Worst ever no. 1 draft pick??

[The 747]

Objectively Tom Boyd, followed by Cam Rayner. Always get a good laugh when a nuffie says Tom Boyds draft position was justified because of the GF. He was in the same category as Cain Ackland

Do you know what the word 'objectively' means? By which objective measure are those two the worst?

 

[Wilksyy]

I remember Christian Petracca was heavily touted as the #1 pick that year, and was clearly the best performed player of his age group. St Kilda settling on McCartin as their #1 pick came as a shock.

What an absolute disaster. Just disgustingly bad recruiting.

I don’t think Richo was even bullish on McCartin, he let the list management make the final decision. At least he told them to go after Membrey which turned out to be a great get.

 

[Saint12]

Couldn't believe the first reply wasn't McCartin....looked a bit closer and realises thread was started 15 years ago

 

[Shadow89]

McCartin with a bullet. No-one else even comes close.

 

[nineteen eighty]

McCartin with a bullet. No-one else even comes close.

Richard Lounder...no ifs, buts, maybes!!!

You blokes are too young to be able to really understand how clear Lounder is in the #1 spot.

I am fair minded as Tiger supporters come. This #1 spot is ours though!!!

 

[VernonSpots]

Great looking at posts from yester-year. Hodge probably the best #1 pick ever by now.

 

[Back Pocket Rocket]

Loose men in defense usually rake up the possessions...
The thing that Goddard has going for him is raw ability and potential, I know it gets thrown around allot but players like Judd, Pavlich etc the best in the competition physicalyl have abilities normal players dont have.
Goddard has these...Hodge does not..
First pick is always a punt, but give me the raw ability any day over the consistent performer.

My favourite. Hodge was a pleb

 

[ashep]

Just you guys wait until we pick up Paddy in the mid season draft and he goes onto anchor our forward line for the next 5 years after Buddy calls it quits.

just you wait.

 

[FrustratedTiger]

Anthony Banik wasn't that bad

He wasn't that bloody good

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Can Carlton aggregate theirs together? They've had heaps !!

 

[Scotland]

My favourite. Hodge was a pleb

The same poster started a thread at the time saying our recruiters made a mistake picking Chris Judd.

 

[dean33]

Hardly, we got a near 300 game player out of that pick.

Captain the day 9th placed Carlton turfed Richmond out of the finals.

Glad you have been able to get some mileage out of that elimination final win 8 years ago, your last win against the tigers while the tigers have gone on to win 3 premierships and favourites to win their 4th. Go blues.

 

[Bostonian]

Glad you have been able to get some mileage out of that elimination final win 8 years ago, your last win against the tigers while the tigers have gone on to win 3 premierships and favourites to win their 4th. Go blues.

I've seen 5 flag wins, that still puts me in front of you. Go tiges.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

McCartin. Not only because of his career but Petracca was just such a gimme.

Watts is up there too, most of these guys have injuries to blame as to why we never saw the finished product. Watts had the chance and was just so underwhelming.

 

[Brunswick Trap King]

Glad you have been able to get some mileage out of that elimination final win 8 years ago, your last win against the tigers while the tigers have gone on to win 3 premierships and favourites to win their 4th. Go blues.

Imagine living for the results of an elimination final nearly a decade ago. Tragic.

 

[The 747]

Richard Lounder...no ifs, buts, maybes!!!

You blokes are too young to be able to really understand how clear Lounder is in the #1 spot.

I am fair minded as Tiger supporters come. This #1 spot is ours though!!!

We drafted Stephen Hooper at #1 in 1990, he played 21 games. Was Lounder worse?

 

[Monkey King]

Funny that 16 years later this post is still just as relevant.

Funnier that the player Carlton picked that year is still playing 16 years later and yet some numpty tries to claim this post as relevant.

 

[PT Bar None]

Pulled together a summary to aid comparisons...

I always felt that the Riewoldt/Koschitzke combo in 2000 was the genesis of the "rebuild your team through the draft" movement. The point in which execution of these picks became one of the top few things in the game, in terms of team off-field importance. So I was going to start the summary there. But if 2000 is the genesis, then there would've been a bit of a build up, so **** it, let's start at 1995 for shits and grins.

Obvs player rating is subjective & my bias.

Pick 1's

Year	Player	Games	LB Rating	Accolades	Status
1995	Clive Waterhouse	106	OK Player		Retired
1996	Michael Gardiner	181	Good Player	1xAA	Retired
1997	Travis Johnstone	209	Good Player		Retired
1998	Des Headland	166	OK Player		Retired
1999	Josh Fraser	218	Good Player		Retired
2000	Nick Riewoldt	336	Great Player	5xAA, 1xMVP, Skipper	Retired
2001	Luke Hodge	346	Great Player	3xAA, 2xNSM, Skipper	Retired
2002	Brendon Goddard	334	Good Player	2xAA, Skipper*	Retired
2003	Adam Cooney	250	Good Player	1xAA, 1xBM	Retired
2004	Brett Deledio	275	Good Player	2xAA	Retired
2005	Marc Murphy	290*	Good Player	1xAA, Skipper	Playing
2006	Bryce Gibbs	268	Good Player		Retired
2007	Matthew Kreuzer	189	OK Player		Retired
2008	Jack Watts	174	OK Player		Retired
2009	Tom Scully	187	OK Player		Retired
2010	David Swallow	159*	OK Player	Skipper	Playing
2011	Jonathon Patton	95	Meh Player		Retired
2012	Lachie Whitfield	150*	Good Player &	1xAA	Playing
2013	Tom Boyd	61	OK Player		Retired
2014	Paddy McCartin	35	Meh Player		Retired
2015	Jacob Weitering	98*	OK Player &		Playing
2016	Andrew McGrath	83*	Good Player &		Playing
2017	Cameron Rayner	63*	OK Player &		Playing
2018	Sam Welsh	44*	Good Player &		Playing
2019	Matt Rowell	6*	Good Player &		Playing
2020	Jamarra Ugle-Hagan	0*	? &		Playing

So quickly scanning that and we have a bit of a cohort to consider for the OP title.

