Rookie draft selections

[plugger66]

Also im of the opinion mids now win games and we basically picked up none. Its a very risky strategy but like everyone I hope it pays dividends.

What part of Jack Sinclair getting 33 possessions against Murray Bushrangers and Dandenong Stingrays respectively suggest that he is not a mid??

Most expert draft pundits suggest that Daniel McKenzie with the right development is a star mid in the making - on raw potential he could turn out to be the best mid in the draft

We chose 3 mids with our first 3 picks last year and will probably target more in next years draft.

Whilst I like mids as well you cant have mids playing full forward, centre half forward, centre half back and full back - in this years draft there were a couple of standout players who could fill those positions - we pulled the trigger because supposedly there is a dearth in the next few drafts and get a good one (especially a forward) via trade may cost us an arm and a leg.

That said I dont think we needed Saad however we showed that we are a loyal club and we have sent a good message that we stick by our players - Schneids is purely for experience to help the younger blokes

From the little I've seen and read about Sinclair and Payne we definitely have something to work with

re: Bampton and Kietel - every club overlooked them - which says a lot

I wouldn't know Sinclair from Adam but when I hear forward/mid I usually think in AFL footy they will be a forward for a fair while. And yep I know we cant have mids playing forward but we now have about 7 tall forwards if you include a resting ruck. We also have about 4 small forwards. What worries me is we keep drafting talls and smalls which suggests they think many that we have on our list now are wasted picks. That worries me.

[Toy Saint]

I'm with Plugger here. I've been of the opinion that we need to get quality mids into the squad. I would have bet good money that we would have taken Petracca, and was surprised by the Mccartin selection. Mind you, I'll be delighted if Mccartin turns into a dominant forward. Quite delighted that Goddard was still available at #21, but still no mids. Don't know much about Mckenzie.

I'm of the view that very few individuals can command a permamanent small forward role, Milne was able to hold down that role. We need mids who can go forward. Much as I like Billings, i'd prefer he could play 50% in the midfield. Saad, Lonie, Schnieder & Templeton...the way the game is played these days I just think we need a bunch of guys we can rotate through the middle, and I doubt these guys can.

And then there's our tall forwards....Lee, Spencer, Mccartin, Roo, Bruce.....undestand why we let go of Stanley.......But we need quality mids...thats what wins games.....and our midfield is probably the weakest in the competition.

Lets hope the next couple of years are loaded with quality mids....cause I reckon we'll have a very early draft picks.

[Devilhead]

I wouldn't know Sinclair from Adam but when I hear forward/mid I usually think in AFL footy they will be a forward for a fair while. And yep I know we cant have mids playing forward but we now have about 7 tall forwards if you include a resting ruck. We also have about 4 small forwards. What worries me is we keep drafting talls and smalls which suggests they think many that we have on our list now are wasted picks. That worries me.

You cant have 38 to 40 absolute superstars in your squad - each year you have to delist a certain few who are most likley players who are not deveolping or are excess to current needs - i would say we already know which players we are likely to cut next year and maybe the yera after unless of course they finally step up to the plate and deliver

Ok so we have 7 tall forwards in a few years time these 7 might be cut to 4 (only keep the best) and the 3 gone might be replaced by mids - the 4 specialist small forwards we might cut to 2 in the next few years and we replace with mids - and the mids we have we will cut and replaced by mids - so soon we have good mids over all age groups and gun forwards and gun backs

I have no idea what the strategy of recruiting team is and I would hazard a guess that you wouldnt either I would also think that they know more than you or I about the recruiting business and how to build a Premiership team or at least one that would give it a decent crack

We are in a rebuild which is going to take time and we will likely target mids in the coming drafts and through free agency to reinforce and compliment our current developing stock

I look forward to the day when we might be able to pinpoint this draft and count our lucky stars that we targeted a couple of highly rated key position players in McCartin and Goddard to compliment our mid field brigade which is still in development mode and of which some are still to be recruited so we have a nice age spread of mids which is vital for our club to be competitive and relevant in future years

[plugger66]

I wouldn't know Sinclair from Adam but when I hear forward/mid I usually think in AFL footy they will be a forward for a fair while. And yep I know we cant have mids playing forward but we now have about 7 tall forwards if you include a resting ruck. We also have about 4 small forwards. What worries me is we keep drafting talls and smalls which suggests they think many that we have on our list now are wasted picks. That worries me.

