Resource 2024 Draftee Highlights

[Keys]

Courtesy of the great work noobermensch in the Contract/Trade/Draft thread providing video breakdowns of potential 2024 draftees I’ve started this thread to warehouse copies of those videos (and any others that might get posted)

Those videos will remain in the contract thread so they can be discussed but I will copy them into this locked thread so over time they can be found without wading through hundreds of posts

 

[noobermensch]

Metro MVP Murphy Reid played mostly on ball in his three other Champs games, but showed his versatility in this performance playing predominantly wing and half forward. He was still one of Metro's most productive players, using his poise and precision to cut through the WA defensive lines.

 

[noobermensch]

A fourth strong senior SANFL performance in a row from Sid. He simply has to be considered one of South Adelaide's best players at this stage. The extremely windy conditions turned this into a scrappy affair, and like most out there Sid had trouble directing his kicks in the first half. He got better as the game wore on, and like last week it was his incisive and damaging play in the second half that played an important role in getting the Panthers ahead on the scoreboard, including a fantastic classy goal in the fourth quarter.

 

[noobermensch]

Another strong VFL performance by Jagga who's seemingly stepped up to the level and barely missed a beat. He wasn't quite as impressive as last week, seeming to be more rushed for time and as a result not having his entire game in top order, but even so, we shouldn't take for granted what Jagga Smith and Sid Draper have been doing in recent weeks at state league level. They've both set a bar that the others in the pool will struggle to reach.

 

[noobermensch]

Much was expected of Day-Wicks entering 2024, but his season has been a mixed bag to this stage. He has bags of talent and x-factor, a powerful athlete and a great size for the medium forward or midfield roles, but he's mercurial and prone to patches in games where he disappears. A solid close to the season could see him fly up draft boards given his attributes.

This game was a bit of a mess given the rain bucketing down which turned the field into a mud heap, but Day-Wicks cut the game open at times. Unfortunately the classic Talent League "Technical Difficulties" lost us a chunk of the fourth quarter including one of his goals.

 

[noobermensch]

Lindsay was as impressive as always in difficult conditions, winning plenty of the ball and battling to hit targets through the tricky wind. Swimming the channel, climbing mount Everest, and kicking goals into the wind at Williamstown oval... these are some of the toughest challenges known to mankind, but Xavier and his Gippsland teammates made it look easy in the fourth quarter as they pulled away to record an impressive win.

 

[noobermensch]

Langford had a superb Champs series and was duly named joint winner of the Larke medal for player of the tournament.

 

[noobermensch]

The awful conditions didn't much bother Travaglia who seemed to enjoy sliding around and crashing into people in the mud. His nine tackles were a standout, but perhaps more impressive was his ability to hit the scoreboard and convert with a slippery footy. Unfortunately, not enough of his teammates followed his example, and Bendigo suffered a heavy loss.

 

[noobermensch]

Full highlights of the fantastic Champs run by Metro MVP Murphy Reid.

 

[noobermensch]

It's been non stop: "You NEED to do a Jack Ough video", "When are we getting your Jack Ough video", "Stop stealing my parking spot Jack Ough". So here it is, and if it gets my channel banned I'm blaming you all.

 

[noobermensch]

Berry's recent shift into the midfield has given draft watchers a lot to think about. He's not a prolific clearance winner at this stage, but his elite evasive skills allow him to navigate traffic from inside to out and convert stoppage wins by his team into damaging possessions. He still splits his time between midfield and his old forward role, and remains one of the most damaging players in this years pool inside the forward 50.

 

[noobermensch]

This performance is an example of how basic stats can be misleading. Malakai was super impactful in his second WAFL outing, prowling the ground level of the Subiaco forward line and causing chaos, often to the advantage of his team. He kicked a couple of goals, and could have contributed more if the territory battle hadn't been so significantly in Swan Districts favour which starved him of opportunities.

 

[noobermensch]

Prolific output in this game from Moraes who managed to bag 5 goals along with his usual high possession count playing predominantly on ball with occasional stints forward. His forward craft has matured over the course of the season, he showed his capability as a lead/mark target and was especially dangerous at forward 50 stoppages getting on the move, collecting the ball off the tap and rapidly getting boot to ball to snap at goal. I'd still like to see him improve his consistency with his field kicking, but if he can continue to deliver like this he might find his draft stocks rising again after they slid a little in recent weeks.

 

[noobermensch]

A fascinating watch as we saw some of the best and worst of Xavier in the one performance. Like all the Power team he struggled enormously with the intense Rebels pressure throughout the game but especially in the first half, a half in which the Power fell well behind on the scoreboard and I've never seen Lindsay miss so many targets. In the second half he tried to lift both himself and his team, and in doing so he made even more mistakes including giving away free kicks, but in spite of that his relentless attack on the contest inspired his teammates and they mounted a strong comeback that ultimately fell short.

