Melbourne football boss Josh Mahoney says it would take an extraordinary deal to trade away its No. 3 draft pick
Melbourne believes it has slotted in its two wingmen for the next five years after trialling 15 players in that slot in 2019. Now all eyes are on what the club will do with its pick 3 in the draft.
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Melbourne says it would take an extraordinary deal to trade away its No. 3 pick after locking in both of its wingmen for the long-term future.
A year after trying to lure Fremantle’s Ed Langdon to the Demons, they finally got their man, after earlier this week securing GWS wingman Adam Tomlinson.
Melbourne handed over their No.22 and 79 picks and got back Fremantle’s No.26 selection, also swapping their future second-round selection for Fremantle’s future fourth-round selection.
It means as well as this year’s pick shuffle they will hope to fly up the ladder and hand over a pick close to 40 next year and get back something at around 60.
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Melbourne had 15 players go through their wing positions this year including Nathan Jones and Angus Brayshaw, and are determined to settle Tomlinson and Langdon into those slots next year.
Melbourne football boss Josh Mahoney told the Herald Sun with the wing position so critical in the current transition game the Demons were thrilled to secure both their priority targets.
But while rival clubs will come to the Demons with offers for their No. 3 pick, with players like young Victorian midfielder Hayden Young around that mark, it would have to be an amazing offer.
“Right now we are very happy to keep pick three. There are very good players at the top end of the draft and it would need to be something really attractive from a club. Right now our preference is to keep the pick,” he said.
Langdon, 23, has worked hard in the past two seasons to improve his kicking accuracy, and this year averaged 25 possessions, 439 metres gained and kicked the ball at 60 per cent efficiency.
In Round 22 against Essendon he peeled off his best game for the year, posting 37-possessions, 24-kicks and 861-metres-gained in the loss to the Bombers.
“We have wanted to add some outside run to our list and he was one of the players on our target list last year but he was in contract. So he’s been someone we have watched for the last couple of years and we are really happy to get the trade done and look forward.”
Having missed out on Collingwood free agent Jamie Elliott, the Demons are more likely to look internally or in the national draft to try to find another small forward.
Mahoney said the club believed it had enough key defenders despite letting go of Sam Frost to Hawthorn.
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Frost finished ninth in the club’s best and fairest this year but after fitness issues this year the Demons believe Oscar McDonald can rediscover his 2018 form in 2020.
“Sam did a great job for us this year and played a really important role but we have to take into consideration the future and we think we have got a number of players who can play in our backline. We have Nev Jetta and Michael Hibberd and Marty Hore, who can play a lot in the backline next year,” Mahoney said.