You cant have 38 to 40 absolute superstars in your squad - each year you have to delist a certain few who are most likley players who are not deveolping or are excess to current needs - i would say we already know which players we are likely to cut next year and maybe the yera after unless of course they finally step up to the plate and deliver

Ok so we have 7 tall forwards in a few years time these 7 might be cut to 4 (only keep the best) and the 3 gone might be replaced by mids - the 4 specialist small forwards we might cut to 2 in the next few years and we replace with mids - and the mids we have we will cut and replaced by mids - so soon we have good mids over all age groups and gun forwards and gun backs

I have no idea what the strategy of recruiting team is and I would hazard a guess that you wouldnt either I would also think that they know more than you or I about the recruiting business and how to build a Premiership team or at least one that would give it a decent crack

We are in a rebuild which is going to take time and we will likely target mids in the coming drafts and through free agency to reinforce and compliment our current developing stock

I look forward to the day when we might be able to pinpoint this draft and count our lucky stars that we targeted a couple of highly rated key position players in McCartin and Goddard to compliment our mid field brigade which is still in development mode and of which some are still to be recruited so we have a nice age spread of mids which is vital for our club to be competitive and relevant in future years

Of course they know more than both of us or at least me but surely we cant stop a discussion on that bias otherwise we should never talk about players or team selections at all or where we train and probably 100 other things. And I agree some of our talls will be cut by a few in a couple of years but what s***s me is we gave Lee 2 years this season when one would have been enough. And I look forward to the day I am proven wrong about the 6 players we got this year but at the moment we know bugger all about them so hence we choose to think they are great, average or poor picks. Its just annoying that we have so many tall forwards, so many ruckmen and a fair few small forwards and HBF but bugger all genuine mids. When we hoping the likes of Shenton may have to play as a mid it proves how little we have. And worst of all we have no big mids unless Acres makes it.

[cwrcyn]

Billings, Acres, Dunstan, Templeton, Newnes, Webster, Ross........ a bit to work with. Add three more to that group in the next two drafts (and maybe snare an uncontracted mid from another club) and things start to look a little better. No point panicking at this stage. We will hit the bottom of the curve next year and from then on we should rise steadily. Admittedly, we don't appear to possess an obvious gun midfielder at this stage, but it wasn't obvious in Hayes, Steven, or Montagna in their first 20 games, either. And we all know how long Armitage took to get to his current level. Too many people expect players to be like Chris Judd. Of course, he's the exception rather than the rule. Look how long it took Deledio to get going. The same can be said for players like Kennedy, Watson, Liberatore, Gibbs, and Dangerfield. They didn't jump straight into the midfield and look like 200 game stars in their first season or two. Yes, they showed glimpses, but consistent high level performance only came after 40 to 50 games,. In fact, Kennedy and Watson looked like complete duds in their first two seasons. Three seasons in the system is what it takes for most players. So for guys like Acres, Dunstan, Billings, Templeton and co, we shouldn't expect high level consistent football (in the midfield) from them until late 2016.

Hold on to your hats and hold your nerve. The sky is not falling,

[stinger]

Im assuming the coaching staff are planning on pushing Shenton, Minch, Newnes, Murdoch and a few others into the midfield more next year, otherwise a lot will be left to Steven, Armo, Dunstan and Monty.

i get amused when posters overlook seb ross

[Bardon Saint]

Would the reason why we are more top heavy up forward be because tall forwards would take maybe a year or 2 longer to develop relative to a mid. Bring in tall forwards first, then mids the following year or two and they peak at the same time? Just a thought as I'm at a bit of a loss.

