Terry Wallace on Richo and the list

[Flagless]

I agree wholeheartedly, our drafting has been disgraceful for many years. We continue to pick players who while they are triers they cannot kick, the list is endless, Gilbert, Armitage, Dunstan, Roberton, Geary, Steven, Steven. Poor drafting has cost us at least one flag ( Ball instead of Judd) and to say Bontempelli was a stretch is a joke. He's a big bodied mid fielder with great leadership traits, he only went the puck after Billings.

[shrodes]

The HBF can become mids.

Weak argument.

Absolutely. Every club at the draft picks a half backer and goes "we think he's great down back, and can go through the middle too". How often does it actually happen, compared to drafting a genuine mid?

[bigred]

Fwd pocket can become mid.

FFS

[Toy Saint]

There are a lot who criticize the selection of McCartin over Petracca.

Petracca is not actually that good. If we did pick him we would be very disappointed. He's not fit enough to play in the midfield and not big enough to play a key position. There may be 15 better players than Petracca at Melbourne, possibly more.

Petracca was pick 2 and Billings was pick 3 in a different draft. Both are disappointing, but I'd rather have Billings.

Paddy was pick 1, and so was Jonathon Paton and I think Boyd. They're both big forwards and both struggling.

[bigred]

McCartin was a mistake.

Plain and simple. It was without a doubt an educated guess, but that probably makes it worse than the #1 pick that does an ACL in the first five minutes of round 1.

McCartin was a mistake.

[saynta]

I will wait another couple of years before making a call. If Paddy can stay on the field, and that now seems a big if, he will be more than okay. IMHFO

[maverick]

There are a lot who criticize the selection of McCartin over Petracca.

Petracca is not actually that good. If we did pick him we would be very disappointed. He's not fit enough to play in the midfield and not big enough to play a key position. There may be 15 better players than Petracca at Melbourne, possibly more.

Petracca was pick 2 and Billings was pick 3 in a different draft. Both are disappointing, but I'd rather have Billings.

Paddy was pick 1, and so was Jonathon Paton and I think Boyd. They're both big forwards and both struggling.

Agree with all of this, also don’t think Petracca is that good.

[satchmo]

The Bont was lacking vitamin C.
Doesn't occur naturally in a lot of people.

[CURLY]

McCartin was a mistake.

Plain and simple. It was without a doubt an educated guess, but that probably makes it worse than the #1 pick that does an ACL in the first five minutes of round 1.

McCartin was a mistake.

He was the best key forward in the draft and had all the tools when drafted. No one and I repeat no one could foresee the concussions.

[suss]

God I hate the internet.

It’s not whether McCartin is better than Petracca, or Petracca is better than McCartin.

It’s not whether Billings is better than Petracca.

It’s not whether a forward pocket CAN became a mid-fielder. FMD.

It’s whether we are choosing the players that we need and putting together a balanced list.

I think the answer is “no”. Obviously. Jesus.

[SaintPav]

Orange boy can become President

FFS

[SaintPav]

Fwd pocket can become mid.

FFS

Yep. That is what I said.

Brilliant

[bigred]

I just fkn hate melbourne.

That covers it.

[saintbob]

Terry Wallace makes me cringe a bit but he said a few things on SEN yesterday (particularly at the back-end of the interview) that I thought were interesting:

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/05/22/ ... g-wallace/

I think our drafting has been terrible and the single biggest reason why we stink right now. Our trading on the other hand has, I reckon, been okay (Membrey, Roberton, Carlisle have all been wins). We've been unable to land any decent free agents, which hasn't helped - that's no-one's fault. Hopefully we'll change that this year.

But who keeps drafting half-back flankers and key backs when we need mids? Who decided to swap our 2018 second and third round picks for a back-stop defender from Port Adelaide? Who picked Paddy over Petracca, Brayshaw and DeGoey? Who picked Billings over Bont? Find that person, and fire him today. If it's Elshaugh, then fire him. If there's someone else to blame, then fire them too. He or they are the reason why we suck right now. Our list is desperately unbalanced and no where near it need to be after five years of rebuilding.

I've been frustrated with the coach in the earlier rounds, and concerned that he's lost the players, but the obvious, most glaring deficiency we have in our personnel rests with the list manager.

They kept recruiting key backs because Goddard has proven to be a dud and Brown’s only a short term fix.

Some of the HBFers such as Clark, Paton and Coffield will develop into on ballers.

I believe its been the continued or lack development of our 3 and 4 year players that has stuffed us up and that is something that Richo must take full responsibility for.

