Rate our draft

[MC Gusto]

Very happy that the club, after years of neglect, has at last recruited another 2 indigenous players (Parker and Young) to play alongside Ben Long. Parker in particular looks like a really hard nut and together with the other 2 mature aged recruits (Hind and Young) should, with the benefit of elite coaching force their way into the team next year.

Max King was always going to be picked up at 4 - he is rated to be much like the Sun's (now Tigers) Tom Lynch and may well be in the best 22 early in the season. I expect that his selection as a tall forward, rather than the next best midfielder (Connor Rozee/Bailey Smith), was based on the fact that the Saints selected Hunter Clark and Nick Coffield in top 10 last year.

Jack Bytel (41) aged 18 and 188 cm will complement Clark and Coffield for mid-field selection in the years ahead - if he had not been injured for much of 2018 he was expected to be a much earlier pick.

This is the biggest shake-up of the Saints players list for years, and heralds a new era for the St Kilda Football Club.

This!

Very happy with the age demographic, the addition of two indigenous players and generally making most of our picks. It’s always a case of fingers crossed and trust the club but overall a job well done

[Ghost Like]

With the picks we had & our position I rate it a B+

There will be players on our list, the way it is currently balanced who will be trade bait by 2019 season's end.

[saintsRrising]

Very happy that the club, after years of neglect, has at last recruited another 2 indigenous players (Parker and Young) to play alongside Ben Long.

Gresham say hi....

[skeptic]

I can’t help but think about what our own Rodger Fox keeps posting (or has a couple of times) about the issue with the average age of our list.

I wonder if this type of recruiting is in response to that

[Scollop]

For the first time in five years, we didn’t go ‘vanilla’.

It's weird. We picked up multiple mature agers that many thought would be the targets for GCS
Hope it works out for us

[stkfc1]

With the picks we had & our position I rate it a B+

There will be players on our list, the way it is currently balanced who will be trade bait by 2019 season's end.

Reckon (hoping) thats part of the long term plan. You got to give something to get something and you'd rather give something you have a surplus of. Fowards are generally worth more on the trade table and we have a plethora of tall forwards now. Smart and shrewd planning, if so.

Say we do trade Paddy and Bruce next year (at this stage, they seem the obvious choice) then we're going to get something decent for both, esoecially if they have a half decent year. We'll still have King, Marshall, Membrey and Battle. Its up to Paddy and Bruce to prove they're indispensable. If they're doing well next year, we'll be doing well. I hope so, as I believe both boys have something to offer. Win-win either way!

[Vazelos]

Max King is enormous.
Jack Bytel I like has upside due to injuries would have gone higher. 2 nd only to Sam Walsh for possessions is a great statistic.
Out of the mature age recruits Parker has the most currency of people I know in the game. Hard and fast he is ready to go from Round 1.
Love the fact the other 2 are fast and we have another indigenous player with potential x- factor but those 2 are questionable AFL level players they have some work to do.

We have stock piled 4 top 10 picks last few years now and have more depth than people give us credit for. We are 2 elite mids away from being a serious team I truly believe we have built a good list on other areas ( Even the Rucks I think will be ok). Word at the club is Rowan Marshall is rated very highly and in 2 years they are exepe ring big things from this boy.
If one of these mature age kids really takes off then we have added speed and X factor whilst the other two can add depth and pressure for spots immediately.

[Vazelos]

Max King is enormous.
Jack Bytel I like has upside due to injuries would have gone higher. 2 nd only to Sam Walsh for possessions is a great statistic.
Out of the mature age recruits Parker has the most currency of people in the know that I know in the game. Hard and fast he is ready to go from Round 1.
Love the fact the other 2 are fast and we have another indigenous player with potential x- factor but those 2 are questionable AFL level players they have some work to do.

We have stock piled 4 top 10 picks last few years now and have more depth than people give us credit for. We are 2 elite mids away from being a serious team I truly believe we have built a good list on other areas ( Even the Rucks I think will be ok). Word at the club is Rowan Marshall is rated very highly and in 2 years they are exepecrting big things from this boy.
If one of these mature age kids really takes off then we have added speed and X factor whilst the other two can add depth and pressure for spots immediately.

