Did we get it wrong?

[Bird Man]

i saw this on the main board but for all years..

just wanted to post this here.

People believe we didnt get the best player for our first pick and that was lids..
People thought we should have got roughhead or buddy

Thoughts?

 

[Rustof]

If Lids played in a premiership winning/top 4 side he'd be regarded as one of the best in the league.

 

[turtle27]

Buddy, maybe, you'd certainly be more prepared to listen to the argument than Roughead. There's just no way he's better than Lids.

 

[nut]

Interesting topic.....

 

[Tiger Titus]

In hindsight Buddy was the best player in the draft.

But that doesn't make picking Lids a mistake. He was the pick of the bunch on the day of the draft and if you're not happy with him now you've got rocks in your head. All the other clubs would love to have him.

It might be the one eyed Tiger fan in me, but I wouldn't support a 1 for 1 swap of Lids for Buddy now anyway. Lids is a beauty, elite disposal, and as we get better he'll look better.

Goddard was pick 1 in the draft 2 years before Lids, and it's only been in the last couple of years that he's been considered one of the top talents in the AFL (coinciding with the Saints most successful period during his career). If we can get up and about in the next couple of years I reckon Lids has the potential to be as good as, or better, than Goddard.

 

[puregreen]

I think for the time and based on Lids junior performances he was rated the best junior - the alarming thing was that Wallace said that they were trying to decide between Deledio or Tambling for Pick No.1!!

Imagine the meltdown if that had happened...although I reckon we would have ended up with Roughead due to Hawthorn probably taking Deledio at no.2. We were going to take Roughead at No.4 (he was staying at Miller's place!) when Hawthorn shocked everyone by not taking Tambling and calling out Roughead's name.

Remember Hawthorn took ages to call out Franklin's name and actually called out the wrong player number and had to correct themselves.
He didn't interview well which was one of the reasons why we didn't go for him, plus we needed pace as we had none through the midfield.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but there was no way we were going to take Buddy at No.1 anyway so there is no point moaning about it.

Also, we didn't have the money for the recruiting department like we have now where they could have better screened some of our draftees from that year - Tambling(4), Meyer(12), Pattison(16), Polo(20) all gone from the club. Imagine if we were going into next year's draft with those picks!!

Goddard went No.1 in 2002 and in 2005/06 Saints fans were moaning that he wasn't living up to the No.1 hype - leading into this season he was seen by many as the best in the comp. Wells went No.2 and has been dogged by that forever, but at least this season seems to have become more consistent.

It's a pity we need Lids kicking skills off halfback as he is a sensational one-grab mark and I think could be a damaging HFF later down the track when we get some more better users of the ball into the backline.

 

[Barnzy]

It's not these picks that stuff us up. Buddy is a superstar, Lids is a star. We're still get a lot of service out of him, not a mistake. It's the total busts that don't contribute that we have racked up over the years that's hurt our list and set us back. Waste of time talking about Buddy vs Lids vs Griffen, etc. Suggestions of Roughead is also laughable.

 

[scarecrow2k1]

All 16 Teams would have picked Lids first- we were probably the least likely of anyone since Wallace nearly wanted Tambling. Lids was a clear number 1 all year though.

 

[nastytiger]

I dont mind Lids over buddy.


But if we didnt have Jack up forward i might think differently

 

[Bazzar]

Im just spewin i didnt pick 1, 14 and 19 in last Saturdays lotto, otherwise i would have won 1st division.

 

[THE_GUN]

1/ Nobody would of taken buddy at pick 1
2/ If it wasnt lids ... it would of been roughy or bling (phew)
3/if we took roughy at 1 we would of ended up with bling at 4 still
could you imagine hawthorn with lids & buddy in the team

 

[mcuzzy]

nobody thought buddy and roughy would be as good as lids at the point in time

 

[_RT_]

Topic has been done to death over the past 6 years. Not sure wht it has to be revisited now when a number of commentators are suggesting that Deledio is having the best year of his career and could be in AA contention.

