Rookie Draft - What do we think ?

[Obeanie1]

I cannot understand the negative reactions by posters on here. All season I have read comments that WC were "too one dimensional", "lacked pace","didnt have enough talls in the squad","lacked quality kickers of the ball", "didnt have any quality crumbers" etc etc.

In 6 choices post season, WC have addressed all these issues, and yet there are still complaints from posters suggesting players like Manson and Nelson would be better bets. Sure there are no guarantees that those selected will make the grade, but WC HAVE recognized their deficiencies and made a very good stab at fixing them. When he is fit go and watch Dick run - he would beat Smith over 20m, and wait until Papertalk does a few preseasons - cause he will blow Dick away.

Go and read the article by Macgugan on the AFL website for a better indication on what the clubs are seeking nowdays, and you will see why players with little character have little chance of succeeding (Manson anyone). Additionally clubs recognize that there is only a limited number of spots for role players (those that are good at a lot but dont excel at anything) which is why Nelson didnt get drafted and in WC's case, why Jones was released.

WC's recruiters should have every reason to be happy with themselves. In a poor draft they have managed to make their squad very well rounded, and given they are only perhaps 1-2 very good players away from being a top 2 team, IMO they have given Worsfold some very good players to mould.

Well I'm pretty happy with what we took and who we didn't (Manson and Nelson) and trust our guys did their research etc.

Of our picks:

1. Newman - maybe taken a couple of picks early but fits a need for a classy HFFer / outside mid.
2. McInnes - injured missed U18 - slid a bit?
3. Mascoulis - major hammie injury - slid alot
4. Paertalk - smokie with upside says the club
5. Turnbridge - homesickness call - slid but has had a good development year at GWS
6. Dick - high risk / high reward player and again slid

So Bond if all these guys were fully fit over the last 12 months what do you think their draft value would have been?

Muscoulis sounds like he's rapt in the club in giving him a chance, this guy could be the diamond in the rough IMO.

 

[Masto]

I don't think Murray Newman was taken too early. He got 21 possessions in a WAFL league game and kicked 3 goals in another, so I think he had proven he could step up to a higher level of competition despite a small frame - while others hadn't done that yet.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Ambrose! Didn't realise you were active here. Of course I know who you are, know who I am?

Captain Obvious? You need to be even more obvious I'm afraid

 

[Icanwalk]

Absolutely rapt with our off season (minus Ebert). Kudos to the recruiters.
Agree with Bond. From such a reportedly shitty draft, we've come away with 6 kids that on paper, leaves us with a fairly well rounded, young list.

Still have a few deficiencies though, obviously a young, rounded mid ala Cotchin. But you don't get those with late picks in a compromised draft. Hopefully we can bag one in next years 'superdraft' or even trade one in from the eastern states.

Another KPD would also be nice. I always thought McIness was drafted with the intention of developing into a KPD, but judging from his post draft interviews and club reports, I'm starting to have a few doubts. Hopefully could become a Hunter like utility.
Otherwise, trading in a youngish KPD may be a better option than drafting in one of the upcoming drafts. Would be nice for all our talls to develop together. Like the look of Rance personally, but may be out of reach.

Finally, I still think we lack a bit of outside pace. Although we have recently added depth in this area, we are short one elite line-breaking wingman. Have a gut feeling that Mascoulis may end up this missing link. As I mentioned in another thread, he's a genuine protoype winger, with a combination of skill, height, pace and a good head on his shoulders.

Personally, looking forward to seeing what Mascoulis can produce more than any other inclusion this year. Gem in the rough.

 

[CaptainObviousWA]

Ambrose - Hmm...more obvious...well I've bean to a footy game with you this year, the very first in fact

Icanwalk - how is losing Ebert a bad thing? I mean lets face it, he's never going to be a great player because of his decision-making. He might have great fitness etc, but he seems to have this obsession with kicking it along the boundary which he can't do with any precision, extremely frustrating.

 

[sTeeL]

I still don't know much about and Mascoulis and Papertalk, but I would've preferred that we took two out of Haiden Schloithe, Marley Williams, Gibson Turner and Myles Bolger. Not sure about Brad Dick either, but hopefully all three will do well over the next couple of seasons.

Reworded: I don't know anything about our draftees or drafting in general however I wish we took some of the boys that the Bigfooty Draft Think Tank chose to pump up this year.

