AFL.com Phantom Draft

[Wally Matera]

Interesting to see what Burgan on AFL.com's Phantom Draft looks like... It's actually quite funny to see Richmond select half the draft, or should that be quite embarrassing?

According to Burgan... here's our selections:

21. Richmond – Josh Willoughby (Glenelg)
37. Richmond – Tom Roach (Oakleigh Chargers)*
53. Richmond – Shane Morrison (Brisbane Lions)
64. Richmond – Brad Seymour (Sydney)
70. Richmond – Zac Dawson (Calder Cannons)
73. Richmond – Julian Rowe (Oakleigh Chargers)
76. Richmond – Daniel Jackson (Oakleigh Chargers)
79. Richmond – Shannon Motlop (Kangaroos)
81. Richmond – Rupert Betheras (Collingwood)
82. Richmond – Pass
83. Richmond – Pass

 

[CJH]

Interesting that he has us bypassing Bill Morrison for Willoughby...

21. Richmond – Josh Willoughby (Glenelg)
22. Geelong – Bill Morrison (North Hobart)


Given the wraps on Morrison we may have gumped if he was still available at 21.

 

[kretchy]

Surely we would have to take Morrison at 21 if he is still there.

I don't like the look of all those recycled players, but sadly thats the way it will be as long as we don't take Simon Fletcher or Ben Marsh I'll be able to handle it.

 

[corporal]

I'd rather have Fletcher than Shannon"turtle meat"Motlop

 

[One-eyed Tiger]

Leaves us with 2 picks in the PSD...

 

[Wally Matera]

What about Seymour? Jury's out for me... I'm not sure why we'd need to draft him that early, only Carlton would be interested wouldn't they?

 

[One-eyed Tiger]

Is it just me or does anyone else think that we could have picked up Tom Roach later in the draft without having to sacrifice our 3rd round pick?

 

[mighty tiges]

Originally posted by Wally Matera
What about Seymour? Jury's out for me... I'm not sure why we'd need to draft him that early, only Carlton would be interested wouldn't they?

A injury prone 27 year old (turns 28 in May) HB flanker (186cm/84kg) is not what we need.

 

[mighty tiges]

21. Richmond – Josh Willoughby
(Glenelg) 11 January 1986, 175.6cm, 70kg

Willoughby is a classy inside forward/midfielder who is dynamic around goal and a smart reader of play. He is a highly rated small man, who was a joint winner of the Kevin Sheehan Medal for the best player in the National AFL under 16 championships in 2002. An AIS/AFL academy member and All-Australian in this year’s National AFL under 18 championships, Willoughby has attracted plenty of interest from the Tigers, while both Port Adelaide and Adelaide will certainly be monitoring his whereabouts during the selection process. He has been rated a top 10 pick on pure football ability by some, but is likely to be a second round or early third round selection.


---------------------

Does anyone else get nervous when at short lightweight draftee is linked to the Tigers at this time of year. Not knocking his footy ability as I have never seen him play but size-wise sounds like another Ednie to me.

 

[One-eyed Tiger]

Courtesy of Goalden Hawk:

JOSH WILLOUGHBY

Details:
Club: Bordertown/Glenelg
DOB: 11 Jan 86 Hgt: 176cm Wgt: 69kg
Position: Forward Pocket/Onballer
Natural foot: Right

Honours:
AIS/AFL Academy
South Australia 2003
All Australian 2003
National Draft Camp Invitee 2003

Profile:
Willoughby is yet another Croweater mentioned as a player to watch by JT last year. If we are after a small forward in the national draft, Josh would surely be one of the main candidates. Certainly if I had to choose between him and Harry Miller I would take Willoughby.

The good thing about Josh is not only can he play really well as a small forward, he can also spend time on the ball and be quite damaging. He gathered 59 possessions for the carnival and kicked a couple of freakish goals as well.

Willoughby has real pace, clean hands and is just one of those guys who can kick a goal out of absolutely nothing. He kicked a crucial goal for SA in the final game of the championships. Has that unique ability to do some freakish, something that will excite the crowd and spark a side.

He is good in traffic and a good mark despite his small size. He is also a very smart player. A good example of this was when he took a mark in the forward line. He kept backing back into the man on the mark, creating enough space for his teammate to run into an open goal after a clever handball.

Willoughby works hard, gathers a lot of touches and has that extra flair that should see him go fairly early in the draft. The only thing that will see him fall is his size - Josh is still extremely light (another Mummy's Boy?) and is not that tall. He is sensible enough not to put himself in a situation where he could get hurt, but he needs more bulk. Possibly 2nd-3rd round, but may go later due to his size.

