How important it is to nail the AFL draft

[Tzatziki_Man]

You could choose 100 examples, but last night's state of origin brought me back to 2009.

Melbourne with ..
Pick 1
Pick 2
Pick 11
Pick 18

How did they really go?
1 - Tom Scully
2 - Jack Trengove
11 - Jordan Gysberts
18 - Luke Tapscott

And it could be easily been ...

1 - Dustin Martin (Pick 3)
2 - Daniel Talia (Pick 13)
11 - Nat Fyfe (Pick 19)
18 - Mitch Duncan (Pick 28)

What rubs salt in the wound here is they did get their fifth pick spot on, Max Gawn for Pick 34.

And if they had of drafted Jack Grimes' brother Dylan, who didn't even get drafted in the AFL Draft, Melbourne's 2009 haul would have been

1 - Dustin Martin (Pick 3)
2 - Daniel Talia (Pick 13)
11 - Nat Fyfe (Pick 19)
18 - Mitch Duncan (Pick 28)
34 - Max Gawn (Pick 34)
50 - Dylan Grimes (PSD Pick 2)

Now, i think since Gawn has turned out okay, pretty certain Melbourne would have done well with developing the other players. But yeah, 2009, if Melbourne nailed that draft, they'd easily have broken their premiership drought.

 

[Baird]

Teams never have draft hauls like that

"Could easily have been..."

Not at all. It's just revisionist history to say that they could have gotten Talia at 2, and Fyfe at 11. No recruiter in the world would have made those selections.

Regardless, development is just as, if not more, important than drafting. Just look at Sydney's success with the rookie draft

 

[Sonny Bonds]

How am I ever going to sleep knowing Melbourne didn't draft Dylan Grimes

 

[M Malice]

I actually think it's more important to be "training the house down" in he off season or "taking it one game at a time".

 

[calyam]

It can be incredibly important.

Geelong's sustained success since 2007 was built on two incredible drafts in 1999 and 2001. Set them up for a generation.

1999:

8. Joel Corey
31. Paul Chapman
38. Cameron Ling
47. Corey Enright

2001:

8. Jimmy Bartel
17. James Kelly
24. Steve Johnson
40. Gary Ablett

These revisionist draft histories though are problematic. As great as Fyfe is, nobody was talking about him as a top 11 pick in 2009. Neither was Talia a plausible suggestion at pick 2 - although a quite reasonable suggestion for pick 11. Scully, Trengrove and Martin were the consensus top 3 back then and there were naturally big questions surrounding Martin's character. Many clubs probably would have erred on the side of caution had they been in the same position.

 

[Marc_Remillard]

Wow, hindsight, pretty amazing...wowee...

 

[banzai]

If you keep getting it wrong you eventually get rewarded. With Richmond for example if we didn't take the likes of Fiora and Tambling we wouldn't have finished low enough to get Cotchin and Martin.

 

[Taylor]

It can be incredibly important.

Geelong's sustained success since 2007 was built on two incredible drafts in 1999 and 2001. Set them up for a generation.

1999:

8. Joel Corey
31. Paul Chapman
38. Cameron Ling
47. Corey Enright

2001:

8. Jimmy Bartel
17. James Kelly
24. Steve Johnson
40. Gary Ablett

These revisionist draft histories though are problematic. As great as Fyfe is, nobody was talking about him as a top 11 pick in 2009. Neither was Talia a plausible suggestion at pick 2 - although a quite reasonable suggestion for pick 11. Scully, Trengrove and Martin were the consensus top 3 back then and there were naturally big questions surrounding Martin's character. Many clubs probably would have erred on the side of caution had they been in the same position.

Don't forget when they got the best player in the draft for a way later pick as a father son and selected Selwood at #7.

The rules have changed, but the benefits are enjoyed for years.

You have less chances to add elite talent to your list than before, but I think development of great characters extracting the most from their careers could achieve better results.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Teams never have draft hauls like that

"Could easily have been..."

Not at all. It's just revisionist history to say that they could have gotten Talia at 2, and Fyfe at 11. No recruiter in the world would have made those selections.

