Ottens

[TOOs_Finest]

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.

Disappointing to know that we wanted two top 10 picks and settled for two 11-20 picks. In hindsight, one top five pick and another first rounder would have been a fair deal (imo). But as others have suggested, he was at a bit of a low ebb at the time, mainly due to injury.

I completely agree about your comments on his rucking. I would watch games when he was at the Tiges, when we were mostly ordinary. It was just so plain obvious that when he was on the ball, our midfield excelled. When he wasn't, we just struggled.

It gutted me a little when he went through that bad patch and then was traded. But in all honesty, he wouldn't have achieved anything with us in the past 7-8 years, so am happy for him to have tasted success elsewhere. As far as I am concerned, any talk of him not wanting to be at the Tigers is just hearsay to me. Plenty of other rumours indicate the opposite, that it was the club's decision. So, as long as it's just all rumour, I won't begrudge him.

 

[tigertRANCE]

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.

LOL....Quality!.....Add Tambling (pick 4) and Polo (pick 20) and it's plain to see how we nailed this draft...

GO TIGES!!!

 

[mitch richmond]

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

Everyone is an expert recruiter 6 years after the event! Luv it!
eg. Travis Johnstone, Mark Bolton, James Walker, Kris Massie, Chris Tarrant, Jaxon Crabb, Callum Chambers, Shannon Watt, Joel McKay, Ben Walton, Lance Picioane, Mark Alvey, Chris Obst, Clem Michael, Troy Longmuir, Adam Chatfield, James Wasley, Brodie Holland, Brad Stephens, Paul McMahon and Troy Johnson were all taken above SIMON BLACK. Heck the above players PLUS Andrew Williams, Marcus Baldwin, Judd Lalich, Todd Holmes, James Rahilly, Matthew Blake, Fred Campbell, Danny Morton and Matthew Dennis were all taken ahead of ADAM GOODES!!!!!!!! Oh, but that's not cool to point out, you should always remember Richmond are the only club that ever makes bad draft decisions!

 

[Wallaby]

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

We still could have had LeCras - he went Pick 37 - and we had Pick 36 (McGuane, since you ask). Actually McGuane has been OK for a pick 36 - but another case of 'what could have been......'

 

[CoggaRules]

Everyone is an expert recruiter 6 years after the event! Luv it!
eg. Travis Johnstone, Mark Bolton, James Walker, Kris Massie, Chris Tarrant, Jaxon Crabb, Callum Chambers, Shannon Watt, Joel McKay, Ben Walton, Lance Picioane, Mark Alvey, Chris Obst, Clem Michael, Troy Longmuir, Adam Chatfield, James Wasley, Brodie Holland, Brad Stephens, Paul McMahon and Troy Johnson were all taken above SIMON BLACK. Heck the above players PLUS Andrew Williams, Marcus Baldwin, Judd Lalich, Todd Holmes, James Rahilly, Matthew Blake, Fred Campbell, Danny Morton and Matthew Dennis were all taken ahead of ADAM GOODES!!!!!!!! Oh, but that's not cool to point out, you should always remember Richmond are the only club that ever makes bad draft decisions!

Another pose to add to the NFI dept.
Dude, the deal is that a club can make mistakes over the stretch, as you have pointed out above, but the tigers made them year in year out with a bucketload of failed picks in every draft. The players above were picked predominantly by different clubs, ie. they goofed up on one of the picks. We goofed up each draft with 80% of them.
Take a look at the 2001 draft, see if you can work out why the current powerhouses are powerhouses and why the shit trucks evolved.. In a draft that was rife with talent, we positioned ourselves to have our first pick at 33 and we took Rodo..hoolahoop at 63, Hyde at 68, McGrath at 77 and Aaron James at 83.

 

[Catsace]

Disappointing to know that we wanted two top 10 picks and settled for two 11-20 picks. In hindsight, one top five pick and another first rounder would have been a fair deal (imo). But as others have suggested, he was at a bit of a low ebb at the time, mainly due to injury.

Think it was agreed for the two 1st round selections rather than two top-10's as Geelong did only have their pick 16 (1st selection for us) and the best we could get was a pick 12 from Melbourne. Possibly if Geelong had finished say 12th or something and had a pick 8 to give out, we still would have tried to get him anyway. We were desperate to buy as the Simpson's episode re the powerplant/German consortium would say.

With Cogga's observation, it could be said that at least with the Tiger's drafting over the last 4-5 years, save maybe for spending that pick 19 on Jordy McMahon, you've picked up several very promising players, and also got some handy peripheral depth/experience with Houli, Grigg and Miller. The demographics are right, and your side will come through no doubt. It has young talent and a coach who is keen to let it develop.

 

[CoggaRules]

Think it was agreed for the two 1st round selections rather than two top-10's as Geelong did only have their pick 16 (1st selection for us) and the best we could get was a pick 12 from Melbourne. Possibly if Geelong had finished say 12th or something and had a pick 8 to give out, we still would have tried to get him anyway. We were desperate to buy as the Simpson's episode re the powerplant/German consortium would say.

With Cogga's observation, it could be said that at least with the Tiger's drafting over the last 4-5 years, save maybe for spending that pick 19 on Jordy McMahon, you've picked up several very promising players, and also got some handy peripheral depth/experience with Houli, Grigg and Miller. The demographics are right, and your side will come through no doubt. It has young talent and a coach who is keen to let it develop.

