Maybe we haven't drafted as well as we think

[acuguy]

I am not slamming our drafting, just after tonight's performance i am wondering whether or not our drafting hasn't been as well thought out. I guess the 2 prime examples are

The Berger at pick 4- Obviously i think we have a great future ruckman, but the reality of the situation was that we had Wood next in line and he is going to be a very good ruckman, we doubled up and eventually lost Wood. We could of got Selwood a clearance specialist and born footballer

Henderson- Has enormous talent as a key forward, we already had Brown, Bradshaw, Clark and Mills as key forward options, throw Tyler as a potential forward or back, we missed out on Ebert who looks like a gun midfielder with great awareness, skill and poise, we also missed Rioli who has explosive pace, balance, awareness and crumbs hard, he also knows where the goals are. Hindsight is an amazing thing but if we assessed our list then maybe we have missed 2 players that seem to fill massive holes in our team at the moment

 

[notting18]

Too early to judge! You don't draft for 2008 in 2007, the problems we are having are with the people drafted in 2002 through 2005 who need to lift another level.

This could easily happen, or could not happen..we will see!

 

[lions_den]

Looks like a long 10 years ahead

 

[Hollow Knight]

Looks like a long 10 years ahead

You're kidding right?

 

[acuguy]

Too early to judge! You don't draft for 2008 in 2007, the problems we are having are with the people drafted in 2002 through 2005 who need to lift another level.

This could easily happen, or could not happen..we will see!

Not sure that is the case with picks 4 and 8

 

[acuguy]

What are we all saying we need- Clearance specialist and fast crumbing forward

We have gone past both in the last 2 drafts, do we have plenty of them pushing through on our list=No

 

[lions_den]

You're kidding right?

Nope, we're in a lot of trouble. We need a new coach who is open to new ideas.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Nope, we're in a lot of trouble. We need a new coach who is open to new ideas.

Oh dear... Chicken Little much?

We simply don't have an answer for the Swans gameplan, alot of teams struggle with it.

But calling for a new coach based on that? You sure you aren't a Richmond supporter.

New coaches with new ideas have done the Demons, Saints and Blues the world of good, haven't they!

Oh wait.

 

[acuguy]

Once again i am not slamming our drafting, the 2 players we are got with those picks look like being longterm stars, will we have a midfield though, we have the key forwards now and need midfield support, maybe it will be the case in 5 years time as well, we need quality mids picked in the next 2 drafts

 

[Grimreepah]

You don't draft for 2008 in 2007

Exactly.

I'm very happy with Leuenberger. Even if he ends up being the 2nd best player from the draft we've still done well.

Seems a bit early to be criticising the drafting of Henderson. I would have thought he's well ahead of schedule at this stage.

 

[acuguy]

My comments are nothing to do with Henderson and The Berger, they both are going to be very good key position players, what i am saying is maybe we had blokes not quite as good as them in those positions already and we missed the chance to draft 2 quality mids an area that we look terribly lacking in.

 

[Hollow Knight]

we need quality mids picked in the next 2 drafts

Agree with this... may have to shelve the "best available" policy this year and switch to "best midfielder available".

Very happy with Leuenberger and Henderson though... very, very happy.

 

[Ruse]

I suppose it comes down to who would you rather in our team atm, Wood as a 2nd ruckmen and Joel Selwood or Leuey as a second ruckman and Johnstone. I would pick the latter but the former is also a very formidable duo though.

As for the Henderson pick, I guess with Bradshaw getting on and Mitch Clark potentially getting homesick and moving back home the club decided to hedge their bets and draft another kpp just in case it didn't work out. I guess us getting caught with our pants down with leppa retiring early and mal michael's controversial exit the club learnt it's lesson and is being extra cautious.

 

[acuguy]

Would you be any less happy with Selwood and Rioli, would they have a greater impact on our team?

 

[Hollow Knight]

Would you be any less happy with Selwood and Rioli, would they have a greater impact on our team?

I'm reluctant to use hindsight to criticise the decisions of those who didn't have hindsight.

