TASSIE WATCH: NOW ALL EYES TURN TO 2019 AND OUR DRAFT HOPES
THE dust has barely settled on season 2018 and already minds are turning towards 2019, especially for Tasmanians in the mix come trade week and the AFL draft.
It was an epic Grand Final on Saturday — but not the right result for the state’s two representatives, Collingwood duo Jeremy Howe and Brody Mihocek.
Both were more than serviceable but, in an exhilarating finale to 2018, it was West Coast which took the honours.
Now speculation turns quickly towards trade week, starting next Monday, and the draft (November 22-23).
Aaron Hall seems desperate to get out of Gold Coast after six years and 103 games, with North Melbourne hoping to land the line-breaking midfielder alongside West Coast’s Andrew Gaff and Port Adelaide’s Jared Polec.
His teammate Kade Kolodjashnij is also believed to be looking for a fresh start away from the Suns, having overcome a series of concussion issues and having played 78 games since being taken with pick five in the 2013 national draft.
“Hally is probably weighing up where he is at and we are a little bit the same,” Suns coach Stuart Dew said earlier last month.
“With our chat with Hally, it’s let’s just see what the next month brings.
“Kade is probably a little similar to Hally. We are working out where he fits in our system.”
He will attract a lot of attention from Melbournebased clubs and would be more than a handy addition to any side if he can recapture the form and fitness that took him to runner-up in the Suns’ best and fairest in just his second season (2015).
Mitch Hibberd has been delisted from North Melbourne, but the former Clarence running defender is hoping to land a spot at another club.
This year’s national draft will be spread over two days, with round one to be selected on the Thursday, then round two onwards the following night.
Tarryn Thomas is considered a lock to go to North Melbourne with its first selection, given his immense talents across a variety of positions and the Roos’ 20 per cent discount on the North Launceston star, thanks to Thomas’s indigenous background and association with North Melbourne’s Tasmanian Next Generation Academy.
Chayce Jones’s stocks only rose during the national under-18 championships and many good judges think the Launceston midfielder will fall in the late first-round/ early second-round category.
Clarence winger Fraser Turner is considered the state’s next best chance after he smashed all sorts of GPS data records during the national championships, but will almost certainly have to wait until the second night to hear his club of destination.
Lauderdale’s Nicholas Baker is the other local thought to be thereabouts, while former North Launceston star Jay Lockhart has put his name up for selection after his debut season for the Casey Demons, being named in the VFL team of the year and playing in the grand final.
The National Draft Combine will run from tomorrow to Friday, with Baker, Jones Turner and Thomas all invit- ed, while Rhyan Mansell (North Launceston), Matt McGuinness (Lauderdale), Lachlan Gadomski (Tigers) and Lockhart have been invited to the one-day state combine in Melbourne on Friday.