2024 Draft Thread.

[Mat Mann]

Draft Period, November 20–21

• Round 1 of the National Draft: Wednesday, November 20
• Round 2–end of the National Draft: Thursday, November 21
• Rookie Promotions: Thursday, November 21, after the National Draft
• Delisted Free Agency Period (3): Thursday, November 21, after the National Draft
• List Lodgement 3*: Friday, November 22, 10am (optional; required for those participating in the PSD)
• Pre-Season Draft: Friday, November 22, 3pm
• Rookie Draft: Friday, November 22, 3.20pm

 

[SteeleSaints]

I should have mentioned it earlier but I am so happy for Ben Paton that he got another chance at the Suns. He is a great lad and his career at the Saints was cruelled by a boofhead. All the best Benny..

 

[ScrappyDo]

Every draftee did debut this year so impact maybe quicker than you think…fully expect Keeler and Heath to debut this coming season plus Travalia, Hall, Tauru & Barrat…Macrae a lock plus Carol will get early opportunities!!

My point was more about impact then appearance. MaCkreigh is the only difference maker we've acquired this off-season so we'll be running essentially the same senior squad as last season sans Battle.
I don't think RTB will make any crazy changes so we basically know now what we've got. The difference makers will be individuals availabilities and growth.

 

[stavro#4]

I still think the biggest challenge is to keep our players fit. Do that and finals is a very reasonable target.

Missing guns between 24-28. Accelerating the development of the under 23s.

Have been in a ‘rebuild’ without bottoming out since we signed RTB hence the investment in the talent ID and development programs within the club.

No longer wasting time and resources on list cloggers, and bringing in kids with upside to replace them.

The only path to success for a club of our profile. Love what we’re doing.

You have to laugh at the situation.

Based on list age we are bottom 5 and realistically, once you apply the microscope on us - you walk away thinking they shouldn’t be making finals.

There is a lot of unproven talent and only Macrae is proven.

Yet supporter expectations are that we are in the 6-8 bracket and if not,RTB should be under the pump.

 

[The Cobra]

I've had a chance to digest a bit today and after the initial disappointment of one of the elite mids not sliding through (wild optimism) I've come to look at our draft as some pretty well balanced choices. We've had so many of our young players in the last 3 years of drafting come good so quickly that we can afford to have a couple of longer term prospects to develop.


Current definite best 22 from 2021 national draft onwards

Pou: up to 37 games now, looked good in the back end of the year after his stint in the VFL. Versatile as well, can play stoppage or forward. This will be his 3rd year and you'd bet on him being a best 22 player now.

Wilson: Played all 22 games for us last year and as an endurance beast who can play wing, forward for stints or half back is versatile like Pou. You'd expect him to be a best 22 player as well.

Wanganeen-Milera: up to 63 games now, probably our most well performed draftee within the last 3 years. Maybe not the highest ceiling but already performing at a pretty high level. Best 22.

Owens: up to 53 games now, could be a match winner based on his attributes. Best 22.


Fringe/possible best 22 from 2021 national draft onwards

Windhager: up to 52 games now, probably best 22 on performance quality last year but missed a bit through injury, would bank on him as best 22 next year.

Caminiti: up to 33 games now, maybe best 22 these days with Membrey gone, or could be a new tall defender proposition. Had some injury niggles and fitness probably needs to improve but probably a regular next year.

Schoenmaker: only played the 4 games in his first season but was very underdone physically apparently, would expect him to crack a few more games this season but as a tall defender probably gonna take another 18 months before being a possible best 22 regular. also needs to work on his defensive game.

Garcia: played 9 games, looks likely to take over the Windhager role of '22 and '23, defensive lockdown mid. Probably going to play a fair few games unless he's on the outer with Macrae in.


Developing from 2021 national draft onwards

Collard: could be anything, very slight frame but was in the top of a lot of athletic tests at the combine and a natural small forward. hopefully develops but unclear at the minute.

