Mitch Robinson

[estibador]

Well everyone who wants to say Suban/Balla/Clarke will have a better year than Robbo put it down here so at the end of the year, yet again, we can see who on this forum knows something about football.

Who cares who has a better year? What's important is who has a better career.

 

[Alfonz]

There were PLENTY of people keen on Robinson pre-draft ... his form is not exactly a surprise. But he was overlooked for a large part of the draft, and its impossible to say Suban won't be better. Suban looks a better kick, and we needed to place an emphasis on skills.

Seeing as our need was for midfielders, preferably tall ... after watching him play for Tasmania I thought he looked good, and I was one of the many who hoped we could pick him up. Pick 37 looms like the one we could have used, however Clarke also looks promising. You can't pick every single good player in the draft.

I think performance for the "second string" states aren't given much credit ... i.e. when someone dominates for TAS or NT (eg Rioli) vs NSW or QLD ... people might think, big deal. Suban was captain of Vic Country.

 

[paul8241]

Always seem to look better when their team is handing out a flogging too. Interesting to see how he plays against Geelong, Hawthorn and Collingwood. That'll be a better measure.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

what pisses me off is that when ballas kicks his 40+ a year, the same people who bag him will be praising him... give the guy a frickin go.... he is a jet and is a jet in a position in which we have nobody who can play in...... dont anybody say walters, because he has shown little to this point..... dont say headland, because god knows if he will play again, who else will be our crumbing forward?..... im sick of reading the same old crap about players who we should have taken and how much better these guys are ahead of players we got who havent even played with us yet....... guys talking about balla's attitude when they havent even met the guy...it makes me f...ing sick, harvey has recruited palmer, mayne and hinkley, gotten a jet in hill, suban looks a player, clarke has rare potential... and just because a few people think that ballantyne was taken too high they want to rip the hell out of our recruiting staff... its a load of BS.... harry taylor was an unmitigated success at geelong, i reckon ballantyne will be too..... toughen up and back our recruiting staff who know a shite load more than you do

 

[Keys]

Christ I'm glad you blokes didn't take Robinson.

Has a head you just wanna punch, imagine how bad it'd be if he was wearing a Freo jumper

He had a decent game, but was playing in a side that was dominating and it's sometimes easy to look good in those circumstances.

 

[Sman-21]

Hes got ADD like it or not many clubs will see that an think risky pick but talented with so much other talent out there not worth the risk.
He will be an ok player

 

[Chops_a_must]

Hes got ADD like it or not many clubs will see that an think risky pick but talented with so much other talent out there not worth the risk.
He will be an ok player

As opposed to what? Not being able to put shoes on, like our mature age star?

Not being able to spell your own name? Like most footballers? Because that's so much better, isn't it?

Just means his skin folds can be pretty low, nothing else.


There wouldn't be many AFL players that wouldn't exhibit the same symptoms.

 

[pinkus maximus]

Another massive blunder by the recruiting department. I don't think Ballantyne/Suban will ever be as good as this kid. The worst thing is the club was well aware of Robinson thanks to members like me and somehow rated Ballantyne and Suban ahead of him. F-ing annoying.

 

[Frigate]

I think we did exceptionally well in the draft.

Now we can wait till 2012 to see them play thanks to our selection staff.

 

[anchor man]

Very very funny Pinkus.Having a great laugh here.
Some one here said RBR had a good game.Did I watch the same game as you?Obviously I didn't,because I thought for a player of his supposed level he did nothing.I though he was a scavenger who sat out wide,as is his want to do any way.And beside,in a side of crabs,like Richmond were last night,it would not have been hard to be a good player.
I still think Ballantyne will be a very very good player for us.
Don't know enough about Suban to comment but the club must think he is ok.
As for Robinson I have seen him twice now and he looks good.But must be remembered that one was a scratch match or a NAB cup game.Have to wait and see just how good he is.
He may well be one of the four hundred and seventy three players that we should have picked up in the last draft.

 

[jinxd]

what pisses me off is that when ballas kicks his 40+ a year, the same people who bag him will be praising him... give the guy a frickin go.... he is a jet and is a jet in a position in which we have nobody who can play in...... dont anybody say walters, because he has shown little to this point..... dont say headland, because god knows if he will play again, who else will be our crumbing forward?..... im sick of reading the same old crap about players who we should have taken and how much better these guys are ahead of players we got who havent even played with us yet....... guys talking about balla's attitude when they havent even met the guy...it makes me f...ing sick, harvey has recruited palmer, mayne and hinkley, gotten a jet in hill, suban looks a player, clarke has rare potential... and just because a few people think that ballantyne was taken too high they want to rip the hell out of our recruiting staff... its a load of BS.... harry taylor was an unmitigated success at geelong, i reckon ballantyne will be too..... toughen up and back our recruiting staff who know a shite load more than you do

I agree.

