Player Watch Sid Draper

[1990crow]

Surely it’s on nicks to say I want Curtin as a mid/wing and that’s where you play him?
What’s the point in the sanfl coach having their own say?
Or after the first sign of it nicks should have said wtf?

I agree. But club doesn't operate very smart as we can all see.

 

[morris086]

Surely it’s on nicks to say I want Curtin as a mid/wing and that’s where you play him?
What’s the point in the sanfl coach having their own say?
Or after the first sign of it nicks should have said wtf?

Didn't Nicks say he didn't know where to play Curtin either? I thought Davis was credited with his switch to the wing after failing up forward

 

[FR0GGY]

Didn't Nicks say he didn't know where to play Curtin either? I thought Davis was credited with his switch to the wing after failing up forward

Yeah he said that even late last year. He doesn’t fill me with confidence that he knows what he’s doing that’s for sure.

 

[Gtowncrow]

And just let him play to his natural instincts, rather than force him to adhere to our midfield garbage structure.

Give him some freedom and patience so he can develop.

We have midfield structures?

Ha... fancy that...

 

[Gtowncrow]

After reading the last few pages. It seems like some think on here that he hasn't had an opportunity to really get into his career and it sounds like hes had some fair excuses.

I stand by the question, if you bring in a FA like Bailey and a returning Curtin where does it leave a guy like Draper?

It leaves him at Richmond.
...in exchange for your 1st rounder this year.

 

[119others]

Read the whole conversation and it will make sense.
The only single digit pick drafted as a midfielder.

Frogman, I had a 40 min chat to J Reid. I asked him the specific question re Rankine, Curtin and Rachele. ALL had midfield potential to the recruiting team when we drafted them. I thought I may have mentioned this before but should clear it up

For those saying we havent drafted mids its just completely and utterly wrong. The last 3-4 years its been Draper, Curtin, Rankine, Rachele and Soligo (and Dawson which I didnt ask specifically about)

Lots of people on here keep repeating the same thing about no mids drafted - but its just not true in the last 3-4 years and hope this clears it up

 

[1990crow]

Frogman, I had a 40 min chat to J Reid. I asked him the specific question re Rankine, Curtin and Rachele. ALL had midfield potential to the recruiting team when we drafted them. I thought I may have mentioned this before but should clear it up

For those saying we havent drafted mids its just completely and utterly wrong. The last 3-4 years its been Draper, Curtin, Rankine, Rachele and Soligo (and Dawson which I didnt ask specifically about)

Lots of people on here keep repeating the same thing about no mids drafted - but its just not true in the last 3-4 years and hope this clears it up

It's true. Just none of them have so far became competition standard.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Yeah he said that even late last year. He doesn’t fill me with confidence that he knows what he’s doing that’s for sure.

Nicks and Davies dont know what to do with a player like Curtin or how to develop him because his type are rare. Not many 197cm ultra athletic runners come into the system. The fact they selected him in a non running position suggests they were blinded by height. He will end up a tall midfielder and two way swingman.

 

[119others]

Frogman, I had a 40 min chat to J Reid. I asked him the specific question re Rankine, Curtin and Rachele. ALL had midfield potential to the recruiting team when we drafted them. I thought I may have mentioned this before but should clear it up

For those saying we havent drafted mids its just completely and utterly wrong. The last 3-4 years its been Draper, Curtin, Rankine, Rachele and Soligo (and Dawson which I didnt ask specifically about)

Lots of people on here keep repeating the same thing about no mids drafted - but its just not true in the last 3-4 years and hope this clears it up

skam85 mate your posting is really a complete waste of time with your continued trolling emojis etc. like just pointless. thats coming from people commenting on threads, sending me private messages and making the same comments in real life. i actually feel genuinely sad for you. have you actually got any capacity to constructively contribute to the forum based on the amt of time you seemingly spend on here? or laughing and thumbs down emojis is a superior way to add value you feel?

how about you go and ask your trusted buddies (and actual respected posters) george and frogman about a detailed phone call they specifically are aware of that i had with j reid last year.

then when you find out what a true clown you really are, feel free to come back and humbly apologise if you have any decency

i wont be holding my breath

 

[Pugsley]

Nicks and Davies dont know what to do with a player like Curtin or how to develop him because his type are rare. Not many 197cm ultra athletic runners come into the system. The fact they selected him in a non running position suggests they were blinded by height. He will end up a tall midfielder and two way swingman.

Who is Davies?