Hastie: played a few games, needs another preseason or 2 to be able to play consistently in the backline as a skinny lad. shown a lot of promise.

Keeler: developing in the VFL, could be a tall forward with part-time ruck duties or a key defender, been moved around a bit in the reserves. Going to take a while, not a sure thing.



I actually can see why we'd go for a lot of our picks now, there's a lot of late season form and adversity from injuries this group have faced.

Tauru with an injury interrupted few years who still came home with a wet sail, could be a Clayton Oliver-like growth to end his underage year and just keep on exceeding previous expectations if his body is right.

Boxshall who has versatility along with his endurance, size, athleticism, marking and performed very well in the back end of the season.

Barrat: Like Tauru, injury interrupted 2023, looking at his highlights and stats he stands out like a few other recent draftees as VERSATILE. Can play as a tall forward, tall back, even went head to head in the midfield for a bit with Harvey Langford. Tall and will probably take a few years to develop.

Dodson: just smart/good value, talked up as a late first round pick and the best ruck option of the draft. Will take time but maybe less than some others given his athleticism and agility for his size. Will keep Heath on his toes.

Said: looks like a Gresham type, can play middle and forward. Unlike Gresh though, seems he has a decent kicking action...

Travaglia looks like a sure thing just a matter of how good he'll end up, could probably play on 2025, just depends if we ask Nas, Sincs or Stocker to move further up the ground to give Tobie time to play at AFL level as a halfback where he's most suited.

We've got players like Crouch, Hill, Wood, Webster getting to the back end of their careers and a few will likely depart in the next 1 - 3 years, so a few of the kids we just drafted, a few developing or on the fringes and maybe 1 or 2 free agents or trades could come in. We can afford to go for a couple of talls (Tauru, Barrat, Dodson) and Boxshall can might be a Macrae replacement in 2-3 years. It makes a lot of sense really.

Great summary - pretty much agree with everything except NAS - absolute A grader!

 

[maanco]

He has been delisted from the main list but will be added to the rookie list because he is still under contract for another year.

If he was done and dusted he could have been paid out as of the 1st November because that's next years salary cap.

The decision to rookie him would have been three fold

1 - satisfies his contract requirements

2 - - gives him every chance to prove he might be fit enough to get through part or all of next season.

3 - gave us another shot in the "super" draft for a slider.

Personally I think its likely that he'll be paid out early in the new year and that we will look at picking up someone before the end SSP on 19th Feb.

4. Allows us to spend 95% of the salary cap and have, more salary cap space for free agency big fish in 2025.

He doesn't need to be paid out he can just sit on the long term injury list, which will open up a spot for the SSP.

 

[stavro#4]

One to track for next year

Gillon Wakelin Draft Profile

central.rookieme.com

 

[SaintyMcSaintface]

He has been delisted from the main list but will be added to the rookie list because he is still under contract for another year.

If he was done and dusted he could have been paid out as of the 1st November because that's next years salary cap.

The decision to rookie him would have been three fold

1 - satisfies his contract requirements

2 - - gives him every chance to prove he might be fit enough to get through part or all of next season.

3 - gave us another shot in the "super" draft for a slider.

Personally I think its likely that he'll be paid out early in the new year and that we will look at picking up someone before the end SSP on 19th Feb.

I know absolutely nothing about this but is there some weird game of chicken going on between Brad and the club over his payout?

 

[maanco]

4 days later and I still can’t make heads nor tails of this quote. It reads like he isn’t coming back.

Crouch was delisted late last month on the promise of being taken again in the rookie draft on Friday but Lyon said “we lost him” as the club freed up salary cap space.

Tim Membrey and Seb Ross, along with Battle, were other experienced players to leave the club in the off-season.

“We have made some hard decisions and there have been some tough things occur … unfortunately (Crouch) had a degenerative knee and we would have loved to have him but we lost him and those losses have enabled the salary cap to be freed up,” Lyon said.

