With 2 doing ACL's we need to pick up the best 3 players from all the different leagues around Australia in the Mid Season Draft. They aren't going to cost you much. Lets see if this new recruiter from the Aints can come up with a few gems cos we certainly need some.
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Mid season Draft
- Thread starter RUNVS
- Start date
Only problem with the mid season draft is getting the players up to match fitness and game structures within a few weeks to have any value. There won't be any finals this year so it'd be a band aid approach.
Think I'd prefer using the mid to snaffle an exciting youngster or two that perhaps may just have missed in the regular drafts who'd be ready to step up into next season off a half year of VFL and full summer pre season.
Think I'd prefer using the mid to snaffle an exciting youngster or two that perhaps may just have missed in the regular drafts who'd be ready to step up into next season off a half year of VFL and full summer pre season.
i would doubt you can put a Cat B rookie on the LTIL and replace him with a regular rookie.
Fawcett could be an option, if anyone has any idea how long until he can play.
Does anyone know if Fawcett is running?
Fawcett said he would be running at end of April. So training session the week of April 29 would be a good checkpoint.
This George Grey will go in the MSD, AFL clubs seem to love the “bolter” who comes from nowhere. Saw him in the state game v SA, didn’t really stand out but AFL clubs are looking deeper than starring in a state game or state league footy.
DOLPHIN MAKES A SPLASH
Paul Amy - CODE Sports
On the day Jackson Kornberg was appointed Frankston’s new senior coach last October, the first two phone calls he made were to his parents, giving them the good news.
The third was to George Grey.
Grey was playing at Casey Demons, but Kornberg knew him from the Sandringham Dragons and quickly identified him as a potential recruit for the Dolphins.
And he had his “pitch’’: a new position as well as a new club.
The 183cm Grey had played as a forward and midfielder at Casey, but Kornberg, having coached him in Under 16 and 18 Dragons teams, saw scope for a greater expression of his ability to kick the ball classily on both feet and make canny decisions with it.
He believed it would come with a move to halfback.
Grey, 23, was reluctant to leave the Demons, but he believed he needed to do “something different’’ to take his football to a higher level.
He decided to join the Dolphins.
It’s early in the 2024 VFL season but in three games – two for Frankston and the other for the league in the Gather Round representative match against the SANFL – Grey has emerged as a candidate for the AFL mid-season draft.
Going back has taken him forward as a player. One recruiter says Grey’s performance at the stand-alone clubs’ practice match carnival made the trip to Frankston Park worth it.
He says few players in state league football use the ball better than the new Dolphin.
“People are noticing him,’’ Kornberg says.
“Playing as a half-forward, you might get six, seven, eight touches and it’s all congested. Playing at halfback, he’s suddenly getting 25 touches in a bit more space and showing off his strengths.
“That was part of the pitch to get him across.’’
A few weeks earlier, Kornberg spoke to Grey briefly at the JJ Liston Trophy count, when Kornberg was still with Gold Coast Suns.
Grey confided that he was thinking about joining a stand-alone club.
“After that conversation, and after I got the job, he was literally the third person I called,’’ Kornberg says.
“It just seemed a good fit for him and for us,’’ he adds, noting the Dolphins had to replace the brilliant boot of Williamstown-bound Ryley Stoddart.
“It was in my head that we still had ‘Vossy’ (Jackson Voss) and we’d have Tyson Milne coming in but we just needed to add another classy ball-user off halfback.’’
Grey says the approach from Frankston came at the right time.
Although he appreciated being in the strong Casey Demons program, and although he had become a senior regular in a team flush with Melbourne-listed players, he thought he should have a look around.
He had a chuckle to himself when Kornberg raised the idea of a switch to halfback.
“I’d jokingly suggested it when I was at Casey, because my best assets are my kicking and my decision-making … I’m sort of kicking myself I didn’t push myself up for it more than I did,’’ Grey says.
“It was weird, because I know how much time and effort I’ve put in and how much vision I’ve watched as a midfielder-half forward. I knew I was good at that role.
“But at the same time I want a different outcome. I want to make the AFL and I knew I needed to do something different. I couldn’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same result. I had to change something up.’’
There was another reason Kornberg wanted Grey: “He knows what success looks like.’’
Kornberg calls him a “premiership winner’’ with a “remarkable record’’.
It consists of six flags with division one Beaumaris junior sides, five with his school, St Bede’s College, and with the Casey Demons in 2022.
“A senior VFL premiership player … when you can bring them into your club, that experience is really important,’’ Kornberg says.
From Beaumaris, Grey advanced to the Dragons, where he showed out as a bottom-age player in 2018, but was frustrated by injuries and illness in his top-age year.
Tapping the St Bede’s College connection, Sam Radford, his house co-ordinator and Casey’s coach, coaxed him to Casey Fields.
