Review AFL National Draft Geelong picks 22 24 36 and 57

[manboob]

It's not really. We're struggling to come up with starting KPFs let alone depth players in that area, with the club having sought a tag-team partner for Hawkins for years but never being able to pull it off.

It's a tough ask. In the past decade only the Hawks and Eagles have managed to do it with any great success (and recently the invisibles).

 

[manboob]

We have small forwards. They're just always injured. As I said in another thread, McCarthy and Gregson would want to start playing regular footy soon because a couple of these picks could very well be their replacements. Miers seems dangerous around the sticks, too, and we've lacked a small forward who can hit the scoreboard consistently for a good while.

It's costing us big time. Our forward line of the era had Stokes (176cm), Byrnes (175cm), Chapman (179cm) and Varcoe (180cm). This year the shortest bloke was Dangerfield or Parsons for most of it at 189cm.

 

[ShaunWDT]

When watching the draft last night, I'm pretty sure I heard Wells saying "he can play half-forward" just before we selected Constable. Maybe until his running improves, he'll play as a medium forward to help Hawkins.

Pretty sure he was discussing Tim Kelly then before they made the Constable decision.

Constable can play half back but he's far from a forward.

 

[Stocks_go_Up]

We have small forwards. They're just always injured. As I said in another thread, McCarthy and Gregson would want to start playing regular footy soon because a couple of these picks could very well be their replacements. Miers seems dangerous around the sticks, too, and we've lacked a small forward who can hit the scoreboard consistently for a good while.

Our small forwards have been lacking for a long time - I remember complaining about it back in 2014 when we were sending Bartel down there and he could hardly lift his arms above his head anymore.

 

[Mahlepi]

Fair enough I apologise if I have offended anyone

really, you are renowned for having a go on no factual basis

you are one strange cat

 

[BORIS332]

Pretty sure he was discussing Tim Kelly then before they made the Constable decision.

Constable can play half back but he's far from a forward.

From what I’ve read, Constable can play forward. He even said it himself in his interview with AFL.com.au.

Edit: it’s mentioned in this article that he rotated forward and on the ball in the TAC Cup and also played deep forward when he was injured, kicking two goals in a final with a groin complaint.

http://footyprophet.com/2017-afl-draft-profile-charlie-constable/

 

[Ratcat]

Our small forwards have been lacking for a long time - I remember complaining about it back in 2014 when we were sending Bartel down there and he could hardly lift his arms above his head anymore.

Yet we persist, it won't work!

 

[Strange Cat]

really, you are renowned for having a go on no factual basis

Wouldn’t go that far

 

[BORIS332]

Our small forwards have been lacking for a long time - I remember complaining about it back in 2014 when we were sending Bartel down there and he could hardly lift his arms above his head anymore.

We have a pretty healthy stable of small forwards now: Parfitt, Cockatoo, Narkle, Jones, Fogarty, Kelly, Miers, Gregson and McCarthy if fit, and Danger and Gaz down there at times, even Murdoch and Parsons play small. That’s a fair chunk of the list.

 

[winty]

Absolutely over the moon with the fact we have strengthened our small forward stocks. Got sick of seeing us kick long to Hawkins, only for the opposition to bring the ball to ground and run it out with no pressure whatsoever.

Now with Miers, Kelly and Fogarty all able to play down there and apply defensive pressure, and hopefully we get to see the likes Gregson, McCarthy and Cockatoo on the ground more than in the rehab group, one of our biggest weaknesses could possibly be one of our biggest strengths going forward.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

I'm going out on a limb and predicting that Constable will end up the better long term player from all our draftees and that's taking into account how good Kelly is and the immediate impact I expect him to have.

Give Constable two years in the VFL system to build up his tank and add a little more size and I reckon he'll be ready to step straight into the side and give a good account of himself. He has got composure and vision which you can't teach and is paramount to becoming a successful AFL mid. His disposal is also more than adequate.

I'm more excited about Constable down the track than the other 3, and that's not taking anything away from them.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

We have a pretty healthy stable of small forwards now: Parfitt, Cockatoo, Narkle, Jones, Fogarty, Kelly, Miers, Gregson and McCarthy if fit, and Danger and Gaz down there at times, even Murdoch and Parsons play small. That’s a fair chunk of the list.

Cockatoo (once he builds his endurance) parfitt and kelly are ideally midfielders/hfs not small crumbing forwards but i agree with your general point.

 

[Warhorse]

We have a pretty healthy stable of small forwards now: Parfitt, Cockatoo, Narkle, Jones, Fogarty, Kelly, Miers, Gregson and McCarthy if fit, and Danger and Gaz down there at times, even Murdoch and Parsons play small. That’s a fair chunk of the list.

