draft picks

[undercoverlover]

Well another draft has gone by, and yes the doggies seem to going in a different direction than what I had thought.
My opinion which doesnt count for much had us drafting tall forwards/defenders but what we drafted was more midfielders. hell we have one of the best midfield now its just we have no one to kick it too, that people did not seem to get adressed at this draft

 

[Westy Boy]

I've posted this on the main boards, so a second time won't hurt

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How many reserves key position backmen do we have- not one!!! We barely have enough in the seniors. Southern's gone, Croft had a great season but is getting on a bit, Ellis is ALWAYS injured and we don't know whether he can find form after being out of the game for so long.

So what do we go and do? .... go draft 3 midfielders that ALL need at least 2-3 years to develop (same with last years drafted midfielders except Hahn). Michael Handby was available at 26, a key position backman, got a bit of muscle on him, almost ready to step up straight away if required, but our team is too worried about reading form their cue cards because their discussion is being beamed to the whole country...

In 3 years, when West, Johnson etc are 26-27, Eagleton, Brown are 24, we will have 15 midfielders all up (maybe more after the next two drafts), who knows how many of these will be fringe midfielders having waited in the ressies with NO senior experience for so long, YET how many key position backmen???.... 0

I am not saying that the kids drafted aren't good enough ... in fact the opposite. We have HEAPS of quality talent here.... but if things go like the past, we have to turnover players, and you just can't be carrying 9 developing midfielders (2- 3 years) at the same time. It is useless. A few are going to get delisted (no matter their talent), so what is the point of drafting so many of them. Aim at developing one or two lightly built midfielders at the same time (i.e Giansiracusa and McMahon), and then go for backmen or (dare i say it ) even more midfielders, except in this instance with a body ready for the rigors of AFL straight away (i.e. Hahn). Can you imagine our ressies midfield next year?? 6 odd 60kg boys by themselves. There is such a collective gap between them and the seniors. No Mark West/Jimmy Plunkett to aid their development, and no chance for promotion in the next few years with the likes of our midfield now.

Off the top of my head, Murphy, Gilbee, Alvey, Giansiracusa.... now McMahon, Girss, Cross.... how many under-developed young smalls/mid sized players do we honestly need??? Like I have said before, if Hunter/Ellis get injured... Libba's (or Kretiuk

) CHB...

And another thing, if you are going to pursue a youth policy, go all out with it and not just give the kids a confidence breaking 3 minutes per quarter. I hope to god that they get a fair run this year.

Nathan Brown is an example of what happens when you promote a youngster and show a bit of faith in him. Alvey, Plunkett are examples of what happens to raw talents at our club under the 150 ressies games policy- delisted or waiting for blokes like Jose to get suspended to get a call up.

Don't get me wrong, Terry Wallace is a brilliant coach, and I would die if he left our club, but it has now been 5 (FIVE!!!) drafts with only one player genuinely making it from "his" selections (Brown), and not one genuine full back drafted. Clayton has a fantastic eye for talent, but what good is it when (some) top talents he chooses are destined to never make it because of an over-enthusiastic depth in our midfield. Use the talent to spot players for deficiencies, that's all i'm saying.

I'm hoping i eat humble pie due to a couple of norwich rising star nominations!!!

 

[Grendel]

Westy, you did take a ruckman at pick 70 if thats any consolation.

BTW didnt we discuss this in the chat one day, seems your right about Plough and his obsessions with the middle! Get onto the phone and get him to get Rode down there for a pre-season or at least a shot at the rookie list lol.

Cheers

 

[HahnPremium37]

I can't beleive we didn't get any TALL defenders!!! Maybe they are planning on getting Ryan O'Conner

or maybe someone else from another club in the draft that is before the season.

Well at least the midfielders we got aren't too small (in height lol

). Plus we got a ruckman which is really good.

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http://www.geocities.com/isdogisgood/index.html

 

[HahnPremium37]

I just heard on the WB site that the Irish player we are getting is tall and will be a defender!

Though it will probably be a while before he gets a game.