He needs to understand that there will come a time where the sack word will appear. He has to stick to the plan and not waiver, but the board need to back him to the hilt. Sound familiar dude?
Bomba was on the rack when the year where you were supposed to arrive to the big time, became a year of stumbling and fumbling, but to a man the club stuck firm with the plan and the rest is history.
Its not only the case where you won flags, its putting a foundation in that doesnt crumble even when a top gun leaves....You might not even win the flag this year, because of that missing top gun, but 11-0 suggests the legacy of those 10 years of building is front and center.
It also translates to newbies being developed. Its supremely easier to develop a newbie when the system is working like clockwork...

 

[Catsace]

Was perusing this page re Ottens, and he almost has a unique, almost unmatched coincidence. If only the Tigers had debuted another player before Otto got a game with them (Or if Geelong debuted one less player in 2004) Ottens would have been both the 1000th player selected at both Richmond and Geelong!

http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/B/Brad_Ottens.html

He's missed 47 games out of a maximum he could have played with Geelong of course courtesy of various injuries. Still relatively young though, only 31. Hard to believe he was born in 1980, he seems to have been around a lot longer than that birthdate suggests.

 

[mitch richmond]

Another pose to add to the NFI dept.
Dude, the deal is that a club can make mistakes over the stretch, as you have pointed out above, but the tigers made them year in year out with a bucketload of failed picks in every draft. The players above were picked predominantly by different clubs, ie. they goofed up on one of the picks. We goofed up each draft with 80% of them.
Take a look at the 2001 draft, see if you can work out why the current powerhouses are powerhouses and why the shit trucks evolved.. In a draft that was rife with talent, we positioned ourselves to have our first pick at 33 and we took Rodo..hoolahoop at 63, Hyde at 68, McGrath at 77 and Aaron James at 83.

You are a cracker! Not sure whether you're agreeing with my point or not that "other sides have stuffed up in the draft and everyones a great recruiter in hindsight." I'm fearing you may believe this to be untrue!

 

[mitch richmond]

Was perusing this page re Ottens, and he almost has a unique, almost unmatched coincidence. If only the Tigers had debuted another player before Otto got a game with them (Or if Geelong debuted one less player in 2004) Ottens would have been both the 1000th player selected at both Richmond and Geelong!

http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/B/Brad_Ottens.html

He's missed 47 games out of a maximum he could have played with Geelong of course courtesy of various injuries. Still relatively young though, only 31. Hard to believe he was born in 1980, he seems to have been around a lot longer than that birthdate suggests.

Relatively young compared to what? Other AFL footballers??? Wouldn't have thought so. Isn't the average age about 24?

 

[Catsace]

Relatively young compared to what? Other AFL footballers??? Wouldn't have thought so. Isn't the average age about 24?

Probably just saying relatively young considering he was drafted in 1997 and has missed a lot of footy in his career so far. Ruckmen remain tall of course whereas speedier smaller players lose their pace with age. Given that though it almost appeared at times last year that the game had passed him by. A rare (for him) full pre-season though has him playing his best footy since 2007.

 

[mitch richmond]

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

Funny comment.
For our midfield to be complete, Moloney would've had to be of nil value as we still would have had to have bottom 4 finishes to get Cotchin or Martin.
If he was of value to us Trent Cotchin would most likiely be playing for West Coast and Dustin Martin would be playing for Freo.

 

[mitch richmond]

Probably just saying relatively young considering he was drafted in 1997 and has missed a lot of footy in his career so far. Ruckmen remain tall of course whereas speedier smaller players lose their pace with age. Given that though it almost appeared at times last year that the game had passed him by. A rare (for him) full pre-season though has him playing his best footy since 2007.

Most of the blokes taken in the 97 draft are 31. You might be right about speedy smaller players losing pace with age although Brent Harvey might be the exception.

 

[Colonel Matrix]

I'll never forget Steven Silvagni's farewell game when we had the game won by quarter time and Ottens took a mark of they year contender on Silvagni's head...

Before he had his back injury he was just as damaging as a forward than ruck.

Disappointed to see him go, but in hindsight who can blame him?

 

[richoatthedisco]

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.

You mean the year he kicked 46 goals.

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.

Best of 46, when he was young and mobile. He was always going to be a ruckman, and he was always going to be a very, very good one. Geelong wouldn't have a flag without him. let alone two.

 

[Spluff]

Geelong wouldn't have a flag without him. let alone two.

They wouldn't have gotten over the line in the 07 prelim, but Ottens was basically useless for all of 09, and ended up pushing Mumford out of the team (who I suspect would have played at least as well as Ottens, if not better).

 

[Infamy]

Everyone is an expert recruiter 6 years after the event! Luv it!
eg. Travis Johnstone, Mark Bolton, James Walker, Kris Massie, Chris Tarrant, Jaxon Crabb, Callum Chambers, Shannon Watt, Joel McKay, Ben Walton, Lance Picioane, Mark Alvey, Chris Obst, Clem Michael, Troy Longmuir, Adam Chatfield, James Wasley, Brodie Holland, Brad Stephens, Paul McMahon and Troy Johnson were all taken above SIMON BLACK. Heck the above players PLUS Andrew Williams, Marcus Baldwin, Judd Lalich, Todd Holmes, James Rahilly, Matthew Blake, Fred Campbell, Danny Morton and Matthew Dennis were all taken ahead of ADAM GOODES!!!!!!!! Oh, but that's not cool to point out, you should always remember Richmond are the only club that ever makes bad draft decisions!

From memory Goodes was selected as a bottom ager that only a couple of clubs had access to for some reason. Given they didn't need to take him early as no other clubs could pick him, they snapped him up late.

Someone else may know more detail than that, but I don't think it was as straight forward as him just getting picked late in the draft.

 

[_Wang_]

Hes a ****ing ****.. Walked out on us after we put the development years into him for a marginally bigger pay packet..I have no time for him at all!