The final AFL drafts for 2008 take place on Tuesday week, with six picks up for grabs in the pre-season draft, and rookie numbers set to expand to as many as eight at some clubs with concessions given as part of the introduction of the Gold Coast team. Fantasy relevance may be limited for some clubs, with others hiding some gems you’ll need to know about.
Let’s deal first with the pre-season draft, where Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Essendon, Carlton, Brisbane and Richmond all have picks. The Power have made no secret of their intention to select prodigal son Josh Carr, while Carlton is locked in to ex-Demon Chris A. Johnson… assuming that the Bombers don’t snap him up first. Carr is on the downward slide of his career, of course, whereas Johnson is a much more interesting player for fantasy. After an injury-riddled season for Melbourne in which he nevertheless averaged 76 in Dream Team and 78 in Super Coach across his ten games, he would become a genuine option in the Xavier Ellis price range with somewhat similar upside. At Carlton he would be helped by the Blues’ high-possession game plan and lack of small defenders, while at Essendon he’d be helped by the fact that the Dons don’t currently have much of anything…
Brisbane has attracted a lot of media play for its interest in Nick Davis, though early training reports on fan boards don’t sound too encouraging, with delisted rookies Joel Tippett, Daniel Dzufer and Phil Smith fighting with Davis for that last senior contract. Tippett has been showing up on a lot of ruck benches in Fanplanner teams, so if he was upgraded to senior list status his price would be lifted and his fantasy popularity would no doubt plummet.
Richmond is an interesting one. Media talk has them linked with Kade Klemke, who was talked up pre-draft in top 30 phantom lists but failed to get a guernsey in the real thing. However, don’t be fooled. The Tigers SOP for their final list spot these days is to cart a cast of thousands along to their pre-season training, pit the kids against each other in the style of Lord of the Flies, and draft whoever wins. Last year this technique produced David Gourdis, who hardly tore up the comp. This year it could be anyone, from delisted rookies to Coburg hopefuls like 170cm midget freak Fortunato Caruso (a “Rodan type”, which instantly makes Tiger fans cry) to Gourdis himself. Power reject Adam Cockshell is the name most being thrown around on Tiger fan forums. Unless it’s Klemke, I can’t see a huge amount of fantasy relevance. Klemke could also qualify as a NSW scholarship player for Sydney if Richmond don’t pick him, which would take him out of the reckoning given the Swans’ historic reluctance to play first-year players.
As for Melbourne and Essendon, apart from the Dons possibly taking Johnson they have essentially given themselves two weeks to further trial (and research) kids who weren’t picked up in the national draft, so it could be anyone. The same goes for the 60 or so free slots in the rookie draft: most of the delisted rookies will probably be picked up again, as well as the hyped draft prospects who missed out like Klemke, Matt DeBoer, Adam Cockie, Steven Gaertner, Brad Mangan, Clancee Pearce, Tom Rockliff, Tom Allwright, Tom Hill and Jamie Sheahan. Then there will be a bunch of names no one has ever heard of. Given the expansion of rookie slots you’d expect a lot of warehousing of kids from the championships, so pretty much all of the noted names will get picked up… the problem for fantasy coaches is that you can probably forget about the vast majority of them for this year, as teams will want to hang onto them in preparation for the compromised drafts when the Gold Coast team takes over the process.
And then, there’s Ben Cousins. I’m afraid, my friends, that you’re going to have to take him out of your plan teams. There’s little to no hope that he’ll be picked up at this point. At least you’ll have confirmation on the 16th so you can finally give up on him, as the league seems to have done. Oh well, back to the drawing board!
Chad
December 3, 2008 at 2:26 pm
“prodigal son Josh Carr”
Josh is exactly what port need and we get him for nothing.
dylan
December 3, 2008 at 3:13 pm
hey monty i just clicked on the ben cousins link and according to that he is number 9 at st kilda and he was born june 1990 which makes him 18. that 1 needs a bit of a update =)
m0nty
December 3, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Fixed, thanks.
ManWithNoName
December 3, 2008 at 4:09 pm
According to the FanPlanner “Will Young” plays for team 69…….
What must we do to join that club??
Chad
December 3, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Might as well change Josh Carr from a freo player to Port Adelaide. Everyone in the country knows he will be joining us or at the very least, more likely to be at Port next year than Freo 😉
dylan
December 3, 2008 at 4:20 pm
hey guys i put this up on the dt talk site and thought i would add it here as well to see what everyone thinks about it.
i was wondering what u think about Dangerfield for the crows? do u think he will be a good pick up? should be cheap he has done some previous training and will probably get a spot in the backline to take either bassetts or massies spot. Do u think he will be about to get some alright dt scores for a cheap player or just average?
Chad
December 3, 2008 at 6:16 pm
indeed dylan, in my 22
XztatiK
December 4, 2008 at 1:38 am
Yeah dylan, he’s my 4th favourite mid rookie right now (Rich, Hartlett, Sidebottom). He won’t be replacing Bass/Mass though, he might play on a half back flank but not as a defensive stopper like those two.
More likely to spend most of his time across half-forward and give Richie Douglas more of a midfield role.
Watch him in the NAB.
“Power reject Adam Cockshell is the name most being thrown around on Tiger fan forums.”
…just because it’s fun to say. “COCKshell” haha. I’m sure Chad will agree that he’s a dud.
Chad
December 4, 2008 at 10:12 am
Indeed a dud, Salter certainly overtook him pretty easily. It is suppose to be pronounced “co-shell” i believe, pfft. But yeh, even at tigers i dont think he will be DT worthy.
Dan
December 4, 2008 at 10:34 am
@dylan
anyone who answers that is just guessing mate
you have to wait and watch the pre-season as XztatiK says
Dan.
dylan
December 4, 2008 at 4:51 pm
thanks for the reply’s.
im trying to figure out which young players i will pick to put in my team. so far i think i might start cotchin with dangerfield and rich on the bench. in my forward line i have a lot of options to chose from with Gumbleton,Yarran,Sidebottom(have not checked to see where he will be playing) Walker,Ballantyne are most of them. I might even pick 3 of these to start 1 so i can use more money on other players. hoping to pick the palmer and selwood of the years before this year. =)
Quigley
December 5, 2008 at 8:42 am
Monty – if Klemke gets through the PSD the Swans could rookie him using one of their zonal picks. Wouldn’t be a scholarship selection though.
Also Hill is bottom aged so would not be eligible as a rookie.
Good article though. I for one don’t have any idea what the Lions are planning with their pick. With Cousins and Davis out of the picture they will might go with one of the overlooked guys. No-one has been brought in yet though.
tay
December 10, 2008 at 9:43 pm
this is fukin bullshit ben cousins shiould be in this shit. he is the best footballer ever to been to afl.
marcus
December 12, 2008 at 4:45 pm
how do we listen to the rookie and pre season draft?
Jaiden
December 15, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Where can i watch it the Afl preseason draft someone tell me Please
Slugga
December 16, 2008 at 10:11 am
Anyone know how to listen to the pre season draft