All you need to know is he has Harry Hands.
You're right of course, Matt is 1 of the best in the league imo but he has also been injury prone..
And as you can see Gorringe is their 3rd choice, the other 2 being injured.. again!
First up 10lana, some really good posting there.
Well reasoned and thought out. It made for some excellent reading that made me sit back and think.
The only thing I disagree with is your comment about Varcoe but, since uttering his name has the ability to change a thread's direction (see the above few posts) in a way that puts Billie Smedts famed agility to shame, I'll not pursue it further (there are plenty of other threads I can do that in but for the sake of this thread I'll park it).
I did want to echo and add some thoughts on this quote...
If the AFL tried to change the way the draft was run we'd see some vocal opponents.
Try and make the draft, say, a "cycle" (where every club gets the #1 pick every 18 years), and we'd see people argue that isn't fair, especially if a club is anchored to the foot of the ladder and had its #1 selection a couple of years prior.
Early picks give a club the best opportunity to select the cream of the crop. Draft position isn't a guarantee of "making it" but more really good players, in my mind, will have come from the top 20 or 30 over the years (that could be some homework for me to do to confirm). There will always be outliers and there will also be players inside the top 30 that don't make it but it sounds about right.
While Wells & Co. should be commended for their ability to find value with later picks I have voiced my thoughts that having to use more later picks probably isn't a sustainable model for success over time.
Geelong has defied conventional wisdom by having a long period at the top (remove the abnormality of 2006 and it dates back to 2004 and is still going) but I do think we have come back to the pack now when compared to '07-'11.
Part of that success means we don't have the same accessibility to top end talent over time. That will (should) see us slip down the ladder.
That is how it is designed after all.
With recruiting becoming more and more critical to clubs there is a lot more work being put in meaning it is trickier to find those "hidden gems" for yourself.
The other thing to keep in mind about having early draft picks; it gives a club a wider pool to choose from.
As Turbs mentioned regarding Wines & Toumpas, sometimes too many choices can play a bit of havoc and make a club look a bit foolish (Watts over Naitanui is another that comes to mind when discussing the Dees) but that is where the recruiters earn their crust and a club's development kicks in.
Given a choice, I think most recruiters and clubs would like to have their first pick inside the top 10 (or 20).
While there may not be much difference between 1-5 and 6-10 (or even 11-20) there is a difference between them and a kid picked at 50.
Consider last year - the top 10 was Boyd, Kelly, Billings, Bontempelli, Kolodjashnij, Scharenberg, Aish, McDonald, Salem and Freeman.
40-50 was Kennedy-Harris, Kolodashnij, Fuller, Barrass, Aliir, Harvey, Knight, Brown, Main and Gordon (with a pass from GWS).
I know which bucket I'd prefer to pick from (despite there being some decent players in that 40-50 range and despite the fact not all of those top tenners may work out).
The successes are more likely from the early picks.
In 2012 the top 10 was Whitfield, O'Rourke, Plowman, Toumpas, Stringer, Macrae, Wines, Mayes, Vlastuin and Daniher (a F/S who was tipped to be top 5).
40-50 was Murdoch (Brodie), Wood, McDonough, Saunders, Marsh, Colledge, Membery, Wilkins, Kent, Hunter (F/S) and Prudden.
In '11 names like Patton, Winguard, Tyson, Coniglio, Buntine and Longer can be found in the top 10 while the best names I can come up with between 40 and 50 is Jordan Murdoch and Sam Rowe.
The same trend appears in 2010 (although Luke Parker at 40 seems incredible now) with the top 10 of the draft looking to have the guys most likely.
Even in 2009 with Christensen, Stratton and Vardy aiding the 40-50 brigade the better bets appear early (injury hurting Trengove, Morabito and Rohan).
Not an exact science but the misses at the top end appear to be getting fewer and fewer in recent times.
Sorry for the longwinded ramble but it is a topic I enjoy discussing.
Perhaps I should have just wrote "+1" after the quote.
Hard to say given his lack of exposure.
Yeah, and he is only in his second year. GWS probably can still push the "potential" aspect of him despite not getting much of a run.
I was thinking our first rounder might get it done but I reckon we'd want to remain inside the top 25 if possible with the talent floating around the draft this year.
Agree with that.
