Unders

[jonesy]

You need to continually draft players better than there actual number taken in the draft,unless you are GWS or Gold Coast that got given a swag of top 10 picks.

Until the 2012 draft, I think we took players over the odds, now we are in this predicament.

Last year Wright and Webster look to be our two savvy picks. Both look set for very good AFL careers,particulary Wright who is just a wrecking ball.

So who are this years 'unders'. Going off our massive viewing sample size so far of the intra club plus nab Challenge game,who are you going early with?

Eli Templeton looks like a potential steal,I'm going early. Has footy smarts,and it's great too see.
Luke Dunstan is my other. Hasn't done a lot,but this guy is going to be an absolute battery ram in the middle in a few years. He is one of the biggest midfielders for his age I have seen. Oozes leadership too apparently. Lock him in

[gringo]

You need to continually draft players better than there actual number taken in the draft,unless you are GWS or Gold Coast that got given a swag of top 10 picks.

Until the 2012 draft, I think we took players over the odds, now we are in this predicament.

Last year Wright and Webster look to be our two savvy picks. Both look set for very good AFL careers,particulary Wright who is just a wrecking ball.

So who are this years 'unders'. Going off our massive viewing sample size so far of the intra club plus nab Challenge game,who are you going early with?

Eli Templeton looks like a potential steal,I'm going early. Has footy smarts,and it's great too see.
Luke Dunstan is my other. Hasn't done a lot,but this guy is going to be an absolute battery ram in the middle in a few years. He is one of the biggest midfielders for his age I have seen. Oozes leadership too apparently. Lock him in

Roberton last year, Savage, Templeton, Weller, Longer will all look good in a couple of years time. I'm not sure Wright was unders he was our first live pick in that draft. Curren is probably a good story of a player who should have been on a senior list before a lot that did get drafted.

[jonesy]

You need to continually draft players better than there actual number taken in the draft,unless you are GWS or Gold Coast that got given a swag of top 10 picks.

Until the 2012 draft, I think we took players over the odds, now we are in this predicament.

Last year Wright and Webster look to be our two savvy picks. Both look set for very good AFL careers,particulary Wright who is just a wrecking ball.

So who are this years 'unders'. Going off our massive viewing sample size so far of the intra club plus nab Challenge game,who are you going early with?

Eli Templeton looks like a potential steal,I'm going early. Has footy smarts,and it's great too see.
Luke Dunstan is my other. Hasn't done a lot,but this guy is going to be an absolute battery ram in the middle in a few years. He is one of the biggest midfielders for his age I have seen. Oozes leadership too apparently. Lock him in

Roberton last year, Savage, Templeton, Weller, Longer will all look good in a couple of years time. I'm not sure Wright was unders he was our first live pick in that draft. Curren is probably a good story of a player who should have been on a senior list before a lot that did get drafted.

I reckon he is better than a pick 24 though

[Con Gorozidis]

For me our 'bargains' will be:

Roberton
Webster
Templeton
Acres
Longer
Curren
Wright
Savage

Obviously we already know Jack Steven was a huge bonus pick for us .

[FQF]

For me our 'bargains' will be:

Roberton
Webster
Templeton
Acres
Longer
Curren
Wright
Savage

Obviously we already know Jack Steven was a huge bonus pick for us .

Not sure why Acres is already on that list?

[Con Gorozidis]

Not sure why Acres is already on that list?

Dunno - he just looks like a footballer to me.
Plus He's 191 cm and can run.

[stinger]

Not sure why Acres is already on that list?

Dunno - he just looks like a footballer to me.
Plus He's 191 cm and can run.

stanley is 10cm taller and can run faster.....

[Rocket]

Not 100% sure on Roberton. He was terrible last night. Got caught out of position, struggled to lay a tackle and can be a little loose. Happy to be proven wrong but he might be one struggling to hold position when you throw in full list down back of Gilbert, Gwilt, Fisher, Dempster, Geary, Delaney, Webster, Wright. Spots going to hot up if injury free...

[kosifantutti]

Not sure why Acres is already on that list?

Dunno - he just looks like a footballer to me.
Plus He's 191 cm and can run.

And he must be from the country or else his name would be quarter acre.

[saintspremiers]

Is Eli our potential Milne in the making

[Con Gorozidis]

Not sure why Acres is already on that list?

Dunno - he just looks like a footballer to me.
Plus He's 191 cm and can run.

stanley is 10cm taller and can run faster.....

Yes but you are ignoring the bit where I said "looks like a footballer". Fundamental difference between Acres and Stanley.
Acres is a footballer first and an athlete second.
Stanley is an athlete first and a footballer 10th.

[plugger66]

Is Eli our potential Milne in the making

I hope not and nothing against Milne as he was a star in how footy was played. You now cannot be a permanent FP. You need to be able to rotate on the ball. Anyway one practice game means jack.

