Well, well, well...lookie here!

[Lach72]

http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/af...t-to-boost-talls/story-e6frg1xu-1226206929586

FREMANTLE will replenish its limited stocks of key position players in next year's looming super draft after taking a calculated gamble by overlooking talls in Thursday's national draft.

The Dockers believe the move of skipper Matthew Pavlich to full-forward and the expected arrival of former St Kilda backman Zac Dawson through next month's pre-season draft will ensure there is enough cover at both ends of the ground for 2012.

The club will then launch a raid on young key-position talent in next year's national draft, which recruiters already believe will be the strongest of the past decade.

Coach Ross Lyon conceded the Dockers needed to add key-position depth at both ends but said it could wait one more year
"There's some need on the list but we didn't want to pull the talls earlier than the talent," he said.

"We just think that the list is in good enough shape that for the sake of a year and an undiluted draft with all the talls that there will be a window there to take them."

 

[greatgatsby]

Exactly.

 

[tesseract]

Needs won't cross paths with WC, so it's unlikely that WC and Freo will be stealing desired players from each other. There shouldn't really be any talk of 'if only he slides past WC's or Freo's pick' between the two clubs fans next year if Freo choose to select talls.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

Also, which is very pleasing:

Pavlich was used almost entirely in the midfield in some games by former coach Mark Harvey last season, but Lyon confirmed he would be used predominantly as a power forward next year.

 

[Lach72]

If this is the case I wonder whether we'll go for more mids in the rookie draft?

Thinking Nelson and Waldhuter

 

[dominguez]

The decison to trade our Palmer compo pick may look silly if there are topshelf talls still floating around at pick 23-24 next year.

Hopefully Crozier makes the grade and we won't spend the next decade having that debate.

 

[greatgatsby]

Also, which is very pleasing:

Yes, this made my day too!

 

[Moo]

No - Geelong took Kersten therefore we have failed.

If we had taken Kersten and Geelong had grabbed midfielders then I believe we would have been justified taking midfielders even though we hadn't taken them.....ummmmmmm Clay explains it better.

 

[DOCKERZ]

Makes sense. No point drafting talls in the main draft that may or may not have the talent, but will clog the list for 2 years.
Reckon we'll still go short with first rookie pick too, then might look for a mature tall later on..

 

[DOCKERZ]

No - Geelong took Kersten therefore we have failed.

If we had taken Kersten and Geelong had grabbed midfielders then I believe we would have been justified taking midfielders even though we hadn't taken them.....ummmmmmm Clay explains it better.

Kersten wasn't even Geelongs first choice?!

 

[Clay Davis]

The decison to trade our Palmer compo pick may look silly if there are topshelf talls still floating around at pick 23-24 next year.

Hopefully Crozier makes the grade and we won't spend the next decade having that debate.

Indeed, I think this is something many are missing.

 

[Nickos66]

Ross's making the right sounds, I feel somewhat relieved they've come out and addressed the need publicly.

 

[Fred Ziffel]

Ohh , now I understand. Gee these journos are on the ball.

I just hope there are some good talls still in the draft at pick 18 when we get our first pick.

 

[Superkoops]

Now that the dust has settled somewhat it is a good time for me to weigh into this debate. For the record I think the first 3 picks are very good and I have no issue with them because they are appear to be top 30 draft picks and best available talent. Obviously Freo rated Forster ahead of Kersten and at 189/190cms he is a similar height really. I'm pretty sure Fremantle would have picked up Bootsma if available at 29 and he is a very similar player and height to Forster. No point picking a tall ahead of a better rated player just because you need some height, especially when you're looking at top 30 draft picks. The talent in this draft dropped away quickly after the first 30 - 35 picks.

The quote in this posted article: "There's some need on the list but we didn't want to pull the talls earlier than the talent," sums it all up.

I also think the selection of Lachie Neale is a solid selection based on what I've read about him as a player and I know he is short at 177cm but that is the same as Nelson and Lachie has apparently grown 2cm in last 5 - 6 months and may grow a little more so that he is a similar height to inside gun Taylor Adams.

It is really the final selection where I thought we had a good chance to pick Tunbridge, Boseley or Frost. Tunbridge especially I thought was a bargain at pick 71 but I guess he could come into the mix for our first Rookie pick. Tunbridge is physically ready and would be a great first pick for Freo. Andrew Boseley, Zyrus Manson, Sam Frost and Jai Sheahan are all KP project players better suited to the Rookie draft.

I would expect a mix of positions drafted as Rookie picks including some talls. The following remain available:
Simon Tunbridge
Andrew Boseley
Zyrus Manson
Sam Frost
Jai Sheahan
Brody Mihocek
Julian Dobosz
Tom Lee
Hayden Busher
Justin Clarke
Joel Houghton

It appears that our final pick Sutcliffe was high on the radar of Gold coast so after Freo almost picked him in 2010 felt they needed to pull the trigger with their last live pick, knowing that Tunbridge would be available for Rookie draft.

