Forward or Back?

[GeeCat]

Do Geelong need to consider drafting a key Defender ahead of a key Forward?

Consider this:

We have a bunch of good young key forwards. All we have to do is be patient and wait till the fruits begin to bear. It would be nice if have had an experienced KPP of Rawlings' calibre to help out in the short term, but in the end, there is no point continuouslly drafting key forwards in the draft when we could be drafting the best player available (I am refering to people saying how we should draft Fregus Watts or Troy Chaplin)

We are short on good key defenders. Think about it, we only have Scarlett, Harley, Graham, Foster, and perhaps Playfair, Rooke, and Milburn. Scarlett and Harley will be our number 1 &2 defenders, Graham is getting old and cumbersome (If he already wasn't), Foster can't crack it at AFL and is not up to standard, Playfair is still quite raw, and Milburn/Rooke are both not the proper height to play. Scarlett and Harley are approaching 26-27 years now, as is Milburn. By the time our young forwards bloom, we'll have no tall timber down back.

Our backline is full of wealthy experience, and is really one of the reasons why we havn't finished 16th for the past couple of years. They are each around the 25-28 age group already, so by the tme our forward line and midfield hit their prime years (25-27), our current defense would have left. We need to start thinking about drafting some good Key Defenders in the next few drafts.

 

[JUBJUB]

We need another key defender before we need another key forward,unless the key forward is speeeeeeeeeecial.

 

[ScouseCat]

Originally posted by GeeCat
We are short on good key defenders. Think about it, we only have Scarlett, Harley, Graham, Foster, and perhaps Playfair, Rooke, and Milburn. Scarlett and Harley will be our number 1 &2 defenders, Graham is getting old and cumbersome (If he already wasn't), Foster can't crack it at AFL and is not up to standard, Playfair is still quite raw, and Milburn/Rooke are both not the proper height to play. Scarlett and Harley are approaching 26-27 years now, as is Milburn. By the time our young forwards bloom, we'll have no tall timber down back.

Tom Harley turned 25 this year and Matthew Scarlett 24, so you'd think they'd have at least 6-8 good years ahead of them, injuries and form permitting of course.

With regards to recruiting another KKP in defence, it does have merit, especially with Woolnough retiring and Grgic being given the arse. If we happened to have a couple of injuries, we may be exposed for lack of depth. Is Fergus Watts a defender??

 

[BigCat1]

Hopefully Ray Hall nominates for the PSD. He would provide excellent coverage for us in defense. I have watched a few replays of him on fox lately and I rate him. He's young and would be ideal for us. If we could convince him to come it would be a huge bonus IMO.

As for the draft, my opinion is we take the best player available with our first pick. One of Bradley, Ray, Tenace, Walker and Clarke will be available at pick 7 and we should take them. All of these guys are marginally better than Watts and Chaplin. Geelong needs class more than any specific positional players.

 

[GeeCat]

My point exactly. I say draft the best available talent, as we have a relatively low pick compared to other years, and we may not have a low pick like this for quite some time as we are going to constantly be finishing top 8 for years to come . Why waste our pick on Fergus Watts or Troy Chaplin? They are both not worth the 7th pick in the National Draft.

One of Bradley, Ray, Tenace, Walker and Clarke will be available at pick 7 and we should take them

Spot on. Add Ryley Dunn to that list. We should be aiming for KPP only if their worth the pick. In this case, Watts and Chaplin aren't.

Regarding the Key Defender issue, I feel we should draft a bloke like Will Gayfer or David Mundy with pick 22 if their available.

 

[BigCat1]

I think Dunn is in the same boat as Chaplin and Watts. For what it's worth I think Cooney, Walker, Syliva, Clarke, Ray, Bradley, and Tenace should fill the top 7. The order is anybody's guess after Cooney. Throw in the surprise which happens almost every year and we could get to chose between two of them

Like you GC i think if we want a tall then we have to hope one of Chaplin, Watts, Burges, Gayfer, Morrison, Mundy or Steward don't get picked between 8 and 21.

