Connor Rozee at #4

[Wombat15]

Reading around on Social Media and the buzz floating around is Connor Rozee is the man at 4. Thoughts?

Personally, I'm not a fan. I think we should be targeting a big midfielder like Collier-Dawkins or Hately. So I would rather risk the biscuit and take Hately than Rozee but if they are after genuine pace, tackling and marking then Rozee is probably the best bet. He was a genuine contributor for North Adelaide which is handy.

[saint-stu]

He looks pretty good in the highlights, but I suppose they all do. Cal Twomey said this:

POS: Half-forward/midfielder
Ht 185cm, Wt 71kg, DOB 22/1/00
From North Adelaide/South Australia
October ranking: 7
September ranking: 8

Rozee's end to the season thrust him right back among the best players available this year. The 18-year-old played in North Adelaide's senior SANFL premiership, and was a key player throughout the finals off half-back, before blitzing at the Combine. Everyone knew Rozee was powerful, quick and had a leap on him, and he showed that during testing, ranking in the top 10 for the standing and running vertical jumps, second in the sprint (2.91 seconds) and in the top 10 for the agility. He can play in all three parts of the ground and has some star factor to him.

[sunsaint]

oh lordy lordy no

[takeaway]

Prefer others, but only from video highlights. Maybe the word is GC are taking Luko & Rankine, leaving Rozee as the last SA boy. Rumour started by Saints to get Port to trade 5 & 15 for 4? They then get Rozee, we get Smith or King, etc. You never know.

Don't think Port would go for it - they really want Luko or Rankine.

[Devilhead]

Yet Rozee outperformed both Rankine and Lukosious at SANFL senior level - He was also MVP at the U16 Championships

We could be playing games but the kid is undoubtedly super talented

[sunsaint]

they all have talent and he obviously plays well above his height and weight
at this stage but do we need another sub 190 backman ?
I know he is a swingman - but will he be an AA onballer in comparison to what is on offer this year?
IF he goes forward - we are back to the sub 190cm problem again

[saint-stu]

Actually in Rankine's highlights, he seems to have trouble hitting targets by foot.

[bigred]

Actually in Rankine's highlights, he seems to have trouble hitting targets by foot.

Should fit right in then.

[guitars4]

No No & No .We are very poor at selecting new talent but IMO No!!

[degruch]

Actually in Rankine's highlights, he seems to have trouble hitting targets by foot.

Actually does some pretty decent work in Rozee's highlight reel though Have to get Rankine with #4 if he's still there. If he's gone, I don't care, as long as we get a decent mid.

[guitars4]

No No & No .We are very poor at selecting new talent but IMO No!!

Well not at pick 4 IMO . If we choose to trade for multiple picks then maybe yes

[SuperDuper]

get on board the Rozee train!

why not? Unless of course guitars4 has actually seen him play a game of football or has some other insight into why he is a no?

[Cairnsman]

Reading around on Social Media and the buzz floating around is Connor Rozee is the man at 4. Thoughts?

Personally, I'm not a fan. I think we should be targeting a big midfielder like Collier-Dawkins or Hately. So I would rather risk the biscuit and take Hately than Rozee but if they are after genuine pace, tackling and marking then Rozee is probably the best bet. He was a genuine contributor for North Adelaide which is handy.

Pace, tackling and marking, big midfielder or just a dam good midfielder. They aren't considering anything else. Take it to the bank.

[guitars4]

get on board the Rozee train!

why not? Unless of course guitars4 has actually seen him play a game of football or has some other insight into why he is a no?

No I havent seen him play I have only seen his highlight's reel & don't get me wrong I don't think he's a dud but IMO (only) I think there are better players ahead of him at pick 4. I did correct myself saying if we trade picks then it would be a different story . You obviously know his back ground far better than I do so you may be right on the money.

