View Full Version : 1996/7 Recruitment Targets?
dyertribe
19 May 2006, 14:12
We all know Chris Grant was the biggest fish that swum off the hook with a little Bulldogs urchin taping his 50c to a letter imploring him to stay doing the trick, but who were the other big names that almost came to Alberton but ultimately didn't?
I seem to remember 2-4 other good to star players who were seriously tempted but chose to stay, whose names evade me.
Any ideas?
Arsene Wenger
19 May 2006, 14:14
Buckley?
Troy Wingate
19 May 2006, 14:45
Nathan Buckley is the only player I can think of that we didn't get. Port wanted him to be our inaurgural captain I believe, mainly because he played his junior footy with the Port Adelaide Magpies.
Buckley... shmeh. We got Downsborough to sign on the dotted line.
Ford Fairlane
19 May 2006, 15:00
The trouble was we were linked to every high to medium profile player out of or soon to be out of contract in a bid by their managers to up their contract offers from their clubs.
Off the top of my head ...
Nathan Buckley
Jason Akermanis
Dwayne Russell
Clark Keating
Andrew Dunkley (that was legit, he mulled over the offer for a while before declining)
Brett Ratten
Andrew McLeod
Troy Bond
Craig Bradley (among a host of ex SANFL PAFC players)
Leigh Colbert
Peter Everitt
Tony Modra
If I think of more I'll post them.
dyertribe
19 May 2006, 15:07
*snip
I remember Dunkley now - blessing in disguise given how good Paxman turned out to be.
Did you throw Dwayne Russell in for a laugh? ;) He was long-since retired and entrenched in the media come 1996/7.
I seem to remember paper talk of Andrew Jarman and Tony McGuinness possibly making the initial squad after being jettisoned by the incoming Blight, but that of course came to nought.
crazy_big_al
19 May 2006, 15:07
The trouble was we were linked to every high to medium profile player out of or soon to be out of contract in a bid by their managers to up their contract offers from their clubs.
Off the top of my head ...
Nathan Buckley
Jason Akermanis
Dwayne Russell
Clark Keating
Andrew Dunkley (that was legit, he mulled over the offer for a while before declining)
Brett Ratten
Andrew McLeod
Troy Bond
Craig Bradley (among a host of ex SANFL PAFC players)
Leigh Colbert
Peter Everitt
Tony Modra
If I think of more I'll post them.
I did not know half of them were contacted by port
dyertribe
19 May 2006, 15:08
Buckley... shmeh. We got Downsborough to sign on the dotted line.
Who went on to become one half of the blockbuster trade with Brett Chalmers. Magic.
Nick Holland was very close to I think, maybe around the 1998-2000 years though.
Ford Fairlane
19 May 2006, 15:54
I remember Dunkley now - blessing in disguise given how good Paxman turned out to be.
Did you throw Dwayne Russell in for a laugh? ;) He was long-since retired and entrenched in the media come 1996/7.
I seem to remember paper talk of Andrew Jarman and Tony McGuinness possibly making the initial squad after being jettisoned by the incoming Blight, but that of course came to nought.
Yeah Dwayne was the one dropping the rumours ... ;)
Nick Holland as mentioned above was another big name I had forgotten. Hawthorn offered him to Port (Hawks wanted the draft pick) and he refused to move. Caused a major rift between club and player.
And Jason Watts was another who alleged Port had contacted him (he was out of contract) ... not much of a name but it made a back page headline in the tiser IIRC.
Jars was mates with Cahill and Jack was fairly keen but the Board said no to that one.
Todd Viney was another one who was mentioned late in the piece as we tried to sell the last draft pick.
Toots Hibbert
19 May 2006, 17:13
I did not know half of them were contacted by port
It stands to reason that the club would have contacted any half decent players who were coming out of contract or a remote chance of shifting to SA.
Bruce Abernethy mentions a few players in his book about Port. He states that Chris Grant was very close to coming but loyalty to the Dogs meant he stayed there. Apparently the Port recruiters were very impressed with his character.
If Ford is right about Andrew Jarman then I think the board was correct. His sort of flamboyance would have been unsettling for a new squad with plenty of young players. Can you imagine what Donald Dickie would have looked like after half a season spent with Jars? :p
RussellEbertHandball
19 May 2006, 17:29
Buckley... shmeh. We got Downsborough to sign on the dotted line.
And we gave up Uncontracted Player Selection picks 1 and 24 to West Coast for this very average player. West Coast got Michael Gardiner
and Josh Wooden.
And some people go on about Cahill and Stewart being some sort of Gods in the selection of the inital squad. We had our share of duds.
