2004 National Draft Selections

[WaynesWorld19]

Radio SEN will be broadcasting from 9.00am EST Saturday morning - the draft I'm pretty sure starts at 10.00am.

I'll do my best to keep you informed as the pre-amble and draft progress's.

I'm not relying on the AFL live coverage as i'm suspect of its reliability.

Priority
1. Richmond - Deledio
2. Hawthorn - Roughead
3. W/Bulldogs - Griffen
Round 1
4. Richmond - Tambling
5. Hawthorn - Franklin
6. W/Bulldogs - Williams
7. Hawthorn - Lewis
8. Adelaide - Meeson
8. Meeson - Great choice
John Meesen (Geelong Falcons/Victoria) - Hawthorn
Position: Ruckman Height: 200cm Weight: 88kg
Meesen is one of the best performed ruckmen at TAC Cup level this season. He has good endurance, finishing in the top 10 of the 3km time trial at Draft Camp. The Hawks have made it public that they will pick up a ruckman with pick seven and Meesen looks like the best available ruckman at that stage. He should fit in well at Hawthorn as he is a Victorian and he wouldn’t take much time to develop as he is a top age ruckman as opposed to Cameron Wood of SA.
9. Carlton - Russell
10. Collingwood - Egan
11. Port Adelaide - Thompson
12. Richmond - Meyer
13. Melbourne - Bate
14. Essendon - Monfries
15. Melbourne - Dunn
16. Richmond - Pattinson
17. St Kilda - McQualter
18. Brisbane Lions - Wood
19. Port Adelaide - Willits
Round 2
20. Richmond - Polo
21. Hawthorn - Murphy
22. W/Bulldogs - Jesse Welles
23. Collingwood - Rusling
24. Adelaide Von Berlo
183cm Wgt: 73kg
Nathan is an athletic defender from West Perth who has had an excellent season in the WAFL, ending the year in the Seniors. He is a very vesatile player who can be used off a half-back flank but can also have spells in the midfield.

Van Berlo likes to get forward and kick a goal, and his foot disposal is very good. He is also a natural leader, having captained West Perth Colts during 2004. Good mark for his size. Had an excellent draft camp where he recorded the best results for the 3km run and the beep test, indicating his endurance is very good.
25. Carlton - Hartlett
26. Hawthorn - Little
27. Brisbane Lions - Garner
28. Adelaide - Gibson
Position: Ruck/Forward Height:194cm Weight: 93kg
No doubt Chad Gibson would be ready for AFL with his physical build. He is a strong over-head mark but he will take time to develop as he is too small to ruck but he could become a KPP. West Coast would be happy with picking up Chad Gibson as they would need some to replace Jakovich. Might look at some other KPP’s here such as Wilkes and Copping.
29. West Coast -
30. Essendon - Andrew Lee
31. Sydney - Moore
32. Geelong _ Prismal
33. St Kilda - Ackland
34. Port Adelaide - Ezard
35. Port Adelaide - Deluca
Round 3
36. Richmond - McGuanne
37. West Coast - Le Gras
38. W/Bulldogs - McCormick
39. Collingwood (Cloke)
40. Adelaide - Maric
Position: Ruckman Height: 197cm Weight: 95kg
Maric is the last of the quality ruckmen in the draft pool, he has improve dramatically over the past year and still can improve more. Ivan can be used up forward if needed to kick goals. Carlton possibly needs another ruckman - French is OK but no star in their side and their only other ruckman is Deluca.
41. Carlton (Blackwell)
42. Kangaroos (Smith)
43. Melbourne - Newton
44. West Coast (Morton)
45. Brisbane Lions - Sherman
46. Essendon - Slattery
47. Sydney - Spriggs
48. Geelong (Ablett)
49. St Kilda - McGough
50. Brisbane Lions -
51. Port Adelaide
Round 4
52. Richmond
53. Hawthorn
54. W/Bulldogs
55. Collingwood
56. Adelaide - Chris Knights
183cm Wgt: 79kg
Strengths: Knights is a medium sized midfielder with a great ability to win the football all day long. He is a real ball magnet at TAC Cup level, and has very clean hands. He can win the stoppages but also play on a wing.

Likes to kick a goal, and is quite often very creative with his disposal. Thinks his way through situations well and is a very good finisher, rarely a game goes by where he doesn’t kick a goal or two. Can break a game open with his goals and hard work.

Weaknesses: I have a slight concern over his kicking, tends to kick a lot of floaters. Although he does use his right foot the results can be mixed. Perhaps hasn’t come on as expected this year.

