Ottens

[courtjester]

Long time ago now I know, but why did we lose Ottens and did we gain anything for him?

 

[Wallaby]

He didn't want to play for us - fair enough.
We got pick 12 and 16 for him - fair enough.
We picked up Meyer and pattison with those picks - ouch. Our fault.

The funny thing was, Geelong specifically recruited him as a key forward and part-time ruckman - it was only when King got injured that he became thier number one ruck and a star. We should have been playing him as No 1 ruck as well.

 

[The Rusty Trombone]

He went from Richmond to Geelong at the end of 2004 and we recieved pick 12 & 16 in return. We used those picks on 2 kids that we supposedly could build our future around

Pick 12 Danny "muppet arms" Myers and Pick 16 Adam Pattison.

Both delisted a number of years ago both went onto other lists. Myers to Port where he was rookied and then promoted to their senior list where he still is today. Pattison was taken by Saint Kilda but delisted after one year where he played roughly 5 games.

Career Career highlights:

Danny Myer- by the time Danny left the Tigers his highlight reel reached a massive one minute and 41 seconds. There were some amazing chest marks in the package and some tidy goals from 10 metres out straight in front. Danny was honoured by George Henson of "The Muppets" fame when he upgraded the the new Elmo character and used the measurements of Danny's arms as a template for the new doll currently sold world wide.

Adam Pattison - although a plodder Pattison really tried hard and was much loved by the club and Tigers supporters. He looked like a taller version of Tucker off the movie " There is something about Mary" and upon leaving the club the West Australian Government decided to rename Subiaco Oval after him for his contribution to the game.

 

[nut]

He didn't want to play for us - fair enough.Wrong... we forced him to leave by offering him a pay cut. Geelong offered a payrise.
We got pick 12 and 16 for him - fair enough.

correct

We picked up Meyer and pattison with those picks - ouch. Our fault.

good/ok picks.... poor development

The funny thing was, Geelong specifically recruited him as a key forward and part-time ruckman - it was only when King got injured that he became thier number one ruck and a star. We should have been playing him as No 1 ruck as well.

He had a bad back that still restricts him. We took a punt that he wouldn't get right. Which was correct for the first few years at Geelong.

In the end it was a great decision that didn't work out...

 

[Groupie_]

If he didn't want to play for us **** the w***er!

 

[YellowandBlackBlood]

He fell out of a tree and hurt is back. He then had to have surgery on his back as a disc was compressing a nerve to his foot rendering it useless. The surgery was successful but he was high risk as having a long career in football. We supported him on full pay for a whole year and rightly offered him less on his next contract. After all, the injury was not sustained whilst risking head and shin for the tiggies, but was his own fault. His management did a deal with Geelong who offered him more and we were forced to trade. Choice 12 and 16 should have been ok. Having no player development and no understandable game plan meant almost any recruit other than Jack Dyer reincarnate was destined to fail.
The rest is history......

 

[Infamy]

The funny thing was, Geelong specifically recruited him as a key forward and part-time ruckman - it was only when King got injured that he became thier number one ruck and a star. We should have been playing him as No 1 ruck as well.

I'd hardly say he has become a star, has been just as injury prone and just looks like a better player surrounded by such a good team. Perfect type of player for what they needed, does his role but he's no where the player he was many years ago when he kicked 90 goals.

 

[Googstar]

Long time ago now I know, but why did we lose Ottens and did we gain anything for him?

Because he is a dirty filthy traitor who despite being overpaid for underachieving with RFC took the first opportunity to skip to the Cats for even more money.

We did gain 2 first round draft picks which we then butchered.

Now...........don't mention the war again!

 

[Infamy]

Also if you look at the 2004 draft after Pick 5 or maybe 7 (6 is a dud) you will see that it would have taken a miracle for us to get decent players with all our picks. It was a very weak draft other than the top shelf talent in the first 5 picks. I think the only club that did well late in the draft was Adelaide.

 

[TOOs_Finest]

We also picked up Troy Simmonds in the same year, trading Fiora to Saints, who sent Heath Black to Freo in a 3-way swap.

So we kind of covered our backsides in the ruck dept with Ottens leaving, but we just didn't get anything decent with our draft selections.

