Recruiters...At what point?

[TheDon35]

Dedoro has been at the forefront of Essendon recruitment for a long long long time now.

We finished 15th 5 years ago and still we are in a position of being in the bottom handful of clubs. Our conversion of genuine quality footballers from the national draft is horrific with only Watson as a father son being an A grade footballer. We wouldn't have him if his dad wasn't Tim.

Our conversion on picks beyond the 2nd round is disgraceful over a 10 year period. Of course there's much speculation involved with these but seriously... Hooker and Lonnergan are the only 2 i would consider on the fringe of B grade.... That's 2 players in 11 years beyond the second round of the draft.

Our first round drafting has had far more misses than hits.

You'd only really consider Hurley and Heppell and possibly Ryder a success.

Yes we've had a couple of rookie successes - Hocking, Rioli, Peveril and Lovett though beyond that there's nothing more than C graders brought through from the rookie list.

Time to cut our losses... We got Geelongs coach... Any chance of grabbing their recruiter?

 

[yaco55]

Amongst a myriad of problems - First round draft selections are the big issue - Go back and look at our first round selections from 1998 - They should be providing the backbone of our team - Few have been A Graders.

 

[TheDon35]

Amongst a myriad of problems - First round draft selections are the big issue - Go back and look at our first round selections from 1998 - They should be providing the backbone of our team - Few have been A Graders.

Correction... None have been A graders. We've only drafted 1 A grader over 12 years... And he was father son.

At what point does the club make a change here? Big decision to go and get coaches as they did last year but you can't turn water into wine. Time to get the best possible recruiter and IMO, that would have to be Stephen Wells.

 

[HULK HOGAN]

Great thread! This has been a concern of mine for a while, Pears and I still have faith in Gumby to be good players.
Also when drafting mids in the past we have always gone for flankers who we seem to want to teach to be mids.
It frustrates me to see Collingwood and Geelong etc unveiling these kids that come in and make an impact straight away.

 

[Smyth94]

I think the 2006 ND is killing us at the moment. Only Jetta is a walk up start to our side from the blokes we drafted.

2007-2009 we've picked up Myers, Pears, Hooker, Bellchambers, Hurley, Zaharakis, Melksham, Carlisle, Colyer, Long, Howlett, Hardingham

9 of those players are 1st XXII regulars - Pears, Hurley and Zaharakis the potential A graders based on what I've seen whilst Howlett, Hardingham, Melksham, Bellchambers definitely have shown that they've got it and will be solid players for us in the future.

Heppell is another added this year who I believe will be a future A grader, the rest haven't played enough games to say either way.

 

[Colin D'Cops]

I think selection & development at the moment are areas of more concern than our actual talent available.

Melk, Colyer and Carlisle for example have not progressed much from last year. These areas should improve gradually over the year as everyone gets used to each other though no doubt, and people aren't afraid to share certain views/opinions.

 

[SirJimi05]

When did he become responsible for the list?

 

[yodellinhank]

A) no chance in hell of getting Wells. Massive Geelong person, been with the Cats since 84.

B) A reactionary position to take due to our sides respective current positions.

Wells had the luxury of 6 picks inside 60 in the '01 superdraft. 3 first rounders in 99 landed him Joel Corey but he also selected Ezra Bray and David Spriggs.

Sellwood aside, what are the particular selections he has made that make you say "Wow. I wish we had this guy"?

 

[Smyth94]

I think selection & development at the moment are areas of more concern than our actual talent available.

Melk, Colyer and Carlisle for example have not progressed much from last year. These areas should improve gradually over the year as everyone gets used to each other though no doubt, and people aren't afraid to share certain views/opinions.

They're just second year players Colin!

It's the guys who've had 4-5 years in the system that should be questioned. By now we would've expected Gumby to be tearing the competition apart alas, he's only managed 22 games out of a possible 90-100 odd - pure bad luck. Myers and Pears have had their injury concerns.

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Yep there are plenty more that haven't exactly come on as expected, they were just examples. I absolutely agree.