Ford Fairlane
19 May 2006, 17:43
To be fair about the surrendering of priority picks, they were handed out on reverse ladder position to clubs that lost players to us. So Essendon got #4 for Wangas even tho he was far and away the best player we picked up out of the uncontracteds. West Coast were quite clever in sitting back until the last minute, knowing they would get the first pick and Port didn't have much time left to do a deal - I think we also picked up Lyle and Bond in the deal. The problem we faced was everyone knew we had very ordinary concessions and even the local papers, let alone the Victorians, went on about the years of pain we faced. So players might have been tempted, but didn't find the idea of cellar dwelling for years appealing. I remember before the first game one of the Vic papers writing we could have recruited Tony Liberatore to play at CHB, becasue we had no tall defenders. By halfway thru the year Darren Mead had earned their respect. Yet had we recruited Grant and Buckley, I think it's fair to say finals would have been likely from year 1, and who knows what might've been achieved very quickly beyond that?
PJ Power
19 May 2006, 17:43
And we gave up Uncontracted Player Selection picks 1 and 24 to West Coast for this very average player. West Coast got Michael Gardiner
and Josh Wooden.
And some people go on about Cahill and Stewart being some sort of Gods in the selection of the inital squad. We had our share of duds.
We got a helluva lot wrong with the intial squad - people forget. Romboitis, Lockwood and Harwood were all early picks (did well with Kingers thanks to Choco).
Then we had a couple of Eagles players (Lynch and Matthews), Squire, Evans, Tom Carr, Geister, Conway and Cotton. Obviously there were always going to be teething problems and we certainly didn't get it all right.
Disappointing now that we couldn't see out and nurture the potential of Harley (I guess the lure of getting Che back was too great for Choco).
Ford Fairlane
19 May 2006, 17:45
Sorry PJ but Harley wasn't part of any deal for Che. #28 from Geelong IIRC. We drafted Thurstans I believe with that pick.
We went for a lot of youth with that first squad, and it's always a roll of the dice. I think we also had to rake over some old coals as the draft age was lifted that year, so they were essentially leftovers from the previous year (Macca19 can confirm or deny that). When you look at who was drafted after we were done, there wasn't a lot. Pickett was the obvious one that got away. Who could've predicted Lockwood's chronic back condition?
We got a helluva lot wrong with the intial squad - people forget. Romboitis, Lockwood and Harwood were all early picks ...
The draft that year was the same as the one from the previous year but part 2. That's when they changed the age requirements. We were somewhat unfortunate from that respect.
I'm pretty sure they tried hard to lure David King from North Melbourne
RussellEbertHandball
19 May 2006, 17:58
To be fair about the surrendering of priority picks, they were handed out on reverse ladder position to clubs that lost players to us. So Essendon got #4 for Wangas even tho he was far and away the best player we picked up out of the uncontracteds. West Coast were quite clever in sitting back until the last minute, knowing they would get the first pick and Port didn't have much time left to do a deal - I think we also picked up Lyle and Bond in the deal. The problem we faced was everyone knew we had very ordinary concessions and even the local papers, let alone the Victorians, went on about the years of pain we faced. So players might have been tempted, but didn't find the idea of cellar dwelling for years appealing. I remember before the first game one of the Vic papers writing we could have recruited Tony Liberatore to play at CHB, becasue we had no tall defenders. By halfway thru the year Darren Mead had earned their respect. Yet had we recruited Grant and Buckley, I think it's fair to say finals would have been likely from year 1, and who knows what might've been achieved very quickly beyond that?
Partly right FF. They did go in reverse order to where the teams finished after the GF, but Wanganeen went #2 not #4.
1. PA Uncontracted Player Selection Traded to WC for Downsborough
2. PA Uncontracted Player Selection Traded to Ess for Wanganeen
3. PA Uncontracted Player Selection Traded to Bris for Primus
4. PA Uncontracted Player Selection Traded to Sydney for Heuskes
2nd round of draft
24. PA Uncontracted Player Selection Traded to WC for Downsborough
25. PA Uncontracted Player Selection Traded to Ess for Wanganeen
26. PA Uncontracted Player Selection Traded to Bris for Primus
27. PA Uncontracted Player Selection Traded to Sydney for Heuskes
4th Round of draft,
57. PA traded to WC for Lyle and Bond. They probably were happy with pick 1 + 24 for Downsborough and gave us a break.
PJ Power
19 May 2006, 18:02
Sorry PJ but Harley wasn't part of any deal for Che. #28 from Geelong IIRC. We drafted Thurstans I believe with that pick.
We went for a lot of youth with that first squad, and it's always a roll of the dice. I think we also had to rake over some old coals as the draft age was lifted that year, so they were essentially leftovers from the previous year (Macca19 can confirm or deny that). When you look at who was drafted after we were done, there wasn't a lot. Pickett was the obvious one that got away. Who could've predicted Lockwood's chronic back condition?
Ford my memory was that we on-traded a draft pick (s) in the 20s for Che.
