Top 5 biggest drafting mistakes!

[Johnny_Segment]

What do people think of Hawthorn's decision to draft Ellis at pick 3? From what I have seen he has not shown anywhere near what you would hope from someone drafted that high. Murphy, Thomas, Pendlebury and Birchall have all gone on to become very important players for their respective teams.

Don't want to get off topic here but if you actually watched a Hawthorn game you would not be saying this. Ellis is averaging more touches a game than Thomas this year alongside the likes of Mitchell, hodge, Sewell, Bateman, Crawford etc. He was always going to be behind the others due to the fact that he was still playing school footy when the others were debuting, but he is easily doing enough to be in Hawthorn best 18.

 

[juddy_Like]

Dunno about that,
it may have been Big 4 only for the Dockers,
I remember at the time a West Coast recruiter saying to me he wished the Dockers had kept the 1st pick as it would've saved them from the supporter backlash of picking the Vic kid ahead of the local boy,
they were always taking Judd ahead of Polak

Reported until a week before the draft that we were going to pick Polak.

Depends on which way you look at it...
Hawthorn POV: Lost 2 KPP (Croad & McPharlin) so WA teams thought they would of taken Polak.
West Coast POV: Wanted Judd but would of settled for Polak. Never in the market for Hodge or Ball even if those two fell to them.
Fremantle POV: Hell-bent on Polak (reluctant to let go Pick 1 and could of settled for Croad - Pick 4 straight swap) and would of taken Hodge as the left over.
St Kila: Ball regardless.

So really 4 key players with 3 keen teams. Also remember that Richmond and Brisbane were keen on Polak as well. Obviously didnt have the trades to get him.

 

[the_fresh]

Fiora ahead of Pavlich?

BTW I wouldn't say Griffen ahead of Buddy isn't a mistake. Griffen in his own right is a very, very good player and will get even better...He's no Franklin of course, but he's not a Tambling either if you get what I mean

I think that whole draft was a mistake.

Collingwood traded away pick 2 to Richmond for Steve McKee, Richmond took the AFL's token Turtleman in Fiora & Freo was gifted Pavlich.

Fraser & Pav should have gone 1 & 2 to Collingwood.

 

[juddy_Like]

I think that whole draft was a mistake.

Collingwood traded away pick 2 to Richmond for Steve McKee, Richmond took the AFL's token Turtleman in Fiora & Freo was gifted Pavlich.

Fraser & Pav should have gone 1 & 2 to Collingwood.

Pick 3 champ.

You can say Freo overlooked Pavlich by taking Haselby.

And Leigh Brown at 5 didnt exactly pan out did it.

 

[WALL-e]

What do all these guys have in common?

Polak, X Clarke, Sampi, Molan, Cole, Brent Reilly, Ash Watson, Brooks, S Power, Ladson, S Harvey, Elstone.

All those guys were between positions 4-20 in the 2001 Super-Draft. After the Big 3, you had Hale, Bartel, Dal Santo and Kelly. Then a fair share of 'ordinaries'. So a top-20 pick in a super-draft - still a lucky dip, and more likely to get a dud than a champ.

After Hodge Hawthorn had 3 other picks BEFORE they selected Mitchell at 36.

Interestingly, in light of the Hodge v Judd debate, is the best player from the draft actually No 40? G Ablett Jnr (F/S, so no-one else had a crack at him). I am the biggest Judd fan, but if Ablett keeps going at this level.....

You saying Reilly is average?

hmmm

According to draft reports he wasn't going to go too much earlier than that, most likely a 2nd rounder. Which shows everyover whats up.

A couple od UNDRAFTED players at the crows: (rookie listed)

Rutten
Bock
Porps
Griffin
Roo??
Theres a few others too

The highest drafted player on our list is Massie who was #3??? Who we got from Carlton.

After that......correct me if i'm wrong but I believe its Danderfield

 

[FordGTHO]

Judds been great, make no mistake BUT Hodge had heaps of injuries early and currently i'd rather take take Hodge then Judd so maybe over the course of there careers Hodge will prove more valuable. As far as Luke Ball, he would be right up there to but has been crippled with OP. If he comes good (INJURY FREE) who knows how good he can become?

Judd got the breaks but the other 2 are making good ground on him.

I would take Judd over Hodge any day of the week.
While Hodge is a great player, he's no Chris Judd.

 

[dean33]

is everyone forgetting tim walsh at pick 4 and luke livingstone aswell on pick 4!
and luke molan at pick 9 still gives me nightmares considering we could of have nick dal santo or david rodan

if you picked rodan you probably would have delisted him like we did before he turned his career around at port. Everyone had the option of picking him up when the tiges delisted him....