 

[HULK HOGAN]

I would like to see Geelong, Collinwood and Essendon's las 15 draft picks and compare pick numbers and players?? We cant change anything but hey it would be interesting to see.

 

[yodellinhank]

I think the 2006 ND is killing us at the moment. Only Jetta is a walk up start to our side from the blokes we drafted.

Missing Sellwood the killer.

How did Wells draft in comparison?

Wells drafted Sellwood along with Djerkurra, Hawkins (F/S) and Hogan.

Djerkurra seems to have turned out a spud, and it will be interesting to see if Hogan can make it back after suffering depression, seems to have potential to be a fringe player/list clogger. Him and Reimers are pretty comparable selections with no clear winner for mine. I'm happy with Davey versus Djerkurra.

2007-2009 we've picked up Myers, Pears, Hooker, Bellchambers, Hurley, Zaharakis, Melksham, Carlisle, Colyer, Long, Howlett, Hardingham

9 of those players are 1st XXII regulars - Pears, Hurley and Zaharakis the potential A graders based on what I've seen whilst Howlett, Hardingham, Melksham, Bellchambers definitely have shown that they've got it and will be solid players for us in the future.

Heppell is another added this year who I believe will be a future A grader, the rest haven't played enough games to say either way.

Wells has netted Taylor, Menzel, Duncan and Vardy to Geelong's list during that time, albeit with lesser picks to use. Brown and Motlop are always injured and I'm uncertain what to make of Taylor Hunt. That's 9 1st XXII regulars verses 3-4, one of those being a relatively mature aged recruit in Taylor.

 

[Colin D'Cops]

I'm an unashamed fan of Taylor Hunt. Is as tough as nails and explosive off the mark. Big tick for Wells here.

 

[Kyptastic]

OTOH our rookie selections have been pretty good, so far at least.

 

[rines]

the problem is recruiting flankers, slow flankers, and thinking we can turn them into mids.. ouch!

Having said that, recruiting in the last 2-3 years appears to have got better and heppell appears to be a GOOD first round pick to make instant impact.

Hurley will be A grade imho, zaka and jetta may get to be B+.. missing some real cream and of course PACE PACE PACE

 

[Smyth94]

Missing Sellwood the killer.

How did Wells draft in comparison?

Wells drafted Sellwood along with Djerkurra, Hawkins (F/S) and Hogan.

Blame the AFL for missing out on Selwood, not our recruiters.

Wells has netted Taylor, Menzel, Duncan and Vardy to Geelong's list during that time, albeit with lesser picks to use. Brown and Motlop are always injured and I'm uncertain what to make of Taylor Hunt. That's 9 1st XXII regulars verses 3-4, one of those being a relatively mature aged recruit in Taylor.

Apart from Taylor, the Essendon group have far more runs on the board. Menzel, Duncan and Vardy are in a Geelong side that haven't lost a game this season, a side which is choc full of hardened, seasoned mature players who do most of the leg work (as expected).

I watched the first half of the Geelong v Adelaide game this arvo - Can you imagine a Zaharakis running around midfield/HF for Geelong, or Michael Hurley lining up at CHF with that sort of delivery?

Hurley and Zaharakis are just third year players both < 50 games experience yet they are vital members of our 1st XVIII, that is a testament to their talent but also a reflection on our badly we are lacking in the 23-28 y.o age group.

 

[Smyth94]

the problem is recruiting flankers, slow flankers, and thinking we can turn them into mids.. ouch!

Having said that, recruiting in the last 2-3 years appears to have got better and heppell appears to be a GOOD first round pick to make instant impact.

Hurley will be A grade imho, zaka and jetta may get to be B+.. missing some real cream and of course PACE PACE PACE

Why can't Zaharakis get to A grade?

What's the point of pace when you can't kick (i.e. Colyer)...give me SKILLS SKILLS SKILLS

 

[Colin D'Cops]

What's the point of pace when you can't kick (i.e. Colyer)...give me SKILLS SKILLS SKILLS

Colyer can certainly kick but he must learn that he cannot kick accurately at full speed.

