It's probably a combination of all the above IMO. Draft selection could have been used elsewhere instead of Gooch (although easier said in hindsight), his mental strength maybe not enough for the harshness of AFL level, and then the developmental aspects that may have hampered him. We did go through a period of heavy media scrutiny/attack, and that may well have affected Gooch as well as the other lads that have since moved on. Who really knows?Sometimes it seems this board tries to fit everything into black and white (not talking race) categories, where there are many shades of grey. With Gooch, I feel like there was something in his attitude that caused his development to stall, whether he liked to party more than train, or didn't like the harder stuff when he had to step up against the bigger bodied men (was more physically developed as a kid than most of his U18 peers). Why did he never dominate a SANFL match? Even Poholke, who many said was found out at AFL level, dominated some SANFL games. Gooch had all the attributes on paper, and in athletic testing with no physical pressure he dominated, but we rarely saw his vertical leap or athleticism on an actual footy field. Should have had either elite overhead marking or chase down tackling. Coaches also gave him a rocket publicly for his attitude which never bodes well, then bad injuries at the wrong times hurt his chances in multiple seasons.
Gave me serious Atkins like, downhill skier vibes, might look great in a team like Richmond or Geelong where you've got other guys doing the hard grunt work for him, but in the most recent Crows game vs St Kilda, would he have been the one chasing in the 4th and sparking a massive come from behind win? Is he the guy to sacrifice his game for the other players on the field? Gut-running and tackling? Not sure. Richmond had a look at him for a free-hit in pre-season and didn't want him, everyone else passed mid-season. Is this our recruiting team's fault, or is it down to the player not leaving every stone un-turned to make himself the best. He had a taste of AFL, that is better than most footy players get a chance to do, and he may be relatively content now to go at 75% and be a decent VFL player. Just turned 23 though, so may still have time to pull the finger out and get another crack.
In AFL with the ball in hand, he did in general look better than Chayce Jones currently does, although hopefully Jones can work his way through all the voices in his head and find the player we hoped he would be. Looked better in the 2nd half against St Kilda with some of his lines and speedy forward forays. A win like that will do his confidence no harm, but still more to work on than most.
Sometimes hard to identify this sort of stuff just from watching U18 vision and conducting 3 interviews.
Recruiting, development, player attitude, physical development, injury.
What actually shocks me more than anything with the above is why half the players can't kick the ball to where they want while under pressure.