Best and worst recruits

[Steve Dore]

.... as well as Abers from Tasmania.

Abers?? - not talking about Bruce are U...

He was playing for Port when he was 16 ...

Woodville High is in Tasmania isn't it

 

[RangaInTeal]

John Ahern... was he about 6'1-6'2 fairly lightly built dark hair?

 

[Asgardian]

Here's our full AFL list to make your choices from

1996

National Draft

No 6 - John Rombotis
No 7 - Bowen Lockwood
No 9 - Mark Harwood
No 37 - Adam Kingsley

Trades

Cameron Roberts, Hamish Simpson, pick 8 & 43 for Shayne Breuer & pick 37
Nick Laidlaw for David Brown
Ben Nelson & Andrew Balkwell for Brent Heaver
Aaron Keating & Tim Cook for Scott Hodges
Kent & Wade Kingsley for Paul Geister
Pick 5 & 28 for Scott Cummings
Pick 57 for Shane Bond & Brayden Lyle

Uncontracted Player Selections

Matthew Primus
Gavin Wanganeen
Adam Heuskes
Ian Downsborough

Zone Selections

Scott Bassett
Rhett Biglands
Peter Burgoyne
Tom Carr
Stephen Carter
Mark Conway
Jarrod Cotton
Stephen Daniels
Stuart Dew
Donald Dickie
Nathan Eagleton
Paul Evans
Nigel Fiegert
Fabian Francis
Josh Francou
Scott Freeborn
Tom Harley
Roger James
Brendon Lade
Jake Lynch
Scott Mathews
Darren Mead
Andrew Osborn
Darryl Poole
Nathan Steinberner
Damien Squire
Warren Tredrea
Michael Wilson
Jonathon Yerbury



1997

Pre-Season Draft

No 1 - Stephen Paxman

National Draft

No 9 - Chad Cornes
No 25 - Nick Stevens
No 41 - Danny Morton
No 57 - Darren Fraser

Trades

Ian Downsborough for Brett Chalmers
John Rombotis for Chris Naish

1998

Pre-Season Draft

No 3 - Matthew Bode

National Draft

No 5 - Michael Stevens
No 7 - Josh Carr
No 37 - Adam Morgan
No 39 - Toby Thurstans
No 54 - Derek Murray

Rookie Elevation

Barnaby French

Trades

Scott Cummings for Jarrad Schofeld
Adam Heuskes, picks 12 & 44 for pick 5
Tom Harley for pick 37
Pick 23 for Che Cockatoo-Collins


1999

Pre-Season Draft

No 5 - Jarred Poulton

National Draft

No 12 - Paul Koulouriotis
No 27 - Cain Ackland
No 28 - Brent Guerra
No 57 - Steven Brosnan


Rookie Elevation

Scott Bassett

Trades

Nathan Eagleton for Brett Montgomery & pick 28
Pick 42 for Matthew Bishop


2000

Pre-Season Draft

No 8 - Wade Chapman

National Draft

No 12 - Shaun Burgoyne
No 20 - Kane Cornes
No 35 - Allan Murray
No 50 - Dominic Cassisi

Trades

Matthew Bode & pick 48 for pick 12
Pick 4 for Darryl Wakelin


2001

National Draft

No 15 - Barry Brooks
No 62 - Damon White
No 76 - Jarrad Poulton

Rookie Elevation

Dean Brogan
Ben Hollands
Chris Hall

Trades

Picks 31 & 47 for Damien Hardwick


2002

National Draft

No 6 - Steven Salopek
No 16 - Stephen Gilham
No 42 - Brett Ebert (F/S)
No 57 - Wade Champion

Trades

Michael Stevens for Stuart Cochrane
Barry Brooks for pick 6
Barnaby French for pick 16
Picks 13 & 31 for Byron Pickett


2003

National Draft

No 15 - Troy Chaplin
No 30 - Brad Symes
No 34 - Luke Peel
No 39 - Robert Forster-Knight
No 46 - Michael Pettigrew

Trades

Adam Morgan for pick 34
Brent Guerra for pick 39


2004

Pre-Season Draft

No 10 - Jacob Surjan
No 12 - Josh Mahoney

National Draft

No 11 - Adam Thomson
No 19 - Ryan Willits
No 34 - James Ezard
No 35 - Fabian Deluca
No 51 - Ben Eckermann

Trades

Josh Carr for picks 11, 27 & 45
Picks 27 & 45 for Aaron Shattock & pick 34
Pick 43 for Peter Walsh


2005

Pre-Season Draft

No 7 Elijah Ware

National Draft

No 30 - Nick Lower
No 44 - Alipate Carlile
No 58 - Hugh Minson
No 70 - Jonathon Giles

Rookie Elevation

Danyle Pearce

Trades

Byron Pickett, picks 53 & 60 for picks 44 & 58
Pick 14 for Nathan Lonie
Picks 28 & 46 for Daniel Motlop


2006

Pre-Season Draft

No 8 - Matt Thomas

National Draft

No 5 - Travis Boak
No 23 - Paul Stewart
No 39 - Nathan Krakouer
No 55 - Robert Gray
No 71 - Justin Westhoff
No 83 - Ryan Williams
No 86 - David Rodan

Rookie Elevations

Greg Bentley
Tom Logan


2007

Pre-Season Draft

No 4 - Adam Cockshell

National Draft

No 16 - Matthew Lobbe
No 28 - Marlon Motlop
No 33 - Matthew Westhoff
No 49 - Mitchell Farmer

Trades

Brad Symes for pick 28

 

[Port_GW]

Woodville High is in Tasmania isn't it

Abers was born in Ouse in Tasmania, i'm not certain of how old he was when he moved to Adelaide, and whether or not it was to play footy with the PAFC or was a family move. Someone might be able to advise re this.

