Autopsy The theme is:

[Mr Peabody]

The official line on the theme is....

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-11-27/dockers-go-for-midfield-depth-ahead-of-big-men

 

[Grape Bear]

Let me do this again.

 

[Nickos66]

The official line on the theme is....

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-11-27/dockers-go-for-midfield-depth-ahead-of-big-men

Heh..

General manager of player management Brad Lloyd said Weller had been ranked ahead of the talls at that stage of the draft and the decision was made to not only pick the best player but to focus heavily on midfielders.

"We actually drafted really heavily with talls over the last couple of years – Michael Apeness last year, Alex Pearce, Matt Tabener, Tanner Smith, Jack Hannath," Lloyd told AFL.com.au.

"So there's been a lot of talls we've added so we've gone out of our way there.

"We thought this year there was going to be a couple of really good quality midfielders around our first pick and we just thought it was time to top our midfield up.

 

[jedi mind tricks]

How did you infer that?

Just a wild guess. I'm not opposed to picking up a kpp with first pick. In fact I was hoping for Lever. He or Durdin may end up really good players.

Lever has already had a knee recon and I'm only going on highlights but Durdin doesn't have great disposal. He never settled into a position be it forward, back or ruck.

Who knows what might happen but Weller could be one of the best mids this draft and he will need to be for him it to be worth it for Freo.

 

[beetz]

Ok so I have settled down and recollected my thoughts after some thorough research about our picks and who they are, why we picked the and how they fit into the Freo squad. Lloyds approach was best available and is probably the smartest way to go about it instead of reaching. Coaching staff are obviously backing in our current young bigs of Clarke, Apeness, Tabs, Hannath, Pearce etc. and adding to the already elite midfield that surrounds them with even more potentially quality role players. Bigs are no good if they don't have mids feeding them, doesn't matter who you are.

Anyway, I'm confident Weller will be playing round 1 and Blakely is going to develop into a Fyfe-like clearance machine.

 

[Bucking Bronco]

I think the theme is that our recruiters are a bunch of incompetents.

Blakely - I'm happy with as I think he's going to be a really good 12 year player for the club and was excellent value at pick 34; but picking Weller over Lever and Goddard is just ludicrous. Don't get me wrong, I think Weller could be a great player for the club but we have an urgent need for KPP's, more accurately: key defenders.

With next years draft reportedly being thin on KPP's I just cannot see how we are ever going to address our deficiencies in that area. As we have found out, no interstate player is prepared to relocate to Perth and run the gauntlet of traveling interstate every second week, so we are forced to "develop our own", but when the hell are we ever going to go about doing that?

General manager of player management Brad Lloyd said Weller had been ranked ahead of the talls at that stage of the draft and the decision was made to not only pick the best player but to focus heavily on midfielders.

"We actually drafted really heavily with talls over the last couple of years – Michael Apeness last year, Alex Pearce, Matt Tabener, Tanner Smith, Jack Hannath," Lloyd told AFL.com.au.

These quotes are just absolute madness as well. Smith is delisted and is no guarantee to even still be on our list heading into next year if another club swoops in and rookies him before us - stranger things have happened. And, counting Hannath as a prospect to hang your hat on is just ludicrous, the guy is an absolute plodder who has no hope of ever making it as a key forward; his only chance is as a ruckman, and we already have that base covered.

It just seems diabolical at this early stage to not even draft a KPP with our 1st, 3rd or 4th pick.

 

[beetz]

Elite mids make average forwards look good I.e Adam Hunter, Ashley Hansen, Quentin Lynch.

 

[Dockernut]

Just got home for the best part of my draft day; watching videos, reading meltdowns, enjoying write ups on the new cattle. Very pleased with all of our picks to be honest. Looking at it objectively, yes our list could do with more tall defenders/fwds, but picking a skinny 18 year old tall to develop behind those other young defenders/fwds already on our list won't make us any more of a threat next year. There's plenty of decent talls left on the board, so if we're true to our previous list model approach, we'll use the Rookie Draft to look at developing talls and the PSD to get some decent "plug and play" talent. Genuinely excited about all our picks today.