Cohort for me is Patton, McCartin with Boyd as an interesting one. I don't think it's relevant to include players with upward potential, so dismissing all of those. Some may go up a level, some may not (due to injury, application or skill ceiling). But today we don't know.

The issue with Boyd is he was still developing, played so few games and early retirement was not due to physical injury. But he played one great game. And it was a very important game to be great in. So that elevates him slightly for me. Had he played on, I would've expected him to get to at least Kreuzer levels. But he didn't, so isn't. However I think that is still enough to have Patton and McCartin covered (Did either of these play a more anonymous "great" game?). Definitely not the sort of numbers you're after for a #1 pick, but IMHO definitely not "worst ever #1 pick" either.

So Patton or McCartin

Patton had injury and off field issues
McCartin had injury and medical issues.

With better telephone etiquette, Patton may have been able to carve out a Watts level career - ie a long time based upon potential without ever really delivering consistently? Maybe. Or maybe injury will have finished him sooner rather than later anyway. Who knows.

However, his mediocre (by #1 pick standards) career nearly tripled McCartin's in terms of games played, and McCartin always looked to have a lower potential ceiling (IMHO) compared to Boyd and Patton.

So he's my pick. Sorry Paddy and Saints recruiters.

 

[fnerd]

Yerp definitely mccartin- don’t care about concussion issues he was a spud before them without showing anything remotely worthy of a number 1 pick

Add the fact they picked billing’s over bont in 2013 super draft , it’s not hard to see why Saints side of today is just meh

 

[Former Decathlete]

McCartin was a very strange pick. Only played a handful of games in his draft year.

Not tall enough for KPF and no real outstanding athletic attributes. Not to mention his diabetes.

The narrative is the Saints responded to the Boyd contract and shat themselves. Obvioulsy I dont know if that was true but it seems a feasible explanation.

 

[Andy_Mac]

It was certainly at a time when young KPF were all the rage, but Petracca was always the obvious choice.

Like overs have said, Paddy just never looked like he had any elite attributes.

 

[Scotland]

McCartin was a very strange pick. Only played a handful of games in his draft year.

Not tall enough for KPF and no real outstanding athletic attributes. Not to mention his diabetes.

The narrative is the Saints responded to the Boyd contract and shat themselves. Obvioulsy I dont know if that was true but it seems a feasible explanation.

194 & 100, KP size. Bigger than Jack Darling and Oscar Allen, not far off Josh Kennedy.

Agree about the athletic attributes but the same could be said for Tom Hawkins who has ended up kicking 50-60 a year for a decade. Hawkins is a good leading forward and uses his strength in one one ones to be a great contested mark. I guess that's what the Saints hoped McCartin would be.

 

[Randall Stevens]

Richard Lounder...no ifs, buts, maybes!!!

You blokes are too young to be able to really understand how clear Lounder is in the #1 spot.

I am fair minded as Tiger supporters come. This #1 spot is ours though!!!

This is spot on!
The discussion has evolved to be based on drafts over the last ten years, but the original thread was about worst EVER number 1 picks.
None of the No 1s in the past 20 years have been busts to the extent Lounder was. Played only 4 games and lasted only 1 year! No injury excuses, just not good enough.
Runner up is Stephen Hooper. Ruckman taken by Geelong in 1990, he played only 21 games. Geelong were mid table that year, so while I can’t recall the details, they must have traded for pick 1.
Similarly, Hawthorn traded to get pick 1 in 1988. They took Alex McDonald ( now a player manager). While McDonald played 107 games, 61 of them were with Collingwood, and he was at best a ‘handy’ player, he was definitely a big miss for a pick 1.

 

[Former Decathlete]

194 & 100, KP size. Bigger than Jack Darling and Oscar Allen, not far off Josh Kennedy.

Agree about the athletic attributes but the same could be said for Tom Hawkins who has ended up kicking 50-60 a year for a decade. Hawkins is a good leading forward and uses his strength in one one ones to be a great contested mark. I guess that's what the Saints hoped McCartin would be.

Don't think that's correct.

Tom Hawkins is a man mountain, quick and 1.98.

JK is 1.96.

O Allen won the Larke medal and then performed brilliantly at the combine being top ten in running jump and agility.
Source:

Topend Sports | Sports Science, Fitness Testing & Event Analysis

Topend Sports provides you with various resources and information about sports, fitness, nutrition and science since 1997.

www.topendsports.com

As for Darling he was a freak who once kicked 22 goals in am under 14 game.
He has a black belt in taekwondo and on the track was a Western Australian junior champion athlete at every distance from 100m to 1500m..

So still think McCartin was a bizarre pick.

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

John Hutton.