What we really want in the draft

[Wonderdog]

The formula for success in todays footy seems to be:

1 ruckman
3 tall forwardss
2 small forwards
3 tall backs
2 smallbacks
3 utilities
8 midfielders.


Lets look proven players in the Roos.

Ruckmen 3 Porter Burton Petrie
tall forwards 2 Carey Sav
small forwards 1 Pickett (Winnie as well if fit)
tall backs 1.5 (McCartney, Archer (not really tall)
small backs 2 Blakey King
midfielders 4 grant, Haervey, Simmo & Stevo (when fit)
utilities Colbert

Unproven players

Ruckmen Nil
tall forwards Lange
small forwards Jones, D. Motlop, Harding
tall backs Watt, Bourke
small backs Makepeace, Teague
midfielders Smith, Harris, Rawlings, Clatyton, Cochrane, Sinclair, McLaren
utilities S. Motlop, Pratt

Therefore in the draft we must look for talls, both backs and forwards, with either pick 7 or 14.

I reckon we'll look at an establsihed small forward with our pick 30: Houlihan, Lord, Ahmat, Backwell or Moorcroft to cover for Winnie's injury and to free up Junior and Corey for an on ball role.

Comments pleae, By the way this is my virgin post.

Wonderdog

 

[choppy]

Not a bad summation. IMO with pick 7 you get the best available, irrespective of wehther they are tall, fat, slow or useless, the best.

The same for pick 14 although based on your good summation if it was a tossup b/w a tall and a midfielder you would go for the tall. Pick 30 you would go for a tall defnder along with the next pick.

Leave the picks on 'tried' players until the last pick.

You are however right on getting a tall backman.


By the way welcome aboard. Don't annoy Darkrider because he is a grumpy old bar stood but not as bad as a person called CIK who used to post awhile back.

 

[King Corey]

You've summed it up pretty well Wonderdog.

Key position talls are definitely a priority as we have almost none coming through among the 18-22 year old lot - we traded them all!!

If there is a 'quality' reject available (eg Houlihan, Moorcroft) then we probably will go back to back (2000-2001) recycles with pick 30. If it's the second tier of rejects, then I'd imagine we'll sit until 55 or 62 and take the punt then.

 

[Groucho]

Good first post Wonderdog. Never forget my first post. I mumbled so much nobody could understand what I said! Write clearer !came the call and then it all fell into pl#&^K.
I tend to agree with you about the types of players we should take in the draft. I liked hilly's picks in the phantom draft and it'll be very tempting to take an "excitement machine" like Xavier Clarke or Richard Cole,but you build your team around talls and if Barry Brooks and/or David Hale are available at #7 or 14 I think I'd go for 'em. Harris,Smith and Junior were all early selections last year and are onball types so I'd prefer to wait another year to see how they go before selecting another bunch of 18 year old onballers. It's just that this draft is perceived to be strong on smalls and light on talls so,if you follow the accepted rule,of taking the next best player then Clarke,Cole or Bartel would be the ones you take first up. Having said that let me say this,if we could be guaranteed hilly's selections of Dicketts and Parker then I wouldn't mind passing on Brooks and Hale as I think the former two are real key position talents.

 

[Motlops]

I can't see why Petrie is a prooven ruckman but players like Makepeace, Lange and Teague aren't??

 

[BW]

Originally posted by Motlops
I can't see why Petrie is a prooven ruckman but players like Makepeace, Lange and Teague aren't??

Couldnt agree more. And u could also add Clayton and Cochrane to that list. They are proven......duds.

 

[Passmore]

We desperately need some young, talented talls.Personally I would ignore the kids who play soley as defenders in the u18's until late in the draft.From looking at previous drafts and u18 comps all the really talented tall kids play in the ruck or up forward.These kids can be turned into key defenders.I had a look at last years lists and a lot of good key defenders played junior footy as forwards or followers.Hay, Leppitsch, Fletcher, Martyn, McCartney,Silvagni, Beaumont, Nicholson (ok he's ordinary I know), Rawlings, B Holland, McIntosh, Jakovich, B Graham, Hunter.

From what I've read and heard I would take Brookes at 7 if still available.There are so many talented running players we could probably take a real good one at 14.If he's gone I would probably look to a Clarke or Cole and take the best available tall at 14 or 30.
Tough job.Good luck Neville Stibbard.I'm getting confused just thinking about it.He's actually got to put his nuts on the line, then face D Pagan if they don't come up.

 

[speedy]

You have to pick the best available player regardless of type. Considering the strength of midfielders in this years draft, the roos would be nuts to pick up a tall with their first pick.

My crystal ball says -

07. Richard Cole
14. Tom Davidson / Ashley Hanson
30. David Rodan

The rest is a lottery.

 

[Byron'sShoulder]

you think rodan will still be there at #30?

 

[Darky]

A simplistic view on my part - draft for what you are likely to need in three to four years time.

In our case, the main change at that time will be the likely retirement of The Wayne.

Draft a tall forward if available.... if possible draft two.

 

[Wonderdog]

Point taken Motlops and Blueworms. Drew Petrie should be on the unproven list.

I agree with Darky. We must recruit now for 3 years time and the loss of Duck. We haven't done this with Micky which is why, when fit he is still or best full back.

We must recruit tall forwards because of our "bomb it" game plan and the fact that we gave away 1 proven tall forward (Corey) and one unproven one (Smith). Neither replacement Porter or Bourke can play forward. If Bourke and Porter come off this year I suspect Colby and Arch will play forward a lot more.

Wonderdog

 

[speedy]

Originally posted by Byron'sShoulder
you think rodan will still be there at #30?

