What a tumultuous few days we've had coming to terms with the first six rounds rounds of the inaugural ORFFL draft. Banging, chanting, fishing, twittering. All are flying thick and fast, and then of a sudden, not at all



We've also had the coach of Humpty Doo accuse the newly appointed Travelling Secretary of the Savages of planning to knife yours truly in a mid-season coup.



Not cool Lucas. Not cool.



Anyway, join us over the break as we dissect The Good, The Bad and The Hutchison of Rounds 1 to 7 of the ORFFL Draft.



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Rnd 1: The Fast and the TooSerious



Opening like a mexican drug war, the selections went bang, bang, bang, and then bang. So fast did she fly that there was nary a moment to contemplate what actually occurred.



Dustin Martin at #4 was arguably more than a touch early, but in hindsight the F/M was really the only man that the Kevin Bartlett of the ORFFL had in his sights. Deledio at #8 was also slightly contentious given the pure mids on offer, but where are you going to find another 24 year old DEF capable of scoring 100+? Nowhere, that's where.



Also surprising was Buddy's slide to #13, thought he was a sure-fire Top 10, and Boyd being picked before C JUDD, given that he's older and has less runs on the board historically.



Cox and Goodes probably went early too if you were taking age into account, but that's what happens when you put decisions into the cold robot hands of the Picking Machine&amp;trade;



Rnd 2: Rise of the Tall People, Fall of the Small People



Following a trend that started in the back half of the first round, Ruckmen continued to get snapped up at an alarming rate. Well, alarming if you didn't have one. 5 went in the opening round, and another 5 in the second. Zac Smith going at #27 is unprecedented for a Ruckmen going into his 2nd year of AFL, and suggested to me that there was a genuine market panic regarding the availability of quality big men at the time.



Consequently, this led to the slide of a raft of impressive young mids. Fyfe (#20), A. Swallow (#22) and Rockliff (#23) were all genuine 1st round quality, but obviously you cannot fit everyone into 18 picks. Only 18.



Other points of interest in the 2nd round were the selections of Scotland (#27) and O Keefe (#36). While their scoring prowess is undeniable, both are 31 coming into this season, and I imagine ORFFL coaches with younger list profiles were punching the air when these names were read out.



Rnd 3: 5 little forwards, all in a row



The story of round 3 for mine, was the selection of 5 FWDs in a row between picks #46 and #50, all of the MPP. There has to be some question mark on Beams at #47 given his disastrous 2011 Finals Series, and also a slight query on Roughead at #50 given the nature of his injury (although I thought it an astute selection given the market and his MPP status).



In other news, quality mids continued to slide (S. Thompson, Thomas, Griffen, Watson) and SCSS's obsession with Richmond (29 year-old Chris Newman at #40) continued unabated.



Rnd 4: The Defender's Turn



Round 4 saw 8 DEFs picked as coaches tried to balance their squads, and I suppose, avoid leading off with Harbrow in the number one slot. Aside from an that, I thought the Picking Machine&amp;trade;'s selection of Sauce Jacobs at #55 was absolute steal, and SCSS's selection of Dangles Nahas at #69, the inverse of that. Bob Murphy at #71 was similarly surprising, but if anyone has the inside word on the Dogs' fortunes, it's our man Jason.



Rnd 5: Nick before Jack



Nothing really spectacular happened in this round by my reckoning, aside from N Roo (#73) being selected before J Roo (#94, R6). It would seem a case of experience and its concurrent size of statistical data, trumping youth and its relative lack of the same said information.



Also SCSS's selection of Gibson at #76 still baffles me, considering the 'elite' Houli was still available, 5 years younger, and running around in the yellow and black. Perhaps KB has told him something he hasn't mentioned to the rest of us. Wouldn't know, don't listen to the man.



Rnd 6: Risky Business



Round 6 marked the beginning of coaches risking their selections on 29 year-old and over players who had an underwhelming 2011 season of scoring. Didak at #97 and J Brown #102 will leave some scratching their heads, but if they return to their averages of yesteryear, Messrs BB and Gumby will be sitting very pretty. The question is, at their age, can they do it?



Maric (#105) over Minson is worth a small mention to. The Dogs and Tigers are in a similar position regarding their Ruck line-ups, and I think Minno's are better player. Not sure if Jason agrees.



It would also be remiss of me not to report the panic in the market when word got out of (or people cottoned on to) SKT's strategy to pick all the FWD's he possibly could, thereby depriving others of a valuable commodity. 8 FWD's going in this round is rather solid evidence that ORFFL coaches were scared of the Thunda.



Rnd 7: Risky Business 2: Return of the Grim Reaper



Round 7 had it all. Quality B-Grade mids slid, both young (Hartlett at #113, D Swallow at #114, Shiels at #118, Ward at #122), and old (J Kelly at #116, K Simpson at #117). Lucas has already offered his thoughts on this particular issue, my own is that they were all quality selections.



More interestingly though was the selection of two of the Tribe Grim (J Grimes at #115, Grima at #123) and one honorary member (Higgins at #121). How will these sirens of SuperCoach scoring perform for their new clubs? Shipwreck or Mermaidic bliss?



There is also an argument to be had that Kel and Gumby overpaid with their selections of Porplysia (#109) and Lake (#120) respectively. However, Sanderson clearly like the cut of the Porp's J-I-B, and I'm beginning to suspect that Gumby is constructing a time machine out at Woy Woy so that they can play eternally in the year 2010.



And that's it from me. Comments, compliments and criticisms all welcome below. But if you try posting Draft selections in here I will cut you. Promise.