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Players who well and truly exceeded expectations

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Strapping Young Lad said:
There was a fat kid from Cooparoo that couldn’t run out of site on a dark night, turned out to be inducted an AFL legend.

Then there was the half forward flanker that was dubbed “Duddy” when he was toweled up by Dean Polo at Box Hill one week early in his career.
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Love the Chief. No known natural predators in the media world also
 
I would say we did really well out of some late picks/trades and rookies during our peak years.

Baker, Broad, Short, Lambert, Grimes were all very cheap/late/rookie type picks that went on to become key premiership coggs and a big chunk of our success.

Trades like Grigg and Nankervis and pick ups like Houli also basically cost nothing and were really important players for us.

I feel like Max Gawn as a 2nd rounder who was just "really tall" to go on and become one of the GOAT rucks is another one.
James Hird taken in the 70s wasn't he?
Dean Cox was a rookie and was in Gardiner's shadow for a while.
Geelong have done well with a ton of these too I feel if you looked across their list.
 
jesterwester said:
For my club;

I think of the Jeremy McGovern that got kicked out of training for returning unfit with a career on the rocks to the player he turned out to be.

Dean Cox could barely run laps in his first part at WC then turned out to be one of the best we had pulled on the jumper.

Both rookies who well exceeded expectations.
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Jeremy McGovern nails this thread. Rookie listed player, got banished from training for being fat, and took 3 years to debut. Then goes on to earn 5 AA jumpers. No one saw that coming.

Cox is 204cm tall so him being a gangly young ruckman with no tank came as no surprise. Watching him in his first couple of years I thought he might go on to be a decent ruckman, but the development of his skills is what came as the biggest shock. Seeing him take running bounces and kick goals from 50 is not something I had on my 2000s bingo card.
 
Recent - Jeremy McGovern - nobody thought he'd have an AFL career after his trip to Thailand. Even at Claremont he was always a bit 'heavy'.

All time - Chris Grant was pick 105

Honarable Mention - Gary Ablett Snr, who played 6 reserves games for Hawthorn in his 1st year and looked nothing special.
 

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I thought this was going to be about players who looked poor in their initial stages of there career before turning into stars. Instead it's turned into a discussion about draft bargains. Dissappointing
 
Morro said:
Tigs players,

Grimes - take for nothing in the PSD (from memory) became a Gun defender and culture guy.

Rance - Pick 19- but moreseo because of how useless he looked early days, sent back to the VFL reserves at one point. Couldnt defend, couldnt kick, couldnt keep his feet and went onto to become one of the best KPD's of all time.
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Rance is a terrific call. He was dead set terrible before it all clicked
 
Upgrayedd said:
Emberly was Delisting material not just because he looked a bit lost, but he was a menace off the field, Imagine being on those West coast teams between 2000-2005 and almost being booted for being a bad influence. He also had multiple punch on's with Chick,

Dude had a huge temper, Was given a dressing down for turning up with a black eye after getting into a fight one weekend after going out after a game, only for it to happen the week after and Judge going "What the ****"

Glass was one of the best defenders I've seen, top 3, He was absolutely lost in his first 2 years
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These are the sort of examples that match the spirit of this thread. Not the ones who were picked late and then did well once they did a preseason or 2.

We need examples of ppl who seemed close to being delisted or looked like gap fillers for few years before they became guns.

Harris Andrews was a good example earlier.. Never heard of him and then suddenly he was one of main KPD in comp.

Alex Pearce, Rance, Max Gawn etc all good examples.. No good for long and then suddenly AA level...
 
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Ryan Lester, record number of 1 year contracts and becomes one of the most reliable defenders in a back-to-back premiership winning team.
 
