Recruit the best players, or recruit specific players??

[spert]

Listening to Jason Dunstall talking about Saints recruiting and he suggests we should just recruit the best young players, not specific players. Not sure if that is good or bad.. what if the best young players are say three half forward flankers, or two full forwards etc etc in the top 20 available. How does this compare to going out and recruiting a specific midfielder, or specific CHB who may nor be in the top 20, because we desperately need a midfielder or KPP back rather than say three brilliant forward pockets.

What's your views ???

[plugger66]

Certainly the best player in the first pick and maybe even the second. After that needs. If 2 players are classed as very close in ability and you need ont type of player then take him. Rider is a ruckman should never be a number one pick ever again. And that isnt Patrick.

By the way still not convinced we wont trade our number one pick this year. Love a player and good pick as what the Dees did last year.

[Dis Believer]

Certainly the best player in the first pick and maybe even the second. After that needs. If 2 players are classed as very close in ability and you need ont type of player then take him. Rider is a ruckman should never be a number one pick ever again. And that isnt Patrick.

By the way still not convinced we wont trade our number one pick this year. Love a player and good pick as what the Dees did last year.

Agree with this and reckon GWS are into it. They knew they wouldn't be able to keep all their first three years first rounders on the list, but they are smart - trade them out for higher picks as they want out and have multiple first round picks for most of a decade.

Shiel wants out - fine - off to the Saints for pick one and maybe we'll throw in a mid first round pick as well (do they have one this year?)

[bergsone]

Agree with best available in early picks,if its a mid or a fwd so be it ,its not as if we don't need them.Dont disagree with trading early pick for a good player and good pick,or even get 3 in top 20 like last year,in that case I think 1 has to be a tall fwd

[magnifisaint]

The best player can play any position. Don't believe in specific players. Their the ones that aren't quite as good so they get other labels given to them

[cwrcyn]

Best player. We made the mistake of picking for position with McEvoy, and we missed out on Dangerfield. That's a pretty significant loss.

[ausfatcat]

Best player. We made the mistake of picking for position with McEvoy, and we missed out on Dangerfield. That's a pretty significant loss.

what makes you say that McEvoy wasn't considered by the saints the best at that time? If I seem to remember Adelaide taking Dangerfield so high was a surprise to many

[Munga]

We have too many holes to worry about filling them at the moment. Get the best players then fill holes later.

[bergholt]

The best player can play any position. Don't believe in specific players. Their the ones that aren't quite as good so they get other labels given to them

Any position? Who's this "best player" you speak of? They sound perfect because we might need a back pocket or a full-forward or an inside mid or an assistant coach down the line somewhere. If they can fill all those positions that would be excellent!

[kosifantutti]

Take the best player from the country who didn't go to a private school and has a picture on the AFL website.

[Dr Spaceman]

Take the best player from the country who didn't go to a private school and has a picture on the AFL website.

Or.......




when we ask for a time extension before making our selection; ask for 2 years

[Unforgiven]

I'm going to contradict myself here, but pick the best talent available, though smalls > talls. E.g. If the best 2 available players are a midfielder and a key back, pick the mid every day of the week.

We are playing in a new era, the introduction of free agency is the key tool in filling needs (e.g. We picked up Delaney, Hawks secured Brian Lake, both for a specific role in their respective teams).

At the draft, I'd like to see us generally just pick the best available talent, and hopefully the 3-4 kids we pick has at least a few mids and a tall between them.

[sunsaint]

Listening to Jason Dunstall talking about Saints recruiting and he suggests we should just recruit the best young players, not specific players.

What's your views ???

that was not how i heard Dunstall at all
He made it very clear we have a key position problem & thats how you build a team for the future
and I agree completely
WE needed to draft a monster FF & FB last year - because when Roo retires this year we are going to be very very THIN in the forwardline - and while Im happy with Bruce/Delaney Im not sure they are going to become All Australian FB

[plugger66]

Listening to Jason Dunstall talking about Saints recruiting and he suggests we should just recruit the best young players, not specific players.

