Quigley's Draft Rankings 2015

[huludicidal]

No none of those teams.

On Doedee I found it a bit of a strange pick given that Adelaide did add Hampton and Seedsman who are two running defenders and have Jaensch coming back to add to the likes of Smith, Laird and even the likes of Brown, Otten and Henderson.

Yes I initially had the same thought and it seemed like half-back was the most loaded area of the ground for us.

However, I'd suggest the following may offer some insight into the thought process here:

It's looking a lot to me like neither of Seedsman or Hampton will be playing in defence for the Crows. Seedsman looks set to play on a wing, and Hampton either on the other wing or at half forward. David Mackay has essentially been made redundant by these acquisitions. We were crying out for outside mids and spread in general so these guys make sense.

Henderson is another who will never go near the defensive 50 again IMO. He is woeful in 1 on 1s. WOEFUL. Wing is his best position. Might only be room for one of him and Hampton in the side at any one time I'd suggest, unless injuries force a reshuffle.

Jaensch will remain out until mid season and is a true small. Has had off-field issues and may be in the doghouse. Remains to be seen if he gets back to his pre-injury form.

Brown is a great one on one defender but takes the best true smalls - Lindsay Thomas is the definition of the type of guy he shuts down. Doedee plays taller.

Smith is obviously an excellent player but has been exposed by the likes of T Dickson in recent times. He's an attacking weapon though and will be in the back 7 long-term rather than moved into the mids. Struggles to contain genuine goal kickers.

Otten is pretty much cooked sadly. As is Shaw. Both pure depth (largely because they've both been ruined by injuries) and neither overly likely to still be on the list by 2018 (maybe one of the 2 overcomes injuries and stays on but both won't happen).

Cheney was probably never intended as a long-term solution, although I personally thought he did a pretty excellent job when given opportunities in 2015. Viewed as pure depth by the club I think.

Laird is great, but again, he's very small and can't match up on the T Dickson's and Gunston's.


Looking at the list, I think Ogilvie has taken a long-term view and probably views the 2018-19ish back 7 (may as well call it a back 7 because that's what is required these days) as:

B: Brown Talia *Jaensch
HB: Doedee Lever Smith
Floater: Laird

Hartigan, Otten, Shaw or Cheney (if still on the list by then) or potential future acquisitons can be slotted in for Jaensch if playing against a taller forward set up.

I'm guessing the rationale behind Doedee being part of that mix is that one more truly defensive minded player with agility to play on those tweener types was required in order to get the balance right between defence and attack from the back half.

It remains to be seen if this was a good call. Maybe Doedee develops into one of the better shutdown types in the league. Maybe he never even reaches 50 games. Maybe he ends up playing in a different part of the ground! Who knows.

All I know is that we've leaked tons of goals to medium sized players in recent years and this simply has to be the rationale behind paying this price for Doedee.