This is the 15th post in a series of retrospective draft pools I've posted here starting with players turning 18 during the year 1975 and each subsequent year the next batch of 18 year olds. This is just a fun task to look back in the time that I been watching football in this league and wondering the quality of players that can be found retrospectively, as if drafts were done the same as they are now. Obviously in the past, drafts as we know them now, did not exist. The late 1970's and 80's before the league expanded progressively from 12 to 16 clubs there were clubs having under 19's and no real restriction on ages to play seniors and later the early drafts of league had different rules regarding birth date eligibility to be in some draft pools. This series is to look back at each batch of players from same birth year and wonder whom would be the top draft picks and how deep in quality each yearly draft pool could have been.
If you watched football in the league during the 1990's feel free to add your own thoughts on players you felt would have been number 1 in such retro-drafts of this period of further league expansion.
This particular one of players born in 1971 was probably right in middle of league in a state of flux of moving from old zoning conditions for clubs to recruit by along with having under 19's for each club and drafting beginning to be the established way to get players from other state leagues such as Tasmania league's and SANFL with no club yet established from South Australia in the league at the time. As we head fully into the 1990's this is the real point the game for players has become semi-professional. No longer was a football career simply a straight forward sport choice and if you good enough it compliments your career outside of football. More demands on players time for their club is meaning trying to play parallel sporting careers of football in winter at elite level and cricket in summer at elite level is over. Simon O'Donnell had already made his choice in the earlier 80's to focus on cricket and Craig Bradley maybe one of the last players in this era allowed to play Shield cricket whilst still an AFL footballer. As a youngster if you scared football will restrict your other options outside of sport then maybe this career at elite level is not for you. Stephen Oliver is a clear example from this draft pool of a youngster from the old club country zones that was rated very highly that decided after flirting with football at elite level that this was not the career demands he wanted. On the other hand a young Wayne Carey fully embraced this semi-professional era as the path to take. He would go from Wagga Wagga and move to Adelaide in SANFL to get himself ready for the big time. The rest is history as we know. As we go into the 1990's the league would change it's name to AFL and the end of club zones and under 19's was soon to become a reality. However the pool of players still has these old pathways existing so the pools of actual league draft of this time would not have many of these players in it.
The pathway of all teenagers competing together in a national draft was still nearly a decade away from the being the norm.
Here is the retrospective draft pool of 18 year olds in year 1989:
1971 Born players (retrospective 1989 Draft)
James, Michael
Capsalis, Leigh
Norman, Luke
Scott, Tim
Dundas, Matthew
Bailey, Doug
Hollow, Chris
Bond, Jamie
Alessio, Steven
Nugent, Glenn
Cavedon, Andrew
ODwyer, Chris
Harding, Dean
Pyman, Robert
Lawson, Jamie
Stynes, Brian
Naish, Chris
Ashcroft, Marcus
Turnbull, Ryan
Sandford, Glenn
Symons, Michael
Molloy, Glenn
Esler, Ty
Sholl, Brett
Hider, Nick
Harvey, Robert
Fleming, Dale
Rehn, Shaun
Pearce, Brad
Robertson, Ben
Boyd, Brad
Mansfield, Michael
Burns, Adrian
Fode, Gordon
Romero, Jose
Stanislaus, Brian
Watts, Jason
Matthews, Dean
Muir, David
Neeld, Mark
Ratten, Brett
Krakouer, Andrew
Kelly, Matthew
Stevens, Anthony
Scott, Allister
Heaver, Brent
Stevens, John
Berry, Domenic
Bizzotto, Frank
Carey, Wayne
Cresswell, Daryn
Hart, Shaun
Parker, John
Viska, Mark
Tranter, Brendan
Mead, Darren
Keogh, Rod
Parker, Brendan
Robran, Matthew
Dunstan, Michael
McAdam, Adrian
Tregenza, Simon
Young, Cory
Sexton, Michael
Tarczon, Darren
Corcoran, Shannon
Daniels, Jayson
Johnston, Michael
Tongerie, Shane
Edmonds, Travis
Fraser, Mark
Donald, Luke
Oliver, Stephen
Patterson, Stephen
Previous Retro-Draft Polls
1975 retro-draft
1976 retro-draft
1977 retro-draft
1978 retro-draft
1979 retro-draft
1980 retro-draft
1981 retro-draft
1982 retro-draft
1983 retro-draft
1984 retro-draft
1985 retro-draft
1986 retro-draft
1987 retro-draft
1988 retro-draft
If you watched football in the league during the 1990's feel free to add your own thoughts on players you felt would have been number 1 in such retro-drafts of this period of further league expansion.
