Autopsy The theme is:

[Proud SJW]

The club obviously has a lot of faith in Apeness, Taberner and Pearce

At least all of our draftees' highlights videos are pretty

I'm thinking that's exactly the case.
It's easy to overlook our previous draft aquisitons in light of the fact that most of them haven't played much at the top level yet, and I believe most non-Freo supporters are doing that. They don't even realise we've already drafted the talls, and they're currently being developed. We've just lost Simpson as well, so apart from the class our current midfield is showing, there isn't too much in the development stage backing them up.

I'm not against this draft at all, at this stage - only time will tell if the strategy was correct, really, and we simply need to wait a season or two to find out if the faith placed in our draft acquisitions from 2012-2013 is going to work out.

As per an article quoting Lloyd:
General manager of player management Brad Lloyd said Weller had been ranked ahead of the talls at that stage of the draft and the decision was made to not only pick the best player but to focus heavily on midfielders.

"We actually drafted really heavily with talls over the last couple of years – Michael Apeness last year, Alex Pearce, Matt Tabener, Tanner Smith, Jack Hannath," Lloyd told AFL.com.au.

"So there's been a lot of talls we've added so we've gone out of our way there.

"We thought this year there was going to be a couple of really good quality midfielders around our first pick and we just thought it was time to top our midfield up."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-11-27/dockers-go-for-midfield-depth-ahead-of-big-men

Apologies if someone else has already linked it; I'm on a lunch break and didn't have time to read past the first couple of pages.

 

[Reginald Perrin]

Fast. Funny haircut. Add some tatts and you've got yourselves your very own Ash Smith.

Stop saying that.

 

[Danny Cullen]

The club obviously has a lot of faith in Apeness, Taberner and Pearce

And Smith too if we are going to place him on the rookie list.

I haven't read up much on our picks but looks like we went best available. Surprised Goddard went in the 20's and Lamb in the 30's.

Freo darft picks nearly always do my head in. Has anyone melted down?

 

[clogged]

Has anyone melted down?

Paul Hasleby

 

[Arcassius]

It does seem odd that we don't like using late national draft picks on talls

Yes and no - having them on the rookie list is less risk than having them on the senior list, and then having to manage them off it

 

[salim malik]

And why the hell would they?

Mora is a bees dick from another knee recon and retirement, Sheridan has had 3 years to prove himself and showed very little, De Boer can't kick for s**t and is dumb as, Ballard the same, Duffy has attitude issues, Suban has never reached any great heights so the ceiling is set and is quite low and Sylvia has issues that he needs to work through and isn't young so no guarantees.

De Boers as dumb as what ,oh thats right he,s at uni studying law and Ballard you know him personally and found him dumb and the same goes for Duffy you know him personally?You dont like them a footballers ,fine but the personal stuff is just plain bullshit.

 

[Frank J Moose]

Freo has 13 players 191+. Most clubs have 13-15. GWS Port and Brisbane have the most (17). Carlton have 12 and Essendon 9.

So height is not really an issue.

While some 191+ are mids its a good cut off point as no KPPs are 190-. A couple of third talls (for and def) are

 

[pavsbootlace]

Freo has 13 players 191+. Most clubs have 13-15. GWS Port and Brisbane have the most (17). Carlton have 12 and Essendon 9.

So height is not really an issue.

While some 191+ are mids its a good cut off point as no KPPs are 190-. A couple of third talls (for and def) are

I don't think Height is really that relevant. I'd rather play Michael Walters at full forward over Jack Hannath.

 

[UFO Tatsu]

I don't think Height is really that relevant. I'd rather play Michael Walters at full forward over Jack Hannath.

how about in the ruck?

 

[TheMcManusNose]

Freo has 13 players 191+. Most clubs have 13-15. GWS Port and Brisbane have the most (17). Carlton have 12 and Essendon 9.

So height is not really an issue.

While some 191+ are mids its a good cut off point as no KPPs are 190-. A couple of third talls (for and def) are

Don't buy that rationale. Who out of that group is capable of taking contested marks at full forward or on the lead from full foward? At the moment it's 3 of them, and next year it will probably be 2 of them, unless Fyfe is going to play there.

I don't have my knickers in a twist about this draft because I see we addressed something we need, but we have to do something about the KPF issue.

 

[pavsbootlace]

how about in the ruck?

We're talking about key position players... smarty pants!

 

[strobe00]

How about some nicknames for the new chums. I like the West Coast system. Wellie, Joshie, Blakey and Langy

Or hows Midget, Shorty, Dwarf and Squirt?

Blakely is about the same height as Fyfe and Crowley. Doesn't seem like a dwarf to me.