The other being that gun tall forwards are few and far between to trade in and compared with more choice in coming years for the recruitment of established mids. Maybe be cheaper too arguably

[Bardon Saint]

Would the reason why we are more top heavy up forward be because tall forwards would take maybe a year or 2 longer to develop relative to a mid. Bring in tall forwards first, then mids the following year or two and they peak at the same time? Just a thought as I'm at a bit of a loss.

The other being that gun tall forwards are few and far between to trade in and compared with more choice in coming years for the recruitment of established mids. Maybe be cheaper too arguably

[HitTheBoundary]

We have so many forwards now, tall and small, that getting a game will be survival of the fittest (the best).

Hopefully in two years it'll be obvious who we want to keep, and hopefully the forward line is filled with quality.
Then top up with mids, via free agency and the draft. At least young mids come on quicker than young talls.

Mind you, if in two years none of the forwards are any good then we are stuffed.

[Austinnn]

I agree that mids are vital, but maybe the experts in our recruiting team viewed the quality of the mids in the rookie draft as inferior to that of the players we chose.

I trust them enough to judge if the mids available would be good for us or not, we had a few on our list in the last few years that we got rid of, so its not like quality isn't important. We need to see them getting a go in the Sandy firsts at least to validate their place in our squad.

We have players who I believe will be expected to graduate to the midfield positions, who are now finding their feet in half-fwd/back possies don't we?

Maybe the club sees them as better options to what was in the rookie draft.

Agsin., I'm happy to have Saad back, not just warm and fuzzy feeling of loyalty, but I genuinely think he offers a lot to our team. He had a poor second year, but so did many. He's a rookie now so low risk, we can chop him next year if it doesn't work out.

Schneider should have been let go as far as I can see, but I guess his experience is seen as valuable.

Let's see where we are after next year's nat & rookie drafts I think.

[HJ_Mitch]

I wouldn't know Sinclair from Adam but when I hear forward/mid I usually think in AFL footy they will be a forward for a fair while. And yep I know we cant have mids playing forward but we now have about 7 tall forwards if you include a resting ruck. We also have about 4 small forwards. What worries me is we keep drafting talls and smalls which suggests they think many that we have on our list now are wasted picks. That worries me.

You cant have 38 to 40 absolute superstars in your squad - each year you have to delist a certain few who are most likley players who are not deveolping or are excess to current needs - i would say we already know which players we are likely to cut next year and maybe the yera after unless of course they finally step up to the plate and deliver

Ok so we have 7 tall forwards in a few years time these 7 might be cut to 4 (only keep the best) and the 3 gone might be replaced by mids - the 4 specialist small forwards we might cut to 2 in the next few years and we replace with mids - and the mids we have we will cut and replaced by mids - so soon we have good mids over all age groups and gun forwards and gun backs

I have no idea what the strategy of recruiting team is and I would hazard a guess that you wouldnt either I would also think that they know more than you or I about the recruiting business and how to build a Premiership team or at least one that would give it a decent crack

We are in a rebuild which is going to take time and we will likely target mids in the coming drafts and through free agency to reinforce and compliment our current developing stock

I look forward to the day when we might be able to pinpoint this draft and count our lucky stars that we targeted a couple of highly rated key position players in McCartin and Goddard to compliment our mid field brigade which is still in development mode and of which some are still to be recruited so we have a nice age spread of mids which is vital for our club to be competitive and relevant in future years

Of course they know more than both of us or at least me but surely we cant stop a discussion on that bias otherwise we should never talk about players or team selections at all or where we train and probably 100 other things. And I agree some of our talls will be cut by a few in a couple of years but what s***s me is we gave Lee 2 years this season when one would have been enough. And I look forward to the day I am proven wrong about the 6 players we got this year but at the moment we know bugger all about them so hence we choose to think they are great, average or poor picks. Its just annoying that we have so many tall forwards, so many ruckmen and a fair few small forwards and HBF but bugger all genuine mids. When we hoping the likes of Shenton may have to play as a mid it proves how little we have. And worst of all we have no big mids unless Acres makes it.

