Toast 2014 National Draft, pick #50 - Welcome to the Hawks Marc Pittonet

[Great 2008]

Well we need a ruckman now that two failures (at ruck for us) are gone. He was clearly the best rated of the pure tap ruckman (not including Wright here) so it's good he's at the club. He will take that depth project spot that say, Lowden was taking, and then when Hale retires and Ceglar takes his spot, he will move up a rung and may get a game or two if/when Cegs or Big Boy are injured.

But I must say, feel disappointed here. Apparently the club were always going to pick a ruckman in the Rookie, so I don't get why that plan had to change in order to grab this bloke, or change our plans from whoever pick 50 was going to be. Time will prove whether this is founded or not, so just have to wait and see.

Maybe it is as simple as the 2nd best ruckman in the draft was still available at 50 and he was rated more highly than what was left. Just guessing.

 

[MistyAvalon]

welcome to the club

 

[VandoHawk]

Well we need a ruckman now that two failures (at ruck for us) are gone. He was clearly the best rated of the pure tap ruckman (not including Wright here) so it's good he's at the club. He will take that depth project spot that say, Lowden was taking, and then when Hale retires and Ceglar takes his spot, he will move up a rung and may get a game or two if/when Cegs or Big Boy are injured.

But I must say, feel disappointed here. Apparently the club were always going to pick a ruckman in the Rookie, so I don't get why that plan had to change in order to grab this bloke, or change our plans from whoever pick 50 was going to be. Time will prove whether this is founded or not, so just have to wait and see.

At pick 50, if the club had plans at drafting a top tier midfielder or forward they would have to look for a gem in the rough. Teia Miles is a small defender, who don't really merit high "excitement" picks (though he does have a lethal quality about him) but can be just as important, meaning at pick 49 a player of his calibre is pretty standard. However, to pick up a 201 centimetre 100kg ruckman at Pick 50, who at 18 years old could still have the potential to grow, is amazing. He's already bigger than McEvoy, and looking at his highlights already seems a better tap-ruckman (keeping TAC and AFL level into consideration). I think picking a midfielder would have been risky, and risks are to be left for the rookie draft. By the looks of it, the only potential top tier midfielders we could have lost out on is Cunico, Cavka and maybe a few others. The likes of Tyler Roos, Dylan Hodge and Jack Geary are still there for the picking.

Admittedly, I did think getting a ruck man instead of a forward/midfielder was odd, but after looking at his highlights I'm not surprised. He gave the ball to his midfielders on a silver platter; some of the cleanest ruck deliveries I've ever seen. No doubt Petracca and Brayshaw are good midfielders, but with delivery like that Jack Watts could look like a clearance specialist. Taps like that to Hodgey, Lewis, Mitchell, Burgoyne, our younger generations (O'Rourke, Anderson and Woody) and maybe even Cyril would tear apart the game like Moses parting the red seas. Dude, my mouth is salivating just from the thought of it.

But no, it gets better. This guy (again, looking at his highlights) hits the contest hard, is a good contested mark and has a decent jump. At 201 and 100kg I'm surprised he can barely get off the floor, let alone jump an impressive height. He has something else that you may overlook: clean hands. Finishing with 25 out of 30 clean disposals by hand can really help out in congestion. For once, we could have a ruck man who is good in the ruck contest, delivering the ball to our midfielders AND ALSO good around the ground. No more watching us get mauled in the ruck for the greater good of impact around the ground. Thank you Lord. The ability to kick an odd goal here and there is also a big bonus. Think of Lowden in Launceston: his sheer size troubled the West Coast defenders, after 6 years on our list. This guy is around Lowden's size at 18 years of age.

The big question mark is his durability. The boy's big (bigger than Big Boy) and to constantly say focused and fit will be a challenge. I think Marc's first season will be working on his durability (but keep his big size, please HFC) with the odd cameo here and there. Along with the others, he'll be primed in 2016 or 2017. But I'll kindly eat my words if he hits his peak now. I've said it before, I'll say it again: that ball delivery, wow-ee.

He's not a pure tap ruck man. He's a tap ruck man who is good around the ground. He has the potential to be marvellous ball delivery in the centre-circle, a sheer physical presence around the ground and at the contests, and just as impactful in "in and under" scenarios as in stoppages. Marc has the potential to be all of this, a possibility that I think we have forgotten due to our success and need to cultivate the next generation of midfielders. We are ranked 16th in the AFL for hitouts to advantage, but our clearance numbers are #1. Ponder this: if we were #5 in hitouts to advantage (ala Marc), how much more exciting and easy would it be for us to score rapidly and put our opponents away.

Im excited, and if Marc lives up to the potential that I (and Wrighty) see in him then we may have secured a vital cog in our success to come, without even properly acknowledging it.

 

[Shwab]

Thought we might have looked at a key forward (Reece McKenzie went very late), and a ruckman as a rookie.

Won Oakleigh Chargers best finals player award ahead of De Goey (pick 5), Darcy Moore (pick 9) and Daniel McKenzie (pick 22).

Hopefully see the big fella smash a few packs down at Box Hill City Oval in 2015.

 

[becalm]

When I watched his highlights I thought he had a Dean Cox look about him. I know its only TAC but he had an instictive ability to postion himself which enabled him to get very good knockouts to advantage. This is one of the skills that McEvoy lacks.

 

[Baz_hawk]

His tap work looks very impressive in the highlight video, has good awareness around the contest for his mids and was able to drop it into their laps on a number occasions.

Welcome to the club Marc.