 

[Toots Hibbert]

IIRC he was living in Port's zone and was taken to Alberton to meet Bob McLean by his dad.

 

[RangaInTeal]

Here's our full AFL list to make your choices from

etc

No Justin Westhoff?

Worst Picks
Michael Stevens
Adam Morgan
Paul Koulouriotis
Barry Brooks (although we did get Salopek out of him)
Luke Peel
Robert Forster-Knight
Hugh Minson
Paul Stewart (Jury still out)

Best Picks
Peirce
Boak
Pettigrew
Chad
Nick Stevens

 

[Toots Hibbert]

No 5 - Michael Stevens

Draft pick No 5 Michael Stevens - into the worst top five with a bullet. He'd have to have been that highly rated based on his brother's performance wouldn't he?

 

[Macca19]

BOG in the TAC Cup GF that year. I assume thats the only good game he played.

 

[Asgardian]

No Justin Westhoff?

My apologies, it's fixed now

 

[i_love_the_hoff]

how can u forget the hoff any way???????????

 

[Port_GW]

IIRC he was living in Port's zone and was taken to Alberton to meet Bob McLean by his dad.

Ah ok, i hadn't realised that he was recruited from our zone. Its very fortunate he lived in our recruiting zone and not one of the other closeby ones such as Woodville.

Someone else mentioned Stephen Curtis, i can't believe i forgot him before, he was one of my favourite players in the 80's, he stood out in some fairly poor Port sides in the mid 80's.

 

[portentous]

Wash your mouth out with soap portentous! The mighty Randall Gerlach retired in his mid-20s after the 1977 Port premiership as a Port hero, having played on in 1977 despite failing kidneys. He was recruited from Owen in the mid-north (between Balaklava and Hamley Bridge). Home of Sandy Roberts too, I believe.

Here's a Port Board thread on Randall.

You would be thinking of Ethelton product, 1975 Magarey Medallist and 1977 Port premiership player Peter Woite.

*removes soap*
Was I thinking of Geoff Blethyn then? It was someone with dark hair and glasses IIRC. I know that it wasn't Peter Woite, who stills gets his face on telly regularly as a senior member of SA Police!

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Blethyn had a beard and glasses and found himself at Glenelg, so it was probably him.

Found this thread from 2003 started by Eddie Woloschek which covers this topic too ... *sigh* nothing's original any more

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55944

 

[portentous]

Bomber Cliffford was my favourite magpies 'recruit' back in the day.

My favourite Power recruit has to be Matty Primus. I don't include Wangas as he was originally a Port boy anyway.

 

[240volt]

Blethyn had a beard and glasses and found himself at Glenelg, so it was probably him.

Found this thread from 2003 started by Eddie Woloschek which covers this topic too ... *sigh* nothing's original any more

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55944

what about our greatest ruckman of all time! leeping leon milde

 

[Ford Fairlane]

If you're thinking glasses I suspect you're thinking of Paul Marrett (no beard tho - altho his brother Murray might have, he looked like the lead singer of Spectrum). Leon Milde was a 200cm ruckman from Barmera, and was part of the Marrett/Milde Port ruck combo of the early 70s, but had neither glasses nor beard (nor went to Glenelg as I recall).

 

[Enviable Tradition]

Pick 57 for Shane Bond & Brayden Lyle- great trade there, gee we got good value for that dud pick

National Draft

No 12 - Paul Koulouriotis
No 27 - Cain Ackland
No 28 - Brent Guerra
No 57 - Steven Brosnan

- dud draft there...

National Draft

No 12 - Shaun Burgoyne
No 20 - Kane Cornes
No 35 - Allan Murray
No 50 - Dominic Cassisi

- great draft there

Pre season draft No 3 - Matthew Bode
Matthew Bode & pick 48 for pick 12
- This one still makes me laugh, i liked bodey but gee i was happy with that deal.

Rookie Elevation

Dean Brogan- one of the best rookie draftees

Picks 31 & 47 for Damien Hardwick- worth every cent

No 46 - Michael Pettigrew, we will look back at this is a few years as one of the steals of the century. Grew will be an elite (chad cornes type) player.

National Draft

No 11 - Adam Thomson
No 19 - Ryan Willits
No 34 - James Ezard
No 35 - Fabian Deluca
No 51 - Ben Eckermann

- hmmm not a great draft here either

Danyle Pearce- the other great rookie

Pick 14 for Nathan Lonie- oh my god, i want to cry, i forgto we payed that much for him.
oh my god!!!!