 

[FR0GGY]

Frogman, I had a 40 min chat to J Reid. I asked him the specific question re Rankine, Curtin and Rachele. ALL had midfield potential to the recruiting team when we drafted them. I thought I may have mentioned this before but should clear it up

For those saying we havent drafted mids its just completely and utterly wrong. The last 3-4 years its been Draper, Curtin, Rankine, Rachele and Soligo (and Dawson which I didnt ask specifically about)

Lots of people on here keep repeating the same thing about no mids drafted - but its just not true in the last 3-4 years and hope this clears it up

Soligo and Dawson aren’t single digit draft pick which again was the main point of the convo, so there’s no point bringing them up.
The recruiting team may have thought Curtin would be a midfielder but clearly the coaches didn’t.
You can’t tell me playing a kid as a key defender is going to help him be a midfielder at all.
Rankine is not a pure mid, he has never played as a pure mid for us.
Rachele has taken 5 years to get a crack at the midfield and i acknowledged.
Draper I already acknowledged as our single digit drafted midfielder.
So again people need to read the conversation from the start.

The point is we haven’t high drafted a pure midfielder for a long time, that’s what people want, that’s what the team needs.

 

[119others]

Soligo and Dawson aren’t single digit draft pick which again was the main point of the convo, so there’s no point bringing them up.
The recruiting team may have thought Curtin would be a midfielder but clearly the coaches didn’t.
You can’t tell me playing a kid as a key defender is going to help him be a midfielder at all.
Rankine is not a pure mid, he has never played as a pure mid for us.
Rachele has taken 5 years to get a crack at the midfield and i acknowledged.
Draper I already acknowledged as our single digit drafted midfielder.
So again people need to read the conversation from the start.

The point is we haven’t high drafted a pure midfielder for a long time, that’s what people want, that’s what the team needs.

ok, perhaps i havent read every single post and dont feel a need to comment further after this. and using your single pick definition (which yes excludes soligo, dawson and 11th pick pedlar), from the CLUBS perspective this is what I know for fact - as i asked the question of reidy and you are fully aware of the phone call and how it came about - that:

the CLUBs List Management team (Hamish and Reidy) DID indeed see:

Rachele
Rankine
Curtin
Draper

4 years in a row all first round high end picks are midfielders to the clubs list management team spending picks 6, 5, 8 and 4 respectively on players they deemed would play midfield.

now when getting a rare opportunity to speak to an important club person i am not going to waste their time with further such questions as:

'what % of time mids will each be'
'how many years until they would start playing mid'

clearly as reidy would have laughed and lost respect.

but the key point is the club did deliberately 4 years in a row target elite players with the expectation they would become midfielders.

seeing the amount of people arguing otherwise is just wrong on this matter, and what the coaches did / thought and each players individual timings are not covered in my above comments about what the clubs list management thought. if theres going to be further debate about list management vs coaching groups etc, then fine and i will sit that one out


and hope the (non nicks) bunny came for you and other crows fans today

 

[FR0GGY]

ok, perhaps i havent read every single post and dont feel a need to comment further after this. and using your single pick definition (which yes excludes soligo, dawson and 11th pick pedlar), from the CLUBS perspective this is what I know for fact - as i asked the question of reidy and you are fully aware of the phone call and how it came about - that:

the CLUBs List Management team (Hamish and Reidy) DID indeed see:

Rachele
Rankine
Curtin
Draper

4 years in a row all first round high end picks are midfielders to the clubs list management team spending picks 6, 5, 8 and 4 respectively on players they deemed would play midfield.

now when getting a rare opportunity to speak to an important club person i am not going to waste their time with further such questions as:

'what % of time mids will each be'
'how many years until they would start playing mid'

clearly as reidy would have laughed and lost respect.

but the key point is the club did deliberately 4 years in a row target elite players with the expectation they would become midfielders.

seeing the amount of people arguing otherwise is just wrong on this matter, and what the coaches did / thought and each players individual timings are not covered in my above comments about what the clubs list management thought. if theres going to be further debate about list management vs coaching groups etc, then fine and i will sit that one out


and hope the (non nicks) bunny came for you and other crows fans today

It seems there is a fair disconnect between the recruiting and coaching teams.
We’ve seen this with players who get games and then are delisted in the same year.
We are seeing this with your information you’ve been given.
Ie 5 years for Rachele to get significant game time in the midfield, Curtin being played everywhere but as a mid, pedlar not playing as a mid, Rankine being played majority forward.
From memory Draper was played half forward as well in his first couple of games.

 

[119others]

It seems there is a fair disconnect between the recruiting and coaching teams.
We’ve seen this with players who get games and then are delisted in the same year.
We are seeing this with your information you’ve been given.
Ie 5 years for Rachele to get significant game time in the midfield, Curtin being played everywhere but as a mid, pedlar not playing as a mid, Rankine being played majority forward.
From memory Draper was played half forward as well in his first couple of games.

that may be the case re disconnect - i dont know

but how many elite young mids drafted do start straight in the middle as midfidlers? i thought there had been lots of discussion about this in recent years and many young players like n daicos and sheezel (without going thru all other high end drafted mids from recent yrs) do actually start in different positions. the above 2 off a hbf in their first year

bicks, is better placed to comment but rachele played a lot of mid in his draft year iirc. didnt he also start his second year with us playing mid for like a couple of months? curtin, is a unique beast, and was never going to move straight into the midfield. after a first year of confusion where to play him, using the wing as a transition to mid (which clearly this year he will be playing) was an excellent call by davis. rankine, clearly early career and before being drafted was seen as an elite small forward. the fact the clubs list management team identified him as a midfield prospect - as they likely did with dawson - is excellent projecting imo

 

[skam85]

have you actually got any capacity to constructively contribute to the forum based on the amt of time you seemingly spend on here?

