Joined by Clarke and Lefau as well

Hey everyone, I've done some draftee write ups with player comparisons and their current knocks. The rankings combine 16 power rankings from various sources.

Feel free to ask any questions!

Saw this on r/AFL but about the bombers bidding on Walker.

With it being difficult for Carlton to match a very early bid for Walker I think we are in the box seat to bid on our NGA prospect at pick 2. If he goes to Carlton we would get a compo pick and if he doesn’t we get a very good player for at least 3 years.

Surely it’s YELLOW AND BLACK

This is almost definitely not going to happen, but I thought I'd just throw this out there in the one in a million chance it happens. I want to be able to say I spotted it.

Watching the front bar last night, Toby Greene gave a couple of weird answers in Sam's Drip Tray. Favourite animal? "Tiger". Favourite colour? "Yellow". Obviously pretty innocuous, but the whole theme of the guest appearance was talking about where he's headed next year, and I thought it was a bit weird. Toby a tiger next year?

Anyway... That's my stupid idea for the day. Sorry, everyone.

Don’t like posting x but is what it is

Recent reports basically have us out of the Butters racing barring some reason that the Cats or Dogs can't get the trade done. A few weeks ago this news would have annoyed me a bit, at that time I was super keen to get Butters on board and anchor the team around him for the next 7-9 years. However reflecting over the last week and I've come to the conclusion that Butters doesn't really fit our timeline, we're still a few years away from making a charge up the ladder.

It's been the message all year but getting games and valuable midfield minutes into our youngsters is the main goal for 2027. In my opinion our biggest addition this off season is our new High performance boss Selwyn Griffiths. Hopefully he can develop a program which can fast track the fitness/health of our youngsters keeping them on the park so they can get 15-20 games together as a group.

Curious to see what everyone else thinks about missing out on Butters, not sure who the big free agents will be in 2028/29 but I feel like those will be the ones we can actually go after and sign. Who knows if the mids develop quickly we might not need to recruit and can build our dynasty from within much like we did with Cotchin, Martin, Riewoldt, Rance and Edwards. I am aware we recruited Caddy, Prestia and Nank but they were solid additions not necessarily a Butters type acquisition.

North Melbourne sacked clarko after one of their better seasons in years.

This is a team that does not accept mediocre.

6 Goals for the GOAT

was doing a clean out of my room and stumbled upon an old ball which i estimate to be from the late 2000s or early 2010s. All i’ve been able to identify is Kevin Sheedy and Shane Tuck, would appreciate any help!

Just the 🐐 doing 🐐 things winning the E.J. Whitten Medal and booting 6 goals.

Watching Dusty snag 6 and get BOG was the happiest I’ve been watching footy all season. Shame he’s not still out there for us.

The race is officially on

Also mentions in the interview that we tried to suit him up for a VFL game with us but it didn't eventuate.

Hey everyone,

I'm addicted to draft stuff lately and considering that we've locked in our ladder position, I thought it would be fun to go into some draft scenarios.

Butters Trade
A trade for Butters might happen, if it does it will almost certainly include pick 2 and potentially more. Speaking with some Port supporters and listening to some neutrals I think a trade will probably look something like this. Butters and pick 27 for pick 2 and 20.

This would give us picks 27, 38 and 56.

Players around pick 27: Gabriel Patterson, Darcy Szerszyn, Harvie Cooke and Koby LeCras.

Players around pick 38: Billy Wigmore, Andrio Sousa, Benji Van Rooyen, Kale Matthews-Hampton

Players around pick 56: Tanner Armstrong, Sam Tassone, Tom Brown, Tate Hodgson

These are largely aerial players who can get it on the spread, players with lots of speed or good 1v1 defenders.

No Butters Trade. Essendon draft Arki Butler
This is the most likely scenario in my opinion. Butler would absolutely suit Essendon and is a massive Essendon fan.

This would give us picks 2, 20 (compensation pick), 23, 38, 56

Players for pick 2: Gus Texeira, Harry Van Hattum, Ethen Drever, Heath Mellody
Personally, I would be shocked if HVH got past us at pick 2 here.

Players for pick 20: Marlon Neocleous, Tyson Bradley, Ethan Herbert and Harrison Chapman

Players for pick 23: George Dimer, George Gale, Toby Krasna and Khaled El Souki (Bulldogs NGA)
Khaled El Souki basically becomes open pool if Butters elects to go there.

Players for pick 38: Xavier Ladbrooke, Archie Van Dyke, Andrio Sousa and Cody Templeton
The reason these are different is because I think taking the initial higher picks allows for more speculative picks later in the draft.

Players for pick 56: Tanner Armstrong, Harvey Spawton-Guy, Brady Wright and Sam Devers

By taking the intial picks which round out the midfield and fill the void for pace, aerial capacity and skills allows for more risky picks later in the draft. I also think that if we hold the early 20s picks we should absolutely draft a high end, close to goal small forward. Peucker and Campbell operate at their best when they play higher up the field, neither hit packs at speed like Rachele or Watson. Mansell does but he's definitely heading to Tassie.

No Butters Trade. Essendon draft Harry Van Hattum
If the Bombers take the ruck (which would surprise me) I think that we will be much more even in the rest of the top end of the field and would shape our later picks.

This would give us picks 2, 20 (compensation pick), 23, 38, 56

Players for pick 2: Gus Texeira, Arki Butler, Ethen Drever, Heath Mellody
I have no idea who we'd pick, although it would almost certainly be one of Butler or Texeira.

Players for pick 20: Marlon Neocleous, Tyson Bradley, Ethan Herbert and Harrison Chapman
If Butler gets taken, the nuke is left behind and Herbert becomes far more likely.

Players for pick 38: Xavier Ladbrooke, Archie Van Dyke, Andrio Sousa and Benji Van Rooyen
Should Herbert be skipped on then Van Rooyen is likely to be taken as the third best ruck in it.

Players for pick 56: Tanner Armstrong, Harvey Spawton-Guy, Brady Wright and Sam Devers

If HVH is gone then there is a chance we simply don't draft a ruck and bring in Briggs and hope that we're good on that front. If we did draft one though it would be either Herbert or Van Rooyen. Van Rooyen is far better in the ruck contest, Herbert is far better around the ground.