Too early to even think about judging the success of the 2007 draft.

As for Selwood/Leuenberger... Leuey was probably the safer bet.

There were significant concerns over Selwood at the time because he suffered a serious knee injury in 2006, and we have no way of knowing whether we'd have gotten the same results out of him as Geelong have. Leuenberger is the most exciting young player we've drafted in years... couldnt be happier with that decision.

You also seemed to imply that we used pick 4 merely to get a slightly better Cameron Wood who we then lost... we got Travis Johnstone as part of that deal, and you were more bullish about TJ than anyone here.

 

[Grimreepah]

what i am saying is maybe we had blokes not quite as good as them in those positions already and we missed the chance to draft 2 quality mids an area that we look terribly lacking in.

I think with your first pick you should be looking to try and draft someone who will play for 10+ years. Over that time period your team will undergo many changes, so I don't think it's wise to draft for current needs. It's much better to play the odds, and go for the best talent.

Also I don't believe we are 'terribly lacking' in midfielders. IMO the talent is there, it's just that we are a little inconsistent because we don't have many in that mid-aged group. Also I think when Charmo starts to fire the midfielders will start to look a lot better, like they did last year.

 

[Ceebee]

Oh dear... Chicken Little much?

We simply don't have an answer for the Swans gameplan, alot of teams struggle with it.

But calling for a new coach based on that? You sure you aren't a Richmond supporter.

New coaches with new ideas have done the Demons, Saints and Blues the world of good, haven't they!

Oh wait.

Well said mate. I only took positives home from this game.
Sydney were really on song tonight from the first kick.
What can a coach say to his team at three quarter time when the opposition were clearly a much superior team. Whatever Leigh said must have been good ,because we should have been blown away.and we weren't ,shows a lot of character.
Nothing to be ashamed of at all, I think this year is going to be very exciting, watching the emerging players and all the highs and lows,that go with it.Chatting to supporters afer the game, they felt the same.too, only positives.

 

[Ruse]

I still can't believe we got Tyler on our last pick in the 2006 draft. He'll be a smoky to play CHB next week and will release Macdonald to play in the midfield.

 

[Hollow Knight]

I still can't believe we got Tyler on our last pick in the 2006 draft.

We didn't.

That was Sam Sheldon.

 

[ssfc0203]

It is way too early to judge.

More pressing concerns include your banner at the game today .. "Let's beat the Swans, and then go NUTS!" - time to rebuild the ol' cheersquad, i think .

 

[Hollow Knight]

More pressing concerns include your banner at the game today .. "Let's beat the Swans, and then go NUTS!" - time to rebuild the ol' cheersquad, i think .

Our new Shorts Sponsor is HBA Health insurance and their mascot is a squirrel.

The banner was a required tie-in I think.

 

[Ruse]

We didn't.

That was Sam Sheldon.

to quote Homer Simpson: "It's all good!"

 

[campbell]

Joel Selwood would be nice about now, as Rioli.

Cant do the what ifs, but lets hope we dont have to next year or the next as well.

 

[LIONS then DAYLIGHT]

My biggest concern is the fact that players like Riscateli (sp), Hooper, Sherman, haven't come on as much as we thought, especially the latter.

Targets are still being missed and the run Sydney got from the kick ins tonight was amazing, apparently we have the worst record in the league at defending kick ins, maybe we need to have a tactical re-think.

Brown couldn't get into the game tonight, when we got our fair share of the ball we looked alright.

I remember last year when you had that great run of games, i think it peaked with that beating of collingwood, we'd use the centre and run in a wave of handballs and then kick to a forward line with a lot of space generated by our forwards huddling in the goal square, I still think that was a great ploy, it created a lot of space and stopped people double teaming Brown and what not.

But still our skills is what let us down tonight, maybe it was one of those nights, it just annoys me that sides can get so much space running out of defense against us.

 

[ssfc0203]

Our new Shorts Sponsor is HBA Health insurance and their mascot is a squirrel.

The banner was a required tie-in I think.

*NB: Could work for new Western Sydney team.