Regardless, development is just as, if not more, important than drafting. Just look at Sydney's success with the rookie draft

And yet in one draft the Cats landed: GAblett, Bartell, Stevie J, James Kelly and Andrew Carrazzo.

Clubs can absolutely nail drafts and it has a huge impact on their future success.

 

[Headless]

Too early for this thread. Give it another ten years before calling the Scully/Trengove/Gysberts/Tapscott combo a bust.

 

[Toump Ass]

It's only important to nail a draft if you're not Richmond. If you're Richmond it doesn't matter, you can drag campaigners straight out of a jail cell and they'll probably come Top 3 in the Norm Smith in their first game... Because, Tigers obviously.

 

[Yojimbo]

It depends on timing when relating to the draft in that when you have access to good picks you hope like
hell it relates to a strong draft year. If it is a weak year then it does not matter if you nail the draft pure
and simple. The cohesion of team must be built, once that cohesion is built it becomes easier for young
players to fast track themselves to best 22 and learn good habits.

 

[Rowan18]

Teams never have draft hauls like that

"Could easily have been..."

Not at all. It's just revisionist history to say that they could have gotten Talia at 2, and Fyfe at 11. No recruiter in the world would have made those selections.

Regardless, development is just as, if not more, important than drafting. Just look at Sydney's success with the rookie draft

If a team nails one draft like that, it sets them up for premiership success. WCE nailed 2010 - Gaff, Darling, Lycett and McGovern in the rookiee draft. All four were crucial in the 2018 season.

 

[Sylvia Saint]

How did they really go?
1 - Tom Scully
2 - Jack Trengove
11 - Jordan Gysberts
18 - Luke Tapscott

And it could be easily been ...

1 - Dustin Martin (Pick 3)
2 - Daniel Talia (Pick 13)
11 - Nat Fyfe (Pick 19)
18 - Mitch Duncan (Pick 28)

No, it could not be easily been (sic) those four players. Unlike you, recruiters don’t get to use hindsight when they make their picks. The probability of getting the best player at each available pick, 4x in a row without any hindsight.... would be about as high as winning Tattslotto.

Yes, we should have put more time into Dustin Martin. Yes, Gysberts was a s**t pick. Yes Barry Prendargast would be one of the worst recruiters ever. The rest of your post is a load of hindsight w*nk.

 

[D-N-R]

Geelong 1999 draft also had;

David Spriggs at 15.
Ezra Bray at 17.
Daniel Foster at 23.

That players like Enright and Chapman turned out to be such great players is testament to their development at the club rather than any great drafting. Even Port Adelaide overlooked Enright 3 times and he played for their club.

Compate GWS and GC Suns. Lots of picks but only one developed their players well.

Development>>>>>drafting.

 

[Pessimistic]

A few clubs got set up in the 1999 and 2001 drafts, but they also had some not so good as noted above
There really hasn’t been similar since. Is it demographics? Seems the turning from gen x to gen y. Ps2 and Xbox came out in 2000. Relevant?

who did Melbourne recruit?

 

[Kreuuuzeurns]

Can’t believe they didn’t take the obvious superstar Jeremy McGovern at pick 12 the following season either.

 

[freddy mercury]

You could choose 100 examples, but last night's state of origin brought me back to 2009.

Melbourne with ..
Pick 1
Pick 2
Pick 11
Pick 18

How did they really go?
1 - Tom Scully
2 - Jack Trengove
11 - Jordan Gysberts
18 - Luke Tapscott

And it could be easily been ...

1 - Dustin Martin (Pick 3)
2 - Daniel Talia (Pick 13)
11 - Nat Fyfe (Pick 19)
18 - Mitch Duncan (Pick 28)

What rubs salt in the wound here is they did get their fifth pick spot on, Max Gawn for Pick 34.

