John Meeson

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Crow-mosone said:
I thought you wanted pick 18?

myself, am very happy. if we going to take a ruckman at least let it be:
1. the best in the class
2. the ready to play guy, who we don't need a crystal ball on.

actually this draft reminds me a little of essendon 1996.

they needed a tall running, athletic chb type. so they drafted the same guy 3 times - Mark Bolton, Dean Solomon, Judd lalich. they got 2 out 3. everyone thought they were nuts, but it did them all right.

we have obviously wanted athletic ruckman style talls, hell if one of them pans out great.

seems this draft was one of the harder to forecast; or as the internet becomes more prominent, there is so much more smoke around. can't decide.
oddly it's 5:45 in the morning and I think the wife is wondering where I have gone!
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I was keen on Wood but that was because I was under the impression that Meesen will be gone by then.

As you say Meesen is not as long term prospect as Wood. Now Woodmight turn out to be a better player than Meesen but I like his aggression and marking ability. He average 17 possesions per game this year and thats just the type of player we need.

Mind you Brisbane are stoked to get Wood @ 18

We picked up 2 ruckman, a KPP who can pinch hit in the ruck and a couple of midfielders. Very happy with the mix of players and the actual players we selected.
 
tinman said:
How do reckon you would go being interviewed on TV when you were 17?

From the country too......perhaps a little nervous? I wouldn't be looking to read anything into it.
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Possibly, quite probable in fact. I still thought he looked more depressed than nervous though. Maybe he was expecting to go to a Melbourne club, either way, I'm sure we'll make him feel welcome.
 

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From today's Herald Sun

Falcon happy to spread his wings
21 November 2004 Sunday Herald Sun
By MATT CUNNINGHAM

PAUL Meesen has been to every one of his son's football matches for the past 10 years.

But he will be racking up some serious frequent flyer points if he is to keep his record intact next year.

Adelaide yesterday drafted John Meesen, a 199cm ruckman from the Geelong Falcons, with its first pick at the AFL draft and the eighth pick overall.

But Meesen was not disappointed his son was drafted interstate.

"That's the way the draft goes," he said.

"You have got to be expected to go anywhere because it's really a lottery.

"When they were picking out the first few I said to John, 'This is like Tattslotto'. He said, 'It's better'."

He was always expected to go in the top 10 and said he didn't even have time to get nervous yesterday.

"It all happened so quick that I didn't really know what was going on," he said.

"I hadn't really spoken to Adelaide because they said they thought I was going to go earlier."

Many expected Adelaide to opt for a home-grown player fearing someone from interstate might want to return home in a few years. But the Crows should hold no fears about Meesen.

"I reckon it's great. I can't wait to get over there," he said.

Meesen will board a plane to the city of churches tonight before his first training run with the club tomorrow.

Then it will be back to Melbourne for his graduation dinner at Oberon High School tomorrow night. While most parents hope to see their sons stay in their home state, there were no tears in the Meesen family yesterday.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic," Meesen's mother, Leanne Beckingham, said.

"I will miss him, but I'm happy for him. His 13-year-old sister's doing cartwheels at the moment. She gets his bedroom."

Meesen impressed the talent scouts with a stand-out performance for Vic Country in the under-18 national championships and possesses exceptional fitness for a big man.

At this year's draft camp he was ranked in the top 10 for endurance and ran a 3km time-trial in 10 minutes 44 seconds.

But the modest youngster expects his rookie season at the Crows will be spent developing his lean frame.

"I think I'll be doing a couple of years in the gym," he said.

With John, interstate, Paul is still hopeful of watching his son in as many games as possible.

"I'm not going to be able to watch every game, especially if he's in the SANFL," he said.

"But I heard Jetstar are talking about flying from Avalon to Adelaide so that might make things a bit easier."
 
Stiffy_18 said:
I was keen on Wood but that was because I was under the impression that Meesen will be gone by then.

As you say Meesen is not as long term prospect as Wood. Now Woodmight turn out to be a better player than Meesen but I like his aggression and marking ability. He average 17 possesions per game this year and thats just the type of player we need.

Mind you Brisbane are stoked to get Wood @ 18

We picked up 2 ruckman, a KPP who can pinch hit in the ruck and a couple of midfielders. Very happy with the mix of players and the actual players we selected.
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Generally very happy with our drafting, but let's hope Brisbane don't end up rubbing this one in. They certainly have a habit of doing that!
 
napsyd said:
Generally very happy with our drafting, but let's hope Brisbane don't end up rubbing this one in. They certainly have a habit of doing that!
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Wood will turn out to be a very good player - hence the reason Brisbane thru out their draft plans when he was still available (they said they don't really need a ruckman)

But Meeson was rated the equal, if not better, of Wood and this draft saw a couple of excellent ruckmen potentially.

It has come to a judgement call by our recruiting team who have determined across a number of factors that the best decision is Meesen.
His agression, round the ground play, shorter dev time, and the fact his transition from Geelong to Adelaide should be relatively smooth IMO makes for the correct call.
 
napsyd said:
Generally very happy with our drafting, but let's hope Brisbane don't end up rubbing this one in. They certainly have a habit of doing that!
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Please let it happen.