His height will be a turn off for most clubs, but the roos have a history of picking small midfielders.

He will go round 2 or 3 so I think he is a chance at pick 30.

 

[Groucho]

Rodan's height may be a problem but I think all recruiting officers realise that this kid is a rare genius and he'll go top 20 for sure. It's a funny thing,if he was about 180cm he'd be the shortest price #1 in draft history. We should very seriously consider him at #14 if still available.

 

[Darky]

Rodan's worry is height? I haven't seen him, but either he can play or he can't!

B.Harvey (Whitten medal, goal per game rover), Bell (2 x club B&F), Liberatore (Brownlow), Moorcroft (Morrish Medal), John Platten (Brownlow, Magarey too?) have all succeeded as footballers despite being shortarses.

Either they can play or they can't, and the wraps on this bloke say he can play. If he can play, and his disposal and footy smarts are good, pick him.

We need that type more than we need six footers that turn it over.

 

[McCartney5]

Couldn't agree with you anymore Darky. It is time we really started to look at forwards. Last year we went for midfielders and hopefully (fingers crossed) Smith and Harris will deliver the goods in years to come. Along with that Grant, Harvey and Simpson are still playing great footy and won't retire a long time to come.

Our problem in the ruck is now solved I believe. We have an old experianced bloke (Spider) A middle aged guy with experiance who has shown he can play (Porter) and a kid who looks to have the goods (Petrie)

We are then left with our backline which may become a huge problem, even more so than our forward line in coming years. We have McCartney, Archer, Martyn and Blakey down there. In two or three years McCartney will be the only one left of these 4. We must draft now for there and the same thing goes with our forward line. Jones looks to be a ok and Sav might stick around for a couple more after the Duck.

The process must start now or we will be in deep deep **** in a couple of years

 

[roowatch]

The call on not recruiting tall defenders is a little harsh. I think there was a genuine belief that in Shannon Watt the Club had done well. Has yet to materialise.
With all MM's problems over last couple of years, they had Hilton on the rookie list. You could argue that he wasn't given a chance, but maybe the coaching panel just determined he wasn't good enough.
Other than that ..a little bit skinny.
I would imagine that Colbert might have to play more permanently as a tall defender next season. I also remember Petrie doing well in short bursts at CHB a couple of times last season. However, it is definitely an area that needs to be improved, and there is nothing availble to fit the bill from the delisted players. So youth it will have to be.


The other major concern is the continued inability to sign S.Motlop.
I am not a big fan of SM, but I am a HUGE rap for D.Motlop, and it would be disastrous to see him follow his brother home in a year or two.

BTW, Dylan Smith showed some encouraging signs early last season, but I am surprised with the conviction that posters have in his ability to be a gun this year. I do hope you are right, but I fear we ned to wait a lot longer to see the improvement.

 

[BW]

I think we should take a risk and go with Rodan with pick 7. I like the idea of going with Brookes or Hale with the next.
My predictions:

#7: David Rodan
#14: David Hale
#30: Aaron Rogers

 

[Groucho]

Neither Brooks nor Hale will last till #14 so a decision will need to be made at #7. Rodan will probably still be there at #14 though. After his performance at the draft camp he's gone from only a possibility of being drafted to a certain top 30 or maybe even 20.

 

[speedy]

Originally posted by Groucho
Neither Brooks nor Hale will last till #14 so a decision will need to be made at #7. Rodan will probably still be there at #14 though. After his performance at the draft camp he's gone from only a possibility of being drafted to a certain top 30 or maybe even 20.

At 198/200 cm tall Brooks and Hale are too tall, and most likely will end up as ruckman or being very limited in the positions they can play.

Why would we pick another ruckman when we have Porter, Burton, Petrie?

 

[Passmore]

If some of these talls are as highly skilled as we've been led to believe, there is no reason why thet can't be developed into key defenders.Hawthorn and Essendon have turned junior ruckmen into probably the best to full backs in the league.There is no reason why we can't.

 

[great]

Pretty much agree with McCartney 5 ..

Bolstering the Backline a priority.

The midfield / ruck division looks Ok for now.

A bit more tinkering with the forward line required for all reasons previously mentioned.

Will Teague be a regular back man this year?
I have not seen him play too many games other than the Croweater / VFL game at Adelaide Oval , a couple of games on TV (looked to lack pace at times). But seems to be a goer all the same.

 

[True_Roo]

I think we need to look at finding key position players.
I know that our midfield lacks depth, but our "proven" key position players are aging... fast.
We need to recruit some players who will be able to fit into the key positions in a few years when Carey, Sav & Micky have gone (McCartney is also getting on a bit). I just cannot see who we have to promote into these positions. Watt is unproven, Hilton is gone so who else is there ?

We already have some young midfielders who could make the grade (Harris, Smith, D Motlop, Rawlings) so hopefully our midfield will improve over the next few years.

 

[speedy]

Originally posted by Passmore
If some of these talls are as highly skilled as we've been led to believe, there is no reason why thet can't be developed into key defenders.Hawthorn and Essendon have turned junior ruckmen into probably the best to full backs in the league.There is no reason why we can't.

Yeah, 200cm fullbacks are real common.

 

[Aussie_Roo]

How many times do you hear throughout the year 'the game will be won in the midfield'? As this year's draft appears to be heavily stocked with top class mid-fielders, I reckon we ought to go for the best available 2 with our first round draft picks.

 

[choppy]

Originally posted by Aussie_Roo
How many times do you hear throughout the year 'the game will be won in the midfield'? As this year's draft appears to be heavily stocked with top class mid-fielders, I reckon we ought to go for the best available 2 with our first round draft picks.

Pick 7, best player available, irrespective of what position