Game Day 2024 AFL Draft - Nights 1 & 2, from 7pm AEST

[Bloods86]

I notice a lot of clubs were reaching with their picks.

I watched the draft with the top 58 consensus rankings list open. And I was removing players from the list as they were taken. (So I had an idea who was still available to us)

A lot of clubs were taking players that were ranked very late on the list. Or not on the list at all. So I think clubs would have different internal rankings to the list that the draft experts put out.

Well yeah, and this isn't surprising. Nor has it always turned out poorly for us obviously.

Though a first rounder for someone so late in the rankings, even for us, is surprising. And when there seemed to be more prolific options for the type.

At least it was on a need though, unlike the Bice pick (and I would argue the small fwd component of the Dattoli pick).

 

[Membling]

Chamberlain and King are likely the reason why we overlooked tall forwards in this year's draft.

Don't want too many of one type of player on the list (which is understandable)

King's best position IMo is on ball.

King rotating through mids as a tall mid would be great for our mix. Able to rest up forward as a tall marking threat too

 

[SSwans2011]

Chamberlain and King are likely the reason why we overlooked tall forwards in this year's draft.

Don't want too many of one type of player on the list (which is understandable)

This! One of them replaces Hamling and then we've got 6 on the list and we'll need to fit all of them in our AFL/VFL side with a resting ruck to factor in in the VFL.

Taking any more KPFs would have meant giving at least one of them almost no opportunity for development. Same goes with key defenders.

 

[SeanM]

How we drafted does make preseason more intriguing for me.

Dattoli - Whether he could be pushing for selection for round 1. He seems more solidly built than Konstanty (who despite his injuries did not seem likely to play early).

Bowman - How he goes in the reserves. Whether he can be a marking threat as a young forward and show some athleticism. In the last two seasons, I felt our younger vfl players could get lost in the forward line and not be able to win their contests. We forgo taking a tall forward at this pick. So curious if Bowman looks like he can develop into a dangerous forward at AFL level.

Bice - Whether he looks like he can play seniors in his first year. Also by not taking a inside mid or KPD at this pick. I will be interested to see if guys like Sheldrick, Roberts, Cleary, Snell and Edwards can emerge in those positions.

Andrews - Feel like he is going to be a long term prospect. Even his brother took a few years to get going. He is listed as a lockdown defender. But I wonder if they will develop him as a 3rd tall interceptor who will rely on his leap and reading the flight of the ball.

Leidler - Seems more of a long term speculative prospect. I feel like I will end up comparing him to how Vickery and Magor progressed in their first season. I will be interested in how he handles marking bigger bodies and whether he can use his pace to rebound.

Paton - Whether he looks like he can play early as a small defender. And if we are going for more defensive balance in our backline rather than players like Florent.

 

[Bloods86]

How we drafted does make preseason more intriguing for me.

Dattoli - Whether he could be pushing for selection for round 1. He seems more solidly built than Konstanty (he despite his injuries did not seem likely to play early).

Bowman - How he goes in the reserves. Whether he can be a marking threat as a young forward and show some athleticism. In the last two seasons, I felt our younger players could get lost in the forward line and not be able to win their contests.

Bice - Whether he looks like he can play seniors in his first year. Also by not taking a inside mid or KPD at this pick. I will be interested to see if guys like Sheldrick, Roberts, Cleary, Snell and Edwards can emerge in those positions.

Andrews - Feel like he is going to be a long term prospect. Even his brother took a few years to get going. He is listed as a lockdown defender. But I wonder they will develop him to a 3rd tall interceptor who will rely on his leap and reading the flight of the ball.

Leidler - Seems more of a long term speculative prospect. I feel like I will end up comparing him to how Vickery and Magor progressed in their first seaso.

Paton - Whether he looks like he can play early. And if we are going for more defensive balance in our backline rather than players like Florent.

