So it was a dumb mistake taking NWM with a first round pick?
The dumbest mistakes we have made is that we haven’t been able to take the best available talent with our picks, wherever that position may be.
I agree:
Billings , probably considered to be best available at the time, or close to it. ( Billings , Scharenberg, Aish were the main ones discussed ) There were plenty of concerns about Bont.
McCartin: Needs choice. After the Maister and Lee failures we were desperate for a key forward.
Goddard / McKenzie. We probably thought we were taking the best available but we were crap at talent spotting. Miller/Maynard would have been good. Goddard was probably partly a needs choice.
Gresham was best available. That draft is littered with delisted mids taken after him.
Ben Long : Apparently we "needed" the next Cyril .
Clark and Coffield were best available. ( Coffield may still prove himself ). O'Brian, Ling both highly regarded mids before that draft.
King: Best available. Any think we should have got Bailey Smith instead? Tarryn Thomas? Chayce Jones?
Wanganeen-Milera : Best available. Vs Sinn, Hobbs, Chesser.
Phillipou: Best available. Vs Hollands. Fletcher. Busslinger. Hollands would have been OK , but i think long term the Pou will be the man.
Good chance that this year the best player available at our pick will not be a mid.
If Toce is up to it, i'd rather a gun small forward or key defender, than a Ryan Byrnes type midfielder taken with our first pick.
Its up to him which are the choices, but if he doesn't pick a mid, i'll be happy that there is a solid reason why.