Recruiting since 1998. How good has it been?

Recruiting since 1998. How good has it been?

  • Good

    Votes: 4 33.3%
  • Average

    Votes: 6 50.0%
  • Below average

    Votes: 1 8.3%
  • Poor

    Votes: 1 8.3%

  • Total voters
    12

PAfolwr

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Thread starter #1
The question is if we remove the players we have traded for, how good has our recruiting been since 1998?

This is slightly skewed as in 1997 we recruited both Chad Cornes and Nick Stevens and Chad Cornes did not start playing until 1999. Also I have not included rookie listed players and I can think of a couple that got elevated.

However, all the players traded for ( 8 in total) have played a lot of games, and more importantly got a lot of game-time and given every chance to prove themselves.

Of all the players we have recruited ( 20 in total), we have
3 regulars...2 taggers in Carr and Cornes and one HFF in JBurger ( 86, 44 and 42 games)
2 bitsers... Poulton and Guerra ( 73 and 65 games, although limited to very limited gametime for both players)
2 could be... Thurstans and Cassisi ( 10 and 18 games)
Of all the ones remaining, the only one that appears will get regular gametime in the future is Salopeck. Although naturally we think they will all be stars.

Of the departed ones IMO Stevens and Dereck Murray were given enough time to prove themselves. Even too much according to some.



These are the players traded for, and recruited since 1998.
Che Cockatoo-Collins 75
Jarrad Schofield 106
Matthew Bishop 72
Brett Montgomery 89
Darryl Wakelin 64
Damien Hardwick 40
Stuart Cochrane. 22
Byron Pickett. 25

These are the ones we have recruited in the same period.

Michael Stevens, Josh Carr, Adam Morgan, Toby Thurstans, Dereck Murray
Jared Poulton, Paul Koulouriotis, Cain Ackland, Brent Guerra, Steven Brosnan
Shaun Burgoyne, Kane Cornes, Allan Murray, Domenic Cassisi
Barry Brooks, Damon White, Jared Poulton*
Steven Salopeck, Stephen Gillham, Brett Ebert, Wade Champion
 

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Moderator #3
I wouldn't call it below average - all but two of those players are still on AFL lists and there are likely several two hundred gamers among them. Williams's mismanagement of a number of younger players makes it hard to judge some, and injury has scythed down others (White, Champion, Thurstans, Morgan early on, even Brooks since he was traded)

Probably the one thing they haven't done is turn up a diamond - although I still hold out hope for Salopek and Ebert (Shaun Burgoyne looks to have all the class, but needs to be prised out of that forward pocket by Mr Conservative and have a season consistent with his talent).

To date solid but unspectacular … I'd call it average - maybe above depending on how a few turn out over the next couple of seasons.
 

PAfolwr

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Thread starter #5
Originally posted by Ford Fairlane
I wouldn't call it below average - all but two of those players are still on AFL lists and there are likely several two hundred gamers among them. Williams's mismanagement of a number of younger players makes it hard to judge some, and injury has scythed down others (White, Champion, Thurstans, Morgan early on, even Brooks since he was traded)
...
I totally agree with what you are saying.
Only Dereck Murray and Steve Brosnan are lost to AFL at this stage.
M. Stevens, Morgan, Koulouriotis, Guerra, Allan Murray and Barry Brooks have all found new homes. Pretty impressive.
I also agree that we have had our fair share of injuries with our youngsters.

Potentially our recruiting has been good to very good.
However when we look at it purely from a Port Adelaide perspective, we have only developed 2 Taggers and a "small" forward.
Pretty meagre results, hence my vote.

We also have three others in the pipeline at this stage in Thurstans, Salopeck and Cassisi, but they still have to be given time to show if they can make it or not.
Cassisi will probably end up as another tagger as will Ebert if he gets a game.

When nearly half of our side is made up of players recycled from other clubs in the last 5 years, it's as if we prefer recruiting players rather than develop "home grown talent".
We have to see what happens with this year's players as we have another two ready made recruits to add to that list, although we have removed one.
 
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Moderator #6
I guess now you get to the point whether you're asking about recruiting or management of recruits. I think we've recruited solidly, but no stars (again depending on Salopek and Eberts' development). Alan Stewart's been reliable, but Williams has buried too many of those recruits for too long. Like Macca19 I have no faith in him to behave any differently this year, despite promising sounds coming from his lair. Leopards and spots. I hope he proves me wrong.
 
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#7
Maybe 2004 is the year he has no choice but to blood some new guys. I just hope they can stand up to the pressure.Remember Josh Carr spent what seems like an eternity at the Bays, and he's turned out pretty well I reckon.

I'm looking forward to seeing some new faces in the preseason cup, then roll on round 1. It's the likes of White and Thurstans I'm looking forward to seeing. It seems to take the bigger guys longer to develop, but these blokes should be about "due" by now.
 

Macca19

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Moderator #8
I cant help but think we have a diamond in Kane Cornes but a certain coach is reluctant to use him as anything but a tagger which i beleve is an enormous waste of talent in young Kane. Dominates the SANFL as an offensive midfielder and i think he would do similar at AFL level.
 

mic59

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#9
Originally posted by Macca19
I cant help but think we have a diamond in Kane Cornes but a certain coach is reluctant to use him as anything but a tagger which i beleve is an enormous waste of talent in young Kane. Dominates the SANFL as an offensive midfielder and i think he would do similar at AFL level.
I feel the same way. Among the midfielders we have Cassisi and K.Cornes will have to spend their apprenticeships as taggers and will only be attacking midfielders when Francou, James et al retire. I feel Burger is going to be stuck in the forward line a lot too much too.
 

PJ Power

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#10
Average but mainly as a consquence of poor management of drafted players.
Let's face it, we haven't had a top 3 pick and probably our biggest mistake was Michael Stevens at pick 5, because even with opportunities at the Kangas he is only ever going to be average at best.
Nick Stevens was our quality "lower pick" in the mid-20s which still rates below the Lions' s get in Simon Black.
Our worst ever draft was in year 1. Lockwood, Rombiotis and Harwood all taken in the top 10 and none still playing AFL!

You have to admit that Didak and Fiora at 3 in their respective years don't look anywhere near as fantastic as their teams would have hoped. We have every reason to be just as, if not more confident in the future of Junior Burger. The key now is when will Choco realize that he has a potential superstar midfielder on his hands who could quite realistically rival McLeod, Kouta, Headland all rolled into one. Junior must be given the responsibility that Peter had in 2003 but at an earlier stage of his career.

I honestly don't think that Ebert will be used as a tagger. The guy was not uncomonly racking up 35+ possies in the SANFL.

We must be desperate to develop at least one of White/Champion/Patful/Grocke/Ellis into a quality key forward. To have three genuine marking forwards (1 plus Tredders and Chad) would make for a formidable list.
We also now need two of Chaplin, Gilham and Pettigrew to make it - surely the first two as top 20 picks must have a fair showing over the next 2-3 years.
 
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