With Van Rooyen on our list instead of Brown, the list would look a whole lot better.Van Royeen went 2 picks after Tom Brown
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Blair Hartley
- Thread starter Lidsand
- Start date
Worth remembering that 12 other clubs passed on JVR too. Now, considering the premium that is usually placed on key forwards, we clearly weren’t alone in our assessment of him and that’s something to keep in mind while undertaking any future recruiting witch hunt.
The three you mention are with Dusty, Lynch and Prestia our most important.
But not far behind are Baker, Rioli D and Short and then Hopper Ross and Vlastuin, with Gibcus showing promise.
That is 13 only 13, with four of these nearing the end.
A rebuild is now taking place.
Worth remembering that 16 other clubs passed on Brown.
That argument goes both ways.
The other thing you need to remember is that we were desperate for a KPF and passed on both JVR and then Lemmy the following year.
We played Russian roulette picking up hbf’s and now here we are.
13 clubs. Some had multiple picks but maybe I’m being pedantic?
Anyway, yes other clubs did pass on Brown but my point still stands. People around here carry on like we had a choice between the next Wayne Carey and a bag of magic beans and we chose the beans without a second thought.
As I’ve pointed out numerous times, history shows that once you get to the back end of the first round, draft picks become very speculative and the difference between a late first round and early third round is marginal at best. There is a lot of luck involved and right now it looks like Melbourne got very lucky.
The point I’m trying to make is I’d rather get lucky picking a KPF than a HBF.
Problem is you can't rebuild without draft picks.
Of those 13 only Ross, Bolton, Balta and Gibcus are in the right age profile to be part of us contending in 5-6 years.
All Australian players average 32 years old at retirement, other players 31, players delisted 25. In 5-6 years Taranto, Hopper, D Rioli, and Short will all be around that mark, Vlastuin, Martin, Prestia and Lynch well beyond.
I have heard that he is open to playing, even if it means he suits up for the vfl at times.
Not sure if it is true.
You need a smattering of high draft picks for sure but even moreso we need smart drafting of lower picks
Bolton was 29, Balta low 20s, Ross in the 40s.
Look at hawthorn’s team that beat Collingwood, hardly a high draft pick amongst them. Day in the teens, lots of 20s, 30s and 40s.
Our premiership teams were full of lower draft picks and rookies.
I’m not saying it is easy, just that the premise that because we don’t have a 1st rounder this year we are stuffed is too simplistic.
I really like Banks, if Sonsie gets his head right he is a talent for sure and Gibcus will be a very good kpp.
There is definitely hope imo.
I’m glass half full still
Absolutely, the real key is you have to get the right mix together for long enough to build the synergy and connection, and get them into the sweet spot for experience to contend.
Like I said, Hardwick had half his side on the list starting his second season. The really important thing is we clean out spots and get the next wave of guys in so we can have the time to turn them over and build a core group that can take us back there.
Our list right now is Ross, M Rioli, Ralphsmith, Balta, Coulthard, Gibcus, Bolton, Mansell, Ryan, Bradtke, Sonsie, Cumberland, Banks, Bauer, Campbell, Young, Miller, Nyoun, Green, Smith and Tresize. Everyone else is just making up numbers.
They are our players aged 24 and under right now, who are guaranteed to be the right age if our reset runs at best practice speed. We need to find out who is of the right quality in that list and get games into them, and chop the rest. And we need to add more and more players to that group until we are happy we have a core mix to take us to contention.
I don’t disagree with that except for the chop the rest bit..
There is always a place for mature footballers in a team no matter where you are in development. It’s a balance.
The chop the rest was actually a reference to the list of under 24 years who aren't of the quality to move forward with.
The older guys on the list need to be phased out steadily over the next three years.
I would like to see us go all out to buy a top 5 draft pick this year. It would involve GC Dusty and 'the special relationship', plus possibly also West Coast.
Finals are won by strong, classy and well performed mids. If we are to lose Dusty and despite the messy pre draft last season, I want us to try hard to draft the best available mid this year.
Port you weren't the Pies list manager a few years ago. Then they would have booted Pendlebury, Howe and Sidebottom and wouldn't be on top of the ladder right now.
Likewise the Dees with May and Gawn- 2 of their best 4- both 31.
You still have the have the right people making the right selections.
Is Clarke the right guy to pull the trigger on the next few drafts? Will we end up with a few more flankers this year\
We are screaming out for Pure Mids. (which we don't have) and pure key forwards (which we don't have)
Is Clarke the right guy to pull the trigger on the next few drafts? Will we end up with a few more flankers this year\
We are screaming out for Pure Mids. (which we don't have) and pure key forwards (which we don't have)
ok, as long as we do that on an individual basis. Different players take different periods of time but I agree that we have sometimes been guilty of taking too long to make the call
I suspect that coaches have a say as well so i wouldn't be laying all the blame at one person. The coach is probably not going to say pick player x rather than player y , but he may say what sort of player should be prioritised for needs.
It will be interesting to see whether our attitude changes with a new coach
Is Clarke the issue? I don't think he is.
We'll have a type that we're drafting, to support the coaches desired playing style. I'm firmly of the belief that Dimma wanted types, that might have certain traits, that he could use to plug a hole in attack or defence.
It's waaaay to coincidental that we took lots of small forwards and flankers year after year, even when we didn't appear to have a spot in AFL or VFL for them all to play.
