Matthew Clarke

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2018:
Riley Collier-Dawkins (delisted)
Jack Ross (plays semi-consistently, soon best 22 IMO)
Fraser Turner (delisted)
Luke English (delisted)
Jake Aarts (delisted)
Maverick Weller (SSP - delisted)
Sydney Stack (SSP - delisted)

2019:
Thomson Dow
Noah Cumberland

Will Martin (delisted)
Hugo Ralphsmith
Bigoa Nyuon (wasn’t coming on for us - traded to North Melbourne)
Marlion Pickett

2020:
Samson Ryan
Maurice Rioli Jr (father-son)
Mate Colina (Cat B rookie)
Rhyan Mansell

Derek Eggmolesse-Smith (delisted)

2021:
Josh Gibcus
Tom Brown
Tyler Sonsie
Samuel Banks
Judson Clarke

Matthew Parker (delisted)

2022:
Kaleb Smith
Steely Green
Seth Campbell
Tylar Young
Jacob Bauer


2023:
Kane McAuliffe
Liam Fawcett
James Trezise
Mykelti Lefau


Look at how awful our drafting was in 2018-2020. I’m so glad Matt Clarke left.

The thing is, our drafting on the night was already questionable. It’s not even one of those “hindsight is 20/20” moments. We spent half the time melting at our selections, and above is the longer term result.

This guy thought he knew better than all the other recruiters/draft experts by using picks on players that other recruiters/draft experts thought were a reach. What made it worse is that Hardwick refused to consistently play some of these players. He kept them in the VFL and ran off to Gold Coast the moment it became apparent that our depth was stuffed.

At the end of the day though, why would Hardwick play these players if he didn’t think they were good?

Anyways, I’m glad we can move on to a new era. Although, I don’t know if this St Kilda recruiter guy Toce is any good. St Kilda is probably the only side that wasted more picks than we did in those years. Mattaes Phillipou kinda looks like a bust already.
2021 draft we had 5 in the top 30, that draft will
Haunt us for years if it turns into a failure
At the moment it's looking grim.
 
2021 draft we had 5 in the top 30, that draft will
Haunt us for years if it turns into a failure
At the moment it's looking grim.
Yeah exactly.

Sonsie, Brown, and Gibcus have shown some progress since debuting. However, I’ve noticed they’re all quite “soft”. They don’t really seem to like doing the hard contested stuff, and that concerns me.

Banks is pretty soft as well, but he doesn’t really look very good except for his kicking. Probably the most concerned about him.

Judson Clarke is the only one that’s not soft IMO. But, I don’t know if he’ll make it.

They all have time, but only Brown’s looking like a solid player so far. Maybe Gibcus if he can stay uninjured. Really hope things turn around for this group, or that would become another draft that we bombed.
 

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Hoping we can swing a couple of picks back to back in the 1st round and take both the Whitlock twins. Reckon they'll do wonders for our list. A couple of lads 200cm who play Forward and Back.
 
2018:
Riley Collier-Dawkins (delisted)
Jack Ross (plays semi-consistently, soon best 22 IMO)
Fraser Turner (delisted)
Luke English (delisted)
Jake Aarts (delisted)
Maverick Weller (SSP - delisted)
Sydney Stack (SSP - delisted)

2019:
Thomson Dow
Noah Cumberland

Will Martin (delisted)
Hugo Ralphsmith
Bigoa Nyuon (wasn’t coming on for us - traded to North Melbourne)
Marlion Pickett

2020:
Samson Ryan
Maurice Rioli Jr (father-son)
Mate Colina (Cat B rookie)
Rhyan Mansell

Derek Eggmolesse-Smith (delisted)

2021:
Josh Gibcus
Tom Brown
Tyler Sonsie
Samuel Banks
Judson Clarke

Matthew Parker (delisted)

2022:
Kaleb Smith
Steely Green
Seth Campbell
Tylar Young
Jacob Bauer


2023:
Kane McAuliffe
Liam Fawcett
James Trezise
Mykelti Lefau


Look at how awful our drafting was in 2018-2020. I’m so glad Matt Clarke left.

The thing is, our drafting on the night was already questionable. It’s not even one of those “hindsight is 20/20” moments. We spent half the time melting at our selections, and above is the longer term result.

