Worst ever no. 1 draft pick??

[Scotland]

I think it was nowhere near as systematic as it is now. Back then I thnk we were looking at the last years of picking up developed players who were guns in their league as a quick and easy way of getting good players in.
These days a good young player usually gets spotted pretty early and ends up in a colts side (league club) or training with them in some capacity and there'l be a bunch of talent scouts around too keeping an eye on who is who from that level onwards. As far as I know anyway.

Still ends up a bit of a crap shoot at times though.

Even Freo's establishment came an awkward time. If you had GC/GWS type concessions would you have picked the eyes out of the 1994 draft or prioritised established players?

 

[Atomboy]

Marc Murphy.

Mainly because he is a squib, but also because he looks like a chipmunk whose eyes are too close together.

 

[Donakebab]

Anyway who cares.

You, and clearly far too much.

 

[00Stinger]

I went back to find the articles I remember reading at the time. I don’t think it was as clear cut amongst all recruiters as you might have expected. Seems quite a few brought up his psychologists profile as a potential negative. But then again, i suspect the split might have been different had more work gone into these guys as it was so evident early they would be gone early. I’m sure the clubs at picks 10-18 didn’t spend much time as Melbourne and st Kilda did.

McCartin or Petracca: St Kilda spoilt for choice

St Kilda's moment of truth. Toss a coin? The decision for which there is no right answer or no wrong answer, depending on how you look at it.

www.google.com

You would have gone either Brayshaw or Lever iirc at 2 had Petracca been gone. So to end up with all three in the end is an amazing result.

Back to my original point- i think the saints got in their own heads and spent more times looking at potential negatives as to why they shouldn’t pick up Petracca rather than looking at him being the most talented from the draft. Also, like 00Stinger mentioned, they didn’t want to have to spend a million a year to recruit a Riewoldt replacement. So there’s that too, I guess.

We nominated Heeney before Petracca too

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

 

[pablo668]

Even Freo's establishment came an awkward time. If you had GC/GWS type concessions would you have picked the eyes out of the 1994 draft or prioritised established players?

I don't know, but whatever we did would possibly have been the most stupid own goal imaginable. It's in the DNA down there.

 

[sruss]

Marc Murphy.

Mainly because he is a squib, but also because he looks like a chipmunk whose eyes are too close together.

All Aus + BnF winner - silly take.

 

[Freomaniac]

80s and early 90s drafts are a gag. Hutton, Hooper, Banik, Lounder, who? It had nowhere near as much emphasis as it does today. We got pick 1 in 1992 for Scott Watters who was on the fringe of our 22. Not even Collingwood would do that now.

Why was John Hutton cut in 1992? 43 goals from 18 games isn't a bad return for a season

 

[james Dean]

Has to be McCartin

 

[Lip Gallagher]

Far from the worst but Josh Fraser was a pretty underwhelming pick 1, had a decent career though.

 

[Altum Volantes]

Why was John Hutton cut in 1992? 43 goals from 18 games isn't a bad return for a season

I’ve posted a few times about Hutton - very interesting footy story - he was drafted #1 at 25 years of age, off the back of kicking 100 in the WAFL in 1991 - he had landed in the WAFL not long before from country footy.

Robert Walls was a big fan (must have been to drop Pick 1 on him!).

43 in 18 games sounds not shabby....but this was 1992, not 2021. Full Forwards were in their teams to kick goals and it wasn’t unusual for them to average 4-5 goals a game. Under 3 and you’re probably not much chop.

For example, in the same season, Footscray’s FF was Danny Del Re who kicked 70 over 22 games in a decent side. He is probably best remembered for being a dead ringer for Frankie Carbone from ‘Goodfellas’. My point being, there were a few knocking around the league like that at the time (even more in the 80s), so Hutton’s output as a mid-aged recruit, with a ‘100 Goal’ Reputation might simply have been not up to scratch - he kicked 16 of those goals in 2 games (fair efforts no doubt! One was in that game Geelong kicked 239!), so averaged just over 1 and half goals across the rest of season - not really up to scratch.

 

[Altum Volantes]

Far from the worst but Josh Fraser was a pretty underwhelming pick 1, had a decent career though.

He had a career similar to Kreuzer with a few less injuries.

