The fact that this statement is true is a sad indictment on our recruitment.
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List Mgmt. The "We Should Have Kept Brander" Tears Thread
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The fact that this statement is true is a sad indictment on our recruitment.
Not really. First rounders we've drafted worse than Brander would have been decades ago.
Most teams have far worse records.
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- #153
Drafting has become more precise in the last 20 years but at the end of the day you're drafting human beings. 18 year olds, mostly. Still maturing into adults. Personality matters as much as talent but is a lot harder to quantify. Before he was drafted I'm sure Brander showed signs that he was driven and intent on being an AFL player. After he was drafted, at some point in his personal development he found there were limits to what he'd do to make it. He turned out to have a sense of entitlement lurking beneath his work effort. It's an easy thing to miss and probably is behind a lot of first round busts.
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- #154
Tl;dr
One first round bust in one draft is not a reason for a pessimistic condemnation of the club or recruitment. Put more effort into it.
One first round bust in one draft is not a reason for a pessimistic condemnation of the club or recruitment. Put more effort into it.
True, but it’s also wise to recognise a mistake was made and analyse what happened to reduce the possibility of making similar mistakes in the future. In this case the club opted to not take Oscar Allen with their first pick as Brander was still available. We could easily have missed out on a WA talent for someone who actually hadn’t shown very much apart from short period in one game for the allies. As it was, had we not made that decision we would probably have got Tim Kelly as well in that draft thereby avoiding getting stuffed by Geelong later. ( not 100% sure if that is right but from memory I think that was the draft. No doubt someone will check)
I don't think we were alone in rating Brander at the time. Did many draft predictions have him lasting past the first round before the big night?
Shit happens. Its amplified by unfortunately losing DV, and then TK coming on like a freight train at the Cats. Very few wanted TK taken that early and didn't want Ryan before our R4 pick.
Shit happens. Its amplified by unfortunately losing DV, and then TK coming on like a freight train at the Cats. Very few wanted TK taken that early and didn't want Ryan before our R4 pick.
Flarn Rarn
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I never sensed entitlement from him. He does seem driven and hard-working, but he just refuses to impose himself on the contest with his body. Ultimately that's the limitation that stopped him making it at the top level.
I agree, I just don’t understand how a player (who is bigger than most on field) cannot actively go away during the week and work on this and improve, or at least try it in-game.
It’s not a skill, it’s a mind set. If you can’t at least actively try then everything then points to a lack of footy IQ to remember it to do it in a game, lack of application or most likely, just bloody soft.
I’d have been fine if I could see Brander actively trying to throw his weight around in games, I noticed Bailey Williams doing it more later in the year. Whether it comes off or not is a different story, but seeing a player actively applying a coaches feedback and remembering to do it is what you want to see first and foremost and Brander just failed to ever do it.
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The wily weagle
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Nah, the guy was definitely entitled
A lot of people i grew up with had relations/kids that played at the same level as Brander. And the key feedback was nearly always the same: FIGJAM
It all came a bit too easy, a bit too early. Kid was blessed with athleticism, height, speed and strength beyond his peers as a junior
Problem is, he fell into the same "trap" as guys like Jack Watts, Jarrod Grant: "When he fills out, he will dominate!"
Only he didn't.
And for the first time in his life he had to compete against people bigger and stronger then him, and struggled
And for the first time in his life, he had to bona fide earn selection based on his work ethic as opposed to his physical gifts, and his ego didn't like it
And he got a lot of opportunities with us that were somewhat dubious because he wasn't exactly dominating at WAFL level, but he was afforded those for being a high draft pick and nobody wants to admit that they might have screwed up a selection with their first choice
And rather then continue to fight for selection with us, he wanted what he felt was the "easier" path with GWS due to the coaches having a familiarity with him, and got delisted anyway
All the physical tools and a lot of talent, but none of the willpower.
A lot of people i grew up with had relations/kids that played at the same level as Brander. And the key feedback was nearly always the same: FIGJAM
It all came a bit too easy, a bit too early. Kid was blessed with athleticism, height, speed and strength beyond his peers as a junior
Problem is, he fell into the same "trap" as guys like Jack Watts, Jarrod Grant: "When he fills out, he will dominate!"
Only he didn't.
And for the first time in his life he had to compete against people bigger and stronger then him, and struggled
And for the first time in his life, he had to bona fide earn selection based on his work ethic as opposed to his physical gifts, and his ego didn't like it
And he got a lot of opportunities with us that were somewhat dubious because he wasn't exactly dominating at WAFL level, but he was afforded those for being a high draft pick and nobody wants to admit that they might have screwed up a selection with their first choice
And rather then continue to fight for selection with us, he wanted what he felt was the "easier" path with GWS due to the coaches having a familiarity with him, and got delisted anyway
All the physical tools and a lot of talent, but none of the willpower.
So I thought I'd go through our last 10 years of first round draft picks...
2011 -- Murray Newman (Pick 23)
2012 -- None
2013 -- Dom Sheed (Pick 11)
2014 -- Liam Duggan (Pick 11)
2015 -- None
2016 -- Dan Venables (Pick 13)
2017 -- Jarrod Brander (Pick 13)
2018 -- None
2019 -- None
2020 -- None
2021 -- Campbell Chesser (Pick 14)
On that basis, I'd rate Murray Newman as our worst first rounder pick in the last decade, with Jarrod Brander as second worst. But generally speaking, that drafting history is an absolute trainwreck, with only Sheed and Duggan being regular contributors. No wonder we are shizen.
A bad pick for sure, but also Pick 23.
Can you do ladder positions for those years too, as well as who we got with the first round pick we didn't take to the draft, like Jack Redden in 2015?
We've had two.....TWO better than decent first round draft picks in the last ten years...what a shambles
Can't really count Chesser either way yet. So strike rate is 2/5 with one best 22 in a flag year but forced until retirement through injury. Plus another who we can probably concede is a second round pick at 23 or at the very least had their career impacted by incarceration.
Biggest issue is the number of picks taken really.
- Sep 28, 2009
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There's some real hatred for Chesser on this board. Bloke hasn't even pulled on the boots yet.
Carbine Chaos
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Is there?
- Sep 28, 2009
- 23,701
- 33,996
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- West Coast
- Other Teams
- Reading FC
You could actually look at this another way. We've only picked 2 genuine busts in that time (Brander and Newman) out of 11 drafts. Venables retired due to injury so not our fault.
- Sep 28, 2009
- 23,701
- 33,996
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Other Teams
- Reading FC
Maybe not hatred but it seems the general consensus is he's a crab.
Carbine Chaos
See My Chess
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- Perth FC, Everton, Delhi
I don’t think that’s the case. People are concerned about his lack of footy for the last few years, that’s about it.
This
The wily weagle
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Its going to be very, very Hard for Chesser to step into the AFL/WAFL system playing against talented, grown men when the last time we saw him on a football Field was years ago, playing very sporadically, against kids
I hope the guy goes great but it doesn't bode well
I hope the guy goes great but it doesn't bode well
We seem to love players that did alright in U16 then shat the bed for whatever reason, injuries/form/etc in U18. Brander, Chesser, have there been others?
Keen to understand the reasoning behind those calls.
Keen to understand the reasoning behind those calls.
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Tom swift
How could I forget the best 16 year old ever?
The strike rate of targeting U16 guns hasn't been great.
Reserving judgement on Chesser but jeez I am worried.
If you have the same strategy as 17 other clubs you'll only get ahead of them from having higher picks
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