Richmond ND drafting: 2001 - 2007

[khanate]

Dejected, as many of you, I went home after yesterday and felt I HAD TO analyse what happened and why. I'm pretty one-eyed, and whilst I'll concede Carlton were 'the more experienced team', I didn't think they were 17 goals better than us. I checked up their team list (as most of the players I didn't recognise), I checked up their stats, draft year, etc, and was somewhat surprised to see that while they DON'T have the talent of a Geelong, Collingwood or Hawthorn on their list, it wouldn't surprise me (it would totally GUT me, but that's another story...) if they won a few games on the trot in September and won a grand final. Remember, it wouldn't SURPRISE me; stranger things have happened. Checking out their playing list, it surprised me how well rounded their list was. They've come a long way since their salary cap breaching and the Carltank years. Then, I checked out our list and was quite shocked. I then did a quick check of our drafting over the last 10 years or so, and put together the following notes:


RICHMOND DRAFTING 2001 – 2007
Why 2001? I chose this draft as it is ten years ago, and would include players who are considered stars, and have been for a while. Players like Ablett, Judd and Hodge are stars and have been for the last 5 years. It would also include players who aren’t considered stars, but would be in the 150 – 200 game experience bracket.

2001 AFL Draft:
Traded:
• #17 for Greg Stafford
• #49 for Paul Hudson
• David Bourke for #17
Drafted:
• #33 Rodan
• #63 Houlihan
• #68 Hyde
• #77 McGrath

2002 AFL Draft:
Traded:
• #28 for Justin Blumfield
• #2, #18 + #32 for Kane Johnson
Drafted:
• #12 Schulz
• #41 Fleming
• #47 Nicholls
• #62 Sipthorp

2003 AFL Draft:
Traded:
• #6 + #20 for Nathan Brown
• Ben Holland for #21
Drafted:
• #21 Alex Gilmour
• #37 Tom Roach
• #53 Daniel Jackson
• #64 Shane Morrison
• #73 Brent Hartigan
• #76 Andrew Raines
• #79 Simon Fletcher
• #81 Kyle Archibald

2004 AFL Draft:
Traded:
• Aaron Fiora for Troy Simmonds
• Brad Ottens for #12 + #16
Drafted:
• #01 Deledio
• #04 Tambling
• #12 Meyer
• #16 Pattison
• #20 Polo
• #36 McGuane
• #52 Dean Limbach
• #65 Mark Graham

2005 AFL Draft:
Traded:
• #56 for Patrick Bowden
Drafted:
• #08 Oakley-Nicholls
• #24 Cleve Hughes
• #40 Travis Casserly

2006 AFL Draft:
Traded:
• #08 + #42 for Greame Polak, #13 + #63
Drafted:
• #13 Riewoldt
• #26 Edwards
• #58 Connors
• #60 Carl Peterson
• #73 Andrew Collins

2007 AFL Draft:
Traded:
• #19 for Jordan McMahon
• #35 for Mitch Morton
Drafted:
• #02 Cotchin
• #18 Rance
• #51 Dean Putt

I'm not going to pass judgment on the players listed above, nor the officials who selected them. That's not why I did this. I did this to show how far off we are from a finals squad. Seriously. I always bring up the 'Mark Coughlan' scenario. Imagine what our midfield stocks would be like with his in the middle. He's from the Judd era (the draft before) and would be the 'experience' we need in there. The glue and the brains. What a player to have lost. And we did lose him. How tragic it was the way his career ended...

We have no real nucleus of experience. Imagine if players like Cleve Hughes, Pattison and Meyer kicked on and became 'bit players', or just solid players. Someone like Johncock or Josh Hunt. Solid, reliable. They would be at the 120 - 150 game mark now, and we'd have three less duds on the list.

You know, our current list isn't that bad. Really, there's a big upside and scope for improvement. But looking at the list above, the hastily traded picks-for-recycled players, as well as the wasted high picks, it really shows just how much work Harwick and his assistants have ahead of them to build a good list...

 

[docko911]

I've done this many times also and the key word from your research is "Traded", trading picks is the dumbest thing you can do 99% of the time.

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

I've done this many times also and the key word from your research is "Traded", trading picks is the dumbest thing you can do 99% of the time.

Totally agree...

Two names just stick in my throat...and they both start with 'J' ....Johnston and Jordan Mcmahon....

Hang on then there was Poyas...

One word...Arghhhhhhhhhh....

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

On reflection...the 2003 and 2004 drafts apart from lids just killed us as a club...

 

[copthat]

That Kane Johnson trade is unbelievable.

 

[the ranger]

On reflection...the 2003 and 2004 drafts apart from lids just killed us as a club...

and 2005

From those 3 drafts we have Jackson, Deledio and McGuane left.

 

[Infamy]

and 2005

From those 3 drafts we have Jackson, Deledio and McGuane left.

plus Thursfield, White & Graham at least from those years, I may be forgetting one or two

 

[YellowAndBlack83]

That Kane Johnson trade is unbelievable.

