Best recent draft choices

[Daics35Marvel]

We often hear a lot of hindsight 20/20 about drafting decisions. These are usually negative and highlight supposed blunders. So I wanted to post this poll to give some kudos to Derek Hine, who since arriving at the club has made some excellent choices which will stand our club in good stead for years to come.

IMO these are his highlights. Feel free to choose Other and post a comment if you think I've missed his best decision.

(Note: I'm not after the best player, Pendles would be a lock, rather the best use of a pick)

 

[Invigoration]

I voted Beams, but Blight is going to prove to be a pretty inspired choice I think.

Wellingham could be anything, getting him in the rookie draft could be the steal of the decade

 

[Rustin Cohle]

Scott Pendlebury. The guy is pure class and should be a Collingwood great in the years to come.

 

[mattys123]

I voted Beams, but I think our most inspired pickup has been Harry O'Brien.

Not only has Harry developed into a top class defender who also gives us great rebound, he is also one of the truly great personalities of AFL football and must make being part of the Collingwood player group so much better.

Good poll, finally some positive thoughts regarding our drafting, which compared to a lot of clubs (yes, richmond, that includes you) is very good.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

In terms of talent vs pick number.

Beames EASILY.

 

[Daics35Marvel]

I voted Beams, but I think our most inspired pickup has been Harry O'Brien.

I wasn't 100% sure when Derek Hine's tenure began. The earliest reference I found to him from news articles were from 2005 so I limited the poll to 2005 onwards.

Harry O'Brien was drafted in the 2004 Rookie Draft (#21). Agreed that it would have to be one of our best selections in the past decade.

 

[StillWaiting5689]

I went with Anthony as he was a mid range pick so its a good pick up. Beams goes close aswell but I favoured Anthony purely because its been so long since we have had a forward who is a reliable shot for goal, even though he was drafted as a defender Hine can still get points for it.

 

[3066]

I voted Beams for pure impact as a 1st year player. He just checked some many boxes on a wishlist for another (true) mid fielder and AFL player. His presence has allowed other experienced rotational midfielders like Tarks and Daisy to go off and do other roles without leaving us down a smart runner.

 

[Bloben]

The two that stand out from that list are Beams and Pendlebury.

We heard about how much we wanted Beams before the draft, even that we were considering pulling the trigger at pick 11. The fact that we were successful in taking Sidebottom at 11 and then were lucky enough that nobody else picked Beams before pick 29 is an indication that the other clubs didn't rate him as much as we did. So that is both a tick for Hine and a big cross for the rest of the clubs recruitment teams.

Pendlebury was all Hine though. Massive shock that we took him so high however time has shown that he was definitely worth it. Himself and Murphy are the two best players from that draft.

A player that we may hopefully add to the list above is John McCarthy who from memory went around 31 in the 2007 draft. If he can finish the season strongly and have a big injury-free preseason then expect big things from him next year. He and Sidebottom will start to push out guys like O'Bree and Lockyer.

 

[Mudeo]

I went pendlebury
i remember one of his first games he played against Brisbane and i was so excited by what i saw, so cool in traffic and silky smooth skills for one of his 1st games

 

[Pies_10]

How could it be anything but Pendlebury???
Beams is good but how can he be leading Pendlebury is one of our best 5 players and no one thought he was going to be a top 10 pick let alone top 5.

 

[blacknwhitearmy]

I went for beams i think one of the best first year players i have seen in the club(rising star anyone, could be a chance with his last month of footy). Thing i like about him is he nearly kicks a goal a game. Then a close second to pendles.
In Hine we we trust have got some great steals from the draft since getting him.

 

[Quicky]

I voted Anthony but really it's splitting hairs with Pendles and Beams.

I don't think Anthony is necessarily the best player of the lot but he is so important to the structure of our team it's hard to ignore. We are just a stronger and better structured team with him in it. To get such a promising KP player at 37 is a pretty damn good pick up.

 

[barrydiggs]

Daniel Rich will win the rising star award for 2009

But check out these stats:

Rich: 17.8 Disposals Per Game 3.1 Marks Per Game 0.6 Goals Per Game

Beams: 19.3 Disposals Per Game 5.1 Marks Per Game 0.9 Goals Per Game

Effective disposals:

Beams: 13.7
Rich: 11.5

 

[Just Kick It]

How could it be anything but Pendlebury???
Beams is good but how can he be leading Pendlebury is one of our best 5 players and no one thought he was going to be a top 10 pick let alone top 5.

This is the exact same reason that I voted for Pendles, he was barely in anyone's calculations until the end of the first round or the start of the second. Matt Burgin had him going to WC at pick 13, and that was only after news sprung up late that the pies were strongly looking at him for the number 5 pick.

Just out of interest, here's what Matt Burgin tipped us to get in '05 and what we actually took:

2 - Xavier Ellis - We took Dale Thomas - Evens. Too early to tell.

5 - Dale Thomas - We took Pendles - BIG win. Pendles is a star!

21 - Travis Varcoe - We took Stanley - Loss, I'd prefer Varcoe than Stanley

23 - Sam Gilbert - We took Cook - Loss. Gilbert is in good nick at the Saints.

