Dean Bilton

ABC Sport digital journalist.

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

@DamianSharry Have to respect the weasel

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

My top 30 rankings for this year’s #AFLdraft for @abcsport have been settled on.

Think the actual draft order will look a lot different to this which speaks to the evenness and the fact a handful of clubs have multiple early picks.

https://t.co/ADGUYxrnT5

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

@pantskyle That is indeed a much better way to make my point with far fewer characters

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

Talk of a “Superdraft” this year is overstated. IMO only Ashcroft would threaten the best five kids from last year. My personal read is it’s an even draft (no consensus rankings), one with good variety through the first round and a “second tier” which extends into the second.

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

Club boards will vary widely, but I still think there is a clear top 6-8. All rankings (including mine in Nov) will probably look different but this year especially there is no right answer. It’s a good draft to have lots of picks, but the top end is lacking.

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

@RyanBuckland7 Wish I had your faith in the pick, it’s landing firmly in that Chesser/Brander zone for me. Will be good options, but perfect to have been paired with a banker mid at pick three. Just wait for the Warner nonsense next year, the circus will be in full swing.

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

@RyanBuckland7 They’ve also managed to cough up two late picks to Carlton for one in the 70s, meaning they might not be able to match a bid on Malakai Champion either. Eyeing Bo Allan at 12? Freo take him one pick earlier (and he’s a speculative bet anyway). None of it makes any sense.

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

Last one from Paris. I’m still in awe of the athletes I saw and the moments I got to share in, but it turns out that’s only half of the Olympic story.

At these Games there was life-affirming hope everywhere you looked.

@abcsport
https://t.co/rNXtjth9UK

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

Steph Curry, LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama, that French crowd. A moment in time never to be repeated.

On a magical night befitting the last two weeks we’ve all shared from Paris and beyond.

@abcsport

https://t.co/CFb83H3nv0

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

That’s nine cracks at the US at Olympics for the Opals for nine defeats. They sadly were never in this one, and the gap between these two old rivals is only widening.

@abcsport

https://t.co/U3TLJcgO9X

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

The Eiffel Tower glowed in a Parisian sunset, but nobody was staring at it anymore. Instead they were transfixed by Australia’s women taking it up to the world’s best Brazil in what was a captivating semifinal.

@abcsport

https://t.co/aY9nrFJyvQ

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

Nina Kennedy is a warrior. There couldn’t have been a better person to lift Australia to new heights with our 18th gold of the Games.

@abcsport

https://t.co/ZPY9nF3ppx

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

The same things that made Patty Mills's first-half heat check and clutch late shot so electric were what eventually cost the Boomers the game.

Not for the first time it all got too wild and wonderful, and Nikola Jokic picked that apart.

@abcsport
https://t.co/qOjNq8cybk

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

The same things that made Patty Mills's first-half heat check and clutch late shot so electric were what eventually cost the Boomers the game.

Not for the first time it all got too wild and wonderful, and Nikola Jokic picked that apart.

@abcsport
https://t.co/qOjNq8cybk

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

Obscenely talented, impossibly cool, looks like Jeremy Allen White. Surely the greatest athlete on earth right now.

Kurtis Marschall had a good dip at the silver and then led the cheersquad for one the most incredibly Olympic moments ever. Almost as good as gold.

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

Mondo is the moment of the Games.

@abcsport

https://t.co/AJ5AdimDD9

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

@collinsadam Maybe the sickest thing that has ever happened anywhere

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

The hardest part about high jump (apart from the actual high jumps) must be all the time spent in between, with just you and your thoughts. Watching Nicola Olyslagers, Eleanor Patterson and Yaroslava Mahuchikh navigate that was fascinating.

@abcsport

https://t.co/WsXZHLwsW3

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

Kaylee McKeown is very special.

@abcsport

https://t.co/5xL3709WNJ

[Dean Bilton @Dean_Bilton]

Dispatch from the Simone Biles Eras Tour. What an unforgettable show from an athlete who is more rock star than gymnast, and who I’m pretty I saw fly tonight.

@abcsport

https://t.co/ZOnaRFkrsj