Player Watch #24 Sam Grlj

[Meteoric Rise]

Did you not see the range of players taken from 30 onwards? A heap that all these supposed ‘experts’ had in their rankings : Fred, Greeves, NHH amongst many others didn’t get picked in the ND at all … bypassed by literally 15+ clubs, some of them bypassing multiple times.

So whilst in the immediacy of the selection Pueker looked a big reach, the next 30 x picks showed it wasn’t really, because nearly every pick from 30 onwards was a ‘reach’.

As for Cumming / Grlj … reality is everyone fell in love with getting Robey. There wasn’t really any extensive ‘love’ for anyone else. I think 90% of people would’ve been happy with Robey and then basically anyone else. There’d have been barely a whimper if it was Robey / Grlj or Robey / Cumming.

So I don’t believe many are aggrieved at getting Cumming or Grlj, it was not getting Robey.

"Reach" theory says you rate a guy 23 but instead of taking him at pick 31 you take the guy you rate at 29 instead, in the hope you can get the guy you rated at 23 thirty odd picks later. Which would be really neat, until another club takes him 20 picks later.

I was a full time punter for years. I was a market dumb punter. I didn't have much idea about what the market was going to do and whether I might get a better price later, so when I saw value, I took it. People who made a lot less money than I did were forever telling me I would be better off learning to read the market, like them. I would tell them if someone offers me odds of 2.2 for a coin toss I am not waiting around in case they later offer 2.25.

Reach theory is a ****ing stupid theory. IMO. Richmond FC states they just take players in the order they rate them and I believe them. And I believe that is the right way to do it. Mainly because nothing else makes better sense.

The same foolish imbecile will praise the Cats recruiting, and they have "reached" for players left, right and centre. Stewart 40, Kelly 24, Mannagh 36. Nobody else was threatening to take these players anywhere near that high. But the Cats took them there because they rated them best value at those picks and didn't want to miss out if another club got in before their next pick.

 

[Danog]

Had lunch today at a very fine establishment in Melbourne with a great friend of mine in recruiting circles with another club. Has become habit that the weekend after the draft we would “debrief” and enjoy some food and wine.

We spoke about a range of kids but I’ll leave this on topic.

Grilj was rated on their board inside the top ten. It wasn’t North either so another club had him high. He said, Grilj will be a top line AFL mid in time. I agreed. When we broke down the data and his attributes it was very obvious. This draft lacked the “top end star power outside academy kids” but Grilj has that ability to be a star from this crop. We agreed his athletic profile is rare and something that will show up in years to come.

He also said from their investigation that Richmond ranked Sam Cumming as the best player outside academy in this draft.

I thought Dodoro wasn't working in recruiting anymore?

 

[matt_y106]

Had lunch today at a very fine establishment in Melbourne with a great friend of mine in recruiting circles with another club. Has become habit that the weekend after the draft we would “debrief” and enjoy some food and wine.

We spoke about a range of kids but I’ll leave this on topic.

Grilj was rated on their board inside the top ten. It wasn’t North either so another club had him high. He said, Grilj will be a top line AFL mid in time. I agreed. When we broke down the data and his attributes it was very obvious. This draft lacked the “top end star power outside academy kids” but Grilj has that ability to be a star from this crop. We agreed his athletic profile is rare and something that will show up in years to come.

He also said from their investigation that Richmond ranked Sam Cumming as the best player outside academy in this draft.

That’s interesting!
Did we rate Cumming as the best in the whole draft outside of academies? Or best available to us (after Duursma and CDT)?

 

[Muddiemoose]

Might not be seen as a compliment by some but it definitely is

But I can see a fair few similarities between him and Tom Scully

21

Tom Scully

Age

34

Ht

181cm

Wt

80kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

20.7

5star

K

9.9

4star

HB

10.8

5star

M

3.8

4star

T

3.5

5star

CL

2.3

4star

D

12.6

3star

K

7.5

3star

HB

5.1

3star

M

2.4

3star

T

1.1

2star

CL

0.8

3star

D

19.8

5star

K

8.8

4star

HB

11.0

5star

M

3.0

3star

T

4.6

5star

CL

3.8

5star

 

[Daka]

I am surprised with the articles I've seen that were like "Richmond make a massive surprise draft selection"

How is it that surprising we were linked to Sam Grlj for most of the year in fact at the start the season with the early season form we were almost shoe in to select him, Imo not that Cumming is a surprise that we took him but we were linked to him much later than what we were with Grlj I feel like a lot people in the media that no nothing about the draft just look at Cal Twomey's phantom draft and think if the clubs does anything different it's a surprise it's so lazy.