 

[BOND 007]

Well I'm pretty happy with what we took and who we didn't (Manson and Nelson) and trust our guys did their research etc.

Of our picks:

1. Newman - maybe taken a couple of picks early but fits a need for a classy HFFer / outside mid.
2. McInnes - injured missed U18 - slid a bit?
3. Mascoulis - major hammie injury - slid alot
4. Paertalk - smokie with upside says the club
5. Turnbridge - homesickness call - slid but has had a good development year at GWS
6. Dick - high risk / high reward player and again slid

So Bond if all these guys were fully fit over the last 12 months what do you think their draft value would have been?

Muscoulis sounds like he's rapt in the club in giving him a chance, this guy could be the diamond in the rough IMO.

Really hard to say. The general consensus was that there were 3 groupings of quality : the top 5-6 players, the next 6-8 and then the next 30 odd. The result was that WC (like some other teams outside the bottom 8) simply drafted for needs.
In talking to a few guys who were inside the room and who spoke with other clubs after the ND, just about everyone had a different opinion on just how the others went. It was as though if you didnt wnat a Brad Hill type then you wouldnt have selected him even if you had pick 85.

Having spoken to a few people since, they were over the moon to get both Newman and McInnes. One suggested that if McInness had been able to play the season and shown what he was capable of - then he would have expected him to go top 10 and probably top 8. Of course he wasnt going to say the guy was hopeless but we drafted him anyway.

Dont know enough about Papertalk to talk at length, but Tunbridge is far far better than #51 in the rookie draft. I'm with you on Muscoulis - from what I've seen and heard about him, I actually reckon they got a real good'un and way way below where he would have gone fully fit. I know WC's recruiting team were sweating on him being available come their pick in the RD, they were worried he was going late in ND to either WB or Syd. Dick is interesting - if they get it right (or more correctly - if he gets it right) he could be one of the 1-2 players that can let them take the next step.

In the washup what is interesting is that in the 2011 drafts, a notoriously conservative club went outside the square, which should send 2 messages to the faithful.

1) WC think they have the cake and the 2011 drafts were about getting a bit of icing and
2) The new recruiting team thinks differently to the old one and we are prepared to think a little differently.

Have a safe flight down

 

[Icanwalk]

In the washup what is interesting is that in the 2011 drafts, a notoriously conservative club went outside the square, which should send 2 messages to the faithful.

1) WC think they have the cake and the 2011 drafts were about getting a bit of icing and
2) The new recruiting team thinks differently to the old one and we are prepared to think a little differently.

This

Hopefully continues for a few more years.

 

[Icanwalk]

Icanwalk - how is losing Ebert a bad thing? I mean lets face it, he's never going to be a great player because of his decision-making. He might have great fitness etc, but he seems to have this obsession with kicking it along the boundary which he can't do with any precision, extremely frustrating.

While I agree that he'll never be a great player, still think he'd have played 200 games for us. His versatility, leadership, defensive capabilities and overhead marking will be missed. But no point crying over spilled milk.

Was actually referring more to the way we handled his trade, got the dud deal of the week. And although I don't really care (landed McIness), it just seems that we're making a habit of being the trade walkovers.

 

[CaptainObviousWA]

True to a point, but let's look at who we've lost. Aside from Judd, we really haven't been trading quality players here - I mean the last ones were Ebert who only wanted Port; Staker who I think nominated Brisbane; and Seaby, Cox's "short-round" sidekick. Alas, I just don't think they have much currency nor were likely to.

At the same time, the compo received for Judd was spent really poorly. Masten is the worst out of the first round that year (apparently there's stats for this), and Notte was delisted without playing a game for us if memory serves. Kennedy is great, but otherwise...

 

[kane249]

Masten, Morton, Grant, Palmer, Henderson, Veszpremi, Tarrant and Lobbe were all in that first round and all have been as poor as Masten if not worse in some cases IMO

Notte played 2 games, he got given those games as there was literally no one else left to pick and he clearly wasn't ready for the AFL back then. That being said the guy didn't have the work ethic or desire to make it and will go down with Sampi as a waste of talent.

Kennedy was the saving grace from that trade as you said.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Reworded: I don't know anything about our draftees or drafting in general however I wish we took some of the boys that the Bigfooty Draft Think Tank chose to pump up this year.

