Freo Draft Policy / Methods

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Sounds good enough for me

As long as we have a balance of players that can run and gun/tackle/defend/goal/contested marks with elite skills I'm happy

Even players like Grover and Mayne are taller than the role they play - Grover usually takes 3rd tall/3rd forward who is usually not the tallest option but Groves has a bit of height and Mayne is almost tall enough for a KPP as FF - which I think he will be in the end - I predict him to really shine in 2011

Tall, strong players with elite skills are the way to go - Ibbo, Morabito, Mayne, Mellington, DeBoer, Grover, Pitt, Crowley, Barlow, Roberton, Silvagni are all within 188-191 cm bracket - and then we get them complimented with a good spine and some small forwards and you've got yourself a team

 

[Scham]

Sounds good enough for me

As long as we have a balance of players that can run and gun/tackle/defend/goal/contested marks with elite skills I'm happy

Even players like Grover and Mayne are taller than the role they play - Grover usually takes 3rd tall/3rd forward who is usually not the tallest option but Groves has a bit of height and Mayne is almost tall enough for a KPP as FF - which I think he will be in the end - I predict him to really shine in 2011

Tall, strong players with elite skills are the way to go - Ibbo, Morabito, Mayne, Mellington, DeBoer, Grover, Pitt, Crowley, Barlow, Roberton, Silvagni are all within 188-191 cm bracket - and then we get them complimented with a good spine and some small forwards and you've got yourself a team

...and a tough, hard running, nuggety extractor by the name of Rhys.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

This is true

Might as well add Mundy, Pavlich, Faulks and Duff-man to the above list - first 3 are all 192cm and Duff-man is 187cm so to have 13 hardened regulars in the 187-192cm height bracket (including McPhee - who I forgot) + up and comings like Mellington, Pitt and Roberton is great as far as tall players go

Especially as there is a spread of taggers (McPhee, Crowley, MDB), backs (Silvagni, Grover, Ibbo), forwards (Mayne, Pav) + mids (Mundy, Pav, Morabito, Barlow) etc.

Going for athletic talls, with good tanks seems to be the way of the future in so many ways

They can outmark and aren't so tall as they are cumbersome or clumsy but aren't so short as they have trouble bending over and picking the ball up (MDB, McPhee) and there are some real quick/high stamina players there as well (Morabito, Ibbo, Duffield)

There are also the taller (193+) players like Johno, Griffen, McPharlin, Bradley and Kep who are all proven forwards - as well as Johno who is very much a classic utility player and McPharlin who can take the no.1 tall

But yes, aside from the talls (of which we have quite a few) we have a great spread of shorter players who are very good:

Hayden, Palmer, Ballantyne, Walters, Hill, Broughton and Fyfe (all 185 and under) - two forward pockets/mids (Frodo/Sonny), hard runners/wing (Fyfe/Hill/Broughts) mids (Palmer/Broughton) and defenders (Roger/Broughts) - a lot are interchangable, which is the same with the 187-192cm bracket of players of whom many of them are very good at multiple jobs (Pav etc.)

 

[Arcassius]

with so many interchangeable players - of similar ability to play various positions - it would make us more tolerant of injuries (aside from the spine) and also open up more options I would presume tactically to rotate players around the field.

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

The one that surprised me how bad he was last year was Beau Watters. His decision making and disposal coming out of the backline was attrocious! No one seems to highlight him when discussing the WC skills but he was one of the worst last year IMO.

I'd have Waters in our side, even on a bad kicking day. The guy is an awesome footballer.

 

[Nickos66]

Can't tell if serious..

 

[Lach72]

I'd have Waters in our side, even on a bad kicking day. The guy is an awesome footballer.

I think I puked a little in my mouth.

If that's the case, Troy Cook is an unrecognised Brownlow medallist

 

[Docker Dolph]

Beau Waters is not an awesome footballer, he is cod average and has been exposed, like his coach was before him, as a fake hard man. Like Wooss he's tough as nails if he can get you when you're not looking...weak as camporeale when the business comes at him.

He may be an awesome DTer but saying anymore than that makes the baby jebus cry.

 

[Dockernut]

Beau Waters is not an awesome footballer, he is cod average and has been exposed, like his coach was before him, as a fake hard man. Like Wooss he's tough as nails if he can get you when you're not looking...weak as camporeale when the business comes at him.

This.

 

[Docker Dolph]

This.

I agree with Dockernut.

You can't show a highlight of a Waters "clash" when the guy he hit could see him coming. Woossy was the same.

 

[Scham]

I'd have Waters in our side, even on a bad kicking day. The guy is an awesome footballer.

That's the thing - every game's a bad kicking day for him. And it's not only his kicking, his footy smarts are non-existant.

The comparison to Cookie is a good one IMO. Hard at it but lacks class. I fully understand now why he dropped/slipped in his draft year.

 

[Quay Club]

This focus on smart ball users is the way to go. I remember hearing Belly commenting that with the way football is played today, with running into space the most demoralising and energy sapping thing is to turn the ball over. You end up covering a lot of extra ground and then look very unfit at the business end. You only have to look how the Weagles fared this year.

 

[Bulldocker]

This focus on smart ball users is the way to go. I remember hearing Belly commenting that with the way football is played today, with running into space the most demoralising and energy sapping thing is to turn the ball over. You end up covering a lot of extra ground and then look very unfit at the business end. You only have to look how the Weagles fared this year.

