Analysis The mini draftees

[Matchu]

How much of an impact will they have on the league long term? We know the Gold Coast were the big winners by securing both O'Meara and Martin while Adelaide and Melbourne signed Crouch and Hogan respectively. Obviously O'Meara is the most accomplished to date by winning the rising star award and playing all 22 rounds in 2013 but they say Jack Martin is set for an even better first season. Melbourne have enormously high hopes with Jesse Hogan after a very good year in the VFL with Casey which included a club best and fairest award. Brad Crouch is tipped to have a breakout year in 2014 and I'm sure we'll hear more of that name as the year progresses.

So what are these guys going to achieve at their respective clubs? Can Hogan pull the Demons out of the abyss? Will Martin have a better first year than O'Meara? Will they both stay at the Gold Coast? Can Crouch get the Crows back in the 8?

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Hogan will go as the Demon's midfield goes early on in his career.

O'Meara is a gun, as is Crouch.

Purely on gut feel, I believe that Martin will have the greatest impact over their careers.

 

[WWSD]

Brad Crouch will be the best of the lot

 

[Demonated]

I reckon Martin has the most weapons/talent out of the lot and once he puts a bit of size on will be a complete player. All indications is that he isn't afraid to put his body in the line anyway. However, I have always wondered why GC didn't have a more serious look at Hogan as their forward line is clearly the area which needs greatest improvement. Even before Martin with GAJ, O'Meara, Bennell, Prestia and Swallow they look to have the more promising future midfield. I know that it is always the best player available but for GC Hogan seems to fit a need perfectly while also having great potential.

All four will be future AA and all are worthy of a #1 pick. I was actually surprised how well Crouch did in his first year given he had significantly less fanfare in comparison to O'Meara.

 

[nineteen eighty]

Brad Crouch will be the best of the lot

That is a huge call given what O'Meara has shown to date. He has shown enough to have some legends of the game say he could be the best ever given how good his first year was. Not saying Crouch will not be very good. Just that it's a huge call. Find someone on betfair to bet with.

 

[Julius Seizure]

I reckon Martin has the most weapons/talent out of the lot and once he puts a bit of size on will be a complete player. All indications is that he isn't afraid to put his body in the line anyway. However, I have always wondered why GC didn't have a more serious look at Hogan as their forward line is clearly the area which needs greatest improvement. Even before Martin with GAJ, O'Meara, Bennell, Prestia and Swallow they look to have the more promising future midfield. I know that it is always the best player available but for GC Hogan seems to fit a need perfectly while also having great potential.

All four will be future AA and all are worthy of a #1 pick. I was actually surprised how well Crouch did in his first year given he had significantly less fanfare in comparison to O'Meara.

Martin looks more a gun utility atm, wouldnt surprise me to see him turn into an awesome mid however. The talent gap between martin and hogan looked pretty big at the time. I agree in retrospect it looks like Hogan would have been a better fit. GC still have a few decent talls developing. No Cameron like freaks there though.

I'd rank them as follows for how I expect their careers to turn out, all are pretty interchangeable at this stage though, no club would regret their pick.

1. Martin
2. O'Meara
3. Hogan
4. Crouch.

I wouldnt mind seeing a mini draft system every year, working similar to father son bidding. Players close to draft age can declare, clubs bid picks on them, with a maximum of one underage player allowed per team. A club like the bulldogs would probabaly be happier with their list if they had Peter Wright waiting in the wings for next year at the cost of the #4 pick this year (Bontempelli)

 

[Doro]

I think the mini-draftees will be regarded in higher esteem than the top-end of the corresponding drafts. Well done to the clubs cutting the deals.

 

[Bailey01]

Happy with Crouch at my club tbh

 

[bigtexan]

Crouch is a must pick for the crows... His work in 2nd half of last season was better then plenty of established mids across the comp.
Tough player, great hands in close and a good decision maker.
Havent seen too much of the others but barring injury i fully expect crouch to be an 'A' grade player for many years to come. Playing in a team with danger and sloane he may miss having a hard tag on him aswell.

 

[Borussia Teeth]

Damn, I was hoping this would be a thread about short people being drafted by AFL clubs.

 

[the distributer]

What is the mini draft!! WAS IT A DRAFT FOR ANTS?

 

[TheJaegerBomb]

I have always wondered if it will have an effect on the players long term durability and longevity having that extra year in the system without playing AFL....

In order of who I think will be best:

1. O'Meara
2. Martin
3. Hogan
4. Crouch

O'Meara pips Martin because I think he will be more consistent and rack up bigger numbers but Martin will be a game changer and do the absolute freakish s**t.

