Discussion 2016 draft haul

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Kildonan

Kildonan

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Feb 6, 2003
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Brisbane Qld
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THE VERDICT: Every club's 2016 draft haul, five years on
We revisit the 2016 NAB AFL Draft and see how your club fared

2016 NAB AFL Draft: Ben Long (pick No.25), Josh Battle (39), Ed Phillips (56)
AFL Pre-Season and Rookie Drafts: Rowan Marshall, Ray Connellan (category B), Darragh Joyce (category B)

Verdict: While the impact of Long and Battle is yet to be determined, Marshall is already one of St Kilda's most important players. An athletic forward/ruck with incredible overhead ability, Marshall's development was supercharged with the arrival of veteran ruck Paddy Ryder in 2019, with the pair combining to form one of the AFL's most dangerous ruck duos. The question still remains as to whether Marshall can shoulder the ruck burden alone when the ageing Ryder retires. As for the players that came through the national draft, Battle has played 56 games, Long has managed 60, while Phillips was delisted at the end of the 2020 season after 15 games in the red, white and black. Both Long and Battle are yet to tie down a permanent role in the Saints' best 22, playing all over the ground and pinch-hitting where needed. Both players were on the trade table at the end of the 2021 season but ended up staying put at Moorabbin. The Saints also signed Irish duo Joyce and Connellan as category B International rookies, and while the pacy Connellan didn’t play a senior game, key defender Joyce (10 AFL games) remains on the list as a depth player. – Sophie Welsh
 
And the AFL rewarding Essendon's cheating worked out well. McGrath is a star and Ridley is close to it. Brisbane, North, Tigers, Cats all did well. Sydney not too bad. Carlton, GC and plenty of others absolutely flopped it.
 
If could change 1 pick in this draft it would be not taking Long but picking up Sean Darcy.

A Darcy and Marshall ruck combo would have been elite.
 

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Sophie Welsh might have added that in 2016 we also traded a future second round pick to GWS for a midfielder with plenty of potential for improvement who sought a more secure role and a likelihood of more games (having only played 17 matches in his 2 years at GWS). Jack Steele has blossomed into a prolific midfielder, one highly spoken of when assessing the AFL's best players. The pick we traded was used to recruit Brent Daniels - a good player but the trade was one that can only be considered a win for St Kilda. We also brought in Koby Stevens and Nathan Brown. I don't see how you can judge the effectiveness of a club's recruitment by looking at draft choices alone. Surely the decision to use draft picks as the currency of trades is a significant indicator that the recruitment process is a multifaceted process. We should consider trades when assessing the success (or failure) of a draft haul.
 
It is easy after the fact to find better players to take at the draft pick we used to select a player. I am pleased with the selection of Ben Long taken at pick #25. He is a player who can do some freaky stuff with just a few touches, but it is his tackling that makes him a force to be reckoned with. His tackles hurt the opponents, I don't mean injure (although that is quite possible), I mean players tackled by Long are less likely to take possession while he is bearing down on them. This keeps the ball in contest and gives us better stats (even though they are not frequently credited to Ben). The other players stand taller and find they have more opportunity when he is on the field. We are a better team when he plays.
 
Koby Stevens was a fairly good inclusion - - his career was sadly ended as a 27 yo with persistent concussion issues

Nathan Brown was also a good choice who played over 50 matches for our club in three years as a player (he was kept on another year for depth and for the respect he was held at as a leader and a mentor).
 
Long and Battle both attracted interested from a number of clubs but neither were on 'the trade table'.

Club didn't even entertain an offer, neither player nominated a club to be traded to and both players are contracted. Club extremely happy with Battle, Long was happy to leave if there was a good deal for everyone and just as happy to stay.
 
