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2016 AFL Draft: A last minute guide to the draft, everything you need to know

Expert
24th November, 2016
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Is it time to tinker with the AFL draft system? (AAP Image/Patrick Hamilton)
Expert
24th November, 2016
101
1822 Reads

Finally it’s here, the AFL’s (far superior, if you ask me) equivalent to Christmas – draft day. Whether you’re an avid watcher of junior footy or a casual fan just looking to get up to speed, my last minute guide to the draft is the perfect read for you this draft day morn.

The key facts

Straight to the point – the AFL Draft will be held tonight, Friday 25 November, at the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney.

The draft will start at 7pm (AEDT), with the first pick expected to be read out around 7:10pm.

The draft will be broadcast on Fox Footy, with their coverage starting from 6:30pm (AEDT). For all the details on how to watch, click here.

Once things get happening, clubs take their turn to pick from the pool of players eligible to join the league. Players must turn 18 before New Year’s Day 2017 in order to be eligible for the draft.

Clubs pick according to the draft order. To view the complete draft order for the 2016 AFL draft, click here.

The draft order however will be interrupted during the draft by father-son and academy bidding. For all the details on how this works, click here.

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The players

Who is the best key defender?
This year’s top tall defender prospect is Griffin Logue, a Western Australian with excellent athleticism for his size and a hairdo that will make him an instant cult hero.

He maybe doesn’t have as deep a resume at under-18 level as some others have developed, but he finished the year in excellent form and his athletic abilities suggest he’s got enormous scope to improve.

Who is the best key forward?
A matter of some debate this time around, largely due to the fact that there’s a lack of any standout top-shelf tall forwards in the mix. It’s entirely possible that there won’t be one selected in the first round – definitely not in the top ten.

Todd Marshall has probably been the one talked about the most during the year, but his form just hasn’t been consistent enough to justify much hype, and he’ll clearly need to spend some time developing probably at state level before he becomes a true AFL-grade player.

Who is the best inside midfielder?
If we’re looking purely for a clearance specialist and contested ball-winning machine, we need look no further than Will Brodie who would be close to No.1 in both categories among this year’s draft crop.

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Brodie was talked about as a potential No.1 pick during the year, but a slow finish to the season and some questions over his kicking may see him slide outside the top ten.

Who is the best outside midfielder?
Likely top three pick Hugh McCluggage is our man here. He’s a bit lightly built at the moment and not necesarilly a ball winner, but his elite kicking and goal sense will make him a gun as a wingman who can push forward.

In the conversation after McCluggage would likely be Oliver Florent, who should land somewhere inside the 11-20 range.

Who is the best ruckman?
It’s been a while since we last saw a ruckman selected inside the top ten at a draft, but this year might bring that drought to an end.

Western Australian Tim English is an exciting prospect – he’s less a ruckman and more an overgrown midfielder. He will need to work on his ruckwork and build up his body, but he has a Dean Cox-like ability to find the ball around the ground.

Who is the best kick?
‘A few more good kicks’ is a phrase you’ll find in every team’s draft wishlist, and this year’s top end luckily has more than a few.

Probably the best of them, and it’s a tight field, is Western Australian Sam Petrevski-Seton. It’s not just that his ball use is elite, but it’s great off either foot.

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Who has the most pace?
Nothing’s more exciting on the footy field than a bit of line-breaking pace, and this draft has a few speed machines.

Arguably the name at the top of the list is Ben Ainsworth. At the draft combine he tested second for the 20m sprint, fifth for the repeat 20m sprints, and eighth for agility.

Who is the tallest?
Tim English, mentioned above, is one of the biggest boys in the draft pool at 203cm, and could well be the tallest player to get picked up.

Dary Cameron, at 204cm, is a 21-year-old mature ager who has played some impressive footy in the WAFL and could be a chance as well.

Who is the smallest?
There’s a few shorter blokes in this draft. Two who could get picked up are Shai Bolton and Ben Jarman, both at 175cm.

Bolton’s a runnning half-forward from Western Australia who shows some real spark and excitement – but could stand to do so a little more consistently – while Jarman is a small-forward who is in the open draft after both Hawthorn and Adelaide passed him over as a potiential father-son pick.