I was really put off when we used to force Ottens to play forward so much, under Frawley. Regardless of whether we were short of a forward option other then Richo, Otto was a magnificent ruckman. Players like Knights and Campbell would just automatically come in to the game when he was rucking, and then the opposite when he was not. He just happened to be a good mark and great kick for goal as well, which meant the temptation to play him forward was too great.

 

[nut]

We also picked up Troy Simmonds in the same year, trading Fiora to Saints, who sent Heath Black to Freo in a 3-way swap.

So we kind of covered our backsides in the ruck dept with Ottens leaving, but we just didn't get anything decent with our draft selections.

I was really put off when we used to force Ottens to play forward so much, under Frawley. Regardless of whether we were short of a forward option other then Richo, Otto was a magnificent ruckman. Players like Knights and Campbell would just automatically come in to the game when he was rucking, and then the opposite when he was not. He just happened to be a good mark and great kick for goal as well, which meant the temptation to play him forward was too great.

we had Gale then Stafford when Ottens was with us. He is more valuable as a forward and to prolong his career he should be played more forward. I'm surprised Geelong dont play him up forward now with Mooney and Hawkins out of form.
He is a dead eye dick and will kick you 60-70 years.

 

[Azzleberry]

He went from Richmond to Geelong at the end of 2004 and we recieved pick 12 & 16 in return. We used those picks on 2 kids that we supposedly could build our future around

Pick 12 Danny "muppet arms" Myers and Pick 16 Adam Pattison.

Most likely irrelevant and doesn't add anything to this thread. However, saw Patto having dinner with Andy Collins at the Skinny Dog Hotel in Kew last sunday night. Looks like they were/are close mates before they both went to other clubs.

 

[Infamy]

He is a dead eye dick and will kick you 60-70 years.

Would like to see him do that, not sure how that's possible

 

[Bojangles17]

really can't be bothered raking over old ground as plenty was said not so long ago, I will say though his form leading up to his departure was nothing short of woeful for such a talented player (AA, 2001)

 

[Spluff]

we had Gale then Stafford when Ottens was with us. He is more valuable as a forward and to prolong his career he should be played more forward. I'm surprised Geelong dont play him up forward now with Mooney and Hawkins out of form.
He is a dead eye dick and will kick you 60-70 years.

He hasn't been a good shot at goal for a long time. He's actually very inaccurate now.

 

[Wallaby]

Sorry, don't agree that he would make a good key forward. At the Tigers where he played as key forward, he just averaged over 1 goal a game - 152 goals in 129 games.

The problem was, early on he was such a good kick for a big guy that everyone got all wet whenever he took a mark and slotted the goal - but he really didn't do it that much. But he was a magnificent ruck in the forward line - Ottens to Krakoeur featured regularly on the highlights.

Then he did his back, and his kicking went to 'ruckman standard'. If any side played Ottens as a full-time key forward today, it would not end well.

I still say (and have said many times here) we should have made him our Number one ruck instead of recruiting Stafford (Stafford was good, though).

 

[Tigerdrive]

Really irks me that this guy has two premierships to his name whilst guys like Richo and Pav get no reward for their loyalty (while pavlich may still get a flag but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one).

I think Ottens is definitely a player who only looks good in a good team, look at his best year for us; 2001 where we finished top four.

 

[1980GFVideo]

For a bloke who didnt want to be at the club and would bend us over a barrell every 3 years, the picks we got were quite good.

What we did with them was another story.

Alec Baldwin in Glengary Glenross holding the new leads and telling the staff they were not worthy of them sums up our recruiting staff back then.

Especially when he said "To give them you would be to flush them down the toilet"

 

[mcuzzy]

i used to love ottens, loved watching him play for us

shame he didn't want to though

 

[Daveeee_12]

I'm pretty sure geelong traded Meloney to Melbourne for one of the picks that we got in the Ottens trade.

Surely we should have taken Meloney and a pick. Our midfield would be complete with him in the side

 

[1980GFVideo]

I'm pretty sure geelong traded Meloney to Melbourne for one of the picks that we got in the Ottens trade.