 

[noobermensch]

The move of Travaglia into the middle continues with reasonable success. His intense competitiveness leads to him applying significant defensive pressure around contests and stoppage, and his high work rate allows him to find plenty of the footy on the spread. He's not as clean with his hands and incisive with his movement as other top line mids in the pool at this stage though, which leads to most of his work at stoppage being scrappy.

 

[noobermensch]

Going back to catch up on an early season game that I'd skipped. This was probably Jagga's weakest game of the season, which is remarkable to say given he still stuffed the stat sheet like few others are capable of.

For the first block of game this season Jagga and Oakleigh were experimenting with him more as a forward, so watching this will give viewers an idea of what that might look like at AFL level if he plays in a similar role early in his career. I think its fair to say that he never really settled as a forward this season. He really started to hit peak form once that experiment was largely abandoned in favour of him moving back into the midfield full time, and he didn't really start to motor in this particular game until moved into the midfield in the second half.

 

[noobermensch]

Just another powerful and damaging performance from Langford as we've become accustomed to this season. His Stingrays team are gathering pace heading into the business end of the season with 4 wins in their last 5 games and look as good a chance as any to challenge for the Talent League title.

 

[noobermensch]

Full Champs highlights of the standout key defender in the draft pool Luke Trainor.

 

[noobermensch]

Cooper Hynes continues to strengthen as a top 20 draft candidate. He started the season extremely raw as a midfielder, but his stoppage craft has come a long way since then and he's now capable of some really clean and damaging extractions either by hand or with a bust of speed through traffic. In recent weeks there have been many moments where he's shown how team oriented and unselfish he is, as demonstrated in this game where when presented with a chance to pad his stat sheet with fourth goal he instead handed the ball off to a teammate in the goal square.

 

[noobermensch]

I for one support the commentators choice here to embrace the memes and pronounce Jack's surname as "Off" the entire game. Ough is finishing strongly this season, pushing his name up draft boards since he move to a more permanent on ball role. His size and clean hands at ground level are a feature, along with a nice change of direction and tidy disposal.

 

[noobermensch]

With the Talent League taking a break there are plenty of draft prospects making their VFL debuts this week giving us a chance to see how they step up to a higher level of competition. Playing off a half back flank, Travaglia looked comfortable and confident, displaying his usual intense competitive drive in contested situations as well as his run and carry to launch attacking moves.

 

[noobermensch]

There was so much anticipation and expectation of what Finn would produce coming into his top age season, but up to now he's struggle through a series of set backs and never really come close to resembling the footballer of last year and years prior. He again started slowly here in the first quarter, but when he started dancing in the second quarter, showing some of the tricks he can pull out of his bag, things that few other footballers can match, there was a palpable sense of relief and excitement among watchers that finally the real Finn O'Sullivan might be about to stand up. There are still reasons why you might not choose to take him at pick 1, but at least we've again started to see why you just might.

 

[noobermensch]

Apologies in advance - I don't know if we have any influence over what recruiters do but I'm posting this around to attempt to ensure that Levi doesn't end up sliding too far. Keep the pressure on. I'm sure you're lurking around here somewhere briztoon !

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What an incredible debut performance by Levi. He stepped up to VFL level for the first time and played probably his best game for the season, putting a marker out there for the rest of the draft pool to try and reach. He was close to BOG, certainly Brisbane's best and most productive midfielder. Prolific at the coal face winning 11 clearances and spreading with his typical elite work rate and endurance to find a stack of the footy outside the contest, even slotting a sublime running goal from the boundary. Compared to his brother Will, Levi brings a more natural physicality and that was on clear display here.

 

[noobermensch]

Jagga played his third and final VFL game of the season, again playing predominantly in midfield and producing excellent numbers against grown men. This might have been the least impressive of his three VFL outings, but Jagga Smith doesn't play a bad game. His willingness to put his body on the line and wear the hits to win contested footy was a particular feature in this one.

 

[noobermensch]

Tom Gross is as brave, tough and hard working as any player in this draft pool. In a year less stacked with top end midfield talent he would be getting a lot more attention, but as it stands he's unfortunately flying well under the radar. Wherever he lands on draft night, he's destined to become an immediate fan favourite and have everyone asking "how did this kid slide so far?"

 

[noobermensch]

After this performance on the weekend he finally got a call up to play for the senior WAFL West Perth team and it only took Kayle dominating the comp for weeks on end. In this game he was again best on ground, getting shaded in the hit outs but consistently causing damage post stoppage with his power and skills on the spread. The big thing we've been seeing more often in recent weeks is his contested marking with him regularly pulling down a couple of impressive plucks each week now.

We await this weekends game now with baited breath. A strong debut WAFL performance as a key forward and Kayle might fly up draft boards. There are several teams with top 10 picks that are hungry for a key forward and there isn't much Kayle can't do.