This guy thought he knew better than all the other recruiters/draft experts by using picks on players that other recruiters/draft experts thought were a reach. What made it worse is that Hardwick refused to consistently play some of these players. He kept them in the VFL and ran off to Gold Coast the moment it became apparent that our depth was stuffed.

At the end of the day though, why would Hardwick play these players if he didn’t think they were good?

Anyways, I’m glad we can move on to a new era. Although, I don’t know if this St Kilda recruiter guy Toce is any good. St Kilda is probably the only side that wasted more picks than we did in those years. Mattaes Phillipou kinda looks like a bust already.
2017 was where the damage was done. The 2nd round was full of good KPPs and we didn't cash in considering that is what we were targeting going into the draft.

Balta was a good pick up but picked a mediocre ruck and B grade small forward with the other 2 early picks.
Could have had one or two of Oscar Allen, Sam Taylor, De Koening, McCartin or Petty

Baker was brilliant get, Miller a depth player and Naish was expected to be skilful wing. Unfortunately he didn't pan out that way, he was too slight for AFL.

2018 the quality was really poor after the top 20. Hard to pluck a gem after that. Ely Smith and Xavier O'Halloran the 2 players selected after RCD have hardly set the world alight. Ely Smith being delisted by Brisbane 2 years ago.

Where we stuffed up is not accepting the Saints offer to trade pick 20 for a swap of future first rounders. Could have ended up with Serong or Young.

We also tried to offer pick 20 and a future first to Port for their first round pick. This was under the proviso that the Bulldogs traded pick 7 for pick 11 and 14 to GWS. Therefore GWS would have got Caldwell at pick 7 (he ended up sliding to them anyway) and Port traded pick 8 for our 2 firsts. Then we would have got Bailey Smith. Bulldogs of course didn't accept the trade.

We were keen on McInerney and hoped he would slide to one of our third rounders but unfortunately the Swans pounced earlier than expected. Jack Ross was a solid pick but then there was SFA after that in the 2018 draft. Not surprising that Turner and English were delisted without playing a game.

Stacky look good for awhile but the risk out weighed the reward in the end.

2019 and 2020 were really poor drafts after the first round.

In 2019., if we didn't get Dow with our first pick we were going to get Devon Robertson, who is also pretty average.
We did try to trade up with our late 2nd and early thirds but there were no takers. So not much on offer when we got to our late 2nd and early thirds (Martyn, Cumberland and Ralphsmith) and 4th rounder (Biggie).

Most of the players in 2020 draft 2nd round have been delisted now. We got Ryan but he still looks a million miles off being an AFL ruck. Seems a hybrid player that is not good enough as a forward or as a ruck. Hopefully he will improve.
Really bullish on MJ, is the most improved player on our list this season.

In 2020, we pretty blinkered thinking that young players would develop and no need to bring in more young talent.
There were a lot of unknowns coming of Covid19 disruptions so didn't help assess the talent on the list. We could have worked harder to strengthen our draft hand but was understandable that we didn't coming off 2 flags.

A bit early to make calls on the other drafts. I do think getting Hopper was a bridge to far but isn't hindsight a wonderful thing.
 
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In 2020, we pretty blinkered thinking that young players would develop and no need to bring in more young talent.
The reason we didn’t try and buy in more players was tight cap space and we were obligated to reward the triple premiership players, and pay them well after taking under to keep the team together. So we stuck to the draft.

I can accept that . One team players, legends of the club.

Can’t see another team doing a three peat anytime soon given the afl’s interventions
 
2017 was where the damage was done. The 2nd round was full of good KPPs and we didn't cash in considering that is what we were targeting going into the draft.

Balta was a good pick up but picked a mediocre ruck and B grade small forward with the other 2 early picks.
Could have had one or two of Oscar Allen, Sam Taylor, De Koening, McCartin or Petty

Baker was brilliant get, Miller a depth player and Naish was expected to be skilful wing. Unfortunately he didn't pan out that way, he was too slight for AFL.

2018 the quality was really poor after the top 20. Hard to pluck a gem after that. Ely Smith and Xavier O'Halloran the 2 players selected after RCD have hardly set the world alight. Ely Smith being delisted by Brisbane 2 years ago.

Where we stuffed up is not accepting the St Kilda offer to trade pick 20 for a swap of future first rounders. Could have ended up with Serong or Young.