Kildonan said:
Sophie Welsh might have added that in 2016 we also traded a future second round pick to GWS for a midfielder with plenty of potential for improvement who sought a more secure role and a likelihood of more games (having only played 17 matches in his 2 years at GWS). Jack Steele has blossomed into a prolific midfielder, one highly spoken of when assessing the AFL's best players. The pick we traded was used to recruit Brent Daniels - a good player but the trade was one that can only be considered a win for St Kilda. We also brought in Koby Stevens and Nathan Brown. I don't see how you can judge the effectiveness of a club's recruitment by looking at draft choices alone. Surely the decision to use draft picks as the currency of trades is a significant indicator that the recruitment process is a multifaceted process. We should consider trades when assessing the success (or failure) of a draft haul.
Click to expand...


And traded away our first to the Hawks that got us one of Clark or Coff.
 
Kildonan said:
It is easy after the fact to find better players to take at the draft pick we used to select a player. I am pleased with the selection of Ben Long taken at pick #25. He is a player who can do some freaky stuff with just a few touches, but it is his tackling that makes him a force to be reckoned with. His tackles hurt the opponents, I don't mean injure (although that is quite possible), I mean players tackled by Long are less likely to take possession while he is bearing down on them. This keeps the ball in contest and gives us better stats (even though they are not frequently credited to Ben). The other players stand taller and find they have more opportunity when he is on the field. We are a better team when he plays.
Click to expand...

Missing out on Shai Bolton was a massive stuff up, he was overwhelmingly the more obvious option, especially as Long was supposedly our Cyril.
 
gringo2011 said:
Missing out on Shai Bolton was a massive stuff up, he was overwhelmingly the more obvious option, especially as Long was supposedly our Cyril.
Click to expand...
Move on 😎

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The Dogs had pick 28 so taking Long at 25 sounds like a case of snatching him while we could, we prioritised foot skills that draft and liked his hardness.

Twomey linked us to Bolton and his mail's usually pretty good. Bolton was regarded as having a high ceiling but also a fair boom-or-bust quality to him, one write-up on him expresses the caveats rather well:

...Shai Bolton to partner Daniel Rioli. Moving to Melbourne from Western Australia will be a challenge but hopefully he settles in and can produce the impressive footy he showed for South Fremantle. He’s dynamic and has x-factor but needs to get his body right and the Tigers will need to manage him carefully.
Click to expand...

We went for a local mature speedster over a WA X-factor who didn't crack 70kg and we are where we are.
 
No surprise we missed Bolton because it was just par for the course at that time. Fun fact, in the 2013 and 2014 drafts we missed out on FIVE All Australian midfielders. Bont, Merrett, Crouch, Petracca and Touk Miller so of course we were going to miss Bolton. Now you’re never going to pick them all but if you’re half decent at your job surely you get at least one or two. Trading and drafting since then has been better but that’s very hard to recover from.
 
plugger66 said:
Change thread name to great recruiters in hindsight.
Click to expand...


Trying to argue that our drafting in that era was okay is even hard for you to argue. Luckily the Lethlean review seems to have acknowledged the mistakes and removed the problem and then sacked all the players taken in that era and started again. We even seem to have thought that the refuse from other clubs looks better than the payers we picked.

7 players are left from the 2015 list, Geary, McKenzie, Ross, Billings, Membrey, Webster and Sinclair. Hardly a dream team. 2017 we then have Gresham, Steele, Long, Battle, Joyce and Marshall added. Since then we've turned over 32 players and actively encouraged Billings and Ross to move on.

The Trout/Richo era of drafting was probably the single worst sustained period in modern footy. Steele was pinched from GWS and Marshall is promising to be A grade off the rookie list but it's impossible to defend it as acceptable.

If we'd drafted the forum favourites we would look like a different and much better side. Lethlean and Libba have had * all access and still managed to do more in 3 years than they did in 7.
 
gringo2011 said:
Trying to argue that our drafting in that era was okay is even hard for you to argue. Luckily the Lethlean review seems to have acknowledged the mistakes and removed the problem and then sacked all the players taken in that era and started again. We even seem to have thought that the refuse from other clubs looks better than the payers we picked.