This is a wild statement to make considering the length and amount of your posts

 

[Mutineer]

Charlie Edwards drafted as a later 1st round bigger bodied midfielder with what was considered plenty of upside on offer spent a lot of the 2025 SANFL season toiling away off half back. Finally gets to play permanent midfielder and show us what the recruiting guys saw in 2023. It's time!!!

 

[119others]

This is a wild statement to make considering the length and amount of your posts

love the digression and ignoring the rest of the post. almost trump like. you will surely get a few likes from your normal cartel boys club though so well done

and all good man, 6000 posts in 8 years - and a rare many hrs of spare time this weekend due to a recent surgery - actually i am not justifying anything to you as its a waste

i will put you on ignore as i get negative value from your contributions and constant trolling of me personally (laughing at me passing on info from justin reid the last example, or thumbs down type stuff)

no need to hijack the thread for others and wont bother you again

wishing you all the best old mate - and i saw you are also a sixers fan so genuinely good luck at the game today - lets hope we get the result we are both on the same page about

cheers

 

[FullyBigKPro]

We need to bite the bullet on Draper and Edwards and simply just play them in the Seniors

Stop mollycoddling them and hiding them in the 2s.

We cant waste first round picks languishing in the SANFL given how atrocious our 'development' is.

If they are not up to it, then delist and move on. FFS Crows get with it.

 

[FR0GGY]

Charlie Edwards drafted as a later 1st round bigger bodied midfielder with what was considered plenty of upside on offer spent a lot of the 2025 SANFL season toiling away off half back. Finally gets to play permanent midfielder and show us what the recruiting guys saw in 2023. It's time!!!

See 119others this is half the problem, I’ve seen on numerous occasions we are playing top ups in the middle with listed players filling other spots on the ground.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

See 119others this is half the problem, I’ve seen on numerous occasions we are playing top ups in the middle with listed players filling other spots on the ground.

You have to earn the right to play in your preferred position in the SANFL.

 

[Mutineer]

See 119others this is half the problem, I’ve seen on numerous occasions we are playing top ups in the middle with listed players filling other spots on the ground.

With Rachele even when he was drafted he was thought of as the best small forward in the draft, however it was well known he had played as a midfielder for Vic Country at the U16'S Nationals and won the M.V.P. (Kevin Sheahan Medal) for the carnival as well as VC's M.V.P. Then unfortunately COVID 19 intervened so no footy in Vic in Josh's underage year and he only played the 4 games for the Murray Bushies in his draft year mostly as a small forward where he lit it up big time.

Josh just didn't have the tank for AFL midfield until more recent times.

 

[CroCrow]

Pedlar is not a mid and never will be, he lacks lateral movement and is to one sided . Struggles to get over 10 possessions a game

 

[cmndstab]

We need to bite the bullet on Draper and Edwards and simply just play them in the Seniors

Stop mollycoddling them and hiding them in the 2s.

We cant waste first round picks languishing in the SANFL given how atrocious our 'development' is.

If they are not up to it, then delist and move on. FFS Crows get with it.

Agreed, with the caveat that we need to let Draper build his fitness back up first.

Once he's fully fit, put him in.

 

[skam85]

Agreed, with the caveat that we need to let Draper build his fitness back up first.

Once he's fully fit, put him in.

Five on the bench negates this somewhat. Case in point Collingwood’s management of Pendlebury.

I mean we’ve literally played a fully fit Nank for 45% and a full liability ROB for 35%. Draper could have easily done those numbers.

 

[Cromulant]

It seems there is a fair disconnect between the recruiting and coaching teams.
We’ve seen this with players who get games and then are delisted in the same year.
We are seeing this with your information you’ve been given.
Ie 5 years for Rachele to get significant game time in the midfield, Curtin being played everywhere but as a mid, pedlar not playing as a mid, Rankine being played majority forward.
From memory Draper was played half forward as well in his first couple of games.

Its not uncommon for draftees to start their careers in a different position to their draft year.

Most clubs though, use it as a way to get games into players before transitioning them to where they should be. Hayden Young, Isaac Heeney, Connor Rozee, Kozzi Pickett are recent examples.

We seem to pick and stick. Rachele had to bash the door down for years to get significant midfield time, Curtin possibly the only one where we quickly discarded the defender idea and moved him back around the ball where he looks far confident.