Who has the best name?
There’s so many beautiful name in this year’s pool, I just can’t pick. Here’s a few of my favourites:

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Hugh McCluggage, Tim Taranto, Jack Scrimshaw, Josh Battle, Sam Powell-Pepper, Kobe Mutch, Oscar Junker, Lachlan Tiziani, Quinton Narkle, Robbie Fox.

Who will your club get?

I know it’s a bit cliche to say, but this has been one of the hardest drafts to predict for many years. There’s been genuine speculation over the No.1 pick for a much longer period than usual, and the order of the draft combined with the potential for academy bidding has made it difficult to read.

Some things have started to solidify over the past 24 hours however and I can now tip with what is really only a miniscule amount of confidence that the first nine picks of the draft will go as follows:

1 – Essendon Bombers – Andrew McGrath
2 – GWS Giants – Tim Taranto
3 – Brisbane Lions – Hugh McCluggage
4 – Gold Coast Suns – Ben Ainsworth
5 – GWS Giants – Will Setterfield (matching bid from Carlton)
6 – Carlton Blues – Sam Petrevski-Seton
7 – Gold Coast Suns – Griffin Logue
8 – Fremantle Dockers – Jy Simpkin
9 – Gold Coast Suns – Jack Scrimshaw

McCluggage was seen as the likely No.1 pick for much of the year but it’s believed that Essendon have decided to go with running defender McGrath at the No.1 selection.

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That threw a spanner in the works for GWS, who traded up to pick No.2 targetting McGrath. They don’t appear to be interested in McCluggage and will go for a taller, bigger-bodied midfielder in Taranto.

That means the Lions – who traded down from pick No.2 during the trade period – will get a spectacular bargain, securing the man many rate as the best in the pool at the third pick overall.

Ben Ainsworth, largely linked to the Lions over the past few weeks, will then drop down to Gold Coast’s first selection at pick No.4. The Lions won’t jeopardise their chance to land McCluggage by placing a bid on Gold Coast academy player Jack Bowes.

Carlton are instead expected to be the first bidders of the night, going after 190cm midfielder Will Setterfield, but there’s no doubt the Giants will match.

The Blues are then tipped to pick up the silky, speedy Petrevski-Seton with their selection.

Gold Coast have a number of players in the mix at pick No.7 (No.6 before bidding), but it’s believed they will go with Griffin Logue out of concern that Fremantle will take him with the next selection if they don’t snap him up there.

Things get a little bit harder to predict from there on out – Fremantle have been linked to the likes of Will Brodie, Jy Simpkin and Jack Scrimshaw at their pick, but Simpkin appears to be leading the pack.

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Expect the Suns to pick up Scrimshaw afterwards if that’s the case, and then they will likely round out the top ten matching a bid that the Sydney Swans are probable to make on Bowes.

However, what could really throw the draft into chaos is a potential early bid for GWS academy player Isaac Cumming.

He was considered likely to be bid on in the 20s up until recently, but it now appears that clubs in the teens and maybe even the top ten are interested. He has been invited to the draft which is usually and indication that a player is a top ten chance.

Sydney are believed to be the club inside the top ten who could make a bid, and if they don’t, then both Adelaide and Port Adelaide are in the mix to do so in the teens.

That would put GWS in a difficult position, as the cost of matching bids for Setterfield, Cumming, and another academy prospect Harry Perryman all in the first round would risk driving them into deficit.

Given that they could potentially lose 2017 draft picks as part of the AFL’s charge against them related to Lachie Whitfield, that would be a really bad position to be in.

Oh and one last little tidbit… Richmond may only be arriving at the draft at pick No.27 (before bidding), but they appear to already have some names in mind.

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AFL clubs love to accidentally release videos early. If the names listed there are any indication, the Tigers are looking for an inside midfielder with their first pick – the five players featured above all fit into that category.

Of course, rumours should never be taken as a certainty and when things being in earnest anything can happen. We’ll find it all out tonight!

Be sure to join me tonight here on The Roar for our live blog of the draft, and then again tomorrow morning for all of our post-draft analysis.

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