Draft Choices

[HBF]

I highly doubt Bryce Gibbs would ask for a trade back to South Australia if he was drafted by the Carlton Football Club, your club has extremely strong ties with the Glenelg FC. If you draft Bryce Gibbs I believe that he will stay in Victoria for his entire career and it will be at Carlton. I can see him boarding with Steven Kernahan and his family for the first few months until he has settled in.

If he is drafted by say Essendon FC or North Melbourne FC or any other club that is not really in the calculations yet there is no family or club connection and his close nit family may be a good reason for him to come home

That's a very good point, and one that had never really crossed my mind.

 

[BlueFeaver]

That's a very good point, and one that had never really crossed my mind.

I Agree aswell. Gibbs seniors friendship with sticks could play a huge part in juniors future. Sure enough the "Bumbers" will more than likely get the 1st pick, but they will be very wary of the go home factor. The scars of Wanganeen still haven't healed after nearly ten years. They will be very wary and in my opinion will pick Hansen due to his flexibilty in key positions and their lack of developement in this area.

 

[Pafloyul]

Thorp.

 

[Sticks 4]

I highly doubt Bryce Gibbs would ask for a trade back to South Australia if he was drafted by the Carlton Football Club, your club has extremely strong ties with the Glenelg FC. If you draft Bryce Gibbs I believe that he will stay in Victoria for his entire career and it will be at Carlton. I can see him boarding with Steven Kernahan and his family for the first few months until he has settled in.

yep, good point. I hope your right..... and I hope we get the chance to find out

 

[Silvagnis]

According to channel 10 news last night, if Carlton win 0 - 1 more game this year and finish bottom, we get picks 1 & 2, due to the priority pick system (8 wins or less over 2 years).

Finishing last could be a blessing in disguise. GIBBS AND HANSEN!


SAying that Id love us to win all of our games!

This poll wasn't multiple choice.

Hansen for mine.

Whilst I'd be delighted with Gibbs who'd probably play as well as Murphy has in his debut year, I think our stocks of tall defenders are marginally weaker than our stocks of ballwinners since we have players such as Murphy, Blackwell, Bentick, etc. We win either way if we can land one of Gibbs, Hansen, Thorp and Gumbleton, but it will be the selections at picks 18 and 20 that we have to get right.

If we take Hansen or Thorp early and Reid or Everitt are the best on offer with our second pick should we overlook them for a midfielder?

Tough choices for the recruiter and some people won't be happy either way.

I'm hoping the other clubs snap up McKenzie, Reid and Everitt early so players like Schmidt and Collard/Proud fall to our second pick and possibly a priority pick if we're "lucky".

 

[Silvagnis]

Thorp.

What happened to Sellar?

 

[gandaal]

I'm going by the same system I did last year. For Selection 18 if choice number 1 is gone choose number 2, and if he's gone go to choice 3, and so on and son on.

Selection 2:
1. Lachlan Hansen
2. Bryce Gibbs

Selection 18:
1. Mitchell Thorp
2. Albert Proud
3. Jack Riewoldt
4. Leroy Jetta
5. Clayton Collard
6. Matthew Leuenberger
7. Bachar Houli

Selection 20:
1. Leroy Jetta
2. Clayton Collard
3. Matthew Leuenberger
4. Bachar Houli
5. Andreas Everitt

Some may scoff at my optimism at suggesting some of the selections I've made are even possible but it is a very strong draft and its highly likely someone of top quality will drop through to us with pick 18 and even possibly pick 20. Leuenberger, mentioned earlier, may been seen by many as an easy top 10 selection by many but given recent history ruckman have had a tendency to slide down the order (probably due to the lengthy time it takes for them to turn potential into reality). I find it very possible that Leuenberger could drop down to pick 18.

 

[irish_setanta]

I'm going by the same system I did last year. For Selection 18 if choice number 1 is gone choose number 2, and if he's gone go to choice 3, and so on and son on.

Selection 2:
1. Lachlan Hansen
2. Bryce Gibbs

Selection 18:
1. Mitchell Thorp
2. Albert Proud
3. Jack Riewoldt
4. Leroy Jetta
5. Clayton Collard
6. Matthew Leuenberger
7. Bachar Houli

Selection 20:
1. Leroy Jetta
2. Clayton Collard
3. Matthew Leuenberger
4. Bachar Houli
5. Andreas Everitt

Some may scoff at my optimism at suggesting some of the selections I've made are even possible but it is a very strong draft and its highly likely someone of top quality will drop through to us with pick 18 and even possibly pick 20. Leuenberger, mentioned earlier, may been seen by many as an easy top 10 selection by many but given recent history ruckman have had a tendency to slide down the order (probably due to the lengthy time it takes for them to turn potential into reality). I find it very possible that Leuenberger could drop down to pick 18.