Surely we should have taken Meloney and a pick. Our midfield would be complete with him in the side

Yep they traded Moloney for pick 12 and packaged it up with their own pick 16.

Meyers was the bloke they talked about as the guy who was going to explode and Moloney was the plodder with determination but not much upside. Dont worry about Deledio, Myers is the one to watch were the words of one wise insider.

A month ago Moloney did a visual public demonstration of what we did with the pick Geelong gave us.

 

[The Rusty Trombone]

Most likely irrelevant and doesn't add anything to this thread. However, saw Patto having dinner with Andy Collins at the Skinny Dog Hotel in Kew last sunday night. Looks like they were/are close mates before they both went to other clubs.

Both great guys and super great clubmen. Both very genuine guys.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

So we possibly could of had.......Meloney with pick 12 and Mark Lecras, Chris Knights or James Gwilt with pick 16

We probably would've butchered them with our shoddy development anyway

 

[Catsace]

If i can give a Geelong perspective about Ottens, it was sort of a culmination of a fairly long period of time looking for some sort of KPF ever since Gary Sr retired.

In 1997 we spent our first pick (13) on Brett Spinks, who kicked about 40-off goals in 1998 but i think got injured and lost favor, and he played no more for the club. Also in 1998 we picked up Jason Mooney from Sydney (Cam's brother) and he did O.K for a few games, but he had a degenerative knee and again by the 2000 season he was gone.

Unpeturbed after picking up a bunch of youngsters in the 1999 draft, in 2000 we spent the best part of three early picks to the Eagles to recruit their premiership CHF in Mitchell White. Give we also lost our most promising young tall Colbert when he walked to the Kangas after the 1999 season (with which we managed to get Cam Mooney as partial compensation) it looked like he could be the 'great White hope'. Unfortunately again, his body at age 27 was fairly well shot and again he played maybe 2 1/2 truncated seasons before also calling it quits.

We had only Ben Graham as our full back at the time, and a young Steven King as our ruckman, but we wanted a forward sooo badly!! We courted Jade Rawlings and even Ray Hall in 2003-04 but they actually rejected the idea of playing for Geelong. We couldn't get anyone who was sound or even wanted to play. However, after Geelong turned around their 2004 season after a 1-4 start to make a preliminary Final, suddenly Ottens actually entertained a desire to come to either Geelong or Sydney.

Richmond demanded initially two top-10 picks, although Geelong had only Pick 16 and they did deal Moloney to the Dees for pick 12. That proved enough to make the deal for us to get Ottens......Having done that, Ben Graham, aged just 30 decides to be the punter for the New York Jets!!

As it turns out, Ottens was really only tried in the ruck a bit during 2006 and after being pantsed by the Kangas in Rd 5 2007, King was dropped and Ottens started in the ruck in that game i won't mention. The joy at seeing taps from him hitting our midfield was profound. His calling at Geelong had been found...and he's been a great ruckman for us.

So basically we were desperate to get a KPF one way or another, and Ottens was probably the first youngish big name to express a desire to come to Geelong. Indeed going back through my memories of players coming to Geelong after a mid-career switch, he'd be about the best recruit for Geelong in that context since maybe Graham Farmer (who was 27 when coming to Geelong in 1962). Geelong has a good record on picking up blokes who have barely got a go (Tim McGrath, Brad Sholl, Tom Harley, Cam Mooney, Brenton Sanderson and Ken Hinkley to name several) but have had little success with mature age recruits who had played half a career elsewhere.

It's all water under the bridge now and i will say that the Tigers right now are building to a real plan and are bubbling away nicely. Your side will definately see finals and serious September action certainly by 2013.

 

[Samuri Pizza Cat]

Most likely irrelevant and doesn't add anything to this thread. However, saw Patto having dinner with Andy Collins at the Skinny Dog Hotel in Kew last sunday night. Looks like they were/are close mates before they both went to other clubs.

Yeah saw Patto at the cricketers arms after the Dream Time game. Was with a few mates who all follow the tigers. One of my mates had a quick chat and he was pumped as after the win, loves the club and still mates with a lot of boys. Still shows the same passion as he did on field!!!

Best of luck to him