Some major over reactions from many posters, is what I have been reaidng the past few days.

 

[Moo]

Indeed, I think this is something many are missing.

On this I agree - I think we pulled the trigger on this with the Clark trade in mind.

Though having said that we should have enough karma points in the bank at the trade/draft table for the Football Gods to grant us Crozier as a star recruited by chance.

 

[yakka man]

Sometimes you can get caught out this way though. If a midfielder available at our first pick next year is a way better prospect then the KPP available do we go best available or needs based. Will wait and see how the rookied draft pans out.

 

[Lach72]

On this I agree - I think we pulled the trigger on this with the Clark trade in mind.

Though having said that we should have enough karma points in the bank at the trade/draft table for the Football Gods to grant us Crozier as a star recruited by chance.

Bond said as much. They got 20 so they could give 16 for Clark so we'd have a first round pick.

Has anyone watched Bootsma's highlights? Scarily like Josh Head in the way he moves/kicks

 

[Purpellian Anchor]

If this is the case I wonder whether we'll go for more mids in the rookie draft?

Thinking Nelson and Waldhuter

is cat and mouse except dont know which is the mouse or the cat LOL

but in all seriousness Ross is playing everyone along here he cant be dinkum as to risk again what happened the last two years....as soon as we have one or two injured talls we are cactus until they return

chapter 2 is the rookie draft chapter 3 ......2012 getting to be a long story

 

[PapaJ]

The decison to trade our Palmer compo pick may look silly if there are topshelf talls still floating around at pick 23-24 next year.

Hopefully Crozier makes the grade and we won't spend the next decade having that debate.

My first thought too unfortunately, even though it probably had something to do with Clark situation (see below).

It may forever be one of those hypotheticals where we are all experts after the fact or Lloyd, Bond etc. coming out looking like geniuses again when Crozier's tearing it up for us in 3 years time.

On this I agree - I think we pulled the trigger on this with the Clark trade in mind.

I'm pretty sure that's right, I think someone from the club said as much after trade week. I'm fairly sure we wouldn't have cashed in the Palmer pick if the Clark thing wasn't going down. In the end, they had to make the best out of how the cards fell.

 

[Sman-21]

Good to hear they see the massive hole in our list.
Its actually not key backs, i think we have done well to fill that gap an we did it very cheaply.

Key forwards will not be so easily filled.
I dont like our chances of getting 3 picks inside the top 30 again next draft so if we use our 1 high pick on a key forward prospect an he turns out no good it will be a terrible draft for us.
Had we took the gamble this year with just 1 of our top30 picks we could of wasted 1 on a key forward prospect but still had a great draft by picking up good players with other 2 top30 picks.

Might have to consider trading a decent medium sized player to try an get another good draft pick inside the top 30.

Would of been alot better to take the gamble on key forward this draft.




Also great to hear Lyon mention Pav as a power forward.
With reports from posters here mentioning Pav looked to have trimmed down even more, I was starting to think he will be spending alot of time in midfield again.
IMO Pav needs to bulk up so he can go back to being the dominant forward.
Was also wondering if Lyon was thinking about trying to get Pav to play a riewoldt type role.
Power forward to me sounds like he will be a stay at home forward though so wont be a riewoldt type role.

 

[Nickos66]

If next years rumoured superdraft is half as good as people say, AND; this years draft was so bereft of quality talls then next year in theory should be a veritable bounty of talls all the way through the draft no matter what picks we have. the 1st 2 should be under 40 at least..

 

[sabre_ac]

In Lyon we trust...

Though in the back of my mind I can't help but think Key forwards can take up to 4 years to come on and does Pavlich have 5 years in him? I'm not sold on JA being a short term gap fill and Mayne certainly should not be our main focal point.

You'd imagine we would trade some player surplus to our needs next season but with lines like superdraft floating around picks will be at an even greater premium.

 

[free at last]

If next years rumoured superdraft is half as good as people say, AND; this years draft was so bereft of quality talls then next year in theory should be a veritable bounty of talls all the way through the draft no matter what picks we have. the 1st 2 should be under 40 at least..

Pundits are reporting that next years ND draft it's exceptional.
The ' top 20 ' of next years ND is reported to be outstanding, and after that, the talent still runs super deep.

 

[ausbacker]

You can't fault the Dockers strategy if you understand that investing in a speculative draft pick where the talent or perceived talent level doesn't match the needs or draft evaluation. In the NFL specifically, pundits constantly refer to teams reaching for players. On the flip side teams have been known to trade out of positions all together if the value isn't there in their pick.

It'll be interesting to see how Fremantle addresses this in 2012, but for now I completely understand the strategy and thinking behind your strategy.

 

[Clay Davis]

Though having said that we should have enough karma points in the bank at the trade/draft table for the Football Gods to grant us Crozier as a star recruited by chance.

We're owed so much 'karma' from gifts we gave to clubs in the mid 90s (Bell + Abraham to North), that it's probably time to stop believing that shit. You make your own luck.