Welcome Welcome to Adelaide: Sid Draper - Pick 4, 2024

[119others]

Some interesting stuff in there I didn't know. I was only 5 in our first flag.

Imagine a side with Buckley and Ricciuto in it, or Wanganeen and McLeod, or Modra and Carey?!

Or all 6 !

 

[Samcro24]

1970 date of birth

So we could have had him in our initial squad

I remember Cornesy talking about how the priority was to be competitive and successful straight away. Which is why we picked quite a few SANFL stalwarts (Bruce Lindsay, Tom Warhurst, David Marshall, Darrel Hart) rather than stockpile younger SA talent

The more things change…

None of that four made it to the third season.

 

[1990crow]

The more things change…

None of that four made it to the third season.

The problem with conservatism.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

The more things change…

None of that four made it to the third season.

We obviously got plenty right and built a premiership squad so can't be critical

Interesting to look back at some names though. Was Che Cockatoo-Collins in the same boat?

I remember John Reid a few years later talking on 5aa about Michael O'Loughlin who we'd overlooked in the draft. In JR's words we "didn't think he was quite ready yet." I remember thinking did we think he'd still be there in the SANFL in a couple of years time waiting for us?

It does seem like that foundational ethos has lived on though. Heavily embedded in our DNA.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

The more things change…

None of that four made it to the third season.

We made a prelim in our 3rd season and should have played in a granny

Shows that they did a decent job and then premiership 4 years later

 

[Samcro24]

It does seem like that foundational ethos has lived on though. Heavily embedded in our DNA.

Along with:

Players leaving (D Jarman)
SA players not wanting to come back
Weird pre season camps

 

[Samcro24]

We made a prelim in our 3rd season and should have played in a granny

Shows that they did a decent job and then premiership 4 years later

About 29 players from the inaugural squad weren’t there in 93 by my count. To be fair I think we had to reduce the squad numbers.

Lots of older players that didn’t make it beyond a handful of games though. And the younger talent was a big part of making the prelim in 93.

 

[Apsaalooke]

Drugs Are Bad Mackay?

yeah i think thats right. lots of memory stuff below and happy to be corrected.

our main concessions were pre entry in 1990 allowing

(1) 10 previously listed VFL players to remain in SA (A Jarman, Bones Mc Dermott, Scodges etc. D Jars initially said he was staying but then obviously stolen with a bag of cash and/or new car by Horks meaning we also missed out on our next-in-line replacement pick of the 10 in Richard Champion who had already committed to Bears and we got David Brown instead - sort of handy but not exactly Jars..)
(2) Uncontracted VFL players from SA (I think only SA) to return home and we got Mc Guiness, Anderson, Danny Hughes and Lindner from memory. Could be a slight variation here as have drunk far too much in the last 30+ years no doubt impairing memory.

Rehn also acquired for the 1991 season and cant remember exactly how we got him but do remember being at Footy Park the last minor round and seeing him sell candy to Kangas players after exhibiting huge skill level and marking ability already in previous weeks, and thinking 'wow, man what have we got here'. A few short years later he was Brownlow fave heading into the season he did his ACL...

(3) Then in 1991 or start of 1992 (cant remember details) we got 10 other highly talented SA draftees to be allocated to us. This is what won us flags - Roo, Hart, Wellman (Jars), Modra, Groom (McLeod), Bone and a few others (could have been Matthew Kelly, Peter Turner, Adam Saliba and Seb Packer - or they may have been the year before but all supremely talented and cruelled by injury - well Saliba the 'faster, better version of Andrew Jarman' was self inflicted lack of handling AFL etc

We got VERY LUCKY with our timing of entry into the big league with the names above. the depth is better than any previous period and even quality of the top 4 is similar to the Sticks, Bradley, Plat the Rat and Motley crew a few years earlier.

