With the 2019 AFLW Draft just about upon us. Normally, I would take some time to write up a Mock Draft of the first round. It’s something that I have often enjoyed doing over the years as I like to make my predictions as to who will go where.
But this time, I’m going to do it a bit differently: I’m going to be writing specifically from a supporters standpoint – I’ll be discussing about what my club, the Western Bulldogs will do with their rich bounty of draft picks in the top 10 and who they should look at come Draft day.
Suffice to say, it has been a year to forget for the Western Bulldogs. Just a year removed from winning their first AFLW premiership in the club’s history, the Bulldogs won their opening two games of the 2019 season, before losing the next five to be last in Conference A and finished with the fourth-worst record in the entire league – only beating GWS and Brisbane on percentage and a game clear of Collingwood.
Only to add salt to the wounds of the club, they lost captain Katie Brennan to Richmond. They lost arguably their best midfielder in Monique Conti also to Richmond. They also lost premiership players Tiarna Ernst and Libby Birch to Gold Coast and Melbourne respectively. They also lost solid depth players in Emma Mackie, Selena Karlson, Belinda Smith and Kate Bartlett to other clubs in what was looking like a mass exodus.
Yet, they say there is often a silver lining to moments like these. Look at the last time the men’s team had multiple players walking out of the club. Two years later they win a damn premiership. The silver lining here is that the Western Bulldogs will enter Tuesday’s AFLW Draft with four picks inside the top 10 alone. They will also have picks 47, 48, 62 and 88 to use to stock up on some depth – potentially VFLW players capable of making the next jump.
But for the purpose of this article, let’s talk about the four picks inside the top 10.
They got handed the number one draft pick from Richmond in exchange for Monique Conti who will be sorely missed in the middle. It has been an absolute pleasure to watch her go to work and create run and carry wherever she was on the field. The Tigers have a gun on their hands and I hope she carries on what has been a successful career to date.
But the idea of picking one out of a trio that includes Georgia Patrikios, Lucy McEvoy and Gabby Newton genuinely has me excited for what the Bulldogs are capable of next year. All three carry elite credentials and it will be hard to pick one without strongly considering the others. All three of them have extremely talented skill sets and have outstanding work ethics.
The understanding is that one will get selected by the Bulldogs and the other two will surely snapped up by Carlton and St. Kilda, who hold the next two picks in the Victorian Talent Pool.
If I had to pick one, and it comes with a lot of thought and difficulty, I would settle on Patrikios as the number one pick. The credentials are there: She was an All-Australian in the under-18 championships and was named not just Vic Metro’s MVP in the championships, but she was named the MVP throughout the entire carnival. She averaged 21 disposals, 2.8 clearances and 5 tackles across three games in the carnival.
She also excelled in the VFLW in the limited time she got for Essendon, averaging nearly 18 disposals and six tackles per game. I think that speaks volumes about her ability to play with the older bodies in the game.
So after Carlton and St. Kilda clean out the top three Victorian talents in the Draft, the Bulldogs hold three of the next four selections and there are plenty of good talent on offer to help rebuild the list that has been pillaged by the expansion clubs. I think of names such as Nell Morris-Dalton, Brittney Gutknecht, Sophie Molan, Ellie McKenzie, Gemma Lagioia, Cleo Saxon-Jones and Laura McClelland as players who I expect to be selected early in the piece.
Not sure who the Bulldogs should target? Well let’s have a look at some of the weaknesses from the season that has been 2019. They were eighth in the league for hitouts, eighth in the league in contested possessions, which says they need midfield depth – Ellie Blackburn is a great player, but she can’t do it on her own. Furthermore, they averaged four goals per game this season, which was equal-sixth in the league – that’s just simply not going to cut it to be back in premiership contention.
They have a bona fide midfielder with pick one – let’s just say in this scenario it’s Patrikios. Pick six is up next and there’s two players I’d consider: Morris-Dalton and Saxon-Jones. Who do you go for? Knowing Richmond is there at pick seven, I predict that they will probably going to go with a Midfielder or possibly a defender, because they have some pretty good talent up forward to begin with.
For this, I’ll opt with Saxon-Jones at six, because the Tigers don’t exactly have a known ruck option either. But she has proven over the past 12-18 months how good she can be in the air and give her team mates in the middle first-use through her hitouts. The only way I can see the Dogs not take her is if new coach Nathan Burke has faith in both Kim Rennie and Celine Moody. Both are good talents, but the fact that they are eighth in the league for hitouts speaks out a bit.
Hopefully, this would entice Richmond to pass up on Morris-Dalton to enable the Bulldogs to select her at pick eight. I love how she goes about it and given the fact that the Bulldogs struggled up forward through the absence of both Izzy Huntington and Brooke Lochland, this might sound like a no-brainer and maybe take her with the sixth pick and hope Saxon-Jones slips through.
She kicked 15 goals in 11 games this year in the NAB under-18s league for Northern Knights and also featured in five games for Darebin in the VFLW and kicked four goals in the process, establishing her ability to consistently feature on the scoresheet in all three of the VFLW, NAB under-18s and in the championships. Imagine a forward line of Izzy Huntington, Brooke Lochland, Aisling McCarthy and Nell Morris-Dalton – that might cause a few headaches for opposition defences.
Which leads to the final selection – pick 9. Let’s say that the Dogs did luck out and have the trio of Patrikios, Morris-Dalton and Saxon-Jones. What angle do they go for here – Best available or something to suit the team needs?
I tossed up the idea of having another tall forward to help out Huntington and the first name that comes to mind is Sophie Molan. She has already tasted experience at the club, playing six games for the Bulldogs’ VFLW team. She spent most of her time in the VFLW playing forward, but at state level in the under-18s, she excelled in a role more up the ground. Averaging 20.6 disposals and 4.8 tackles per game for the Greater Western Victoria Rebels, this suggests that she can play as a midfielder as well.
At 175cm, she’s got good height to be an elite on-baller and that could help the Dogs’ midfield stocks extensively. I would not be surprised to see her picked her up by the Bulldogs with one of these four picks come Tuesday. I would also be considering someone like Laura McClelland who has shown that she can play a key position at either end of the ground or someone like Britney Gutknecht, who will help the Dogs in the contested areas in the middle.
I will conclude by mentioning another few players who featured for the Bulldogs’ VFLW team. I am hoping Ellie Gavalas lasts all the way to the 47th pick in the Draft, which will be the Bulldogs’ next pick after their haul of first-rounders, but I’m not confident at all about it. Gavalas had an outstanding season, which saw her pick up a spot in the VFLW team of the year and also win the club’s best and fairest award.
Elisabeth Georgostathis is another name that has caught my attention throughout the year. Not because of how long her surname is, but because she has shown throughout the year how potent she can be. I doubt she’ll last to our picks in the 40s, but if she does, then the Dogs have hit the big time in their draft selections. She averaged 19.6 disposals and 4.2 tackles per game across 9 games as a midfielder for the Western Jets this year. She played a further seven games for the Bulldogs’ VFLW team in return for six goals and averaging six tackles and nine disposals, playing more of a role as a forward.
So for now, that’ll do it for me. Best of luck to all the aspiring young ladies hoping to be picked up by an AFLW club and all the best to those who eventually get selected and hope to forge out a career in women’s football.