Callipygian
Team Player
- May 18, 2021
- 2,277
- 5,115
- AFL Club
- Sydney
As the pointy end of the AFLW season descends upon us (already!) it is not too soon to start turning our minds to the AFLW trade and draft. It could be next thing on the agenda for the Swans AFLW team as soon as Monday if we miss finals.
The trade period will be 7-14 December 2023 (straight after the 3 December 2023 Grand Final). The draft will follow on 18 December 2023.
Trade
I'm not sure but I think that pick trading is permitted (can anyone clarify?). Not sure about trading future picks.
I don't know about you but:
I'm thinking our greatest need is for KPPs rather than midfielders.
Currently we have basically no KPP depth. We've got Mitchell, Lexi Hamilton and Smith plus two rucks. Maybe you can include Privitelli at a stretch because she plays taller than she is. And I don't think of Heads as a tall, but at 175 cm she is taller than Privitelli and described as a "key defender" on our website. In any event, there are no spares outside the 23.
I know some of us are unconvinced about the value of talls in the AFLW (I'm thinking of you Whereisbuddy - I hope I've got the right poster, apologies if I have mixed you up) but personally I think talls are pretty valuable, particularly when they are mobile (I'm thinking of players like Bannan at Melbourne or even our own Privitelli). You need to be able to take marks inside 50 and you need to be able to defend against the other team doing the same. On the weekend just gone the best team in the comp, the Demons, played with Campbell, Gall, Zanker and Bannan (all front half talls) plus they have Tayla Harris in reserve somewhere (not sure why she wasn't playing - I don't really follow teams apart from ours). Plus they had Wilson, Birch and Gillard (ruck/defender) as well as their 2x AA ruck Lauren Pearce.
I have no idea who we target but I'd like to see us bring in a couple of talls, at least one via trade (ready to play) and maybe another via the draft. That's without delisting any of those we have already. If we decide we can upgrade any of them then we could bring in even more.
Overall, I feel like we have an opportunity to significantly improve our list. Last year we were compelled to start with a list that were pretty much the dregs of the AFLW (I feel bad using such a harsh word) plus some young talent, which partly accounts for us losing every game. Over the last off season we did a fantastic job of improving our list but I think there is still plenty of room to further improve.
An additional reason we might look to trade to improve our list is because we won't have as strong a hand at the draft this time around.
When it comes to trading, I think we've got some good things going for us. First, I think Gowans has a good idea of who's who in the AFLW and who might be worth targeting plus he already has relationships with a lot of players playing at other clubs given his connections with the Dandenong Stingrays and Vic Country at junior level, and with Carlton, North Melbourne and Collingwood at senior level. No doubt that already helped us to lure Molloy, McEvoy, Smith and Newman at least.
Second, I think there is every reason to be hopeful that we can become a destination club. We seem to have built a good culture very quickly. We're a team that is going places as evidenced by our huge improvement this season and generous quantity of young talent. We have the best training facilities of any club in the land (of any sport). We have the great Sydney climate and environment. We have valuable links with UNSW and a club that is good at helping players find other jobs. And we have a club that is right at the forefront of integrating our AFLW program into the fabric of the club. We also have the biggest membership and the biggest crowds of any team in the comp bar none.
For all these reasons, I'm optimistic that we can bring in some valuable additions to improve our list and replace some of the players that are perhaps less suited to AFLW level.
I have no idea if there are any players that will want to leave (like Eastman last season). I can't imagine us wanting to trade out any player good enough to have trade currency.
I wonder how many players we will turnover? I think we will have at least 5 players depart and probably more, even with the smaller list sizes. It wouldn't surprise me if it was 8 or even more (actually I think it would excite me). Players who could be nervous: Ford (I can't see her surviving), Woodward (already 33 yo), Kennedy, Vale, Higgins, Beruldsen (seems to be getting games so she might be alright), Collier (she's probably a good player but we wouldn't know because she's been injured the whole time she's been here), Beesley. No idea about Bullas. Reynolds has the fact that she is the tallest player in the comp going for her. Hard to say with Anthony - she's only 19, probably she gets a bit longer to prove herself. The likes of Whelan, Sheppard, Newman and even Sargent-Wilson and Szigeti are our mid-range players who are likely to be retained but I wouldn't bet the house on any of them. Szigeti for instance might have more chance of getting games elsewhere going forward and she may prefer to return to Victoria.
