Melbourne prepare for backyard blitz

[master bate]

MELBOURNE recruiting manager Barry Prendergast believes AFL clubs have a choice when it comes to the recruitment of young talent: put everything into the development of emerging AFL markets, or ignore football's frontier and delve deeply into the traditional bases.

Prendergast suggested Melbourne would only have a presence in a place such as Ireland if the club had a specific target and was prepared to maximise its recruiting resources.

"There is almost an element that you've got to be in them (emerging markets), but my philosophy is that if you want to be in them you've got to be right in them," Prendergast told melbournefc.com.au.

"There's no point saying, because Collingwood is spending a heap of money over in Ireland for example, or other markets, that you've got to have some presence there.

"You either go there to get players or be fair dinkum about it. You might get a better bang for your buck in the traditional markets. I have no doubt you can still always do that better."

Prendergast believes all clubs still have a way to go when it comes to perfecting the process of identifying and grooming young players for AFL football.

"There are still a lot of players that come through rookie lists," he said. "If we got it absolutely right, there would be minimal players coming through the rookie list and more of those players would've been drafted in the first place."

Technology was also being utilised to help the Demons develop talent, with Prendergast saying the club was tracking its potential draftees through a comprehensive database.

"The club hasn't had a database on players [before] and it hasn't had a database on the intelligence that we've gathered over previous drafts [before]", he said.

"We do all of this work and that intelligence is extremely important, in relation to what you're going to pick for this year and it's also important for comparing drafts and looking at trade opportunities for the future.

"That's something that we've really worked hard to try and get up and running this year."

The first part of this article is straightforward, there really is no point going overseas unless you have a real go at it.

It's the second point I'm concerned about, how did CAC pick players before, did he just take the ones he liked, or pick on names. Personally I don't think he was that bad a recruiter, if Molan wasn't a dud and Scott Thompson was still with us you'd look at him as very good. But how can you not even have a database with all the players you've reported on. Good to see Barry P is wise enough to get one started.

 

[Deenamite]

I'm beginning to warm to this Prendergast fellow. Seems like he knows what he's doing, now just gotta produce on draft day.

 

[00Stinger]

It's the second point I'm concerned about, how did CAC pick players before, did he just take the ones he liked, or pick on names. Personally I don't think he was that bad a recruiter, if Molan wasn't a dud and Scott Thompson was still with us you'd look at him as very good. But how can you not even have a database with all the players you've reported on. Good to see Barry P is wise enough to get one started.

A good friend of mine worked at Melbourne as a recruiter for 6 or 7 years, up until he went to St.Kilda this year.
He says that the recruiters did not want Molan but Daniher was a massive fan of his and over ruled them. There for I would not blame the recruiters.

 

[woe31]

It's the second point I'm concerned about, how did CAC pick players before, did he just take the ones he liked, or pick on names. Personally I don't think he was that bad a recruiter, if Molan wasn't a dud and Scott Thompson was still with us you'd look at him as very good. But how can you not even have a database with all the players you've reported on. Good to see Barry P is wise enough to get one started.

To be fair, it only says we didn't have a database. CAC may well have kept comprehensive notes, which while old fashioned would have produced the same result as a database.

Still, it is encouraging to hear that the club has entered the 21st century.

 

[The Demon]

A good friend of mine worked at Melbourne as a recruiter for 6 or 7 years, up until he went to St.Kilda this year.
He says that the recruiters did not want Molan but Daniher was a massive fan of his and over ruled them. There for I would not blame the recruiters.

I think the reason the MFC went after Molan was because he was supposed to be one of the 'harder bastards' in the TAC cup that year.

After Melbourne got bullied by Essendon in the 2000 Grand Final I believe Daniher was keen to recruit some tougher players.

That is my understanding of the Molan recruitment.

 

[00Stinger]

I think the reason the MFC went after Molan was because he was supposed to be one of the 'harder bastards' in the TAC cup that year.

After Melbourne got bullied by Essendon in the 2000 Grand Final I believe Daniher was keen to recruit some tougher players.

That is my understanding of the Molan recruitment.

Could be right I just know the recruiters didnt want to use a very high pick on him, but Daniher did.
Oh well just hope we start recruiting well from now on

 

[McLean_4_Captain]

Could be right I just know the recruiters didnt want to use a very high pick on him, but Daniher did.
Oh well just hope we start recruiting well from now on

Who cares, none of them are there to f_ck it up this time.

If we get another Molan we've got a whole new bunch of clowns we can call to have lynched

 

[Theseventhhamster]

Molan couldn't get onto the park at all because of injuries even a couple of years after we delisted him. Are you guys suggesting we come up with a way of predicting if draftees will become injury prone or talking out your arses?