Something doesn’t add up

Football Discussion Trade week Duursma head in
564

Mine was an ex board member and 2 recruiters from other clubs… a journo we all respect uncovered more during the first year of the saga, but decided they didn’t think it was benefiting anyone bringing it to light then, so killed the story. I’d spoken with them about it too.

There are a few other on here who know, most of us talked about it in a private room we had back in the day, but I think we all guessed we didn’t need to start another ■■■■ storm. It’s a while I go now and for a while after the offenders were long gone I expected a concious change to remedy would occur…

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565

Me too…it’s obvious we are not the leader anymore and your stats just back it up. Not all involved are gone but doubt (don’t think) there is anything untoward going on now

568

I feel that the ones who are still there were probably more influenced by the ones who are gone. I think now it’s like what others are saying, it’s down to the social types we value.

569

what about crameri ?
didn’t he spend a few years on the rookie list ?

what about baguely or hibberd who weren’t drafted til mid 20’s.
Not saying there’s no issue, but of course in isolation one can make any 2 players compare badly.

Ambrose is sadly still the prototype footballer, fitness and aerobic capacity before football smarts.
Bolton, mcphee other players were getting games on similar values ages ago.

Honest question, would tippa up until 2016,have hadthe fitness base to play at afl level ?
we’ve seen how little an impact francis has had due to that fact, so while tippa is obviously more talented than most, if he wasn’t able to chase and tackle and do repeat efforts like he’s getting to now, playing him would be as pointless as it’s kinda been playing francis so far, seeing he can’t run out a qtr, let alone a full game.

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570

as much as hindsight says that’ll be one of the worst trade ■■■■ ups every done by this club.

At the time we had
Lovett
Davey
Jetta
and NLM who were all in and around the forwardline.
had even just one of them turned into rioli esq level then we’d prolly not have minded.

It’d be Just as pointless if we pick up HFF utilities who can pinch hit in the midfield next year with all the guys we have who can play in there now, plus guys like lang, lav etc developing.

571

Nat rat was playing in defence then and Lovett on the wing, but we did need mids

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572

The football club’s job is to win premierships.

I watched the Narrier highlight reel and saw a talented W.A. boy who is a quick loose outside runner mainly picking up uncontested posessions. We have a list full of players filling this role already without adding another to the “go home factor” list.

At one point or another we have all identified the lack of drafting a midfield beast over the past 10 years. Finally we obtain a no. 1 draft pick and have a chance at recruiting the 192cm/88kg midfield extractor we need, however we select McGrath as he was clearly the best overall candidate. A great choice even though not fulfilling our most pressing of needs.

The Sydney final exposed our midfield and that was a lesson that the club should not quickly forget.

Dodoro and the club addressed the issue finally (with a bit of negative publicity) by signing Stringer. He’s the one player in the league with Dustin Martin-like ability once fully fit and firing, we can expect him in the middle if he gets enough kms through the legs this pre-season. Our rookie pick in Mynott sounds like it came with some inside knowledge, similar to when we drafted Hibberd and Fantasia. Time will tell.

There are many players out there that end up going undrafted, Aboriginal/TSI or not. Draft strategies are immensely complex and not as simple as filling up the “Aboriginal/TSI quota” or only drafting from known/established families. As the population grows and the competition gets stronger and more professional, it’s going to get harder for anyone trying to get a spot at the tail end of a list, and the current percentage of Aboriginal/TSI players may even decrease.

After the saga I couldn’t care less about how we are perceived as a club, even on this Aboriginal/TSI matter, haters are everywhere and we’ve gone through hell as supporters. I go to games to watch us WIN as a team, regardless of who is on the list, as long as they put themselves on the line EVERY time and go hard. I don’t care that the media says this player keeps bad company, or that player cheats on his partner, the players are paid more than company CEO’s to be footballers and that should be their primary focus.