Amazed that Wood was not taken by our 1st pick, & I hope that 15 other clubs one day will feel the pain of that. That said surely now we have a ruckmen for sale next year to the highest bidder......interested?
 
What impresses me most about Meesen is his TAC stats in 2004. He averaged 17 possessions per game, which is fantastic going for a bigfella.

Maric and De Luca averaged 11 and 9 respectively.

I'm sure this would have been a big factor in the Crows' preference for him over Cameron Wood. We haven't had a decent possession-gathering ruckman since the great Shaun Rehn.
 
mymansyd said:
What impresses me most about Meesen is his TAC stats in 2004. He averaged 17 possessions per game, which is fantastic going for a bigfella.

Maric and De Luca averaged 11 and 9 respectively.

I'm sure this would have been a big factor in the Crows' preference for him over Cameron Wood. We haven't had a decent possession-gathering ruckman since the great Shaun Rehn.
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As was said previously the ability to rest ruckmen on the field and provide a tall forward option I think greatly influenced our decision of Meesen over Wood.
 

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mymansyd said:
What impresses me most about Meesen is his TAC stats in 2004. He averaged 17 possessions per game, which is fantastic going for a bigfella.

Maric and De Luca averaged 11 and 9 respectively.

I'm sure this would have been a big factor in the Crows' preference for him over Cameron Wood. We haven't had a decent possession-gathering ruckman since the great Shaun Rehn.
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Will be a strange (but good) feeling having a ruckman who gets possessions around the ground ... & takes more than the occassional mark.
 
Can we have a little rule. No refering to Meesen as the next Shaun Rehn. We all remember how the last bloke to be burdened with that turned out. But with more thought by 2007/2008 we could be just like 1997/1998. I honestly believe in those years, also noticably our premiership years we had the best Ruck Combination in the league with Pitto and Rehn. With Maric and Meesen we could have our men :)
 
jo172 said:
Can we have a little rule. No refering to Meesen as the next Shaun Rehn. We all remember how the last bloke to be burdened with that turned out. But with more thought by 2007/2008 we could be just like 1997/1998. I honestly believe in those years, also noticably our premiership years we had the best Ruck Combination in the league with Pitto and Rehn. With Maric and Meesen we could have our men :)
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Poor old Andrews & Hudson how fickled this business is ;)
 
mymansyd said:
What are you trying to do? Sabotage my good mood?? :D
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Just doing the politician thing and whenever a decision is made say a few good things and a few bad things about it and when the result turns out hide behind the correct comment. :D
 
Falcon happy to spread his wings
21 November 2004 Sunday Herald Sun
By MATT CUNNINGHAM

PAUL Meesen has been to every one of his son's football matches for the past 10 years.

But he will be racking up some serious frequent flyer points if he is to keep his record intact next year.

Adelaide yesterday drafted John Meesen, a 199cm ruckman from the Geelong Falcons, with its first pick at the AFL draft and the eighth pick overall.

But Meesen was not disappointed his son was drafted interstate.

"That's the way the draft goes," he said.

"You have got to be expected to go anywhere because it's really a lottery.

"When they were picking out the first few I said to John, 'This is like Tattslotto'. He said, 'It's better'."

He was always expected to go in the top 10 and said he didn't even have time to get nervous yesterday.

"It all happened so quick that I didn't really know what was going on," he said.

"I hadn't really spoken to Adelaide because they said they thought I was going to go earlier."

Many expected Adelaide to opt for a home-grown player fearing someone from interstate might want to return home in a few years. But the Crows should hold no fears about Meesen.

"I reckon it's great. I can't wait to get over there," he said.

Meesen will board a plane to the city of churches tonight before his first training run with the club tomorrow.

Then it will be back to Melbourne for his graduation dinner at Oberon High School tomorrow night. While most parents hope to see their sons stay in their home state, there were no tears in the Meesen family yesterday.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic," Meesen's mother, Leanne Beckingham, said.

"I will miss him, but I'm happy for him. His 13-year-old sister's doing cartwheels at the moment. She gets his bedroom."

Meesen impressed the talent scouts with a stand-out performance for Vic Country in the under-18 national championships and possesses exceptional fitness for a big man.

At this year's draft camp he was ranked in the top 10 for endurance and ran a 3km time-trial in 10 minutes 44 seconds.

But the modest youngster expects his rookie season at the Crows will be spent developing his lean frame.

"I think I'll be doing a couple of years in the gym," he said.

With John, interstate, Paul is still hopeful of watching his son in as many games as possible.

"I'm not going to be able to watch every game, especially if he's in the SANFL," he said.

"But I heard Jetstar are talking about flying from Avalon to Adelaide so that might make things a bit easier."
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Sounds very promising
 
Would the Crows be allowed to pay for the Dad to come over? It's not like the money is a huge problem, and would sure make the kid feel better.
 
Eddie just cant help himself can he.

Magpies president Eddie McGuire breezes through the cafe and says hello to everyone. He shouts coffees and teas for all before shaking Meesen's hand and, tongue firmly in cheek, saying, "See you in two years."

Just another reason to hate him.
 

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