Rowell isn’t a superstar yet. He’s played a handful of great games, and could become one, but he’s really hot and cold.
In his defence, has had an awful run with injuries, so he has time on his side.
Good point, but give it time. I think we might be talking differently in a few years time.
That is the one thing that stood out to me about his game, he was actually prepared to back himself and run out of the congestion. He looked all the better for it
Who do you think are going to be the guns out of that top 10?
Like Andy, if Taranto can tighten up his kicking, he clearly takes that next step and becomes a star.
McLuggage I’ve honestly never really rated. Every time I’ve seen him he hasn’t done much
After that, it’s a pretty underwhelming top 10 other than Brodie. But maybe im being harsh on some of the others
Clug is one of the most overrated footballers in the league.
How he made those All Aus squads is beyond me.
1 Like
I’ve honestly never seen it
I think he’s good, but vastly vastly overrated.
I think we chose Andy and he is great and he is ours.
Histrionics on historical selections is a waste of ■■■■■■ time
5 Likes
I’ve been on Blitz too long to know not to answer that question directly 
First of all, I’m not suggesting that they’re going to be guns - simply that calling it a dud draft is harsh. Only 4.45% of players play 200 games, and there are quite a number of the 2016 draft just about halfway there already.
A lot of the 2015 draft had breakout years last year and the year before (Oliver, Parish, McKay, Mills, Dunkley etc) - so I’d expect that this year we start to see some of the 2016 draft class start to make some big strides.
Guys like McGrath, Taranto, McCluggage, Tim English, Tom Stewart, Will Brodie etc. are probably the ones who are already starting to make an impact more regularly, but I tend to think most players peak around 26/27, so again - it’ll be over the next couple of years that this crop start to become the best players in the competition, and we get a true indication of how good the draft was.
So far, you could make an argument that while he’s not the best performed player from the draft, McGrath has probably been the most consistent from year to year. However, the confusing thing with him is that his output hasn’t dramatically increased from his rising star year. He averaged 20 possessions, 4 marks and 3 tackles a game that year, and hasn’t really gone dramatically forwards or back since then. Last year he averaged 22, 4 and 4. Contrast that with the significant increase in output from McCluggage (just for example) - who averaged 15 possessions, 4 marks and 2 tackles in his rookie year, and last year averaged 25, 5 and 4.
If you look at our other selections from McGrath’s draft: Ridley, Begley, Mutch, Clarke - I think it is safe to say that the depth wasn’t great after the second round. There were a few gems picked up later who are premiership players or All-Australian (52. Willie Rioli, 53. Jack Graham, 66. Luke Ryan) but by and large, there isn’t an abundance of recognisable names.
But as our friend @FurryLog says:
4 Likes
Yeah I would agree. I don’t think there’s much depth in that draft either( my comments were more directed at the top 10)
On balance, you’d probably take a mature age Stewart at pick 1. No one else has really shot out yet. If Ridley pulls it together I think he could end up as the pick of the draft with Sean Darcy. I really love Shai Bolton as a player too.
Taranto is kicking goals regularly now and getting it 30 times a week so he’d be the pick of the top end at the moment. So from a recruiting perspective he’s a big miss (especially as we seemingly weren’t even considering him).
I like Andy and think he brings a lot if he’s up and about. I’m in the “he should be a half back” boat though. He was so good there early
Either play him in defence or trade him.
He is completely ineffectual.
1 Like
He had a ripping first qtr and then we took him out of the middle until 5 mins left in the second. Weird choice but I agree his second half was horrid.
He started off well getting cheap possessions and I was okay with that because it was a shootout, but when the game went on he kept trying to get the cheap possessions even though Freo were working harder.
I hate how, he ambles in to the defensive half after the ball had already gone in easily. Anyone trying to defend him should check his chasing and willingness to work back to block space ( or lack of )
1 Like
We can’t resign McGrath. Who cares what pick he was taken, he’s a hack. Cheap possessions, one way runner. To many small mids, trade him. Merritt, Parish an Caldwell are enough small types. Andy is just an average footballer
1 Like
Heading towards Watts levels of 1st pick disappointing
1 Like
Yep we ballsed this one up big time. I do often think how well he would perform in a good side though.
1 Like
I would trade him.
Get games into Caldwell & Hobbs.
3 Likes
And for what…a pick in the 20s ? Dods and more importantly Xavier would never sign off on it.
We are ■■■■ at development. At a more competent club he could be A grade.
2 Likes
Some club might think they can fix McGrath.