Re: Dattoli and Bowman, I think it depends on how our midfield and taller forwards (Buller, Hamling) go. Magor was drafted as a medium forward but moved back to get involved because we couldn't win it out of midfield / had no forward structure and targets. If our mids struggle, Buller remains battling injury issues and Hamling is the lone decent KPF option, then we might have to move Dattoli into the middle and Bowman to half back to just get involved. We do seem to have been more competitive this year though. I think another mid and a KPF might have helped with that, but we'll rest Ladhams there and maybe Snell, Francis see some time forward as well.

Bice should really only come in if there's injuries to Blakey, Roberts, Florent etc. Maybe if Florent or Blakey hit a form slump like they did this year. And even then with Jmac fit again, Lloyd etc we should have cover in half back options already.

Paton likewise, only if Cunningham, Fox have injuries. But it's good to have younger backup.

 

[SeanM]

Re: Dattoli and Bowman, I think it depends on how our midfield and taller forwards (Buller, Hamling) go. Magor was drafted as a medium forward but moved back to get involved because we couldn't win it out of midfield / had no forward structure and targets. If our mids struggle, Buller remains battling injury issues and Hamling is the lone decent KPF option, then we might have to move Dattoli into the middle and Bowman to half back to just get involved. We do seem to have been more competitive this year though. I think another mid and a KPF might have helped with that, but we'll rest Ladhams there and maybe Snell, Francis see some time forward as well.

Bice should really only come in if there's injuries to Blakey, Roberts, Florent etc. Maybe if Florent or Blakey hit a form slump like they did this year. And even then with Jmac fit again, Lloyd etc we should have cover in half back options already.

Paton likewise, only if Cunningham, Fox have injuries. But it's good to have younger backup.

I thought Magor bulked up and looked more comfortable physically at VFL level in his 2nd season. And he had kicked a lot of goals as a junior. But I never saw him as a marking threat in our VFL forward line.

My best hope for Bowman is he could be a similar style of player to Nate Caddy in his first season. Where he is still undersized relative to his opponent but was still flying for marks and you could see what he could develop into.

For Dattoli, Bice and Paton. It will be hard to break into the side immediately. But I would like to see them play in the friendlies and look like they are ready to play this season. Looking at our draft I viewed those 3 as the ready to go players and the other 3 as a long term prospects.

 

[Bloods86]

I thought Magor bulked up and looked more comfortable physically at VFL level in his 2nd season. And he had kicked a lot of goals as a junior. But I never saw him as a marking threat in our VFL forward line.

My best hope for Bowman is he could be a similar style of player to Nate Caddy in his first season. Where he is still undersized relative to his opponent but was still flying for marks and you could see what he could develop into.

For Dattoli, Bice and Paton. It will be hard to break into the side immediately. But I would like to see them play in the friendlies and look like they are ready to play this season. Looking at our draft I viewed those 3 as the ready to go players and the other 3 as a long term prospects.

Magor was a more physical medium forward in juniors I believe, rather than a high leaping target.

You'd hope Paton is ready to go if needed, having come off an AFL list, otherwise may as well have just gone Leidler and grabbed some other type.

 

[Kiama Chris]

Magor was a more physical medium forward in juniors I believe, rather than a high leaping target.

You'd hope Paton is ready to go if needed, having come off an AFL list, otherwise may as well have just gone Leidler and grabbed some other type.

I was disappointed at Magor's treatment. He was compact, composed and clean. Good at ground level. Well built. Never got a decent crack.

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

I was disappointed at Magor's treatment. He was compact, composed and clean. Good at ground level. Well built. Never got a decent crack.

With proper development in the VFL who knows what might of become for a few of these players.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

I'm not sure how many times this needs to be explained, but phantom drafts are not rankings.

Obviously our club had him high on our board, or we wouldn't have taken him.

There just seems to be people jumping to defend the club, based on things that don't seem to be true. i.e. that Bowman was highly rated by anyone outside a few clubs (or at least among the highest rated medium forwards). He doesn't seem to have been more prolific than a bunch of others, including those who performed well at a higher level. That's the main thing for me, he fills a need yes.

