Hypothetical Recruiting Question

[The Royal Sampler]

Let me present this hypothetical situation to you:

Collingwood uses it's leverage in the Tarrant deal to ensure Polak also goes to the Pies rather than Richmond. We take Fremantle's pick 13, Paul Medhurst and Graham Polak in exchange for Chris Tarrant.

Now the questions:
1. Are you happier with this trade?
2. Do you think Collingwood could still have taken Reid and Brown at picks 10 and 13?

 

[Lockyer24]

If Polak was available in this years draft would you have taken him at Pick 8?
Considering he's been in the system for a few years and still hasn't found a position, I'd have to say no. Richmond may have stuffed up here.

It all depends how good Reid turns out to be though.

As for Brown, despite my wish for us to draft midfielders (or one at least with these picks) I'm really impressed with him and have a gut feeling he will be a ripper. I reckon he might get a game this year, he has a good build and might get a chance up forward and perhaps even on a wing he looks that mobile.
I see a tiny bit of Pavlich in him.

There is a chance we could have got our guys with Pick 13 but as we learned with the infamous McKee trade, higher picks are definately better!!!!!

 

[The Royal Sampler]

They didn't really take him for pick 8, they took him for the hypothetical difference between picks 8 and 13.

 

[Lockyer24]

Thats right.

I just hope personally we saw enough in Reid to say we rated him much higher than say Riewoldt who Richmond took.

Polak is not a good enough player to be downgrading picks. Although coming from Freo he could be an All Australian in the making knowing their luck.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Fair enough. It's a bit of a hairy question, but I do rate Polak highly on potential. He looked great in his first couple of seasons on what I saw.

 

[Coin_Toss]

Originally posted by Lockyer24
As for Brown, despite my wish for us to draft midfielders (or one at least with these picks) I'm really impressed with him and have a gut feeling he will be a ripper. I reckon he might get a game this year, he has a good build and might get a chance up forward and perhaps even on a wing he looks that mobile.
I see a tiny bit of Pavlich in him.

Haha...you just explained Ben Reid in a nutshell. I like the fact that he has played everywhere - forward, back - and he can play in the midfield. He stands at 197cm tall - similar to Josh Fraser - he can still grow a few centremeters. Nathan Brown is the long-term full-back. He's also got good size to ground when he fills out.

My gut tells me that both boys will be valuable additions to the team.

Hopefully Dawes will come on well.

 

[GeneralDisarray]

Our actual trade is miles better. Polak is an absolute hack. There's a reason Freo were so eager to get rid of him. Victoria will learn next year what WA has known for some time.

 

[Lockyer24]

Haha...you just explained Ben Reid in a nutshell. I like the fact that he has played everywhere - forward, back - and he can play in the midfield. He stands at 197cm tall - similar to Josh Fraser - he can still grow a few centremeters. Nathan Brown is the long-term full-back. He's also got good size to ground when he fills out.

My gut tells me that both boys will be valuable additions to the team.

Hopefully Dawes will come on well.

Reid looked to me like Josh a lot except he could hold a mark.

Brown might make a good full back but I have the feeling they have bigger things in mind with him - he could play anywhere we need him with his skill set!

Would be great if down the track we could move Trav, Reid and Brown up forward and down back to suit...it would make us 10000000 times more unpredictable as we are now. (i.e never throwing Clement forward)

 

[Coin_Toss]

Would be great if down the track we could move Trav, Reid and Brown up forward and down back to suit...it would make us 10000000 times more unpredictable as we are now. (i.e never throwing Clement forward)

FWIW I agree with you, Lockyer24. West Coast use this tactic with their taller and smaller players and it brought them success this year. It's a good thing to see proficient plans being addressed by the inner sanctum. Perhaps you're right, and it pays divedends, it's about winning premierships and playing off in finals.

 

[FIGJAM]

Let me present this hypothetical situation to you:

Collingwood uses it's leverage in the Tarrant deal to ensure Polak also goes to the Pies rather than Richmond. We take Fremantle's pick 13, Paul Medhurst and Graham Polak in exchange for Chris Tarrant.

