Drafting review 2006-2013

[Jay-Z]

So I saw this post on my facebook wall this morning talking about Melbourne's sh!teful drafting and how they could have had a midfield of Dangerfield, Fyfe and Parker kicking to the likes of Riewoldt, Tippett etc. if they had picked different players. Now obviously, captain hindsight is always going to win out in comparisons like this but it is quite astounding how bad Melbourne's list is (obviously this also has a fair bit to do with the fact they couldn't develop a player properly if his life depended on it). Anyway, I also thought it would be good to put the NM recruiting team to the test against Mr Hindsight so below I've done the same comparison for North from 2006-2013. What do you think? How have we fared?


MELBOURNE'S ALTERNATIVE DRAFT PICKS
2006
12. James Frawley (Jack Riewoldt at No.13)
30. Ricky Petterd (Kurt Tippett, 32)
46. Colin Garland (Robbie Gray, 55)
62. Isaac Weetra (Tyson Goldsack, 63)

2007
4. Cale Morton (Patrick Dangerfield, 10)
14. Jack Grimes (Callan Ward, 19)
21. Addam Maric (Scott Selwood, 22)
53. Kyle Cheney (Cale Hooker, 54)
66. Tom McNamara

2008
1. Jack Watts (Nic Naitanui, 2)
17. Sam Blease (Luke Shuey, 18)
19. James Strauss (Hayden Ballantyne, 21)
35. Jamie Bennell (Steven Motlop, 39)
51. Neville Jetta (Michael Walters, 53)
64. Rohan Bail

2009
1. Tom Scully (Dustin Martin, 3)
2. Jack Trengove (Ben Cunnington, 5)
11. Jordan Gysberts (Daniel Talia, 13)
18. Luke Tapscott (Nat Fyfe, 20)
34. Max Gawn (Allen Christensen, 40)
50. Jack Fitzpatrick (Taylor Duryea, 69)

2010
12. Lucas Cook (Brodie Smith, 14)
33. Jeremy Howe (Luke Parker, 40)
50. Troy Davis (Paul Puopolo, 66)
53. Tom McDonald

2011
36. Rory Taggert (Jack Newnes, 37)
53. Josh Tynan (Lachie Neale, 58)
54. James Sellar (Cameron Sutcliffe, 71)

2012
4. Jimmy Toumpas (Ollie Wines, 7)
26. Jack Viney
48. Dean Kent
52. Matt Jones
68. Dean Terlich

2013
9. Christian Salem
40. Jay Kennedy-Harris
57. Jayden Hunt (Tom Langdon, 65)


NORTH MELBOURNE'S ALTERNATIVE DRAFT PICKS
2006
3. Lachie Hansen (Joel Selwood, 7)
21. Gavin Urquhart (Kurt Tippett, 32)
37. Todd Goldstein
53. Lindsay Thomas (argument could be made for Gray)
69. Ben Warren (Justin Westhoff, 71)

2007
15. Robbie Tarrant (Harry Taylor, 17)
32. Levi Greenwood (Chris Mayne, 40 / Jack Steven, 42)
37. Scott Thompson

2008
9. Jack Ziebell
27. Sam Wright (Dayne Beams, 29)
43. Liam Anthony (Rory Sloane, 44)

2009
5. Ben Cunnington (Nathan Fyfe, 20) - harsh one here, we had pick 21 and Cunnington is easily the best of the 5-19 bunch
21. Ryan Bastinac (Jake Carlisle, 24)
25. Aaron Black
37. Jaimie Macmillan
41. Ayden Kennedy (meh, but there's mostly meh after him too)
53. Brayden Norris (see Kennedy)

2010
17. Shaun Atley
27. Kieran Harper (Luke Parker, 40)
69. Cameron Delaney

2011
18. Brad McKenzie (was tempted to go Kerridge but definitely Brad Hill, 33)
40. Tom Curran (meh but it was a pretty crap draft if anything you'd say Lachie Neale, 58)

2012
15. Taylor Garner
37. Ben Jacobs
41. Mason Wood
47. Mitch Wilkins (meh but surrounded by meh also)
56. Daniel Currie
61. Taylor Hine (Dean Terlich, 68 really the only possibility here)

2013 (mostly too early to tell here obviously)
8. Luke McDonald
30. Trent Dumont
47. Ben Brown

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Thought it was pretty funny reading melbournes "blunders" but you could do it for any club really.