After eight games in his first year with the Demons, Grey played 17 in the premiership season and 19 last year.
“He’s a good story from a VFL persistence point of view,’’ Kornberg notes. “A lot of players, if they don’t play in their first year or much in their second year, they jump ship. He just dug in.’’
And Casey rewarded him with its Steve Harrison Rising Star award.
Grey says it wasn’t easy to leave the Dees, where he was a popular figure and becoming an increasingly valuable player.
“I had some many close connections and relationships at Casey. I still have. It was tough to walk away from that professional environment and knowing how good it all ran.
“I grew and learned so much there.
“But it’s the nature of the beast with the alignment … it probably prevented me from exploring all my opportunities as a player.’’
On the eve of his first season with the Dolphins, Grey was honoured when he was made a vice-captain of a club he had yet to represent.
That, Kornberg says, was testament to his “professionalism and positivity’’ as much as his playing ability.
Grey was honoured again when he was selected in the VFL team.
It was the first time he had been picked in a Big V side; he missed out at Under 12 and 16 level and did not get a look at the Under 18 Metro trials for the nationals.
The Vics lost by 14 points against the South Australians but Grey held his own with 14 possessions.
“It was a massive goal, something I’d always wanted to do, wear the Big V,’’ he says.
Grey is pleased with his start to the season but believes he’ll be more influential as he settles across the halfback line.
“As I’m reflecting on and reviewing games, I still think I have so much to learn in the new position,’’ he says. “I get excited about how much room there is for me to have more of an impact. I can see it in the vision. It has been good but I think can go to a couple more levels.’’
He is mindful of the dual demands of his position, man-minding and ball-finding.
“Some people might think I get on the outside of it, but I’ll back myself in one-on-one contests,’’ Grey says.
“I think my running ability allows me to make up ground on the way back if I do get too far forward. Being in that high half-forward role at Casey and playing with guys like Kade Chandler and Toby Bedford, I saw how hard you have to work to cover the ground.’’
DOLPHIN MAKES A SPLASH
Paul Amy - CODE Sports
On the day Jackson Kornberg was appointed Frankston’s new senior coach last October, the first two phone calls he made were to his parents, giving them the good news.
The third was to George Grey.
Grey was playing at Casey Demons, but Kornberg knew him from the Sandringham Dragons and quickly identified him as a potential recruit for the Dolphins.
And he had his “pitch’’: a new position as well as a new club.
The 183cm Grey had played as a forward and midfielder at Casey, but Kornberg, having coached him in Under 16 and 18 Dragons teams, saw scope for a greater expression of his ability to kick the ball classily on both feet and make canny decisions with it.
He believed it would come with a move to halfback.
Grey, 23, was reluctant to leave the Demons, but he believed he needed to do “something different’’ to take his football to a higher level.
He decided to join the Dolphins.
It’s early in the 2024 VFL season but in three games – two for Frankston and the other for the league in the Gather Round representative match against the SANFL – Grey has emerged as a candidate for the AFL mid-season draft.
Going back has taken him forward as a player. One recruiter says Grey’s performance at the stand-alone clubs’ practice match carnival made the trip to Frankston Park worth it.
He says few players in state league football use the ball better than the new Dolphin.
“People are noticing him,’’ Kornberg says.
“Playing as a half-forward, you might get six, seven, eight touches and it’s all congested. Playing at halfback, he’s suddenly getting 25 touches in a bit more space and showing off his strengths.
“That was part of the pitch to get him across.’’
A few weeks earlier, Kornberg spoke to Grey briefly at the JJ Liston Trophy count, when Kornberg was still with Gold Coast Suns.
Grey confided that he was thinking about joining a stand-alone club.
“After that conversation, and after I got the job, he was literally the third person I called,’’ Kornberg says.
“It just seemed a good fit for him and for us,’’ he adds, noting the Dolphins had to replace the brilliant boot of Williamstown-bound Ryley Stoddart.
“It was in my head that we still had ‘Vossy’ (Jackson Voss) and we’d have Tyson Milne coming in but we just needed to add another classy ball-user off halfback.’’
Grey says the approach from Frankston came at the right time.
Although he appreciated being in the strong Casey Demons program, and although he had become a senior regular in a team flush with Melbourne-listed players, he thought he should have a look around.
He had a chuckle to himself when Kornberg raised the idea of a switch to halfback.
“I’d jokingly suggested it when I was at Casey, because my best assets are my kicking and my decision-making … I’m sort of kicking myself I didn’t push myself up for it more than I did,’’ Grey says.
“It was weird, because I know how much time and effort I’ve put in and how much vision I’ve watched as a midfielder-half forward. I knew I was good at that role.
