WXV: Moscow Spetsnaz

[Jukes]

Trade News

Moscow give: Pick 33
Sao Paulo give: Seb Tape

Tape has potential, and we feel trading for him will be a better option than taking a punt with pick 33. Although he probably won't be a starter any time soon, he could provide solid cover and provide some solid scores for our reserves side. We received pick 33 from Cape Town, meaning that final trade appears as Seb Tape and Lynden Dunn for Shaun Higgins and Alex Sexton, which we see as a slight win to us.

[Jukes]

Trade News

Moscow give: Kyle Hardingham, Jack Hutchins, Seb Tape and Picks 37 and 53
Pacific give: Josh Jenkins, Jonathon Simpkin and Pick 75

Our best back four are iffy, but we have a lot of decent back depth players and gave three of them away here, hopefully won't come back to bite us. Jenkins offers good forward cover and ruck, even though we probably won't ever need it with Clarke and NicNat, while Simpkin had a promising first season at the Hawks. Losing out on the pick part was necessary to get this deal over the line.

[Jukes]

Updated Team List
1. Jaeger O'Meara (M)
2. Josh Jenkins (R/F)
3. Paul Seedsman (D/M)
4. Dustin Martin (M/F)
5. Dyson Heppell (D/M)
6. Angus Monfries (M/F)
7. Zac Clarke (R)
8. Callan Ward (M)
9. Nic Naitanui (R/F)
10. Sam Docherty (D)
11. Lynden Dunn (D/F)
12. Tom Williams (D/F)
13. Nick Vlastuin (D/M)
14. James Frawley (D)
15. Jack Hombsch (D)
16. Ryan Griffen (M)
17. Martin Clarke (D)
18. Alex Pearce (D/F)
19. Jonathon Simpkin (M)
20. Dom Sheed (M)
21. Tom Lee (F)
22. Callum Sinclair (R/F)
23. Jesse Hogan (F)
24. Josh Thomas (M)
25. Blayne Wilson (D)
26. Matthew Fuller (D)
27. Steven May (D/F)
28. Tyrone Vickery (F)
29. Tom Barrass (D)
30. Sam Colquhoun (D/M)
31. Dustin Fletcher (D)
32. Jackson Allen (D)
33. Sam Menegola (F)
34. David Ellard (M)
35. Fraser McInnes (F)
36. Eric Wallace (F)*
37. Luke Tapscott (D)
38. Leigh Osborne (D)*
39. Heath Shaw (D)
40. Ariel Steinberg (D/F)*
41. Johnny Rayner (M)*
44. Corey Gault (R)
45. George Burbury (F)
47. Jonathon Ceglar (R)
48. Caolan Mooney (M)

*Rookie listed player

[Jukes]

Trade News

Moscow trades: Leigh Adams (to Toronto) and Picks 14 and 31 (to New Dehli)
Moscow receives: Nick Vlastuin (from New Dehli) and Pick 34 (from Toronto)

After lengthy negotiations with elephants, coach of New Dehli, and roo boys, coach of Toronto, we have finally come to a trade that we each agree on, that benefits all of us. Although Adams is a solid scorer, we feel him and pick 14 was a necessary loss to bring in a very talented youngster in Nick Vlastuin, who should strengthen our defence both short-term and long-term after his very nice debut season that featured high scores such as 141, 108 and 105 for an average of 75.1 in 17 games, dragged down by some poor mid-to-late season form.

[Torpedo10]

Tigger is a great addition to the Spetsnaz.  ;D

[Jukes]

Trade Period Review

Full Ins and Outs
In: Jesse Hogan, Sam Docherty, Jaeger O'Meara, Dyson Heppell, Blayne Wilson, Zac Clarke, Tom Lee, Lynden Dunn, Josh Jenkins, Jonathon Simpkin, Nick Vlastuin and Picks 10, 34, 67 and 75.
Out: Michael Walters, Jack Darling, Nat Fyfe, Adam Treloar, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Dom Tyson, Robert Murphy, Charlie Dixon, Shaun Higgins, Alex Sexton, Kyle Hardingham, Jack Hutchins and Picks 14, 36, 53 and 71 (Trades).
Shane Tuck, Jason Blake, Brad Dick (Retirement), Nick Joyce, Richard Tambling, Josh Growden, Josh Mellington (Likely Delistings).

The trade period was a very active one for Moscow, being involved in 9 trades (league average was 6.33), and in my opinion was a very successful period. We both fixed our positions of concern for the short term, defence through Heppell, Dunn, Docherty and Vlastuin, and ruck through Clarke and Jenkins, and brought in several very talented youngsters such as juggernaut forward Hogan, 2013 rising star O'Meara who has been described as a possibility to become the best player of all time, Hawthorn prospect Simpkin, and the aforementioned up-and-comers Docherty and Vlastuin, in addition to a couple of already proven guns in Heppell and Clarke.

We had to say goodbye to several player who provided key contributions to the Spetsnaz in 2013. Nat Fyfe (assistant coaches award, 4th in MVP, 3rd in Best and Fairest), Bob Murphy (coaches award, 9th in Best and Fairest), Charlie Dixon (10th in Best and Fairest), and Michael Walters (7th in Best and Fairest) left for Dublin, and Adam Treloar (Young Player of the Season). These contributions to the Spetsnaz's good 2013 campaign will not be forgotten, and we wish them well at their future clubs, in addition to the other players who left.