 

[Heisenberg_]

Absolutly not, we got the best player from the draft aside from Buddy who is a freak, we got pick 4 horribly wrong not pick 1.

 

[The Rusty Trombone]

It was picks 4,12,16&20 that hurt us that year not pick 1. How would of last Saturdays game against Melbourne gone if we had of got those right or it had been a stronger draft.

 

[I Rock]

Been done to death; but no Deledio was and is the stand out pick of that draft. Franklin is a gun but there is no way the club back then could have developed him the way the Hawks managed. Now under Hardwick things may be different.

The fact is our drafting back then was only half the problem and the clubs inability to develop players was the other. If Franklin had of rolled into the club back at the start of the Wallace tenure with his allready questionable attitute as a junior then his INJUCTION and the AFL would not have stepped in and INJUCTION and the three strikes would have INJUCTION so he would most likely not be at the club and we would be talking about another junior talent we couldn't develop.

Deledio in a top 4 team would be spoken of in all circles as an elite of the game. He can play in multiple roles and is pure silk. Hawthorn called out Roughead at 2 because the wanted to force Richmond to pick Franklin at 4 and get Tambling at 5. As much as the media and all else would like us to beleive Hawthorn lucked out on Franklin and the freak he has developed into. They like the rest of the clubs rated Roughead the number 1 KP prospect at draft time and Tambling the number 2 mid behind Deledio.

 

[jko'neal]

Didn't we already have a guy that ended up kicking 800 goals in our forward line, Brad Ottens, Greg Stafford, Jay Shulz and Nathan Brown on our list in 2004, so why would have we been scouting forwards like Buddy or Roughead??

 

[CoggaRules]

FFS here we go again....there are yet to be discovered civilizations, living in another universe that know the answer to our drafting woes over the last decade or so. One thing is for sure, when it came to our first pick in the last 6 or so years, we got it right, because you didnt have to be a talent guru, after that, because we didnt have anyone capable of pinpointing talent, it was a tattslotto.
I can guarantee you that whoever had pick 1 that year was going to call out Lids name first.

 

[Goldust]

GIVEN the Bulldogs - Barry Hall aside in 2010 - have lacked a quality tall forward for a decade, why does no one ever question why they overlooked Buddy Franklin??????
He was available to them at pick 3, was he not?

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Close thread or just have one thread where people can bang on about this until they pass out.

I mean really. Get the **** over it.

 

[Roachy8]

Lids @ #1 was not a mistake... clearly the right choice at the time.
Hindsight? Well Buddy has proved the best player from that draft but that does not make our taking of Deledio at number one a disaster.

This however...

........ - Tambling(4), Meyer(12), Pattison(16), Polo(20) all gone from the club. Imagine if we were going into next year's draft with those picks!!

... is a generational ****-up! (In hindsight)

 

[Groupie_]

Would rather lids over Buddy anyday.

 

[THE_GUN]

On another note : How good are we to have selecter jack Riewoldt at pick 13 whilst the tankers used selection 1 on a soft tagger !

 

[Bazzar]

Maybe if we had picked Buddy, his 2007 could have been good enough to get us an extra win and maybe the difference in the drawn game with the Lions, and that would have put us up above the Dee`s and we could have ended up with Masten, Morton, Grant or Myers instead of Cotch.

And who knows the win loss time frame with Buddy might have saved Wallace for another year and we could have missed out on Dimma and maybe Dusty.

Things happen for a reason, and im more than happy at where we are placed now without Buddy.

 

[Goldust]

Maybe if we had picked Buddy, his 2007 could have been good enough to get us an extra win and maybe the difference in the drawn game with the Lions, and that would have put us up above the Dee`s and we could have ended up with Masten, Morton, Grant or Myers instead of Cotch.

And who knows the win loss time frame with Buddy might have saved Wallace for another year and we could have missed out on Dimma and maybe Dusty.

Things happen for a reason, and im more than happy at where we are placed now without Buddy.

Exactly .... and extend it ... we're likely without Dusty too because we're already a finalist!!
These things can't be lookd at in isolation!