crowsarethebest
Norm Smith Medallist
Last 2 picks are high risk/high reward types. I remember the melts when Danger was picked over Ebert as 1. He was victorian 2. In the U18 national champs he only averaged something like 10 touches a game and 3. He stayed another year in Victoria to finish high school.
Danger from memory was a big reach at pick 10 too - most of the year he was in the 20-40 bracket but late mail was he could push up the draft.
Essentially Danger was fairly underexposed as he was used as a tagger/HBF in the U18 champs in his draft year. I remember he did pre season with us then went back and played TAC cup again when he was 18 but after he was drafted by us... he absolutely tore the TAC cup to shreds, regularly getting 30 + touches, think he played CHB and got close to 40 touches and and he may have kicked a bag of 10 from memory too?
Anyway, moral of the story is Haggis and the team would've taken a punt as it seems like O' Connor wasn't given a chance to play his most suited role as an inside mid at the champs (but when he played that role in his U18 WA side, did very well) so they reckon his production was down because of that. Same with Gollant, they would've seen something in him (most likely his movement and height for a player of his size) and thought that if they left him he would've exploded in production next year or someone wouldve taken a punt later in the draft on him. I think that's what the later draft picks are for - would you rather take a Brad Symes type who probably racks it up from day dot if you slot him into a rd 1 AFL side with limited upside or would you rather go the gun or bust route where they have a special AFL attribute but have a lot to work on but won't be able to slot in from day 1. I know which kid i'd rather take.
Danger from memory was a big reach at pick 10 too - most of the year he was in the 20-40 bracket but late mail was he could push up the draft.
Essentially Danger was fairly underexposed as he was used as a tagger/HBF in the U18 champs in his draft year. I remember he did pre season with us then went back and played TAC cup again when he was 18 but after he was drafted by us... he absolutely tore the TAC cup to shreds, regularly getting 30 + touches, think he played CHB and got close to 40 touches and and he may have kicked a bag of 10 from memory too?
Anyway, moral of the story is Haggis and the team would've taken a punt as it seems like O' Connor wasn't given a chance to play his most suited role as an inside mid at the champs (but when he played that role in his U18 WA side, did very well) so they reckon his production was down because of that. Same with Gollant, they would've seen something in him (most likely his movement and height for a player of his size) and thought that if they left him he would've exploded in production next year or someone wouldve taken a punt later in the draft on him. I think that's what the later draft picks are for - would you rather take a Brad Symes type who probably racks it up from day dot if you slot him into a rd 1 AFL side with limited upside or would you rather go the gun or bust route where they have a special AFL attribute but have a lot to work on but won't be able to slot in from day 1. I know which kid i'd rather take.