[Con Gorozidis]

And he must be from the country or else his name would be quarter acre.

Joondalup I think - which is your classic quarter acre city fringe suburb .

[Dr Spaceman]

Anyway one practice game means jack.

Steven, Newnes or Billings?

[plugger66]

Anyway one practice game means jack.

Steven, Newnes or Billings?

No, s***.

[Dave McNamara]

Webster and Wright - Really showed something, and I'd now have them as priorities to get games into.

Roberton - Guys, Roberton's just back from injury isn't he(?) He looked pretty much in need of the run to me. But more significantly,think back to his first ever game in our colours... it was very ordinary and had people wondering about him... he picked up pretty well though...

Rhys Lightning - Harsh again from some folks. Hardly the conditions for key forwards, let alone someone like Rhys. He did a few nicer things when he finally got a run in the ruck later on. Hold the line, be patient, I reckon he'll eventually reward us all.

Acres - I posted this before... will be the bargain of that 2013 (main) draft!
To that I'll add... Here is the competition's next BJ (most likely sans the on-field bawling out of his team mates too ). This bloke will be an absolute star, but like BJ, not straight away, as he needs to build some size and fitness.

Jack S - Is an absolute star! Loved that (third quarter?) gather on the wing, the usual take-'em-on and burn-'em-off..., but then..., at full bore, drilled a pass onto the chest of our leading-up forward... using his non-preferred left foot.
That said, I'd be mothballing him till the season proper starts.
In the meantime, we must make urgent plans to deal mercilessly with the low-life plodders who it seems will be coming for Jack this season.

Hickey and Longer - Will be very good in the ruck for us. They actually get tap outs, and around the ground... they actually get front position(!)

TDL - Again, not an easy night for forwards, but apart from that one nice lead and kick for goal... sorry TDL, for mine, you're the first one out.

BBBBeau - Ok, he's no elite power forward, but gee, I reckon he's our most underrated player with the fans.

Bruce Delaney - I (perhaps fortunately) missed that first quarter. Very difficult conditions for key forwards, but... I didn't spot too many occasions where the greasy ball was all that saved our key defenders from being outmarked. Our defence just has to be way better for that.

[Spinner]

I dont think Savage was 'unders'.

He was the difference of the pick for McEvoy being a pick around 10 rather than 18. That's more than a fair price for a 23rd best player at any club.

[mightysainters]

People questioning Roberton?! Did any of you watch ghis games from last year?!
He was without a doubt our best pickup for what we gave for a very very long time... he was top 5 easily for us last year...

[stkfc1]

Not 100% sure on Roberton. He was terrible last night. Got caught out of position, struggled to lay a tackle and can be a little loose. Happy to be proven wrong but he might be one struggling to hold position when you throw in full list down back of Gilbert, Gwilt, Fisher, Dempster, Geary, Delaney, Webster, Wright. Spots going to hot up if injury free...

People on this forum have seriously short memories. Roberton was our most dependable defender last year with disposal and his ability to get through traffic. The guy has one bad game, after an interrupted pre season in a wet PRACTICE match and you're writing him off already. Glad your not on the selection panel!

[evertonfc]

Great topic and one I'm really glad has been brought up - it MUST be a cornerstone of our recruiting policy to consistently take UNDERS.

That's why I was rapt with our trading and drafting this season: we consistently took the best players available - and when we had to speculate, we speculated on players quite likely to make it: Templeton and Weller.

Unfortunately, while our trading has been reasonable in the past decade, save for the hair-tearing moments of Barry Brooks and Fergus Watts, our drafting has been the other way.

We've tried to cheat the drafting system all too often; scrappy off-cuts (Polo, Pattinson, etc) and needless speculation with good picks (Winmar, Howard the prime examples) rather than smart, shrewd investments.

[Con Gorozidis]

Great post Dave.

And agree Everton - when we were up we should have played the percentages and gone for safer picks rather than 'rock star' risky picks like winmar Howard and Lovett. Them there was that weird pick on jesse smith.

Just old fashioned 'best kid available' would have been nice.

[BigMart]

Brooks and Fergus were extremely highly rated

Both were possible top tens out of the TAC Cup and seen as steals when we initially traded

[dragit]

Brooks and Fergus were extremely highly rated

Both were possible top tens out of the TAC Cup and seen as steals when we initially traded

"Brooks for picks 6 & 31 what a steal!"

said noone, ever...

[Con Gorozidis]

Brooks and Fergus were extremely highly rated

Both were possible top tens out of the TAC Cup and seen as steals when we initially traded

Fergus dad in particular thought his son could play a bit.

[hungry for a premiership]

This years "unders" is pick 18 for Luke Dunstan, no doubt about it.

Kid's going to be a 200 gamer