The Recruits of 2013

[Persevering Saint]

These are all the players we got in the Draft and Trade Period of 2013:

Billings
Dunstan
Acres
Longer
Eli
Weller
Delaney
Bruce
Savage

Only TWO of them are yet to play a game this year! And both of those look extremely promising.

So hats off to both the recruiting team for picking them, and to the coaching staff for playing them.

A few questions emerging from all this:

1. How would you rate each of their performances so far? (yes, it's early days, it's just a point of discussion, and of course they have time to get better or worse).
   
2. Who do you think have been the most impressive, given where they were taken, etc?
   
3. Which are the ones you think need the most improvement?
4. How come these guys have been able to slot straight in, leaving many of the former year's recruits in their wake? Why was Delaney able to come in rather than, say, Simpkin? Is it just because they're the shiny new toy, or are they patently better players already?

 

[Persevering Saint]

For mine, the most impressive so far, in terms of "achievement to where-taken" ratio has to be Eli - for a rookie to get picked, and do as well as he has, straight from his first season, has been remarkable. Dunstan and Billings are probably more impressive overall, but from where we got him, Eli's been very good. Add to that the marketability of the kid, and he's gone beyond any expectations.

 

[Persevering Saint]

I'd say that Savage has been the most disappointing so far on field, and I don't think we can get around that. But I think he's done an utterly stirling job off field in his defacto role as St Kilda's NZ ambassador. He's done lots of notable promotion, and worked tirelessly in this area. This is particularly impressive, given that he has come from being a very minor player at the Hawks, from a media perspective, so he's really stepped up. Also, it's obvious from his interviews that he's not MASSIVELY comfortable with all that stuff, but he's given it a real go.

 

[VDS66]

Savage is in a new environment. He does not have a star studded team around him to do the heavy lifting. So it's a big change and he will have to work hard to establish himself. Give him time.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

You know what I hope?
I hope Blake Acres looked at our Saints web site home page with the pics of Dunstan, Eli & Billings and the slogan "A new era is born"
And it churned his guts and inspired him and he said to himself "They think those guys are good, wait till they see me play"

 

[Jezzarayman]

Savage is in a new environment. He does not have a star studded team around him to do the heavy lifting. So it's a big change and he will have to work hard to establish himself. Give him time.

Excellent post.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention Holmes there, too. Here's my crazy prediction: when we get to the "putting them in for surgery" part of the season, Holmes will be upgraded and play a few games this year.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Best off season ever

• Weller will be a gun 150 games a least (there was a reason why gold coast picked him up as a 17 year old)
• Templeton looks lively and the kids love him which is also good
• Dunstan is a footballers footballer
• Billigs has class and creativity
• Acres will be a great player
• Delaney has done his job and it is nice to have him at the club
• Bruce will be good
• Longer I hope will become a great player for us.
• Savage is adjusting to the club but will come good.

 

[Smoke_Me_AKipper]

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention Holmes there, too. Here's my crazy prediction: when we get to the "putting them in for surgery" part of the season, Holmes will be upgraded and play a few games this year.

That's just crazy Perse! Crazy I tells ya!

 

[Smoke_Me_AKipper]

We absolutely killed this draft. We got the 3 kids I wanted and to pick up the others was just pure gravy! Didn't expect to get Eli in the rookie draft and Weller will be a very handy addition to our midfield and make it much deeper. Bruce and Delaney have given us height down back. Longer is another young quality ruck. Savage will be that goal kicking half fwd/mid - just needing more time to settle in by the looks of it.

Can't wait to see what the club does end of this year and the tall fwd we pick up with our first draft pick.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Best off season ever

• Weller will be a gun 150 games a least (there was a reason why gold coast picked him up as a 17 year old)
• Templeton looks lively and the kids love him which is also good
• Dunstan is a footballers footballer
• Billigs has class and creativity
• Acres will be a great player
• Delaney has done his job and it is nice to have him at the club
• Bruce will be good
• Longer I hope will become a great player for us.
• Savage is adjusting to the club but will come good.

Throw in Holmes' potential, and that's 9 out of the 22 for a team. Nearly half a team of really impressive youth in one draft.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Throw in Holmes' potential, and that's 9 out of the 22 for a team. Nearly half a team of really impressive youth in one draft.

All we need is to get a key forward, class of 2014 dont let me down.