 

[beema limapep]

Might not be seen as a compliment by some but it definitely is But I can see a fair few similarities between him and Tom Scully

 

[Grrr]

hmm do you want me to brand our players??? I will not brand our players however I will describe what they look like to me

Lalor forward/ mid

Cummings mid/ forward

Hotton forward

Campbell forward

Alger forward

Taranto mid/ forward

NRT forward/ mid

Peucker forward/mid

Grjl. half forward/Lambert role/more up the ground



so that is one half forward by that list, others have a few more question marks and they go over a bit of territory on the ground

In a way Grjl is lucky in a sense not many if any are more credentialled to play the link role to the forward line than him. A lot of the other guys are really more general forwards or mid/forwards. If anything with Grjl say work between half forward and half back up and down and other players will slot in around you if he is effective

I am not sure there is such a thing anymore as a Lambert role. We needed Lambert and Graham to allow Dusty when he played as a mid to stay forward of centre. Lalor may eventually play the Dusty role, but every name you mention on that list plus Mansell, get up the ground and back. That is just modern footy.

If you have a gun forward like Eliot or Weightman at the Dogs, you don't want to waste them up around the wing/half forward line when their best work is inside 50m, but at this stage I can't see one at Richmond.

 

[Tigerbob]

That’s interesting!
Did we rate Cumming as the best in the whole draft outside of academies? Or best available to us (after Duursma and CDT)?

From what I was told in front of Duursma and CDT. So best in open pool.

If I had to guess our open pool rankings were:

Cumming
CDT
Grilj
Duursma

That’s guess work on info coming from other clubs. Grilj was a very secretive ranking but a few clubs thought Richmond weren’t as big on Duursma as other clubs. Some clubs had him outside top 5.

I’m fairly confident we had Dylan Patterson at number one and Dean in top 5 too.

 

[4tune8]

I am not sure there is such a thing anymore as a Lambert role. We needed Lambert and Graham to allow Dusty when he played as a mid to stay forward of centre. Lalor may eventually play the Dusty role, but every name you mention on that list plus Mansell, get up the ground and back. That is just modern footy.

If you have a gun forward like Eliot or Weightman at the Dogs, you don't want to waste them up around the wing/half forward line when their best work is inside 50m, but at this stage I can't see one at Richmond.

It's nonsensical to name Grilj as a forward in the Lambert mold, we agree there. What I can see is NRT doing a similar role to what Lambert did, he has the tank and speed to make it work.

 

[tiger_tough]

I am surprised with the articles I've seen that were like "Richmond make a massive surprise draft selection"

How is it that surprising we were linked to Sam Grlj for most of the year in fact at the start the season with the early season form we were almost shoe in to select him, Imo not that Cumming is a surprise that we took him but we were linked to him much later than what we were with Grlj I feel like a lot people in the media that no nothing about the draft just look at Cal Twomey's phantom draft and think if the clubs does anything different it's a surprise it's so lazy.

Only because none of the sheep had him top 10.

 

[Rich01]

This draft for me, it will either make Hartley a legend, or closer to Greg Miller.

That’s where you’ve truly misread the quality of the draft. After Dovaston in the open draft it was a crap shoot.

Legendary recruiters aren’t made in this draft. If a player picked in the open draft after Dovaston gets to 100 games it will be a worthy achievement.

Picking Grjl over probably Alger last year super early and then Louse Emmett or Sam Allen with our natural second this year will be seen as a massive win.

List managers build lists. We have got 2 long term pieces added to our future contending side and hopefully one of the others becomes a role player as well.

But to say this is a make or break year for us is laughable. For Blair that was last year.

 

[Grrr]

It's nonsensical to name Grilj as a forward in the Lambert mold, we agree there. What I can see is NRT doing a similar role to what Lambert did, he has the tank and speed to make it work.

Again I think then role is a bit redundant because we had Castagna, Butler, Rioli as smalls and Caddy medium. None of them suited to Lambert's role. Today we have half a dozen who you want up the ground, so no need for the specialist role.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

This draft for me, it will either make Hartley a legend, or closer to Greg Miller.

This has to be the most moronic statement ever on this board.
The same Blair who overseen our recent 3x Premierships. lol
Also you may not realise but Giech and his Recruiting merry men calls the shots when it comes to draft selections.

 

[We are back baby!]