I agree but you got to factor in that the original trade was picks 4, 20 and 36 and Jason Torney for Kane Johnson and 14,30 and 46 It was only after the trade had been completed that the AFL punished Carltank for salary cap breaches and took their draft picks off them which lowered all early picks by 2 places, and I am not sure if we asked for it or if there was media talk about us recieving compensation for being majorly screwed in the ass by trading away what we thought was pick 4 but the AFL pretty much told us to get stuffed and deal with it. So while it was bad its not as bad as it looks there.

 

[tiges1]

makes me feel sick, seeing most of those names

 

[the ranger]

plus Thursfield, White & Graham at least from those years, I may be forgetting one or two

Yeah, we seemed to do well enough from the rookie draft back then.

 

[hazza05]

it started from there

 

[Slattery_20]

On reflection...the 2003 and 2004 drafts apart from lids just killed us as a club...

Not many clubs do, though. They were just poor drafts - both of them. Maybe 10 noteworthy players from each of them.

Between meyer (12) and Limbach (52) there's about 5 worthwhile players - Sherman, Monfries, Van Berlo all just handy, LeCras's a star, the rest role players (McGuane, Murphy) or duds.

The problem, IMHO, was trading into that draft heavily. Cats traded out & barely missed anything. Hardly like you could've known that at the time though.

 

[SHIGHT BLOKE]

That Kane Johnson trade is unbelievable.

We also threw Jason Torney in for that trade for Johnson.

 

[Wallaby]

We also threw Jason Torney in for that trade for Johnson.

The real punch in the guts is that a year or so earlier, Adelaide offered a straight-up swap - Kane Johnson for Ben Holland. But in traditional Richmond fashion we over rated our players.

Johnson was OK - probably not quite worth what we paid, but he was a good contributer. And we did complain about Pick 4 becoming Pick 2, and YellowandBlack has correctly summed up the formal AFL response to our request for compensation consideration. Mind you, Adelaide burnt the pick by trading it for Carey (the pick wound up being Daniel Wells).

 

[Jisha]

I got to the name David Bourke and I knew things were about to get ugly

 

[aislegi]

That Kane Johnson trade is unbelievable.

You're right, it's a deadset stinker, and you can see why the Tigers lack depth at the moment when not only were high picks traded for Johnson but Brown and McMahon - and not one still at the club

 

[khanate]

Man, we've got half the list we should have at that time...imagine if half of those delisted players kicked on...

What a waste of so much bottoming out...

 

[RoaringTiger]

I always bring up the 'Mark Coughlan' scenario. Imagine what our midfield stocks would be like with his in the middle. He's from the Judd era (the draft before) and would be the 'experience' we need in there. The glue and the brains. What a player to have lost. And we did lose him. How tragic it was the way his career ended...

This I really miss Mark Coughlan. I reckon we should just redraft to have him back at the club. I don't care if he plays or not or takes the spot from a kid, I just want him back on the list.

 

[Delids]

Not much has changed, Dont be bluffed by FJ and his theories. We still have short people etc
We have Craig Cameron involved at list managemnt, contracts etc rememner this guy wrecked Freo & Melbournes list before becoming in charge of recruiting at our club
For a complete clean out, we need remove March as president, FJ & Cameron all 3 were there for the partl or full tenure of G Miller & Wallet era
Until we can draft and stop making up excuses about recruiting the quicker we move up the ladder
I am sick of hearing this kid has elite skills, elite agility, elite speed etc
Draft footballers than have heart and built like footballers and have mental toughness
Did i mention that we need to draft footballers...

 

[W. Smithers]

That Kane Johnson trade is unbelievable.

We did get pick 12 as well.... which we used on Schulz!!

 

[SdKfz 181]

I got to the name David Bourke and I knew things were about to get ugly

to be fair that was him being traded out... dont mock are proud Richmond family name, despite his deficencies..

the only thing that bugs me about David Bourke, is that he didnt play 100 games for us, imagine if he had a son who was an absolute gun, 4 generations of Bourkes at the RFC. That would of been something indeed!

 

[1980GFVideo]

David Bourke can hold his head high.

He didnt have the frame for AFL and the club just never really found a position for him.

I remember sitting behind the goals watching Richo waving him out of the forward line. Felt sorry for him because he looked back with a look of "How the hell do I get into the game if I cant be in the 50"

Took two of the great marks that we all would have loved to take in Richmond colors.

 

[mitch richmond]

David Bourke can hold his head high.

He didnt have the frame for AFL and the club just never really found a position for him.

I remember sitting behind the goals watching Richo waving him out of the forward line. Felt sorry for him because he looked back with a look of "How the hell do I get into the game if I cant be in the 50"

Took two of the great marks that we all would have loved to take in Richmond colors.

Been worse players at Richmond than David Bourke. He had a handy finals
series in 1995. Could take a hanger too but his courage was bigger than his frame!

 

[Wallaby]

David Bourke was as brave as any player I've seen for Richmond. The trouble was, being built like a stick, he kept throwing himself into packs and hurting himself (usually his shoulder). He could play.

But when he was 20 we were all saying 'When he bulks up he's our full-back for the next 10 years.'. Well, he never did, and he never was.

It's hard to be a body-on-body player (which he was) when you don't have a body.