Draft
For a couple of reasons we aren't as likely to have a huge windfall at the draft as we did when we got Ham, Hurley & Hamilton.
First, and perhaps most importantly, the AFL has closed the rule that enabled players to nominate the state they want to go to (except for their home state), thereby denying us the opporunity to shield from 16 other clubs players we persuaded to nominate NSW. Fortunately we made the most of that rule while it was there and capitalised by nabbing Ham & Hurley.
Second, our vastly improved second season means that we won't be getting pick 1. Possibly we won't even get a top 10 pick.
Third, the pool of talent coming from NSW is very shallow. Rookie Me has created a power rankings list of their 40 top prospects. Only one of them (Holly Cooper listed at #32) is from the Swans Academy. There are another couple that might nominate NSW (in particular Cleo Buttifant) but they are more linked with GWS. A lot of the very best players will be pre-listed and not even make it to the draft, including it seems all of Rookie Me's top 3 ranked players and 4 of their top 5.
We have the ability to pre-list certain players (not sure if they have to be Swans Academy or what the criteria are) but given I think we can hold over these 'pre-list' spots until next year, perhaps we would rather do that since there aren't many NSW/Swans players who are outstanding talents. According to Rookie Me, the 2024 draft is looming as the AFLW's first super draft, so it might be worth hanging on to the right to pre-list players then (although, sadly, none of the names mentioned are from NSW): Will 2024 be the first AFLW Super Draft?.
A fourth disadvantage is that when it comes to players that do nominate NSW, GWS will get first dibs on them in each round of the draft. (That is, subject to any trading manoeuvres we can pull off - would it be worth our splitting our first pick if we could turn it into two picks before GWS' second pick?)
The upshot of all this is that we may mostly be drafting from the players which nominate themselves to the 'national' pool - and it seems that will be less than half of the top prospects. There will probably only be a handful of players who would be natural first-rounders who will be available to choose from. Hopefully they haven't been snapped up by the time our pick comes around! I think we might have to cross our fingers about the Tasmanian players.
Still, as with every draft, it will certainly be exciting to see who we draft and then to see them develop.
Here is the link to the Rookie Me power rankings: AFLW Draft Power Rankings: October 2023.
Here is a link to an article with all the key dates: AFLW draft and trade dates locked in, BnF night confirmed.
The trade period will be 7-14 December 2023 (straight after the 3 December 2023 Grand Final). The draft will follow on 18 December 2023.
Trade
I'm not sure but I think that pick trading is permitted (can anyone clarify?). Not sure about trading future picks.
I don't know about you but:
- having brought in Molloy, Gardiner and McEvoy, and
- with Hurley and Ham developing nicely and
- with the addition of Kennedy,
I'm thinking our greatest need is for KPPs rather than midfielders.
Currently we have basically no KPP depth. We've got Mitchell, Lexi Hamilton and Smith plus two rucks. Maybe you can include Privitelli at a stretch because she plays taller than she is. And I don't think of Heads as a tall, but at 175 cm she is taller than Privitelli and described as a "key defender" on our website. In any event, there are no spares outside the 23.
I know some of us are unconvinced about the value of talls in the AFLW (I'm thinking of you Whereisbuddy - I hope I've got the right poster, apologies if I have mixed you up) but personally I think talls are pretty valuable, particularly when they are mobile (I'm thinking of players like Bannan at Melbourne or even our own Privitelli). You need to be able to take marks inside 50 and you need to be able to defend against the other team doing the same. On the weekend just gone the best team in the comp, the Demons, played with Campbell, Gall, Zanker and Bannan (all front half talls) plus they have Tayla Harris in reserve somewhere (not sure why she wasn't playing - I don't really follow teams apart from ours). Plus they had Wilson, Birch and Gillard (ruck/defender) as well as their 2x AA ruck Lauren Pearce.
I have no idea who we target but I'd like to see us bring in a couple of talls, at least one via trade (ready to play) and maybe another via the draft. That's without delisting any of those we have already. If we decide we can upgrade any of them then we could bring in even more.
Overall, I feel like we have an opportunity to significantly improve our list. Last year we were compelled to start with a list that were pretty much the dregs of the AFLW (I feel bad using such a harsh word) plus some young talent, which partly accounts for us losing every game. Over the last off season we did a fantastic job of improving our list but I think there is still plenty of room to further improve.
An additional reason we might look to trade to improve our list is because we won't have as strong a hand at the draft this time around.
