The national draft is overrated.

[GTOA]

I don't think you realise that without a draft, you don't get any new players into the competition. Have you considered that guys like Dangerfield, Selwood, Fyfe, Bontempelli were actually drafted at some point?? Your whole argument is redundant, that the draft is useless because there's some obscurity as to whether a draftee will actually perform, because that is exactly why there is a draft in the first place: to try and identify the players most likely to make an impact at AFL level based on numerous factors. And you know what? Some recruitment teams get it wrong. But one of the main areas which a great AFL team will found itself on is its drafting, and its ability to correctly identify talent.

This ought to be one of the most idiotic posts I have to have ever seen.

I know we need a draft.

It is more the giddy, over-the-top gushing about no-names by commentators, like how every player has done this, and done that in junior footy, yet some end up doing nothing in AFL.

The draft is needed. The hype about it isn't.

 

[GTOA]

Bulldogs: Win the flag after drafting and developing a great young bunch of players. They had a delisted young player (Hamling), a bargain buy trade (Biggs) and a big trade for a player who had been the number 1 pick the year previous (Boyd).

Geelong: Go hard on trades including Dangerfield who is a star, but also adding Scott Selwood who is a bit of a plodder, Henderson who got found out on the big stage in the wrong position and Zac Smith who looked good but didn't star down the stretch. Sure they improved but they also didn't win and now don't have a first round pick this year and a mixed bag of a list with old and young.

The other thing to consider is that through a sustained period of success Geelong have good trading power. It's very hard to get anyone besides local kids to WA or SA. It's very hard to get anyone at all to a QLD team. GWS can draw players due to success and Sydney can sell success and lifestyle. Geelong and the successful/big Victorian clubs can draw players, but the smaller ones can't. Even with that in place Dangerfield probably only went to Geelong because it was home for him.

The Hawks are the best example of draft when you need to draft for 2008 and then trade with a mix of draft picks as well for 2013-2015. Had they tried to trade their way to success when Clarko joined in 2005 they would've ended going nowhere.

Hard to base one year (ie last year) as a big enough guide to emphasis your Bulldogs/Geelong point.

 

[Foxx]

I know we need a draft.

It is more the giddy, over-the-top gushing about no-names by commentators, like how every player has done this, and done that in junior footy, yet some end up doing nothing in AFL.

The draft is needed. The hype about it isn't.

media hype = advertising = money = healthy clubs = healthy game.

 

[La Dispute]

He was a free agent. Did you get excited when your club acquired Dale Thomas as a free agent.

No I didn't. What's your point?

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Why is it over-hyped? To keep AFL in the news. This time of year doesn't have a lot going for it, so the AFL has to milk as much out of trade week and the draft as possible. It keeps journos off the streets, so that can be a good thing.

 

[Andre the Giant]

I know we need a draft.

It is more the giddy, over-the-top gushing about no-names by commentators, like how every player has done this, and done that in junior footy, yet some end up doing nothing in AFL.

The draft is needed. The hype about it isn't.

It's not hype it's hope and it's how the 17 losing clubs deal with keeping their fans excited about the future.

It's the business of professional sport.

 

[Majunga]

Did you really get that excited when your club traded for Scott Selwood?

Scott Selwood is a missing piece of a puzzle!

Not the single missing piece to a premiership puzzle, rather one of those old puzzles you pick up from the O.P shop that has so many pieces missing
that you can really only make out some clouds, half of what appears to be a duck and a few headless joggers running around the lake.

I pretty much figure that Scott is a bonus on Joel's contract, you know? like ''help a brother out''.
Similar to Chris Judd's Visy job.

 

[BK Eaglesfan]

Agree that clubs over hype their outcomes on draft day and there's a lot of message board chat from people who in many cases have never even see these players play. But what is a club to do, are their selections and then publicly declare they're disappointed they missed player x?

I will say I think the draft is flawed as an equalisation measure. Only as good as recruitment people's educated guess on what sort of AFL footballers a 17 year old kid will make.

Case in point, and only one of several examples that could be used (some far more illustrative than this);

West Coast finished 1st in 2006, Essendon 15th with 14 less wins in the H&A season.

Essendon picked up Gumbleton, Jetta, Hislop, Davey, Houli & Reimers.

West Coast picked up Mitch Brown, Mackenzie, Houlihan, Schofield & Thomson.

Not the Eagles strongest ever draft but two key defenders who remain key players at the club to this day. Anyone want to argue these two draft outcomes helped Essendon get any closer and this in a draf where the Eagles were double digits further down the order in each round as well as Essendon having a priority pick.

 

[DangerIsLove]

Scott Selwood is a missing puzzle. Performed very well coming back from injury and will be used to shunt down big players. Let's face it Geelong was never gonna win the flag after finishing 10th the season before

 

[legendstatus]

I don't understand this thread?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kozi]

The flaming is strong in here.

And for good reason.

 

[TheSmokingGun]

OP probably hates the draft because he was smacked as a child. #nosmack

 

[2006_Eagles]

Pretty sure you need to make 3 live selections in addition to any rookie upgrades, happy to be proven wrong though if you can come up with an example of a team taking less than 3 selections and using upgrade(s) to get to 3.