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http://www.geocities.com/isdogisgood/index.html

 

[Shinboners]

Westy Boy

Did you watch the draft? At one of the Doggies selections (at number 26 I think), they put a mike on the discussions. They decided that it would be a choice between a ruckman or the best player available....they felt that there would still be some tall players left by the time of their later selections, so they took who they felt was the best player left.

But I agree with you and can't understand why the Doggies picked up more running players and no-one to fill in a key defensive role. It's not as if they haven't been available....North have traded away Scott Welsh, Mark Stevens, Evan Hewitt, and Matthew Capuano in recent years...and Shane Wakelin was available.

As for the ruckman you did pick up, Wade Skipper, with a name like that, he just doesn't sound like a footballer

 

[Bulldogsroar]

When you look at the height of all the draftees there are not many over 188cm maybe 20,by the time the dogs had theit first pick even less, so every club had trouble finding talls.
maybe the next draft will result in the dogs resurrecting some careers of taller players though none spring to mind.

 

[Westy Boy]

Shinners,
I saw the draft, and I wasn't too happy with the whole broadcast discussion thing. It compromised their ability to speak openly, and looked as if they were reading from cue-cards. They couldn't even mention Guy Richards' name at risk of another club hearing it. Guy Richards had big raps on him, and was being touted as a possible top 10 pick..... and probably was the best available at our 26th pick. Time will tell whether they were right.

And I would have loved to see a Wakelin get drafted to us this year, as with the north players you mentioned (during trading), but we just didn't have any midrange picks. Shauble is another CHB opportunity passed by during trading. But, I am saying this with the benefit of hindsight, and not knowing of the goings on within a modern football club.

 

[sainter]

Sorry Westy,

Daniel Wulf had almost a cult following amongst saints supporters at our VFL matches.

I find it hard to believe that a player could be delisted after one year. Most draftees get at least two years to prove themselves. And for him to play so consistently well this year when given an opportunity made Terry's decision even more strange.

Anyway, I didn't come on here to depress you.

McMahon sounds like he could be a very good player and I remember hearing something positive about Birss during the year. How did he go in the TAC Cup best player and coaches award standings?

Gotta go, exam later today. God knows why I am online this late with an exam on soon.

 

[Westy Boy]

Does the edit function work 4 years on?

 

[InTheBack!]

I think you will find most clubs wanting more quality talls than they got - basically because demand outstripped supply by about a zillion to 1.

It's a rare thing to find a extremely well coordinated, fast, athletic & brainy - tall player.

 

[Bulldogsroar]

Birss shared the Gippsland Power Best and fairest tied with Fyffe second was Ablett.

The winner of the TAC coaches award was carson of the Western Jets , didnt get drafted !
The top votegetters in the Morrish Medal were
Rodan,Harris,Clarke,Mitcell,Cassidy,Callinan,Siegert, Greene,not many of these got drafted. Just shows how tough it must be on those who had illustrious junior careers and miss. Also shows that recruiters focus on potential


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" I can resist anything.........except temptation."

 

[sainter]

Westy,

Now we know what your doing when you are not on bigfooty......watching Party of Five

The 'opportunity cost' of filling up my car and travelling down the highway to Geelong to sit an exam for a subject that I had done no reading and no study was at the expense of sleeping in, eating and going back to bed. I know what I should have done!

I will have another 13 weeks doing the same subject next year to reflect on my laziness.

 

[Westy Boy]

Nothing wrong with Party of Five, Sainter - the type of quality show that can keep on going for another decade.

 

[GEP]

Well the Bulldogs once again went for under- devolped kids that will take considerable time to become senior footballers.
If you count Murphy and Wiggins as requiring another season before they will really threaten for a seniors birth, then we have about 10 players that are likely on to have limited opportunities for senior games.
With a reduced list, injuries will need to be kind to us in the coming season.
The kids we have drafted are possibly the best available but a horses for courses approach was really required.
We have had several drafts to address our needs with the mission still not completed.
Once again we will look to the pre-season draft with high hopes.
It is funny how a guy like Terry Wallace wants the quickest and highest skilled
players available at every draft and yet
had a pretty succesfull career himself
considering his own limitations as a footballer.

 

[teddy3]

Thanks Westy Boy