2024 Draft Thread.

[Joffaboy]

No-one is trashing them but I'm sure even you'd be disappointed if we got two players of equal value with with our first 2 picks.

To me it is trashing them. For one in 2017 we had a completely different recruiting team, haven't gone wrong so far this decade and Lyon has stated countless times he knows our weakness is the mids, we have discussed mids here for weeks.

I was never a Coffield fan, just hoped he would come good. Injuries to both him and Clark have curtailed their careers.

However as I said this trashing of two players still playing seniors is the same old narrative, because our recruiting was bad ( we needed pure mids, not just flankers who may become mids eventually) mid last decade, it will always be bad.

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[StCicatriz]

Hunter is coming good. Looks like he has a more refined understanding of his role and seems more focused as a result. Even Zak Jones

3

Zak Jones

Age

29

Ht

182cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.8

4star

K

10.0

4star

HB

7.8

5star

M

3.4

3star

T

3.0

5star

CL

1.7

4star

D

19.1

4star

K

10.6

4star

HB

8.6

4star

M

3.4

3star

T

3.1

4star

CL

4.9

5star

D

7.0

2star

K

2.8

1star

HB

4.2

4star

M

1.0

1star

T

1.6

4star

CL

1.0

3star

has improved his game tremendously in the back half of this year, playing his inside role first and then providing support where he can. And I've been trying to take Zak off the stove for a while now.

He managed only 21 touches against one of the worst midfield going around. Managed only 3 disposals in an entire 3qtr when we started to dominate.

He's fools gold.

 

[Joffaboy]

He managed only 21 touches against one of the worst midfield going around. Managed only 3 disposals in an entire 3qtr when we started to dominate.

He's fools gold.

21 touches with @63% game time. Interrupted season. Going well. Haters gunna hate.

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[saintbill]

View attachment 2057565

Hunter had a better rig at 18 then he does now.

 

[StFly]

21 touches with @63% game time. Interrupted season. Going well. Haters gunna hate.

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That's kind of been his problem over the journey TBH.

Coff couldn't get a look in bar one season as he was slow to react, injured and just not ready until he was then he broke an ACL and buggered off.
Hunter got impact injuries, tried on HBF to not really be a HBF and hasn't really been a mid that averages 80+% game time to really bank on.

So whilst he is coming good no doubt, there's a reason the club shopped him previously and my thought is it's his almost lack of spread and lack of ability to hold that midfield together compared to a Seb that gets persisted with, so he'd for me anyway, want to find a way to increase his cardio to spend more time on the field.

Coff was fools gold for me, which is why I was selling him after he did his ACL, as he was never going to repeat such an effort really, so sell high. Sadly we didn't and then let him walk out the door really.

 

[SteeleSaints]

21 touches with @63% game time. Interrupted season. Going well. Haters gunna hate.

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So because people assess players honestly they are now haters. No one has said he cant play, but 63% of a 120 minute game thats 44 minutes he is not playing.

To put it plainly thats 1 1/2 quarters of football the team are a man down in rotations because Hunter cant run out games.

He is not quick (quite slow) actually but if he had any sort of aerobic fitness he might be ok, but he doesnt and will never have.

 

[puppy_dog7]

I reckon Bonner goes again despite what every one thinks on here. He's fourth for possessions at the Saints this year and his wages would be minimal. Looks ideal depth.

I think Bailey Smith would cost you one of those FRDPs and plays outside so probably not our ideal player for the money and draft cost.

I can't see Clark moving, his value would be minimal. I think we need to hope that a full preseason and a fit midfield around him makes him a handy depth player.

The thing with Bonner is, we need to clear out our list to have enough space for Trade and draft period.

He is only on a 1 year contract. We can’t get rid of all of Crouch, Jones and Ross at once as we will have no experienced midfield depth.

Outside of that there’s only 2nd-3rd year players that we can move on and everyone seems to want to keep the likes of McLennan and Hotton. So who is going to go?

We normally cull at least 8 players each year, either delisting or trading.
Allison, Hayes and Paton will prob be most likely, then maybe Campbell. Add Crouch and that’s 5. So are we getting rid of?