Warhorse said:
I thought this was going to be about players who looked poor in their initial stages of there career before turning into stars. Instead it's turned into a discussion about draft bargains. Dissappointing
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The thread says expectations so whether the expectations when drafted or even not drafted and traded or after being drafted, it doesn’t really stipulate or even age. And more importantly who’s expectation

An example would be Sydney traded Carey for 10k as a sweetener with Longmire who they wanted 60k for. So Sydney’s expectation for Carey was low at the age of 18 probably the best example ever considering how good Carey was

Then you could look at Barlow for freo who couldn’t get a gig anywhere until his mid 20’s

But looking at those two scenarios clearly Sydney’s expectations on Carey were so far off it was insane
 
Philth said:
Kane Lambert - Richmond
Overlooked in multiple drafts, before the Tigers picked him up in the 2015 Rookie draft.
135 games and 3 premierships, not a bad return.
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In his first two seasons at Richmond, I honestly... didn't think he'd make it I thought he would just be a list-clogger, he was just a small body that wasn't doing the things required at AFL level, the next season in 2017 his numbers dramatically improved and he seemed to be a completely different player running & getting involved in so many link-up chains.
 
WilloTree said:
Recent - Jeremy McGovern - nobody thought he'd have an AFL career after his trip to Thailand. Even at Claremont he was always a bit 'heavy'.

All time - Chris Grant was pick 105

Honarable Mention - Gary Ablett Snr, who played 6 reserves games for Hawthorn in his 1st year and looked nothing special.
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Yeah sorry that's not quite right.

He actually played 6 senior games for Hawthorn in 1982 with two more than passable performances. 23 touches and 2 goals in his 2nd game, and in Round 22, 18 touches and 3 goals versus St.Kilda (there's footage of a couple of his goals from this game). Was dropped for the finals, and played in the country in 1983. There was never any problem with talent, but like a lot of country kids in that era, he didn't settle in or like Melbourne. Wasn't the first or the last.
 
Partridge said:
Yeah sorry that's not quite right.

He actually played 6 senior games for Hawthorn in 1982 with two more than passable performances. 23 touches and 2 goals in his 2nd game, and in Round 22, 18 touches and 3 goals versus St.Kilda (there's footage of a couple of his goals from this game). Was dropped for the finals, and played in the country in 1983. There was never any problem with talent, but like a lot of country kids in that era, he didn't settle in or like Melbourne. Wasn't the first or the last.
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Wrong year mate. 81 was his first.

I see you didn't get the Ardmona Footy Cards. Bloody great they were.
 

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Matthew Boyd.

Taken at #23 in the 2002 Rookie draft. Was playing at Frankston at the time.

Spent a bit of time playing twos. Took him 3 years to become a regular senior player.

Played 292 games, 3xB&F, 3xAA, club captain 2011-13, premiership player.

1764200445775.png

Now an assistant coach at Collingwood.
 
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shane edwards - from a super small skinny wip of a kid. - pumping games into him early and sticking at it for the club all payed off.
To #303 games and 3 premierships and some of the fastest and smoothest handballs in the game.
 
voorhees said:
shane edwards - from a super small skinny wip of a kid. - pumping games into him early and sticking at it for the club all payed off.
To #303 games and 3 premierships and some of the fastest and smoothest handballs in the game.
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Yep - same with Sonny Walters as well.

Eddie Betts is another who comes to mind. Started out as a small late pick thought to be the kind of guy who plays well in u18s but won't make it in the AFL; gets steadily better with every year till he becomes the best small forward in the game. I didn't see it coming.
 
One that is less expected, but Lindsay Gilbee.
Stuck playing VFL HF during the Peter Rhode years. Can't get a game so demands a trade to Collingwood.

Rhode gets sacked, Eade says nope we're keeping you.

Goes on to have a fantastic career after being a fringe VFL player who wanted out.
 
Warhorse said:
I thought this was going to be about players who looked poor in their initial stages of there career before turning into stars. Instead it's turned into a discussion about draft bargains. Dissappointing
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Read the thread title. It's about players that exceeded expectations, eg a player taken at pick 107 becoming a star.
Draft bargains fit the bill.
 

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Philth said:
Kane Lambert - Richmond
Overlooked in multiple drafts, before the Tigers picked him up in the 2015 Rookie draft.
135 games and 3 premierships, not a bad return.
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Yeah absolutely Lambert. I remember not really thinking much of him before 2017. But I was re-watching some moments of our finals in our premiership years, and holy hell he was consistently involved in just about every play and never made a mistake. Even though Tigers fans rate him highly, I still feel we don't realise how important and good he was.

Could not have foreseen the career he had. And he toughed it out as long as he could with his busted hip. I hope he doesn't have too many issues with it later in life.
 

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Players who well and truly exceeded expectations

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