Some insights into what clubs might be thinking in this article. I've cut the article to just include references to what RFC/Other clubs are thinking and who might get drafted where. But the whole article can be found at the below link.
Pick splits, bold trades and early whispers: Latest intel in mega AFL draft state of play
www.foxsports.com.au
TIGER TIME
Rival clubs spoken to foxfooty.com.au on Thursday believe the Tigers are strongly considering three players at Pick 1: Powerful GWV Rebels forward-midfielder Sam Lalor, star Oakleigh Chargers midfielder Finn O’Sullivan and Oakleigh Chargers ball magnet Jagga Smith. Big-bodied Dandenong Stingrays Harvey Langford is an outside chance, too.
TOP-10 SHUFFLING
Richmond would be the best-placed club to deal with North Melbourne, which is open to offers for Pick 2 in a slide down the order.
North list boss Brady Rawlings on Wednesday night said the Roos would look at all the options to get back into this year’s draft, considering their next selection after Pick 2 is now Pick 62, thanks to the club sending Picks 25 and 44 to the Bulldogs and Swans respectively on deadline day.
At the draft combine earlier this month, rival clubs sensed the Kangaroos’ attachment to exciting Gippsland Power utility Alix Tauru, who’s soared into top-10 calculations over recent months and has all 18 clubs excited following a strong finish to his Coates Talent League campaign.
It’d be a bold, aggressive call by the Kangaroos to take Tauru that early in such a stacked draft pool when many of his peers have a stronger and more sustained body of work.
Hence the widely-held view the Roos would be prepared to slide down the order … just not too far.
Richmond’s Picks 6 and 23 have a similar value to Pick 2, according to the draft value index.
There was a strong sense among sources contacted on Thursday that both the Demons and Saints are content to hold their two top-10 picks.
EARLY CLUB LINKS
As soon as Carlton secured Pick 3 from West Coast earlier this week, rival clubs were quick to link the Blues to O’Sullivan, who’s coincidentally the second cousin of Walsh. O’Sullivan, the Kevin Sheehan medallist in 2022 and a bottom-age All-Australian in 2023, would provide Michael Voss’ team with much-needed speed and power through the midfield.
Smith has also been linked to the Blues, while Lalor and Langford would have to be considered.
Or would the Blues be tempted to call the name of South Adelaide star midfielder Sid Draper instead?
Draper, who declared to foxfooty.com.au he wanted to play in the opening round of the next AFL season, looks up to star AFL midfielders like Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters and Sydney’s Chad Warner and aspires to play in a similar manner. Asked to describe himself as a footballer, Draper said: “Fast, powerful, agile, clean and competitive.”
Those traits would surely appeal to Carlton.
But they’d also appeal to Adelaide, which holds Pick 4 and has been the club most strongly linked to Draper. The Crows have put a lot of work into the 18-year-old, who could be the speedy star midfielder the club is crying out for.
But one of Lalor, Smith or Langford would also be on the table for the Crows to consider. Opposition recruiters believe the Crows will strongly consider taking Smith, in particular.
If Melbourne held Pick 5, the Dees could be the first club to consider key-position prospect Harry Armstrong. Clubs love the 193cm forward’s penetrating left-foot kick, competitiveness in the air and mobility around the ground. Melbourne would also have the option of taking a star midfielder still on the board — Langford and gun Gippsland Power on-baller Xavier Lindsay were both linked to the Dees on Thursday — but the risk would be seeing Armstrong land at one of the Tigers or Saints in the next lot of picks.
In fact the watch on the back-half of the top 10 will be around Armstrong and this year’s top key-position prospects.
While midfielders like Langford and Eastern Ranges’ Josh Smillie are expected to be in the mix at this range, scouts wouldn’t be surprised if the Tigers or Saints used one of their picks on a key-position forward like Armstrong and Murray Bushrangers’ Jack Whitlock, or even GWV Rebels’ Jonty Faull, Bendigo Pioneers’ Jobe Shanahan or Sturt ruck Alex Dodson.
Ample intrigue surrounds where top WA draft prospect Bo Allan sits among clubs in the pecking order. A competitive athlete with good footy nous, Allan has range that allows him to play midfield minutes and win the ball around stoppages, yet is just as comfortable playing as a rebounding defender.
Both the Dockers and Eagles have been heavily linked to Allan, who impressed in his 11-game WAFL league stint for Peel Thunder, averaging 11.5 disposals and 3.3 tackles on his way to becoming a premiership player.
But Allan and Sandringham Dragons star Taj Hotton also have interest from the Tigers with their mid-first round picks.