2024 Draft Thread

[Redford]

Draper is the best give and go player in the draft and one of the best getting separation from stoppages. He has a genuinely quick first 5 to 10 metres.

However, his kicking and decision making can be poor at times. His kicking can lack penetration sometimes too.

Despite the numbers, I thought some of his SANFL games were poor where his execution was concerned. Lot of turnovers.

If he can be cleaned up, great. If not he'll struggle.

Rightly or wrongly, get the feeling there's a bit of sub conscious hangover with his brother Arlo too, who I always thought was a softo dud and proved that to be the case very very quickly at Cwood. They are quite different in all fairness but besides some other things, I sense there's a bit of buyer beware with Draper in club land.

 

[gehring]

Draper was also held by Allan in the WA v SA game. Would also include Allan as an option at 6, based on his versatility. Inside mid, speed, height and tenacity. Unlike Draper could play multiple positions and adds a lot of depth and choice for a new coach. That makes FOS, Jagger, Draper, Lalor, Allan, Tauru, Armstrong, Reid; two of whom will be available to us. Will not be unhappy with any combination i.e Lalor +

 

[Little Ziggyadee]

Speaking of training, I've noticed a bunch of other clubs have had big chunks of guys training hard the last 4-5 weeks. Presumably of their own choice. Particularly Freo who look ripped.

Have any of our guys been doing anything ? Haven't seen anything in any social media feeds or anything.

13 of them were at the club last week putting in the hard yards.
The rest are still away or injured

 

[TOT70]

What? He has absolute tinkle toes. Goes inside to outside very quickly. Watch the first 90 seconds. Does it multiple times.

If we want speed we should draft the boundary umpire at 50 secs.

 

[tiger3000]

FOS, Jagger, Draper, Lalor, Allan, Tauru, Armstrong, Reid

add in Langford, Smillie and Lindsay - and consider that we are guaranteed to have the option to get 4 of these players (unless others preferred) - it's easy to see why we aren't particularly fussed about trades and like 6, 10 & 11 as-is. How many sleeps?

 

[Mr Brightside]

Again going through opinions , mock draft type scenarios and basically having as much idea as myself , I think my somewhat preferred possible/ wishful thinking scenario if we keep all our picks would be

1 Lalor
6 Langford
10 Allan
11 Armstrong/Shanahan/ Whitlock J dont mind any of those talls
18 Hotton
20 Berry
23 Hanaford
24 Dobson

Fair chance a later pick gos out for a future first and a pick back in this draft

 

[toothless]

Foley made the Victorian team as starting mid with a not particularly lethal leg or scoreboard impact.

he was one of the best on ground in that game also

 

[bullus_hit]

Draper is the best give and go player in the draft and one of the best getting separation from stoppages. He has a genuinely quick first 5 to 10 metres.

However, his kicking and decision making can be poor at times. His kicking can lack penetration sometimes too.

Despite the numbers, I thought some of his SANFL games were poor where his execution was concerned. Lot of turnovers.

If he can be cleaned up, great. If not he'll struggle.

Rightly or wrongly, get the feeling there's a bit of sub conscious hangover with his brother Arlo too, who I always thought was a softo dud and proved that to be the case very very quickly at Cwood. They are quite different in all fairness but besides some other things, I sense there's a bit of buyer beware with Draper in club land.

I just watched some of those games and they reinforced my view that his kicking is too ragged for a top 6 pick. The decision making also suspect, he even kicked the wrong way in one passage of play. I see the appeal, he's busy and agile but none of this amounts to much if you are delivering floaters into the forward line. At pick 10 no problem, I think that's fair weight.

 

[Leysy Days]

I'm not hot on Draper and you have touched on the reasons I'm reluctant to bite with a top 6 pick. The biggest issue I see is his kicking depth, for a player with a 3 step burst there needs to be a compatible missile launching system, at times he looks like he's kicking a bag of sand and being a stickler for kicking I'm marking him harder than most. If a player only touches the ball 20-25 times a match there needs to be a higher degree of hurt factor, otherwise we enter the realm of vanilla mid. Draper impresses about as much as McCauliffe did in 2023 and that's not a jab at Kane by the way, just an observation that one player was picked in the third round and we now have a similar type being mooted for a top 5 pick.

Not sure on the hurt factor and vanilla quotes.

Unsure how much you've seen of him outside highlights, but they aren't words you would describe him to Leysy's eye.

He has the single best acceleration of any midfielder in this year. Bar none. He gets it from inside to out as good as anyone bar Jagga. Not that it means everything, but he's had the best agility result recorded by anyone over the past two years as well which meets the eye test.

