Pretty comfortable with the outcome. 2 rucks + Eades. Somewhat surprised the ruck was a kid, as that means he offers little more short term than Gach would have. We must really rate his upside to basically make that swap. Be interesting to know how far out we’d identified him and kept it quiet.
I’ll back our team to pick the quality unknown tall though, as we seem pretty good at it.
Given we were taking Draper, McKernan was always a critical get. Not a gun, but fills a role that we needed. And Eades still had the upside that we were keen on last year. He’s had the reality check, so hopefully can make it happen. I suspect his upside could be greater than Lebois, so not sure what anyone’s issue with it is.
(And for people saying the issue was 20/29 in the ND, how would you know at this point? Amazingly if we’d taken Clarke and Mutch at those picks and Ridley and Begley later, this forum would probably have loved the ND. But the way we did it was the only way to get those 4)
I think the problem is with our 2nd and 3rd picks in the ND. I don't think they were clear best or fitting a need. We could have addressed a ruck or crumbing gap but didn't.
Given that’s in the past, I think the strategy today was ok. We took a project ruckman and we needed to do this. We kept Smack as backup knowing the project ruckman would not be ready this year. I just hope we give him a reasonable go and don’t delist him after 1 season.
Re Eades we took him and contracted him for 2 years knowing his background was difficult. We are honoring the contract which also seems correct.
That’s because you are not inside the club and do not have a clue what the strategy was. You have applied your strategy and declared the club failed because they didn’t do what you wanted.
Thought this was a forum where people gave their opinion. By your rationale we might as well close the entire draft thread.
Dodoro said he expects both McKernan & Eades to be pushing up for selection
Pretty much indicted McKernan unlucky to drop off list but they needed the draft spots but he will is capable for ruck or fwd. Also said it’s very difficult to find talls out there.
Eades had a very poor 2nd half of year, got a wake up call, and has come back showing good fitness and much improved attitude.
I think the problem is with our 2nd and 3rd picks in the ND. I don't think they were clear best or fitting a need. We could have addressed a ruck or crumbing gap but didn't.
Given that’s in the past, I think the strategy today was ok. We took a project ruckman and we needed to do this. We kept Smack as backup knowing the project ruckman would not be ready this year. I just hope we give him a reasonable go and don’t delist him after 1 season.
Re Eades we took him and contracted him for 2 years knowing his background was difficult. We are honoring the contract which also seems correct.
That’s because you are not inside the club and do not have a clue what the strategy was. You have applied your strategy and declared the club failed because they didn’t do what you wanted.
Thought this was a forum where people gave their opinion. By your rationale we might as well close the entire draft thread.
Didn’t say you couldn’t have an opinion, just said your opinion is wrong.
I think the problem is with our 2nd and 3rd picks in the ND. I don't think they were clear best or fitting a need. We could have addressed a ruck or crumbing gap but didn't.
Given that’s in the past, I think the strategy today was ok. We took a project ruckman and we needed to do this. We kept Smack as backup knowing the project ruckman would not be ready this year. I just hope we give him a reasonable go and don’t delist him after 1 season.
Re Eades we took him and contracted him for 2 years knowing his background was difficult. We are honoring the contract which also seems correct.
That’s because you are not inside the club and do not have a clue what the strategy was. You have applied your strategy and declared the club failed because they didn’t do what you wanted.
Thought this was a forum where people gave their opinion. By your rationale we might as well close the entire draft thread.
For all of the vanilla ice fans, I can’t help but think this draft was full of risky choices with high ceilings. Ridley and Begley are two players taken in the second round that have copped the most heat. Both have exceptionally high ceilings and will be great midfield rotations, but mostly as half back and forward respectively, with elite disposal. Eades has huge upside but went through a difficult adjustment period in his first year in an elite program. Kick in the bum an now watch him provide some X factor that most here are craving.
The young Draper kid is a brute!! Only played one season of footy and got better with every game, he will be the next Max Gawn.
Of course we could fark up with all the risky choices, but where’s the fun in being vanilla??
We made a 10 million dollar loss and have to pay Eades next year anyway. “Charity” is meaningless in at least one aspect of all this.
And unless we want Joe / Hooksy as ruckmen, we needed some sort of mature backup on the list.
Draper is interesting. You’d hope the club are comfortable with a 3 year investment at the least. Gach delisting must have been all about off field things because he too was always a multi year prospect.