 

[Patty_Moz]

These quotes are just absolute madness as well. Smith is delisted and is no guarantee to even still be on our list heading into next year if another club swoops in and rookies him before us - stranger things have happened. And, counting Hannath as a prospect to hang your hat on is just ludicrous, the guy is an absolute plodder who has no hope of ever making it as a key forward; his only chance is as a ruckman, and we already have that base covered.

It just seems diabolical at this early stage to not even draft a KPP with our 1st, 3rd or 4th pick.

Couldn't agree more- I don't rate Hannath at all and the fact they dumped Smith shows they don't have much faith in him making it.

Elite mids make average forwards look good I.e Adam Hunter, Ashley Hansen, Quentin Lynch.

Good point but the scary thing is those player you mentioned showed a lot more at afl level than any of the young KPP's we have. And really don't think we have a midfield as good as Judd, Cousins, Kerr in their prime.

Oh well overall I'm happy to have the new guys onboard and really happy with Weller and Blakely time will tell I suppose.

 

[jedi mind tricks]

Hannath is a plodder and Tanner is injury prone. Freo could have one or two mids in the next year or two request a trade if they don't get enough game time.

 

[Mr Fonebone]

Who are the talls left? Of the top of my head: Cripps, Keitel, Watchman, Hartley, Hammelman, Leorsch. A few more.

Maybe there is a hidden diamond there?

 

[freoextra]

Don't worry, our Irish lad is obviously a ready made key position player who runs like the wind!

I am relaxed about this draft and very happy to have real midfield depth.

 

[Righteo]

Couldn't agree more- I don't rate Hannath at all and the fact they dumped Smith shows they don't have much faith in him making it.



Good point but the scary thing is those player you mentioned showed a lot more at afl level than any of the young KPP's we have. And really don't think we have a midfield as good as Judd, Cousins, Kerr in their prime.

Oh well overall I'm happy to have the new guys onboard and really happy with Weller and Blakely time will tell I suppose.

Sweet jesus, Taberner has been on our list two seasons, Apeness one and you're already saying they can't get to Ashley freakin Hansen level? There's negativity and pessimism and then there's whatever the hell that opinion is.

Apeness is the one KPP we've selected in the first round in donkeys, considering "best available" has been our MO for such a long time maybe the coaches reckon he can play a bit? Does nobody else think it strange that he's the only one to have bucked the trend? As for Taberner, he's already demonstrated in a handful of games that he'll be a competent AFL player so that's even more baffling.

 

[blue shark]

I think the theme is that our recruiters are a bunch of incompetents.

Blakely - I'm happy with as I think he's going to be a really good 12 year player for the club and was excellent value at pick 34; but picking Weller over Lever and Goddard is just ludicrous. Don't get me wrong, I think Weller could be a great player for the club but we have an urgent need for KPP's, more accurately key defenders.

With next years draft reportedly being extremely thin on KPP's I just cannot see how we are ever going to address our deficiencies in that area. As we have found out, no interstate player is prepared to relocate to Perth and run the gauntlet of traveling interstate every second week, so we are forced to "develop our own", but when the hell are we ever going to go about doing that?





These quotes are just absolute madness as well. Smith is delisted and is no guarantee to even still be on our list heading into next year if another club swoops in and rookies him before us - stranger things have happened. And, counting Hannath as a prospect to hang your hat on is just ludicrous, the guy is an absolute plodder who has no hope of ever making it as a key forward; his only chance is as a ruckman, and we already have that base covered.

It just seems diabolical at this early stage to not even draft a KPP with our 1st, 3rd or 4th pick.

I understand your concern, but we also need to address Crowley, Mundy, Pearce and how much longer they have in the midfield.
Have to improve our midfield speed, class, Simpson and Sylvia should of helped, others are just good foot soldiers. All of the draftees
are dangerous by foot, speedy, and seem to be more than one trick ponies.
I would wait till after the rookie draft to pass judgment, we have had great success with mature age, and finding diamonds in the rough
types.