We also tried to offer pick 20 and a future first to Port for their first round pick. This was under the proviso that the Bulldogs traded pick 7 for pick 11 and 14 to GWS. Therefore GWS would have got Caldwell at pick 7 (he ended up sliding to them anyway) and Port traded pick 8 for our 2 firsts. Then we would have got Bailey Smith. Bulldogs of course didn't accept the trade.

We were keen on McInerney and hoped he would slide to one of our third rounders but unfortunately the Swans pounced earlier than expected. Jack Ross was a solid pick but then there was SWA after that in the 2018 draft. Not surprising that Turner and English were delisted without playing a game.

Stacky look good for awhile but the risk out weighed the reward in the end.

2019 and 2020 were really poor drafts after the first round.

In 2019., if we didn't get Dow with our first pick we were going to get Devon Robertson, who is also pretty average.
We did try to trade up with our late 2nd and early thirds but there were no takers. So not much on offer when we got to our late 2nd and early thirds (Martyn, Cumberland and Ralphsmith) and 4th rounder (Biggie).

Most of the players in 2020 draft 2nd round have been delisted now. We got Ryan but he still looks a million miles off being an AFL ruck. Seems a hybrid player that is not good enough as a forward or as a ruck. Hopefully he will improve.
Really bullish on MJ, is the most improved player on our list this season.

In 2020, we pretty blinkered thinking that young players would develop and no need to bring in more young talent.
There were a lot of unknowns coming of Covid19 disruptions so didn't help assess the talent on the list. We could have worked harder to strengthen our draft hand but was understandable that we didn't coming off 2 flags.

A bit early to make calls on the other drafts. I do think getting Hopper was a bridge to far but isn't hindsight a wonderful thing.
Yeah I see. If the core problem is that we didn’t have good picks due to our success, then why did we rely on the draft so much? I note that we also traded our first pick in the 2020 draft, and Geelong selected Max Holmes with the pick we gave them. He’s pretty good, so I don’t really think our judgement was all that sound.

I have another question for them. If so many drafts were shallow, why did we not bring in experienced players through trade all these years? Why did it take until 2022 for us to bring in players like Taranto and Hopper? I remember the messaging being that we’re “rebuilding on the run”. I’m not seeing any adequate rebuilding on the run with our drafting record tbh. Seems like we relied too much on Matt Clarke’s leadership in drafting (whether or not it was his fault). Either we relied on the wrong person, or we relied on the wrong strategy
 
Real shame for juddy that injuries have hindered him as he’s shown prob more than the lot , would love to have seen him get mansell s opportunities . While none look like being prime movers, they do indicate being capable afl footballers. Don’t forget most were taken in the 20s , not too often you get a prime mover there, that’s why it’s so important we pic right this year ,,,,ffs don’t get some jockey size small forward with the no 1 pic . I’m sure haw are already regretting getting Watson with no 5 , a 170cm player with prized pic , sometimes yiu just put it to the pub test
 
Yeah I see. If the core problem is that we didn’t have good picks due to our success, then why did we rely on the draft so much? I note that we also traded our first pick in the 2020 draft, and Geelong selected Max Holmes with the pick we gave them. He’s pretty good, so I don’t really think our judgement was all that sound.

I have another question for them. If so many drafts were shallow, why did we not bring in experienced players through trade all these years? Why did it take until 2022 for us to bring in players like Taranto and Hopper? I remember the messaging being that we’re “rebuilding on the run”. I’m not seeing any adequate rebuilding on the run with our drafting record tbh. Seems like we relied too much on Matt Clarke’s leadership in drafting (whether or not it was his fault). Either we relied on the wrong person, or we relied on the wrong strategy
Don't think we had the cap space to trade in any players from another team.

At the time we wanted to back in the young players we had to develop and not attack the 2020 draft as hard. Still missed an opportunity despite it being a weak draft as we let Durham slip through our fingers.
 
Still don’t get the Colina experiment. I know in terms of cap and list it means f/all but wtf is going on with this guy.
I said it when it was announced and I'll keep saying it, waste of time and money.
 

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Still don’t get the Colina experiment. I know in terms of cap and list it means f/all but wtf is going on with this guy.

I said it when it was announced and I'll keep saying it, waste of time and money.
Why can't we just go for actual footballers rather than this basketball conversion bullshit? Does my head in.
 