 

[melbournemartin]

PLEASE!

The biggest draft screw up was clearly Luke Molan.

See, at least Tambling is doing something.

But jeez, 9th in the best draft EVER and the guy didn't even play a game.

Best 0 gamer ever!

 

[GhostofJimJess]

No player can be seriously classed as a "mistake" whilst still on an AFL list. This season blokes perennially labelled "mistakes" like Farren Ray, Richie Tambling and Jordan Russell have all stepped up a gear or two and sit very comfortably within their respective teams First XXII.

Even the classic Aaron Fiora "mistake" has been offset somewhat at Tigerland by the great performance of his traded-in replacement Troy Simmonds during 2006 and 2008.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

I dont see how taking Hodge before Judd was a mistake - both have turned out to be superstars of the game.

What do people think of Hawthorn's decision to draft Ellis at pick 3? From what I have seen he has not shown anywhere near what you would hope from someone drafted that high. Murphy, Thomas, Pendlebury and Birchall have all gone on to become very important players for their respective teams.

Late comment, but Ellis has quietly become a very effective player for us off half-back, particularly with injuries to Guerra and Dew this season. He also has seen more action in the midfield due to various injuries and suspensions. He won't be as flashy as Thomas (who was gone by the time Hawthorn had a pick anyway) but I'm confident that, all things being equal with injuries, etc., he'll be a 150-200 gamer for the Hawks. I'm very pleased with his season so far.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

What do all these guys have in common?

Polak, X Clarke, Sampi, Molan, Cole, Brent Reilly, Ash Watson, Brooks, S Power, Ladson, S Harvey, Elstone.

All those guys were between positions 4-20 in the 2001 Super-Draft. After the Big 3, you had Hale, Bartel, Dal Santo and Kelly. Then a fair share of 'ordinaries'. So a top-20 pick in a super-draft - still a lucky dip, and more likely to get a dud than a champ.

After Hodge Hawthorn had 3 other picks BEFORE they selected Mitchell at 36.

Interestingly, in light of the Hodge v Judd debate, is the best player from the draft actually No 40? G Ablett Jnr (F/S, so no-one else had a crack at him). I am the biggest Judd fan, but if Ablett keeps going at this level.....

After Hodge, we picked up Rick Ladson at 16 (85 games), Daniel Elstone at 20 (0 games) and Campbell Brown at 30 (107 games) before we got to Sam Mitchell. It's fair to say, the Hawks have done very well out of the 2001 draft, even accounting for the mistake of picking up Elstone. Hodge, Ladson, Brown and Mitchell are all comfortably best 18 players. Hodge and Brown are All-Australians (can't remember if Sam is an All-Australian). Hodge and Mitchell are best and fairest winners at the club as well as being vice-captain and captain. Rick Ladson has taken some time to establish himself but he has become a very good player in the last 18 months for the Hawks.

 

[Thaihawk]

and Hawthorn took Roughhead before him too....

That was the way to get the two best talls in the country. If we took Franklin, Roughie would've gone next.

 

[Hodgepodge]

fiora ahead of pavlich is a biggie, imagine if richmond were given the choice right now to give up a skinny average midfielder for the pav, that's how big the mistake is.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

I've heard that opinion before, but I find it very hard to believe that we thought Richmond would pass on Tambling. And if we were desperate for a ruckman why pass on all of them until Taylor in round 4? He was a Box Hill kid and presumably we were always going to take him late in the draft.

We still had Everitt plus Robbie Campbell as our rucks. Campbell did his knee in the first round of 2005, so that left Everitt and Taylor as the rucks. We didn't really need a ruck in the 2004 draft, generally because it was thought that the 2005 crop of ruckmen were going to be better. Sure enough, we took Max Bailey at #18 in 2005.

 

[Masten2McKinley]

Richmond picking Fiora over Pavlich.

West Coast picking Sampi over Bartel.

West Coast picking McDougall.