SO - LONG STORY SHORT haha - with Mc Kay I think it was either AFTER our initial concessions ended OR he just wasnt as highly rated as the other names

PS Both Wanganeen and Buckley could have also played for us IIRC but wanted to play (ultimately in Buckleys case) for a big MLB club
PPS Carey also got very close to coming 'home' end of 1992 IIRC as we were all over him at the time but he stayed with Kangas and the rest is history. Anyone remembering the SOO with Carey and Modra our 2 leading forwards were salivating at the prospect of pairing them

I thought Eddie Hocking was the last player picked rather than David Brown

 

[Bay62]

Drugs Are Bad Mackay?

yeah i think thats right. lots of memory stuff below and happy to be corrected.

our main concessions were pre entry in 1990 allowing

(1) 10 previously listed VFL players to remain in SA (A Jarman, Bones Mc Dermott, Scodges etc. D Jars initially said he was staying but then obviously stolen with a bag of cash and/or new car by Horks meaning we also missed out on our next-in-line replacement pick of the 10 in Richard Champion who had already committed to Bears and we got David Brown instead - sort of handy but not exactly Jars..)
(2) Uncontracted VFL players from SA (I think only SA) to return home and we got Mc Guiness, Anderson, Danny Hughes and Lindner from memory. Could be a slight variation here as have drunk far too much in the last 30+ years no doubt impairing memory.

Rehn also acquired for the 1991 season and cant remember exactly how we got him but do remember being at Footy Park the last minor round and seeing him sell candy to Kangas players after exhibiting huge skill level and marking ability already in previous weeks, and thinking 'wow, man what have we got here'. A few short years later he was Brownlow fave heading into the season he did his ACL...

(3) Then in 1991 or start of 1992 (cant remember details) we got 10 other highly talented SA draftees to be allocated to us. This is what won us flags - Roo, Hart, Wellman (Jars), Modra, Groom (McLeod), Bone and a few others (could have been Matthew Kelly, Peter Turner, Adam Saliba and Seb Packer - or they may have been the year before but all supremely talented and cruelled by injury - well Saliba the 'faster, better version of Andrew Jarman' was self inflicted lack of handling AFL etc

We got VERY LUCKY with our timing of entry into the big league with the names above. the depth is better than any previous period and even quality of the top 4 is similar to the Sticks, Bradley, Plat the Rat and Motley crew a few years earlier.

SO - LONG STORY SHORT haha - with Mc Kay I think it was either AFTER our initial concessions ended OR he just wasnt as highly rated as the other names

PS Both Wanganeen and Buckley could have also played for us IIRC but wanted to play (ultimately in Buckleys case) for a big MLB club

PPS Carey also got very close to coming 'home' end of 1992 IIRC as we were all over him at the time but he stayed with Kangas and the rest is history. Anyone remembering the SOO with Carey and Modra our 2 leading forwards were salivating at the prospect of pairing them

Great recollection, thanks!

 

[blighty]

Mentioning Groom is how you win any argument against a Freo supporter.

We don't win any argument with Fremantle !

Had we employed a recruiter who knew his job we could have got Pavlich with our last pick in the 1998 draft as his birthday is 31st of December. Can't remember his name but he wasn't in the job long.
Rendall always said his biggest mistake was not taking Lachie Neale when Rendall was Adelaide's recruiter.
Neale was best on ground when SA played in the Teal Cup as it was called in one of the matches & Rendall was going to take him. Neale has never forgiven the club & has refused to deal with AFC.
So Freo win the argument by the length of the straight in my view.
Cornes to this day still says he would not have traded Groom for McLeod. Thank God Hammond & Sanders woke up to him & got rid of him.
He has always escaped criticism for the 1993 finals fiasco where Sheedy outcoached him comprehensively in the last half.
Cornes media role allows him to control the football narrative in this state while Oatey, Blight, Cahill Balme etc are rarely acknowledged.
Cornes ignored some very good talent Andrew McKay, Craig McRae (Brisbane premiership player & Collingwood premiership coach ) Josh Francou who became
I don't rate Cornes opinion when he talks about players; Nigel Smart tells of Cornes telling him to go to South Adelaide because he wasn't good enough at Glenelg !

 

[GreyCrow]

Had we employed a recruiter who knew his job we could have got Pavlich with our last pick in the 1998 draft as his birthday is 31st of December. Can't remember his name but he wasn't in the job long.

Fantasia?

 

[cmndstab]

Considering Fremantle still haven't won a premiership, and Andrew McLeod is a dual Norm Smith medallist, I think we win that argument pretty easily.

 

[Apsaalooke]

We don't win any argument with Fremantle !