I thought bottom line was that you need to remove 3 players from the main list. The rest is up to the team

 

[jakefooty23]

Is the op a Hawthorn Supporter in hiding? Enjoy 88 lol

 

[Furn2]

Every good player in the league outside a few zone/17 year old picks came from the national draft so I'm not sure how it can be overrated.

You have to remember, current lists are made up of players from 15 or more drafts so on average any one draft isn't going to produce a large percentage of the top players.

 

[TwentyNine]

Admits to having no knowledge of a subject in the first line of the post, and then pronounces the entire subject to be 'overrated'.

Nobody cares, OP.

 

[GTOA]

Scott Selwood is a missing puzzle. Performed very well coming back from injury and will be used to shunt down big players. Let's face it Geelong was never gonna win the flag after finishing 10th the season before

Except that we won the flag in 2007, after finishing 10th in 2006.

 

[GTOA]

Yes. And I am a better person for it!

 

[GTOA]

The irony of your post is that your club built years of success on very astute drafting from one of the better recruiters in the game in Wells.

More recently because of Scott's desperation you have probably messed up chasing quick success and bringing in a bunch of disloyal mercenaries. Aside from Danger these hacks will take you nowhere.

You should probably find a way to love the draft...it has served you well.

But my point is, that gagging for it because you have no. 1 pick, is ludicrous. Geelong rarely ever had a pick in the first round, and built their flags on players 30 and over in the draft from two drafts mainly (1999 and 2001). We built our team by having low picks, not having top picks that a lot of media and recruiters shoot their load over.

So, yes, it has served us well, because we have a good recruiter, not because of where we got our picks.

Zac Smith has been handy in the ruck, Henderson is a KPP and Touhy will provide something for us. They fill holes, which take time to fill if you draft kids and develop them.

 

[Sir Skid]

But my point is, that gagging for it because you have no. 1 pick, is ludicrous. Geelong rarely ever had a pick in the first round, and built their flags on players 30 and over in the draft from two drafts mainly (1999 and 2001). We built our team by having low picks, not having top picks that a lot of media and recruiters shoot their load over.

So, yes, it has served us well, because we have a good recruiter, not because of where we got our picks.

Zac Smith has been handy in the ruck, Henderson is a KPP and Touhy will provide something for us. They fill holes, which take time to fill if you draft kids and develop them.

Late picks yes but more to it in Cats case.
How many were FS who would have gone a lot higher otherwise?

 

[bergholt]

I thought bottom line was that you need to remove 3 players from the main list. The rest is up to the team

No, you have to take at least 2 national draft picks every year. 3 if you're not doing a rookie upgrade.

The problem with the OP's theory is that you have to have a minimum number of players on your senior list - 38 - so you need to get the average cost down low enough to keep those 38 under the salary cap. Roughly $300k per player is the average, but if you pay a couple big numbers then it drops steeply. Newly drafted players are great because they get paid scale ($100k ish) for the first couple of years. Pretty hard to find an experienced player who'll go on your list for that sum.

 

[cryptor]

I agree with the OP's sentiment regarding how overrated the draft and draft picks are in relation to established players. Most clubs seem to value draft picks based on their best case scenario, which is rarely the case even for early picks. Established players who aren't superstars are very underrated in the league. Often traded as the equivalent of steak knives in trades, yet history shows that to win a flag you need a good amount of these types on your list as you'll never have 22 superstars to pick for your team every week.

This isn't to say the draft isn't important though. Just needs better perspective.

 

[Furn2]

The player descriptions are always over the top, especially when they use comparisons to current or former players.

No matter how a kid is rated their playing style is always compared to a Hodge, Aker, Pavlich or Pendlebury or similar.

You never see player comparison: Tom Murphy or Brent Renouf.

I'll always remember Beau Dowler being described as a cross between Riewoldt and Pavlich by someone predraft.

 

[hawkermitch]

The player descriptions are always over the top, especially when they use comparisons to current or former players.

No matter how a kid is rated their playing style is always compared to a Hodge, Aker, Pavlich or Pendlebury or similar.

You never see player comparison: Tom Murphy or Brent Renouf.

I'll always remember Beau Dowler being described as a cross between Riewoldt and Pavlich by someone predraft.

Agree with the Dowler description, over the top. The Mitch Thorpe was similar.
Drafting is critical to get new players into the system.
Trades are useful to regenerate the playing list.
Letting Sammy go for pick 88 is a xxxxxxx.
Rather roll the dice with at least a pick before 25 so pick trades annoy me.

Not much AFL news during the off season so am happy to see what new faces will appear for all clubs.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Correct me if i am wrong but it seems like the OP's long winded opener is simply trying to say that Drafties are hyped up way to much before
actually achieving anything meaningful as an adult on the big stage?

Answer: Many aspects of Football are now over hyped and analysed to justify many many jobs that don't really need to exists, it's a business.

They are only hyped or over hyped on the trading and draft board. Thats because people on that board tend to watch junior football and usually have a clue what they are talking about.

If you're not interested or now knowledgable enough to worry about the draft and its buildup, then dont read!!!! Simples