And if they had of drafted Jack Grimes' brother Dylan, who didn't even get drafted in the AFL Draft, Melbourne's 2009 haul would have been

1 - Dustin Martin (Pick 3)
2 - Daniel Talia (Pick 13)
11 - Nat Fyfe (Pick 19)
18 - Mitch Duncan (Pick 28)
34 - Max Gawn (Pick 34)
50 - Dylan Grimes (PSD Pick 2)

Now, i think since Gawn has turned out okay, pretty certain Melbourne would have done well with developing the other players. But yeah, 2009, if Melbourne nailed that draft, they'd easily have broken their premiership drought.

Its all in hindsight. Take Richmond taking Tambling over Buddy for example. Everyone of the 16 clubs at the time would have taken Tambling over Buddy. Was the best of his draft year. Maybe a small part of that was because he had dodgy shoulders, but majority was that he wasn't the best in his draft year.

 

[Soberian Tiger]

Only trouble with this Dee draft what-if is that these other players would have been developed by Melbourne...

Under-developed, most likely, if recent history is much of guide.

Such things do happen. Tambling may not have been Buddy, but more should have been made of him. I'm sure if Tambling had his time all over again, starting from scratch, Richmond would do better with him and so might Tambling do better with himself because of that.

Melbourne are yet to show that they've turned around their player development fully. Development is just as important as drafting.

 

[Gavin Excell]

It's vital

There's a lot of luck too

 

[bungalow_bill]

And yet in one draft the Cats landed: GAblett, Bartell, Stevie J, James Kelly and Andrew Carrazzo.

Clubs can absolutely nail drafts and it has a huge impact on their future success.

Sure they can with a bit of luck

Lions 2016
McCluggage
Berry
Witherden
Cox (hasn't come on yet but loads of potential)

 

[Freomaniac]

If a team nails one draft like that, it sets them up for premiership success. WCE nailed 2010 - Gaff, Darling, Lycett and McGovern in the rookiee draft. All four were crucial in the 2018 season.

And the amazing thing was Gold coast had 9 of the 1st 15 picks in 2010.

 

[Topkent]

You could choose 100 examples, but last night's state of origin brought me back to 2009.

Melbourne with ..
Pick 1
Pick 2
Pick 11
Pick 18

How did they really go?
1 - Tom Scully
2 - Jack Trengove
11 - Jordan Gysberts
18 - Luke Tapscott

And it could be easily been ...

1 - Dustin Martin (Pick 3)
2 - Daniel Talia (Pick 13)
11 - Nat Fyfe (Pick 19)
18 - Mitch Duncan (Pick 28)

What rubs salt in the wound here is they did get their fifth pick spot on, Max Gawn for Pick 34.

And if they had of drafted Jack Grimes' brother Dylan, who didn't even get drafted in the AFL Draft, Melbourne's 2009 haul would have been

1 - Dustin Martin (Pick 3)
2 - Daniel Talia (Pick 13)
11 - Nat Fyfe (Pick 19)
18 - Mitch Duncan (Pick 28)
34 - Max Gawn (Pick 34)
50 - Dylan Grimes (PSD Pick 2)

Now, i think since Gawn has turned out okay, pretty certain Melbourne would have done well with developing the other players. But yeah, 2009, if Melbourne nailed that draft, they'd easily have broken their premiership drought.

Wait you're saying if we had the power of hindsight we could have drafted better players? ******* hell.

 

[Pessimistic]

Without getting stuck into melbourne carlton gold coast specifically, but using the example.

Surely many of those drafted actually did have talent, and its maybe what happened after?
They couldn't consistently be duds

But hawthorn and saints bulldogs were at the lower end early 2000s, but dragged themsleves up, at least for a while.

Are those clubs coaches etc better? surely not every coach is better than the other.

Maybe its the whole club sticking with a direction for up to seven years? clubs can be fickle places
maybe we shouldn't be criticizing our clubs strategy, But whether or not they are applying it consisitently enough for long enough, against all the distractions

 

[Rowan18]

And the amazing thing was Gold coast had 9 of the 1st 15 picks in 2010.

It was a fairly strong draft in terms of top-end talent. They picked up Swallow, Benell and Lynch with their first few picks.