[Enrico_Misso]

I'll get back to you in 5 years.

[guitars4]

Happy with King don't really know a lot about the others so who knows . Lets just hope we get a Tim Kelly because 40 + picks are always going to be speculative so we will have to wait & see how it pans out

[prwilkinson]

We’re happy. Basically only missed one we would have liked- he went to the Crows

Good stuff. Bring on the pre season. Does Maxy King get the big Rooooooooooo’s number 12?

[chico2001]

Bytel, according to Luke Power, was considered a possible top 10 pick last year, and averaged mid 30s possessions per game. Was injured all of this year. As far as the others (aside from King) are concerned I have absolutely no idea who they are and what they're like. I'm assuming most on here would be the same. Therefore you cannot rate the drafting

Don't assume. Do your research, just like other posters do. Then you watch them play or ask others who have seen them play and then you can rate the draft, It is a forum after all.

[chico2001]

I think they missed the boat a bit, needed a couple of powerhouse midfielders and didn't do it. Bytel has been injured a fair bit, so hard to rate that one. Young is not what we needed, forward pockets are dime a dozen. King is no 4 so enough said, but picked himself did'nt he. Don't know a lot about the Esssendon guy. Parker is possibly X factor and a good player. C minus

[Jacks Back]

Draft & Trade period = Bad
We pick up two injured players in the trade period - Hannebery and Kent
We pick up two more injured players in the draft - King & Bytel
We pick up 3 "mature" aged players no one has ever heard of or wanted.

Yep, nah, great draft and trade period.

[takeaway]

Bytel, according to Luke Power, was considered a possible top 10 pick last year, and averaged mid 30s possessions per game. Was injured all of this year. As far as the others (aside from King) are concerned I have absolutely no idea who they are and what they're like. I'm assuming most on here would be the same. Therefore you cannot rate the drafting

Don't assume. Do your research, just like other posters do. Then you watch them play or ask others who have seen them play and then you can rate the draft, It is a forum after all.

As other posters have said, we'll be able to rate them in a few years, not now. You don't really know until they have had a go at the real stuff. Watching them play now does not equate to AFL pressure. You never know, King might be a bust, and Robbie Young may have a stellar career. Stranger things have happened.

[Zed]

Not convinced any of the mature age guys are better than what we just cut form the list .
Perhaps a little quicker but can they kick well.

[mr six o'clock]

I'd be happy if i didn't read one guys recovering from an acl
One guys got back issues
One guys 24 , so if he becomes a good player we'll be lucky to get 150 games out of him
One guys a wild child , well next year with drink cards and money to burn we'll find out how wild he can be
I'd probably be more optimistic if we hadn't drafted so many duds over the last 10 years.
In 3 years time we will know

[Scollop]

Not convinced any of the mature age guys are better than what we just cut form the list .
Perhaps a little quicker but can they kick well.

We'll be really pissed off if Freeman, Minchy and Maverick make an impact at their new clubs
As you say, might have been better off keeping them

[fugazi]

I rate it a B

Pleasantly surprised we went with mature aged later picks....very underutilized resource IMO, highlights demonstrate genuine breakneck pace.

I think they will fight it out with Kent for 1 spot in the forward line.

Bytel looks the goods, inside and outside and quick and composed....Do we know what his back injuries are?

Max must be very good to be so universally hailed, and his brother will likely join as soon as he can.

Wish we had been a bit more creative with getting another first rounder like Carlton did.

[guitars4]

We were pretty much damned if we do damned if we don't .Our recruiting strategy over the last 5 to 10 years has been pretty ordinary to say the least but IMO at least they have tried to think out side the square .We need outside speed & quality ball users so how we have done I really can't say until we see them on the big stage. So a B- maybe

[mad saint guy]

Pleasantly surprised we went with mature aged later picks....very underutilized resource IMO, highlights demonstrate genuine breakneck pace.

I can't help but feel that our recruiters got too carried away with the success of Kelly and Ryan this year. They've plucked a bunch of players with similar attributes from state leagues but the big difference is that Kelly and Ryan were the best in the league. Wilkie is by far the best performed of our recruits and he's the one we rookied. I'm concerned that we've drafted two small forwards who don't get much of the ball and don't kick many goals at state level.