Bonner is serviceable but easily replaceable. He plays in defence but can’t defend well, so he’s in the team for his run and disposal but we have Nas, Sincs, Webster and Stocker with young players like Hastie, Shoenmaker and McLennan in the wings.

Unfortunately I just think it’s a matter of circumstance, and we’re in a situation where we need to be ruthless and stop playing blokes who are borderline list cloggers.

 

[gringo2011]

Hunter is coming good. Looks like he has a more refined understanding of his role and seems more focused as a result. Even Zak Jones has improved his game tremendously in the back half of this year, playing his inside role first and then providing support where he can. And I've been trying to take Zak off the stove for a while now.

So you'd be happy if the Battle compo ended up getting us another HC and our other FR pick got us a Zak level player?

I'd personally be very disappointed if we haven't moved past both in a couple of years. Unless Hunter has a huge jump like Sinclair at some point but he's already 25.He's definitely playing his best footy in ages but both are GOPs at best.

 

[Joffaboy]

So because people assess players honestly they are now haters. No one has said he cant play, but 63% of a 120 minute game thats 44 minutes he is not playing.

To put it plainly thats 1 1/2 quarters of football the team are a man down in rotations because Hunter cant run out games.

He is not quick (quite slow) actually but if he had any sort of aerobic fitness he might be ok, but he doesnt and will never have.

If the cap fits....there are a number of posters on here who constantly bag Clark, if you are not one of them, I don't see why you need to even reply and try to be gatekeeper of other posters opinion and observation.
There are moderators on the forum for that, no requirement for patronising and condescending replies from some random.

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[Joffaboy]

So you'd be happy if the Battle compo ended up getting us another HC and our other FR pick got us a Zak level player?

I'd personally be very disappointed if we haven't moved past both in a couple of years. Unless Hunter has a huge jump like Sinclair at some point but he's already 25.He's definitely playing his best footy in ages but both are GOPs at best.

No we need elite pure mids, Clark is a good player but is not a pure mid.
If we selected someone like Clark with this new recruitment team after Lyon has stated constantly our weakness is mids, I would be gobsmacked.
Select what we need. The pure mids we select may end up a Zac Jones player, I doubt it but we cannot predict the future.

If we select a Billings over a Bont, that is not selection failure, but a failure only in hindsight.
If we select even Trainor ( who is excellent, but not a mid) I would be disappointed.

This all started because someone posted we may end up with 7&8 and another inferred the last two we picked up were no good by mocking them with a photo of them.
Clark and Coffield are both good players but not the pure mids we needed then and still need.

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[gringo2011]

The thing with Bonner is, we need to clear out our list to have enough space for Trade and draft period.

He is only on a 1 year contract. We can’t get rid of all of Crouch, Jones and Ross at once as we will have no experienced midfield depth.

Outside of that there’s only 2nd-3rd year players that we can move on and everyone seems to want to keep the likes of McLennan and Hotton. So who is going to go?

We normally cull at least 8 players each year, either delisting or trading.
Allison, Hayes and Paton will prob be most likely, then maybe Campbell. Add Crouch and that’s 5. So are we getting rid of?

Bonner is serviceable but easily replaceable. He plays in defence but can’t defend well, so he’s in the team for his run and disposal but we have Nas, Sincs, Webster and Stocker with young players like Hastie, Shoenmaker and McLennan in the wings.

Unfortunately I just think it’s a matter of circumstance, and we’re in a situation where we need to be ruthless and stop playing blokes who are borderline list cloggers.

He's better than serviceable and not a mid like the guys you've mentioned. Crouch looks done, Ross is done and Jones plays about 6 games a year in the last 2 years. Bonner has played every game he's available for and is part of our very good rebound / wing lines.

I'd say he's a better player than guys like Stocker and Byrnes who are higher rated on here. I'd be extremely surprised if they don't re-contract him. I'd say he's been an absolute win for the club. He'd be on absolute minimum chips and out performed and cost zero trade or draft capital.

If we got rid of list cloggers this year we wouldn't field a side. Next year we will be very young with those guys you mentioned plus Battle, Membrey, Howard, Campbell etc all potentially gone. I reckon he'd be extremely unlikely to be going anywhere.

