Rookie Draft

[DanA]

What should Geelong be looking for in the Rookie draft?

Given our current list and our 4 new draftees what do you think Geelong should look for in the Rookie draft?

I think we should grab a:

A KPP (backmen)
A Utility
A ruckmen (if available) or else another KPP

 

[RememberMe]

What should Geelong be looking for in the Rookie draft?

Given our current list and our 4 new draftees what do you think Geelong should look for in the Rookie draft?

I think we should grab a:

A KPP (backmen)
A Utility
A ruckmen (if available) or else another KPP

A ruckman.

 

[GeeCat]

At the moment, I think the only absolute must is the need for a ruckman.

I can understand the need for an extra key back (I've been a caller for it myself), but unless the right prospect falls our way, I'm hesistant to pick one up simply for the sake of doing so to fill the numbers. We're currently thereabouts within the league average with the number of key postition players we're carrying, and with Domsy and The Todd currently occupying two of the five rookie positions, I think balance may need to be kept in mind.

In any case, I'll assume the remaining 1-2 picks (pending on whether we pick up that extra key back) will be used on smalls.

 

[Reg Hickey]

I think we have four picks, right? Grima (who by the way is really a key forward, not a defender) is already on the list, and because only Dasher is eligible for the veteran's list then we get an extra one as well.

Last pick should be Lonergan.

I really hope Davenport is picked up - I think he has shown enough to deserve a spot on the rookie list, and I hope we decide to invest a couple more years in him as a rookie and lock him up as a Cat. Very quick, elite endurance, great footy instincts, just needs a bit of polishing. Has only been playing footy for a short time and could be a very, very good player in a couple of years.

For the other two, I agree that a project ruckman would be useful, as would a small defender. Not that I know much about these guys, but I would think that Sam Jacobs (big ruckman) and Nathan Batsanis (small defender) would both be great options. Depending on the real outlook for Lonergan we might also consider a key defender like Grose or Lee.

Other generally good choices might be Jackson Sheringham (loads of pace and apparently good skills, rated top 20 by many early in the year and a local boy - not really sure what happened to him??) or Gavin Hughes (midfielder who is apparently quick and uses the ball well).

If we pick another medium forward (eg. Gardiner, Garth, Owen, Haynes) I will be majorly annoyed.

 

[Reg Hickey]

Just checked out Mojo31's review of Jackson Sheringham again (if I remember correctly, he rated Sheringham higher than Boak):

18) Jackson Sheringham

Wing/midfield

178cms and 73 kgs.
22/6/88
Geelong Falcons

Geelong Falcons player and brother of Ted who was rookied by Geelong in the 2004 draft. Very pacy and skilled player who is capable of carrying the ball and breaking the lines. Very good disposal and is a classy winger who given space and time is damaging.

Had a good year in the TAC and finished 3rd in the best and fairest for the Falcons. Played mainly wing but also some runs on the ball and down back. Versatile and has had a good grounding with 18 games in the TAC last year. Averaged a touch under 20 possessions and rarely wasted any of them. Long kicking to advantage was a feature of his game.
Would like to see him grow some more and fill out and develop the inside part of his game and become more a contested ball winner and inside player to go with his running and skills. That would really round his game out in my opinion and make him more complete.
Good tackler who has a good work rate and stays involved in the game and is prepared to work both ways. Very good prospect who is very clean with his use of the ball and is clever and quick. When he adds some more weight to break tackles he will be even better.

Composed and a smart reader of the player and is a silky prospect. Looks like a natural wing with his speed and disposal and ability to find space and carry the ball. Hopefully as he gets stronger he can also develop the other parts of his game as well.

Very quick, breaks the lines, very good disposal, long kick, clever, smart reader of the play, good tackler - sounds like a fantastic rookie pick. Unless this review is way off the mark (and Mojo31 has generally been very good), I can't work out why he wouldn't have been picked up in the main draft.

 

[DanA]

So consensus is:
first a foremost a ruckmen......
then a small back.....
than a key back.......
midfeilders for the rest?

I can live with that.

Next years draft supposedly has a lot of good ruck prospects, does that influence people opionion on the need for rucks?

That was my thinking for only taking a ruckmen if they are a good prospect.