Also, what could the coaches possibly have in mind for the forward line next year?

Marking forwards:
Bruce
Membrey
McCartin
Battle
Marshall
King

Small forwards:
Billings
Gresham
Long
Lonie
Parker
Young

We have a terribly unbalanced list right now. Some will say that Billings and Gresham are going to move into the middle but I don't see it happening. Gresham should rotate through as an impact player but mainly play forward, while Billings has always been much better at half forward than anywhere else.

[axcellence]

Weird. I understand the thinking behind King and Bytel but I'd be stoked to occasionally pick a healthy, well performed kid from the TAC Cup

Parker is a strange one considering he isn't even one of the better performed players in the WAFL and as a 22 year old father, moving across the country to enter an elite sporting system for the first time is a massive challenge.

Hind obviously offers pace but I'm not sure a 180cm 24 year old defender with dodgy skills is what we should be targeting.

And who the hell knows who Robert Young is.

Our live pick trades also seemed entirely pointless and probably lost us value in the end.

Over the years whenever I've been left confused and concerned after a draft, hindsight has told me that those feelings were justified. I'm predicting that one of our injured recruits and one of our mature recruits makes it to 100 games

Very Scott Watters kind of a draft. Picking mature players to paper over the cracks. That’s why Boekherst was recruited by Carlton at 21.

Parker seems like a Weller replacement
Hind a replacement for Wright (note the dodgy kicking likeness)
Young a Minchington one

I don’t mind King and Bytel at all. The club needs quality.

Amazing that there were no genuine mids traded for or picked up as DFA besides Hanneberry. Can the club count on him to play 22 games? Could have chased Miles (Richmond DFA) as a backup but he’s off to Gold Coast.

The draw means 8-10 wins are possible but it’s looking shaky right now for Richo.

[groupie1]

For the first time in five years, we didn’t go ‘vanilla’.

Yeah. I like Lethlean's comment about what 'personal qualities' they were looking for and he said 'competitiveness' - as opposed to the 'good bloke, good family' crap we've been spun for the past five years.

[DJ Higgins]

Lots of pros and cons with this draft overall and our new recruits. Firstly the most important thing is now that we get behind each player but let's review
Max king
Pros Most know about max so in summary could be gun forward, great hand, tall ,long arms, not fussed if he us thin ie dustin Fletcher is he hard should be the quiry
Cons injury,goal kicking, work rate, won't come good until 2020-2022. Elite talent for a tall man and few in the industry didn't have him.in top 4 for a kid who played one game this year. Happy with the choice even if it is wrong

jack bytel .Pros good hand, composer under pressure,great round stoppages.
Cons. Old back injury flared up again. Ie its not a one
off. Seems to be an inside mid. Most his highlights in the back pocket.
Not sure we needed another inside mid let alone an injured one who seems to prefer defence.
Matthew parker. Goal kicker 1.5 a game, defensive pressure, mongrel in him, driven to succeed now, playing for his family now
Cons, wa family and friends, may not assimilate. Late bloomer. Another small forward, not an outside mid
Nick.hind pros quick and agile
Cons. Another hbf with poor kicking. Highlights mention he is a plumber that is scrapping bottom of barrel for a positive, 70kgs dripping wet. At this stage of the draft its hail Mary time so I expect nothing so can't lose.
Robert young.pros tackling small forward.
Cons late pick so a fair few. Been around since 2013

Not being negative but no genuine outside mid in there which I what we need. Three mature age picks scream short term fix for someone trying to save their job but it should have quicker Impact on our team. But who do these guys replace. Ie 2 small forwards are they better than long jade, Kent, lonie or billings. Lonie maybe.
Nick.hind really. Not saying he is bad but another f$&king hbf.
Bottom line is we have gone for pace, got some players that seem to have some fight and can get goals but not midfielder.
Done is done now and let's hope they all become stars but personally, if not for getting max king, this draft would barely be a pass.

[ace]

Excellent
No-one with type 1 diabetes.