Opinion Confess - Who did you want in the first round in previous drafts?

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2013 - Lennon (drafted Cripps)

2014 - LaVerde (drafted Boekhorst)

2015 - Weitering, Curnow (was wrapped beyond words when he ‘slid’), Gresham and Collins (drafted Weitering, Curnow, McKay and Cuningham)

2016 - Will Brodie (drafted Petrevski-Seton)

2017 - LDU and Fogarty (drafted Dow and O’Brien)

2018 - Walsh (drafted Walsh)

2019 - Kemp (drafted Kemp)

2020-2021 - NA
 
Really good thread idea, got a few misses here but overall happy with how I've read it. I was particularly excited about Boekhorst, really felt like we got a massive steal and a 250+ gamer when he slid to us. Was also super disappointed when we didn't get Sheed, as I thought he'd slide to us but I had Cripps pegged as my next best talent, I was excited when we got him as he was this huge, tubby and pretty raw kid who was dominating despite lacking a lot of polish.

Jury is out on 19,20,21 - unrealistic for us to have got Rachele with the pick we traded for Cerra but I really liked him in his draft year. 19 I was very disappointed with, I thought without a doubt we'd nab TDK's brother. Zach Reid looks OK so far but I do think he'll go on to be a bloody good player.

Phillipou has a lot to like, I do think he will be the best player from his draft class in years to come.

2012 - Troy Menzel (Troy Menzel)
2013 - Dom Sheed (Patrick Cripps - though I was really happy with this selection at the time too)
2014 - Blaine Boekhorst (Got him, lol)
2015 - Weitering, Schache (Not that he would've got there), Curnow (Weitering, McKay, Curnow)
2016 - Griffin Logue (Sam Petrevski-Seton, I was actually really happy with this selection though)
2017 - Dow, Cerra (Dow, O'Brien)
2018 - Sam Walsh (Sam Walsh)
2019 - Sam De Koning (Brodie Kemp)
2020 - Zach Reid (If we would've retained the pick for Saad)
2021 - Josh Rachele (If we would've retained the pick for Cerra)
2022 - Mattaes Phillipou (P L E A S E)
 
Going back as far as I can remember:

2007: Chris Masten
2008: Michael Hurley
2009: John Butcher
2010: Josh Caddy
2011: Toby Greene
2012: Irrelevant cos of Daniher
2013: No pick
2014: Nakia Cockatoo and Hugh Goddard
2015: Aaron Francis and Sam Weideman
2016: Andrew McGrath
2017-2019 no firsts.
2020: Archie Perkins, Zach Reid and Nathan O'Driscoll
2021: Josh Goater
 
A lot to unpack here.

2014 was such a boom or bust draft.

You nearly enjoyed the 2015 boys playing together.
Yeah, not a lot in between. Some still criticise the Langford pick for some reason, arguably top 10 of that draft too.
 
I started following the draft in 2015. My memory of whom I wanted at our first pick was as follows:

2015 pick 32 - wanted Tom Cole or Rhys Mathieson. Took Brayden Sier.

2016 pick 30 - wanted Brennan Cox or Shai Bolton who both ended up great players. We took McLarty who I rated but wanted with a later pick

2017 pick 6 - wanted Stephenson or Naughton and would have been equally happy with either. We took Stepho whom I will always maintain was a good pick but didn’t end up working out for various reasons

2018 - didn’t really have anything because we committed to 3 players only - Quaynor and Atu the NGA boys, and Will Kelly the father-son.

2019 - pick 40 wanted Trent Bianco whom we got later on. We took Jay Rantall. Was very keen on Jake Riccardi too.

2020 -pick 17. Wanted Conor Stone but he was gone and we took Ollie Henry.

2021 - pick 4 obviously Daicos. Was keen on Corey Warner and Jake Soligo with later picks. Soligo looks a gun.

2022 - it changes often but I’m most keen on Ollie Hollands, Josh Weddle and Jakob Ryan.
 