Is it just me or does Draper look not far off physically ready?
He's basically equal to Bellchambers and Leuenberger already... but is probably still having growing pains. Should top out at a future-proof height for an AFL ruckman.
Picking up a ruck is fine.
It’s picking up a 17 year old ruck that seems weird.
It’s nice that his body is ready. I hope it is, because surely that’s the whole point of selecting a ruckman at all. For insurance against injury to two specific players.
If it’s not, if it’s a long-term plan, then the club will be making a decision to promote or cut before he turns 21. At the latest.
Unless the rules change again, I guess, who friggin’ knows…
So, either they see A LOT of potential in this kid or it’s yet another bizarre rookie selection that flies in the face of what everyone else in the league seems to be doing.
Maybe both!
Not saying it’s wrong, but it does seem to me to be a little out there.
Isn’t that what everyone says the rookie draft is meant to be about, picking up someone you think has potential and hopefully developing them? He seems the perfect candidate for that situation to me.
Can he provide short term back up if need be? Yes. Is he a long term prospect? Yes.
Define short term.
Could he be our number one ruck for a month if need be?
Could he fill the role that Giles and Jamar were brought in to play?
Like I said, I hope so. Seems a tad on the optimistic side to me.
And on the long-term thing, my point was that if he’s given the full three years on the rookie list, will we be ready to make that call before he’s 21?
Hell, maybe he was the best and most likely out there.
Maybe at 17 he’s a better stop-gap than the 25 year-olds running around in the state leagues.
It just seems odd. In a league where teams don’t do this anymore, we’ve done it twice in two years.
Can he provide short term back up if need be? Yes. Is he a long term prospect? Yes.
Define short term.
Could he be our number one ruck for a month if need be?
Could he fill the role that Giles and Jamar were brought in to play?
Like I said, I hope so. Seems a tad on the optimistic side to me.
And on the long-term thing, my point was that if he’s given the full three years on the rookie list, will we be ready to make that call before he’s 21?
Hell, maybe he was the best and most likely out there.
Maybe at 17 he’s a better stop-gap than the 25 year-olds running around in the state leagues.
It just seems odd. In a league where teams don’t do this anymore, we’ve done it twice in two years.
but giles and jamar basically did sfa through their time at the club. their role was seemingly the ‘last resort ruckman if ■■■■ hits the fan’… surely draper fits that bill, and with Belly/ Leuey and Smack on the list, it’d probably be an absolute last resort that he has to play substantial periods of footy- so yes, i reckon he could be a stop gap for a couple of weeks if need be, which is what his short term senior role would be, if any
on the development side of things, I dont understand why the fact that he’ll be 21 by the time his 3yr rookie tenure expires is an issue… he has the body for senior footy currently, so if he is still miles off senior footy next year, and the year after that (if we decide to keep him) then you pretty much know for sure that its not his body holing him back (as is the case with a lot of talls), so I dont see why his age should be an issue- if he cant get his skills up in 3 years then youre probably best cutting your ties, so I dont see the difficulty in making a decision in that department
I’ve got mixed feelings about giving rookie spots to McKernan and Eades. McKernan is backup only, and I was very disappointed with what Eades showed this year. However, as I see it, we delisted both to make room for more picks in the main draft, without intending to completely cut them. So, as a strategy, it is ok, if the intent was always to keep them, but to get the most possible out of the main draft.
Draper is an interesting one. Definitely it was a good idea to rookie a ruckman. The question is was McInerney, or any other 20+ yr old, a better option than the best 18yo. An 18yo, no matter who he is, is going to be 3-4 yrs away from being ready, and so is inevitably a bigger stab in the dark than taking the best mature (but still young) guy.
I think Dedorio likes the idea of taking a stab at an unknown who hasn’t been in the system long in the hope he could be an undiscovered champion in the making. And why not? Not much to lose in this case - it is not like we are using a first or second round pick on him. His highlights tapes seem to indicate he has really good raw ingredients.
If we don’t play Luenberger and Belcho in the same team, then I hope it doesn’t cost Draper ruck time in the VFL. If, for example, we had TBC in the VFL and doing most of the ruckwork, then I would like to see Draper play 1st ruck in the EDFL rather than just get a few minutes here and there in the VFL, as happened to Gach this year.