Well done gandaal, only one i picked up on is reiwoldt, i cant see the saints passing him by, look at clarke as a reference, had xavier and even though it hasnt been good so far they took raphael, can see them doing the same with reiwoldt.

 

[Smell The Glove]

Hansen for first pick for mine. A midfielder for second pick, as long as he has PACE.

 

[Jeremias]

Hansen for first pick for mine. A midfielder for second pick, as long as he has PACE.

Brock O'Brien fits that description perfectly-which is why I am a huge fan of his, and believe we should take him with pick 18.

As I have said, here are my preferred draft selections:

2. Lachlan Hansen-strong, big bodied presence at either end. Just the type of player that we need.
18. Brock O'Brien-PACY, very good skills, can play as a midfielder, pack pocket or on either flank. Has played midfield/half forward in patches during the carnival and looks really comfortable running inside 50 with dash and kicking the ball through the big sticks.
20. Albert Proud- Again, loads of pace. Midfielder, and has very good skills.
36. F/S selection-not sure who yet. Could be any one of Tomi Johnston, Sammy Sheldon, or Williams. Leaning towards Sheldon atm.
If we have another pick, a ruckman would do fine.

All these selections would benefit the club greatly, and would complement very nicely the bunch of promising kids already at the club.

If the Blues make these selections, which I believe are 100% realistic, there will be more than a few happy supporters out there. Whilst it does not address our glaring ruck problems, I am more than happy to wait one more year to draft one, as Barny will retire at the end of 2007. By then Batson and Aisake will have developed nicely, and D-Mac will continue battling. One rookie selecton should also be devoted to a ruckman.
We may still need defenders, but I am happy to see for a year what the combination of Hansen, Hartlett and Thornton off a HB flank can offer us for a year. Lance can even help out, and Bower will continue his development and growth.

 

[john21]

I must admit that it would be wise to draft a ruckman with maybe pick 20 or so, but appartently next years draft have about 3 quality ruckmans that could go top 10.

Maybe it would be wise to wait for them and at the end of this season, elevate either Batson or Aisake.

With Sheldon, why not wait till next season. He could be considered top 10 next season, and taking him 3rd round would be good.

ps i don't think Proud would last till pick 20, but i hope so.

 

[C4[2]Yo`DooR]

Selection 2:
1. Lachlan Hansen
2. Bryce Gibbs

Selection 18:
1. Mitchell Thorp
2. Albert Proud
3. Jack Riewoldt
4. Leroy Jetta
5. Clayton Collard
6. Matthew Leuenberger
7. Bachar Houli

Selection 20:
1. Leroy Jetta
2. Clayton Collard
3. Matthew Leuenberger
4. Bachar Houli
5. Andreas Everitt

completley agree !!!

All house-hold names, all a chance of slipping through .. all would be A-Graders at our club ....

MAN I LOVE THIS DRAFT !

(PS I would do cartwheels to Princess Park if we picked up Thorp at #18, unlikely though !)

I also think we need LLeuenberger !

 

[gandaal]

Well done gandaal, only one i picked up on is reiwoldt, i cant see the saints passing him by, look at clarke as a reference, had xavier and even though it hasnt been good so far they took raphael, can see them doing the same with reiwoldt.

I'd be surprised if St Kilda pick up Riewoldt. They need mids, mids and more mids.

 

[Lance]

Hansen for first pick for mine. A midfielder for second pick, as long as he has PACE.

I'm not sure about Gibbs now, he is apparently not that quick. Just watching the Under 18 championships, is there anything wrong with his SA captain, Hurley? Probnably a tad small, but just as many possessions as Gibbs, and very impressive.

Talls, if available...Hansen or Gumbleton for me.

A forward/goalsneak from NT who impressed me was Djerkurra. A clone of Justin Murphy.

 

[Hu$$ey]

Hope to god Leunberger slips to pick 18 or 20 which is not totally out of question considering Wood was projected to go top 10 a couple of years ago and Brisbane ended up snapping him up at 18.

Our ruck problems will go a long way to being somewhat solved if we can pick up Leunberger!

After that we can just load up on midfielders and more midfielders, even in the rookie draft and then the team will really start to take shape.

 

[DIG]

I think some of you guys are focusing too much on positions.

For our first pick - unless it's just too close to call I think we should get whoever we've rated as best available regardless of their home state or the position they play.

If that's Gibbs, then so be it.

Whoever we get first is likely to be an absolute champion this draft and we can't compromise on quality for the sake of positional needs. With subsequent picks we can think more about our needs (which is exactly what we did last year after nabbing Murphy and Kennedy). Hartlett and Bower are already promising key defensive prospects coming through for us, rucks take forever to develop (why, Batson aside, we've avoided drafting an 18 year old one for so long now) so maybe we can afford to just go best available for most of this draft.

