HPN

For a long time, the public view of the 2020 AFL Draft is that it is the “most compromised draft ever“. With a number of players projected to be inside the top 40 either available for pre-selection or tied to clubs, the consensus media view is that the “free talent”

Regardless of prior pedigree, when a player is clearly left out of a club’s plans, not being selected in an entire season, it’s really difficult to expect much in exchange if they are then traded. Especially when the club in question has a committed contract to manage within the salary

With Hawthorn staring down a hard rebuild as success catches up with them, they’ve seen a number of their numerous over-30 players depart this off-season. The exodus includes defenders Ben Stratton and Danny Frawley, as well as the return to Ireland of Conor Glass and a mid-August ACL injury ruling

GWS have essentially turned small forward Zac Langdon into large forward Jesse Hogan by swapping the draft pick they got back to Fremantle. Hogan represents a potential direct replacement for presumably departing matched free agent Jeremy Cameron; a big forward whose mobility can be used with the right game plan

With Jarrod Harbrow nearing the end of his career and Pearce Hanley out of the picture, the Suns looked to need a similar type of rebounding defender. They’ve found one at the fringes of a stacked premiership team, in Richmond’s Oleg Markov. While perhaps not as athletic as his World

The first officially declared trade of the year sees a mature age draftee small forward move back to Perth. Drafted out of the WAFL at age 22, Zac Langdon is a genuine pressure small forward. Langdon has rated inside the top 10 for tackles inside 50 per game in 2018

Usually the start of the player movement period is more stalling than roaring in nature. With deadline deals normally the order of the day, player movement often lacks a lot of movement (pardon the pun) until deadlines get tight. Already in the 2020 Free Agency period there have been offers

Walking the abandoned streets of Australia, you keep hearing “why doesn’t HPN pick an All Australian Team?” Even if it isn’t true, it is a requirement of all football media members to spill forth about selections for the All Australian team. As HPN are holders of Official AFL Media Passes

It could be some sneaky nostalgia talking, but there are few players more eye catching in the modern game than Charlie Dixon. At first glance he’s the most recent in a long line of key position forwards who can clunk a big grab – but he’s much more than that.