Only small forwards on that list are Miers and Jones. The rest are mainly mids. Parfitt lacks goal sense, Cockatoo lacks games sense and struggles to hit the scoreboard, narkle is an inside mid, kelly is an outside mid, fogarty is a mid who sometimes plays forward, gregson and mccarthy play as small forwards as they are both not good enough to be in the midfield.

We actually dont have many real specialist small forwards on our list. I guess CS prefers are larger midfield rotation

 

[Hamingja]

I'm going out on a limb and predicting that Constable will end up the better long term player from all our draftees and that's taking into account how good Kelly is and the immediate impact I expect him to have.

Give Constable two years in the VFL system to build up his tank and add a little more size and I reckon he'll be ready to step straight into the side and give a good account of himself. He has got composure and vision which you can't teach and is paramount to becoming a successful AFL mid. His disposal is also more than adequate.

I'm more excited about Constable down the track than the other 3, and that's not taking anything away from them.

We just have such a bad record with drafting these sort of juniors, at least outside of the top 10 picks like Corey and Bartel, it is just hard to have a lot of confidence for mine. Schroder, GHS, Jansen. Not Wells' speciality taking them later in the draft.

 

[Warhorse]

22 L. Fogarty: good selection and an immediate upgrade on mccarthy and gregson. I had him around the 30 mark as his type usually slide a bit in most drafts. Regardless i can see him playing games next season in what is now a very important role in the forward line.

24 Tim Kelly: Hard one to judge. I have him in the top 10 midfielders in this draft. High risk of homesickness and has a lot on his plate with the kids. Seen a bit of him play out here in perth and is just silk. He has this running style that looks like he is jogging yet is putting distance between himself and his opponents. Actually underrater on the inside as well. Im hoping he pushes menegola out of the team as a rotation of ablett, dangerfield, duncan, selwood would be dynamic. He adds a real point of difference to our current midfield. I'm hoping for him to play a similar role to des headland when he was at brisbane. As a goal kicking midfielder who gets off the leash due to our other mids.

36 Charlie Constable: best available and to good to pass up here. Taken at the right time as the time will come for selwood sooner than most think. Has an opportunity to develop under some outstanding midfielders and from all reports is a high character individual. Happy with this selection.

57 Gryan Miers: this is the pick the concerns me most. One of the slowest in the draft and will be one of the slowest in our team. He is slower than most ruckman, let that sink in. He actually reminds me of Tom Rockliff in his draft year as both hit the scoreboard but are slow as treacle. I dont think he has the scope or the opportunity to develop into a mid like rockliff. I'm hoping he develops into a jason porplyzia style foward who used to play for Adelaide. Personally i would have picked joel Garner, Dylan Moore or bid on Shipley. At this stage of the draft I would ignore list needs and just pick the most likely players to make it as AFL footballers.

Very happy with the draft. Only fail was keeping hayball as a rookie as i dont rate. I hope we pick a developing ruck or a small forward on monday as they are the most likely types to make it from the rookie list

 

[Hamingja]

24 Tim Kelly: Hard one to judge. I have him in the top 10 midfielders in this draft. High risk of homesickness and has a lot on his plate with the kids. Seen a bit of him play out here in perth and is just silk. He has this running style that looks like he is jogging yet is putting distance between himself and his opponents. Actually underrater on the inside as well. Im hoping he pushes menegola out of the team as a rotation of ablett, dangerfield, duncan, selwood would be dynamic. He adds a real point of difference to our current midfield. I'm hoping for him to play a similar role to des headland when he was at brisbane. As a goal kicking midfielder who gets off the leash due to our other mids.

If Kelly comes in and plays really well then I can definitely see this happening. Won't be a popular sentiment on here but to take the next step it is the kind of thing we are going to need to happen. It also requires the coach making the tough call and dropping Menegola outright in that scenario instead of playing him off half forward. Need to pick the best team as the sum of all parts rather than pick the best 22 players and squash them in to positions. That's why I like the draft, they have given Scott some forward options now so no excuse to have our starting small/medium forwards being midfielders like we had Menegola, Lang and Parfitt for a lot of last year for example.

 

[Stocks_go_Up]

We have a pretty healthy stable of small forwards now: Parfitt, Cockatoo, Narkle, Jones, Fogarty, Kelly, Miers, Gregson and McCarthy if fit, and Danger and Gaz down there at times, even Murdoch and Parsons play small. That’s a fair chunk of the list.

Lets re-assess at the end of the year. Happy the club finally saw the light and went hard at small forwards - can't keep using the injury excuse every bloody year.

