Welcome Rookie Draft Pick #21 - Ben Crocker

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Are we going all out for the SANFL flag? ;) I would've preferred to pick Matthews to address speed but there's no point melting over a rookie selection.

We have one spot left we are likely earmarking for Mathews as an SPP selection
 
Nov 6, 2003
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Are we going all out for the SANFL flag? ;) I would've preferred to pick Matthews to address speed but there's no point melting over a rookie selection.
There's still the provision to do this ....the club obviously want to see a bigger proportion of the PS, B4 deciding
 

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Nov 6, 2003
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My Collingwood supporting dad hated Crocker when he was at the Pies. This could be very interesting.
Was hard with De Goey and Jamie Elliot playing Crocker's role .....can Crocker play more midfield and do a Paul Seedsman revival at the Crows
 
Nov 23, 2018
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Both Crocker and Keays were stuck behind some talented players at their respective clubs. Absolutely worth the risk as rookie picks to see if they thrive with more opportunity.
 
There's still the provision to do this ....the club obviously want to see a bigger proportion of the PS, B4 deciding

Also leaves us with the ability to cover for someone having a poor/disrupted pre-season (ie. Strachan could be struggling with fitness so we grab another ruck).
 
Tim Kelly was older when drafted than either or the two rookied today, 22 is not old

Tim Kelly had never been on an AFL list before drafting, these two have.

Using Tim Kelly as a "don't worry guys" example doesn't work.
 
Oct 14, 2005
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Think we should have delisted Wilson if we were planning on picking up multiple mature aged rookies.

We seem to have gone away from the strategy that got us Laird, Rutten, Henderson, Kelly, etc in recent times.
Rutten was taken in the 2001 draft, which along with 1999 was one of the two strongest drafts in history. It ran a lot deeper, with a lot of very high quality players. This draft seemed to peter out around pick #40, with everyone taken after that being speculative.

It's fair to say that Ogilvie just didn't rate any of the 18yo newbies who were still avaialable.
 
Oct 14, 2005
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In a rebuild, with clearly a low talent pool in the draft, we needed to trade up more aggressively when it became clear we were getting speculative so early.
Yeah... but you can't trade for picks in the rookie draft. We had 3 list vacancies and clearly didn't rate the 18yo talent left on the shelf, so we went with some recycled players.
 

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huludicidal

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Personally I’m a big fan of the rationale behind both of these rookie selections.

One of our absolute glaring list needs was a half forward flanker. We played Richard Douglas there for half a season for crying out loud. He wasn’t replacing an injured player either.

Both Keays and Crocker have scope to play there in Round 1 2020, and the main reason each were delisted by their respective clubs is that both Brisbane and Collingwood have an embarrassment of riches in these positions.

For me, our main list needs heading into this draft were:

Key position players at both ends (an ageing Talia plus trash in defense, an ageing Walker, Fogarty plus completely unproven commodities up forward)

Tall mids (none on list)

Half forward flankers who can actually hit the scoreboard (Lynch is a different type to most, and we’ve just had a complete dead zone on the other flank for a couple of years now)


We’ve ticked all the boxes in terms of list needs. Sure, the tall mids and HFF we took are highly speculative, but that’s generally what you get after pick 40 odd. Drafting a 19 year old Rory Sloane in the 40s after every club in the AFL passed on him as an 18 year old was highly speculative too.


Many will say we haven’t brought in enough raw speed with these picks. We actually addressed this need last year with our first 3 selections, plus Schoenberg, Worrell and O’Connor are all very nippy in their respective positions.

The only pick of these 7 that I have any issue with is Gollant, but let’s give him 2-3 years before we write him off.
 
Aug 7, 2015
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Think we should have delisted Wilson if we were planning on picking up multiple mature aged rookies.

We seem to have gone away from the strategy that got us Laird, Rutten, Henderson, Kelly, etc in recent times.
Maybe because we've had better draft picks to play with the last few seasons.

In the above players' draft years, we had picks:

Laird: 27, 41, 46, 64,
Rutten: 12, 44, 59
Henderson: 13, 29, 45, 61
Kelly: 14, 35, 43, 58
C.Cameron: 23, 46, 76

Compare to our recent drafts:

2019: 6, 24, 28, 42, 48
2018: 9, 16, 30, 64
2017: 12, 40 (+traded 2 r1 for Gibbs)
2016: 15, 44, 51, 62, 75
 
Jul 17, 2006
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Yeah... but you can't trade for picks in the rookie draft. We had 3 list vacancies and clearly didn't rate the 18yo talent left on the shelf, so we went with some recycled players.

I’m talking about the national draft.

Should’ve combined 37, 45 and a future swap (not involving 1st) for something around 28-30 to get Rivers or Rantall.

Could’ve then got OConnor at the end.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
May 10, 2009
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Tim Kelly had never been on an AFL list before drafting, these two have.

Using Tim Kelly as a "don't worry guys" example doesn't work.
It’s not to do with whether they have been on a list before, it’s to say that 22 isn’t old in footy terms and there’s plenty of development left.

Both were good U18 players as well, sometimes a 2nd chance is exactly what they need to kickstart their career again.
 

Houston

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Crocker and Keays fit into an age range we have a bit of a void in after Lever, Cameron, McGovern etc left.
 
May 24, 2006
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Tim Kelly had never been on an AFL list before drafting, these two have.

Using Tim Kelly as a "don't worry guys" example doesn't work.
And Keays was stuck behind Lyons... who we effectively got rid of.

I could stomach going with one of them but two take two minimal upside known entities is a waste IMO.
 

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