Had we employed a recruiter who knew his job we could have got Pavlich with our last pick in the 1998 draft as his birthday is 31st of December. Can't remember his name but he wasn't in the job long.
Rendall always said his biggest mistake was not taking Lachie Neale when Rendall was Adelaide's recruiter.
Neale was best on ground when SA played in the Teal Cup as it was called in one of the matches & Rendall was going to take him. Neale has never forgiven the club & has refused to deal with AFC.
So Freo win the argument by the length of the straight in my view.
Cornes to this day still says he would not have traded Groom for McLeod. Thank God Hammond & Sanders woke up to him & got rid of him.
He has always escaped criticism for the 1993 finals fiasco where Sheedy outcoached him comprehensively in the last half.
Cornes media role allows him to control the football narrative in this state while Oatey, Blight, Cahill Balme etc are rarely acknowledged.
Cornes ignored some very good talent Andrew McKay, Craig McRae (Brisbane premiership player & Collingwood premiership coach ) Josh Francou who became
I don't rate Cornes opinion when he talks about players; Nigel Smart tells of Cornes telling him to go to South Adelaide because he wasn't good enough at Glenelg !

There was a story that the club had been tracking Pavlich closely for years but Blight didn't rate him, and as a dual premiership coach he held sway and we picked Ken McGregor.
Whatever the reason it cost us at least 1 if not more flags, as we had a gun midfield kicking to Ian Perrie for years.

 

[119others]

I thought Eddie Hocking was the last player picked rather than David Brown

No I am almost 100% certain in terms of it being David Brown for this category I am referring to. The category was 10 currently listed SANFL players that had been drafted, or a VFL club somehow had acquired draft rights to, but had not yet left our state. In the 10 were both established stars and very talented youngsters. Some of the 10 I remeber:

Mc Dermott
A Jarman
D Jarman
Tregenza
Hodges
And I think Darren (Doreen as he was called) Smith
I also think Matthew Kelly was in this category. Possibly also Jameson.

We thought we had our 10 sorted and the 11th player would have been Richard Champion. Then DJ pulled out last minute, Champion had already committed to Lions and we then took our 12h most preferred player in little gritty rover/small forward and left footer David Brown. I am almost certain of this aspect but welcome others recollections. In our early games inc a 1991 wet game vs Bombers at Footy Park, Brown was one of our best scoring the winning goal and was mentioned during this telecast about the above situation.

Eddie Hocking I don’t believe was ever pre drafted so not in the above category.

And the last of the initial list of 52 has been well publicised over the years in being our dual premiership captain.

 

[119others]

The problem with conservatism.

No they got the balance perfect. Made a prelim 3 years later based on a massive amount of young talented players. Then 2 flags within a handful of years. Our early identification of little known but supreme talents like Arno Bay boy S Rehn was excellent. Plus another 20+ very talented youngsters drafted. A handful of he most talented never/hardly played due to injury (Kelly, Packer, Turner) or motivation (Saliba)

Just under 25 players who were 23 or under in 1992 - hardly being conservative IMO. But doesn’t mean we didn’t miss the odd player. Jesus, everyone does. But anyone following things closely knows we NAILED our early draft concessions and this set up our success in the 90’s and even into the following decade for elite players like Roo, Hart, McLeod etc

Adelaide Playing List for 1992 - Draftguru

www.draftguru.com.au

 

[119others]

We don't win any argument with Fremantle !

Had we employed a recruiter who knew his job we could have got Pavlich with our last pick in the 1998 draft as his birthday is 31st of December. Can't remember his name but he wasn't in the job long.
Rendall always said his biggest mistake was not taking Lachie Neale when Rendall was Adelaide's recruiter.
Neale was best on ground when SA played in the Teal Cup as it was called in one of the matches & Rendall was going to take him. Neale has never forgiven the club & has refused to deal with AFC.
So Freo win the argument by the length of the straight in my view.
Cornes to this day still says he would not have traded Groom for McLeod. Thank God Hammond & Sanders woke up to him & got rid of him.
He has always escaped criticism for the 1993 finals fiasco where Sheedy outcoached him comprehensively in the last half.
Cornes media role allows him to control the football narrative in this state while Oatey, Blight, Cahill Balme etc are rarely acknowledged.
Cornes ignored some very good talent Andrew McKay, Craig McRae (Brisbane premiership player & Collingwood premiership coach ) Josh Francou who became
I don't rate Cornes opinion when he talks about players; Nigel Smart tells of Cornes telling him to go to South Adelaide because he wasn't good enough at Glenelg !