37 - Max Bailey - We took Anthony - DEFINITE win.

52 - PASS - We Passed.

 

[Boris the Contradiction]

I'd say pendlebury at this stage, but Beams could be in a season considering how much lower he went. Also, at their respective drafts Beams was probably considered to have "slipped through" and Pendles was "too high". To me, this makes he pendlebury choice more inspired considering how many options he had. Pendles and Higgins are the best players from that draft IMO with Murphy, Ryder, M Clark, Anthony, Birchall, Gilbert and Vince the group behind. Kennedy and Thomas have the talent to be as good as the first two tho if things go right for them.

Is this all drafts or just the national draft because I'm pretty sure Wello was a rookie. I reckon he's got something special that kid.

We now have Wellingham, O'Brien, Maxwell, Lockyer, (Toovey?), and Clarke who have al been on rookie lists. Unblievable recruiting and development and from all reports Blair is something special as well.

EDIT: Just looked again and realised you've got the drafts listed so don't worry about my draft question.

 

[ozpie]

future brownlow medalist Dane Swan was picked up around the pick #50 mark, pretty decent draft pickup id say

 

[didaka]

Beams or Pendles are the easy options, but I'll vote for Jack at selection 37.

Big, strong goal kicking forwards are hard to find at the best of times (ask the dogs) and we got a players that's kicked 50 goals in his 2nd season of AFL football in the 3rd round of a draft that wasn't rated that highly.

He has a lot of improvement in him also.

 

[Sloth]

If you are taking into account the value of the pick used, you can't beat Jack Anthony at #37. Beams is also a great pickup at #27

Pendles is a great player but at pick #5 you'd expect him to be.

 

[Invigoration]

future brownlow medalist Dane Swan was picked up around the pick #50 mark, pretty decent draft pickup id say

Not recent and wasn't done under Hine.

Good choice nonetheless, goes some ways to redeeming the magnitude of failed picks we had around that time.

 

[The Dawes]

Beams or Pendles are the easy options, but I'll vote for Jack at selection 37.

Big, strong goal kicking forwards are hard to find at the best of times (ask the dogs) and we got a players that kicked 50 goals in his 2nd season of AFL football at in the 3rd round of a draft that wasn't rated that highly.

He has a lot of improvement in him also.

Good call.

You can make a strong case for all of them really, although it is early days for Beams in particular but also Sharrod, Dick and Jack who have plenty of good footy ahead of them.

I voted for Jack too, given how far he's come in a relatively short space of time and also considering the serious neck injury he sustained which kept him out for a year in 2007.

 

[eddiewood]

Jack got my vote for no other reason than what's been said to date. Tall forwards who can mark and and kick goals are few and far between. History will determine, but Hine himself may well be our best pick up.

 

[pongo_3931]

I've gone with Jack.

Pendles was picked much higher and has been in the system for a little longer, so his outstanding talent aside I've picked Jack based on draft positioning etc...

Picked fairly low down in the draft he's come up trumps and with hindsight, I'm sure other clubs would have taken him as a first rounder.

Trained to play in defense the man has never been there, proving too good a forward to play back. Is this fluke or Hine shining through?

He's also added a forward element that we needed. With Rocca fading out, he's given us a forward who can comfortably kick a couple on any given day, and his height is not so impressive that we can afford to lob a high ball to him all the time. He's given great form to our forward line.

 

[TomBolt]

This is the exact same reason that I voted for Pendles, he was barely in anyone's calculations until the end of the first round or the start of the second. Matt Burgin had him going to WC at pick 13, and that was only after news sprung up late that the pies were strongly looking at him for the number 5 pick.

Just out of interest, here's what Matt Burgin tipped us to get in '05 and what we actually took:

2 - Xavier Ellis - We took Dale Thomas - Evens. Too early to tell.

5 - Dale Thomas - We took Pendles - BIG win. Pendles is a star!

21 - Travis Varcoe - We took Stanley - Loss, I'd prefer Varcoe than Stanley

23 - Sam Gilbert - We took Cook - Loss. Gilbert is in good nick at the Saints.

37 - Max Bailey - We took Anthony - DEFINITE win.

52 - PASS - We Passed.

Excellent thread. Maybe look at it this way, where would you rank the players now in a draft tomorrow - then compare with their actual draft cost to get a numerical result (let's assume a rookie is pick 70):

Pendles - now pick 2, was pick 5, +3
Beams - now pick 6, was pick 29, +23
Jack - now pick 8, was pick 37, +29
Harry - now pick 9, was pick 70, +61 (news article said he rang Hine to get a rookie gig)
Sidey - now pick 10, was pick 10, +0
Wello - now pick 15, was pick 70, +55
Dick - now pick 17, was pick 44, +27
Stanley - now pick 60, was pick 21, -39

This emphasizes value for the pick, not which is the best player. I was wrapped to get Pendles, but he had to be good as he cost plenty.

 

[iGNITER]

All very good pickups.

Harry O was a superb pickup in the rookie draft. He will be All-Australian soon enough as is a vital player in our back half.

Pendles is just a GUN and Beamsy looks like he will be something special.

Derek Hine