 

[cryptor]

When I watched his highlights I thought he had a Dean Cox look about him. I know its only TAC but he had an instictive ability to postion himself which enabled him to get very good knockouts to advantage. This is one of the skills that McEvoy lacks.

Dean Cox is exactly what I was thinking watching that highlights pack.

Was a bit of a "oh why bother" moment when I saw we used a ND pick on a ruck that late in the draft. Now having read his bio and seen his highlights I'm right on board. If his TAC cup form can translate to AFL then I think Wrighty has achieved legend status.

 

[Stratton_Gun]

Random but I think I played bball with his brother (surely can't be too many Pittonet's roaming around suburban Melbourne)

His bro was only about 6'1 though

 

[seysearles]

Surely we cant re-rookie Grimley now can we?

 

[Lethality]

I look forward to seeing him impress in the NAB Challenge.

 

[BOP66]

Surely we cant re-rookie Grimley now can we?

On the same wave length there.
I feel we'll only pick up Grimley with our last rookie pick, as we did say we would if he was still available.
With the 4 picks though, there are still some nuggets there & Wrighty will make the correct call in getting the best talent into the club.

 

[RIOLIUSTAR]

Player bio
Former club: Oakleigh Chargers
Age: 44
Height: 201cm
Weight: 100kg
Position: Ruckman

http://www.afl.com.au/draft/draft-tracker

 

[Rocket72]

When I watched his highlights I thought he had a Dean Cox look about him. I know its only TAC but he had an instictive ability to postion himself which enabled him to get very good knockouts to advantage. This is one of the skills that McEvoy lacks.

I thought the same thing. Cox was taken with pick 28 in the 2001 rookie draft and while ruckmen stories like that don't abound, there is certainly more hope of picking up an A-grade ruckman at pick 50 than A-grade, well anything. I think this is a great pick and leaves a bit more room to speculate in the rookie draft. This pick might mean we rookie Hodge whereas before picking up a ruckman I was thinking it was doubtful.

 

[Rocket72]

On the same wave length there.
I feel we'll only pick up Grimley with our last rookie pick, as we did say we would if he was still available.
With the 4 picks though, there are still some nuggets there & Wrighty will make the correct call in getting the best talent into the club.

We would be praying like hell that another club rookies him before our last pick. Or, maybe we could play the old 'whoops, I forgot' card? ;-)

 

[Big Hotdog]

We would be praying like hell that another club rookies him before our last pick. Or, maybe we could play the old 'whoops, I forgot' card? ;-)

You bastards.
Picking up this kid really narrows the window for Grimley. If Grimley does get rookied he is going to need to show a lot as a forward to make himself viable.

The only query as some have mentioned on Pittonet is we are watching the big kid in primary school playing with little tackers. Lets hope he can trim up and build stregnth to take on the big boy over the next few pre seasons.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Ironically, Pittonet was drafted with the highest pick Hawthorn has used on a ruckman since Hawthorn drafted Sam Grimley with pick #39 in the 2009 national draft.

 

[bards]

Why do people refer to Grimely as a ruckman, he's nothing of the sort. Forward at best. Can't see it making much difference, last year we had BB, Hale, Cegs, LL and Grimley on our list. So it's minus LL and plus the kid. I still think Grimley will go in the preseason.

 

[HolyRioli]

It would be very unlike Hawthorn to hang Grimley out to dry. If no one else picks him up I'd expect us to honour that commitment

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Well we need a ruckman now that two failures (at ruck for us) are gone. He was clearly the best rated of the pure tap ruckman (not including Wright here) so it's good he's at the club. He will take that depth project spot that say, Lowden was taking, and then when Hale retires and Ceglar takes his spot, he will move up a rung and may get a game or two if/when Cegs or Big Boy are injured.

But I must say, feel disappointed here. Apparently the club were always going to pick a ruckman in the Rookie, so I don't get why that plan had to change in order to grab this bloke, or change our plans from whoever pick 50 was going to be. Time will prove whether this is founded or not, so just have to wait and see.

I don't think we do it that way. With later picks I would guess the club would have an idea of who they might want and then be prepared to be swayed by someone that slips through, like we were with Jordan Lisle a few years ago. I get the feeling we did not expect Pittonet to be available at 50 and so felt it was an opportunity too good to refuse.

 

[daniel23]

interesting sheenan had pittonet and howe both in his top 40

 

[dcutter]

Interesting get.

I see a massive upside with this selection, a draft slider who may just have fallen into our lap as a fortunate result of the current draft trend - teams not taking ruckman early in the draft.

The current trend with ruckman is to not use top end draft selections on them. The days of taking a Kruezer or a Fraser with early picks are gone. Clubs are more likely now to take a punt on a ruckman late in the draft, in the rookie draft or after a few years development as tall fellas seem to take a bit longer to reach their potential.

With this in mind, Pittonet, 5 years ago, may have been a first round draft pick. Word has it he's the best pure ruckman in the draft. Monky certainly thinks he's got a lot to work with, Wright basically said he just couldn't pass on him whilst still, oddly, available.

Could be a massive steal at #50

 

[Hawks1994]

Looks very assured.

Good decision making for a big guy too. (which is ultra rare...)

Will be great competition for Lowden and the others.

Welcome to HFC Marc!

 

[Oooh Cyril]

When I watched his highlights I thought he had a Dean Cox look about him. I know its only TAC but he had an instictive ability to postion himself which enabled him to get very good knockouts to advantage. This is one of the skills that McEvoy lacks.

 

[Oooh Cyril]

interesting that he reminded you of Dean Cox. I thought the same. Very smooth mover

 

[becalm]

With a name Pittonet must be of French descent. Interesting?