Live Event 2012 NAB AFL Draft discussion

[Igloo]

To be fair they all say we are really happy with our picks. Can you imagine a recruiter saying, "yeah we picked up Nathan, Josh, Jake, Lachie and Jack and they're all OK but we're not really happy with our lot"?

Dalrymple did seem pretty genuine about Hrovat though, didn't he?

I think we actually did get every player we wanted though. Stringer and Macrae were the early picks, which we knew we'd get, Hunter was a given, Prudden didn't have interest from anyone else, and Dalrymple pretty much screamed out Hrovat's number

So this time I don't think it's just positive spin!

 

[Ant_]

I think we actually did get every player we wanted though. Stringer and Macrae were the early picks, which we knew we'd get, Hunter was a given, Prudden didn't have interest from anyone else, and Dalrymple pretty much screamed out Hrovat's number

So this time I don't think it's just positive spin!

Agree, I didn't watch it but we seemed to rattle them off quick on the radio. After the big pauses by St Kilda, did Pelchen look like he'd eaten a lemon when he called out names?

 

[Interloper]

To be fair they all say we are really happy with our picks. Can you imagine a recruiter saying, "yeah we picked up Nathan, Josh, Jake, Lachie and Jack and they're all OK but we're not really happy with our lot"?

Dalrymple did seem pretty genuine about Hrovat though, didn't he?

It was more the 'got the players they targeted' that caught my attention. In other words, they had a preferred list of players and got them all. Hrovat was interesting because Clurey for example was still available. Hrovat was arguably the best player available at that selection but I also took that partly as a vote of confidence in the tall defenders already on our list.

 

[TempleKelvington]

Well who knows huh.... I did like that we got Stringer, but I would have loved another tall more built mid like Mayes to be honest. Toumpas and Menzel or O' rourke. We did get some pace and guys that can kick the footy so it's really good from that point of view. Macrae could be anything, but lightly built guys taken early worry me a bit. Time will tell....but we did pick light guys aside from Stringer of course who is ready to go!

 

[ManOfClay]

Well who knows huh.... I did like that we got Stringer, but I would have loved another tall more built mid like Mayes to be honest.

Yeah but the one knock on Mayes is that he's a little soft and his build isn't really that big anyway. Macrae will do fine.

 

[Mofra]

Contests cause turnovers.

It's not that simple.
Pressure causes turnovers as well, as does hard running to space, zoning structures - and importantly - poor footskills.
If forced to kick to a contest, good footskills will at least put it to the teammates' advantage. Our delivery into the F50 was woeful last year and contests up the ground wont have much bearing on this. B-Mac says you build from the inside out - I sure hope that sooner or later we start work on the "outside" bit. By all accounts we've broken out the balls early this pre-season which bodes well.

 

[fronkalicious]

I can't overstate how important I think stringers attitude will be on our squad. That sort of confidence and self belief is priceless. The combative, "you're either with us or against us" attitude is what we need. We need to start truly believing that we can win a flag and I have no doubt this guy A) thinks hes the best player in the draft and B) thinks we will win a flag in his career.

Quick story from my line of work (rugby - and relax, it's work, not my passion).

ACT Brumbies we're predicted to have a very poor 2012 season after losing a lot of experienced players. They were playing at home in round 1 against another aussie team. They were walking along as a group in town the day of the game and saw the other squad across the other side of the road. Of course they all knew each other so the polite Brumbies squad started to head across the road to say hello. Until one of the rookies stopped them all in their tracks. "F*#k em," he said. "We're not going over. They're in our town on our turf and we're going to mess with them tonight." The brumbs won and went on to surprise everyone with a terrific season.

Coaches and senior players credit that moment with changing the outlook of the squad in an instant. The team developed self belief, high expectations of itself, a quasi arrogance to get the job done and set the tone that they were there to go to war, and would not be taking any prisoners. Stringer is the man to instill something similar for the dogs.

 

[Mutt]

It's not that simple.
Pressure causes turnovers as well, as does hard running to space, zoning structures - and importantly - poor footskills.
If forced to kick to a contest, good footskills will at least put it to the teammates' advantage. Our delivery into the F50 was woeful last year and contests up the ground wont have much bearing on this. B-Mac says you build from the inside out - I sure hope that sooner or later we start work on the "outside" bit. By all accounts we've broken out the balls early this pre-season which bodes well.

We'll have to agree to disagree Mofra - I'd argue that pressure is only created by the contest. Also,
without the contest there is no need to run hard to space, no need to structure correctly, no need to do anything except walk in the park. AFL footy is a team sport that involves 100 minutes of physical contest. It is not like golf or waterskiing. We may be just talking semantics, or maybe we didn't define our terms first.

 

[wian]

I think many of us concur that it is important to recruit well across the whole range of picks at the National draft, and you also need to draft very well at the other drafts to win premierships. Ala Geelong etc. For the first time i am confident that Macca and the recruitment team have the right philosophy ... It will take time but i reckon it will click pretty soon.... Taking blokes that have a footy brain , of good character and are bloody hard at the ball is the way to go. I would much rather watch a team that eats razor blades and are ferocious at the contest than to watch a pack of down hill skiiers.... Sure you need polish such as Griffen , Murphy etc. I think also Dalhaus, Macrae and Stringer will provide polish also


Bring em all through together young, suffer a bit of short term pain for long term gain...

we are on the right track. we wont be bottoming out for long i reckon.....

 

[Igloo]

Agree, I didn't watch it but we seemed to rattle them off quick on the radio. After the big pauses by St Kilda, did Pelchen look like he'd eaten a lemon when he called out names?

I couldn't tell you, I sort of tuned out around St Kilda's picks

 

[zephskinner26]

Get me Aish or Boyd next year and maybe one more speedy wingman and I'll be looking forward to purchasing my grand final tickets in 2016.