Footydraft.com comment: I expected big things from Chris at the start of the season, but he hasn't quite made the impression I thought he would. Struggled to have an impact at the carnival, and that could really harm his drafting chances. However, I think he is too good a player to be overlooked and could provide value later in the draft.
57. West Coast -
58. Kangaroos - Moran
59. Fremantle - Copping
60. Essendon - Paul Thomas
61. Sydney - Heath James
62. Geelong - Nathan Egan
63. St Kilda - Wilt
64. Brisbane Lions - Forsyth
Round 5
65. Richmond
66. Collingwood
67. Fremantle
68. Kangaroos
69. Fremantle
70. Essendon
71. St Kilda
Round 6
72. Richmond
73. Carlton
74. Kangaroos
75. Fremantle
76. St Kilda
Round 7
77. Carlton
Round 8
78. Carlton

 

[Stiffy_18]

You're a life saver I can't wait

 

[macca23]

Good work. It never hurts to have insurance with AFL.com.au

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Actual picks - 2004 selections

Priority
1. Richmond
2. Hawthorn
3. W/Bulldogs
Round 1

 

[crowsarethebest]

Priority
1. Richmond
2. Hawthorn
3. W/Bulldogs
Round 1

goood work waynes world. The draft starts at 9:50?? i think

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Take the high road
20 November 2004 Herald Sun

Bounty of talls the big story of today's draft
AFL talent guru Kevin Sheehan has described it as a bonanza. Port Adelaide recruiting manager Mick Moylan says it's rare to have so many genuine tall ruck prospects.

And Melbourne recruiting chief Craig Cameron reckons it's unusual to have three quality ruck options set to disappear in the first round.

Whatever they say, most in the know agree that today's national draft is a bountiful one for big men.

The 2003 draft crop might have been considered light on in height and key-position prospects, but today there is a wealth of tall timber on offer.

At the top of the tree are three classy young ruckmen: Geelong Falcon John Meesen, West Adelaide's Cameron Wood and Fabian Deluca from the Eastern Ranges.

The three are all genuine ruck size, highly rated by recruiters and all are expected to be plucked in the first round.

Meesen, a 199cm strong marking ruckman, and Wood, a lanky 204cm All-Australian, are both touted as top-10 selections.

Beyond that, athletic Calder ruckman Ivan Maric, at 198cm, has also given clubs something to think about.

Moylan rates this year's group of talls as among the best he has seen.

"I think most people would say it's rare to have so many of them, genuine tall ruckmen, and we're talking the 200cm variety, available," Moylan said.

"There's about four or five genuine (ruck) prospects and that's why people are saying this is an unusual year, where as most other years there's probably only one or two."

But Sheehan believes the quality rucks are just part of the attraction of this year's draft, with plenty more versatile height on offer.

"It's not just the ruckmen, there are some other big bodies in there like (Adam) Pattison, (Ryan) Willitts, Lynden Dunn and Heath Grundy," he said. "The four or five ruckmen really make it a bit of a bonanza year for the ruckmen or key-position players."

But why all the fuss about the big guys? It's the very nature of a tall player's development that means when the classy ones come along at a young age people generally sit up and take notice.

For many of the midfield types taken in today's draft, an AFL debut next season won't be out of the question.

But it's a different scenario for their taller counterparts.

They are more likely to spend the first few years of their AFL careers continuing their development before they are ready to ply their trade in the big league.

The simple reason is big men take longer to grow into their bodies.

St Kilda recruiting manager John Beveridge knows never to expect too much, too soon when taking a punt on a young ruckman.

"They're usually pretty light-on in the body and it's the very fact that they play in the warrior position," Beveridge said.

"You can't expect a bloke that's weighing 80kg-odd, who's only a boy, to be rucking against a guy that's 20kg heavier than him.

"If you look at the good ruckmen of our time, those who followed the career of Simon Madden closely believe he was probably playing his best footy around the age of 26 or so."

Of course, there have been some exceptions.

But very few young rucks play almost every game like Josh Fraser did in his first year at the Magpies in 2000, and even less make an impact such as Matthew Primus did in his debut season at Fitzroy in 1996.

Spotting who is going to make a good AFL ruckman is the hardest part of a recruiters' job, according to Cameron.

"It's still a four-year journey for some of these kids to actually get to the stage where they can physically play AFL football and, at that point, someone else may have emerged," Cameron said.

"So I reckon they're a hard commodity to judge, ruckmen.

"In some cases the best ruckmen have come through later. So it's unusual that you will have three (today) who will probably go first round."

Sheehan believes the rise in young ruckmen can be attributed to a concerted bid to attract more tall players to the game and place a greater emphasis on their development.

Concerned about losing promising tall young players to other sports, ruck academies were established and the AFL set up its own tall player program.

"I suppose there was a big push a couple of years ago to make sure that we got more taller people into the game," Sheehan said.

"On every AFL list, there's an average of 15 blokes over 190cm so we needed some awareness that the clubs are looking for the state leagues to be giving more opportunities to these guys.