I also think it's probably better to look at this objectively... instead of ranting about what we could've done.

For example, I recently had a look at freo's draft history over the last ten years. I figured that if I looked at our last draft (of 2008) versus our previous years, it might show our progress - based on a some sort of average when it comes to recruiting. I reckon Harvs & Co are doing a much better job (in terms of recruiting) than some of our previous guys.
I'm backing them - even if we don't show immediate progress.

See links for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFL_Draft#External_links
http://www.thedrafter.net/all_drafts/all_drafts.asp?club=fremantle

BTW, 1999 was a fairly decent recruiting year for us!

 

[nurries]

Look at our round 1 team. We need a quick leading, crumbing small forward with a defensive game. We have to have Balla in the side. Walters will need at least another 1 full pre-seson and will end up a midfielder anyway.

Suban is a deadset gun. He is a natural footballer with sublime foot skills and a leader of men. You cant teach that. His body is still on the lean side for AFL but that will improve.

Robinson is a good young footballer. He wont be as effective once he is known to other teams.

 

[poshman]

Cant believe this has started before the end of round one. Unbelieveable!
Clarke is meant to be super fast and ave great endurance for his size, will be a project but everything coming out of the club is raw excitement about his potential. Suban, can read the play, is poised, built well, and kicks great. Captain of vic country so obviously rated highly by others...... Balla just won the friggin sandover..... good chance he will at least be a decent player in a position we have, possibly goo be better than good for the next 8 odd years. Is fast ahs dropped weight and they have worked on his endurance. They also recruited walters etc as longer term coveri ncase he doesn't work out.

Heaps of players were over looked when you look at where the experts on thi site say they should have went... guess what clown face, your no expert, and it wasn't just freo who overlooked him, or do you subscribe to the theory that Hill was pick three and rich pick four.... hang on moron he was pick seven and three teams had a shot also. All overlooked him, but wait it's just freo who stuffed up! Sound like a bloody west australian journo.

 

[D_train]

Well everyone who wants to say Suban/Balla/Clarke will have a better year than Robbo put it down here so at the end of the year, yet again, we can see who on this forum knows something about football. I wasn't basing this Robinson thing on one game either, I've seen a lot of him as I have been residing in Tasmania for a while.

And Ripper, getting Ben would have been for free (minus a slot currently taken by another risk), so even if he only played one game and sucked it wouldn't matter, but you act like it would have cost us something. He was among Richmond's best tonight either way.

What a ridiculous point. Who cares who has the bigger immediate impact, drafting's all about long term. The fact you think that because a 19 year old, who's played footy all his life, and spent a year in the VFL playing against men will have a better immediate impact than an 80kg ruckman in his 2nd year of playing Aussie Rules will have a better year and thus make him a better draft selection shows how little you know about the whole process.

Having said all that, depending on how Ballantyne recovers from injury he'll outperform Robbo this year. Again, that means very little i the grand scheme of things as Balla is obviously further ahead in his development than Robbo is.

 

[DrJon]

As good as Robinson may be, it's very very easy to look a million bucks in a team that won by 83 points. He may be a good player but you can't blast our recruiters for bypassing him until at least a couple of seasons have been and gone.

Besides, I believe Carlton that had first dibs on him based on his resemblance to Lance Whitnall.

An interesting fact: the collective noun for a group of dugongs is a "whitnall"*

*Citation needed

 

[anchor man]

So tell us Dr Jon does Robinson really have ADD?

 

[Plugga]

Another massive blunder by the recruiting department. I don't think Ballantyne/Suban will ever be as good as this kid. The worst thing is the club was well aware of Robinson thanks to members like me and somehow rated Ballantyne and Suban ahead of him. F-ing annoying.[

ANOTHER MASSIVE BLUNDER BY MEMORIES FOR BAGGING OUR RECRUITING DEPARTMENT. I DON'T THINK MEMORIES WILL EVER COME UP WITH A MORE STUPID COMMENT. THE WORST THING IS MEMORIES IS BAGGING OUR CLUB & SOMEHOW HIS CLUB AFTER JUST ONE GAME & OBVIOUSLY HASN'T SEEN BALLANTYNE OR SUBAN PLAY. F-ING ANNOYING.