[skeptic]

I liked Coffield’s highlights more

[vacuous space]

I can just see, in a few years, when King starts kicking bags of goals, the reaction on here. 'We passed on a generational talent who lived five minutes down the road for a flanker.' That doesn't mean it's the wrong pick, but it seems awfully speculative to draft a guy at 4 in this draft who averaged 13 disposals at the champs and not a lot of contested footy. I feel like recruiters are a lot more optimistic than they should be about these low production guys that run well at the combine. There's a lot of them who bolted into the first round only to do not a whole lot at the top level. Maybe the real Rozee is the guy who had a nice game against Metro, or maybe he's the guy who did very little the three games prior.

I'd still prefer Hately and Valente to Rozee. They're less flashy, but they do more and they're genuine mids. If we want an outside runner, I'd prefer Chayce Jones. I'd prefer Smith to all of those unless we think there's some sort of long-term problem with his achilles. King is my absolute preference because I think he's the sort you build the team around and, while I'm hopeful that our current key forwards will improve, I don't the club can bet the future on one of them becoming elite. If we go with Rozee, I hope I'm very wrong and feel free to rub it in my face if I am. I'm very anxious that the people in charge will outsmart themselves again and they'll all be gone in three years with the supporters the ones left holding the bag.

[Ghost Like]

I appreciate what you are saying Vacuous. I too hope we don't outsmart ourselves which is why we must pick best available for our list. IMO, that's Smith. We cannot live in fear we may miss a once in a generation player at the expense of our list. We did outsmart ourselves thinking that with McCartin. We must build the list now to try to get the best from Paddy and offer him the best opportunities and that will come from building an elite midfield.
The strike rate over the past few drafts for key / power forwards has been relatively poor. Is it the players or the way the game is played?
I've watched the St Kilda football club over 4 decades and enjoyed watching once in a generation forwards, going back to George Young to Plugger & Stewie to the G-train to Roo. Unfortunately I've not watched us win a premiership.
Hopefully we now subscribe to the sum of the parts rather than just a shiny, glistening part to be in awe of.

[saintsRrising]

. I'd prefer Smith to all of those unless we think there's some sort of long-term problem with his achilles. King is my absolute preference

Caveat is that my knowledge is based on only what I have read. However, I tend to favour Smith out of the players that are likely to be there at 4.

In part as we are so lacking cream and that I believe that gaining several really good players will make a considerable difference to our overall list and that I believe that Smith is a surer bet. King is a bet with a higher potential to be exceptional, but equally also with much greater likelihood of being so so.

In part too as I can see Smith having impact immediately over the next two seasons. Whereas King may need a couple of years to get going. With our current state the club needs some signs that we are up on the list wise or it will remain difficult to attract talent that we need. also with our midfield now having off Hanners and Steven gaining players who will come on much later really means than getting a player like Hanners may not see all of his value realised.

And in part as I think we have some tall options that can go ok in the forward line, but that some extra class through engine room will have more impact even if the player is not as gifted as King.

King is an interesting one though, BUT I am just so very very wary of these very tall young forwards in the underage comps.

Very rarely have any in recent times lived up to the hype. In addition the lack of physicality and limitation on body contact tends to allow these young talls to shine more in the pre-AFL competitions. But then against men and with more body contact they come back to the field somewhat. I would be more confident in picking King if his ball skills where better.

Maybe the closest parallel might be comparing King to Daniher, with a similar likely career trajectory. Are the Saints in the position at present to be that patient?


My guess is the club originally favoured King, and may well still do. I suspect that they are currently agonising over do they go with a potential superstar vs a more certain, but perhaps lower ceiling-ed player that can get runs on the board quicker.

[freely]

Also, of course, look how all the other clubs missed out on a once-in-a-generational player (Riewoldt) - and it didn't hold them back at all.

[saintsRrising]

I
I've watched the St Kilda football club over 4 decades and enjoyed watching once in a generation forwards, going back to George Young

George Young. One of my favourite players.

For the younger set who did not watch him play he was an amazing winger/hf type who are while brilliant we did not actually see what he could have been due to a series of knee injuries (plus in those does knees did not have he range of remedial treatments that the players have now) that eventually ended his career.