 

[gringo2011]

If the cap fits....there are a number of posters on here who constantly bag Clark, if you are not one of them, I don't see why you need to even reply and try to be gatekeeper of other posters opinion and observation.
There are moderators on the forum for that, no requirement for patronising and condescending replies from some random.

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He's been massively disappointing for a pick 7 in a strong draft. I don't get why he'd be immune from being critiqued. I haven't seen too much that is over the top. If anything he probably gets off lightly. If he'd been at a big club he would have been torn to shreds.

 

[CursingFijian]

So you'd be happy if the Battle compo ended up getting us another HC and our other FR pick got us a Zak level player?

I'd personally be very disappointed if we haven't moved past both in a couple of years. Unless Hunter has a huge jump like Sinclair at some point but he's already 25.He's definitely playing his best footy in ages but both are GOPs at best.

Definitely not. I’m expecting the next Bont or Merrett.

I’m not making a comment on Hunters production here, but more about his role and how he’s tracking. I certainly wouldn’t put him in the delist basket and I’m happy to accept that others view him as overrated.

 

[gringo2011]

No we need elite pure mids, Clark is a good player but is not a pure mid.
If we selected someone like Clark with this new recruitment team after Lyon has stated constantly our weakness is mids, I would be gobsmacked.
Select what we need. The pure mids we select may end up a Zac Jones player, I doubt it but we cannot predict the future.

If we select a Billings over a Bont, that is not selection failure, but a failure only in hindsight.
If we select even Trainor ( who is excellent, but not a mid) I would be disappointed.

This all started because someone posted we may end up with 7&8 and another inferred the last two we picked up were no good by mocking them with a photo of them.
Clark and Coffield are both good players but not the pure mids we needed then and still need.

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I hope we don't take Trainor then. Clark should have been a midfielder but was unable to get his aerobic fitness high enough to be a full time mid.

I hope the recruiters take the best available myself. We could have had Naughton with the next pick. If you go back to that draft all the good mids went between 2 and 5. The next lot were all later and Clark was meant to be a mid. Bonner was the other one that had midfield potential in the top 10 and then guys liker Ed Richards and Ling who were HBs.

I'd say that pic is fair enough. That would be an absolute disaster to get a similar haul.

 

[CursingFijian]

He's better than serviceable and not a mid like the guys you've mentioned. Crouch looks done, Ross is done and Jones plays about 6 games a year in the last 2 years. Bonner has played every game he's available for and is part of our very good rebound / wing lines.

I'd say he's a better player than guys like Stocker and Byrnes who are higher rated on here. I'd be extremely surprised if they don't re-contract him. I'd say he's been an absolute win for the club. He'd be on absolute minimum chips and out performed and cost zero trade or draft capital.

If we got rid of list cloggers this year we wouldn't field a side. Next year we will be very young with those guys you mentioned plus Battle, Membrey, Howard, Campbell etc all potentially gone. I reckon he'd be extremely unlikely to be going anywhere.

I rate Byrnes above Bonner.

Bonner has done plenty right for us this year but his clangers can be spectacularly bad at both ends of the ground.

 

[seasonedsainter]

It that time year again. When's trade week?

Not for a long long time. And it's Trade Month now innit.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

He's been massively disappointing for a pick 7 in a strong draft. I don't get why he'd be immune from being critiqued. I haven't seen too much that is over the top. If anything he probably gets off lightly. If he'd been at a big club he would have been torn to shreds.

Was it a strong draft? Lochie O'Brian, Coffield, Bonar, Brander, Ling ?

Maybe the Hawks knew it and thought nothing of tossing us the pick. If we avoided the deal we could have got Jy Simpkin.

 

[seasonedsainter]

Our obession with not drafting pure mids was truly that, a blunt force obession. We just had to draft HBF'ers (who had potential to play midfield!!) for the longest of times there. Plus trade in older top ups who were either were yesterday's news or bush league smokies. Getting PTSD just reading this thread!

 

[SaintsSeptember]

No we need elite pure mids, Clark is a good player but is not a pure mid.
If we selected someone like Clark with this new recruitment team after Lyon has stated constantly our weakness is mids, I would be gobsmacked.
Select what we need. The pure mids we select may end up a Zac Jones player, I doubt it but we cannot predict the future.