Smoke and shadows so other clubs wouldn't draft him? ... And he plays every game in 2025 here's hoping.

 

[ScrappyDo]

You have to laugh at the situation.

Based on list age we are bottom 5 and realistically, once you apply the microscope on us - you walk away thinking they shouldn’t be making finals.

There is a lot of unproven talent and only Macrae is proven.

Yet supporter expectations are that we are in the 6-8 bracket and if not,RTB should be under the pump.

I'm not one of the ones who think RTB should be under the pump. I'm worried the new wave won't rise fast enough but they'll go hard at trades and FA's from now you'd think and it was the advertised strategy so we can but wait and see.

 

[maanco]

Not surprising, bloke probably sits down to pee.......

I don't mind a sit down pee from time to time.

A good old piss in the bush is way better though.

 

[Remboy]

I don't mind a sit down pee from time to time.

A good old piss in the bush is way better though.

Just watch out for electric fences.

 

[Remboy]

One to track for next year

Gillon Wakelin Draft Profile

central.rookieme.com

Do we know if he prefers us or Port?

 

[TheJackal]

If you insist, but it’s a lot to digest

That's true, but if you persist you'll get the gist.

 

[goodie23]

Do we know if he prefers us or Port?

He's done a lot of work with Port but proximity would be the greatest factor there. For what it's worth



First things first he has to be draftable because both us and Port made tough calls this year - Port didn't even nominate their two father-sons (the Burgoyne cousins, Rome and Ky) while we didn't take any of Cole, Hofmann and Peckett.

 

[SteeleSaints]

My point was more about impact then appearance. MaCkreigh is the only difference maker we've acquired this off-season so we'll be running essentially the same senior squad as last season sans Battle.
I don't think RTB will make any crazy changes so we basically know now what we've got. The difference makers will be individuals availabilities and growth.

Its not ideal not adding elite midfielder/s, but I think we will be surprised by Garcia next season. He should play more midfield minutes and Pou and Windhager will continue to improve thats a given. Dow surely has to show something with a decent pre-season???

St Mike is big on Hall having an impact - its yet to be seen whether he is a midfielder at the next level. But Mike has a good eye for players on the track. The other is Carroll who Im hopeful can play some games.

Just having Macrae in the side will improve the players around him, but we are really relying on the listed players to improve. Its not great but its what we have and at least the rest of the list has improved significantly.

IF we can have a good run with injuries to key players we might be ok?

 

[Pou Steele]

I don't mind a sit down pee from time to time.

A good old piss in the bush is way better though.

Sitting down to pee is unfairly judged. Between work and chasing after three young kids sitting to piss is the only time I can get off my feet.

And before you smart arses say anything, yes, I shit standing up.

 

[SteeleSaints]

Be interested as to what position the club see this new Irishman (Armstrong) developing into? I must say I have never seen too many completely bald head shaven 18 or 19 year olds running around. In the short video posted he looks to have an odd running gait but perhaps that is just his gaelic style.

He will get a shock when he arrives in Melbourne during summer for a pre-season, I hope he is used to wearing plenty of zinc!

 

[_Maximus_12]

You have to laugh at the situation.

Based on list age we are bottom 5 and realistically, once you apply the microscope on us - you walk away thinking they shouldn’t be making finals.

There is a lot of unproven talent and only Macrae is proven.

Yet supporter expectations are that we are in the 6-8 bracket and if not,RTB should be under the pump.

I actually don’t think the club bought Ross back to be our next premiership coach. I think the idea was to correct the course and lay the foundations for long term success. If that equates to a premiership in Ross’ tenure then great, if not, then he’s set us up in the long term.
If you listen to his language, and reflect on the moves made to the list, he’s The first we’ve had that doesn’t seem to be coaching for himself.
In the past we’ve had Watters, Richo & Ratten prioritise the short term because they didn’t have the courage/power to realign the clubs expectations
We are 2-3 seasons away from a sustained bounce, unfortunately it’s likely that will be in twilight of some of our favourites such as Steele, Wilkie & Sincs but we are on the right track, finally.