It'd also be easier to ignore, if this board wasn't filled yearly with nonsense reach claims about Ling or Stephens (neither were, maybe Ling by 5-10 picks at worst), then when a massive reach occurs, even some of the same people (not you) are hand waving this away as if it makes total sense.

I could defer to our recruiting team, but we passed up on some good players in 2022, or at least made no attempt until the rookie draft to look at our biggest needs, to grab Konstanty and then a speculative reach in Vickery (on a need) at the same point in the draft as Bowman. They are both gone within 2 years.

What I take from Twomey’s list and the actual draft, is that at least 2 head recruiters - with recruitment teams and data analyst at their disposal - rated Bowman a top 30 prospect.

Now, they may well be wrong in their judgement - but I would tend to trust their judgement over the plethora of media power draft rankings.

Why don’t we give Bowman and Keane a chance before having a go at them?

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

While you also had another Honda Civic in the garage at home.

You know what they say about Honda Civics, you can never have too many in your garage.

 

[SGBeach]

Theres a few posters upset with the draft..
It might be a good time to remind everyone that over the last few years its been reported that 'the Swans have the Best Young List in the Comp'
So credit to the recruiters and the coaches for developing these kids. It seems they dont just know what they're doing, but they do it better than everyone else

 

[hairy biker]

Haven't posted in a bit because of the general negativity, after the GF shellacking, which has tended to permeate every thread.
Given our last two GF performances people are entitled to complain as they see fit, just from my perspective it became, now 2 months later, a bit tedious.

If I were to review our latest draft I would only add to the doom and gloom, so just a couple of observations.

Putting aside what I just said, it is actually daft to attempt to grade a team's draft performance a couple of days after its completion.

In the NFL a guy was drafted at pick 199 (6th rd) in 2000.
At the start of the 2001 season I remember reading 'it was going to be a long season' for his team if this player had to step into the role of starting QB.
Guy got his chance due to injury 1 game into the season.
It was indeed a long season, but perhaps not in the manner envisaged by the commentator.
Tom Brady won the first of his 6 Superbowls and began his journey to what many consider his status as GOAT.

Second observation relates to the influence recruiters can have on a prospect's draft 'readiness'.

One guy I would have liked us to draft was James Barrat (193cm, actually turns 18 today) from the Bendigo Pioneers.
Started the season up fwd, averaging 3 goals a game.
Recruiters wanted to see him tried down back, where he did well, primarily as an intercept defender.
Clubs then asked for him to be given a lockdown role on Josh Murphy, the leading goalkicker in the Coates League, and kept him goalless.
He also played a game in the middle against pick 6 in the draft, Harvey Langford.

Lost his mum to cancer a couple of years ago, relocated to Bendigo this year (as a 17yo) and renowned for his competitiveness.

Just to be clear, no connection to the guy, but an indication of how much goes on 'off track' compared to what we see on ground.

Finally I'll just bring it back to our first pick in Dattoli.
Lot of discussion pre-draft about his confidence.
I've seen some suggestions that clubs were put off by his attitude.
FIGJAM is OK if you are Nathan Buckley, less so if you are Mitch Thorp.

For those unaware of Thorp he kicked 5(?) goals against Tom Harley in the VFL (Tom returning from injury) and told Harley he had just finished Tom's career. Harley went on to captain Geelong to the AFL Premiership that year.
Thorp was delisted after a grand total of 2 AFL games.
Thorp later admitted his FIGJAM attitude was actually a coping/defensive method to cope with self doubts.

Just to finish off rating a draft immediately after the event.
Thorp was selected at pick 6 in the 2006 draft. Next selection was a certain Joel Selwood, whose knees were apparently shot.

 

[Kiama Chris]

Haven't posted in a bit because of the general negativity, after the GF shellacking, which has tended to permeate every thread.
Given our last two GF performances people are entitled to complain as they see fit, just from my perspective it became, now 2 months later, a bit tedious.

If I were to review our latest draft I would only add to the doom and gloom, so just a couple of observations.