I think needs wise we've hit targets recently and our list managers have done a brilliant work.

There will always be misses but they don't miss often or in a big way.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Melbourne's reads like a horror movie script.

Would be interesting to do one for Carlton.....

 

[year of the roo]

41. Ayden Kennedy (meh, but there's mostly meh after him too)
53. Brayden Norris (see Kennedy)

Mick Barlow?

 

[Higgins2Waite]

Jesus that's bad reading for anyone supporting melbourne (yet oh so funny for us.)

After reading that I think their list manager would commit suicide...it really is that awful

 

[King Hansen]

Melbourne's development is just shithouse. I reckon the exact same article could have been written by swapping the names around if they did pick the 'guns'.

They would have probably made Fyfe look like Gysberts....

 

[kelman]

Goldstein, Thomas and Thompson are all in the best 2-3 in the league for their position.

Cunnington, Ziebell, Hansen can all push in to star category.

Good drafting.

 

[TommyVercetti]

Drafting doesn't guarantee good players. Strong player development, good coaching and where the team are sits in terms on their 'window' dictate if a good draftee will become a good player. In ideal circumstances a draftee should be able to join a team, and they should be able to get 14-20 games a year. Of course this isn't the case and teams are forced to play certain players out of position and not give the ideal amount of games needed. Melbourne's problems aren't just with the players on the field, they've had major admin issues for many years now. Just look at their best players, how many stars have Melbourne developed in the last ten years? Hell Jack Watts is a complete and utter disaster. If he'd played for North and played like he had since being drafted I'd be shattered.

 

[Black2Blue]

The two that stand out for me are Harry Taylor and Rory Sloane as they were picked up almost immediately after Tarrant and LA, and were the type of player that we went after anyway. Not much to cry about with our harry hindsight draft but just had a little rub of the eye imagining our current side with Taylor and Sloane in the royal blue and white.

 

[MaddAdam]

Jeez we nailed the 2009 draft. Of the top 5 only Dusty Martin can be said to have produced more than Ben10 and that's largely due to Dusty hitting the ground running while Ben10 had an injury affected start to his career. Over the journey I reckon Ben10 will come out the better player. He's the core of our midfield now and for the next 8 years, exactly what you want from a top 5 pick. Bang.

Yeah, Fyfe blah blah but Freo hid him under a hay bale and to get Basti at that pick was good work. Basti is a best 22 player easily and while his form has its ups and downs his best is very, very good. Hard to think of any team in the league that wouldn't want him. Great second round pick.

Aaron Black at 25 is a steal of the highest order. I actually don't think his year this year was as bad as many make out - he was being asked to play a very different role and was getting more attention from the opposition, which in turn allowed the likes of Brown to sneak up on teams. He's a quick, agile and big forward who can play a variety of roles. Should have been a first round pick and we stole him there.

JMac at 37 is one that people don't often talk about but jeez, that's a belter. The bloke oozes leadership, is built like a brick shithouse and obviously commands the respect of his teammates. He's the backline general already and we are a far better side with him in it. Obviously loves Scott and Scott loves him and plays his role to perfection and ensures others do too. Was huge in the final over the scum.

Yeah, there's Norris and Kennedy but at their pick you start looking at risks. 2009 was THE year we had to nail for the rebuild, we had three picks inside 25 and hit them all bang on the money and then to get JMac at 37 was just an added bonus.

Four picks inside the top 40 and everyone now is an established best 22 senior player. That's quality drafting Lice Brewises.

 

[Ohhh Errol]

Harry Taylor, Sloan and Parker. Wow.

Wouldve been a big call on Hill but hes exactly what we should be looking for this draft.

At the moment we are sort of running 2 first round picks behind, as bmac and garner yet to make an impact.

Needless to say, If somehow we managed I smith over Richardson, well...


All in all its been positive to date with the picks we've had. Easy to get caught up in what ifs, but it could just as easy have bee n much worse.

Atley sliding was and is still a spectacular coup.

