Matt Rendell = Genius

[adelaidecrows]

With Daniel Tahlia making an awesome debut tonight it was the final piece of a successful drafting strategy for the last four years.

All Crows fans should be pinching themselves that within two seasons we can see the best battery of developed bigmen in the competition consisting of Tahlia, Otten, Davis, McKernan, Tippett, Moran, Jacob's, L Thompson and (maybe)Walker take the field in our best 22. combine that with our seasoned veterens and the emphasis on drafting midfielders and goal sneaks going forward it makes you really think about the potential of the crows going forward. The coach of the crows next season onwards will have a sensational side.

An extra credit for forsight must be mentioned. to sit back 4 seasons ago and realise the possibility GC and GWS will damage future drafts was amazing forsight at the expense of what must have been awefully tempting to draft top midfield prospects at the time.

 

[PyroCrow]

Completely agree! Nice to see some positivity again on this board. When we do eventually make it back into contention (in a year or 2...or 3) we will be able to hold our head high because we will have got there through smart drafting, not tanking for picks (unlike some well known Victorian teams).

 

[bigman]

With Daniel Tahlia making an awesome debut tonight it was the final piece of a successful drafting strategy for the last four years.

All Crows fans should be pinching themselves that within two seasons we can see the best battery of developed bigmen in the competition consisting of Tahlia, Otten, Davis, McKernan, Tippett, Moran, Jacob's, L Thompson and (maybe)Walker take the field in our best 22. combine that with our seasoned veterens and the emphasis on drafting midfielders and goal sneaks going forward it makes you really think about the potential of the crows going forward. The coach of the crows next season onwards will have a sensational side.

An extra credit for forsight must be mentioned. to sit back 4 seasons ago and realise the possibility GC and GWS will damage future drafts was amazing forsight at the expense of what must have been awefully tempting to draft top midfield prospects at the time.

We had such a poor list he decided to go for talls first. Maybe he went for too many - but now we can look at getting some other types of players such as midfielders into our side.

We have been very unlucky with out injuries to our talls - Craig, Talia, Stevens, Davis, Young, Otten, Moran and of late Walker. I wonder if they had been avialable what our team would look like.

 

[adelaidecrows]

It is possible we have too many but at the end of the days quality talls dont grow on trees and we needed to look at building a side. only problem with the strategy is we always finished too high on the ladder to reach quality ruckmen. but Jacobs has shown he will take the mantle and moran looks more than capable to join him.

 

[Elite Crow]

Thats too many big men, you win premierships with a gun midfield, just look at Geelong and Collingwood. We have got a long way to go considering even tonight we were smashed in the clearances.

 

[Briggzy]

Liking the positive thread OP

Thought Talia showed great future promise tonight, very similar to Davis in his debut.

We do have a plethora of KPP's, it's just a shame that we currently have limited guns to deliver the ball to them.

 

[BigLefty]

Thats too many big men, you win premierships with a gun midfield, just look at Geelong and Collingwood. We have got a long way to go considering even tonight we were smashed in the clearances.[/quote]

i agree. the cats are dominant with spuds like mooney, hawkins and pods as their key forwards!!

imagine the career Perrie, and Kenny would have had with the geelong midfield delivering the ball.

and even cloke is now regarded as being elite

 

[Crow_68]

Let Talia play a few games before making a judgement.
After their first 2 or 3 efforts, we were all saying what great prospects McKernan and Luke Thompson were.

 

[Cap]

Let Talia play a few games before making a judgement.
After their first 2 or 3 efforts, we were all saying what great prospects McKernan and Luke Thompson were.

and they are bloody great prospects?

 

[Buzzasto DaSilva]

I think that the foresight from Rendell was fantastic in regards to quality tall's. Now we must fill gaps.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Thats too many big men, you win premierships with a gun midfield, just look at Geelong and Collingwood. We have got a long way to go considering even tonight we were smashed in the clearances.

duhhh. i did say that clearly the crows have an emphasis on drafting midfielders going forward so with any luck we may crack a few, that is unless you feel that there are no crack midfielders in any future draft ever again.