Picks 28 & 46 for Daniel Motlop- what a steal, doesnt make up for lonie though

No 8 - Matt Thomas, i think we will look back at this one in the same light as brogan and pearce

National Draft

No 5 - Travis Boak
No 23 - Paul Stewart
No 39 - Nathan Krakouer
No 55 - Robert Gray
No 71 - Justin Westhoff
No 83 - Ryan Williams
No 86 - David Rodan
- brilliant draft here, one of if not the best

No 28 - Marlon Motlop


Brad Symes for pick 28
- no matter what you thought of brad i think everyone would agree that marlon will be better, he is going to be a sean burgoyne style gun!

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Pick 57 for Shane Bond & Brayden Lyle- great trade there, gee we got good value for that dud pick

Nah it was a package deal. West Coast wanted Gardiner. Our four uncontracted player compensation selections in 1996 went reverse order to where the teams finished that we signed the uncontracted player from. We had picks 1, 2, 3 and 4 and also 24, 25, 26 and 27 to be used on uncontracted players. As we didn't get Grant or Buckley, but signed up Wanganeen (Ess 4th ie picks 2 and 25), Primus (Bris 3rd ie picks 3 and 26) and Heuskes (Syd 2nd ie picks 4 and 27), pick 1 and 24 was going to anyone else we did a signing with unless it was North Melbourne. WC finished 5th.

So in reality it was 1, 24 and 57 for Downsbourgh and Lyle and Shane Bond. Downsborough goes down in the record books as 1 and 24, but the other two would have been rated higher by Port.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

well that just ruins it doesnt it, now it looks like a horrible trade

 

[erical]

Anyone recruited in the late 80s/early 90s basically.

The best ones:
Foster and Rizonico in the late 80s. Rizo only played 15 or so games for Collingwood and Fos didnt play any for Carlton, but they were two critically solid players in our premiership years. Rizo was a fantastic back pocket whilst Foster was a great utility who spent time in the middle and across half back.

Tony Malakellis was another that stood out for me. Struggled at AFL level but geez he was good at SANFL level. Was a vote or two away from winning a Magarey and was crucial in a couple of flags. Sadly missed the 96 flag.

Brian Leys was another. Tough, uncompromising, skillful, never beaten. I always saw him as someone that would have fit in well in the clubs glory years under Fos.

Darcy, Spalding and West were all great pickups as well.

The worst....probably the most invisible was the recruiting for 1996. We picked up a couple of young guys just dumped by their AFL clubs: Curcio, Cranage and Bellevile. Curcio and Cranage played in our opening game against Centrals in R2 1996 and were so far out of their league it wasnt funny. Neither went close to playing another game. Bellevile didnt even play one. Crothers was recruited that year as well and dissapointed, though he played in the GF (due to Pooley missing). Bamford played as well and I thought he looked completely outclassed in 96 but he turned out being a very good player when he could get on the park.

At AFL level...for what we gave up, you cant beat the Monty/Bishop/Guerra pick deal. Hardwick was our best recruit though.

Your list shows the great divide between SANFL and AFL
Tony Malakellis was no good at Geelong and Brian Leys couldn't make it at Richmond.Foster and Rizonico couldn't make the big time either.
Then going back to Tim Evans,Bomber Clifford and Russel Johnston.None cut the mustard in the "A" grade but were stars in the SANFL.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

well that just ruins it doesnt it, now it looks like a horrible trade

How can you say it was a horrible trade. We had no real control over who we gave pick 1 and 24 to as the AFL allocated that. If we picked up an uncontracted player from North Melbourne then Wangers would be the pick 1 and 24 compensation picks to Essendon.

We would have probably had to use our other picks 5 to 9 which were our priority picks before the first round, or our other higher picks,, to get Bond and Lyle.

Admittedly giving up pick 6 for Bond instead of Rombotis and pick 9 for Lyle instead of Harwood with the benfit of hindsight would have a better deal but you couldn't tell that at the time, and Downsborough had come off a pretty good but not spectacular 1996 season and we were always going to be short of experienced big men.

 

[240volt]

*removes soap*
Was I thinking of Geoff Blethyn then? It was someone with dark hair and glasses IIRC. I know that it wasn't Peter Woite, who stills gets his face on telly regularly as a senior member of SA Police!

Geoff Blethyn didn't we get him from essendon? i sort of remember him kicking some goals for the bombers playing FF many moons ago.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Worst

....

Chris Naish

I think you're being a bit harsh on Naishdogger there Tribey, never did anything particularly special but wouldn't say worst.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Geoff Blethyn didn't we get him from essendon? i sort of remember him kicking some goals for the bombers playing FF many moons ago.

Played 84 games for Essendon, kicked 107 goals in 1972.

 

[Coobk001]

How about TONY McGUINESS as a coach. When he first came on board as a forward line coach we had our worst forward line year of all, now he is back as a midfield coach....... SCARY THOUGHT INDEED!!!