[barneyboyz]

Did anyone see Paul Roos on The Couch talking about Bontempelli?

As Melbourne's Coach he looked into Bontempelli. He had 2 contacts he spoke to about young talent in the draft and he spoke to them about Bontempelli. The feedback he got was that he could end up been the best player in the draft or his AFL career may not last 2 years!

Bontempelli had mainly played half back flank in the U18s and only played in the midfield late. He himself says, that at the time of the draft he hardly knew how to play midfield and was just learning the position and had just started learning how to use his body (which had grown late). So based on that feedback, I would suggest that most Clubs (including the Bulldogs) would have taken Billings ahead of Bontempelli.

In addition there is a persistent claim at Big Footy, that Melbourne under Roos, rated Billings ahead of Bontempelli and Kelly and the following year rated McCartin No.1 and would have taken him if we didn't.

Absolutely they would have taken Paddy, Hogan wasn't and isn't all that great.

Having said that, I had no problem with Paddy over the tractor. Just need to make this year's selections count

[Saintmatt]

McCartin was a mistake.

Plain and simple. It was without a doubt an educated guess, but that probably makes it worse than the #1 pick that does an ACL in the first five minutes of round 1.

McCartin was a mistake.

He was the best key forward in the draft and had all the tools when drafted. No one and I repeat no one could foresee the concussions.

That is true about the concussions. Some of those have come from his own stupid bravery. However - there's now a big problem in drafting key forwards from the TAC and it's very very well known. That is - in TAC - they basically play a zone with protected areas (i.e. 3 forwards v 3 backs). If you're a big kid - like Paddy was - you pretty much just monster opposition backs who don't have the luxury of their mid and high h/f's rolling back in support. In many ways - TAC is becoming a lot like mid 90's footy with it's pure positional play. Then those kids come up in the AFL and it's basically a different game. Congestion everywhere that they've not been trained to navigate through. It's a big problem and why recruiters are very hesitant to draft key forwards from the TAC.

[saynta]

They wont be hesitant this year.

[DJ Higgins]

Our drafting in the last few years has been a little disappointing and Terry Wallace did make valid points.
Paddy was a risk due to his diabetes and you don't gamble with the #1 draft pick. Our medicos should have known better. I guarantee you if we pick Pettraca we would be happier than we are now with Paddy, concussions aside.
Billings is not a brave player yet Bont is. Both have skills but Bont backs himself more and isn't afraid to get hsi hands dirty. Good news is there is still heaps of time for Billings to turn it around
Brown is no longer a short term solution and I like it. One of our better players most weeks. Doesn't star but does his job.
It makes little sense to me personally draft a HBF as a future mid when you can draft a mid as a future mid. Top 10 picks are a bit different in that on a paper they have the skills for multiple positions. I didn't have a problem with drafting Coffield but I did with Clavarino & Paton after trading for Logan. There were many midfield players available but we got more backs, not mids. Nothing against them personally or saying they can't play, we just don't need them all.
This draft will be make or break. If we nail our top 3-5 pick things will will improve dramatically. Players are in a form slump but it will pass sooner or later

[chico2001]

Cant see how it is a form slump, if you couldnt kick 40 metres accurately last year or the year before that , you better be practising hard to fix it right now but thats too late. At recruitment as a top 20 player you should be able to kick 40 m accurately and top that skill off once you have been playing AFL for a couple of years. Saints players are poor kicks, what has that got to do with form? Savage is the best kick in the side distance wise and accuracy is ok although rewoldt reckons he wastes the ball. Name another player who is a good kick in that side. Jack Steven is pretty good, rightly so because he is the best player in the side. Webster can kick a long ball but turns it over a lot and Membrey when he is on song. At least 3 of the midfielders have poor disposal although they scramble through and pick up 25 possessions regularly. Roberton. Carlisle, Bruce and Membrey are good marks. So who is the star handballer in the side? Who is the big tackler in your face midfielder? nope....not there. They wont get out of form because they lack good basic skills and will get cut up every time. Terry Wallace and those other experts are right about the saints. The difference between McCartin and the rest is that they can at least play 2-3 games in a row and actually kick a couple of goals when they are out there, I am talking about Hogan, Petracca, Bontempelli etc. Past history indicates the saints recruiting team will let us down again.

I think Suss and saintbob nailed it.

[Scollop]

Well done to Wallace. Good to see some in the media asking serious questions about Richo's ability to turn our form around and putting the blowtorch back on the admin, recruiters, and coaching group.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/05/24/ ... s-wallace/