With GWS coming in and if we finish in roughly the same position we are in now, Port, Brisbane and Gold Coast will be most likely shooting for talls so some quality will move down the list I am sure.

The crows had to draft alot of talls to make sure that the quality came through. it would have been a waste of time if they acted on midfielders like everyone else and drafted a few talls. what if one or two of them were no good?

 

[cmndstab]

I'm a bit torn on it all... our midfield is very weak, and we could have done with a few more of them. However, we really need all the talls we have, so it's hard to be down on them.

What I'm impressed with is the strike rate we've had with talls. A bit early to tell from the last couple of drafts, but from the 07-08 draft period we took (in order) Otten, Kite, Walker, Davis, McKernan, Lee, Young, Henderson. Five of them look to have an AFL future (I'm counting Henderson in that list, I'm still a fan ) and Young is still half a chance if he can get injury-free. Out of eight talls, that's a pretty damn good effort.

 

[Briggzy]

I guess it can also be argued that midfielders usually take less time to mature then KPPs so it is better grabbing the latter first.

I remember reading Rendell's reasoning for picking up numerous KPPs in that the current draft and future drafts coming up had a sparser amount of quality talls floating around.

Hindsight will be a beautiful thing in the years to come I guess.

 

[Crow_68]

and they are bloody great prospects?

Somewhat over-rated on this board.....

 

[adelaidecrows]

Somewhat over-rated on this board.....

love the continued negativity.

 

[Cap]

Somewhat over-rated on this board.....

Thompson perhaps, but Mckernan can still be anything - he is only young.

 

[Crow_68]

Thompson perhaps, but Mckernan can still be anything - he is only young.

Won't be anything unless he shows a bit more passion.

 

[PyroCrow]

Though its a good problem to have, our back line will start to look rather crowded next year with Rutten, L. Thompson, Talia, Davis and Otten (he may move into the midfield). I'm still of the opinion that one of them (IMO Talia) needs to be used as trade bait in a deal to get a gun midfielder.

 

[ruscy002]

To me, Thompson looks like he'll be a player if he's allowed to be a third tall, or maybe even play as a medium defender. Problem is that might not happen until when Otten makes the move into the midfield (if that ever happens, I really like him back there in defence).

I really can't wait to see Davis and Talia running around in the same team

 

[Mong]

Thats too many big men, you win premierships with a gun midfield, just look at Geelong and Collingwood. We have got a long way to go considering even tonight we were smashed in the clearances.

I don't they are good enough yet to say we have too many. If they all come good we might have too many but that's hardly a problem. Good big men have very good trade currency.

 

[BunjiMac]

To me, Thompson looks like he'll be a player if he's allowed to be a third tall, or maybe even play as a medium defender. Problem is that might not happen until when Otten makes the move into the midfield (if that ever happens, I really like him back there in defence).

I really can't wait to see Davis and Talia running around in the same team

Speaking of Otten, how good is it to have the old Otten back??

He looks like he is close to his form prior to the injury. The smart decisions and sure disposal that we were used to is returning.

 

[ruscy002]

Speaking of Otten, how good is it to have the old Otten back??

He looks like he is close to his form prior to the injury. The smart decisions and sure disposal that we were used to is returning.

It's freakin amazing to have him back! Funnily enough, watching him is a lot like watching Stevens in full flight, only...you know...without the wincing

 

[KUNG FU]

Talia could well move forward permanently, he's played almost all of his junior footy there. Might be necessary if Walker leaves.

I did cringe when Sydney's first came about (in part) from a Talia fumble which went to Jetta (the player I wanted in that draft) heading goalwards. Nonetheless, solid return from Talia tonight. Don't know if his form warranted promotion, it was more about given Thompson a break I think, but he did OK. Really needs to back it up with a another good game next time against a more challenging opponent in drier conditions.

 

[Crow_Magnon]

Thompson perhaps, but Mckernan can still be anything - he is only young.

I'd say the other way around. McKernan is way over-rated - we should offload him for a good young mid if we can. Thompson is a keeper, but needed a rest.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

This thread is embarrassing. You do realise we are currenty sitting in 14th place with one of the worst young midfields in the competition.