"I think we're starting to see the benefits of that awareness campaign to give tall blokes a go. It's starting to bear fruit."

The journey starts today - here's hoping we do well

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Kevin Sheehan and Matt Bergin guest commentators for Sen

Only 6 players invited to the draft.

Sheehan reckons only 30 players certain to be drafted.

6-8 clubs expected to pass with selections.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Crows saving pick for preseason draft

The Adelaide Crows expect to use only four of their five available picks at Saturday's AFL national draft.

For the first time, the Crows will have three picks in the top 30, starting with number eight.

Adelaide recruiting manager James Fantasia says the club intends saving its fifth selection for next month's preseason draft.

"Probably this draft pool evens out towards the end, so it's nice to be able to think you could have another few weeks of training, of putting them through a whole range of tests and then making a bit more informed decision," he said.



The following delisted players have nominated for the draft, to be held at the Melbourne Park Function Centre in Melbourne:

Cain Ackland (Port Adelaide), Kris Barlow (Hawthorn), Callan Beasy (Carlton), Justin Blumfield (Richmond), Blake Campbell (Carlton), Trent Carroll (West Coast), Wade Champion (Port Adelaide), Shane Clayton (Kangaroos), James Condos (Western Bulldogs), Ben Cunningham (Fremantle), Brent Doswell (Fremantle), Greg Edgecumbe (Fremantle), Tim Fleming (Richmond), Rob Forster-Knight (Port Adelaide), Anthony Franchina (Carlton), James Gallagher (Adelaide), Mark Graham (Hawthorn), Daniel Haines (Fremantle), Chris Hall (Port Adelaide), Adam Houlihan (Richmond), Josh Houlihan (St Kilda), Darren Hulme (Carlton), Heath James (Sydney), Stephen Kenna (Carlton), Jon McCormick (Carlton), Mark McGough (Collingwood), James Meiklejohn (Sydney), Brett Moyle (St Kilda), Luke Mullins (Collingwood), Mark Porter (Kangaroos), David Spriggs (Geelong), Josh Thewlis (Sydney), Lachlan Veale (Western Bulldogs), Darren Walsh (Essendon), Luke Weller (Richmond), Patrick Wiggins (Western Bulldogs

That solves that query

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Mathew Bate currently being interviewed - still talking about Adelaides strong interest in him.

Expected to go b4 13.
Is really excited about possibility of playing for Adelaide.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Interesting top 10 is broken up by importance of player type

first 3 - Midfielders
Next 2 - KPP
next 3 - Ruckmen

Bit of an indication of relative importance of positional players to todays game

 

[jc67]

Great stuff WW
There will be some beers pre paid for you next time you are at the crows tavern.

 

[Stiffy_18]

As ususal afl.com dies out on me

The pop up window loads and and says done but its blank

 

[Mad Dog]

good job WW..........I reckon you've got a few free beers coming next time you're in Adelaide.

good luck everyone !

 

[Mad Dog]

As ususal afl.com dies out on me

The pop up window loads and and says done but its blank

maybe a dumb question but....are you clicking on the SEN graphic at the top of the homepage ???

 

[Stiffy_18]

maybe a dumb question but....are you clicking on the SEN graphic at the top of the homepage ???

no. Just clicking on the audio link and the window pops up but its just blank

Should I be doing something else?

 

[Alex99]

As ususal afl.com dies out on me

The pop up window loads and and says done but its blank

Click on the audio button, in the yellow/ white box

 

[Fergus]

As ususal afl.com dies out on me

The pop up window loads and and says done but its blank

Mine is working Stiffy - click on the Live & Free coverage area at the top.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Got it now but its breaking up

Their server is ********ting itself

 

[jc67]

maybe a dumb question but....are you clicking on the SEN graphic at the top of the homepage ???

It's more interesting to wait for WW
But if your desprate 5AA has a live cross for all ours and that other mobs.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Actual picks - 2004 selections

Priority
1. Richmond - Deledio
2. Hawthorn - Roughead
3. W/Bulldogs - Griffen
4. Tambling
5 Franklin
6 Williams
7. Lewis
8. Meeson
9. Russell
10. Egan
Round 1

Meeson Great pickup

 

[Stiffy_18]

John Meeson goes to us

 

[DaveW]

Damn I wanted Wood.

For parochial reasons.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Port pick up Adam Thompson

 

[Stiffy_18]

Meyer goes to Richmond

 

[WaynesWorld19]

1. Richmond - Deledio
2. Hawthorn - Roughead
3. W/Bulldogs - Griffen
4. Tambling
5 Franklin
6 Williams
7. Lewis
8. Meeson
9. Russell
10. Egan
11. Thompson
12. Meyer
13 Bate
14. Monfries
15. Dunn