- Oct 5, 2004
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Spot on.All Stocker needs to be is another part in the sum of the whole that comprises our future team. He doesn’t have the same expectations as our top draft picks, because he’s not one. The ‘top 6’ comments are nothing more than a big of internal boost for the club and Stocker himself.
If he’s not prepared for whatever scrutinity he’s going to face (and I sincerely doubt it’s as extensive as the catastrophic projections some are making) then he wouldn’t have been picked where he was.
All first-round draftees are under the microscope once they are drafted, and need a good temperament to weather this. From all indications our recruiting team believes Stocker has the determination and drive to succeed, and this would have been a big consideration in executing the trade, and one intangible as to why we had him further up our draft board than most.
But what live trading does is extrapolate the opportunity cost of a pick.
Stocker like it or not is the first cab off the ranks with this new rule.
Like it or not, he (and whoever is drafted with the 2019 first round Adelaide pick that Carlton currently own) will be compared to the picks available at the time he was drafted (RCD, Smith etc, not the top 6 picks) as well as the future pick that Carlton ponied up to get him.
Time will tell if it’s a good trade.