“But at the same time I want a different outcome. I want to make the AFL and I knew I needed to do something different. I couldn’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same result. I had to change something up.’’
There was another reason Kornberg wanted Grey: “He knows what success looks like.’’
Kornberg calls him a “premiership winner’’ with a “remarkable record’’.
It consists of six flags with division one Beaumaris junior sides, five with his school, St Bede’s College, and with the Casey Demons in 2022.
“A senior VFL premiership player … when you can bring them into your club, that experience is really important,’’ Kornberg says.
From Beaumaris, Grey advanced to the Dragons, where he showed out as a bottom-age player in 2018, but was frustrated by injuries and illness in his top-age year.
Tapping the St Bede’s College connection, Sam Radford, his house co-ordinator and Casey’s coach, coaxed him to Casey Fields.
After eight games in his first year with the Demons, Grey played 17 in the premiership season and 19 last year.
“He’s a good story from a VFL persistence point of view,’’ Kornberg notes. “A lot of players, if they don’t play in their first year or much in their second year, they jump ship. He just dug in.’’
And Casey rewarded him with its Steve Harrison Rising Star award.
Grey says it wasn’t easy to leave the Dees, where he was a popular figure and becoming an increasingly valuable player.
“I had some many close connections and relationships at Casey. I still have. It was tough to walk away from that professional environment and knowing how good it all ran.
“I grew and learned so much there.
“But it’s the nature of the beast with the alignment … it probably prevented me from exploring all my opportunities as a player.’’
On the eve of his first season with the Dolphins, Grey was honoured when he was made a vice-captain of a club he had yet to represent.
That, Kornberg says, was testament to his “professionalism and positivity’’ as much as his playing ability.
Grey was honoured again when he was selected in the VFL team.
It was the first time he had been picked in a Big V side; he missed out at Under 12 and 16 level and did not get a look at the Under 18 Metro trials for the nationals.
The Vics lost by 14 points against the South Australians but Grey held his own with 14 possessions.
“It was a massive goal, something I’d always wanted to do, wear the Big V,’’ he says.
Grey is pleased with his start to the season but believes he’ll be more influential as he settles across the halfback line.
“As I’m reflecting on and reviewing games, I still think I have so much to learn in the new position,’’ he says. “I get excited about how much room there is for me to have more of an impact. I can see it in the vision. It has been good but I think can go to a couple more levels.’’
He is mindful of the dual demands of his position, man-minding and ball-finding.
“Some people might think I get on the outside of it, but I’ll back myself in one-on-one contests,’’ Grey says.
“I think my running ability allows me to make up ground on the way back if I do get too far forward. Being in that high half-forward role at Casey and playing with guys like Kade Chandler and Toby Bedford, I saw how hard you have to work to cover the ground.’’
Cant draft under 18s. Thats only for the end of season national-rookie drafts.
So we can draft the young 19-21yo who missed out on the draft and most are still finding their feet, 21-24 yo who have matured and settled, or 25-28yo who are in their prime and the best in their comps.
All have merit.
Some top age player's who will be considered in the Mid season draft .
Oskar Smartt. Bendigo. 180cm 84kg ,mid/forward ,l like this lad the most of all top age mids/forwards ,,unlucky not to get drafted ,strong overhead ,good around goals ,is proven at VFL ,great attack on the ball,has the footy smarts .
Max Mapley .Tassie. 199cm ruck/forward. .very agile and strong overhead ,good up forward ,and in the ruck,is athletic ,should be looked at.
Cooper Trembath 193cm eastern ranges defender...very good reader of the play,and strong in the air ,good kick,could make a third back man type.
Geordie Payne 184cm .Tassie .mid/defender a really hard at it mid/hb type with pace and good overhead ,doesn't turn 19 till very late in the year.
Joe Pike 203cm ruck forward Falcons ,,can play forward and kick goals,moves around the ground well,his use of the ball is quite good,and has a touch of mongrel about him .
Oskar Smartt. Bendigo. 180cm 84kg ,mid/forward ,l like this lad the most of all top age mids/forwards ,,unlucky not to get drafted ,strong overhead ,good around goals ,is proven at VFL ,great attack on the ball,has the footy smarts .
Max Mapley .Tassie. 199cm ruck/forward. .very agile and strong overhead ,good up forward ,and in the ruck,is athletic ,should be looked at.
Cooper Trembath 193cm eastern ranges defender...very good reader of the play,and strong in the air ,good kick,could make a third back man type.
Geordie Payne 184cm .Tassie .mid/defender a really hard at it mid/hb type with pace and good overhead ,doesn't turn 19 till very late in the year.
Joe Pike 203cm ruck forward Falcons ,,can play forward and kick goals,moves around the ground well,his use of the ball is quite good,and has a touch of mongrel about him .
