Sidefx wrote:
So who and what position do we target in the mid season?
Good question.
Seems we need cover for small defenders, small forwards and ruck. And of course you can never have too many midfielders on a list, especially since often it will be a midfielder who gets converted either permanently or on an interim basis to play small forward or back.
The clubs generally seem to be looking to pick up younger types rather than more mature retreads, even though everyone who qualifies for the mid-season draft must have been through the system anyway. For example, today the AFL website highlighted 200 cm defender turned ruckman turned defender again Ben Kelly playing as an overager at Murray Bushrangers. Might be a longer term Liam Jones replacement, if that was what we were after. It doesn't seem to be being looked at much to replace an injured player for the short term, although that might change if one of the flag contenders was to lose someone for the rest of the season that they didn't have great cover for.
Small defenders
I am a big fan of Mason Blakey as a lockdown defender, but if we take the view we are more in need of a linebreaking small defender it would be hard to go past ex Swans academy member RYAN HEBRON now doing well at Werribee. Quick leftie and has versatility, really like his ball use and unlike other linebreaking defenders is also competitive one-on-one. Would not be at all unhappy to grab him.
Rucks
For a ready made ruck/forward COREY GAULT (26 yo 200cm 100kg Swan Districts) ex magpies looms as ready to go. There are a few big boys running around in the State leagues, one I like the look of is Jack Blair of North Adelaide a 26 yo who played rugby until he was 22 then gave AFL a go, played at Uni of Sydney and was trialled at the Swans a couple of years ago. Seems to have continued to develop and is a real man mountain at 206cm and 108kg (down from 112kg when he trialled at the Swans). Doesn't get a lot of possessions or hitouts but would give us a different type of ruckman to what we have on the list. Ex-Box Hill basketball convert MICHAEL KNOLL is almost as tall (205cm) and not skinny at 100kg and again has upside given not that long in the AFL code (1 yr Box Hill dev squad, 2 years Box Hill, now first year at SANFL club South Adelaide) and 25 years old. I'd probably look at GAULT if we want impact this year especially as he is in the same age range and has more capacity to play forward which might make him a Casboult replacement option if Kreuzer stands up.
Small forwards
Plenty of options here, including Northern's own Palmer, but the standouts seem to be ex-Cat Cory Gregson who seems over the foot problems that vexed him at Geelong and is still only 22 or the late-blooming Sam Lowson at Coburg who is 23 and has come up from the development league this year showing real defensive forward pressure to go with a real nose for a goal. LOWSON for mine if we go for a small forward
Mids
Northern's Frank Anderson has hit the ground running on a small sample size, Sam Fisher has been good at Northern for a larger sample size and would be my prefernce between the 2. Looking further afield JYE BOLTON continues to dominate the WAFL but is that bit older at 27 and for a flashier type MARLION PICKETT at the same age was running very hot earlier this year. Be happy to reward Fisher if we decide a mid is the priority
All up given no-one beats us to him I'd probably grab Gault as I think a back-up ruck who can also play forward an be an upgrade to Casboult would be pretty handy, next in line HEBRON pace and disposal can never be in too much supply.
Good read.
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