 

[Conan Troutman]

Do we need another ruck with Blake and West starting to go alright? or is it best to have more than 4 on the list?

 

[Jack-Packenham]

Once again I will have to disagree with the majority. Why would you bring another ruckman onto the list when you have King, Ottens, Blake, West and for back ups Mooney and Playfair. For starters in a perfect world, how much game time is this person going to get in the VFL with Blake and West already there. This is what is going to slow the development of West due to the fact he can't get the required game time. We need a VFL reserves side that we can farm off 5 or 6 players so they can get the game time needed. Then and only then would it make sense to rookie another ruckman.

I think we must look ahead to next year and see who we think will be delisted. With the minimum of 3 required I would say at the moment Gardiner, Spencer, Playfair and Owen would be the favourites. That means we would be losing 2 talls and 2 mediums in one hit. Saying that I think we should rookie at least 1 key position player, Alex Lee looks ideal.

There is still a lack of quality small defenders at the club. Wocjinski, D Johnson, Hunt and Callan have struggled in the past on leading smaller players, so I would like to see the club invest in a back pocket player. Josh Thurgood suits this as he is quick, courageous and would not be required to play on bigger guys.

I think the last pick will be on Davenport or a son of former players Jake Williams or Tom Couch. Personally I would take a punt on Jake Williams.

My Selections

Alex Lee
Josh Thurgood
Jake Williams

 

[Rustybugles]

I agree that we can skip the ruckman (not a ruckmen, nor a backmen!!!) if King is fit - he went into 2006 injured - and Ottens/Mooney(if he grows up)/Blake combination is potentially good. Who do we groom as CHF? Henry?
Draft selections are excellent - over to you Bomber! The talent is all there!

 

[Reg Hickey]

Once again I will have to disagree with the majority. Why would you bring another ruckman onto the list when you have King, Ottens, Blake, West and for back ups Mooney and Playfair. For starters in a perfect world, how much game time is this person going to get in the VFL with Blake and West already there. This is what is going to slow the development of West due to the fact he can't get the required game time. We need a VFL reserves side that we can farm off 5 or 6 players so they can get the game time needed. Then and only then would it make sense to rookie another ruckman.

Mooney is not a ruckman, and should not be treated as one. He's a key forward cum onballer.

I think Blake should / will play a lot of seniors this year, especially if one of King and Ottens (probably King!) is injured, which is certainly a distinct possibility given history.

Playfair is not a ruckman at the moment. Although he does have the size for it and doesn't really seem to be in the mix as a key forward any more, he needs to be groomed as one. However, he could just as likely reinvent himself as a CHB.

That all means that West could easily be the sole ruckman in the VFL for a large part of the season. Combined with the fact that both King and Ottens may well only have 3-4 years left at the most, and it often takes at least that long for a 18yo ruckman to mature into an AFL standard player, in my view all means that a rookie ruckman wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[Budda 230]

It will be very difficult to predict. Usually there is a local or 2 taken. First pick is best available in most cases. So it may look something like this.

1. Jackson Sheringham/ Tom Hurley.
2. Iacobucci
3. Couch
4. Lonergan

Not the best looking list, but probably the way Geelong will be headed. Alex Lee will also be considered I believe.

 

[DanA]

Once again I will have to disagree with the majority. Why would you bring another ruckman onto the list when you have King, Ottens, Blake, West and for back ups Mooney and Playfair. For starters in a perfect world, how much game time is this person going to get in the VFL with Blake and West already there. This is what is going to slow the development of West due to the fact he can't get the required game time. We need a VFL reserves side that we can farm off 5 or 6 players so they can get the game time needed. Then and only then would it make sense to rookie another ruckman.

I think we must look ahead to next year and see who we think will be delisted. With the minimum of 3 required I would say at the moment Gardiner, Spencer, Playfair and Owen would be the favourites. That means we would be losing 2 talls and 2 mediums in one hit. Saying that I think we should rookie at least 1 key position player, Alex Lee looks ideal.

There is still a lack of quality small defenders at the club. Wocjinski, D Johnson, Hunt and Callan have struggled in the past on leading smaller players, so I would like to see the club invest in a back pocket player. Josh Thurgood suits this as he is quick, courageous and would not be required to play on bigger guys.