That, my dear Plugger, is an oxymoron. We got 6 players this year and you don't know whether they can play football? WE, as every other team, will not know that until they play, my dear fellow!
Big mids are the key to football success, Plugger? Tell that to Sam Mitchell, Josh Kennedy, Joel Selwood, Marc Murphy, etc, etc.
A positive outlook is always better than whining and whingeing, plugger. It will help remove the s*** on your liver.

[plugger66]

I wouldn't know Sinclair from Adam but when I hear forward/mid I usually think in AFL footy they will be a forward for a fair while. And yep I know we cant have mids playing forward but we now have about 7 tall forwards if you include a resting ruck. We also have about 4 small forwards. What worries me is we keep drafting talls and smalls which suggests they think many that we have on our list now are wasted picks. That worries me.

You cant have 38 to 40 absolute superstars in your squad - each year you have to delist a certain few who are most likley players who are not deveolping or are excess to current needs - i would say we already know which players we are likely to cut next year and maybe the yera after unless of course they finally step up to the plate and deliver

Ok so we have 7 tall forwards in a few years time these 7 might be cut to 4 (only keep the best) and the 3 gone might be replaced by mids - the 4 specialist small forwards we might cut to 2 in the next few years and we replace with mids - and the mids we have we will cut and replaced by mids - so soon we have good mids over all age groups and gun forwards and gun backs

I have no idea what the strategy of recruiting team is and I would hazard a guess that you wouldnt either I would also think that they know more than you or I about the recruiting business and how to build a Premiership team or at least one that would give it a decent crack

We are in a rebuild which is going to take time and we will likely target mids in the coming drafts and through free agency to reinforce and compliment our current developing stock

I look forward to the day when we might be able to pinpoint this draft and count our lucky stars that we targeted a couple of highly rated key position players in McCartin and Goddard to compliment our mid field brigade which is still in development mode and of which some are still to be recruited so we have a nice age spread of mids which is vital for our club to be competitive and relevant in future years

Of course they know more than both of us or at least me but surely we cant stop a discussion on that bias otherwise we should never talk about players or team selections at all or where we train and probably 100 other things. And I agree some of our talls will be cut by a few in a couple of years but what s***s me is we gave Lee 2 years this season when one would have been enough. And I look forward to the day I am proven wrong about the 6 players we got this year but at the moment we know bugger all about them so hence we choose to think they are great, average or poor picks. Its just annoying that we have so many tall forwards, so many ruckmen and a fair few small forwards and HBF but bugger all genuine mids. When we hoping the likes of Shenton may have to play as a mid it proves how little we have. And worst of all we have no big mids unless Acres makes it.

That, my dear Plugger, is an oxymoron. We got 6 players this year and you don't know whether they can play football? WE, as every other team, will not know that until they play, my dear fellow!
Big mids are the key to football success, Plugger? Tell that to Sam Mitchell, Josh Kennedy, Joel Selwood, Marc Murphy, etc, etc.
A positive outlook is always better than whining and whingeing, plugger. It will help remove the s*** on your liver.

My dear Fellow. Condescending crap. And who said big mids are the key to our success. You come across as a poster who wont be liked here or even in real life. Anyway have a nice day. And before you comment on one of my posts next time then read it first and try to understand it. At the moment you are nil out of one.

[dragit]

Would the reason why we are more top heavy up forward be because tall forwards would take maybe a year or 2 longer to develop relative to a mid.

This is exactly it.

No point having mids peaking in 4 years and key forwards who are still 3 years off their best.