I remember it seemed to come down to that pick ultimately being roughly what we got for Harley, so that while it wasn't a direct swap, it seemed close enough.
Thurstans was drafted with a pick after Adam Morgan in the low 30s. D. Murray was drafted with our last pick around 50 and of course Stevens and Carr with our 2 top 10 selections.
Ford Fairlane
19 May 2006, 18:07
I think I've confused myself with Ackland and Toby. I was thinking Thurstans and Guerra were drafted together, but it was Ackland and Guerra.
We picked up Morgan with the draft pick for Tom Harley (#37) and Thurstans with #39.
Che was traded for #23.
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=119091&highlight=full+draft+lists
RussellEbertHandball
19 May 2006, 18:10
Harley was the biggest stuff up of players let go from the initial squad. Biglands has turned out to be a good player but we had good ruck stocks.
We chose to keep Stephen Daniels and cut Harley. A big mistake. A mate who supports Norwood told me at the time that he was disappointed Yerburry got cut but said we were mad to keep Daniels over Harley. He was right. At the 98 draft we gave Harley to Geelong for pick 37, we drafted Adam Morgan and our next pick was 39 which we used to select Thurstans.
Porthos
19 May 2006, 18:12
Amusingly Brendan Fevola went at pick 38
PJ Power
19 May 2006, 18:50
Amusingly Brendan Fevola went at pick 38
Funny, I don't find that so amusing.
:D
PJ Power
19 May 2006, 18:58
Actually looking back, we really stuffed up both the 1998 and 1999 drafts (other than Carr who is no longer with us) and we certainly had our share of early picks in those years.
I always thought Shaun Burgoyne was an enormous steal at pick 12 and Kane Cornes at 20 in 2000 (and they were) considering the lack of talent that was taken before them. But Daniel Kerr to West Coast in the same year at pick 18 was also a big get.
The draft that year was the same as the one from the previous year but part 2. That's when they changed the age requirements. We were somewhat unfortunate from that respect.
Back in 96 didnt we pick up Dew as a 16 year old...IIRC every club was allowed to select 1 16 year old which I think changed for the 97 draft
Back in 96 didnt we pick up Dew as a 16 year old...IIRC every club was allowed to select 1 16 year old which I think changed for the 97 draft
From here (http://www.comcen.com.au/~weaver/Draft_3.html).
1996-97
Rules: The draft age was increased to 18 forcing clubs to go through last year's talent for the second time. Each club was allowed to take one 17 year old each.
Background: The entry of another new team, Port Adelaide, again effected the draft. The very best talent had been 'stockpiled' by Port in anticipation of their entry. Fitzroy had been 'merged' with Brisbane meaning their ex-players were available for the other clubs.
Pre-Draft: Lance Whitnall became the latest father and son recruit when he joined Carlton. The pre-draft picks included Port unlocking its cupboard and taking out the players it had stashed away for just this day. Darren Mead, Darryl Poole, Michael Wilson, Stephen Carter, Peter Burgoyne, Fabian Francis, Warren Tredra were all rewarded for not nominating fo the draft in previous years, as were a host of young SANFL players. Brisbane had fun selecting the best of the defunct Fitzroy's players as part of the 'merger' package.
In the trading Port used Fremantle's trick and used their concessions to trade with other clubs. I've designated these deals by inferring that AFL clubs have traded with SANFL clubs (which of course can't be done). I won't go through all these trades because of the trades only Luke Trew, picked up by Footscray, has been delisted.
Players: In the draft proper the clubs had to struggle with the fact that the draft age had been raised from 17 to 18 effectively making the clubs pick from the same talent pool as the year before. There were not going to be too many good SANFL players up for grabs and so the clubs steered clear of too many selections. Carlton coach David Parkin described the talent pool available in the draft as the weakest he'd seen in 20 years.
The one 'catch' with this draft are that each club could choose one 17 year old, and because this was 'fresh' talent these picks should become reasonable players; they are after all the 'best' in their age group. I've marked these 14 with a '#' (Port allready had taken Stuart Dew, and Carlton Lance Whitnall so they missed out). In assessing the value of choices you should remember that becasue of this 'compilcation' some picks may have occured 'articificially' early or late.
...
And some people go on about Cahill and Stewart being some sort of Gods in the selection of the inital squad. We had our share of duds.
True. But under Cahill, the duds were the ones running around in the SANFL while the promising kids ( N Stevens, W Tredrea, B Lockwood, P Burgoyne, M Wilson, B Lade etc ) were forming the nucleus of a premiership side and getting invaluable exposure to AFL footy.
Duds like Rombotis, Conway, Squire and Harwood made very brief appearances.