Kept telling my mates all year to have a close look at Mzungu. Couldn't believe he wasn't good enough for AFL...... smooth mover and can land a footy on a ten cent piece on the run with EITHER FOOT. Well, didn't I feel like the cat that got the cream after Lloyd & Co obviously saw the same skill factors and picked him up in trade week for a steal. Seriously think he can play every game this year and once again the recruiting staff at other clubs may be left scratching their heads at how they missed another Broughton/Barlow/Silvagni.
Athleticism means nil if you can't get the pill AND then be able to cut up opposition with sure handling and disposal. Some of our passages of play last season were breathtaking. Keep topping up with skill and eventually the athletes fall away!

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

And yeah, Cookie was a gun also. He'd be in our historical t10.

 

[Bulldocker]

And yeah, Cookie was a gun also. He'd be in our historical t10.

I heard they're planning to put a copy of Cookie's heart alongside Phar Lap's!

 

[Alfonz]

DeBoer on Waters in the last derby. Case closed.

 

[Freo_4eva]

I was thinking about the drafting policy the other day, and i reckon Lloyd and co have come up with the theory that KPP are much more of a lottery than Mids and Utilities.. therefore this is little point using 1st and 2nd round picks on them (unless of course there is deadset gun and you have a pick in the top 3), when the hit/miss ratio is about the same as in the rookie/late rounds in the draft. Hence not going tall till pick 35+ over the last few years.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

http://www.fremantlefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7009/newsid/105571/default.aspx

Fremantle used its three selections at last week's draft to snare Jayden Pitt, Viv Michie and Josh Mellington - three tall, versatile youngsters that the club believes can potentially play midfield, half-forward and half-back at the top level.

Their selection is part of an ongoing list management strategy to stockpile versatile players with elite skills and running ability that Lloyd hopes will make Fremantle one of the hardest AFL teams to match up on.

"The versatility's really important for us, particularly with the changes in interchange rotations," Lloyd told afl.com.au.

"That's one of [senior coach] Mark Harvey's greatest strengths, seeing where the game's moving, so we've chosen players that aren’t locked into specific roles but have a fair amount of versatility.

so there's the logic and the game plan. we're going to have a fleet of highly skilled, quick and smart footballers running all over the field, able to play into position as required, from CHF to CHB. add to that the courage that a lot of them have shown to date. how does the opposition match up against that?

 

[Arcassius]

I feel a game of musical chairs coming on - between the interchange rotations and players shuffling around the deck, it's going to be interesting to watch how far they can pull opposition players out of position. More of what Pav does on a regular basis going to where he is needed? Also makes hard tags a more interesting prospect I guess.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

i thought maybe it would mean we'd be found out on a wet day, but then fyfe and hill have no problem playing at their ankles. guys like matty deboer and van berlo will become extra important, though. we need some battering rams amongst all that activity.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

i thought maybe it would mean we'd be found out on a wet day, but then fyfe and hill have no problem playing at their ankles. guys like matty deboer and van berlo will become extra important, though. we need some battering rams amongst all that activity.

cue adam mcphee, matt deboer and ryan crowley. and sandi isnt bad at throwing his 130Kg's around in the middle as well

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

cue adam mcphee, matt deboer and ryan crowley. and sandi isnt bad at throwing his 130Kg's around in the middle as well

three tanks on the battlegrand, smashing shit up. mcphee can run all day, can deboer and crowley?

 

[theGav56]

I was thinking about the drafting policy the other day, and i reckon Lloyd and co have come up with the theory that KPP are much more of a lottery than Mids and Utilities.. therefore this is little point using 1st and 2nd round picks on them (unless of course there is deadset gun and you have a pick in the top 3), when the hit/miss ratio is about the same as in the rookie/late rounds in the draft. Hence not going tall till pick 35+ over the last few years.

Pav is pretty much the only KPP we have ever drafted and developed into a decent player (Grover as a rookie I guess). Murphy, Drum, Brown and Polak were collectively a massive investment in tall players, and for sure they are from the Connolly era when our development was clearly poor, but our record goes back to the dawn of the club. It is a big failure, and not only that but we lost significantly in all of the trades when those players left, getting middling to bugger all compensation. At this stage Silvagni (also a rookie) is looking good.

From this draft it will be interesting to compare the development of Pitt against the obvious selection if we went for a tall in Darling.

 

[theGav56]

i thought maybe it would mean we'd be found out on a wet day, but then fyfe and hill have no problem playing at their ankles. guys like matty deboer and van berlo will become extra important, though. we need some battering rams amongst all that activity.

3 Victorians just drafted won't hurt us in the wet.

 

[Arcassius]

Pav is pretty much the only KPP we have ever drafted and developed into a decent player (Grover as a rookie I guess). Murphy, Drum, Brown and Polak were collectively a massive investment in tall players, and for sure they are from the Connolly era when our development was clearly poor, but our record goes back to the dawn of the club. It is a big failure, and not only that but we lost significantly in all of the trades when those players left, getting middling to bugger all compensation. At this stage Silvagni (also a rookie) is looking good.

From this draft it will be interesting to compare the development of Pitt against the obvious selection if we went for a tall in Darling.

Hill vs Rich part 2?