1997 Phantom Draft

[footyfan1978]

This is the 23rd retro-draft pool I've posted in a series looking from 1975 onwards at the 18 years old talent for each year.
I been watching since 1978 season so seemed an ideal time period to look back at players that if drafts existed then, whom might have been pick one.
Just a fun task to look back in the time that I been watching football in this league and wondering the quality of players that can be found retrospectively, as if drafts were done the same as they've been done since 2009, which is to have no players younger than 18 at end of that year able to be drafted. In essence this means the pool of players new to league each year since 2009 is mainly 18 year olds which is the focus now to draft new talent into all clubs.
Obviously in the some of these past decades, the national drafts as we know them now, did not exist, either in this format or at all before the late 1980's when traditional VFL club recruiting zones with an under 19's team was the major pathway. This series is to look back at each batch of players from same birth year and wonder whom would be the top draft picks and how deep in quality each yearly draft pool could have been.

Some of the poll results so far indicate decent choices for pick one as 18 year olds would have been as follows:
Simon Madden 1975
Michael Roach 1976
Dale Weightman 1977
Doug Hawkins 1978
Gary Ablett 1979
David Rhys-Jones 1980
Greg Williams 1981
Jason Dunstall 1982
Paul Salmon 1983
Tony Lockett 1984
Stephen Silvagni 1985
Lynch or Hocking 1986
Peter Matera 1987
John Longmire 1988
Wayne Carey 1989
Nathan Buckley 1990
James Hird 1991
Shane Crawford 1992
Michael Voss 1993
Andrew McLeod 1994
Jason Akermanis 1995

This particular one of players born in 1979 for a retro-draft of 1997 features two high calibre options as a retrospective pick one.
Matthew Scarlett and Simon Black. Also features two guys known to struggle at skin-fold tests than the average footballer of recent decades. Stuart Dew and Lance Whitnall been in a good paddock since retirement.

Concessions to expansion clubs in WA, SA, NSW and Queensland were still in effect in this period of 1990's but progressively being reduced. This meant the pool of players still has these conditions existing that effect the pools of the actual national draft of this time. Compromised draft pools was the norm in this mid to late 1990's as transitional period of Fremantle getting established, the AFL trying to create Brisbane with a stronger footing and Fitzroy soon to be left with no option but to basically merge with Brisbane and open up space for Port Adelaide to become the 16th AFL club. As a result much talent already removed from the draft pools of the national drafts in this period. Stuart Dew himself in this retrospective draft pool for 1997 was never actually drafted by Port Adelaide but signed as a zoning claim concession when they started up as a club in the AFL.

Also being drafted at 17 was allowed in these times so quite a few players drafted earlier than year they turned 18.
As we approached the turn of the century the pathway of all teenagers of similar age competing together in a truly national was very close to being established as the only pathway into all AFL clubs. After Dew it may have been well over a decade later that young guns such as Jaegar O'Meara, Dylan Shiel and Jesse Hogan would also not be part of actual draft pools.

Here is the retrospective draft pool of 18 year olds in year 1997:

1979 Born players (retrospective 1997 Draft)
Williams, Luke
Bowyer, Glen
Hilton, Mark
Wood, Justin
Campbell, Fred
Proctor, Lionel
Jones, Rowan
Chambers, Callum
Gallagher, James
Whelan, Matthew
Cornes, Chad
Walton, Ben
Crabb, Jaxon
McDonald, Beau
Lockyer, Tarkyn
Clarke, Nathan
Baldwin, Marcus
Saddington, Jason
Read, Phillip
Morrell, Digby
Picken, Marcus
Obst, Chris
Grgic, Brent
Bruce, Cameron
Mooney, Cameron
Doering, Jordan
Raso, Frankie
Green, Kasey
Fletcher, Chad
Tuckey, Brent
Whitnall, Lance
Kinnear, Mark
Dew, Stuart (zone selection for Port Adelaide when club squad created in late 1996)
Hay, Jonathan
Doughty, Michael
Wirrpanda, David
Wasley, James
McKay, Joel
Holmes, Todd
Peverill, Damien
Stephens, Brad
Shipp, Andrew
Ugle, Keren
Gardiner, Michael
OLoughlin, Ricky
Bode, Matthew
Chatfield, Adam
Finocchiaro, Tim
Rahilly, James
Scarlett, Matthew
Eccles, Andrew
Black, Heath
Longmuir, Troy
Cranage, Sam
Tivendale, Greg
Hilton, Rory
Perrie, Ian
Bennett, Gerrard
Black, Simon
Bolton, Mark
OBree, Shane
Makepeace, Troy
Williams, Andrew
Kinnear, Ben
Hudson, Ben
Hynes, John
Hoppner, Trent
McGrath, Cory
Heffernan, Chris
Walker, James
Lange, Adam


Previous Retro-Draft Polls
1975 retro-draft
1976 retro-draft
1977 retro-draft
1978 retro-draft
1979 retro-draft
1980 retro-draft
1981 retro-draft
1982 retro-draft
1983 retro-draft
1984 retro-draft
1985 retro-draft
1986 retro-draft
1987 retro-draft
1988 retro-draft
1989 retro-draft
1990 retro-draft
1991 retro-draft
1992 retro-draft
1993 retro-draft
1994 retro-draft
1995 retro-draft
1996 retro-draft