 

[Defacto]

as far as cost benefit goes, i'm on the delaney train. cost bugger all and is just quietly doing his job.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

It's good to see Delaney getting an extended crack I always felt he was afl standard but never had an extended run to get the feel for it!

He may not be a world beater but I'm tipping as your young team develops Delaney will also find his role. Brad Scott always said he was very coach able.

As an outsider I can't wait to see Dunstan develop, I can't believe he wasn't taken earlier, with his size strength and leadership qualities he is going to make an excellent replacement for Hayes. Just one of those natural footballers who does everything right.

 

[gringo2011]

I'm really pumped about Holmes- he's probably the surprise packet. He looks likely to me. Blakers is looking exciting, Dunstan and Billings look like potential 200 gamers with potential for A grade. Eli has been more than you could expect. Weller is beating at the door. Hard to fault it when Longer, Bruce and Delaney are added to the list.

I know people are down on past trading but I think all of Lee, Saunders and wright look very good players too and then we came up with hickey too.

Sydney rebuilt over a couple of seasons so it's very possible.

I think we should look at trading our pick if we get 3 to 10 as we could try to get Patton or Boyd out of the giants. They only grabbed KPFs because they know they hold high currency and they will still be trading them away for high picks for a few years to come. If we get a top three pick and it's likely we will get a KPF anyway obviously you wouldn't bother. But an elite KPF would just about set us up for a decade.

 

[The Punter]

Without reading anything above, or making any value judgments on any of the above posts, I want to say one thing and have it kept in people's minds:

Chances are they don't all make it.

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

Without reading anything above, or making any value judgments on any of the above posts, I want to say one thing and have it kept in people's minds:

Chances are they don't all make it.

This. I hate this.

No doubt teams 'nailing' a certain draft helps later though. Look at Geelong in 99 & 01, Hawks in 04, Pies in 05 and 08. Five years ago, 2001 was considered our greatest draft ever (and technically probably still should be). It's definitely possible to add 4-5 guns to a team with one draft/trade period. And I think we've given ourselves the best chance with the players we took.

 

[goodie23]

Well yes, we know as well as any team how a great draft crop can still fall short.

In 2001 we landed Ball, X-Man, Dal Santo, Maguire, Montagna and Josh Houlihan. Good picks executed very well but Ball got OP and then left, X-man showed glimpses but was haunted by injury, Dal served us well but ultimately left, Goose was great but he broke his leg and Houlihan never kicked on. Montagna is the only one still with us all these years on and he took a few years to develop.

Getting the draft picks is part of the battle. Using them wisely is another. But there's still development and luck after that.

 

[Radius]

Throw in Holmes' potential, and that's 9 out of the 22 for a team. Nearly half a team of really impressive youth in one draft.

Holmes and Delaney turn 25 this year. Otherwise I agree.
What makes them great is that they were virtually free in list management terms, we've just thrown away too many picks in the last decade.

 

[Mowman]

Holmes and Delaney turn 25 this year. Otherwise I agree.
What makes them great is that they were virtually free in list management terms, we've just thrown away too many picks in the last decade.

Is James Frawley only 1 year older then Delany then ?

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

Is James Frawley only 1 year older then Delany then ?

Yep.

Frawley is 26 in September

 

[Radius]

Is James Frawley only 1 year older then Delany then ?

If footywire is right, then yeah.

Delaney: 24yr, 10mth
Frawley: 25yr, 7mth

 

[VolcomStone]

You know what I hope?
I hope Blake Acres looked at our Saints web site home page with the pics of Dunstan, Eli & Billings and the slogan "A new era is born"
And it churned his guts and inspired him and he said to himself "They think those guys are good, wait till they see me play"

Have heard from someone close too the st kilda camp that acres will be the best of our kids just hasn't had luck with injuries during pre season

 

[VolcomStone]

as far as cost benefit goes, i'm on the delaney train. cost bugger all and is just quietly doing his job.

Has he even been beaten this year yet? He seems very strong one on one

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

as far as cost benefit goes, i'm on the delaney train. cost bugger all and is just quietly doing his job.

Fair enough we got him for Pick 71? i think but it really cost Nick Dal Santo, if we didn't let him go we would have had to give up more for Luke Delaney. But cannot say i am disappointed with his performances so far, doing a nice job. Big test this weekend