This particular one of players born in 1971 was probably right in middle of league in a state of flux of moving from old zoning conditions for clubs to recruit by along with having under 19's for each club and drafting beginning to be the established way to get players from other state leagues such as Tasmania league's and SANFL with no club yet established from South Australia in the league at the time. As we head fully into the 1990's this is the real point the game for players has become semi-professional. No longer was a football career simply a straight forward sport choice and if you good enough it compliments your career outside of football. More demands on players time for their club is meaning trying to play parallel sporting careers of football in winter at elite level and cricket in summer at elite level is over. Simon O'Donnell had already made his choice in the earlier 80's to focus on cricket and Craig Bradley maybe one of the last players in this era allowed to play Shield cricket whilst still an AFL footballer. As a youngster if you scared football will restrict your other options outside of sport then maybe this career at elite level is not for you. Stephen Oliver is a clear example from this draft pool of a youngster from the old club country zones that was rated very highly that decided after flirting with football at elite level that this was not the career demands he wanted. On the other hand a young Wayne Carey fully embraced this semi-professional era as the path to take. He would go from Wagga Wagga and move to Adelaide in SANFL to get himself ready for the big time. The rest is history as we know. As we go into the 1990's the league would change it's name to AFL and the end of club zones and under 19's was soon to become a reality. However the pool of players still has these old pathways existing so the pools of actual league draft of this time would not have many of these players in it.
The pathway of all teenagers competing together in a national draft was still nearly a decade away from the being the norm.
Here is the retrospective draft pool of 18 year olds in year 1989:
1971 Born players (retrospective 1989 Draft)
James, Michael
Capsalis, Leigh
Norman, Luke
Scott, Tim
Dundas, Matthew
Bailey, Doug
Hollow, Chris
Bond, Jamie
Alessio, Steven
Nugent, Glenn
Cavedon, Andrew
ODwyer, Chris
Harding, Dean
Pyman, Robert
Lawson, Jamie
Stynes, Brian
Naish, Chris
Ashcroft, Marcus
Turnbull, Ryan
Sandford, Glenn
Symons, Michael
Molloy, Glenn
Esler, Ty
Sholl, Brett
Hider, Nick
Harvey, Robert
Fleming, Dale
Rehn, Shaun
Pearce, Brad
Robertson, Ben
Boyd, Brad
Mansfield, Michael
Burns, Adrian
Fode, Gordon
Romero, Jose
Stanislaus, Brian
Watts, Jason
Matthews, Dean
Muir, David
Neeld, Mark
Ratten, Brett
Krakouer, Andrew
Kelly, Matthew
Stevens, Anthony
Scott, Allister
Heaver, Brent
Stevens, John
Berry, Domenic
Bizzotto, Frank
Carey, Wayne
Cresswell, Daryn
Hart, Shaun
Parker, John
Viska, Mark
Tranter, Brendan
Mead, Darren
Keogh, Rod
Parker, Brendan
Robran, Matthew
Dunstan, Michael
McAdam, Adrian
Tregenza, Simon
Young, Cory
Sexton, Michael
Tarczon, Darren
Corcoran, Shannon
Daniels, Jayson
Johnston, Michael
Tongerie, Shane
Edmonds, Travis
Fraser, Mark
Donald, Luke
Oliver, Stephen
Patterson, Stephen
Previous Retro-Draft Polls
1975 retro-draft
1976 retro-draft
1977 retro-draft
1978 retro-draft
1979 retro-draft
1980 retro-draft
1981 retro-draft
1982 retro-draft
1983 retro-draft
1984 retro-draft
1985 retro-draft
1986 retro-draft
1987 retro-draft
1988 retro-draft
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