McCartin was rated close to Petracca this year and apparently the next couple of drafts are looking mid-heavy.

Last year we took Billings, Dunstan, Acres, Weller, Templeton, Savage & upgraded Curren… that's 7 players who they would be planning to run through the midfield.

Next year I'm sure we will focus on mids again, but you can't fill all the roles every year… not sure what people are expecting.

[plugger66]

Would the reason why we are more top heavy up forward be because tall forwards would take maybe a year or 2 longer to develop relative to a mid.

This is exactly it.

No point having mids peaking in 4 years and key forwards who are still 3 years off their best.

McCartin was rated close to Petracca this year and apparently the next couple of drafts are looking mid-heavy.

Last year we took Billings, Dunstan, Acres, Weller, Templeton, Savage & upgraded Curren… that's 7 players who they would be planning to run through the midfield.

Next year I'm sure we will focus on mids again, but you can't fill all the roles every year… not sure what people are expecting.

But didn't we get White, Lee, Hickey, Longer, Membury, Pierce and Holmes all in the last 3 years. I suppose it gets down to whether you rate tall forwards and ruckmen as important in todays game.

[HJ_Mitch]

Plugger, I am not condescending you. I am simply quoting your own words. I quote "And worst of all we have no big mids unless Acres makes it."
I was merely calling it as I see it. Opinions are always subject to other's opinions. No offence was ever meant.
Anyway, football is my passion and St Kilda has been my team for well over 20 years (paid up each year).
I was the coach of a junior team over a number of years that consisted of Jack Billings, Jack Sinclair, Luke McDonald, Hugh Beasley and, later, Jay Kennedy-Harris.
I doubt there is another junior community football team that can boast five AFL draftees.
You want some facts about any of these blokes, let me know.

[Bardon Saint]

Would the reason why we are more top heavy up forward be because tall forwards would take maybe a year or 2 longer to develop relative to a mid.

This is exactly it.

No point having mids peaking in 4 years and key forwards who are still 3 years off their best.

McCartin was rated close to Petracca this year and apparently the next couple of drafts are looking mid-heavy.

Last year we took Billings, Dunstan, Acres, Weller, Templeton, Savage & upgraded Curren… that's 7 players who they would be planning to run through the midfield.

Next year I'm sure we will focus on mids again, but you can't fill all the roles every year… not sure what people are expecting.

But didn't we get White, Lee, Hickey, Longer, Membury, Pierce and Holmes all in the last 3 years. I suppose it gets down to whether you rate tall forwards and ruckmen as important in todays game.

Yes and justifies the timing of stocking up on them earlier in the rebuild as they take longer to develop.

[plugger66]

Would the reason why we are more top heavy up forward be because tall forwards would take maybe a year or 2 longer to develop relative to a mid.

This is exactly it.

No point having mids peaking in 4 years and key forwards who are still 3 years off their best.

McCartin was rated close to Petracca this year and apparently the next couple of drafts are looking mid-heavy.

Last year we took Billings, Dunstan, Acres, Weller, Templeton, Savage & upgraded Curren… that's 7 players who they would be planning to run through the midfield.

Next year I'm sure we will focus on mids again, but you can't fill all the roles every year… not sure what people are expecting.

But didn't we get White, Lee, Hickey, Longer, Membury, Pierce and Holmes all in the last 3 years. I suppose it gets down to whether you rate tall forwards and ruckmen as important in todays game.

Yes and justifies the timing of stocking up on them earlier in the rebuild as they take longer to develop.

I agree with that. I just rate mids as much more important in todays footy.

[dragit]

Would the reason why we are more top heavy up forward be because tall forwards would take maybe a year or 2 longer to develop relative to a mid.

This is exactly it.

No point having mids peaking in 4 years and key forwards who are still 3 years off their best.

McCartin was rated close to Petracca this year and apparently the next couple of drafts are looking mid-heavy.

