News New Hawk Dallas Willsmore a small-town hero

[Turly]

Fantastic read so thought it would be worth posting.

Would have taken him in the afl draft to be quite honest. We have ourselves a beauty here fella's.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-11-30/new-hawk-a-small-town-hero

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Great story! Thanks for sharing it. Let's hope for the town's and Hawthorn's sake that this kid kicks on and gives senior footy a real shake.

 

[karaoke]

From Max Crow territory - underrated corner of Vic,

http://boundforglorynews.com/birds-of-a-feather-swoop-in-for-draft-steals/

"The Hawks have backed it up with selections that include Dallas Willsmore and Zac Webster. Those two players could very well have gone in the main draft and Hawthorn have not only picked up one, but two gems, making it five talented players with immense potential."

"Dallas Willsmore might be an undersized key forward but he’s a reliable mark and kick for goal which will provide another option up forward for the Hawks."

 

[Off The Couch]

I know it's all speculative but it's great hearing all the positives

Always love reading about the young blokes and their journies - good luck to all our draftees

 

[Agent Smith]

From Max Crow territory - underrated corner of Vic,

http://boundforglorynews.com/birds-of-a-feather-swoop-in-for-draft-steals/

"The Hawks have backed it up with selections that include Dallas Willsmore and Zac Webster. Those two players could very well have gone in the main draft and Hawthorn have not only picked up one, but two gems, making it five talented players with immense potential."

"Dallas Willsmore might be an undersized key forward but he’s a reliable mark and kick for goal which will provide another option up forward for the Hawks."

"Hawthorn already impressed with their bargain selections of Billy Hartung, Dayle Garlett and James Sicily. Those three selections at their relevant picks are like shooting a three point buzzer beater from half court. The Hawks have backed it up with selections that include Dallas Willsmore and Zac Webster. Those two players could very well have gone in the main draft and Hawthorn have not only picked up one, but two gems, making it five talented players with immense potential."

Holy crap... really?

"Hawthorn fans might not know it yet, but they may very well have uncovered a draft similar to that of Geelong in 1999 where every pick was a huge tick. It’s obviously too early to be predicting too much, but on exposed junior form, these kids could be something very special."

Stop it! Just stop!

"While it is far too early to predict for sure how clubs fared in the draft; on exposed junior form, the Hawks and Crows have nailed their selections. It’s scary to think two teams who played in an epic Preliminary Final and one that is coming off a magnificent premiership, could do so incredibly well. The recruiting staff of both clubs and indeed all clubs, need a pat of the back for their incredible work throughout the season to pluck the best young kids from around the country."

Okay, that's it, I'm officially excited! Must... watch... 2013 GF again... for perspective...

 

[eldorado]

To be honest, we need to get some perspective on all these draft 'experts'...and I need to have a little rant after listening to all the Phantom Draft types declare that team X or team Y "won" the draft

In the article, he says that Battersby, picked up by the Crows as a rookie "should have been taken in the second round of the National Draft"!

Err, why should he?

If he should have been, I dare say...he would have been.

In fact, he was taken for exactly what he was worth. The fact is, he wasn't taken by anyone with their second, third or even fourth picks. "Should" doesn't enter into it. In an auction, something is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay, so he's worth...a rookie pick.

It's not too hard to work out, is it?

But, no, to these Phantom Draft types, player x, ignored by every team, and every teams full-time recruitment team, becomes the 'steal'..."I can't believe he slipped, etc etc"

So much easier on the ego than to the face the unacceptable truth..that their rankings were way out of line with reality.

Now, as a Hawk supporter, it bothers me a little having say this, because a few of these types have been saying that Hawthorn 'won' the draft (A few say Collingwood 'won' it...)


But as a rationalist, it gives me the shits listening to people confuse their opinion with facts, and seemingly unable to recognise that their opinion was, plainly and simply, wrong..

Righto, rant over

 

[Agent Smith]

Geezuz, I build everyone up into believing we're about to enter a millennium of dominance and put a smile on everyone's dial for months on end (until they discover I'm truly full of sh1t) and then eldorado comes along and destroys the dream faster than a school girl visiting the St Kilda football club. I hope you're happy, eldorado! I hope you're satisfied.

P.S. Stop poking the bear!

 

[eldorado]

Let's compromise then...