 

[stavro#4]

I actually don’t think the club bought Ross back to be our next premiership coach. I think the idea was to correct the course and lay the foundations for long term success. If that equates to a premiership in Ross’ tenure then great, if not, then he’s set us up in the long term.
If you listen to his language, and reflect on the moves made to the list, he’s The first we’ve had that doesn’t seem to be coaching for himself.
In the past we’ve had Watters, Richo & Ratten prioritise the short term because they didn’t have the courage/power to realign the clubs expectations
We are 2-3 seasons away from a sustained bounce, unfortunately it’s likely that will be in twilight of some of our favourites such as Steele, Wilkie & Sincs but we are on the right track, finally.

I agree with you.

But if you take this board for example. That will be a very split opinion as a few prominent posters will be demanding finals

 

[stfan]

Cordy...

Cordy, parting gift from our former List Management Team. Hopefully we as a club can stop making stupid offers like the one we gave Cordy.

"Zaine Cordy will join St Kilda as an unrestricted free agent on a three-year deal."


Should have only been a one year deal. Three years was just a farce.

 

[TheJackal]

Cordy, parting gift from our former List Management Team. Hopefully we as a club can stop making stupid offers like the one we gave Cordy.

"Zaine Cordy will join St Kilda as an unrestricted free agent on a three-year deal."


Should have only been a one year deal. Three years was just a farce.

He was a break glass option and to be fair, we've had to do exactly that a few times over the past couple of years.

 

[Murraj1966]

Cordy, parting gift from our former List Management Team. Hopefully we as a club can stop making stupid offers like the one we gave Cordy.

"Zaine Cordy will join St Kilda as an unrestricted free agent on a three-year deal."


Should have only been a one year deal. Three years was just a farce.

I will not stand for this Zlugger slander

 

[stfan]

I actually don’t think the club bought Ross back to be our next premiership coach. I think the idea was to correct the course and lay the foundations for long term success. If that equates to a premiership in Ross’ tenure then great, if not, then he’s set us up in the long term.
If you listen to his language, and reflect on the moves made to the list, he’s The first we’ve had that doesn’t seem to be coaching

If there is one thing I love about our club's current direction it is that we are progressing to rebuild our list right, to do it well, to not seek short-cuts and to NOT seek to try and "win it now" with misguided dodgey pick-ups that just set us back rather than drive us forward.


While the focus is all about RTB the club has basically cleared our virtually everyone now in all of the offield football roles. I am not sure if there is anyone left, maybe a few trainers?

Our Football Department including recruiting and list management, as well as the fitness team are all new. After Barret decided to "grow a pair" after not rocking the boat too much when he first became President he has been ruthless since and not just "cleaning house", but he has demolished the old "football hose" has built an entirely new house.

I love that he is also putting pressure on the AFL too, rather than just being a a young Oliver Twist asking the AFL "Please, sir, can I have some more?"

Rebuilding a list is not a quick fix, and so yes RTB may not be the one that gets to max the most of all that hard work, ad patience. But then again he may just hang around long enough. Personally I hope he does.

 

[_Maximus_12]

I agree with you.

But if you take this board for example. That will be a very split opinion as a few prominent posters will be demanding finals

Those supporters can talk with their feet and come running back with their tail between their legs when we challenge again.

 

[Nutsngum]

Cordy, parting gift from our former List Management Team. Hopefully we as a club can stop making stupid offers like the one we gave Cordy.

"Zaine Cordy will join St Kilda as an unrestricted free agent on a three-year deal."


Should have only been a one year deal. Three years was just a farce.

We needed (and as 2023 proved) Key Position depth without spending draft capital. Cordy was the best available and getting free agents requires giving them a contract that will make them move.

So you either get him for 3 years and have a serviceable but average at best key back/forward or you dont. There is no inbetween.