[Torpedo10]

Dom Sheed

Dom Sheed was taken by the Spetsnaz at pick 10 in the International Draft. Sheed is a hard player who always seems to find the ball. He has showed his outstanding skills by winning the Larke Medal by being the best player at the U18 Champs. 'The Extractor' as the boys at Moscow like to call him after his arrival at the club has showed great confidence and has the build to be a serious contender for a place in the 15 for Round 1. His ability to win contested possession and use his mighty left foot to effectively use the ball. As you all know, Jukes & I love our West Aussie boys at Moscow and Dom is one of them. We are stoked we picked him up at 10 and we were quite surprised he lasted.

[Jukes]

Coach's Draft Analysis

NAT Pick 10- Dom Sheed
As explained previous by my assistant coach, we see Dom as a great pick-up for pick 10. Dom has many tools that we plan to utilise in his first season and develop him into a midfield star and captain material. Although he may not slot into the starting midfield straight away, or even this season, we can see him providing good performances for Moscow when called upon, and develop his selection push for Siberia.
Pick Rating: 9.25/10

NAT Pick 34- Matthew Fuller
Although our defensive depth is strong, we felt that we should pick up another promising backman to partially cover for the trading of Tape, Hardingham and Hutchins late in the draft period to the Islanders. Matty is experienced already at 23 after playing a key role in back-to-back SANFL premierships. We hope this experience can guide him towards earning games for Moscow through good performances for the Wolverines and having immediate impact. Matt is a strong kick on both sides and adds a driving force for the Spetsnaz going forward.
Pick Rating: 8.5/10

NAT Pick 64- Tom Barrass
To add another Claremont boy to our ranks alongside Hogan and Lee is a good feeling. A better feeling was to take him at pick 64, after being touted as a 40-50 pick at around pick 43. Tommy was a late bolter after developing large parts of his game in the last 12 months, giving us confidence that he can improve a lot more and compete for a WXV debut. Tom likens himself to Harry Taylor- if he can replicate this likeness in his performances for Siberia and Moscow, this would be a great selection.
Pick Rating: 8.25/10

NAT Pick 71- Alex Pearce
Like Tom, Alex was expected to go much higher than pick 71. A lot higher. The media had him in the late 30s in many phantom drafts, but, after nominating Moscow as his club of choice on the eve of the draft, several clubs were turned off, allowing the Spetsnaz to snatch him. A tall forward who can also play in defence, Alex adds mobility and agility around the packs and can take big marks. Another key trait of Alex is his great stamina, finishing third overall at the combine for the beep test, and eighth in the 3-km time trial. Although we expect his immediate impact on Moscow to be minimal, he will hopefully provide good performances for Siberia, adding some depth that we were lacking last season.
Pick Rating: 9.5/10

NAT Pick 82- David Ellard
David slipping to pick 82 after being delisted by Pacific was somewhat expected, and we are glad to welcome him to Moscow. David has 37 games of experience, and at only 24 we feel that we can develop him into a better player than his 2013 season and selection number suggest he is. David has the potential to be a great scorer, averaging 85.1 from 10 games in 2012, however his 2013 season was cruelled by a calf injury, although he was good in the 2 full matches he played (excluding his injury game). If David can improve his consistency and earn a consistent role for his side, he could be a great selection this late in the draft.
Pick Rating: 8.75/10

NATPick 91- Luke Tapscott
Another recycled player after being delisted by Beijing, Luke can hopefully become a solid player for Siberia, maybe even pressing for Spetsnaz selection if he puts up some impressive form. After 45 games on the big stage, we hope he can improve his scoring ability toward what was seen in the first few games of his career, where he scored 113, 91, 50, 84, 53 and 104 in his first 6 matches, including a rising star nod in round 1. At only 21, he can still progress into a solid scorer, and at pick 91 we didn't have much to lose. .
Pick Rating: 8/10

NAT Pick 100- Jesse Hogan (Rookie Upgrade)
NAT Pick 107- Blayne Wilson (Rookie Upgrade)
NAT Pick 113- George Burbury (Rookie Upgrade)
NAT Pick 117- Sam Menegola (Rookie Upgrade)

RD Pick 14- Leigh Osborne
RD Pick 32- Johnny Rayner
RD Pick 46- Ariel Steinberg

[CrowsFan]

The analysis write-ups are good, but the pick rating is absolutely useless. Of course you're going to give yourself high ratings for each pick you took. It's not like you are going to say we picked Fuller, but thought there were better options available so 5/10.

[Jukes]

The analysis write-ups are good, but the pick rating is absolutely useless. Of course you're going to give yourself high ratings for each pick you took. It's not like you are going to say we picked Fuller, but thought there were better options available so 5/10.

It's more so how good/lucky we feel we were to take the player at that pick, rather than whether he was the best pick at that time, if that makes sense.

Like how happy we would have been going into the draft and knowing we'd get x player at x pick.

[CrowsFan]

Ah fair enough :)

[ossie85]

Gotta be disappointing!

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-02/festival-blues-fell-clarke

[Torpedo10]

Gotta be disappointing!

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-02/festival-blues-fell-clarke

:( Awkard for pre-season training but should be back for round 1 I hope.

[Torpedo10]

DEF: Seedsman, Shaw, Vlastuin, Dunn
MID: Griffen (C), O'Meara, Ward, Heppell
RUCK: Naitanui
FWD: Martin, Jenkins, Monfries, Z.Clarke
INT: Thomas, Frawley

Pretty beastly Best 15 if I do say so myself.

[Jukes]

Leadership Group Unveil

Captain: Ryan Griffen
Vice Captains: Nic Naitanui and Dyson Heppell
Leadership Group: Heath Shaw, Jaeger O'Meara, Dustin Martin and Callan Ward

Reigning Best and Fairest and Club MVP Ryan Griffen retains the captaincy, with new recruit Dyson Heppell joining Nic Naitanui as vice-captains. Young star Jaeger O'Meara is a new inclusion to the leadership group.