Last year we took Billings, Dunstan, Acres, Weller, Templeton, Savage & upgraded Curren… that's 7 players who they would be planning to run through the midfield.

Next year I'm sure we will focus on mids again, but you can't fill all the roles every year… not sure what people are expecting.

But didn't we get White, Lee, Hickey, Longer, Membury, Pierce and Holmes all in the last 3 years. I suppose it gets down to whether you rate tall forwards and ruckmen as important in todays game.

No matter where you rate them, you still need to have tall forwards and ruckmen and they take a lot longer than mids to come good…
We definitely need to bolster our midfield with quality which i think we'll do in the next couple of years.

No point taking mids for the sake of it if we don't rate them.

I fully expect Temlpeton, Lonie & Billings to be pushing into the midfield down the track on top of Dunstan, Acres, Steven, Armo, Newnes

I guess lot depends on how many of these can become decent players: Weller, Curren, Ross, Markworth, McKenzie, Wright, Saunders & Murdoch - you wouldn't be backing many at this stage, but a couple should come good.

[Bardon Saint]

Would the reason why we are more top heavy up forward be because tall forwards would take maybe a year or 2 longer to develop relative to a mid.

This is exactly it.

No point having mids peaking in 4 years and key forwards who are still 3 years off their best.

McCartin was rated close to Petracca this year and apparently the next couple of drafts are looking mid-heavy.

Last year we took Billings, Dunstan, Acres, Weller, Templeton, Savage & upgraded Curren… that's 7 players who they would be planning to run through the midfield.

Next year I'm sure we will focus on mids again, but you can't fill all the roles every year… not sure what people are expecting.

But didn't we get White, Lee, Hickey, Longer, Membury, Pierce and Holmes all in the last 3 years. I suppose it gets down to whether you rate tall forwards and ruckmen as important in todays game.

Yes and justifies the timing of stocking up on them earlier in the rebuild as they take longer to develop.

I agree with that. I just rate mids as much more important in todays footy.

They are. Bringing in mids via either draft or trade will be the focus over the next two years. Logically it's not possible to bring in more fwds next year. Maybe developing another key defender would be handy?

[Zed]

Brenton Payne looks interesting - good height and has the potential to play at either end. I wonder if they intend on using him more as a defender initially and if that doesnt work out then throwing him forward. Other than Delaney we dont have a lot of future talls .. although Goddard hopefully will fulfill his potential. With the emergence of a lot of young tall forwards pushing 200cm, it would be nice if we could develop another couple of decent 193+cm defenders.

[Dave McNamara]

I wouldn't know Sinclair from Adam but when I hear forward/mid I usually think in AFL footy they will be a forward for a fair while. And yep I know we cant have mids playing forward but we now have about 7 tall forwards if you include a resting ruck. We also have about 4 small forwards. What worries me is we keep drafting talls and smalls which suggests they think many that we have on our list now are wasted picks. That worries me.

You cant have 38 to 40 absolute superstars in your squad - each year you have to delist a certain few who are most likley players who are not deveolping or are excess to current needs - i would say we already know which players we are likely to cut next year and maybe the yera after unless of course they finally step up to the plate and deliver

Ok so we have 7 tall forwards in a few years time these 7 might be cut to 4 (only keep the best) and the 3 gone might be replaced by mids - the 4 specialist small forwards we might cut to 2 in the next few years and we replace with mids - and the mids we have we will cut and replaced by mids - so soon we have good mids over all age groups and gun forwards and gun backs

I have no idea what the strategy of recruiting team is and I would hazard a guess that you wouldnt either I would also think that they know more than you or I about the recruiting business and how to build a Premiership team or at least one that would give it a decent crack

We are in a rebuild which is going to take time and we will likely target mids in the coming drafts and through free agency to reinforce and compliment our current developing stock

I look forward to the day when we might be able to pinpoint this draft and count our lucky stars that we targeted a couple of highly rated key position players in McCartin and Goddard to compliment our mid field brigade which is still in development mode and of which some are still to be recruited so we have a nice age spread of mids which is vital for our club to be competitive and relevant in future years

