The dust settles on the draft

Date: November 28, 2011

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Comments 34

The Age football writer Emma Quayle. Photo: John Donegan

THE SELECTIONS: pick-by-pick

The dust has settled on the 2011 AFL draft and with a few days breathing space to ponder our thoughts, it's time to assess which clubs emerged as winners from the annual footy 'yearling sales'.

Resident Age draft expert Emma Quayle will be in the chair from 1pm Monday to answer all your draft questions.

The footy scribe has already compiled a dossier analysing the hits and misses for each club, the value selections and the apparent fact that a few clubs that seemed to really need to bring one or more genuine key position prospects in either made it a late priority or didn't draft any at all.

SEND your questions in now or return to realfooty.com.au from 1pm to probe Emma with all those burning draft questions about your club.

34 comments so far

Hi Sugar. Hard to know! I guess once we see him play in the preseason we'll all have a better idea of how much scope for improvement he's got now that he can train and play 24/7. He's not old, so he has plenty of time on his hands and you're right, he seems pretty competent in most areas! I haven't spoken to anyone from Sydney yet, but it'd be interesting to know why he wasn't quite ready/up to it back when he was a teenager. He's obviously improved and the Blues have had their eye on him for a long while now so they obviously think he can play a pretty important part. Given where they're at, if he works he could really help them take the next step.

Commenter

Emma

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:58PM
Hi Emma.
What are your thoughts on Carlton's picks, Bootsma and Rowe? Will they fill those gaps up front and down back?

Commenter

Blues

Location

Sydney

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:48PM
Hi Trent. Elliott actually moves a little bit like Stephen Coniglio, he keeps on the move around the ball, bounces around a bit and can do some pretty dynamic things. A few clubs with picks in the 20s and 30s were pretty keen on him.

Commenter

Emma

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:35PM
A little bit, but the Hawks are in a pretty good spot with their list and could afford to snap him him. He didn't have a huge national carnival but I know they thought he was actually getting himself into good spots, but just not demanding the ball enough. He ticks all the boxes athletically and could be a really exciting player down the track. Woodward was a good get, he's quite a smart, skilful onballer and I have high hopes for Jordan Kelly too, I really liked him earlier in this year around the time of the u18 trials. He had a few interruptions this year but doesn't like giving his man anything. He could be a good one too.

Commenter

Emma

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:30PM
Hi Emma, you mentioned before draft that the Lions needed big key defender and a classy midfielder. Any thoughts on who may be available in rookie draft that would help those needs? Do you know much about the last kid the Lions picked up?
Cheers

Commenter

Sam

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:30PM
I'm not entirely convinced on what I've read about McKenzie at pick 18 at North. Will he make it?

Commenter

Andy

Location

Melb

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:25PM
Hi Emma
I notice with some relief that the Swans went for three kids that are all good kicks. Poor disposal and fumbling, particlarly when the ball was wet was probably the difference causing them to miss the top four. Mitchell in particular seems to be a precision kick and have sure and fast hands. Do you think they can be part of the solution that helps them get to that next level?

Commenter

Mark

Location

ACT

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:25PM
Hi James. Lever might take a little bit of time to get his body right for senior footy, but Ross and Markworth seem reasonably ready to go to me. Foot skills was the most popular answer I got when asking around about why he got down so far, but he could still be one of the best bargains of the draft. Time will tell of course. Webster is another one who, although quite skinny and raw, could get a taste of it. It'll be good to see more of Sipposs, Cripps and Ledger next year too.

Commenter

Emma

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:25PM
I think they ended up with a perfect combination of players. Last year they were able to get a bunch of midfielders in (a few of whom we haven't yet seen) and now they've loaded up on forwards. A lot of clubs really liked Hamling but he's really skinny and is going to take some time, hence he got down the order. Geelong can give him that time, and I think both Kersten and Murdoch could play some sort of part next year. The good thing is that all three play in completely different ways, too. If they can get a couple of them up and running quickly they're going to stay around the mark for a while yet.

Commenter

Emma

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:23PM
Seems that Manson was left out because of the 'homesickness' fear. He seems like he genuinely wants a shot so why wouldn't a club get him on the 'permission to train' list ahead of the rookie draft to see how he settles in over next 2 weeks??

Commenter

timwhitey

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

November 28, 2011, 1:21PM

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