I think the last pick will be on Davenport or a son of former players Jake Williams or Tom Couch. Personally I would take a punt on Jake Williams.

My Selections

Alex Lee
Josh Thurgood
Jake Williams

I agree that the VFL team will have problems feilding another ruckmen. That is another reason to wait until next draft. Another year should see Blake playing 15 + games in the 1's if he progresses well. That will leave a bit of room for another young ruckmen to get some game time to develop.

 

[RememberMe]

I agree that the VFL team will have problems feilding another ruckmen. That is another reason to wait until next draft. Another year should see Blake playing 15 + games in the 1's if he progresses well. That will leave a bit of room for another young ruckmen to get some game time to develop.

I don't see why we couldn't play King/Blake/Ottens in the same lineup. King's body is too messed up to run a whole game out in the ruck, and Ottens with his marking prowess, should be left at full forward. If the opposition wants to double team him, as they did on many occasions last year, due to Geelong's one dimensional approach to goal, we will have NAblett and Hawkins as second and third options.

Blake and King should rotate through the ruck, and drop back into defense to man up on whatever tal the opposition is running with. Although King is slow, he is not as soft as ppl say. Body on body, I reckon he could man up on 99% of the big forwards in the competition.

My point being, I think we should rookie a massive ruckman.

 

[Rosso]

Like to see Hurley given a lifeline as a rookie. Seems to be too good a player to be dismissed.

 

[scottydeewah]

I am pretty sure you can farm them out cant you, they dont have to play for GFC ressies?

 

[costanza23]

1st pick: Jason Davenport (played every game in the VFL this season, wasn't too bad, good speed, a bit like Byrnes, finish wasnt the best).
2nd pick: Alex Lee or Tom Hurley (probably Lee because of height and because we will lose a few tall/medium players at the end of season 2007 - Spencer, Gardiner, Playfair, Owen)
3rd pick: Adam Iacobucci
4th pick: Tom Lonergan

 

[Rosso]

I am pretty sure you can farm them out cant you, they dont have to play for GFC ressies?

If they're fit they play VFL. The VFL listed players are the one's that get farmed out hence why a few years back we had a forward line somthing like this in the VFL:

HF Mooney Playfair N Ablett

F Lonergan McCarthy C Gardiner

Not the most mobile forward line going around.

 

[Reg Hickey]

Lee, Hurley and Sheringham would all be great picks, but how many of them are likely to still be there by our second pick, remembering that it will be about #23?

Iacobucci I'm not sold on yet - why did Collingwood delist him?

Sheringham is the one that really interests me. He may well be gone by our first pick, but if not, I would think we should seriously consider taking him then, even over Davenport. I think Davenport could be a great player and I know this would give Sydney a crack at him, but maybe Sheringham would just be a better option. By all accounts he seems to have Davenport's speed and smarts, but is classier and has better disposal.

If it were up to me the approach would be:
Pick 1: Sheringham (or Davenport if he's gone)
Pick 2: Davenport (or best available if he's gone or we took him with our first pick)
Pick 3: Best available
Pick 4: Lonergan

 

[costanza23]

I get the feeling Geelong are looking closely at Reynolds for pick 3.

That's to compensate for McCarthy I'm guessing. Geelong always needs one more dud forward than any other team.

 

[RememberMe]

Theres this guy... he lives in Eagle Hawk Neck.. He's not the fittest, and can't really play footy all that well, but I reckon get a pre season under his belt at Geelong and he will dominate. lol. Rookie me!

 

[Lingsface]

tom collier please

 

[Asty]

I dont think I would take Davenport at pick 1 but would consider him at pick 2 (if nothing better around) or 3. Longergan I would take at 4 I doubt another team will take him earlier as he will be out for a lot of the season (if not all) anyway. Best young guy small-mid with 1st pick and project KP (backman - would be nice to get the next rutten ... is that too much to ask??) with pick 2 or 3.

 

[Jack-Packenham]

tom collier please

Is a 17 year old

 

[year of the cat]

Hasn't Todd Grima been re-rookied? If so is that one less pick we now have? Or do we still have another 3 picks in addition to Grima and Lonergan?

 

[GeeCat]

We have 5 rookie spots, with 2 being taken up by the Todd and Domsy.

3 picks on December 12th.