Handwringing over the apparently hacked release of an Essendon web video of recruiting manager Adrian Dodoro extolling the virtues of Shaun Atley simply doesn’t pass the logic test.

It’s pretty obvious that the Bombers thought the best player they could expect to be available at pick 8 was Atley. When Dyson Heppell hadn’t been called to that point, they decided to reassess.

Hence the expected drafting of Atley was replaced by the unexpected drafting of Heppell. Not too hard to figure out, we think. And hardly an embarrassment for the club. More mainstream media hyperbole.

We got to thinking after putting together our previous post. Those now–ex-AFL players would have had a tough day following the draft yesterday, but perhaps none tougher than Robert Eddy.

Eddy has come within two of the proverbial bees’ dicks of virtual football immortality. Instead, he’s probably destined to be a footnote.

Readers will recall that Eddy was considered unlucky not to have made the Saints’ 2009 Grand Final team. He followed that up by playing in both the 2010 Grand Finals.

But for an unlucky bounce of the ball at the end of the drawn 2010 Grand Final, Eddy would be the proud owner of a Premiership player’s medal. With a little luck in selection the year before, he could have been a Matthew Scarlett toe-poke away from another Premiership medal.

And now, aged only 22, it appears his AFL career is over.

If anyone tries to tell you that AFL is not a tough game, remind them how a young bloke who’s done everything right to get himself into the team for the biggest game of the year has been ground up and spat out.

What may stick in Eddy’s craw will be the Saints’ final two draft selections after he has been cast adrift: ex-Cat Ryan Gamble and ex-Tiger Dean Polo. It’s fanciful, in our view, to consider that Polo could be picked in a team for a Grand Final and Gamble had certainly not secured a regular spot in the Cats’ lineup. We wonder whether the Polo recruitment will rival that previous ex-Tiger Saint, Aaron Fiora’s ‘success’.

These are curious decisions and, along with the recent exodus of coaching staff, must place some sort of question mark over coach Ross Lyon’s future.

And in a late announcement, West Coast have delisted Ashley Hansen. Interesting timing, coming the day after the draft. We’re not that confident that Hansen would have been selected by anyone, but the bloke is surely entitled to have a chance to throw his hat into the ring. We understand there’s little place for sentiment in the modern game, but we think West Coast have treated Hansen particularly poorly in this.

The draft may well have been ‘compromised’ by the Suns’ plethora of early picks — we’re not entirely convinced on that score — but we can’t help feeling there are some other issues.

From The Age’s report of the draft:

Luke Mitchell: “Missed much of the year with a shoulder injury. . .”

Wayne Hughes, Carlton’s recruiting manager: “Luke Mitchell is a centre half-forward who missed most of the season with a knee reconstruction.”

Some anatomy classes are in order for either Wayne or The Age’s reporter!

Adrian Dodoro (Essendon’s recruiting manager): “It was a year where we consulted our coaching staff. . .”

Gee, that’s an explanation of the Bombers’ woes we hadn’t counted on! In what circumstances would you not consult the coaching staff on the draft?

Neil Balme (Geelong football manager) apparently dribbled this into his bib about choosing to use the Ablett compensation pick this year: “Probably the logic is if you've got a player you can spend a couple of years working on him, you'll get a better player probably than a first-round pick at the time. . .”

And how good would the first-round pick be after spending a couple of years on him, Balmy? Or should we say, Barmy? And let’s just quietly gloss over the fact that, at 15, Billie Smedts is a first-round pick.

The draft is really like Christmas time for the clubs, except that they get to pick their own presents having previously had the chance to push, prod, poke, shove and x-ray the packages. The uniformly positive reviews from club spokespeople, when intelligible, have much in common with toddlers mauling the latest grant from “Santa”.

The list of probably now–ex-AFL players who had nominated, but were not chosen, casts a momentary pall over the raucous enthusiasm. Some, like Jay Neagle, have another possible lifeline, but for most last night was the end of their glory days. We feel for them and hope their resilience allows them to weather this blow to self-esteem. In our dotage, we envy them the experience of even having been part of an AFL locker room. Had Lucifer asked, we probably would have given our left leg for the chance to run out just once. . .  [Sigh]

It will be interesting, come next Monday afternoon, to look at the trades that have been done and consider the flow-on effects of last year’s disastrous play for Brendan Fevola by Brisbane coach, Michael Voss.

How many clubs would be willing to countenance losing club champion Rischitelli, elite goal-kicker Bradshaw and emerging star Henderson for the questionable social skills and on-field narcissism of Fevola.

Time will tell whether Voss’ arrogance has condemned Brisbane to an extended period at the less-glorious end of the ladder, but a certain amount of trust between coach and playing group must surely have also been lost in the transaction.

Who’s really to know whether Hawthorn have already paid a price for hawking [no pun intended] Campbell Brown around the traps without his knowledge? Is it credible that a man who seemed to epitomise the team spirit of ‘the family club’ would pick up his little red wagon and head north otherwise?

However much we may dislike the Trade Week ‘meat market’, it has provided a relatively ordered and civilised means for players to escape poisonous environments and make a new start. More so, the dramatic concessions afforded to the Suns and GWS have empowered some players to visit retribution upon clubs when they’ve been treated shabbily.

I'm with Glen Archer! Dean Laidley's floating of Hamish Macintosh as trade bait was tawdry in the extreme. I wonder what reaction there'll be, sometime next season, when Laidley implores Macintosh to find an extra ten percent? What about “F**k off”? What damage has Laidley, perhaps unwittingly, done to the invisible fabric of his team? Will the famous Shinboner Spirit be as weak as Pimms in ’09?

I remain convinced that the Bombers’ slide after 2001 was hastened by the way that Hardwicke, Caracella, Blumfield and Heffernan were seemingly disposed of. I don't think that team ever recovered their trust in the coach, match committee and club.

Back on Laidley's turf, the matter of Daniel Harris, if media reports are accurate, is a totally different scenario. Cameraderie and group cohesion is a fragile commodity, but Premierships are NOT won without it.

It is a sad fact of modern, corporatised, socialised sport that clubs can demand that players bleed for the jumper, but, come Trade Week, all bets are off and anything goes. If only loyalty were a two-way street...

The AFL's determination to create a senior-level AFL team on the Gold Coast seems to know no bounds. The announced draft concessions appear to be incredibly generous — until you consider the average lifespan of AFL draftees and the success rate of high-level draft picks.

The kids being drafted to Gold Coast will also be entitled to feel somewhat short-changed. There's not going to be a cohort of experienced team leaders with substantial AFL pedigrees to provide the leadership, on and off the field, that these youngsters will need for them to have a reasonable chance of a successful AFL career.

Of course, it's the very determination to create the Gold Coast presence that makes these measures necessary.

It would be sad to see the courts being drawn into the draft system, but it wouldn't be unreasonable for these kids to feel that being drafted to Gold Coast potentially diminishes their capacity to earn a living (and set themselves up for life if they're smart) in AFL.