We SMASHED the national draft! Garlett is top 5, for 38! Hartung was rated top 15, for 24, and Sicily was rated top 35, for 56! We rule!!! Rationality be damned, we smashed it!

Rookie draft...meh, whatever...

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

NAh, we won this s**t easily. f#$k the experts, I just have a feeling about these guys, all bargains and all will be premiership players inside of 5 years (at least 3 of them dual premiership players) WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


Good read though

 

[halfback dasher]

Interesting thing is he didn't even mention our top 20 pick Kurt and next power fwd star Shem .......gee , wish these blokes would do there home work ....

 

[grizzlym]

To be honest, we need to get some perspective on all these draft 'experts'...and I need to have a little rant after listening to all the Phantom Draft types declare that team X or team Y "won" the draft

In the article, he says that Battersby, picked up by the Crows as a rookie "should have been taken in the second round of the National Draft"!

Err, why should he?

If he should have been, I dare say...he would have been.

In fact, he was taken for exactly what he was worth. The fact is, he wasn't taken by anyone with their second, third or even fourth picks. "Should" doesn't enter into it. In an auction, something is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay, so he's worth...a rookie pick.

It's not too hard to work out, is it?

But, no, to these Phantom Draft types, player x, ignored by every team, and every teams full-time recruitment team, becomes the 'steal'..."I can't believe he slipped, etc etc"

So much easier on the ego than to the face the unacceptable truth..that their rankings were way out of line with reality.

Now, as a Hawk supporter, it bothers me a little having say this, because a few of these types have been saying that Hawthorn 'won' the draft (A few say Collingwood 'won' it...)


But as a rationalist, it gives me the shits listening to people confuse their opinion with facts, and seemingly unable to recognise that their opinion was, plainly and simply, wrong..

Righto, rant over

Agree. How on earth can anyone say a team won or lost a draft right after its been held is beyond me.

Can only really assess that with a bit of time. Plus you also need to know the objectives etc of the respective teams too.

Just stupid stuff.

 

[Frankston Rover]

I remember when Richmond won the 2004 draft and got the best two players in the country.

However I'm also a sucker for these puff pieces.

 

[toomanysquibs]

I remember when Richmond won the 2004 draft and got the best two players in the country.

However I'm also a sucker for these puff pieces.

You'd rate Terry Wallace over the phantom draft experts, albeit marginally, and he $#@%ed 2004 up stupendously, as we did on a few occasions in subsequent years.

It all looks great on paper, but duh..., it's what happens in the real world that matters. No reason why all these guys can't be great, but history dictates the harvest will be something more consistent with the hit/miss nature of drafting young players.

 

[Brant]

"Hawthorn already impressed with their bargain selections of Billy Hartung, Dayle Garlett and James Sicily. Those three selections at their relevant picks are like shooting a three point buzzer beater from half court. The Hawks have backed it up with selections that include Dallas Willsmore and Zac Webster. Those two players could very well have gone in the main draft and Hawthorn have not only picked up one, but two gems, making it five talented players with immense potential."

Holy crap... really?

"Hawthorn fans might not know it yet, but they may very well have uncovered a draft similar to that of Geelong in 1999 where every pick was a huge tick. It’s obviously too early to be predicting too much, but on exposed junior form, these kids could be something very special."

Stop it! Just stop!

"While it is far too early to predict for sure how clubs fared in the draft; on exposed junior form, the Hawks and Crows have nailed their selections. It’s scary to think two teams who played in an epic Preliminary Final and one that is coming off a magnificent premiership, could do so incredibly well. The recruiting staff of both clubs and indeed all clubs, need a pat of the back for their incredible work throughout the season to pluck the best young kids from around the country."

Okay, that's it, I'm officially excited! Must... watch... 2013 GF again... for perspective...

This always makes me smile... Effectively saying that Draft Experts (Recruiters etc) could well have thought that these were in the most desirable players outside the AFL... But then didn't!!! As if it's somehow a show of endearment that they could've been selected but weren't.

Much like when it seemed to somehow be cool to be known as The Best Team Outside the 8... Obviously Richmond dominated this bizarre award - I haven't heard it mentioned in a while.

 

[Gold Member]

Cos this year it was the best team outside the 8...





...which was Norf......





....which you didn't hear about......










...cos it's hard to hear something only 3 people are talking about!