Going back as far as I can remember:

2007: Chris Masten
2008: Michael Hurley
2009: John Butcher
2010: Josh Caddy
2011: Toby Greene
2012: Irrelevant cos of Daniher
2013: No pick
2014: Nakia Cockatoo and Hugh Goddard
2015: Aaron Francis and Sam Weideman
2016: Andrew McGrath
2017-2019 no firsts.
2020: Archie Perkins, Zach Reid and Nathan O'Driscoll
2021: Josh Goater
the irony.
thinking was right though. I was more Francis/Curnow. but we needed another forward to go with Daniher, and Francis looked a freak.
 
Testing my memory:

2021 – Wanted JVR, got JVR
2020 – Wanted Laurie and Macrae, got Laurie and Bowey
2019 – Wanted Hayden Young and Pickett, got Jackson and Pickett
2018 – Didn't pay too much attention with no first-rounders, but remember liking Rowbottom. Ended up with Sparrow and Jordon.
2017 – Again, no first rounder. Wanted Fritsch from his time at Casey, got him, plus Petty and Spargo
2016 – First pick was 46 (Hannan). Didn't know much about him besides the hanger he took for Footscray in the VFL.
2015 – Wanted Oliver, got him. Had wanted Curnow, but his drink driving charge put me off. Ended up with Weideman, lol.
2014 – Wanted Trac and Gus, got Trac and Gus. Thanks St Kilda.
2013 – Very much wanted Kelly up until we traded pick 2. Then wanted Freeman, ended up with Salem
2012 – Wanted Wines (as did every Melbourne fan), got Toumpas
2011 – Didn't pick until 36, wasn't following the draft
2010 – Desperately wanted Jack Darling, got Lucas Cook (lol)
2009 – Was supremely happy with Scully and Trengove. What a time that was
 
the irony.
thinking was right though. I was more Francis/Curnow. but we needed another forward to go with Daniher, and Francis looked a freak.
Every Dons supporter wanted Francis and every other clubs supporter base was in envy of the fact that he was almost certainly going to Essendon.

Crazy how much of a lottery it can be at times. Look at us with Paddy Dow. I was pretty happy with his selection at the time!
 

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Curtis Taylor in 2018 when he slid, could have been a decent get with the pick we used for Laitham Vandermeer.
Ditto - liked Taylor and couldn't understand the slide.

I wanted Jack Riewoldt or James Seller in 2006 - we picked up Andrejs Everitt

I hoped Brayden Sier would slide to our second pick in 2015 (he trained with us over summer)
I hoped Viojo-Rainbow would slide to us in 2014

Basically people should ignore anything I ever say about the second round :$
 
Wanted LDU at 2 and Brayshaw at 5 in 2017. In the end we made the right call taking Brayshaw first, not just because he is a star but I doubt LDU would have stayed with us long term.

In hindsight we should have taken Naughton at 5 but I understand the reasoning at the time.
 
2015 - too busy watching Harley Bennell highlights
2016 - McCluggage (other Freo supporters suggest he was never available to us. I think we could've got him if we tried. This draft was hamstrung by our pick trading the previous year but we killed it).
2017 - LDU & Fogarty (I still think both these guys will be great players by the end of their careers. Was so disappointed at the Cerra pick).
2018 - Bobby Hill (honestly was happy we got Hogan over at the time. Was a bit disappointed how we threw away all of our picks though - we still should have had a top 5 pick).
2019 - Honestly can't remember. Was stoked we got L. Henry.
2020 - O. Henry (he would've left after two hot minutes lmao).
2021 - Amiss, JVR & Motlop (just wanted us to go all out on building our forward line)
 
2021 - Matthew Johnson
2020 - I don't remember setting my heart on a player
2019 - Luke Jackson
2018 - Ian Hill
2017 - LDU
2016 - Sam Petrevski-Seton
2015 - Marcus Adams
2014 - Either Jarrod Pickett/Garlett
2013 - Cam McCarthy
2012 - Brodie Grundy

Didn't pay enough attention prior
 
2009 - Butcher
2010 - Day
2011 - Wingard
2012 - Stringer
2013 - Aish
2014 - Duggan (thought Petracca was the best, but really liked Duggan)
2015 - Burton
2016 - Venables (also wanted Willem Drew, so that worked out)
2017 - Stephenson
2018 - Lukosius
2019 - Kemp
2020 - Williams
2021 - JHF
2022 - Humphrey (if we had a first rounder), Lemmey at our second
 