When it comes to trading, I think we've got some good things going for us. First, I think Gowans has a good idea of who's who in the AFLW and who might be worth targeting plus he already has relationships with a lot of players playing at other clubs given his connections with the Dandenong Stingrays and Vic Country at junior level, and with Carlton, North Melbourne and Collingwood at senior level. No doubt that already helped us to lure Molloy, McEvoy, Smith and Newman at least.
Second, I think there is every reason to be hopeful that we can become a destination club. We seem to have built a good culture very quickly. We're a team that is going places as evidenced by our huge improvement this season and generous quantity of young talent. We have the best training facilities of any club in the land (of any sport). We have the great Sydney climate and environment. We have valuable links with UNSW and a club that is good at helping players find other jobs. And we have a club that is right at the forefront of integrating our AFLW program into the fabric of the club. We also have the biggest membership and the biggest crowds of any team in the comp bar none.
For all these reasons, I'm optimistic that we can bring in some valuable additions to improve our list and replace some of the players that are perhaps less suited to AFLW level.
I have no idea if there are any players that will want to leave (like Eastman last season). I can't imagine us wanting to trade out any player good enough to have trade currency.
I wonder how many players we will turnover? I think we will have at least 5 players depart and probably more, even with the smaller list sizes. It wouldn't surprise me if it was 8 or even more (actually I think it would excite me). Players who could be nervous: Ford (I can't see her surviving), Woodward (already 33 yo), Kennedy, Vale, Higgins, Beruldsen (seems to be getting games so she might be alright), Collier (she's probably a good player but we wouldn't know because she's been injured the whole time she's been here), Beesley. No idea about Bullas. Reynolds has the fact that she is the tallest player in the comp going for her. Hard to say with Anthony - she's only 19, probably she gets a bit longer to prove herself. The likes of Whelan, Sheppard, Newman and even Sargent-Wilson and Szigeti are our mid-range players who are likely to be retained but I wouldn't bet the house on any of them. Szigeti for instance might have more chance of getting games elsewhere going forward and she may prefer to return to Victoria.
Draft
For a couple of reasons we aren't as likely to have a huge windfall at the draft as we did when we got Ham, Hurley & Hamilton.
First, and perhaps most importantly, the AFL has closed the rule that enabled players to nominate the state they want to go to (except for their home state), thereby denying us the opporunity to shield from 16 other clubs players we persuaded to nominate NSW. Fortunately we made the most of that rule while it was there and capitalised by nabbing Ham & Hurley.
Second, our vastly improved second season means that we won't be getting pick 1. Possibly we won't even get a top 10 pick.
Third, the pool of talent coming from NSW is very shallow. Rookie Me has created a power rankings list of their 40 top prospects. Only one of them (Holly Cooper listed at #32) is from the Swans Academy. There are another couple that might nominate NSW (in particular Cleo Buttifant) but they are more linked with GWS. A lot of the very best players will be pre-listed and not even make it to the draft, including it seems all of Rookie Me's top 3 ranked players and 4 of their top 5.
We have the ability to pre-list certain players (not sure if they have to be Swans Academy or what the criteria are) but given I think we can hold over these 'pre-list' spots until next year, perhaps we would rather do that since there aren't many NSW/Swans players who are outstanding talents. According to Rookie Me, the 2024 draft is looming as the AFLW's first super draft, so it might be worth hanging on to the right to pre-list players then (although, sadly, none of the names mentioned are from NSW): Will 2024 be the first AFLW Super Draft?.
A fourth disadvantage is that when it comes to players that do nominate NSW, GWS will get first dibs on them in each round of the draft. (That is, subject to any trading manoeuvres we can pull off - would it be worth our splitting our first pick if we could turn it into two picks before GWS' second pick?)
The upshot of all this is that we may mostly be drafting from the players which nominate themselves to the 'national' pool - and it seems that will be less than half of the top prospects. There will probably only be a handful of players who would be natural first-rounders who will be available to choose from. Hopefully they haven't been snapped up by the time our pick comes around! I think we might have to cross our fingers about the Tasmanian players.
Still, as with every draft, it will certainly be exciting to see who we draft and then to see them develop.
Here is the link to the Rookie Me power rankings: AFLW Draft Power Rankings: October 2023.
Here is a link to an article with all the key dates: AFLW draft and trade dates locked in, BnF night confirmed.
