Hear what you are saying ,seems to be a pattern over the recent years that our recruiters don't rate the draft outside the top 10-15 take a lot of risks rather than going with popular opinion amongst the experts at the time. Perfect example ...Beau Muston was touted as being the next Chris Judd before he broke his leg we took a punt on him too.To those concerned about our selections, I do understand where you are coming from. After all, I considered last night's picks as being imperative as to where our club will be in 5 years time. I must admit, I thought we'd play it safe as we had 2 low picks for the first time in eons, but the club recognised we were on the brink on losing legends such as Hodge and Mitchell, and you can't replace them with good players. To stay on top of the heap, we need to recruit superstars. For Hodgey, that means a number 1 pick, for Mitchell, it means identifying obscure talent with huge upside.
Thus, the Hibberds and Collins of this world went elsewhere and we rolled the dice. Were we too risky for low picks? There's the argument. But we've been doing this for a while so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise and it really is hit and miss. For example:
Yeah, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I'm convinced we had to take a chance with Burton as he could be a superstar. We appear to have identified Lovell as a future Mitchell and were that keen that we weren't prepared to risk him for our third pick.
- We know you're recovering from a car accident and even worse, your first name is Beau, but you could be a superstar. So we're gonna take a chance on you.
- You have all the skills to make you a top 3 pick Dayle, but alas there is baggage that has dropped you to our 2nd pick. But we think you could be a superstar so we're going for it.
- You're a bit wayward and you're rumoured to have a big 'go home' factor about you. Even worse, you want everyone to call you Buddy, which doesn't help you appear mature. However, you can be a bit freakish and we think you could be a superstar. Who, knows, you could be the next player to kick 100 goals in a season, so we're gonna take a chance on you.
- You have the worst interviewing technique and you even appear disinterested in proceedings at times, but you have the nous and skill, and the pedigree of being the nephew of Maurice Rioli and Michael Long, so we're giving you a shot.
In short, we selected risky because if it comes off, we're premiership contenders again in a few years. If not, then sure, we're fubar. But Hibberd and Collins would have barely kept us hovering around the top 4 and we soon might have found ourselves losing elimination finals. That's where my thinking takes me. Our draft picks were worth the gamble in my humble opinion.