In his early days you could tell Eddie wanted him to be a superstar but it became pretty apparent that wasn’t going to happen by the early 2000s and he kinda just faded away and ran out his time at GC (probably cried himself to sleep on a pile of cash).

 

[jezza1435]

Probably Jamara at this stage, no Senior games

 

[Lip Gallagher]

He had a career similar to Kreuzer with a few less injuries.

In his early days you could tell Eddie wanted him to be a superstar but it became pretty apparent that wasn’t going to happen by the early 2000s and he kinda just faded away and ran out his time at GC (probably cried himself to sleep on a pile of cash).

Couldn't win a hitout or take a contested mark to save his life, he did have a nice ground game though for a big bloke.

 

[nr914064]

Cadym Beetham? hello.

McCartin worst of recent times. I still cant actually believe it.
Fat Diabetic Undersized Lead up old school forward vs 190cm agile modern beast midfielder with a badketball pendlebury background.

 

[fpm84]

McCartin was the Anthony Bennett of the AFL.

The story of Anthony Bennett - the No.1 pick of the NBA draft that became a bust - Brainbasketball

On 27 June 2013 took place the NBA Draft that gives us a lot of...

brainbasketball.net

 

[citizen-erased]

surely need to look at it not just based on the player, but who went at 2, 3, 4 or 5
McCartin ahead of Petracca
Scully ahead of Martin
Johnstone over Ottens
Fraser over Pavlich
Watts v NicNat/Hurley
Boyd v Bont

surely from that list

 

[Anja_Nees]

have to agree.

Injuries: Patton showed a bit before his knees. Boyd obviously could play.
Serviceable but not guns: Watts + Scully

McCartin had issues even before he started in the AFL. puzzling pick.

It’s McCartin and it isn’t even seriously in doubt.

 

[Yoda_]

Strapping Young Lad best you read this thread bud

 

[SSSSSS]

Strapping Young Lad best you read this thread bud

Seems weird to bump a 5 year old thread just to have someone agree with you that McGrath is one of the worst number 1 picks

 

[My Tilly]

Jack Watts was awful. Sure he went on to play over 150 games and put up reasonable statistics but when you consider what other players were there for taking, it was a monumental error by Melbourne.

Some of other names being thrown around like McCartin or Patton were ravaged by injury. Their excuse will always be that whereas Watts was merely an upgraded version of Steven Handley.

 

[SSSSSS]

Speaking of Watts, Lukosius gives me some Jack Watts vibes.

Wasn't the #1 pick but IIRC he was the consensus best player amongst most draft watchers. Carlton just (luckily) went with the local boy in Walsh.

 

[RUNVS]

Jack Watts was awful. Sure he went on to play over 150 games and put up reasonable statistics but when you consider what other players were there for taking, it was a monumental error by Melbourne.

Some of other names being thrown around like McCartin or Patton were ravaged by injury. Their excuse will always be that whereas Watts was merely an upgraded version of Steven Handley.

McCartin proved at Sydney without injuries he was a quality key defender, Patton never proved he was good at anything other than sending super creepy messages to women.

 

[Yoda_]

Seems weird to bump a 5 year old thread just to have someone agree with you that McGrath is one of the worst number 1 picks

nuh, friendly polite reminder that a poor observation was poor

 

[Cyclops]

He had a career similar to Kreuzer with a few less injuries.

In his early days you could tell Eddie wanted him to be a superstar but it became pretty apparent that wasn’t going to happen by the early 2000s and he kinda just faded away and ran out his time at GC (probably cried himself to sleep on a pile of cash).

Began with a bang as won us several games with some last quarter heroics in his first two seasons.

Kicked 3 goals in the 2002 Grand Final, including one to put us in front in the last quarter.

Very skilled scrawny beanpole, thrown into KPF and ruck way too young and played hurt most of his career, was still winning games for us early 2010 (him and Medhurst set up a bunch of early wins then missed the finals).

I feel like he produced more consistent footy than Kreuzer, although both suffered long term injuries. Never managed to wn a B&F for us, but the Copeland voting favours guys who play every game.

Far from the worst number 1, although injury did stifle a promising start.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

if you go purely on talent, then it's McGrath (for this century anyway)