Which List has more upside?

[Agetigers]

Are you serious?

I would take:
Ryder
Hurley
Gumbleton
Pears
Hooker

Over:
Graham
Mcguane
Astbury
Reiwoldt
Griffithis

The Bombers have an unbelievable spine full of very talented young stars of the future. The Tigers have Riewoldt and a couple of no names who could be anything.

I would still take Ryder in a heart beat over him. Patty can play in any key position goal line to goal line.

Ryder>Graham

Reiwoldt>Gumby/Hurley

Youve got to be kidding me Reiwoldt Gun KPF> Ruck

 

[Spluff]

You'd hope we'd have more upside, we're last on the ladder.

 

[TigerTime88]

Are you serious?

I would take:
Ryder
Hurley
Gumbleton
Pears
Hooker

Over:
Graham
Mcguane
Astbury
Reiwoldt
Griffithis

The Bombers have an unbelievable spine full of very talented young stars of the future. The Tigers have Riewoldt and a couple of no names who could be anything.

Tiger’s fans please try to keep thing in perspective. For mine Reiwoldt being the only player of note I would still take Ryder in a heart beat over him. Patty can play in any key position goal line to goal line.

I think you are missing the point of this thread. It is speculative and says going forward not right now.

I would love to know what Cale Hooker (who I rate) does that McGuane and Moore do not.

I actually think Tayte Peares is so overrated it is a joke. Decent player but some people make him sound like a messiah who should have gone top 5 in his draft class.

It is not as hard as people think to pick up a good FB/CHB in the teens of 20's in the draft aka Harry Taylor.

I honestly think we are developing plenty of good options there and to be honest I think David Gourdis i the one that will come on. I hope Dimma plays him soon now he has been upgraded because he was really impressive in the NAB Cup and challenge games. He is quick, has a huge leap and has decent foot skills which I believe were a questionable. I see Gourdis and then McGuane/Post/Moore taking the big forwards for Richmond in 2-3 years. Not to mention Astbruy is showing alot back in defence for a kid who has played 10 games or so.

Ryder is a gun no denying that but Tyrone Vickery was a top 10 selection and is very athletic...needs more than 20 games under his belt before he is written off. At the 50 game mark I think we will be very happy with him as he is showing more improvement in the last few games. Angus Graham was BOG for us on Saturday night imo, completely surprised by his form as I really did not rate him at all.

Of the KPF we have the current leader of the Coleman in J Riewoldt and then developing young talls Griffiths and then the Astbury and Post who are swingmen. Not really concerned about our KPF at all to be honest.

Essendon KPF are also very good. Hurley is a talent. Gumbleton still has alot to prove but will be a good player even with a suspect kicking action.

I think our midfield will be well ahead of the Dons within 2 seasons, if not now.

Martin, Cotchin and Deledio are young stars and will only get better. Martin is his first year, Cotchin is still yet to do a full pre season similar to Gumbleton and Deledio is only going to get better with these guys around him.

I also think that Foley is probably the key to our midfield and a player a lot underrate because they forget how good he was. Just watch the VIC v All Stars game to see what he does when at his best. The guy has always played with a tag but is a gun imo and should now recieve limited attention due to Martin, Cotchin and Deledio.

Then we have support players of Edwards who is improving, Jackson who is just a work horse and Shane Tuck who is a clearance king with suspect kicking skills similar to Jobe Watson. Not to mention Hardwick indicated we would be going for an outside mid with our first pick in this draft, probably pick 4.

The Dons on the other hand have Jobe who is a very good player, Winderlech who seems to be coming good but is a step down, Melksham who seems very classy, Stanton who is a good accumulator and Prismall. I think that is a half decent core but lacks the class and x factor we have. They can certainly add to this but will not have access to the same low picks as us going forward.

Small forward stocks are pretty even:

Tigs - Nason, Nahas, Taylor, Roberts (potentially), Morton (very good player imo shattered Hardwick is teaching him lessons in the 2's). Troy Taylor also seems pretty talented.