For North - Some of the below were taken ahead of our pick but these are the players I wanted at the start of the draft at our first pick

2007 - Cyril and then Tarrant (Cyril taken a few picks ahead of our pick)
2008 - Steele Sidebottom (Thought he'd be a forward though)
2009 - Cunners
2010 - Isaac Smith
2011 - I liked Brad Hill but wasn't sold on him. Didn't really rate anyone at our pick. Weird draft
2012 - Nathan Hrovat lol
2013 - Anyone but Luke McDonald knowing he was coming to us anyway.
2014 - I really rated Sam Durdin.
2015 - Harry Himmelberg, Ben McKay or Kieran Collins
2016 - Loved Brodie. Florent, Venables and Cumming were others I wanted.
2017 - LDU by a mile. If we had pick 1 I would have taken him.
2018 - Tarryn Thomas (no option here as we traded our round 1 pick for Polec lol)
2019 - Elijah Taylor (no first rounder)
2020 - Denver Grainger-Barass and Tom Powell. I was shocked when we didn't take him DGB.
2021 - JHF
2022 - George Wardlaw
 
Had plenty of first rounders so can't really complain to much, bit of fun though.

2015 - Callum Mills
2016 - Hugh McCluggage
2017 - Luke Davies-Uniacke
2018 - Sam Walsh & Bailey Smith (Flight Risk bugger...)
2019 - Rowell & Anderson 1/2 no worries, liked the look of Hayden Young/Heath Chapman/Will Day
2020 - Logan McDonald & Denver Grainger-Barass
2021 - Finn Callaghan, Neil Erasmus, Jacob van Rooyen
2022 - George Wardlaw
 
Wilmot and Simpkin hurt the most. Was also a big Kemp fan

Edit, and Isaac Cumming
 
Freo used to have a habit of overlooking the seemingly very obvious first round pick in favour of someone random

In terms of who I really wanted, based on draft profiles and 2 minute highlight videos:


2012: Brodie Grundy (we took Josh Simpson)
2013: Cam McCarthy (he was gone just before our first pick, we took Michael Apeness. I didn't really have a backup favourite)
2014: Jake Lever (we took Lachie Weller)
2015: No first rounder so I didn't really care
2016: Will Brodie/Jack Scrimshaw (Scrimshaw was gone, we passed on Brodie for Logue)
2017: LDU and Brayshaw (we went Brayshaw then Cerra)
2018: Ian Hill (we went Sam Sturt)
2019: Hayden Young and Sam Flanders (we went Young and Serong)


2020 and 2021 I didn't really have any particular preferences as I started to learn that maybe I would be happier if I didn't get so invested in something so irrational
 
2010 - Only really had limited knowledge on all things draft but thought Atley was gonna be picked. I wanted anyone but Polec strangely.
2011 - I wanted Essendon to get Shane Kersten.
2012 - Daniher was father son
2013 - no pick
2014 - Don't remember but was annoyed when Wright wasn't picked. (Wright not available)
2015 - Parish/Curnow/Weideman. (Oliver not available)
2016 - McCluggage.
2017 - no pick (Wished Essendon kept the first pick to try and get Constable.)
2018 - no pick (Wished Essendon kept the first pick to try and get Caldwell, Hately or Bytel.
2019 - no pick (Would've wanted Georgiades or Gould.)
2020 - Phillips, Henry & O'Driscoll.
2021 - I don't remember. (Checks a Messenger chat and Hobbs, Erasmus, Sinn, Johnson and Amiss were my choices.)

Ill add Cyril in 07 but I wasn't following drafts all that closely before 2010.

My edited thoughts in bold.

I'll add 2008 and 2009 to this.

Knowledge was scant.

2008 I wanted Zaharakis and/or Sidebottom with the first pick.

2009 I wasn't big on Melksham but thought Tapscott and Stevens were worthy shouts.
 

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Opinion Confess - Who did you want in the first round in previous drafts?

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