Of course they know more than both of us or at least me but surely we cant stop a discussion on that bias otherwise we should never talk about players or team selections at all or where we train and probably 100 other things. And I agree some of our talls will be cut by a few in a couple of years but what s***s me is we gave Lee 2 years this season when one would have been enough. And I look forward to the day I am proven wrong about the 6 players we got this year but at the moment we know bugger all about them so hence we choose to think they are great, average or poor picks. Its just annoying that we have so many tall forwards, so many ruckmen and a fair few small forwards and HBF but bugger all genuine mids. When we hoping the likes of Shenton may have to play as a mid it proves how little we have. And worst of all we have no big mids unless Acres makes it.

That, my dear Plugger, is an oxymoron. We got 6 players this year and you don't know whether they can play football? WE, as every other team, will not know that until they play, my dear fellow!
Big mids are the key to football success, Plugger? Tell that to Sam Mitchell, Josh Kennedy, Joel Selwood, Marc Murphy, etc, etc.
A positive outlook is always better than whining and whingeing, plugger. It will help remove the s*** on your liver.

My dear Fellow. Condescending crap. And who said big mids are the key to our success. You come across as a poster who wont be liked here or even in real life. Anyway have a nice day. And before you comment on one of my posts next time then read it first and try to understand it. At the moment you are nil out of one.

Hi Mitch, welcome aboard. (Or is it welcome back?)

If it's the former, P66 has issues with mateship/affection/friendliness/heck, just any level of positive vibes directed towards him/her (sometimes he claims to be she, but that's another story...). It all probably relates to once being stuck overnight in a clothesdryer in a KFC in Thailand, and not being able to reach his/her beer until being freed in the morning. (That pic has been posted on here. )

He's actually alright (though will no doubt come straight back on and call me a Tony Abbott for saying something positive about him )... actually there are a few on here who cultivate at times 'questionable' personas that are quite the opposite to their true selves.

But if it's the former (re welcome or welcome back), then you'd already know all that.



Back on topic... I'd take Josh Kennedy off that list of 'not big' mids.

And I'm looking forward to the day when I get to look back at this draft, and say how wrong I was in my assessment of who we should and should not have taken at No1... looking forward to that day.

[HJ_Mitch]

Good on you, Dave. Thanks for the welcome and I can honestly say I've never been on saintsational before.
Josh Kennedy at 188cm I wouldn't call big.
Cheers

[plugger66]

I wouldn't know Sinclair from Adam but when I hear forward/mid I usually think in AFL footy they will be a forward for a fair while. And yep I know we cant have mids playing forward but we now have about 7 tall forwards if you include a resting ruck. We also have about 4 small forwards. What worries me is we keep drafting talls and smalls which suggests they think many that we have on our list now are wasted picks. That worries me.

You cant have 38 to 40 absolute superstars in your squad - each year you have to delist a certain few who are most likley players who are not deveolping or are excess to current needs - i would say we already know which players we are likely to cut next year and maybe the yera after unless of course they finally step up to the plate and deliver

Ok so we have 7 tall forwards in a few years time these 7 might be cut to 4 (only keep the best) and the 3 gone might be replaced by mids - the 4 specialist small forwards we might cut to 2 in the next few years and we replace with mids - and the mids we have we will cut and replaced by mids - so soon we have good mids over all age groups and gun forwards and gun backs

I have no idea what the strategy of recruiting team is and I would hazard a guess that you wouldnt either I would also think that they know more than you or I about the recruiting business and how to build a Premiership team or at least one that would give it a decent crack

We are in a rebuild which is going to take time and we will likely target mids in the coming drafts and through free agency to reinforce and compliment our current developing stock

