Interesting Comments From Wallace

[richoatthedisco]

One tall maybe , but two with both your priority picks was unusual and the lucked out with both. they also went against the grain of the majority of "expert" opinion at the time as well and I reckon most other clubs would've drafted Lids & Bling too if they were in our position. Franklin was barely mentioned in discussions of potential top 10 picks and when he was, disclaimers about his attitude were always raised.

Rubbish. I was only reading the papers at the time - hadn't even heard of bigfooty, but Franklin was mooted no.1 at the start of his draft year and slipped because of a poor carnival. He was still heavily discussed in the lead-up to the draft or I wouldn't have read such rave reviews of this 6'5 athletic freak that made me say we should get him. Lids and Franklin was the way to go. Anyone with any sense could see that. A mid and a key forward. If the Hawks had left us Roughead we would have snapped him up. Don't forget St Kilda took Riewoldt and Kosi with picks 1 & 2 in 2000.

As for needing gun forwards to win flags......Geelong didn't, though it could be argued they have been the exception rather than the rule...then again who was WC's "gun" up front in 06? Lynch? Hardly. Both teams won flags on the back of exceptional midfields. Hawthorn won last year thanks to it's mids and up forward it was more the poachers that got the crucial goals in the big one, as opposed to Buddy & Roughead... but again you could argue that Franklin's real value was keeping Scarlett occupied and nullifying the run he usually gives Geelong and had Geelong had a gun forward they pretty much would've crushed them. Six of one...

Mooney and Nablett might not exactly be guns but they were there and provided a target and therefore structure. You can't handpass goals or link-run the ball over the line. Mooney in particular is underrated - he was very good that year. WC had the best midfield imaginable and only snuck in by a point against a working class Swans mob, arguably because the Swans' gun key forward had an off day. On Buddy I'd also argue he took the mark, turned around and kicked the goal that put the nail in the coffin early in the last quarter. That ended the game.