If that means we end up with a swag of gun midfielders then bring it on, for the best draft ever. Yes it's a risk, and when the Dogs applied this strategy year after year they ended up with almost their 14 best players being midfielders/runners, but Murphy was our only drafted midfielder last year and just imagine if we drafted a 2006 equivalent of Ricciuto, Akermanis, Black and Peter Burgoyne. If we can get 4 guns, whatever type of players, out of this draft we'll be rapt.

 

[Salaryman]

I'm going by the same system I did last year. For Selection 18 if choice number 1 is gone choose number 2, and if he's gone go to choice 3, and so on and son on.

Selection 2:
1. Lachlan Hansen
2. Bryce Gibbs

Selection 18:
1. Mitchell Thorp
2. Albert Proud
3. Jack Riewoldt
4. Leroy Jetta
5. Clayton Collard
6. Matthew Leuenberger
7. Bachar Houli

Selection 20:
1. Leroy Jetta
2. Clayton Collard
3. Matthew Leuenberger
4. Bachar Houli
5. Andreas Everitt

Some may scoff at my optimism at suggesting some of the selections I've made are even possible but it is a very strong draft and its highly likely someone of top quality will drop through to us with pick 18 and even possibly pick 20. Leuenberger, mentioned earlier, may been seen by many as an easy top 10 selection by many but given recent history ruckman have had a tendency to slide down the order (probably due to the lengthy time it takes for them to turn potential into reality). I find it very possible that Leuenberger could drop down to pick 18.

Gandaal, first up let me say i like what you've done and i mostly agree with your ranking ideas....but here is my constructive criticism....

For our top (potentially) 3 picks you have ended up only naming 10 players in total...this is fine, but...it makes me ask myself why you picked these 10....well quite obviously consciously or subconsciously you think they are amongst the 10 top prospects in the draft.

Going by your list and popular opinion and what i have seen and heard of these players you are probably right.....my question then is, if you think this, what are the chances that most of the clubs or BF pundits will have a similar list....my point is for your own draft watching and enjoyment, i'd rather you not just "wish" that some of these guys fall through to our second round picks and come up with a list of ten for picks going as deep as 20.

I did this exact same exercise last year with our picks...i was pretty chuffed with myself ...then i got some advice from the great mojo himself, which i will pass along to you....at the time, he told me to come up with my list of the top 30 to 40 players based on talent alone.....at the time i thought it sounded reasonable advice, but why would i want to do this when i had a particular draft strategy in mind? Also, the sytem you (and i last year) had used, i thought to myself, enables you to easily change your strategy based on who you drafted earlier.

Having watched all the games so far at this carnival, i can see the wisdom in mojos advice.....firstly, it forces you to watch a lot more players and look at some blokes more closely that you might otherwise have looked at. It also forces you to look at things like how much development/potential some kids have in them, how much poise they have under pressure and whether their decision making is sound (among other things) (because you have to look beyond the blokes with the obvious talent who will most probably be taken early).

This year i have come up with my top 40 so far....it is a very inexact science and it is going to change as i see more SANFL, WAFL, VFL, and maybe some TAC games (I will at least try to get to the finals).

However what it has meant is that i have very much surprised myself at how my list has come out and i'm sure it would raise some eyebrows amongst readers here....also it has forced me to look at blokes to put in the top 20-25 that i wouldn't have thought i would be considering......

I have found it a far more useful guide for me, and it doesn't mean that you would necessarily have to draft the next best on the list when your draft pick comes....if for example, Sheeds took gumbleton at 1 and you had Gibbs at 2 on your list, and took him....come pick 18 for example and Collard and Everitt are both available, and you have Collard at 15 and Everitt at 17 on your rankings, well you may then decide to take Everitt over Collard.

I'm not saying you should do this, but it is just some food for thought.
Sorry about the minor thesis

 

[Salaryman]

Hope to god Leunberger slips to pick 18 or 20 which is not totally out of question considering Wood was projected to go top 10 a couple of years ago and Brisbane ended up snapping him up at 18.

Our ruck problems will go a long way to being somewhat solved if we can pick up Leunberger!

After that we can just load up on midfielders and more midfielders, even in the rookie draft and then the team will really start to take shape.

IMO Leuenberger is the only ruck option that would convince me to use a second rounder on...there are likely to be some good ball carriers available around then. Tippett and Renouf speculative picks deeper in the draft or rookied if they slip that far.

 

[ryan2000]

Selwood

 

[irish_setanta]

Selwood

We wont take him with our first pick.

 

[Pafloyul]

What happened to Sellar?

I actually voted for Sellar in the poll but I'm not at all confident that we will go that way in the draft. I still think he has plenty to offer a club though.

I think Thorp is a bit more of a chance to be this years 'Thomas'.

 

[Mr.Kennedy]

After watching the game against the Lions I am more convinced that our defence needs strengthening more than any other area,so Hansen for me