THOMAS ROACH

Details:
Club: Carey Grammar
DOB: 2 Sep 85 Hgt: 182cm Wgt: 73kg
Position: Onballer
Natural foot: Right

Honours:

TAC Stats:
2003: 7 games, 6 goals, 19.7 PPG.

Profile:
Won't spend too long on him as I've only seen him once and he is going to Richmond anyway. He looks pretty good, might take a bit of time but should be a good player.

Roach is very much a 20-40 player as I like to call them - he loves to carry the ball 20 metres before kicking it at least 40. He loves to take blokes on and run the footy at every opportunity.

Not sure if he has a left foot, saw him use a banana kick in general play, mind you it went through for a brilliant goal so can't bag it too much! Should be OK, but will need time.

ZAC DAWSON

Details:
Club: Doutta Stars
DOB: 22 Feb 86 Hgt: 194cm Wgt: 78kg
Position: Ruckman
Natural foot: Left

Honours:
National Draft Camp Invitee 2003

TAC Stats:
2003: 13 games, 6 goals, 9.1 PPG.

Profile:
From Essendon Grammar, Dawson is an athletic tall who spent most of his time in the ruck but can go forward if required.

Dawson made the initial Vic Metro squad but was cut after the Vic Country trial match. I'm still not totally sure where he could play at AFL level. I have a feeling he might be a bit short to ruck. I think he does have the athleticism, footy smarts and marking ability to possibly be a project player up forward.

Zac has a huge leap on him (top 10 in the draft camp) and excels and outjumping his opponent at the ruck contest and smashing the ball forward. However, he tended to struggle against the bulkier TAC ruckman because he is an absolute rake - would need 2-3 years in the gym before making any impact at senior level.

His skills are reasonable for a big man and he will cover territory and work hard at ground level. He can tend to be overzealous and give away a few clumsy free kicks, more out of enthusiasm than anything else.

I would think given talls are so thin on the ground he has to be looked at with a late selection - would be a punt but has shown enough promise to be worth a go.

JULIAN ROWE

Details:
Club: Carey Grammar
DOB: 25 May 85 Hgt: 186cm Wgt: 72kg
Position: Wing
Natural foot: Right

Honours:
Victoria Metro 2003
National Draft Camp Invitee 2003

TAC Stats:
2002: 9 games, 3 goals, 13.5 PPG.
2003: 9 games, 9 goals, 22.9 PPG.

Profile:
Rowe is yet another one of the promising outside midfielders in this year's draft. He was impressive in most of the games I saw him in, but unfortunately he tore some cartilage in his knee and missed the second half of the year.

My favourite thing about Julian is his ability to find space and his disposal is good by either foot. In nearly every game I saw he was quite confident to use his left foot, despite being a beautiful kick on his right.

His ability to find space is uncanny. As soon as Oakleigh gets possession he runs hard to a position and inevitably ends up with the footy. Is definitely a bit of a downhill skier, but I certainly wouldn't call him soft - will do the team acts such as smothering and 2nd efforts.

He can be very damaging with the ball, such is the precision in his kicking. Is fairly athletic and good on a lead. My only query at this stage would be the effect of the injury, and his defensive capabilities. Looks pretty good to me though and should be taken, perhaps around the middle of the draft.

DANIEL JACKSON

Details:
Club: Carey Grammar
DOB: 25 Apr 86 Hgt: 185cm Wgt: 83kg
Position: Forward
Natural foot: Right

Honours:
State Screening Camp Invitee 2003

TAC Stats:
2003: 7 games, 6 goals, 13.6 PPG.

Profile:
Don't really know too much about this guy - I only saw him play once against the Western Jets as a leading forward. He was nothing special, a red head who presented OK.

Jackson only played seven games (possibly due to school footy) but seemed to play in a variety of roles for Oakleigh, including a couple of games on the ball, and a game against Geelong where he kicked 4.2. He is very young. I would think he will get another year at TAC level to impress, but perhaps some sides saw something in the games I didn't see him in.

 

[One-eyed Tiger]

Interesting that Jackson and Rowe, like Roach are also from Carey Grammar. A lot of guys from private schools make a priority of playing for their school and as a result don't play as many TAC games. Wondering if these are 2 that they accidently stumbled across whilst observing Tom Roach playing for Carey.

 

[jk_shredder]

Originally posted by One-eyed Tiger
Is it just me or does anyone else think that we could have picked up Tom Roach later in the draft without having to sacrifice our 3rd round pick?

