The 2024 Draft [no longer spec] Thread

And 1 of those has access every year to top end talent through an academy.
I love it how the media always bang on about the bloods culture.
When in actual fact it has more to do with the access to top end talent they get every year, no matter their finishing position on the ladder.

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He is best mates with caddy. He will want to come

Jobe and Kako at the draft please.

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I’m very aware of his skill.

What I hope we do is avoid the “upside” picks that Dudoro has loved year after year.

Our strike rate is so much better with picking the best player now (hence our success in mid-season drafts). Based on the last few weeks pick Jobe & Kami, while avoid Smilie.

How many times have we picked the athletic/physical type of player hoping he could become the star of the competition (despite them not performing on the big stage) & it’s been a miss in the first two rounds.

No more picking back flankers and forwards hoping they will be midfielders. Time to pick players for positions they actually play.

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Whilst I get what you’re saying and there’s probably some merit in it, Ben Hobbs is probably the textbook definition of picking a guy who is exactly as it says on the packet and who has very little upside or positional flexibility. Accordingly, he’s just an average meat and potatoes player. If played as a permanent on-baller he’d be ok to solid.

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I look more at spending millions on bog average(apart from Duursma) top up players to elevate us away from the very best draft picks that we desperately need, to 11th. What a false economy.

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I actually think hobbs was good the other night, he was the only player with clean hands in the humidity that could pick up the slipperiest ball in world sports.

The problem with Hobbs is, they got 2 smaller inside mids at practically the same time with Caldwell coming in too. It was another example of completely dumb recruiting by dodoro.

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Caldwell is a far more polished player than Hobbs too. Just a bizarre acquisition

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Probably hedging for Caldwell’s injury history

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I think its a perfect illustration of why they say that you should always be drafting for the team you envision 3+ years from now. Hobbs was an understandable pick given the season we’d just had. Caldwell injured super early. Shiel injured as well and out for most of the season. We were struggling for bodies in the midfield that year. It was the season where the coaches finally relented and moved Parish from the forward flank into the midfield mostly out of necessity.

Dodoro’s biggest failing I think is in lacking the foresight to understand what the list will need in the future, instead of just drafting for immediacy.

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I remember dodoro saying at the time ‘the bomber fans will be happy, we finally got our big bodied mid they’ve been after’. I remember being really alarmed by that, that our head recruiter thought a 183cm player is a big bodied mid :thinking:.

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Our big body midfielder is 5 foot tall. Absolute charlatan

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I don’t think Kako is a top 12 player in this draft, if a bid comes in before our pick I think it will be revenge for Dodo bidding on players earlier than expected.

That’s an uninformed vibe type of an opinion btw.

I don’t think that’ll be an issue. Dodo isn’t involved any more, Rosa will have his own relationships in the industry.

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Hope so :pray:

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Would we be wasting pick 8/9 by taking Jobe with it?

Other teams aren’t going to risk their draft strategy just to get back at Dodoro. If another team bids for Kaka that early it’s because they want him on their list.

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Not if we rate him around that pick. I have my own opinions and preferences… but our recruitment team have watched probably even more junior footy than I have (if that’s even possible) and have access to resources I don’t, like player interviews, chats with junior coaches, vision of school footy performances etc. If Rosa thinks Shanahan is worthy of our first pick then I back him to be right.

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Just focus on fixing the forward line please. Kako, Shanahan

Then get best available with whatever remaining picks we have.

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