That one Hurts, thats why i dont want to take a small forward ahead of a mid this year, we will get BURNT, unless we get a rioli type player who can accully play well

 

[Animosity1989]

1. Carlton taking Luke Livingston at No.4
2. Carlton Taking Murry Vance at No.6
3. Port Adelaide taking Michael Stevens at No.5
4. West Coast Taking Andrew McDougall at No.5
5. North Melbourne Taking David Trotter at No.9

 

[Masten2McKinley]

I don't think you'll find many (if any) Hawks fans who'd say Hodge before Judd was a mistake. Judd may have shown more as an individual player so far, but Hodge is a gun, amazing player, but most importantly, he makes every other player around him better. He is a true team man. In terms of total influence on the team, I'd take Hodge over Judd every time. Hawthorn would be a significantly worse team if we traded Hodge for Judd right now. Just look at Hodge's game against Collingwood before he got injured, then look at how much we missed him while he was gone, then look at how well he played last night. I truly believe that he is right up there as one of the most valuable players in the AFL currently.

if anyone asked me hodge or Judd i would say judd just only because he is the extra bit better around the contests apart from that i think they are both equal

 

[Chewy]

It is pathetic that Hodge's name continue to appear of threads of this ilk.
Both Judd and Hodge are champions. Both of them were highly rated juniors, with a slight query on Judd's shoulder injuries.

How can this possibly be deemed as a big mistake by Hawthorn?

If anyone knew that Judd was going to a freak, then why didn't they do as Hawthorn did and trade one of their players to Freo for the 1st pick?

If Hawthorn made such a big mistake in overlooking Judd, then so too did 14 other clubs who sat idly by and watched him get snaffled by West Coast.

 

[Chewy]

What about the footballers that everyone overlooked?

Adam Goodes, Brent Harvey, James Hird, Chris Grant, Byron Pickett, Mark Williams and Graham Johncock were all chosen with late 3rd round picks or worse.

Daniel Kerr chosen at twentysomething.

David Rodan, Morrish Medallist was snubbed. He's proved the knockers wrong.

Dean Cox, Nathan Bock, Ben Rutten and any other gun from off the rookie list.
Overlooked by everyone.

 

[warney7]

I'm sure it's been mentioned but Mark Bolton at pick #4 in 1997 was a massive blunder.

#5 Luke Power
#9 Chad Cornes
#25 Nick Stevens
#31 Simon Black
#43 Adam Goodes
#82 Nathan Thompson

 

[Gunnar Longshanks]

Quite happy with Griff's thanks, might not be Franklin but damn happy with him.

The Bulldogs would rather have Franklin every day of the week.

Let's not pretend otherwise.

 

[hammo_cheersquad]

everyone here is COMPLETELY forgetting 1990

swans overlooked JAMES HIRD for someone else
dont even know his name
because he played less then 5 games

that MUST be the worst draft mistake ever made by any club

 

[Chewy]

Guys like Des Headland and Travis Johnstone, taken with the top pick. Maybe if clubs did more searching interviews, they wouldn't have been so highly sought after. Johnstone was great now and then, when he knuckled down. He's doing okay at the minute. But what an unfulfilled talent he's been!

Following his great second half to the 2001 season, Headland has achieved 3/5ths of fcuk-all. At least the Lions got something for him when he stuck out his bottom lip and demanded to be traded home. Freo have since had to foot the bill for this lazy, waste of space.

 

[Chewy]

everyone here is COMPLETELY forgetting 1990

swans overlooked JAMES HIRD for someone else
dont even know his name
because he played less then 5 games

that MUST be the worst draft mistake ever made by any club

Post 119 from 2 minutes ago.

Why single out the Swans? Because they had the pick immediately prior to Hird?

Every club overlooked Hirdy. The only reason Essendon took him was the family connection, otherwise they too would've overlooked him.

 

[Big Fez]

Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls will be fine. Way too early to label him a dud. He was always going to take some time because he was skinny and still growing when drafted. He's had some injury setbacks as well. He should get some games for us in the second half of the year.

And I have to defend the Trailblazers choice of Bowie over Jordan. Portland had picked future Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler the year before and he was the heir to Jim Paxson at shooting guard (that's Jim, not John...Jim was a 20ppg player). What they needed was a dominant big man and they wanted Akeem Olajuwon. But they lost the coin toss with Houston for the first pick. The Rockets took Olajuwon and Portland took Bowie. Bowie was National Player of the Year in High School and an All-American in college. Unfortunately, his knees were crap and he hardly played for Portland after his rookie season. Still, he was valuable enough to get All-Star Buck Williams to Portland in a trade with the Nets.

If Portland had drafted Jordan, it's likely that neither he nor Drexler would have become the players they did.

Let's not forget that the Bulls would have had Bowie in a heartbeat if they had had the oppurtunity to select him rather than Jordan.

I cant find the quote, but im pretty sure the Bulls GM or someone along those lines suggested after the draft that while Getting Jordan was nice he wasn't going to "change the franchise" as much as a big man (Olajuwon or Bowie) could.....