 

[PenAndPaper]

I think the choice of words saying he could have gone in the second round of the draft is more the opinion of that draft 'expert' and him thinking that they will be in the top 20-40 players out of their draft pool. Just like AFL recruiters get it wrong a lot of times because they think that player X is better than player Y yet player Y who is picked up in the fourth roud turns out a much better player than X who was picked up in the first

 

[cryptor]

We won't know if these picks are good ones for a few years at least. We can only assume that our recruiting guys have done their homework and picked the best available kids at our respective picks and that our development team will be able to get the best out of them.

We didn't have great draft picks to begin with and we were end of each round in the Rookie Draft. We're not the only club with people able to identify good kids to recruit. Likewise if any of these kids make it and become stars of the game then it won't be just because we "got lucky" with a kid who was able to slide to us at a late pick. It'll be because our recruiting team were able to identify kids with potential and our development coaches and our systems were able to nurture them into realising their potentials.

We're not a great club based on dumb luck. There is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

It annoys me that if in the years to come that someone like Garlett becomes a superstar of the game that these type of journos will credit us as being lucky that he was over looked by so many clubs and that we were able to get him with pick 38. When really he could've just as easily gone off the rails within the first few weeks at any other club and that it was only through the development he received at Hawthorn that he was able to successfully reach that potential (as an on field player and as a person able to survive in a professional sporting environment with lots of media attention). Same thing goes for Franklin. "Hawks were so lucky Richmond over looked him twice and they were able to pick him up at pick 5". Who's to say he would've reached the same heights at Richmond or the Doggies? He could've crashed and burned before he even reached 100 games and never achieved any of what he did at Hawthorn.

Basically what I'm saying is that we should be excited about these draftees, but let's not for a second think that if they succeed it's because we were lucky they slipped to our picks. It will be because our club was willing to take the risks to develop them that other clubs weren't and that because we can actually develop talent.

 

[seysearles]

Im the first person to acknowledge that these draft write ups glorify the deeds and abilities of the kids but having said that .... I think that there is 99% chance that this kid is the next Wayne Carey.

 

[PenAndPaper]

Im the first person to acknowledge that these draft write ups glorify the deeds and abilities of the kids but having said that .... I think that there is 99% chance that this kid is the next Wayne Carey.

Hopefully without the coca...cola

 

[savagelunchbox]

Cos this year it was the best team outside the 8...





...which was Norf......





....which you didn't hear about......










...cos it's hard to hear something only 3 people are talking about!

...and no one listens to James Brayshaw anyway.

 

[Agent Smith]

Let's compromise then...

We SMASHED the national draft! Garlett is top 5, for 38! Hartung was rated top 15, for 24, and Sicily was rated top 35, for 56! We rule!!! Rationality be damned, we smashed it!

Rookie draft...meh, whatever...

Okay, I guess I can live with that, just as long as we can include HBD's highly underrated assessment of our Kiwi boys...

Interesting thing is he didn't even mention our top 20 pick Kurt and next power fwd star Shem .......gee , wish these blokes would do there home work ....

Top 20 for Kurt? Please... top 10 at least. As for the Sheminator, how do you even rate a walking A-bomb?

 

[Brucie Buffer]

From Max Crow territory - underrated corner of Vic,

http://boundforglorynews.com/birds-of-a-feather-swoop-in-for-draft-steals/

"The Hawks have backed it up with selections that include Dallas Willsmore and Zac Webster. Those two players could very well have gone in the main draft and Hawthorn have not only picked up one, but two gems, making it five talented players with immense potential."

"Dallas Willsmore might be an undersized key forward but he’s a reliable mark and kick for goal which will provide another option up forward for the Hawks."

Not underrated if you grew up there krk, and that doesn't mean I rate it.

Played in 2 premierships with his uncle, gun player and gun bloke.RIP Scotty.

Dallas comes from good stock, absolutely stoked the Hawks picked him up!

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I hope everyone remembers Austin Lucy.

 

[HomerJayS]

.... I think that there is 99% chance that this kid is the next Wayne Carey.

I hope you don't mean his off-field performances!

Actually I have a feeling Dallas may get a run through the midfield, more like the next Adam Goodes.

 

[Matt Stevic]

Hopefully without the coca...cola

Although sadly he wouldn't be the first Hawk superstar to go after the stuff