The pick after

[B.M]

Watching tonight, and making me sick

Pick after McCartin
Pick after Billings
Pick after Coffield

But then again,

Check out the
pick after Ball
Pick after McEvoy

Any others??

[1966]

Thought the same thing.
Watching Bontempelli and Petracca leading their teams sitting 1st and 2nd whilst McCartin is finished and Billings nothing more than a GOP.
Saints recruitment team should hang their heads in shame.

[B.M]

Get any of those right

Things a lot different

Ones we did get right
Ross at 25
Gresham at 15

[1966]

They took a huge risk selecting McCartin over Petracca which was a total disaster so 12 months later played it safe and took Billings over Bontempelli.
Every club makes mistakes but they were shockers.
Only Melbourne taking Scully and Trengove over Martin comes close.
But we did it twice in a row.

[Wayne42]

Oh Boy, at least the club is consistent with it's drafting blunders.

[B.M]

Beggars belief really

But they did trade pick 16 for a lazy, overrated, undisciplined down hill skier

And no, not Brad Hill

This guy was sacked before even finishing a pre season

[bangaulegend]

Billings is a good player no Bont but a good player Gresh if he wasn't so injury prone would have been a decent pick at 13 ,Max IMO will be a rewarding choice just need to use his talent better than we are at the moment. Next year don't trade our 1 ,2 or 3 pick but ffs be diligent went you choose

[1965 Saint]

Yes and is there any danger of picking players that can kick set shot goals under pressure? That is also a hallmark of the teams that find themselves at the top of the ladder

[ausfatcat]

They took a huge risk selecting McCartin over Petracca which was a total disaster so 12 months later played it safe and took Billings over Bontempelli.

3 years later not 12 months later, after 12 months looked like we made the right choice Petracca did a knee looked cooked

[ausfatcat]

The real question is, is it selection or development?

[amusingname]

They took a huge risk selecting McCartin over Petracca which was a total disaster so 12 months later played it safe and took Billings over Bontempelli.
Every club makes mistakes but they were shockers.
Only Melbourne taking Scully and Trengove over Martin comes close.
But we did it twice in a row.

Umm, Billings was drafted the year before Paddy

[carn_sainter]

The real question is, is it selection or development?

Good point. In which capacity has Billings improved in his 7 years or whatever at the club? He's fitter and stronger, but has his game improved at all? Not sure he's anything other than a fitter, stronger version of the guy who came in to the club.

Having said that, it's ridiculous as in the OP to go back and bemoan every draft selection. Billings wasn't even poor drafting...perfectly fine decision at the time based on the info available. And he's turned out okay...compared to a superstar most players look poor.

McCartin was a bad decision both (especially!) in hindsight and prospectively at the time, so that one can be rued, sure.

Other than picks, there's a strategic thing with us. Look at the dogs and dees, both have built powerful midfields through drafting and development. We, on the other hand, did well with Seb Ross but otherwise haven't drafted too much midfield talent (though I remain optimistic on Bytel, even that was a low priority late pick smokey decision) at all.

The irony is we will try our darndest to repeat the error and throw everything at Ben King - a literal twin of a guy we already have!

[Devilhead]

Not sure why some of you torture yourselves

If only ..... if only ..... if only

Didnt happen ...... time to move on!!

[B.M]

Because it highlights how many of only moments in our history!

And if we don’t learn from mistakes, we’ll keep making them!

Speaking of ‘if only’

If only we didn’t trade away...

If only they didn’t suffer a career ending injury...

If only we drafted...

[B.M]

Agree on Billings

He was at least the best pick at the time!

[Yorkeys]

It wasn't an either or decision in regard to McCartin and Perracca was it? Saints could have decided Paddy was not physically good enough to spend pick one on and if it also thought Christian was unsuitable for other reasons, chosen another entirely? We have learned from that, then Head of recruitment and then coach have been removed from those roles.

"Pick after" is a sort of illusory soft target to judge a single club on isn't it ? There are still many players for the other clubs to pick from after the top few go, the talent pool is still relatively deep and subsequent picks do not have even the chance of making blunders in regard to players already taken, the odds are that some of the subsequent picks will be better than any single early pick because the comparison is one club one pick with many picks by many clubs.

The very early rankings, post the pick process (say that with a mouth full), are subjective not defined by science and based on specific clubs' structural needs and perceptions. Saints seem in hindsight to have been obsessed in the McCartin year with getting an understudy for Nick and forgot the prime principles - take best talent available if that man is sane and can mix well with others or increase your chances by trading pick 1.

Billings is a much better player now than a few years ago. I watch him closely because he is such an understated talent. Be interested how any current criticism or evaluation of him factors in his ongoing painful debilitating foot injury and consequential inability to train (Tony74 insight). His efforts this year seem to me to be characterised by bravery over pain and some super pieces of elite skill. He is up there with Steele for courage in my misguided view.

[CQ SAINT]

Because it highlights how many of only moments in our history!

And if we don’t learn from mistakes, we’ll keep making them!

Speaking of ‘if only’

If only we didn’t trade away...

If only they didn’t suffer a career ending injury...

If only we drafted...

So our lesson should be, pick our player, then change our minds and get the one after. Isnt that what we did with Petracca?

[saynta]

They took a huge risk selecting McCartin over Petracca which was a total disaster so 12 months later played it safe and took Billings over Bontempelli.
Every club makes mistakes but they were shockers.
Only Melbourne taking Scully and Trengove over Martin comes close.
But we did it twice in a row.

Not so. Billings drafted 2013...pick 3

Paddy drafted 2014 ...pick 1.

Apart for his cousin nobody was going to overlook Billings for The Bont, not even the doggies.

[freely]

Melbourne have had some shockers - they also took Watts over NicNat. On the other hand, they took Gawn at pick 34 the year they missed Martin. I'm not sure we ever persevere with players they way they have with him. It's certainly borne fruit now!

[B.M]

Interestingly enough

If we did the drafts all over again, picking the ‘pick after’

We’d be better off I reckon

Still don’t understand why we didn’t take J Riewoldt or J.Frawley with pick 9 in 2006?

In 2007 we took McEvoy at 9 (not a bad pick)
After that was Dangerfield 10, Cyril Rioli 12, Ebert 13, Robbie Tarrant 15, Harry Taylor 17, Rance 18, Ward 19, Scott Selwood 22

[saynta]

Interestingly enough

If we did the drafts all over again, picking the ‘pick after’

We’d be better off I reckon

Still don’t understand why we didn’t take J Riewoldt or J.Frawley with pick 9 in 2006?

In 2007 we took McEvoy at 9 (not a bad pick)
After that was Dangerfield 10, Cyril Rioli 12, Ebert 13, Robbie Tarrant 15, Harry Taylor 17, Rance 18, Ward 19, Scott Selwood 22

The papers at the time were saying we would take Rioli with our pick and wasn't I pissed when we didn't.

But hey Big Boy turned out to be a good pick....for Hawthorn...as did Cyril.

[sks023]

Interestingly enough

If we did the drafts all over again, picking the ‘pick after’

We’d be better off I reckon

Still don’t understand why we didn’t take J Riewoldt or J.Frawley with pick 9 in 2006?

In 2007 we took McEvoy at 9 (not a bad pick)
After that was Dangerfield 10, Cyril Rioli 12, Ebert 13, Robbie Tarrant 15, Harry Taylor 17, Rance 18, Ward 19, Scott Selwood 22

The papers at the time were saying we would take Rioli with our pick and wasn't I pissed when we didn't.

But hey Big Boy turned out to be a good pick....for Hawthorn...as did Cyril.

Milne and Rioli in the same team would have been great