Opinion Kennedy before Pendles in Do Over 2005 Draft

[MarkT2]

By 2011 Thomas had decreased the gap but Murphy was still clearly the better player. He won the AFLCA award that year, was AA, B&F. He was better in that year than Thomas and had been easily better in the seasons before

The real debate earlier in their careers was between Pendles and Murphy

I have always thought Murphy was a relatively no harm possession accumulator. Good player but one of the reasons Carlton have been ordinary. Their best players lack punch and that's with Judd in their side. Had Murphy and Gibbs not been drafted at 1 they'd be rated lower on output and impact.

 

[MarkT2]

Sidebottom and Beams (while obviously from a different draft to the Pendlebury/Kennedy one) were taken at picks 11 and 29 respectively.

Yep, my off the top numbers were wrong. Cheers.

 

[MarkT2]

As for the Thomas v Murphy debate.

Thomas was clearly better than Murphy at his best. 2011 Thomas was among the better few in the competition and stylistically he made Collingwood who they were in those 2010 and 2011 seasons as that competition leading tackle and pressure team, allowing Reid, Maxwell etc to intercept and dominate as they both did for a few years there.

Better career? Murphy. More consistent over more years, though unimpressive these past few by his otherwise consistently strong standards he has consistently displayed.

Thomas in that Leon Davis kind of way only for two seasons was great. Otherwise he lacked consistency and was/is an occasional highlight show who did something game-changing, only to be invisible and a non-factor much of the rest of the time.

So given the give lack of consistency over the course of their careers Murphy is the guy you'd take.

To be fair, Thomas played forward much of his early career while MM persisted with the like of O'Bree & Lockyer - a formulae that was never going to win a flag. The half forward role is the definitely inconsistent role. There aren't many Daicos types that come along and even he was considered inconsistent for a long time. Thomas is a natural winger with enough talent to play forward. Murphy wouldn't rate as a permanent half forward.

 

[MarkT2]

Just without Daisy as you rightly identified he peaked and played his best football at the right time, during those grand final years. And the same could be said of Reid, which ultimately make both in hindsight excellent choices, even if others from their draft classes go on and having longer/stronger careers.

If I had the choice of drafting a couple of players to have 2 top end years only and they were a flag and runner up year v 2 players to have 10 good years and they were also ran years I'd take the former very time. In fact it isn't even a debate IMO. Obviously a lot else has to fall into place to win a flag but that the actual point of drafting players.

 

[Vicky Park]

There is one area in which Kennedy excels, and Pendles will never match him...he is a constant reminder to Carlton fans of what they gave up, undermining their future forward potency.