Analysis Recruiting tall players

[The Nostradamus]

Sam Durdin - Touk Miller - EVW would've been a good balance of tall, mid, tweener in retrospect.

So much this

Miller vic metro captain, midfield accumulator but somehow chose Nielsen ahead of him after already taking a kpd with the pick before lol

Sheer stupidity by Bryce Lewis there when he was in charge

 

[shintemaster]

If the AFL provided more space on lists for development players, I would guarantee there would be a lot more KPPs coming through than there are now, there is not enough space to have a good core team, depth and develop a lot of talent.

I'm a big believer in this (and not just for the purpose of getting more KPP's into the game). I think along with the rookie changes we could easily have an extra 6-10 players on lists. I think this would be great for the game as a whole allowing teams to be competitive while suffering injuries, carry development style players / ruckmen for the required time before they are needed allowing proper planning for succession rather than being caught out with these positions.

 

[muttley45]

I will leave Daw to one side for obvious reasons.

McKay & Nielsen are the future. Durdin has never been pegged as a full time defender and he appears to be struggling in the VFL. We are probably going to lose one of the three to a trade. Tazz still has arguably 5 years of footy left, so these boys should be factored along side him.

The smaller defenders:

Williams - 24
McDonald - 23
Clarke - 20
Hibberd - 21
Vickers - Willis - 21

Wright and MacMillan are still only 27 and 26.

Out of all those small defenders listed Snake, i wouldn't really rate any as a consistent good user by foot, therein lies one of our glaring deficiencies,( imo )

Sammy Wright definitely, and maybe Murphy and Ahern down the track would go some way to addressing this problem.

 

[Psicosis]

No doubt we are currently suffering due in some part to drafting McKay, Durdin, Nielsen, VW, Watson - using such a high number of good picks on key defenders was a mistake.

 

[Snake_Baker]

No doubt we are currently suffering due in some part to drafting McKay, Durdin, Nielsen, VW, Watson - using such a high number of good picks on key defenders was a mistake.

Who were the better alternatives at those picks?

McKay, for instance, looks to have been an absolute steal at pick 21, considering Weitering & Schache went 1 and 2.

 

[Harris 10]

Everybody keeps blaming our drafting but nobody ever really mentions our player development.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Everybody keeps blaming our drafting but nobody ever really mentions our player development.

I mentioned Higgins and Waite just the other day.

 

[Psicosis]

Who were the better alternatives at those picks?

McKay, for instance, looks to have been an absolute steal at pick 21, considering Weitering & Schache went 1 and 2.

Well if we were targeting midfielders, which is the point of my post...

Durdin/Nielsen - McLean, Webb, Blakely, Miller
VW - Neal-Bullen, Daniel, Gregson
McKay - Dunkley, Williams, Menegola, Phillips
Watson - Hannan, Graham

Durdin, Nielsen and VW in the same draft is absolutely absurd

 

[Snake_Baker]

Well if we were targeting midfielders, which is the point of my post...

Durdin/Nielsen - McLean, Webb, Blakely, Miller
VW - Neal-Bullen, Daniel, Gregson
McKay - Dunkley, Williams, Menegola, Phillips
Watson - Hannan, Graham

Durdin, Nielsen and VW in the same draft is absolutely absurd

So basically, bugger all.

 

[Event Horizon]

Fact is nobody from McKay, Durdin, Nielsen, Watson or VW have made it as yet. VW looks the most likely, followed by McKay who played just half a game so far in two and a bit seasons.

I know talls take time, but given where all of them were taken in the draft, and our lack of midfielders and current trends in AFL, our drafting of these blokes looks highly questionable at best.

I deliberately omitted Larkey, as he was taken with a low pick and is looking very good value at that pick.


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[Event Horizon]

The only reason Hibberd was compared to Bont was because he was tall and could run. He doesn't have either the athleticism nor the skill of Bontempelli. It was a lazy comparison.

I don't disagree that it was a "lazy comparison", but I do recall Mitch himself saying that he modeled his game on Bont, or something along these lines, soon after being drafted.

 

[outwecome2play]

It doesn't matter if their big or small. Have an effective game plan, play as team and the results will come.

 

[Psicosis]

So basically, bugger all.

Majority of those players are in our starting 22 - when combined with our lack of developing mids, no doubt they would help our current situation.

I forgot the number 1 rule of bf, don’t try and rationalise with an imbecile.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Majority of those players are in our starting 22 - when combined with our lack of developing mids, no doubt they would help our current situation.

I forgot the number 1 rule of bf, don’t try and rationalise with an imbecile.

Rationalise? You've named 14 other players, most of them ordinary, that every other club also overlooked once or more times.