Depends which source you believe. Have seen 189 cm. AFL says 186 cm. About the same as Sutty then.

 

[jedi mind tricks]

how about in the ruck?

Yes

 

[strobe00]

Like it. Weller or Morabito to start to force Mundy out of the middle and start to use Mundy as either third tall or a half back. Not just for structure but to prolong his career.

Well, he was recruited as a full back. And he was a very handy half back flanker until he moved into the midfield. He can do the job. Might take a while before Mora (and particularly Weller) can push Mundy out of the midfield though.

Blakely is probably a better bet to make his way into the onball rotation earlier than Weller.

There are spots on the wings, flanks and bench that the new fellas can help occupy. We don't have a lot of genuine depth in our onball rotation, so I wouldn't be pitching Mundy out of there in a hurry. More pressure on spots that have previously been handed to auto-selected role players.

 

[strobe00]

Fast. Funny haircut. Add some tatts and you've got yourselves your very own Ash Smith.

I'd hope for our sake Langdon is better at finding the ball... and using it. Because that's a pretty low base for comparison.

 

[Arcassius]

Well, he was recruited as a full back. And he was a very handy half back flanker until he moved into the midfield. He can do the job. Might take a while before Mora (and particularly Weller) can push Mundy out of the midfield though.

Blakely is probably a better bet to make his way into the onball rotation earlier than Weller.

There are spots on the wings, flanks and bench that the new fellas can help occupy. We don't have a lot of genuine depth in our onball rotation, so I wouldn't be pitching Mundy out of there in a hurry. More pressure on spots that have previously been handed to auto-selected role players.

Blakely has been compared to Mundy - having him learn from the man himself would be a good start.

 

[Righteo]

Blakely has been compared to Mundy - having him learn from the man himself would be a good start.

The professionalism they'll pick up from Mundy/Fyfe/Barlow/Hill/Crowley and of course the three stalwarts in Pav/Sandi/Luke will be invaluable, certainly not caught wanting for a good environment to develop in.

 

[Arcassius]

The professionalism they'll pick up from Mundy/Fyfe/Barlow/Hill/Crowley and of course the three stalwarts in Pav/Sandi/Luke will be invaluable, certainly not caught wanting for a good environment to develop in.

It's interesting to see how the Fyfe-effect kicks in for newer players. They develop modelling on him - so being drafted to his team would almost be a drawcard in itself. It would have been the same for the Pav-effect for the older players when he was in his prime.

How many of the GC draftees would have been drooling at the prospect of learning off gabblett

 

[CaptainHook]

It's interesting to see how the Fyfe-effect kicks in for newer players. They develop modelling on him - so being drafted to his team would almost be a drawcard in itself. It would have been the same for the Pav-effect for the older players when he was in his prime.

How many of the GC draftees would have been drooling at the prospect of learning off gabblett

That's why the Eagles are so mediocre, professionalism is not a word that club understands.

 

[salim malik]

It was mentioned by one of the trainers this morning that the club wants to get Ballard into the league mix this season.
Tough when he is a rookie ,hope they aren't counting on injuries.

 

[JamFrank]

It was mentioned by one of the trainers this morning that the club wants to get Ballard into the league mix this season.
Tough when he is a rookie ,hope they aren't counting on injuries.

We don't have anyone with a long term injury at the moment do we? (touch wood)

 

[Scham]

De Boers as dumb as what ,oh thats right he,s at uni studying law and Ballard you know him personally and found him dumb and the same goes for Duffy you know him personally?You dont like them a footballers ,fine but the personal stuff is just plain bullshit.

It's a football forum isn't it? I mean it is called Bigfooty after all Salim...I mean really? Speaking of dumb.

We're talking about them as footballers, the last game I was at I didn't see players taking law text books out with them to answer questions, did you?

They might be very bright in the corporate world or in every other part of life but as footballers they're dumb (footballers)

 

[DudleyDocker]

Yes, dammit - we need to learn from the Eagles. Forget about renewing the engine room and focus on getting great key position players. It seems to have worked a treat for them.

 

[clogged]

Yes, dammit - we need to learn from the Eagles. Forget about renewing the engine room and focus on getting great key position players. It seems to have worked a treat for them.

They have focused on the engine room. They just keep picking mediocrity.

 

[DudleyDocker]

They have focused on the engine room. They just keep picking mediocrity.

And long may that continue...

But they are proof that the best KPPs in the world are useless without a great midfield. Sydney reinforced that in the grand final. I'm pretty relaxed with the talls we are bringing through provided our midfield remains (becomes) elite.