 

[Sman-21]

reason ADD is a small problem is foottball isnt just about football anymore
They have hundreds of meetings a year including meetings for upcoming meetings.

Over complex gameplans etc.

But seriously how many people bagged freo for picking Hill now look at everyone after a few preseason games saying what a great pick up hes gonna be great job choosing him.
Not sure if memories was one of them or not.

Atleast wait till Ballantyne an suban have played a game before comparing them to Robinson, who really isnt that great a player to be saying we should of picked instead.
Hes just a good avg player who gives his all.
Like most young kids in their 1st year trying to establish themselves in the team.

 

[peppy la pew]

i havent been on this site long enough to have seen many of your posts, but you seem to be a bit of a tosser... honestly neither ballas or suban have played an afl game. jesus christ, robinson was good but he wasnt that good, what kind of a dick would make a statement like that? suban will be a jet, ballantyne will probably average 40 odd goals a year for us, you really need to take a look at yourself

Good old Memories

You gotta laugh..

 

[radziminski]

Excuse me for butting in guys but....you have yet to play an AFL round and in an inordinately long thread are already conducting a post-mortem of your 2008 drafting? I doubt very few clubs or their forums would be drawing conclusions based on the reasonable performance of another club's draftee/player (whether you wanted him or not) in an isolated season opener....

Anyways, think your side will win on Sunday (bulldogs underdone, home state adv, but Freo a good side on their day) FWIW.
Cheers!

 

[Reasonable]

I've got to be honest, I think we should have taken him over Ballantyne.

Never understood the thinking of a FP at pick 20.

Ian Richardson would have been a better pick up and he didnt even go. I still think our midfield is an area of conern. The more mids the better.

Still a bit bemused by our clubs decison tbh.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Had him in my DT and dropped him for Anthony

What do you want Reasonable? A western bulldogs side? They have 200 midfielders, doesn't see them go anywhere higher than 4th.

 

[Reasonable]

Had him in my DT and dropped him for Anthony

What do you want Reasonable? A western bulldogs side? They have 200 midfielders, doesn't see them go anywhere higher than 4th.

Thats a lot higher than we've been.

I want a solid midfield unit. You cant win games of footy if you havent got the cattle in the middle to win the clearances.

We've got the best tap ruckman in the league and not enough Mids at his fee to make the most of it. I never suggested we formulate a doggies line -up.

Furthermore you appear to be arguing with me because I wanted a taller player?

Make up your ****ing mind.

I thought we should have taken a mid with pick 20. We could have taken, Richardson, Jetta or even Ballantyne alot further down the track.

I honestly dont think any other clubs rated him that highly.

 

[Chops_a_must]

I've got to be honest, I think we should have taken him over Ballantyne.

Never understood the thinking of a FP at pick 20.

Ian Richardson would have been a better pick up and he didnt even go. I still think our midfield is an area of conern. The more mids the better.

Still a bit bemused by our clubs decison tbh.

Yep.

Made absolutely no friggin sense to me.

There were a plethora of nearly equivalently talented players that we could have gone with, with our last pick.

Made absolutely no sense then, and continues to now.

We should have gone a potential KPP or pure mid with Ballantyne's pick. Still very annoyed about it.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Thats a lot higher than we've been.

I want a solid midfield unit. You cant win games of footy if you havent got the cattle in the middle to win the clearances.

We've got the best tap ruckman in the league and not enough Mids at his fee to make the most of it. I never suggested we formulate a doggies line -up.

Furthermore you appear to be arguing with me because I wanted a taller player?

Make up your ****ing mind.

I thought we should have taken a mid with pick 20. We could have taken, Richardson, Jetta or even Ballantyne alot further down the track.

I honestly dont think any other clubs rated him that highly.

We have developing mids, you can't just draft as many mids as possible and then say "done"... You have to draft for everything. We needed that small forward to replace Jeff, we got him in Ballantyne.

I never argued about him being taller. Never said a ****ing word about that.

Also, who is to say that Ballantyne would not have been picked up by the time it got to our Pick 37? Are you sure he wouldn't have been? Do you have inside knowledge or the lists of every Recruiter?

Yeah right, you are completely full of hot air.