If we look at the ages of the players you name when we got them, they were hardly picked up as "top up" type players. While they were picked up in part to adress deficiencies, they were all guys who looked to be good fits for the opportunities we had. McGough's probably the biggest dissapointment of the bunch, as his clearance work was AFL level when we got him, but when we played him in our midfield, which worked very differently to Collingwood's, it really brought his poor disposal under a spotlight.WayneJudson42 wrote:Ok, so GT didn't top up with recycled players? McGough, Ackland? Guerra? get real FFS.JeffDunne wrote:No, that's what people like yourself would like to believe.saintsRrising wrote:He thought that he had the team , and that it just had to age a bit.
Don't you ever get sick of hating for the sake of hating?
I know GT ruined your simplistic dream but it's really not healthy to focus it on it daily.
Fact is we've been the poster child for teams topping up since GT was given the arse but I suppose you support those decisions simply because they didn't involve Grant Thomas?
You really are one sad individual.![]()
And where was RL supposed to draft the guns from???
Wiht pick #9... Armo IIRC... and McEvoy. And everyone stated that the drafts were very shallow. Let's weigh it up against the draft picks available to each coach. Not defending either GT or RL, but, please at least be balanced about this.
If we look around the league and see Clinton Jones and Sam Fisher on our own list, and guys like Priddis, Dalziell, Alwyn Davey and Harry Taylor all slotting into AFL teams quickly, I think we get a picture of what we were trying to do at the time. Good skillsets in mature bodies, that should make their initial impact in a shorter timeframe - but certainly aren't being taken as finished products.
As for Armo coming from a shallow draft, it's the first time I've heard that - if we take a look at the '06 draft, it's shown astounding depth very early. Westhoff was a late pick. The infamous Jesse White of Sydney (the 19th man on the field) was taken even later. Kyle Reimers was just the friendly side of pick 50, and it's easy to find players up and down that draft to rate it's depth as fantastic. That isn't to say we should already have a star from our 1st rounder - I've got no problem with Armo, and think he'll be just fine, but we've had our chance to draft some pretty talented players.
Point is, in the fair and balanced review you ask for, you get something very different from the oft-posted view that our recruitment was driven into the ground going for quick fixes (I'm sure had we wanted to we could have picked up veterens ala Fremantle). It certainly doesn't suddenly start looking better/more youth focused at the '06 draft table. The Saints DID and still DO have a dearth of new blood making an impact for the side. It's not and never has been because we didn't go looking for it, rather, we have not seen improvement come from those outside of the core group until recently. Extrapolating further and seeking culprits can certainly be fun, but isn't the open and shut case I generally read about.