Putting aside what I just said, it is actually daft to attempt to grade a team's draft performance a couple of days after its completion.

In the NFL a guy was drafted at pick 199 (6th rd) in 2000.
At the start of the 2001 season I remember reading 'it was going to be a long season' for his team if this player had to step into the role of starting QB.
Guy got his chance due to injury 1 game into the season.
It was indeed a long season, but perhaps not in the manner envisaged by the commentator.
Tom Brady won the first of his 6 Superbowls and began his journey to what many consider his status as GOAT.

Second observation relates to the influence recruiters can have on a prospect's draft 'readiness'.

One guy I would have liked us to draft was James Barrat (193cm, actually turns 18 today) from the Bendigo Pioneers.
Started the season up fwd, averaging 3 goals a game.
Recruiters wanted to see him tried down back, where he did well, primarily as an intercept defender.
Clubs then asked for him to be given a lockdown role on Josh Murphy, the leading goalkicker in the Coates League, and kept him goalless.
He also played a game in the middle against pick 6 in the draft, Harvey Langford.

Lost his mum to cancer a couple of years ago, relocated to Bendigo this year (as a 17yo) and renowned for his competitiveness.

Just to be clear, no connection to the guy, but an indication of how much goes on 'off track' compared to what we see on ground.

Finally I'll just bring it back to our first pick in Dattoli.
Lot of discussion pre-draft about his confidence.
I've seen some suggestions that clubs were put off by his attitude.
FIGJAM is OK if you are Nathan Buckley, less so if you are Mitch Thorp.

For those unaware of Thorp he kicked 5(?) goals against Tom Harley in the VFL (Tom returning from injury) and told Harley he had just finished Tom's career. Harley went on to captain Geelong to the AFL Premiership that year.
Thorp was delisted after a grand total of 2 AFL games.
Thorp later admitted his FIGJAM attitude was actually a coping/defensive method to cope with self doubts.

Just to finish off rating a draft immediately after the event.
Thorp was selected at pick 6 in the 2006 draft. Next selection was a certain Joel Selwood, whose knees were apparently shot.

Nice to see you back HB.

 

[Neverwas]

What the?

There is no other club in the AFL at present that has as many ruck options as we have.

We have a clear number one in Grundy.

A chop out ruck and forward in McLean.

A senior back-up in Ladhams.

A developing youngster who was taken in the first round in Green.

Two pinch hitters in Buller and the Party.

The last position we were going to be drafting in this year was a ruckman.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

We have 3 genuine rucks. Grundy, who got tired towards the end of the season. Ladhams, who doesn't gel well with the team, and whose contract will probably be ended next year for obvious reasons., and Green, who is 19 years old.

We are then left with 3 part timers, one of whom is unproven as a ruck and has a dodgy back, one of whom can only do short stints , and the other of whom is a poor tap ruckman.

A Grundy injury is a formula for a poor year. We should be aiming for the sort of backup ruck the Brisbane had and used very effectively against us in the GF.

Someone who is tall enough, strong enough and has mental discipline.





Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[Neverwas]

Haven't posted in a bit because of the general negativity, after the GF shellacking, which has tended to permeate every thread.
Given our last two GF performances people are entitled to complain as they see fit, just from my perspective it became, now 2 months later, a bit tedious.

If I were to review our latest draft I would only add to the doom and gloom, so just a couple of observations.

Putting aside what I just said, it is actually daft to attempt to grade a team's draft performance a couple of days after its completion.

In the NFL a guy was drafted at pick 199 (6th rd) in 2000.
At the start of the 2001 season I remember reading 'it was going to be a long season' for his team if this player had to step into the role of starting QB.
Guy got his chance due to injury 1 game into the season.
It was indeed a long season, but perhaps not in the manner envisaged by the commentator.
Tom Brady won the first of his 6 Superbowls and began his journey to what many consider his status as GOAT.

Second observation relates to the influence recruiters can have on a prospect's draft 'readiness'.