He also just bounces from contest to contest, inside and out.

Need to remember this is a guy who had next to no pre-season, had a late start (not at you, but does only FoS get those alibies) and still produced at senior SANFL level in a very poor team. That is a big tick ILO.

Also keep in mind as an under ager was All Aus and SA's MVP at the champs.

For Leysy there's a handkerchief between Lalor, FoS, Jagga and Draper. Happy with any of them in any order.

If he gets overlooked by Adelaide it won't be for football reasons. But we arent privy to that.

 

[bullus_hit]

Not sure on the hurt factor and vanilla quotes.

Unsure how much you've seen of him outside highlights, but they aren't words you would describe him to Leysy's eye.

He has the single best acceleration of any midfielder in this year. Bar none. He gets it from inside to out as good as anyone bar Jagga. Not that it means everything, but he's had the best agility result recorded by anyone over the past two years as well which meets the eye test.

He also just bounces from contest to contest, inside and out.

Need to remember this is a guy who had next to no pre-season, had a late start (not at you, but does only FoS get those alibies) and still produced at senior SANFL level in a very poor team. That is a big tick ILO.

Also keep in mind as an under ager was All Aus and SA's MVP at the champs.

For Leysy there's a handkerchief between Lalor, FoS, Jagga and Draper. Happy with any of them in any order.

If he gets overlooked by Adelaide it won't be for football reasons. But we arent privy to that.

He's the worst kick of that quartet so he's not in the same class as far as I'm concerned. I would have Langford in the top echelon and Draper in a grouping with Smillie & Allan.

 

[Steely Danzig]

Prefer Lindsay & Reid over Smillie & Allan.

 

[turk-d-tiger]

I just watched some of those games and they reinforced my view that his kicking is too ragged for a top 6 pick. The decision making also suspect, he even kicked the wrong way in one passage of play. I see the appeal, he's busy and agile but none of this amounts to much if you are delivering floaters into the forward line. At pick 10 no problem, I think that's fair weight.

Delivering floaters is my biggest issue with draper also , He needs to get that fixed to become more damaging

But at Pick #7 and its our of Reid , Armstrong & Draper for the pick i think im still taking Draper or trading it back

 

[Leysy Days]

He's the worst kick of that quartet so he's not in the same class as far as I'm concerned. I would have Langford in the top echelon and Draper in a grouping with Smillie & Allan.

Fair enough. All opinions.

Reckon you only need to watch Allan V Draper at senior level to see the difference between them. Let alone other factors. Big gulf.

If FoS is gone fully expect Carlton to take him at 3.

 

[bullus_hit]

Fair enough. All opinions.

Reckon you only need to watch Allan V Draper at senior level to see the difference between them. Let alone other factors. Big gulf.

If FoS is gone fully expect Carlton to take him at 3.

I'm not a fan of Allan for the same reason, I think we can do better with pick 10.

 

[Leysy Days]

Delivering floaters is my biggest issue with draper also , He needs to get that fixed to become more damaging

But at Pick #7 and its our of Reid , Armstrong & Draper for the pick i think im still taking Draper or trading it back

For us. Draper with his leg speed and explosiveness is a massive need for us. Absolutely massive. The Mt Macedon Snails will be quicker than us in 25'.

If he's there at 6 or 7 or whatever (unlikely) we simply have to take him.

 

[bullus_hit]

Delivering floaters is my biggest issue with draper also , He needs to get that fixed to become more damaging

But at Pick #7 and its our of Reid , Armstrong & Draper for the pick i think im still taking Draper or trading it back

I'm taking Tauru over Draper.

 

[turk-d-tiger]

I'm taking Tauru over Draper.

Fair enough

how about his kicking though

 

[turk-d-tiger]

I'm not a fan of Allan for the same reason, I think we can do better with pick 10.

I see similar issue's with Allan that we had with RCD

Just doesnt get the ball enough for me

 

[bullus_hit]

Fair enough

how about his kicking though

Tauru looks safe and assured, his goal kicking technique also looks fine. I think you get a safe floor by picking him and a huge upside if he becomes a focal point up forward.

 

[Scoop]

Need to remember this is a guy who had next to no pre-season, had a late start (not at you, but does only FoS get those alibies) and still produced at senior SANFL level in a very poor team. That is a big tick ILO.

So this, the no preseason alibi applies to Lalor, FOS and Draper amongst the first six.

This is why I’d take Lalor at 1, I reckon he has shown more than any of the other two.