Might not be seen as a compliment by some but it definitely is

But I can see a fair few similarities between him and Tom Scully

 

[Dr Tigris]

From what I was told in front of Duursma and CDT. So best in open pool.

If I had to guess our open pool rankings were:

Cumming
CDT
Grilj
Duursma

That’s guess work on info coming from other clubs. Grilj was a very secretive ranking but a few clubs thought Richmond weren’t as big on Duursma as other clubs. Some clubs had him outside top 5.

I’m fairly confident we had Dylan Patterson at number one and Dean in top 5 too.

Thanks Bob.

I can see why we'd have those rankings. If right we killed it.

Grilj has elite speed and agility, likes it hard and is a leader. Amazing base to work from.

He has the ability to accelerate at an angle, which few can.

His base a solid running player who can go inside and has decent skills. So a good B grader. Potential is sky high if he can turn that into ripping the game apart regularly.

His attitude, contested ability and leadership and unusual for a speedster like him. So to me more upside than most players in the top 10.

 

[sante]

This has to be the most moronic statement ever on this board.
The same Blair who overseen our recent 3x Premierships. lol
Also you may not realise but Giech and his Recruiting merry men calls the shots when it comes to draft selections.

Big call. Have you seen his other posts?

 

[We are back baby!]

Only because none of the sheep had him top 10.

Did I happen to mention I had us taking Cumming and Grlj in that order .... but I definitely didn't peuck a peuckled Peucker if you know what I mean

 

[Jedwards]

Adding to the Grilj & Robey debate. Grilj will be a superstar. Robey will take time for his body and fitness to adjust to AFL football. Yes, he will likely be a very good player and has potential to be a star of the comp, but don't sit there and think we 'missed out' on not drafting Robey. Grlj is the prototype player of where the game is going. He also adds a massive point of difference to the team. As for the bigger bodied forward midfielder, we already have a better version in Lalor, adding in Smilie, Mccauliffe to rotations. Robey actually reminds me of more aggressive goal kicking Jarryd Berry. As for Grilj, I see shades of Butters in his lateral movement and speed, but also the way he breaks away from the contest is Daicos like. And if anyone watched the VFL games. Grilj played defence like his life depended on it. Very Richmond like, Vlastuin and the backs will love having him down there.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Big call. Have you seen his other posts?

Thankfully most times I have him on ignore.

 

[THE_GUN]

Dusty does not play for us anymore. The game has changed teams are harder to beat. No A Rance

 

[THE_GUN]

Had lunch today at a very fine establishment in Melbourne with a great friend of mine in recruiting circles with another club. Has become habit that the weekend after the draft we would “debrief” and enjoy some food and wine.

We spoke about a range of kids but I’ll leave this on topic.

Grilj was rated on their board inside the top ten. It wasn’t North either so another club had him high. He said, Grilj will be a top line AFL mid in time. I agreed. When we broke down the data and his attributes it was very obvious. This draft lacked the “top end star power outside academy kids” but Grilj has that ability to be a star from this crop. We agreed his athletic profile is rare and something that will show up in years to come.

He also said from their investigation that Richmond ranked Sam Cumming as the best player outside academy in this draft.

Did you guys chat about our other 3 players we drafted in Peucker - NRT & Burton

 

[tigerfan1961]

Did you guys chat about our other 3 players we drafted in Peucker - NRT & Burton

Burton?

 

[Nostradumbass]

Had lunch today at a very fine establishment in Melbourne with a great friend of mine in recruiting circles with another club. Has become habit that the weekend after the draft we would “debrief” and enjoy some food and wine.

We spoke about a range of kids but I’ll leave this on topic.

Grilj was rated on their board inside the top ten. It wasn’t North either so another club had him high. He said, Grilj will be a top line AFL mid in time. I agreed. When we broke down the data and his attributes it was very obvious. This draft lacked the “top end star power outside academy kids” but Grilj has that ability to be a star from this crop. We agreed his athletic profile is rare and something that will show up in years to come.

He also said from their investigation that Richmond ranked Sam Cumming as the best player outside academy in this draft.

What did you eat?

 

[THE_GUN]

Burton?

thomas burton rookie me - Bing

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[TJTIGER]

Did you guys chat about our other 3 players we drafted in Peucker - NRT & Burton

Another player who has speed. Under 3 sec for 20m virtually the same time as NRT (100th sec faster). Half-back/midfield prospect. I like it...
Close to 30 disposal average but also nearly 6 tackle average as well.