One of the most ridiculous posts I have ever read. Talk about happy little Vegemite’s..perhaps stay in bed today,

Firstly, the issue at hand is the TRADE of McLeod for Groom. Who won that?

Freo haven’t won a flag STILL and were widely seen even a decade after their introduction as a blight on the competition. Their feeble showings had many saying get rid of them. They were a joke.

All Captain hindsight’s would clearly say Pav>Mc G. The facts are the Crows were the ONLY team that even identified Pav that year so he was hardly a standout guaranteed draftee. We picked the wrong 17 yo. Not any other club even wanted Pav that year. So did we choose the wrong 17yo player? Of course. Were we the best/only club at that stage to recognise Pav was worthy of an AFL spot? Yea we were.

edit cant not comment on the stupidity of this comment

'Can't remember his name but he wasn't in the job long'. His name was James Fantasia and he was in his job WELL OVER A DECADE

 

[119others]

Fantasia?

Yes the decade long Snr recruiting manager. Not sure what is needed to “last long” if a decade doesn’t tick that box. Not that I rated a lot of his picks and Rendell was a massive upgrade starting in 2007 with his Danger call (pushed heavily by Hamish also wanting him)

Fantasia moves to SANFL

Adelaide recruiting manager James Fantasia has resigned to take on a new role with the SANFL.

www.afc.com.au

 

[Mostyn]

There was a story that the club had been tracking Pavlich closely for years but Blight didn't rate him, and as a dual premiership coach he held sway and we picked Ken McGregor.
Whatever the reason it cost us at least 1 if not more flags, as we had a gun midfield kicking to Ian Perrie for years.

Every club in the AFL could have picked Pavlich, and none did.

Maybe he just hadn't quite proven enough at 17 against his peers but by 18 he had? That still happens.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

About 29 players from the inaugural squad weren’t there in 93 by my count. To be fair I think we had to reduce the squad numbers.

Lots of older players that didn’t make it beyond a handful of games though. And the younger talent was a big part of making the prelim in 93.

Shows they pretty much nailed it

Come out and lose all year in year 1 and they would have struggled to build a fan base and attract players

They got the mix between early days competitive and then being top 4 by year 3

Quite remarkable really

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Along with:

Players leaving (D Jarman)
SA players not wanting to come back
Weird pre season camps

SA players not wanting to come back

Like our 2 best players

Rankine Dawson + ANB Hinge

 

[119others]

Every club in the AFL could have picked Pavlich, and none did.

Maybe he just hadn't quite proven enough at 17 against his peers but by 18 he had? That still happens.

That’s exactly what happened. We were the only club to even recognise his talent in that initial year and clearly we all wish we picked him instead of handy, but clearly not elite, Kenny Mc G

 

[119others]

SA players not wanting to come back

Like our 2 best players

Rankine Dawson + ANB Hinge

Yup. As have been saying in recent weeks doubt there is another club with so many players that actually supported the club growing up. A great advantage in many ways - not even inc the passion / footy side which is probably little advantage (most high end/elite players total professionals) but from both a retention AND $$ needed to accomodate them perspective. Can anyone seriously see Draper being poached over coming years?..

I would expect it’s a deliberate ploy by Reidy and team mainly from a contractual perspective as above AND draft signalling perspective - you draft a SA lad and you know we will be coming hard for them. It’s hard to quantity impact but who knows - perhaps Blues do take Draper instead of Smith in the last draft as lots of those rumours and he seemed a more natural fit to their midfield.

 

[119others]

Shows they pretty much nailed it

Come out and lose all year in year 1 and they would have struggled to build a fan base and attract players

They got the mix between early days competitive and then being top 4 by year 3

Quite remarkable really

No one can seriously argue we didn’t nail our initial youngsters - including their weighting in the squad - when we joined. A remarkable effort considering how rushed everything was after “the greatest act of treason ever seen in SA footy”

 

[latinoheat]

That Sid Draper is some player !

 

[Samcro24]

SA players not wanting to come back

Like our 2 best players

Rankine Dawson + ANB Hinge

Look, we’ve always lured some players back but for every McGuiness there’s a kernahan, platten and Bradley. As a kid I always wondered why the ex SA players wouldn’t queue up to come back and rep the state playing for the crows.

It still happens to this day. Plenty rather play for their interstate side, no desire to come home and play for us.