Durdin/Nielsen - McLean, Webb, Blakely, Miller
VW - Neal-Bullen, Daniel, Gregson
McKay - Dunkley, Williams, Menegola, Phillips
Watson - Hannan, Graham

McLean - Yes serviceable in a deep midfield. Untried with something like us.
Webb - 20 games in 4 seasons.
Blakely - Meh.
Miller - Struggled this year in a better midfield.
Neal-Bullen - 37 matches in 4 years. Averages 15 touches, 10 of which are uncontested.
Daniel - I like him a lot.
Gregson - Averages 10 disposals and 0.5 clearances.
Dunkley - 1.8 clearances a match and 15 disposals, 10 of them uncontested.
Williams - 0.33 clearances a match.
Menegola - a 26 year old delisted by two other clubs that is surrounded by a superstar midfield. No comparison.
Phillips - Incredibly outside. 75% of his disposals are uncontested.
Hannan - He's a forward that just got dropped.
Graham - Another forward.

4 of the 5 North blokes you mentioned are KPP's that haven't anywhere near peaked enough to make a call. One of them hasn't even played. I fail to see how picking 5 of the alternatives you mentioned would make us a significantly better side.

You talk about words like "rational" and expect our club to achieve a 100% strike rate for best available players out of 5 picks covering something like 250 players? If that was the case we would never lose a premiership.

 

[Psicosis]

Rationalise? You've named 14 other players, most of them ordinary, that every other club also overlooked once or more times.

Durdin/Nielsen - McLean, Webb, Blakely, Miller
VW - Neal-Bullen, Daniel, Gregson
McKay - Dunkley, Williams, Menegola, Phillips
Watson - Hannan, Graham

McLean - Yes serviceable in a deep midfield. Untried with something like us.
Webb - 20 games in 4 seasons.
Blakely - Meh.
Miller - Struggled this year in a better midfield.
Neal-Bullen - 37 matches in 4 years. Averages 15 touches, 10 of which are uncontested.
Daniel - I like him a lot.
Gregson - Averages 10 disposals and 0.5 clearances.
Dunkley - 1.8 clearances a match and 15 disposals, 10 of them uncontested.
Williams - 0.33 clearances a match.
Menegola - a 26 year old delisted by two other clubs that is surrounded by a superstar midfield. No comparison.
Phillips - Incredibly outside. 75% of his disposals are uncontested.
Hannan - He's a forward that just got dropped.
Graham - Another forward.

4 of the 5 North blokes you mentioned are KPP's that haven't anywhere near peaked enough to make a call. One of them hasn't even played. I fail to see how picking 5 of the alternatives you mentioned would make us a significantly better side.

You talk about words like "rational" and expect our club to achieve a 100% strike rate for best available players out of 5 picks covering something like 250 players? If that was the case we would never lose a premiership.

Legit stopped reading when you said “Blakely Meh”

 

[Grogg]

Everybody keeps blaming our drafting but nobody ever really mentions our player development.

I do.

Constantly.

It's the elephant in the room.

Who sets the agenda?

 

[Snake_Baker]

Legit stopped reading when you said “Blakely Meh”

You should have stopped before you typed the initial post.

 

[Only Forwards]

I do.

Constantly.

It's the elephant in the room.

Who sets the agenda?

I think it's broader than just player development.

I think that we are stale. I don't expect many wins this year. I don't expect many wins next year. I think some natural evolution will take us to some decent wins in 2020.

I think we've seen what we are going to get when we went through this the first time.

09 with Laids/Crocker = backend of 16+17
10 =18 development
11 = 19 development
12 = 20 push for wins

This gives us a vague time line of where we are. Our best footy under Brad came in 2016 which if those timelines parallel is 2024.

I think Brad is a solid journeyman coach. I don't think he has what it takes for number 5. I do think during his tenure we've transitioned to being a pretty professional club. Off field is killing it. On field I think we need a change to push us further than Brad can. That is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

I feel like we're nowhere.

 

[ozzyoslo]

I wouldn't write him off yet, but I would send him straight to full back and put Carlisle forward.

Documented he dont like forward postion.....mongrel backman.

 

[kaboom kid]

Ah yes, but when the pendulum swings back (as it always does) we will be perfectly placed. We is genius.

Indeed. Joyce masterstroke. He's smarter than EVW...

 

[kaboom kid]

You can add Daw to that list. :stern look

A few of us queried the 2014 selections of (generally summarised) 3 tall defensive players. We were crying out for outside users at the time.

EVW is looking a reasonable bet but Durdin and Nielsen are 4 years in and yet to dominate VFL or lock down a position. Not entirely their fault.

The drafting strategy might still work but it always looked like 2 talls + 1 mid/runner would've been more balanced.

The balance seems to have been redressed in the most recent draft, with Hayden, LDU and Walker all being mids....