I look forward to the day when we might be able to pinpoint this draft and count our lucky stars that we targeted a couple of highly rated key position players in McCartin and Goddard to compliment our mid field brigade which is still in development mode and of which some are still to be recruited so we have a nice age spread of mids which is vital for our club to be competitive and relevant in future years

Of course they know more than both of us or at least me but surely we cant stop a discussion on that bias otherwise we should never talk about players or team selections at all or where we train and probably 100 other things. And I agree some of our talls will be cut by a few in a couple of years but what s***s me is we gave Lee 2 years this season when one would have been enough. And I look forward to the day I am proven wrong about the 6 players we got this year but at the moment we know bugger all about them so hence we choose to think they are great, average or poor picks. Its just annoying that we have so many tall forwards, so many ruckmen and a fair few small forwards and HBF but bugger all genuine mids. When we hoping the likes of Shenton may have to play as a mid it proves how little we have. And worst of all we have no big mids unless Acres makes it.

That, my dear Plugger, is an oxymoron. We got 6 players this year and you don't know whether they can play football? WE, as every other team, will not know that until they play, my dear fellow!
Big mids are the key to football success, Plugger? Tell that to Sam Mitchell, Josh Kennedy, Joel Selwood, Marc Murphy, etc, etc.
A positive outlook is always better than whining and whingeing, plugger. It will help remove the s*** on your liver.

My dear Fellow. Condescending crap. And who said big mids are the key to our success. You come across as a poster who wont be liked here or even in real life. Anyway have a nice day. And before you comment on one of my posts next time then read it first and try to understand it. At the moment you are nil out of one.

Hi Mitch, welcome aboard. (Or is it welcome back?)

If it's the former, P66 has issues with mateship/affection/friendliness/heck, just any level of positive vibes directed towards him/her (sometimes he claims to be she, but that's another story...). It all probably relates to once being stuck overnight in a clothesdryer in a KFC in Thailand, and not being able to reach his/her beer until being freed in the morning. (That pic has been posted on here. )

He's actually alright (though will no doubt come straight back on and call me a Tony Abbott for saying something positive about him )... actually there are a few on here who cultivate at times 'questionable' personas that are quite the opposite to their true selves.

But if it's the former (re welcome or welcome back), then you'd already know all that.



Back on topic... I'd take Josh Kennedy off that list of 'not big' mids.

And I'm looking forward to the day when I get to look back at this draft, and say how wrong I was in my assessment of who we should and should not have taken at No1... looking forward to that day.

Treatment needed Dave. Immediately. But you are right. Josh Kennedy is a big mid.

[St Ick]

Lordy Lordy, what happened here?

Could it be that our recruiters simply want the best talent on our list and considering the next few drafts are expected to be loaded with mids we didn't just get mids who we didn't rate?

Last year we got Eli, Luke, Mav, Jack and Blake. This year McKenzie and Sinclair are meant to have potential as mids and Lonie might become a Schneider like mid/forward.

That's a fair bit of talent into our midfield.

We also sured up our key positional posts, Goddard, McCartin and Payne look to be wonderful additions.

I really wonder what some people actually expect in our drafting. Rome wasn't built in a day

[HJ_Mitch]

Lordy Lordy, what happened here?

Could it be that our recruiters simply want the best talent on our list and considering the next few drafts are expected to be loaded with mids we didn't just get mids who we didn't rate?

Last year we got Eli, Luke, Mav, Jack and Blake. This year McKenzie and Sinclair are meant to have potential as mids and Lonie might become a Schneider like mid/forward.

That's a fair bit of talent into our midfield.

We also sured up our key positional posts, Goddard, McCartin and Payne look to be wonderful additions.

I really wonder what some people actually expect in our drafting. Rome wasn't built in a day

Totally agree St Ick. I reckon this year was a good as draft for the Sainters as last year.
The proof will be in tasting the pudding.
My assessment is that Lonie will not be a Schneider - he will be a Milne with brains, which is scary.
Sinclair will be a 100+ game player for us in the good years.