7 players are left from the 2015 list, Geary, McKenzie, Ross, Billings, Membrey, Webster and Sinclair. Hardly a dream team. 2017 we then have Gresham, Steele, Long, Battle, Joyce and Marshall added. Since then we've turned over 32 players and actively encouraged Billings and Ross to move on.

The Trout/Richo era of drafting was probably the single worst sustained period in modern footy. Steele was pinched from GWS and Marshall is promising to be A grade off the rookie list but it's impossible to defend it as acceptable.

If we'd drafted the forum favourites we would look like a different and much better side. Lethlean and Libba have had fu** all access and still managed to do more in 3 years than they did in 7.
Click to expand...
It does raise the old question of recruitment vs development. Where the hell did it actually go wrong, how would a Billings, a Goddard, a McCartin turn out at a different club? How safe were those alternatives, would we have managed to get the best out of a Petracca or a Bolton?

And of course the damn luck factor, we finally invested heavily in rucks, were juggling Hickey, Longer, Pierce and Holmes, then we just happen to find the best of the lot as an over ager in this here rookie draft.
 
Most of us here had us taking Bolton over Long on draft night so it's not just hindsight.

So far it looks like a bad call.

Battle at 39 was a good selection. He's yet to nail a spot anywhere but the fact he's played 60 games already shows he's got talent.

Marshall in the rookie draft more than makes up for the Long over Bolton selection.

Overall it was a good draft considering the lack of high picks.

The real question sit over the following years draft for me. We went in with two top 8 picks.

Will Clark ever become the mid we desperately need?

Can Coffield get back to his best form he showed in the back half of 2020?

Let's hope so!!
 
goodie23 said:
It does raise the old question of recruitment vs development. Where the hell did it actually go wrong, how would a Billings, a Goddard, a McCartin turn out at a different club? How safe were those alternatives, would we have managed to get the best out of a Petracca or a Bolton?

And of course the damn luck factor, we finally invested heavily in rucks, were juggling Hickey, Longer, Pierce and Holmes, then we just happen to find the best of the lot as an over ager in this here rookie draft.
Click to expand...


I still think 90% of it is drafting. Gun players came through at Melbourne while they were in the same position and plenty failed like ours too. Your head recruiter is the most important job in footy. Draft badly in a few drafts in a row and you can burn 10 years. Get three guns in one draft like the Hawks did back in the day and you shoot up the ladder. We were into HBFs and recycled rucks and have * all to show for either.
 
bird_man said:
Most of us here had us taking Bolton over Long on draft night so it's not just hindsight.

So far it looks like a bad call.

Battle at 39 was a good selection. He's yet to nail a spot anywhere but the fact he's played 60 games already shows he's got talent.

Marshall in the rookie draft more than makes up for the Long over Bolton selection.

Overall it was a good draft considering the lack of high picks.

The real question sit over the following years draft for me. We went in with two top 8 picks.

Will Clark ever become the mid we desperately need?

Can Coffield get back to his best form he showed in the back half of 2020?

Let's hope so!!
Click to expand...

Coffield is the worry for mine. We look like we prefer Highmore and I don't think you can carry both. Clark looks like at worst he'll be a Billings type GOP with skills. If he steps up he really could be anything. He's at exactly the right age to surge and next year will tell us a lot about him. Jack Steele was heading for GOP status and exploded at the same age that HC will be next year.
 
gringo2011 said:
Coffield is the worry for mine. We look like we prefer Highmore and I don't think you can carry both. Clark looks like at worst he'll be a Billings type GOP with skills. If he steps up he really could be anything. He's at exactly the right age to surge and next year will tell us a lot about him. Jack Steele was heading for GOP status and exploded at the same age that HC will be next year.
Click to expand...
If Coffield returns to his 2020 form or goes past it there is absolutely no reason we can't "carry" both he and Highmore.
 
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