2021 trading, drafting and list management: players and personnel

[707]

Richmond picked up pick 27 from the Pies for picks 38 & 40 & a 2022 third rounder.

Gives Richmond a very strong draft hand and the Pies with plenty of picks to pay for Daicos plus have some left over around the 50 mark.

Our current pick 70 could end up around 60 after all the late picks are burnt to pay for F/S and NGA's.

Brander, a Riverina boy from memory, delisted by WC, could be worth a DFA look.

[Markwebbos]

Funny that Ladhams chose to come to us and it was KB who provided him with the very honest and harsh feedback prior to his draft.

Seem to remember that it was also KB who gave Hayward some harsh fitness feedback prior to his draft :-)

Didn’t he also have a chat with Gould too?

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Hope that Ladhams can do what Nankervis did for the tigers. (Eg come into the side, make an impact and we have a few grand finals under our belt)

Welcome big fellow! (Seems a mix of Mummy and Nankervis to me... hopefully!)

Let’s hope he can win multiple premierships with us.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Brander could be worth a punt at the right price

You would expect that we must have someone we have our eyes on as a good value runway possible tall defender

[Roadrunner]

If Sam Wicks buried a few more goals in 2021 we probably would have lauded his 2nd season in AFL.

That was my only knock was that he missed about 8 goals on the run round the corner I thought he should have nailed

That would have had him at 25 goals approx and a much better percentage.

My gut feeling watching all aspects of his game is that Sam has plenty more upside in the forwards and as Sheather starts to put on the pressure for a small / medium forward we may see Wicks with a little extra tagging time in the midst also

Exactly Auntie. He needs to work on his goal kicking to bring it up to a high level and also look to reduce the frees he gives away. Hoping next year sees a big improvement as his last half of this season was not up to what he showed earlier in the year.

[bloodspirit]

Nothing wrong with Goater.

Josh Goater highlights | 2021 NAB AFL Draft prospect | AFL - YouTube

Talking about the draft, first, I agree with the strategy that (assuming no further pick trading) we probably will, and probably should, go with is a midfielder with our first pick and a tall with our second. This is partly because midfielders, after KPFs, are good players to spend high(ish) draft picks on. And it is partly because, looking at this year's draft, it seems that most of the KPD candidates are positioned more closely to our second and third picks.

Considering tall key position players, obviously in the extremely unlikely event that Mac Andrew or Josh Gibcus (or maybe even if Jye Amiss less surprisingly) slid to our first pick we could select them. But realistically van Rooyen is the only tall to be around the pick 18 mark at this stage. Whereas there seem to be a number of likely KPD types who could be on the board at pick 31 (Bazzo, Alleer (although Chris Doerre has him at #9 in his phantom form guide), Schlensog etc).

Conversely, with midfielders, there are a number of good options, including Goater. Others include: Sinn, Sonsie, Roberts, Knevitt, or Chesser, or Owens, or Johnson. A few of those are tall mids whose late growth means they might bolt up the boards. The main reason I am slightly doubtful that we will select Goater is that, all other things being equal, we have tended to shun Vic Metro players in recent years - Olly Florent being a significant exception to that tendency.

I really like the look of Darcy Wilmot if we are interested in a small defender (a position some have suggested we need): Darcy Wilmot highlights | 2021 NAB AFL Draft prospect | AFL - YouTube. Sadly, he looks like he might fall between our first and second picks (and also he's a Vic Metro player). I'm going to hope he slides through to our second pick.

I think a great draft for us might be: Roberts, Wilmot and Alleer (although I doubt Alleer will last that long - but that's what would make it great!).

[bloodspirit]

I also recall that KB did indeed have words with Gould in his draft year too.

I don't know what the knock on Brander is but he seems worthy of consideration, especially if he comes as a DFA.

[bloodspirit]

Looks like our pick 39 will come in a couple with Collingwood holding 36 & 38.

Likely that the Bulldogs will trade back their pick 23 and, depending on what they get for it, that might see them use some selections before pick 39 (to match the bid for Darcy) too. Might wind up with a pick 35 if we're lucky!

[sharp9]

After more than two months of trying Inhave reached the end of the thread. Going to have a well earned nap

[stevoswan]

On Brander, this is from the AFL article on his delisting:

"He hopes to land at a club where he can play as a third tall forward."