I might be wrong here but isnt it an AFL rule that the a father/son draft pick is to give up a round 3 pick? If you pick 2 kids through the father/son rule you have to give up a round 3 and a round 2 pick like what Collingwood gave up to pick up the Brayden and Heath Shaw. This could explain why Richmond has not chosen Geoff Raines' younger son - Andrew.

Any opinions?

 

[One-eyed Tiger]

What I was getting at was not picking him up under the father-son rule with a round 3 pick, but instead getting him to nominate for the National Draft and pick him up with a 4th or 5th round pick. Surely he would have still been around.

 

[jk_shredder]

Originally posted by One-eyed Tiger
What I was getting at was not picking him up under the father-son rule with a round 3 pick, but instead getting him to nominate for the National Draft and pick him up with a 4th or 5th round pick. Surely he would have still been around.

According to Hutchinson and Miller, Roach was a first round pick contender. We would have missed out on him and it would have been Jason Cloke all over again.

He was so highly regarded that he started training with the Tigers in July and was signed up in August! Even the Shaw boys werent confirmed by Collingwood as father/son draft picks until September although it was known to everyone that Collingwood would pick both of them up.

For the record though, like a lot of Tigers supporters, we dont like Jason Cloke and are very happy at the Tigers picking up Coughlan instead of wasting it on Jason Cloke.

 

[jk_shredder]

Originally posted by One-eyed Tiger
What I was getting at was not picking him up under the father-son rule with a round 3 pick, but instead getting him to nominate for the National Draft and pick him up with a 4th or 5th round pick. Surely he would have still been around.

According to Hutchinson and Miller, Roach was a first round pick contender. We would have missed out on him and it would have been Jason Cloke all over again.

He was so highly regarded that he started training with the Tigers in July and was signed up in August! Even the Shaw boys werent confirmed by Collingwood as father/son draft picks until September although it was known to everyone that Collingwood would pick both of them up.

For the record though, like a lot of Tigers supporters, we dont like Jason Cloke and are very happy at the Tigers picking up Coughlan instead of wasting it on Jason Cloke.

 

[Coughlan24]

Originally posted by jk_shredder
According to Hutchinson and Miller, Roach was a first round pick contender. We would have missed out on him and it would have been Jason Cloke all over again.

More crap from Hutchison and Co

Roach would not have gone in the first or second round.

The fact he was signed up during August was simply the club trying to act positive

They rushed the decision to take the heat off after the St Kilda flogging, trying to keep the rabid fans quiet

In hindsight, I dont think they would have used the 3rd round pick

 

[jk_shredder]

We can argue about it until the cows come home but the fact is, Thomas Roach will feel the pressure of being compared with his father as well as the weight of expectation that comes from being an offspring of a champion. Basically, the boy will have a lot discipline to focus on getting his body ready to play AFL footy within the next 12 to 18 months. From what I have seen of him, he has the skills to take him to the next level but he is only just a boy and will need to spend a lot of time in the gym.

As Tigers supporters we can only hope that he will be a 200+ games player. I am curious as to what his number is going to be at Tigerland.

 

[Pirate]

They wouldn't have given up pick 37 so early unless they felt veryconfident he was at least of that quality. They would have seen him play oodles of times. I concede that the announcement may have been timed to put a positive spin on a bad week following the St.kilda game.

 

[tige19]

I wouldnt mind Seymour, the guy is pretty reliable and does his job with a no fuss matter. In the mould of the late Jamie Tape.

 

[Rodan#18.]

Call me crazy...

Call me crazy...i'd draft Morrison at 21 in the ND. He's a sure bet and we'll need him more than an eighteen year old doing the rounds at Coburg. Morrison is young enough anyway.

It's either that or get Ray Hall to play CHB all year...

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Re: Call me crazy...

Originally posted by Rodan#18.
Call me crazy...i'd draft Morrison at 21 in the ND. He's a sure bet and we'll need him more than an eighteen year old doing the rounds at Coburg. Morrison is young enough anyway.

It's either that or get Ray Hall to play CHB all year...

im with you brother

cheers!

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Originally posted by One-eyed Tiger
What I was getting at was not picking him up under the father-son rule with a round 3 pick, but instead getting him to nominate for the National Draft and pick him up with a 4th or 5th round pick. Surely he would have still been around.

surely some club would have taken pettiffer for a round 3 pick.thats all he,s worth these days.

cheers!

 

[Rodan#18.]

Re: Re: Call me crazy...

Originally posted by tiger of old
im with you brother

cheers!

Craziness is catching.