In stark contrast to Williams, where duds like Breuer, Daniels, Steinberner, French, Cockatoo - Collins etc kept youngsters like Bassett, Thurstans, Guerra and Ackland in the SANFL and where old hacks who should have been pensioned off years before - Bishop, Kingsley, Mead, Lyle, Paxman, Primus - have been hung on to one or two years too long to the detriment of the side.
Use Toby Thurstans as your model. This will be the mainstay of our side in five years' time - players that have been on the list for ages but have had little or no AFL exposure and no self confidence.
Adrian Shelton
20 May 2006, 22:52
I heard from someone who knew him through work that Andrew Pascoe was approached by Port but said no.
Macca19
21 May 2006, 00:23
No big loss. Pascoe wasnt much. Wouldnt have done much more than Conway I'd think.
Holland was one we had a massive play at but we couldnt get either. I think if we had just one of those huge names in the side we would have made the 8 in 97.
The initial squad
Draft
national 6 Rombotis, John
national 7 Lockwood, Bowen
national 9 Harwood, Mark
national 37 Kingsly, Adam
trade Shane Bond
trade Brayden Lyle
trade Scott Cummings
trade Shane Breuer
trade David Brown
trade Paul Geister
trade Brent Heaver
trade Scott Hodges
uncontracted Matthew Primus
uncontracted Gavin Wanganeem
uncontracted Adam Heuskus
uncontracted Ian Downsborough
zone Nathan Eagleton
zone Tom Harley
zone Peter Burgoyne
zone Stuart Dew
zone Fabian Francis
zone Josh Francou
zone Roger James
zone Brendon Lade
zone Darren Mead
zone Nathan Steinberner
zone Warren Tredrea
zone Michael Wilson
zone Stephen Daniels
zone Donald Dickie
zone Paul Evans
zone Scott Bassett
zone Rhett Biglands
zone Tom Carr
zone Stephen Carter
zone Mark Conway
zone Jarrod Cotton
zone Nigel Fiegert
zone Scott Freeborn
zone Jake Lynch
zone Scott Matthews
zone Andrew Osborn
zone Darryl Poole
zone Damian Squire
zone Jonathon Yerbury
pre season 1 Stephen Paxman
And we gave up Uncontracted Player Selection picks 1 and 24 to West Coast for this very average player. West Coast got Michael Gardiner
and Josh Wooden.
And some people go on about Cahill and Stewart being some sort of Gods in the selection of the inital squad. We had our share of duds.
A bit harsh, we were never able to use either of those picks for ourselves, and I recall we were told we pretty much had to use those "uncontracted" trades or we had no basis to whinge about our concessions being crap if we chose not to use them all up. A bit of a catch-22 situation, which we did play out with the Nick Stevens non-trade years later.
We got a helluva lot wrong with the intial squad - people forget. Romboitis, Lockwood and Harwood were all early picks (did well with Kingers thanks to Choco).
Then we had a couple of Eagles players (Lynch and Matthews), Squire, Evans, Tom Carr, Geister, Conway and Cotton. Obviously there were always going to be teething problems and we certainly didn't get it all right.
Disappointing now that we couldn't see out and nurture the potential of Harley (I guess the lure of getting Che back was too great for Choco).
Correct me if i'm wrong :)
But did you not draft Scott Hodges at some stage but he failed to get a game ??
Ford Fairlane
23 May 2006, 11:22
Correct me if i'm wrong :)
But did you not draft Scott Hodges at some stage but he failed to get a game ??
Scott was in our initial squad - traded by Adelaide for Tim Cook and Aaron Keating. More a talismanic selection than anything else.
AFC also traded David Brown to us for Nick Laidlaw.
Scott was in our initial squad - traded by Adelaide for Tim Cook and Aaron Keating. More a talismanic selection than anything else.
AFC also traded David Brown to us for Nick Laidlaw.
Ah so you traded a future AFL premiership winning ruckman for him :D
Always liked David Brown even when he was let go to you guys & injury probably stalled his AFL career at the wrong times.
portentous
23 May 2006, 12:02
There was nothing wrong with using the early pick for Lockwood. No-one could have foreseen the fitness and injury dramas he'd later have. He surely had the talent though.
johnnypanther
23 May 2006, 14:41
Amusingly Brendan Fevola went at pick 38
i'm only going by memory so i may well be wrong but i think that Fevola was one of those 17yo players that each club was entitled to pick up in that year (one pick each only) hence some of these 17yo would appear lower in the draft order than they rated. We picked McGregor at 75 as our 17yo and Port picked up Adam Morgan at 37 as their 17yo (and all 16 clubs overlooked Pavlich as the 17yo pick)
Your club had (and still has) the same problem that we(Crows) faced with our inaugural squad (and later) - ie the inability to attract star players to South Australia even former SA ones)
at least you managed to successfully "tamper" with the draft and pick up Lade, Tredrea, Dew, Burgoyne & others