One guy I would have liked us to draft was James Barrat (193cm, actually turns 18 today) from the Bendigo Pioneers.
Started the season up fwd, averaging 3 goals a game.
Recruiters wanted to see him tried down back, where he did well, primarily as an intercept defender.
Clubs then asked for him to be given a lockdown role on Josh Murphy, the leading goalkicker in the Coates League, and kept him goalless.
He also played a game in the middle against pick 6 in the draft, Harvey Langford.

Lost his mum to cancer a couple of years ago, relocated to Bendigo this year (as a 17yo) and renowned for his competitiveness.

Just to be clear, no connection to the guy, but an indication of how much goes on 'off track' compared to what we see on ground.

Finally I'll just bring it back to our first pick in Dattoli.
Lot of discussion pre-draft about his confidence.
I've seen some suggestions that clubs were put off by his attitude.
FIGJAM is OK if you are Nathan Buckley, less so if you are Mitch Thorp.

For those unaware of Thorp he kicked 5(?) goals against Tom Harley in the VFL (Tom returning from injury) and told Harley he had just finished Tom's career. Harley went on to captain Geelong to the AFL Premiership that year.
Thorp was delisted after a grand total of 2 AFL games.
Thorp later admitted his FIGJAM attitude was actually a coping/defensive method to cope with self doubts.

Just to finish off rating a draft immediately after the event.
Thorp was selected at pick 6 in the 2006 draft. Next selection was a certain Joel Selwood, whose knees were apparently shot.

I found that an excellent way to overcome the gloom and doom was to rewatch the final quarters of the last Pies game and the final against GWS. Some incredible football by the boys in those games.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[strauchanie59]

We have 3 genuine rucks. Grundy, who got tired towards the end of the season. Ladhams, who doesn't gel well with the team, and whose contract will probably be ended next year for obvious reasons., and Green, who is 19 years old.

We are then left with 3 part timers, one of whom is unproven as a ruck and has a dodgy back, one of whom can only do short stints , and the other of whom is a poor tap ruckman.

A Grundy injury is a formula for a poor year. We should be aiming for the sort of backup ruck the Brisbane had and used very effectively against us in the GF.

Someone who is tall enough, strong enough and has mental discipline.





Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

This just isn't true lol

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

This just isn't true lol

I have it on good authority that Ladhams gels his hair very well, but when he is with he teammates, for whatever reason, he falls to pieces. His hair looks as bad as McVeigh when he tried to gel it up while going bald.

His teammates joke that Ladham’s ability to hair gel in public is on par with their GF performances.

Make of that what you will.

 

[ShireSwan]

No, I didn’t.

But when you have Hamling & Francis (both of whom the club are clearly only keeping on the list this year because they have to), plus now Paton too …. it just leaves me feeling flat.

Imagine how Hamling feels being given the ring of confidence by the club as a fourth round rookie draft selection....
He's walking on sunshine.

 

[ShireSwan]

Well yeah, and this isn't surprising. Nor has it always turned out poorly for us obviously.

Though a first rounder for someone so late in the rankings, even for us, is surprising. And when there seemed to be more prolific options for the type.

At least it was on a need though, unlike the Bice pick (and I would argue the small fwd component of the Dattoli pick).

Dattoli has the look of a kid that's going to make it to me. And if Papley was to be injured at some stage next year I could see him just going into that spot and being the same kind of character, and that spot is a lot about character IMO. (Obviously you need ability too, but you might have lots of ability, but if you don't have that "get F-ed I'm taking over" character, then...

 

[Neverwas]

This just isn't true lol

Unfortunately he gets in the way of the mids in the seniors because he tries to do it all himself. He does not communicate well with them. Looks OK in the ressies because he can get away with it at that level.

That's without considering his tendency to lose the plot and get himself suspended.

I would love to be wrong, but I don't think I am.



Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[.Shotties.]

Phantom Draft is not the same as rankings.

Bowman was included in his phantom draft late because he'd heard of some late first/early 2nd interest from a few clubs.

Then wouldn't that mean he's in the top thirty rankings of a few clubs?