I saw Myles Bolger's and Gibson Turner's highlights and they were pretty impressive, unlike Nelson's. I haven't even seen Turner mentioned anywhere here.

 

[Double the Fist]

Masten, Morton, Grant, Palmer, Henderson, Veszpremi, Tarrant and Lobbe were all in that first round and all have been as poor as Masten if not worse in some cases IMO

Notte played 2 games, he got given those games as there was literally no one else left to pick and he clearly wasn't ready for the AFL back then. That being said the guy didn't have the work ethic or desire to make it and will go down with Sampi as a waste of talent.

Kennedy was the saving grace from that trade as you said.

Tarrant has missed huuuuuuge chunks of time through bad injuries IIRC

 

[eaglesfan84]

Bumped into Brad Dick last night at KFC, were waiting for our food to be cooked, it was packed so I had a long chat with him, he said he went to the surgeon yesterday and got good news, he doesn't need a clean out, so he'll be back sooner than expected, he also said the only weakness he has is in his hammy where tehy took some tendon from but he said he's been building up the strength in it through training, he's a real nice bloke and said he was real happy to be back home with his family, lots of smiles when he was talking about em. Looking forward to seeing him play for us

 

[Lyyynnnchy]

Whats he doing at KFC?

 

[the harry]

At the same time, the compo received for Judd was spent really poorly. Masten is the worst out of the first round that year (apparently there's stats for this), and Notte was delisted without playing a game for us if memory serves. Kennedy is great, but otherwise...

I find that very hard to believe.

Veszpremi, Lobbe, and Tarrant combined would have played about 40 games, and many of them have been rubbish. Where as Maten has played 50+ and there has been instances of obvious ability.

Also, fact is Masten > Ebert.

Remembering what we were looking for in the 07 draft, who would you have taken ahead of Masten from the first round? If you say Dangerfield, he stayed in Vic to finish year 12 most of that year. If you say Rioli, wasn't there a big risk he'd go back to Melbourne eventually? Not to mention his persistent hamstring injuries.

 

[Double the Fist]

Bumped into Brad Dick last night at KFC,

On another note, KFC? At least he is trying to put on some weight!

 

[eaglesfan84]

Whats he doing at KFC?

Relax fellas, it was their day off yesterday

Plus he looks pretty skinny, a good chunk of protein ain't gonna hurt him.

 

[BOND 007]

Bumped into Brad Dick last night at KFC, were waiting for our food to be cooked, it was packed so I had a long chat with him, he said he went to the surgeon yesterday and got good news, he doesn't need a clean out, so he'll be back sooner than expected, he also said the only weakness he has is in his hammy where tehy took some tendon from but he said he's been building up the strength in it through training, he's a real nice bloke and said he was real happy to be back home with his family, lots of smiles when he was talking about em. Looking forward to seeing him play for us

I am sure the powers to be at WC would love to hear that Brad Dick frequents KFC. Eating there does wonders for your skin folds.

 

[Marlin01]

I am sure the powers to be at WC would love to hear that Brad Dick frequents KFC. Eating there does wonders for your skin folds.

It certainly makes you wonder doesn't it.

 

[kane249]

Tarrant has missed huuuuuuge chunks of time through bad injuries IIRC

So has Masten, would still rate him as worse performed then Masten so far as well regardless

 

[kane249]

I am sure the powers to be at WC would love to hear that Brad Dick frequents KFC. Eating there does wonders for your skin folds.

As long as he works it off and doesn't do more eating then training a la Sampi then it won't be a problem

 

[WCEforeverman]

I'm sure if his skin folds are at the required level the club wouldn't care where he ate.

 

[BOND 007]

I'm sure if his skin folds are at the required level the club wouldn't care where he ate.

Whilst what you are saying is true technically, unfortunately its not as simple as that.

The game is so professional nowdays it requires an almost fanatical approach to food in order to be "as good as you can be" as pioneered by Simon Black. Whether we as supporters or ex-players like this approach or not is irrelevent, unfortunately its part of environment of being an AFL player nowdays.

So you may think "one burger whats the fuss" but to WC it would send a very different message and one involving the word "dedication", especially given its a kid coming from a way back.

 

[fryzie]

I am sure the powers to be at WC would love to hear that Brad Dick frequents KFC. Eating there does wonders for your skin folds.

Maybe Sampii is his personal trainer