Not for us then.....

https://www.afl.com.au/news/685110/former-pick-no-13-going-for-free-cut-eagle-to-explore-options

[sharp9]

But back to the footy….I really want a big, ball winning midfielder. So the likes of Ward, Rachelle, Roberts and Sonsie don’t get me excited at all. Horne-Francis and Callaghan will go top 5 while Erasmus and Hobbs look like top 10. But that leaves a few others. I love the look of Goater, then Johnson. Hopefully we can get one those. I see that Draper is tall but “strength” is listed as one of his weaknesses! I love the look of Hobbs. A couple of phantoms have him in the top 6 but then again others have him down at 19. Genuinely strong ball winner. Be very happy with any of these three and think that they should be the priority. Second pick #33 we should pick up a tall.

[bloodspirit]

But back to the footy….I really want a big, ball winning midfielder. So the likes of Ward, Rachelle, Roberts and Sonsie don’t get me excited at all. Horne-Francis and Callaghan will go top 5 while Erasmus and Hobbs look like top 10. But that leaves a few others. I love the look of Goater, then Johnson. Hopefully we can get one those. I see that Draper is tall but “strength” is listed as one of his weaknesses! I love the look of Hobbs. A couple of phantoms have him in the top 6 but then again others have him down at 19. Genuinely strong ball winner. Be very happy with any of these three and think that they should be the priority. Second pick #33 we should pick up a tall.

You might consider Owens then. He's fairly around our first pick and stands 190 cm. Blake Howes is another the same size although not quite so highly rated - Cal Twomey has him at #29 in his form guide. Chesser is listed at 186 cm to Drapter's 185 cm.

We could do a lot worse than Goater - I wouldn't be disappointed if we got him, just mildly surprised. Interestingly, Goater has slid from Chris Doerre's top 10 a couple of months ago to outside his top 20 now.

[Ralph Dawg]

On Brander, this is from the AFL article on his delisting:

"He hopes to land at a club where he can play as a third tall forward."

Not for us then.....

West Coast axes versatile tall Jarrod Brander

Picks 10-14 from 2017 draft not looking great with O'Brien, Bonar, Fogarty, Brander and Ling either struggling to impact at AFL level or in the last 2 cases, de-listed. Pick 15 has turned out to be the gun in that part of the draft, Zac Bailey. Such a shame we didn't get him. Ed Richards at 16 is a favourite of Ludwig's although he's struggled to cement his spot. We took Tmac and Stoddart that year so essentially got 1/3 right. Would people view that as a bust of a year's trading or average?

[bloodspirit]

The Replacements - The Mongrel Punt - considers how we cover the losses of Dawson and Hewett.

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I'd call our 2017 draft a bust but there was no foreseeing Ling's injuries and we at least struck gold with Tommy McCartin.

[Ralph Dawg]

The Replacements - The Mongrel Punt - considers how we cover the losses of Dawson and Hewett.

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I'd call our 2017 draft a bust but there was no foreseeing Ling's injuries and we at least struck gold with Tommy McCartin.

There was some suggestion that Ling had that injury before we drafted him. If so, terrible oversight by our medical team at the time. Interestingly, the sports medicine department was given a complete overhaul last year with Damian Raper, a sports physio, put in charge. I feel that he had a terrific year, with Buddy and Heeney playing most games, as well as Hickey who was busted after the GWS game.

[i'm-uninformed2]

The Replacements - The Mongrel Punt - considers how we cover the losses of Dawson and Hewett.

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I'd call our 2017 draft a bust but there was no foreseeing Ling's injuries and we at least struck gold with Tommy McCartin.

That Mongrel Punt piece is a really good analysis.

If I'm keen on anything next year, it's parking McInerney back on a wing round 1 (with Heeney starting on the other) and leaving him there. I know he can do the job down back, but this guy is a bona fide star, a pure winger and his capacity to run up and down a wing all day with the benefit of smart ball use going inside 50 and goal kicking is something special. Hell, we even saw one game he can go into the centre square for bursts and do it brilliantly. He's tough, a great kick, a gut runner, a terrific mark and a natural born winger. As good as any kid we have.

And the Rowbottom comparison is a good one for Hewett. We didn't see the best of him this year, as the early knee injury robbed him of his power, but a good off season and he'll get it back. We did see in that GWS final a reminder of how much he loves to fight, scrap and maul in the contest. Get him in there as our notional tagger, and when he gets his body back to 100 percent, his offensive game will lift too.