 

[Black2Blue]

The 2006 to 2010 drafts have been the key to our resurgence with Hansen, Goldstein, Thomas, Greenwood, Thompson, Ziebell, Wright, Grima, Cunnington, Bastinac, Black, MacMillan, Atley all best 22 come finals time this year. And toss in Adams, Mullett, who were either out of form, out of favor, or out of fitness and the LTI mob of Delaney, Tarrant, Harper, and Daw and we have 18 players on our list from that 5-year draft period which is a pretty impressive record and the basis of our next premiership tilt. While it is still too early to judge the 2011-13 batches, it is the 2013 group that appears to be the unexpected 'pot of gold'. This time last year it was a case of "we got the son of a gun, LMac, and the smooth operator, NDS, so whatever comes from the draft would just be a bonus". Well, bonus we got, times plenty, with Benny Brown, Kayne Turner, Trent Dumont (if he kicks on as expected), and Joel Tippett looking like giving Brewis the 2013 clean sweep of draftees making the grade. And if we snare a couple of successful picks this year, this side is going to be hanging around the top end of the ladder for some time to come, even with the frightening prospect of 4 big retirements - Boomer, Dish, Wellsy, and NDS. Kudos to the club for almost a decade of smart drafting.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Melbournes Drafting in a gif.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Harry Taylor, Sloan and Parker. Wow.

Wouldve been a big call on Hill but hes exactly what we should be looking for this draft.

At the moment we are sort of running 2 first round picks behind, as bmac and garner yet to make an impact.

Needless to say, If somehow we managed I smith over Richardson, well...


All in all its been positive to date with the picks we've had. Easy to get caught up in what ifs, but it could just as easy have bee n much worse.

Atley sliding was and is still a spectacular coup.

I'm hoping for a similar slide from Weller.

 

[GS WARRIORS]

2007
Josh Smith (Rockliff)

2008
Warren Benjamin (Rockliff)

2009
25. Aaron Black (Gunston)
37. Jaimie Macmillan (Reid)
53. Brayden Norris (Breust)

 

[hilly]

Basti is a best 22 player easily and while his form has its ups and downs his best is very, very good. Hard to think of any team in the league that wouldn't want him. Great second round pick.

You are a generous man.

 

[hilly]

Wouldve been a big call on Hill but hes exactly what we should be looking for this draft.

Hawthorn was considered to have reached for him at the time. I think there was a theory that he suffered because his u/18 team was rubbish (Peel I think). Fair to say the reverse has proved to be correct.

 

[MaddAdam]

You are a generous man.

Realistic. He's not Fyfe but he's not Luke Tapscott either.

Good pick.

 

[benbanjo]

As some have mentioned it has to be development rather than picking the wrong player.

We had our fair share of player development too not too long ago...

Brad Scott might not be a great game day coach like Dean Laidley, but the way he has developed some of our guys has been pretty good.

I remember reading an article with Denis Pagan saying our player developments was almost non existent and only Wells and Hmac made it due to huge amounts of tallant...


A winning culture, a good leadership group and a separate coaching team for the kids will lead to results...

 

[Shagga is all Class]

Probably important that we get our own VFL team for development.

If you get a couple 200 gamers in any draft you are doing very well.

Hawthorn for instance got Hodge and Mitchell in one draft. Roughhead, Franklin, Lewis in another.

They had some high picks but there were also a few drafts they botched.

If you look at some of the premiership teams there are a couple of drafts they picked up multiple 200 gamers regardless of having high picks.

Collingwood had a couple of good drafts and a couple of train wrecks leading up to 2010.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Hawthorn for instance got Hodge and Mitchell in one draft. Roughhead, Franklin, Lewis in another.

Needs to be stressed that it didn't hurt they had Pick 1 in one and 3, 5, 7 in the other.

Mitchell is the one they should really hang their hat on, a pick around the 40s who turned into a club favourite and long term gun.

It's hard to compare our development to teams like these in recent times, absolute refusal to bottom out has "robbed" us of some top picks that are (at times) easier to develop into guns.

One of our highest picks recently in Cunnington is coming on as expected and is proving well worth the pick.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Hansen at 3 is out highest ever pick for ladder position. We have picked some very good players in the 10+ region.

 

[Benno_900]

Was the OP copied word-for-word?

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-10-26/they-could-have-been-demons

Hi Michael Rogers!

 

[Jay-Z]

Was the OP copied word-for-word?

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-10-26/they-could-have-been-demons

Hi Michael Rogers!

Haha that bastard stole my "work"