 

[holdencaulfield]

I have to disagree and say that we should not go for a key defender in the draft.
Playfair played very good football in the 2s early last season at CHB and in my opinion would be way ahead of any 18 year old we would draft.
I think Grgic and Woolnough going will be a good thing as it will now give Playfair , Lonergan and Mackie the chance to play bigger rolls either forward or back and if worse comes to worse there is still Foster who the club obviosly think is better than Grgic or Finnon.
The fact is that we desperately need a tall marking forward with , most importantly GOAL kicking ability. As we have seen with Rawlings it is very hard to trade for one of these players so it would be my opinion that we should draft the best available at 7 and from all i have read that would be Bill Morrison, provided his shoulder checks out OK. Aparently he was very good before he got hurt and had excelant draft camp results ,far supirior to Watts and Chaplin

 

[GeeCat]

Do you seriously think Playfair has what it takes to play on Riewoldt, Koschitzke, Tarrant, Brown? In terms of strength, yes I agree, he will be able to hold his ground. But can he keep up with these type of good key forwards in the future? I doubt he has the speed and endurance to keep up. Look at Scarlett, he has the speed to keep up with the forwards on the lead. Can Playfair do that? Not damning Henry or anything, I think he will be great for the club in years to come. My point is that apart from Scarlett and Harley, we have no genuine sized key defenders. We have a heap of young forwards waiting in the wings (McCarthy, Playfair, Lonergan, Haynes, even Mackie possibly), our midfield depth is one of the best, but the same cannot be said of our defense.

 

[holdencaulfield]

Point taken. No i don't think that Henry has the ability to play on Brown ect. at this stage but you would hope that one of either Scarlet or Harley will be available to play on the gun, with Playfair haveing the ability to play on the 2nd stringer . How many teams have 2 guns? Collingwood , Brisbane and StKilda are the ones that spring to mind.
My main point is that we already have 2 very capeable key defenders where as with due respect to our young forwards none of them stand out as being able to kick big bags of goals .
It is also a lot easier to convert a forward to aback rather than the other way around.

 

[Jonezy]

I don't think we have a serious problem with our defence at the moment, we've got plenty of depth back there, Graham, scarlett, harley, sando, rooke, wojinski,milburn, mackie, foster, enright even, in the draft i'd be looking to get raphael clarke as first choice, then maybe try for a kpp defender next choice, we need to get some bulky midfielders, because we have a tiny midfield, kelly, ablett, spriggs, chapman, bartel, not exactly the size of a buckley or voss or hird.

 

[ScouseCat]

Originally posted by Jonezy
we need to get some bulky midfielders, because we have a tiny midfield, kelly, ablett, spriggs, chapman, bartel, not exactly the size of a buckley or voss or hird.

Cameron Ling, Joel Corey and Corey Enright are ok in this regard though, Kelly, Ablett and Chapman will continue to develop and become stronger as they get older, Bartel needs to work on his speed more then anything and Spriggs will always be light.

 

[holdencaulfield]

I think our midfield is quite good and will probobly improve. If there is one weakness it would be real pace like Wojinski has . I think if Raph Clarke is still availeable draft him but if not Bill Morrison is the one.

 

[OldSchool]

Originally posted by holdencaulfield
I think our midfield is quite good and will probobly improve. If there is one weakness it would be real pace like Wojinski has . I think if Raph Clarke is still availeable draft him but if not Bill Morrison is the one.

Both those players would be very good selections at number 7.

 

[Rodion]

Originally posted by holdencaulfield
there is still Foster who the club obviosly think is better than Grgic or Finnon.

I agree with the club on this one.

 

[GeeCat]

Foster has experience on his size and has the ability to play on the tall forward if Scarlett or Harley get injured. Finnin obviously hasn't got the body to fill KP, whilst Grgic probably didn't convince the board that he can play KP like Foster can.

Remembering a few games in 2002 when Foster was in the team, he played well on the 3rd string forward.

 

[Vaughan Pitt]

Foster took Chad Cornes apart in a game against Port in SA one night - streamed down the wing, spoiled strongly, showed strong hands and a thumping kick. He can play alright, just needs confidence.