So as a "one-legged"player he was an amazing player for us that mainly played FF due to his knee. If he had of remained injury free he would have probably gone down as one of the most mercurial and gifted players to have ever pulled on a boot. As it was he was amazing.

http://www.wafootballhalloffame.com.au/ ... orge-young

“In George Young’s liquid grace and lethal nonchalance, St Kilda fans saw the miracle of Baldock reincarnated”

[vacuous space]

I would be more confident in picking King if his ball skills where better.

I think Max is being held to a different standard here. People have watched giantroo's edit of his game against the Chargers and come to some interesting conclusions about his kicking. If you watch giantroo's edits of any of the top prospects, there are going to be some shanks and some turnovers. They're edits rather than highlight reels. Max goaled on 67% of his scoring shots over the course of his TAC career. I don't think his reputaion here matches his reputation amongst scouts. Get some strength into his legs and give him some AFL level coaching and I don't think he'll be shanking many of his shots from 50.

In terms of his relative size, Max is about 15 cm taller than the kid who starts on him in the Chargers game. So, yeah, there will be an adjustment when he gets to VFL level. He did play on 201 cm Ben McKay in the game against North's VFL team and managed 4 scoring shots and set up at least one other one. I wouldn't expect him to get double-digit scoring shots too often in the VFL. At the same time, I don't think he's going to struggle at that level. The smaller guys are going to have to adjust too. Rankine, for example, is used to playing on guys who struggle to keep up with him. If he plays on Neville Jetta next year though, Jetta is pretty used to defending guys like that.

Key forwards may have a higher attrition rate. There may have been a bunch that didn't work out as well as the drafting teams would have liked in recent years. I still think you have to evaluate Lukosius and the Kings on their own merits. I don't think Jon Patton or Tom Boyd are going to have much bearing on whether any of them make it. If the club takes Rozee because they think he's going to be the better player, I'm fine with that, even though I'm terrified by the thought of defending Kings 2-4 times a year for a decade. If we're taking Rozee because we have McCartin, I'm far less fine with that.

[skeptic]

The thing that stands out to me about King he is that he has weapons for a forward... he’s big already and will get bigger which puts him in good steed, plus he can take a grab and put himself into decent positions to mark. He also seems to be agile enough to pinch hit the ruck.

He seems to me to be a better prospect then say Paddy

I feel prepared to back this kid in

On Connor, I find it a little harder to identify the aspect of his game that could be elite... not saying it’s not there, just that nothing stands out right away.

[Joffa Burns]

So I was on the GC this week and lunched with some people from TSS and one of them is an Ex GCS board member, and a typical Big mouth board member.

He starts talking about the draft and how hard the AFL is pushing GC to take the King twins in their first 3 picks.

He says Lukosius is #2 regardless, the Suns would then be keen to trade with Saints for #4 so they get Rozee & Rankine but AFL is adamant the King twins are players a club can be built around and would be a better chance to retain.

Interesting, I checked the guy out and he was a board member. Is he talking s*** because he had the ear of 8 people? Would the AFL push the selection process or is he just a loud mouth?

Can’t wait to find out draft night.

[dragit]

So I was on the GC this week and lunched with some people from TSS and one of them is an Ex GCS board member, and a typical Big mouth board member.

He starts talking about the draft and how hard the AFL is pushing GC to take the King twins in their first 3 picks.

He says Lukosius is #2 regardless, the Suns would then be keen to trade with Saints for #4 so they get Rozee & Rankine but AFL is adamant the King twins are players a club can be built around and would be a better chance to retain.

Interesting, I checked the guy out and he was a board member. Is he talking s*** because he had the ear of 8 people? Would the AFL push the selection process or is he just a loud mouth?

Can’t wait to find out draft night.

Salivating draft for Gold Coast.

They could easily walk away with Lukosius, Rankine and M King… Three of Walsh, Luko, Rankine, Smith, King X 2, Rozee is incredible in any combination.

They must be pissing themselves about losing to us now, all hail the cho.

[tedtheodorelogan2018]