Dons - Zaharakis (rate him highly), Davey (similar to Nahas lacks polish), Jetta

Probably missing a few things from the Dons line up but I think we are probably closer to them than a lot think and with our access to young picks plus improvement available in our young list I like our upside more.

I think Dons are heavily reliant on Fletcher defensively and also for rebounding from defense. Someone suggested Dempsey would become the third tall giving the chop out, but that will go no where near equally Fletcher. He is Essendons best player and will leave a gaping hole in there side in 2-3 years when he finally gives it away.

 

[Carlton_Blues]

Fremantle

yeah nah... wrong thead dude

 

[bombermick]

Richmond need another tall forward to come on. They won't have any sustained success if Riewoldt is the target of almost every forward thrust. Griffiths is a talent, but hard to know whether he'll develop into a good player. Essendon need to be able to replace the likes of Welsh with serious A-grade midfield talent. The Don's A grade talent (apart from Ryder, Hurley and Watson) looks thin but there is good depth. One or two gun mids away from becoming a top four side.

 

[The Donners]

Richmond are unknown and they're playing with nothing to lose but they're shaky up forward and in defense. They have too many weak areas on the ground. It's fair to say Essendon's only major weakness is the midfield. We're hoping one of Myers, Melksham, Colyer or Zaharakis steps up to Watson's level and we'd also be hoping to secure someone like Dangerfield.

That would be all Essendon require to challenge in 2012.

 

[tigerT]

Essendon's KPP stocks are lightyears ahead of Richmonds.

Ryder and Hurley are absolute A grade KPP prospects.

Pears, Hooker and Gumbleton will all be good players, those 3 alone are probably better prospects than anyone on Richmonds list bar Riewoldt.


Deledio, Cotchin and Martin are obviously A grade midfield talents.

Melkshem is a step below this, however, Watson is 25 years old, and is probably the best extractor in the league. Prismall will be an excellent 3rd or 4th midfielder down the track.

It's easier for Essendon to draft in 2 low midfielders than it is for Richmond to build a backline and a few more quality forwards.

You won't come close to raping or pillaging Essendon's midfield if they got in another quality extractor with Watson, the roles would be reversed.

You can't just pin your hopes on Ben Griffiths.

agree with this post, for mine McGuane and thursfield are rubbish, had their chances to go on with it but they are no better (prob worse) than they were 2 years ago when they were 21-22 and looking to take the nxt step, Moore is pretty good. Post will be ok down the track, Astbury is a footballer and have no doubts he will make it, Griffiths has the tools but way too early to make a call, looks extememly raw as he hasnt played much footy the past few years. Our KPP stocks are very very raw, most are still at the stage where the could go either way. Dons are set with their KPP's

 

[tigerT]

Dont forget Post and Gourdis, it is silly how people think we dont have any decent KPP.

Gourdis hasnt played a game and Post is very much in development with no guarantee he'll be a quality player. Astbury(although will be good) and Griff are first year players and sad thing is they all weigh more than McGuane and Thusfield supposedly our gun KPP's. Will u blokes settle down and stop calling each of our players guns or good players even when they havent played a game

 

[Bazzar]

Richmond are unknown and they're playing with nothing to lose but they're shaky up forward and in defense.

Shaky up forward, apart from having the leader in the Colman medal, so far in the last 4 weeks we have also outscored all our opposition by 61 points from stoppages, ranked second in the league.

Shaky in defense? In the same period our defence has rapidly improved as shown below
Stat (ave. per game) R 1-9 - R 10-13
Points against 120 (16th) - 72.5 (3rd)
Inside 50s conceded 55.2 (15th) - 49.8 (9th)
Opposition goal once inside 50(%) 31.6 (16th) - 20.1 (1st)

Thats a massive improve.

Both ends of the ground are starting to click to the new game plan/team rules and are rapidly improving, and the midfield is going from strength to strength. We are averaging 11.8 more clearances than our opposition per game- ranked No.1 in the comp (for the last 4 weeks) We also have three of the top eight clearance players in the competition during that time in Tuck No1, Martin No2 and Cotch 8th.