Minority agendas are ruining this state and country, don’t let it spoil our great club. When the stars align, we will draft another young gun player who is Aboriginal/TSI, don’t force it for the sake of perception and statistics.

The football club’s job is to win premierships.

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573

Clearly watching that video with a bunch of preconceptions, given that no one can judge how “loose” someone is from a highlights video, and you managed to ignore the winning the ball through traffic and the contested marks. Now he may be a loose outside runner, but you can’t get that from that video.

And he’s boarded away from home for 6 years, so how risky is the go home factor?

If you mean Cory Bernardi’s conservatives, Abbott, Hansen and their mates in the Murdoch media who give their hateful views a voice then I’d agree, but I sense you don’t mean that.

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574

No preconceptions, I’m commenting on that video purely on the view that he’s not what we need as we’re already full in that department. Sure, select him if we’re going to move on a Jackson Merrett type.

He looks sharp however my (limited) view is that if he was constantly winning the ball through traffic and taking contested marks the reel wouldn’t be showing roughly 2 of each and 25+ uncontested highlights. Defensive pressure questionable.

Moving from country W.A. to Perth is NOT the go-home factor. Coming to one of the biggest clubs in football mad Melbourne is vastly different.

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575

Lovett was a hff, never really played in the midfield for a sustained people of time.

Nlm wasnt rrally even a mainstay then either so he was more of a floating player, to fill gaps.

Im not gonna say your premise isnt wrong or anytging like that.
All im saying is trying to essentially guilt people into picking up more aboriginal players in the current system isnt going to work.

And i imagine itd be the same thing for irish kids, if they were to be put onto the main list , instead of a cat b listing, most clubs prolly wouldnt take the risk.

So imo would be better to start making noise in rwlation to making another sub catergory for aboriginal players, that way clubs may be able to give 3-4 exgra young aboriginal guys a go at making it , without the worry or risk involved that are specific to aboriginal kids.

576

On Myers v Rioli - the correct decision was made at the time. If we took Rioli at 6 it would have been a reach. All clubs I felt would have done the same.

We just made the wrong decision in hindsight, like a lot of draft picks. That’s the nature of drafting.

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577

If we wanted a big bodied flanker who would eventually move into the midfield - who also had leadership qualities - then we should have taken Dangerfield.

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578

This changes everything.

How can channel 7 show how good and human danger is if he plays for Essendon?

579

That’s working out real well for us.

I’d argue we have been the shitest we have been in the last 40 years since we adopted this policy.

What a screaming pile of horseshit that post was

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580

I’m just saying a better argument to suggest why we would have considered Myers over Rioli is we needed big body midfielders as opposed to we already had to many of his type.

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581

No such thing as a “reach”, especially if someone will be gone before your next pick. The whole concept of a reach is an internet forum phenomenon that assumes there’s a “list” and that those are agreed by everyone, and those making the assertion know what that list is.

Of course it appears we rated Myers higher than Rioli. So be it. But if any part of that rating was based on the rumoured directives from high up, well that would be one of the worst decisions this club has ever made.

Note I’ll never write that we should have taken Dangerfield, even though he turned out the player he did. Myers absolutely we judged a better chance of making it at that stage. But the club had a relationship with Rioli, he was Essendon. And then he turned out to be an instant gun and helped Hawthorn win multiple flags. We gave away a bit of our soul with that decision.

(And again I live Myers, and completely accept that he was highly rated, Emma had him at 4, and he was a completely justifiable decision)

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582

I was always under the impression we had concerns with Rioli’s constant injuries and we considered him a risk for that reason.

Of course hindsight shows Myers ended up having just as many injury problems.

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583

ITT it is confirmed Benfti only has 2 fingers.

584

I was using David Myers hand

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585

I stopped short of saying the same thing about your post posing that there’s a legitimate problem.

If you are unable to post something due to checking with the sources re: opening a can of worms, don’t mention it here.

What policy are you referring to?