 

[DOCKERZ]

Wonder if a mid like de Boer would be feeling nervous after our midfield packed draft..
Could we look at delisting someone like him to bring in a Mitch Brown as a delisted free agent, avoiding running the rookie list gauntlet?

 

[Latro]

Wonder if a mid like de Boer would be feeling nervous after our draft..
Could we be look at delisting someone like him to bring in a Mitch Brown as a delisted free agent, avoiding running the rookie list gauntlet?

De Boer just got a new contract.

 

[DOCKERZ]

De Boer just got a new contract.

Yeah. 1 year..

 

[Latro]

Yeah. 1 year..

So how are they going to delist him?

 

[DOCKERZ]

So how are they going to delist him?

I'd imagine the same way they delisted an under contract Tanner Smith.

 

[theGav56]

A future best 22 which does not have de Boer, Suban or Crowley in it is going to be a much better best 22 than what we currently have. We lack a bit of class and speed, and have too many players who are defensively capable, but lack hurt factor going the other way.

 

[Swan Districts Kid]

Every year I vomit in my mouth a bit when we pass over promising KPs in the draft. I have previously posted comments in past drafts expressing disappointment but I have learned to take it in my stride.

I'm disappointed we didn't grab a CHB when all 3 of the highly touted trio were available. But this is more than offset against the quality of our 1st two impressive mids in Blakey and Weller. Very very promising looking players.

I maybe would have liked us to have grabbed a consolation kp with our 3rd or 4th rounder, but then again, most of the quality KPs were gone by then & the ones that were still available will be there next week (hope we grab one of Tyler Keitel or Keenan Ramsey in the rookie draft).

Gee it is going to be competitive for spots in the guts next season - will wring out the very best of some of our players.

 

[Fred Ziffel]

Every year I vomit in my mouth a bit when we pass over promising KPs in the draft. I have previously posted comments in past drafts expressing disappointment but I have learned to take it in my stride.

I'm disappointed we didn't grab a CHB when all 3 of the highly touted trio were available. But this is more than offset against the quality of our 1st two impressive mids in Blakey and Weller. Very very promising looking players.

I maybe would have liked us to have grabbed a consolation kp with our 3rd or 4th rounder, but then again, most of the quality KPs were gone by then & the ones that were still available will be there next week (hope we grab one of Tyler Keitel or Keenan Ramsey in the rookie draft).

Gee it is going to be competitive for spots in the guts next season - will wring out the very best of some of our players.

Our pre-season should take on an entirely different look too.

 

[Bad Brain]

I had a chuckle when we grabbed Weller when 3 tall defenders were available. I think we've been hurt by poor professionalism which has resulted in us grabbing some of the best preparers in the game. Weller had the lowest skin folds of any player and is super professional, Blakeley comes from an elite football background and is also someone who leaves no stone unturned.

I think it was a clear shift in focus.

From what I've read, Lever trumps all comers for professionalism. Not as quick as Weller though...

 

[Righteo]

A future best 22 which does not have de Boer, Suban or Crowley in it is going to be a much better best 22 than what we currently have. We lack a bit of class and speed, and have too many players who are defensively capable, but lack hurt factor going the other way.

Tend to agree, cobbling a quick top 10 of mids/potential future mids under 25yo in no order-
Fyfe
Morabito
Hill
Neale
Crozier
Sutcliffe
Sheridan
Weller
Blakely
Ballard/Grey/MDB/Suban

to me and my biased delusions suggests we should have a reasonable enough range of varying types to compete with GWS/GC/Port/Syd etc on an even ledger. You could pick a nicely balanced midfield or two from that lot.

 

[Fred Ziffel]

Tend to agree, cobbling a quick top 10 of mids/potential future mids under 25yo in no order-
Fyfe
Morabito
Hill
Neale
Crozier
Sutcliffe
Sheridan
Weller
Blakely
Ballard/Grey/MDB/Suban

to me and my biased delusions suggests we should have a reasonable enough range of varying types to compete with GWS/GC/Port/Syd etc on an even ledger. You could pick a nicely balanced midfield or two from that lot.

Poor bloody MickyB and Dave Mundy, hey. The new boys will need to be damn good to push those two oldies out.