Don’t see much future in Brown, Sonsie, Gibcus, MRJ or Campbell. Lafau is a still a long long shot of having a role in a good afl team.


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First 50 games were shithouse for Edwards, Rance, Jackson, Tuck and a heap of other players. Give them until 75 - 100 and we can start to determine how bad they are. Brown and Sonsie are in their 3rd seasons as well.
 
Yeah I see. If the core problem is that we didn’t have good picks due to our success, then why did we rely on the draft so much? I note that we also traded our first pick in the 2020 draft, and Geelong selected Max Holmes with the pick we gave them. He’s pretty good, so I don’t really think our judgement was all that sound.

I have another question for them. If so many drafts were shallow, why did we not bring in experienced players through trade all these years? Why did it take until 2022 for us to bring in players like Taranto and Hopper? I remember the messaging being that we’re “rebuilding on the run”. I’m not seeing any adequate rebuilding on the run with our drafting record tbh. Seems like we relied too much on Matt Clarke’s leadership in drafting (whether or not it was his fault). Either we relied on the wrong person, or we relied on the wrong strategy
2020 Draft was a crab shoot. In about 3 years we will see kids taken all across that draft outperforming the top 10 because of the crab shoot it was. Basically had to draft on the back of U17 data unless they were a QLD, SA or WA kid.
 
Quite simply, he wasted so many good selections on players he thought he was outsmarting other recruiters. He was a mini Dodoro.

Glad he’s gone but he’s left a decade at least of mess we are stuck with.


Good Riddance.
 
Real shame for juddy that injuries have hindered him as he’s shown prob more than the lot , would love to have seen him get mansell s opportunities . While none look like being prime movers, they do indicate being capable afl footballers. Don’t forget most were taken in the 20s , not too often you get a prime mover there, that’s why it’s so important we pic right this year ,,,,ffs don’t get some jockey size small forward with the no 1 pic . I’m sure haw are already regretting getting Watson with no 5 , a 170cm player with prized pic , sometimes yiu just put it to the pub test
Watson a massive reach at 5 , especially recruiting Ginnavan playing the same role
Made zero sense.
 
2018:
Riley Collier-Dawkins (delisted)
Jack Ross (plays semi-consistently, soon best 22 IMO)
Fraser Turner (delisted)
Luke English (delisted)
Jake Aarts (delisted)
Maverick Weller (SSP - delisted)
Sydney Stack (SSP - delisted)

2019:
Thomson Dow
Noah Cumberland

Will Martin (delisted)
Hugo Ralphsmith
Bigoa Nyuon (wasn’t coming on for us - traded to North Melbourne)
Marlion Pickett

2020:
Samson Ryan
Maurice Rioli Jr (father-son)
Mate Colina (Cat B rookie)
Rhyan Mansell

Derek Eggmolesse-Smith (delisted)

2021:
Josh Gibcus
Tom Brown
Tyler Sonsie
Samuel Banks
Judson Clarke

Matthew Parker (delisted)

2022:
Kaleb Smith
Steely Green
Seth Campbell
Tylar Young
Jacob Bauer


2023:
Kane McAuliffe
Liam Fawcett
James Trezise
Mykelti Lefau


Look at how awful our drafting was in 2018-2020. I’m so glad Matt Clarke left.

The thing is, our drafting on the night was already questionable. It’s not even one of those “hindsight is 20/20” moments. We spent half the time melting at our selections, and above is the longer term result.

This guy thought he knew better than all the other recruiters/draft experts by using picks on players that other recruiters/draft experts thought were a reach. What made it worse is that Hardwick refused to consistently play some of these players. He kept them in the VFL and ran off to Gold Coast the moment it became apparent that our depth was stuffed.

At the end of the day though, why would Hardwick play these players if he didn’t think they were good?

Anyways, I’m glad we can move on to a new era. Although, I don’t know if this St Kilda recruiter guy Toce is any good. St Kilda is probably the only side that wasted more picks than we did in those years. Mattaes Phillipou kinda looks like a bust already.

Philippou is a quality player though. Just devoid from any confidence.
 
Quite simply, he wasted so many good selections on players he thought he was outsmarting other recruiters. He was a mini Dodoro.

Glad he’s gone but he’s left a decade at least of mess we are stuck with.


Good Riddance.
dumma made him recruit undersized flankers every year
 

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