Now the questions:
1. Are you happier with this trade?
2. Do you think Collingwood could still have taken Reid and Brown at picks 10 and 13?

1. Not necessarily. Polak can play, but has tremendous question marks over him mentally. He has the talent to become AA even this year, but if he doesn't pull his head in then he may be a very destructive character within a club.

Conversely, we have run the kids we were interested in through the ringer physically and mentally and recruited blokes with good character and football/athletic attributes. No matter how good Polak becomes, Brown and Reid will always be better kicks.

2. John Beverage stated that he rated Ben Reid as a top 10 pick, so that gives an indication that there was at least a possibility of the Saints drafting him. Wiz doesn't even rate him in his top 50, and I half appreciate why. "The Spider" physique can backfire (ala. Hale & Bradley), but I think they can also hit too (ala D. Fletcher and Fraser).

Secondly, I reckon Reid and Brown may have been very much on the radar of the Bulldogs, so the 'leftover' may have been gone by 13.

In making my claims, I have no qualms whatsoever about the methodology we have employed. It may end up looking on paper as bad as a McKee deal, but that's up to the footy gods and our development squad.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

I doubt Brown and Reid will end up looking like a McKee deal, I'm actually really happy with the players we've taken. I was surprised however at how cheaply Freo sold Polak, and was looking to get a barometer on how the Pies fans viewed him.

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

Maybe we could have gotten Reid and Brown at picks #10 and #13, but if we didn't, and we ended up with a player we rated lower, it would have been a silly move.

 

[MarkT]

I would rather have done something like:

Lockyer, Tarrant and a pick to Freo for Richmond’s pick 8 and Freo’s pick 13 with Freo sending Polak and Medhurst to Richmond and exchanging whatever picks outside the first round made the deal work for them both. I am not unhappy with getting Medhurst in principle and I wouldn’t have minded Polak either but given where we are with our list early picks are what we should primarily chase. I would love to have been able to trade pick 8 up the order as well although that would have been a big ask.

We would be far better served with early picks at this point rather than the likes of Lockyer and O’Bree.

 

[Coin_Toss]

We would be far better served with early picks at this point rather than the likes of Lockyer and O’Bree.

Poor form.

We need Shane playing and he's very important to us when he's playing well and probably in our best six to eight. I don't think he has played badly when we've won. He is unfairly criticized by Collingwood supporters on this site, it's about time you wake up and watch his good games rather than make a scapegoat of him.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Lockyer, Tarrant and a pick to Freo for Richmond’s pick 8 and Freo’s pick 13 with Freo sending Polak and Medhurst to Richmond and exchanging whatever picks outside the first round made the deal work for them both.

I can't see Richmond giving up their first round pick for Polak and Medhurst.

 

[MarkT]

I can't see Richmond giving up their first round pick for Polak and Medhurst.

That’s probably what our guys said too. Maybe you are right. Maybe they would with a second round pick from Freo and/or us and/or a player. I am not saying we should have insisted on this sort of thing just that I would have strongly preferred that type of result. I think Richmond got a reasonable deal in the end and Freo over paid. If we could have taken more of the over payment element at Richmond’s expense it would have been nice.

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

That’s probably what our guys said too. Maybe you are right. Maybe they would with a second round pick from Freo and/or us and/or a player. I am not saying we should have insisted on this sort of thing just that I would have strongly preferred that type of result. I think Richmond got a reasonable deal in the end and Freo over paid. If we could have taken more of the over payment element at Richmond’s expense it would have been nice.

Nah, I'm with Sampler - We wouldn't have been able to swing that deal.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Originally posted by MarkT

I think Richmond got a reasonable deal in the end and Freo over paid.

Now this I agree with. Freo gave Polak away for nothing. Mind you, I would also rather have Ben Reid than Jack Riewoldt, but who knows at this stage?