 

[Ahern2Boof]

Crouch was marginally better than O'Meara in 2013 IMO.

By the end of their careers:

1. Hogan
2. Crouch
3. Martin
4. O'Meara

All will be superstars.

 

[TheJaegerBomb]

Crouch was marginally better than O'Meara in 2013 IMO.

I respect your opinion but how so?

 

[Ahern2Boof]

I respect your opinion but how so?

Granted, I watched a lot more of the Crows than I did the Suns in 2013, but everything Crouch did was just so impressive. He got a lot more uncontested possessions than O'Meara which I suppose made me see him do a lot more with the ball rather than feeding a handball out or whatever.

 

[LeverPuller]

O'Meara is a freak. Crouch is a gun but isn't in the same hemisphere.

Hard to tell. Don't know enough about Martin to give it a go but Hogan will rip it up I think.

 

[Bailey01]

O'Meara is a freak. Crouch is a gun but isn't in the same hemisphere.

Hard to tell. Don't know enough about Martin to give it a go but Hogan will rip it up I think.

A bit early to say that after just one season

 

[PTizzle]

Crouch was marginally better than O'Meara in 2013 IMO.

I really rate Crouch but I think O'Meara was a bit more damaging. Crouch was pretty outstanding for 10 of his 14 games though (basically since the GC game onwards, imo), was amazing against Port. But even taking that and Crouch averaging a couple more possies into account, I find it really hard to go past O'Meara. Just the fact that he played 22 games and barely dropped off from a high standard is incredible for a first year player.

Crouch is really impressive and like you said, you saw more of Adelaide, but it's a reasonably big call saying that he was better imo. Still, it's an interesting thing to think about and I hope others don't bite your head off for it .

I'm not going to make calls about Martin/Hogan as I don't think you can ever be foolproof in predicting how a player will transfer to AFL level, but if they're as good as the first two then the mini-draft is going to have an amazing crop.

 

[Ahern2Boof]

I really rate Crouch but I think O'Meara was a bit more damaging. Crouch was pretty outstanding for 10 of his 14 games though (basically since the GC game onwards, imo), was amazing against Port. But even taking that and Crouch averaging a couple more possies into account, I find it really hard to go past O'Meara. Just the fact that he played 22 games and barely dropped off from a high standard is incredible for a first year player.

Crouch is really impressive and like you said, you saw more of Adelaide, but it's a reasonably big call saying that he was better imo. Still, it's an interesting thing to think about and I hope others don't bite your head off for it .

I'm not going to make calls about Martin/Hogan as I don't think you can ever be foolproof in predicting how a player will transfer to AFL level, but if they're as good as the first two then the mini-draft is going to have an amazing crop.

O'Meara's ability to maintain his standard over 22 games in a side that got beaten fairly regularly was outstanding and something I understated. It sounds silly to say, but the amount of hype that the Bomb got in 2012 was heaps compared to Crouch (in Victoria anyway) so I sort of viewed Crouch differently to O'Meara, I viewed him as a first year player while I still had to remind myself that JOM is still in his teens like Crouch and still just a kid as well.

 

[Freofalcon]

Was Dal Santo eligible for the mini-draft ?

 

[Blacky]

Was Dal Santo eligible for the mini-draft ?

Over-compensation pick

 

[Matchu]

Definitely evident that supporters regret their clubs not trading for mini draft picks. I know I am.

 

[timtamWB]

Definitely evident that supporters regret their clubs not trading for mini draft picks. I know I am.

Not necessarily. For the Dogs, the deal was picks 5+6 for mini draft pick 1. In essence, Macrae and Stringer for Martin. Now while nearly everyone would take Martin over Stringer, or Martin over Macrae, would they take Martin over both Macrae and Stringer? I personally wouldn't, Macrae and Stringer both showed a lot in their first years, Macrae coming from nowhere and Stringer from a broken leg. Both look like being great players, elite players even. Not as good as Martin individually, but their worth together could be worth more than Martin.

 

[E Shed]

I think its safe to say that Crouch is good and O'Meara is very good (at AFL level).
Beyond that is all hot air at this point.
As for regretting us not bidding, we never had the capital, would have had to have traded Fyfe probably and nothing is worth that.

 

[estibador]

I'll be surprised if Martin manages to top O'Meara's debut season purely because of his size. Jaeger is built like a veteran already.

If Martin does come out of the blocks better, well, GC have got something unbelievably special on their hands.