 

[Boxhead_31]

Absolutely over the moon with the fact we have strengthened our small forward stocks. Got sick of seeing us kick long to Hawkins, only for the opposition to bring the ball to ground and run it out with no pressure whatsoever.

Now with Miers, Kelly and Fogarty all able to play down there and apply defensive pressure, and hopefully we get to see the likes Gregson, McCarthy and Cockatoo on the ground more than in the rehab group, one of our biggest weaknesses could possibly be one of our biggest strengths going forward.

Don't worry, if the whispers are true we'll add Crameri in the Rookie draft to ensure the rehab group remains strong

 

[manboob]

Cockatoo (once he builds his endurance) parfitt and kelly are ideally midfielders/hfs not small crumbing forwards but i agree with your general point.

It's that whole Chappy/SJ/Ablett vibe though isn't it - you want half a dozen blokes blokes rotating through the midfield and forward lines.

 

[manboob]

24 Tim Kelly: *snip*He adds a real point of difference to our current midfield. I'm hoping for him to play a similar role to des headland when he was at brisbane. As a goal kicking midfielder who gets off the leash due to our other mids.

Man oh man he was off the chain in 2002 at Brisbane.

 

[CatsDoItBetter]

From the article in the Sun today it sounds like we will be picking Crameri and Hayball with our 2 picks on Monday, Wells said he (Crameri) is a player we will be looking at. Obviously you cant guarantee you can get a player unless you have the first pick so if he's there sounds like he's coming.

 

[Turbocat]

Would like to see that!
Kreuger's got just about everything you want in a tall.

His kicking needs work but he has great movement.

 

[Turbocat]

We have small forwards. They're just always injured. As I said in another thread, McCarthy and Gregson would want to start playing regular footy soon because a couple of these picks could very well be their replacements. Miers seems dangerous around the sticks, too, and we've lacked a small forward who can hit the scoreboard consistently for a good while.

Yep... Gregson and McCarthy have shown something at the required level... but we have Jones and the injured Narkle as well. So if we have any nous draft small forwards someone should be able to do the business. No more excuses. Get fit, stay fit or ......

 

[Turbocat]

It's not really. We're struggling to come up with starting KPFs let alone depth players in that area, with the club having sought a tag-team partner for Hawkins for years but never being able to pull it off. One of the major structural challenges everyone is grappling with is how Geelong organises its forward line given there are so few reliable KPF options on the list besides Hawkins. There are players we could use to fill the hole but they all have fairly serious knocks for a side that is trying for a flag again in 2018: Stanley has never been able to consistently deliver as a tall forward and is more often a hindrance than a help, Buzza is a prospect but seems to young and raw to hold down a spot in the seniors just yet, Esava is way too raw, and Black isn't really a KPF and only an average player regardless. Then you have Taylor, but he was mostly a non-factor up forward last year and he continued to prove how valuable he was down back when he went back there for often for steadying effect. With Lonergan gone, we need him back down there more than ever.

I think the KPD stocks hold up a little better. Lonergan retired this year, which is a significant loss, but I've felt for years that we were too tall and consequently slow down back, with Lonergan the slowest of them all, so that will force that end of the side to balance out a little more, which may be for the best. Taylor and Henderson should be good enough to hold down the key back posts, with Kolo coming along and Stewart able to play as a tall as well. Gardner has also reportedly been doing reasonably well in the VFL the last few years and would be the natural replacement for Lonergan. Who knows if he will ever be good enough for AFL level, however. House is another who was playing down back in the VFL later in the year but can also play as a forward.

I'd say we could definitely use some more talent in these areas. It seemed to me that we drafted players in this draft to address needs that the club has now as it heads for a premiership. One problem it faced last year was that, while it had smalls on the list, they were injured, leaving us bereft of viable small forward options. We may have sought to draft their replacements or bolster the depth in that area rather than hope and pray Gregson and McCarthy can stop getting injured as has been policy for some time. Wouldn't expect 18-year-olds to do too much in their first seasons, however.

Good post .. id also say the club probably feel that if they have to they can trade a player in as they haven't had the high percentage picks for talls. Maybe next year as they have kept the R1 ..which means all the players who are possible tall forwards are on notice a bit.

 

[Turbocat]

From the article in the Sun today it sounds like we will be picking Crameri and Hayball with our 2 picks on Monday, Wells said he (Crameri) is a player we will be looking at. Obviously you cant guarantee you can get a player unless you have the first pick so if he's there sounds like he's coming.

I suppose it make sense.. if doesn't work out he he gets the broom but he has shown a few years ago he can kick goals.