 

[dogzrule]

Get me Aish or Boyd next year and maybe one more speedy wingman and I'll be looking forward to purchasing my grand final tickets in 2016.

We need a key forward not a resting ruck so hopefully a Boyd will round it out or steal someone from GWS

Apart from that we need a couple of quick outside mids, so we should be set up after next draft.

 

[Trent85]

Personaly i like Patton better then Boyd its pie in the sky but if we could get Patton i would be happy..

 

[GrandBlue]

We need a key forward not a resting ruck so hopefully a Boyd will round it out or steal someone from GWS

Apart from that we need a couple of quick outside mids, so we should be set up after next draft.

Aish is not a resting ruck; He's a gun midfielder in the Nathan Buckley mould.

 

[Dav1d]

If we fall low and can get one of either Boyd or Aish
Going to have either alot more class up forward or in the midfield

Think we drafted this year, the three really confident & professional players in the first round
Heres hoping they've huge a pre-season

 

[Igloo]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/mor...in-nathan-hrovat/story-e6frf9jf-1226523071411

THE Western Bulldogs are confident they have emerged big winners from the trade that sent Brian Lake to Hawthorn after seizing inside midfielder Nathan Hrovat on the cheap.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/mor...in-nathan-hrovat/story-e6frf9jf-1226523071411

 

[TedDougChris]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/mor...in-nathan-hrovat/story-e6frf9jf-1226523071411



http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/mor...in-nathan-hrovat/story-e6frf9jf-1226523071411

We're not shy of trumpeting our draft picks this year.... Compared them to Goodes, Pav, Pendles and Mitchell already.....

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Surely it would be worth at least having him come down and train with the club for a week and at least see if the effort is there. For all we know he might be absolutely shattered that he missed out and ready to change his ways, putting in 100% effort to keep up at training, etc. If he even shows signs of improving then he is worth a rookie pick, no doubt about it. If he doesn't well then we move on, pretty simple really. (sure he could be as bad as ever but we won't know for sure unless we have him train with us)

I think seriously young Garlett, has had a whole year to prepare for the draft, he was touted as top 10 talent, and didn't make the most of his position. I sincerely hope that he goes away, has a good hard look at himself, get some support or counselling if that is required and then put his head down and tail up and try and get drafted next year. He has potential and he is still young, he can turn it around.

 

[the dog's kennel]

I think we actually did get every player we wanted though. Stringer and Macrae were the early picks, which we knew we'd get, Hunter was a given, Prudden didn't have interest from anyone else, and Dalrymple pretty much screamed out Hrovat's number

So this time I don't think it's just positive spin!

I just don't buy this.

Now, I'm not saying that Dalrymple isn't happy with their picks. (I sure am!) But to suggest that these were the 4 players they were aiming for seems unlikely to me. In particular, it seemed clear that the Dogs were aiming for O'Rourke, not MacRae. MacRae might have been our fallback guy. And he seems an excellent one. But it doesn't take much mind-reading to see that Jono O'Rourke thought he was going to the Dogs. And he only would have thought that cause we indicated to him that he probably was going to be.

Sure, after O'Rourke was picked by the Giants we might have then received our next most preferred option. But let's not pretend O'Rourke wasn't our first (and expected) option.

 

[Ant_]

Sure, after O'Rourke was picked by the Giants we might have then received our next most preferred option. But let's not pretend O'Rourke wasn't our first (and expected) option.

The top 4 was pretty much in stone a few days before. I'm sure the Dogs had moved on from O'Rourke since GWS made it known they wanted him.

 

[Interloper]

I just don't buy this.

Now, I'm not saying that Dalrymple isn't happy with their picks. (I sure am!) But to suggest that these were the 4 players they were aiming for seems unlikely to me. In particular, it seemed clear that the Dogs were aiming for O'Rourke, not MacRae. MacRae might have been our fallback guy. And he seems an excellent one. But it doesn't take much mind-reading to see that Jono O'Rourke thought he was going to the Dogs. And he only would have thought that cause we indicated to him that he probably was going to be.

Sure, after O'Rourke was picked by the Giants we might have then received our next most preferred option. But let's not pretend O'Rourke wasn't our first (and expected) option.

Hard to know for sure if O'rourke was particularly hoping to get to us because, in part, he really didn't want to go to Sydney.

 

[ManOfClay]

Hard to know for sure if O'rourke was particularly hoping to get to us because, in part, he really didn't want to go to Sydney.

He was asked if he wanted to stay in melbourne and his answer was "Sure, I'd love to play for the Bulldogs".

We weren't the first Melbourne club with a pick in the draft. And regardless of the talk, they hadn't committed to Wines.

 

[Interloper]

He was asked if he wanted to stay in melbourne and his answer was "Sure, I'd love to play for the Bulldogs".

We weren't the first Melbourne club with a pick in the draft. And regardless of the talk, they hadn't committed to Wines.

He may have found the prospect of MFC as unappealing as Sydney and being a likely top 5 pick was subtely trying to influence GWS and melbourne into not picking him. Didn't work. Good for us that he nominated the dogs as a club he wanted to play for and he may genuinely want to. Just scuttlebutt hypotheticals.

 

[100action]

Didnt Stringer say he still had pain in his leg recently and wore shinguards?

Get him absolutely right before blooding him imo, that means no pain, no running gait, back to full fitness and a period of time in the VFL to rediscover what he could do in the past.

 

[Ant_]

Didnt Stringer say he still had pain in his leg recently and wore shinguards?

Get him absolutely right before blooding him imo, that means no pain, no running gait, back to full fitness and a period of time in the VFL to rediscover what he could do in the past.

Macca did say the name Hrovat as the most likely recruit to play early.