Pendlebury and Dal Santo, two of the best ball users in the game, both slow dramatically before getting boot on ball.

When Colyer has turned it over, more often than not, it is because of this reason.

 

[yaco55]

Think some are missing the point of the OP.

If we had nailed most of our first round selections since 1998 - They are the backbone of the team - It is a matter of fitting the pieces around the backbone.

 

[TheDon35]

Hurley will be A grade imho, zaka and jetta may get to be B+.. missing some real cream and of course PACE PACE PACE

I'd say pace is secondary. Look at Geelong and collingwood. They don't recruit on pace, they recruit on guys that are going to be best suited to making an impact and developing into quality footballers at AFL standard.

We lack clean, balanced, strong skillfull footballers. These combined factors are what premierships are built around.

 

[TheDon35]

[quote=yodellinhank;21446655) B) A reactionary position to take due to our sides respective current positions.

Reactionary.... We've been enduring average to poor drafting for well over a decade.... How is this reactionary?

 

[Big Blow Hard]

Might be some truth to the Chris Pelchan to Essendon rumours. I thought things improved with Keanes addition, but I'm still not sold on Dodoro. I did always feel like Sheedy got his way more than Dodoro did.

 

[TheDon35]

Think some are missing the point of the OP.

If we had nailed most of our first round selections since 1998 - They are the backbone of the team - It is a matter of fitting the pieces around the backbone.

That's part of it... The other part is a 4 - 5% hit rate with selections beyond the 2nd round (that's us getting a player on the fringe of B grade).

 

[yodellinhank]

Think some are missing the point of the OP.

If we had nailed most of our first round selections since 1998 - They are the backbone of the team - It is a matter of fitting the pieces around the backbone.

Well we didn't have great selections 98-01 due to the fact we were vying for premierships. So your recruiting is different and so are your picks. Geelong, not in contention, built a list of really talented youngsters.

Even Wells failed to nail first round picks (Bray, Spriggs, Tenace etc.) its just the pools he was choosing from then included some players that have been revealed in time to be total class. Add to that they had more cracks at it than us during that time, you can rue the Shane Harveys all you want, the Cats took Gardiner in that area themselves. They on the other hand, had another crack at it to get Stevie J.

We are now in the position of Geelong circa 99-03 and hopefully we can be blessed with similar picks and pools to what they had then. They are in the period we were in then and are topping up with mature age fixes like Taylor and taking the minimum 3-4 picks we were back then. The worm turns.

Reactionary.... We've been enduring average to poor drafting for well over a decade.... How is this reactionary?

As has been pointed out, we seem to be doing okay from 07 onwards. You seem to me to be having a knee jerk reaction to the fact we've slipped out of the eight and lost our last 5 games. This thread didn't come up when we were seeing the best our team has offered this season, which some would see as a guide to potential...

 

[TheDon35]

Well we didn't have great selections 98-01 due to the fact we were vying for premierships. So your recruiting is different and so are your picks. Geelong, not in contention, built a list of really talented youngsters.

Even Wells failed to nail first round picks (Bray, Spriggs, Tenace etc.) its just the pools he was choosing from then included some players that have been revealed in time to be total class. Add to that they had more cracks at it than us during that time, you can rue the Shane Harveys all you want, the Cats took Gardiner in that area themselves. They on the other hand, had another crack at it to get Stevie J.

We are now in the position of Geelong circa 99-03 and hopefully we can be blessed with similar picks and pools to what they had then. They are in the period we were in then and are topping up with mature age fixes like Taylor and taking the minimum 3-4 picks we were back then. The worm turns.




As has been pointed out, we seem to be doing okay from 07 onwards. You seem to me to be having a knee jerk reaction to the fact we've slipped out of the eight and lost our last 5 games. This thread didn't come up when we were seeing the best our team has offered this season, which some would see as a guide to potential...

Again, i don't understand how this is knee jerk or reactionary when it's a thread based on over a decade of poor recruiting.... You could also refer to my thousands of posts on the poor recruiting over the 2000's...