RICHMONDThe club’s draft rivals believe the Tigers are zeroing in on 194cm Eastern Ranges midfielder Josh Smillie.
The Tigers just inherited the No.1 pick – on current ladder position – from North Melbourne and will surely keep it, given they are injury-ravaged and the Kangaroos are rising with a bullet.
The Tigers would love the No.1 pick to be clear-cut and a Harley Reid type, but some recruiters still believe Smillie and Victorian mid Finn O’Sullivan are the best two kids, then a gap to the rest including Vic Metro mid Jagga Smith, Lions’ father-son prospect Levi Ashcroft and Victorian interceptor Luke Trainor.
The problem is that Smillie hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in his three under-18 games so far, with a clash to come against Vic Country on Sunday.
Smillie showed glimpses in a nine-clearance contest against Western Australia, but has 17, 22 and 20 touches in those U18 games and wouldn’t be a lock for All Australian honours.
So ideally he torches Vic Country, has an even stronger back-end to his season and makes it easy for the Tigers, who need more elite mids to help Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper.
What is the absolute best draft haul Richmond could secure if they wanted to maximise their draft hand? Right now they have pick 1, 21, 36 (Fremantle’s second-rounder), 39 and 41 plus a heap of back-end picks.
They could secure pick 10 to 13 for Baker and two first-rounders for Rioli, albeit the Roos one, which ends up at pick 28 to 30. So they could have pick 1, 8 (the Dogs’ first-rounder for Rioli), pick 12 (for Baker), 21, 28 (the Roos-end-of-first-rounder), 36, 39, and 41.
Those picks will shuffle around with father-son and Next Generation Academy picks, but it would give them three top-15 picks, five top-30 picks and eight selections within 41.
It’s a spectacular starting point for the rejig, restump and rewire under Adem Yze, even before unrestricted free agent Jack Graham considers his future.
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/wreck-it-ralph-the-eight-teams-ripe-to-do-an-essendon-and-trade-up-or-split-first-round-picks-to-make-a-draft-raid-this-year/news-story/705726144ff72e9e8787861e7bd6f308