a run around here too.
I get the feeling there will be a bit of value around of 40s tooComment
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Someone who's caught my eye for pick 46 is Zac Fisher. He's rated highly enough and he might go anywhere from pick 30 on. But he's only a slim 175cm and sometimes the shorter ones slip in the draft. There are a couple of videos of him worth viewing. He's Caleb Daniel like, but a bit bigger.
If we got Logue, Powell-Pepper and Fisher I would say it was a very good draft based on talent, but 3 West Australians would really make me nervous.Last edited by Ludwig; 23 October 2016, 08:20 PM.Comment
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The ruck stocks seem reasonable but apart from English the Draft doesn't seem to be overflowing with them. And there's a reason why, 18 year old rucks are usually a couple of year away physically. Toby was a big unit from the start and he was a year older than most draftees and he still took a while. And then clubs know they can just come in and cherrypick other club's development and not give up much, I mean we did the same with Mummy. But I'm still disappointed how it worked out with Nanka because I can see him being a 150-200 game player.
IMO the key is timing. You want three match ready ruckmen and if you need a fourth who can pinch-hit but whose development co-inincides with your top 3 retiring.
So, we have a really good opportunity here to forward plan and have a ready made solution for when Tippo retires in 2018. We should take Liam Maze as a rookie project ruckman and I'd be tempted to take a second rookie. We should also use Pick 46 for a ruck. That way we have a three way "ruck off" for that spot (and Sinclair's too) in 2-3 years.
Rucks mentioned in despatches apart from English are:
* Mitch McCarty (Dandedong) - Project type player with a Basketball background. Doesn't sound like he'd be ready at all in 2017, rookie at best but you'd think a Victorian club would pick him up.
* Max Lynch (GWS Academy) - Will get drafted to GWS as the NSW #1 U18 Ruckman and the Allies too I think. GWS have a good stable of emerging ruckmen for when Mummy retires. I thought they might make a play for Goldstein if they got an offer from a WA club for Lobb they couldn't refuse but I actually think Lobb is a better player.
They are the only three Ricks (English the third) in Callum's top 50 but then you have:
* Tony Olango - (NT) Ludwig and RWO favourite, get the feeling he'll go at the ND but definitely project material. Soccer background.
* Esava Ratugolea (Murray Bushrangers) - Dead-ringer for Nic Nat and you get the feeling he could be a bit closer to the finished product, looks physically strong
* Sean Darcy (Geelong Falcons) Referred to as a Mumford type and at 201cm and 113kg for an 18 year old we can see why
I like any of those three, maybe Darcy because I'm old school with my ruckmen (hence my sadness at Toby leaving) but Esava has a real X factor about him. Having said that given that they most pundits are pretty silent on these guys we'd have to be certainties to have 2 of the 3 available at 46 which will become more like 40 once you strip out the GWS academy picks.
And it goes to show why you don't go below 40 for a ruck in the draft unless he is a potential superstar like English who is apparently a midfielder in a ruckman's body having grown massively the last couple of yearsComment
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doof-doof
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They would be completely bonkers to bid for Setterfield as GWS have pretty much warned them they won't be matching it and I reckon they won't either. If the Bombers did they wouldn't have enough points for all the other academy kids. Sure they'd miss Setterfield but they'd still get a good crop of academy kids and probably McCluggage though apparently GWS are very keen on McGrath as a replacement for Shaw and that is why they paid to get the upgrade from the Lions.
Bowes at #1 would be different as I think the Suns really really need him. It would be great for us as it would push their pick 6 down to 10, leaving them with picks 7,9,10 and a matched bid at 1 delivering Bowes effectively upgrading our pick 9 to pick 8. If the Lions take Bowes at 3 then the Suns can afford to match the bid and just use pick 4 with a little change which is probably what will happen
So, from a Swans POV we want Bowes at #1Comment
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Tom Baulch from The Roar has stated that he knows SPS personally and he doesn't want to move states. In that case we should avoid him like the plague.
"Tom Baulch said | September 9th 2016 @ 12:13pm | ! Report
Yes Paul D, perfect example. Would love to see how some of these guys go at the combine as well. Sam Seton would be a great pick at pick 2 as he is a speedster and of course a great player. Got to be careful with him as I know him personally and know he doesn?t want to move states, QLD would be a tough move for him too. But he is what you are looking for no doubt, he has it all."Comment
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I really worry about drafting West Australians with the go home factor to consider. I only recall us losing Jetta, but the McCarthy incident is scary and this year you've got Hamling and Brad Hill going to Freo and Marcus Adams asking to go home. I'm not surprised about SPS and can see him sliding to WCE's first round pick, which would be a real steal.
I know some people feel sorry for players wanting to go home, like Cam McCarthy, but it's the biggest factor working against draft equalisation. It emphasizes why we need the academies to offset this dominance of the draft pool from outside NSW and Qld. The player interviews are probably the biggest part of the draft selection process if you're interested in an out of state player. I hope the other West Australians are happy to move state, because there are some real good ones this year (as there are most years).
The AFL should have stepped in a forced Freo to pay GWS fair compensation for McCarthy. They seem happy enough to fix trades when it suits them to do so.
The AFL should make a statement about forcing fair compensation for go home players so that clubs can feel confident in drafting out of state players, It's important for the integrity of the draft. Where is Eddie McGuire when you need him to step up for draft integrity?Comment
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Eddie will only step up when and if a Collingwood draftee heads back home.spriteComment
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Looking at the Combine results and interested that 5 names appear in the results for running vertical jump for BOTH feet.
More jump higher from their Left foot.
McGrath is highest with 96 from his left foot and 85 on his right
Morrish 90 from left and 91 from right (equal highest)
Ratugolea 89 from both feet.
Does it show anything useful?Comment
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Time for bad humour and facetious comments!
That's a bit harsh. I wouldn't describe him as happy-go-lucky but I didn't think his attitude was that bad. [Boom-tish!]
Also, I know nothing about this year's draft, but SPP? How can I not be down with that!
Sigh. It's going to be a long off-season.Comment
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