What's your views ???

that was not how i heard Dunstall at all
He made it very clear we have a key position problem & thats how you build a team for the future
and I agree completely
WE needed to draft a monster FF & FB last year - because when Roo retires this year we are going to be very very THIN in the forwardline - and while Im happy with Bruce/Delaney Im not sure they are going to become All Australian FB

But are they becoming like ruckman where you are better to get them either at a later pick or from another club after a few year developing there as we did with Bruce and Delaney. Im not sold on wasting pick ones on tall KPP players these days just as its a waste on ruckmen. Im actually not sold on KPP at all these days. Sides with the best mids usually do pretty well even if you have only one good KPP.

[sunsaint]

so why do we have so many young ruckman on our list?
and mids are far and above the most common player drafted

[plugger66]

so why do we have so many young ruckman on our list?
and mids are far and above the most common player drafted

Dont get the Ruckman thing but at least 2 of them werent drafted by us. They did develop somewhere else. And the mids should be the most common player. Our problem is we dont have enough of them with quality.

[Old Mate]

Best player. We made the mistake of picking for position with McEvoy, and we missed out on Dangerfield. That's a pretty significant loss.

The surprise was Adelaide not selecting Ebert and us not selecting Rioli. Both those trades were locked in if the rumours at the time are believed to be true.

In terms of using pick 1, you've always got to select best available player in the draft.

[terry smith rules]

listening to Ben Rutten interviewed, recruited as a full forward, finishes as a great full back

therefore just take the best players and work it out as we go

[plugger66]

Best player. We made the mistake of picking for position with McEvoy, and we missed out on Dangerfield. That's a pretty significant loss.

The surprise was Adelaide not selecting Ebert and us not selecting Rioli. Both those trades were locked in if the rumours at the time are believed to be true.

In terms of using pick 1, you've always got to select best available player in the draft.

What if the best player was a ruckman? Surely we dont want anymore on those types?

[Old Mate]

Plugger, I personally would not select a ruck man with pick 1 unless he was a freak like Natanui. If he was in this draft I would pick him even with our wealthy ruck stocks.

[plugger66]

Plugger, I personally would not select a ruck man with pick 1 unless he was a freak like Natanui. If he was in this draft I would pick him even with our wealthy ruck stocks.

Having seen Nic Nat I wouldnt pick him as a top 10 pick. We obviously have a different idea on ruckmen. The only ruckman I would have as a number one pick in the last 10 years is Dean Cox and thats because he playes like a old ruck rover.

[Zed]

This is a really interesting conversation considering there is no standout number 1 pick this year. So perhaps position does play a part this year with our first pick if talent is considered similar. Given where our list is, its a fair bet that we will be battling Brisbane for the spoon again next year. So there is next years possible top 5 talent pool to consider as well.

Structurally we need a couple of big forwards capable of clunking a mark and kicking goals. We just look impotent when the ball moves into our forward line. Things will only get worse when Riewoldt finally hangs up the boots. We also need 3 or 4 more quality mids who can provide lots of run and spread, but more importantly must be great users of the ball. Lets face it , we probably need another couple of key defenders as well because Fisher is cooked, Gwilt is just about cooked, Gilbert doesn't really play key position, and Bruce is still unproven.

If all things are even, Im pretty certain we will look at a big guy over a midfielder with our first pick this year.

[borderbarry]

Using old-fashioned speak, we need a full forward and a centre half forward to cover Roo;s retirement. Now McCartin looks the goods as a full forward, but I dont have a clue on CHF. Maybe Jacques from GWS might be the best bet. Apart from those two positions we badly need good mids.

[saintsRrising]

Plugger, I personally would not select a ruck man with pick 1

I think history shows that early ruck picks do not deliver on the value of the pick.

Better way is to build the rest of your team, and then to top it off by trading in a ruckman.

unless he was a freak like Natanui. If he was in this draft I would pick him even with our wealthy ruck stocks.

Nat may be a freak...but he is freak that cannot read the play.

He is the most over-rated player in the AFL by a long margin.

He goes ok at the ball ups as the fall is there and he just has to tap it/chase it.

But when the ball is out in the open, he does not know where to be, where to run etc.

[saintsRrising]

What's your views ???

With drafting. take the best available with picks up to about two dozen odd. After that while still biasing that way you can steer for particular needs. However I am skeptical about taking rucks early, and would jump to the next pick. More so at present as we all ready have 3 young rucks, plus the rookie Holmes plus Stanley.

However with trades you can trade for what you need as you are not then potentially wasting value.