If we select a Billings over a Bont, that is not selection failure, but a failure only in hindsight.
If we select even Trainor ( who is excellent, but not a mid) I would be disappointed.

This all started because someone posted we may end up with 7&8 and another inferred the last two we picked up were no good by mocking them with a photo of them.
Clark and Coffield are both good players but not the pure mids we needed then and still need.

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Even with hind sight its hard to consider who we should have got in 2017 instead of Clark if we specifically wanted a mid.

Tim Kelly probably the best, but if it was us trading him back home we'd have ended up with some fourth rounder.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Our obession with not drafting pure mids was truly that, a blunt force obession. We just had to draft HBF'ers (who had potential to play midfield!!) for the longest of times there. Plus trade in older top ups who were either were yesterday's news or bush league smokies. Getting PTSD just reading this thread!

Who... stop dreaming about some guy who didn't exist.
Go back and do 2017 again and we probably should have drafted Naughton and Higgins.

 

[seasonedsainter]

FWIW since coming back Hunter is providing our midfield with a handy point-of-difference for mine. He's clever and extracts it from in very tight. Decent kick too!

If only he could work on his power game and endurance, with a bit more of a tank and a bit more of a burst he could really elevate.

Fruit Toast on the other hand I was never really a fan of and even less so after he up and walked, didn't get good vibes around that at all. I recall around Draft time some ppl christening him Frothfield and comparing his shimmies in traffic to one Leonard Hayes. More PTSD it is...

 

[pebblesofsand]

Even with hind sight its hard to consider who we should have got in 2017 instead of Clark if we specifically wanted a mid.

Tim Kelly probably the best, but if it was us trading him back home we'd have ended up with some fourth rounder.

If we wanted a pure mid then I think we should have traded Pick 7 & 35 to Carlton for Pick 3.

 

[seasonedsainter]

Who... stop dreaming about some guy who didn't exist.
Go back and do 2017 again and we probably should have drafted Naughton and Higgins.

TBH I was keen on Darcy Fogarty in that draft. Tim Kelly and Zac Bailey go allright. Also Worpel in the 40's, I recall him being discussed on this forum too. But you're right in a sense after pick 5 the pure mids dropped right off.

 

[luca77]

FWIW since coming back Hunter is providing our midfield with a handy point-of-difference for mine. He's clever and extracts it from in very tight. Decent kick too!

If only he could work on his power game and endurance, with a bit more of a tank and a bit more of a burst he could really elevate.

Fruit Toast on the other hand I was never really a fan of and even less so after he up and walked, didn't get good vibes around that at all. I recall around Draft time some ppl christening him Frothfield and comparing his shimmies in traffic to one Leonard Hayes. More PTSD it is...

I wish I was garbage enough to get taken in the top 8 kids in the country! Not having a go at you, I don't think people have been all that disrespectful at all.

IMO if Coff had had a good run at it, he'd probably be as good and reliable as Battle is now, who we are mostly crying out to keep. To have not one, but both of those picks miss so much footy cruelled the club more than their arguable lack of quality at those picks. The impact on their confidence, belief, fitness, form, physicality of starting over every time can't be underestimated. Just another exasperating episode, but Clark showing good signs recently. Needs to channel his inner Bruce Doull in both the hair and footy department.

 

[Winmar2Lockett]

Our obession with not drafting pure mids was truly that, a blunt force obession. We just had to draft HBF'ers (who had potential to play midfield!!) for the longest of times there. Plus trade in older top ups who were either were yesterday's news or bush league smokies. Getting PTSD just reading this thread!

This was discussed re: all the current U18s who's numbers were affected by being pushed out of the midfield during the champs.

Clark was a pure mid.

He played 90% of his junior career as a mid.

He was pushed onto a HBF in his bottom age year at the U18 Champs. He did so well they played him there again the next year.

In the TAC Cup of his top age year he played primarily as a midfielder.

Now that he's fit he's starting to finally get some continuity in his footy (and in the midfield). No coincidence that the past 2 games have been 2 of his best games in a long time.