Petracca

[B.M]

Marshall, Steele, Petracca, Gresham

Now that’s a haircut you can set your watch to!!!

[CURLY]

Show me a recruiting team that hasn’t gotten it wrong.

Geelong who have apparently the best in the business have drafted.

Lang, Clark, Cockatoo, Smedts all with very early picks.

[B.M]

With pick 1

You don’t make such a monumental f*** up

Which ends up embarrassing and costing the club a champion

Champions are hard to come by

From 6 selections in the 20013 & 2014 drafts (pick 22 or better) we drafted zero champions

That’s 6 opportunities

Every two bit draft watcher couldn’t believe what Elshaug did… it was incomprehensible and incompetent

[CURLY]

With pick 1

You don’t make such a monumental f*** up

Which ends up embarrassing and costing the club a champion

Champions are hard to come by

From 6 selections in the 20013 & 2014 drafts (pick 22 or better) we drafted zero champions

That’s 6 opportunities

Every two bit draft watcher couldn’t believe what Elshaug did… it was incomprehensible and incompetent

Watts
Josh Fraser
Headland
Boyd
Patton
Swallow
McGrath
Delidio

Plenty have

[ace]

Yeah but Paddy McCartin comes from a better family.

[1965 Saint]

I suspect that if we had drafted him he wouldn’t still be with us

[CURLY]

Yeah but Paddy McCartin comes from a better family.

I still think if Paddy hadn’t have had the concussions he would be a excellent AFL key forward.

[B.M]

I can hack not picking the best player, but you need to get it close to right

Josh Fraser - 218 games 165 goals
Jack Watts - 174 AFL games
Headland - dual premiership player
Boyd - Premiership player (who GWS got a nice trade for)
Swallow - Best and Fairest and club captain 175 games so far
McGrath - is he a bad player?? 92 games in 5 years avg 21 possessions
Brett Delidio - dual club champion, dual AA
Jon Patton - 3 knee recos still played 95 games and kicked 135 goals

And they are the WORST you can come up with?

How about
Riewoldt, Hodge, Goddard, Cooney, Murphy, Gibbs, Whitfield, Weitering, Walsh.

Some of them weren’t even the best players in their draft, but were worthy number 1 picks!!!!

Petracca would sit comfortably in that group

McCartin
Like it or not, was one of the worse draft selections in our history of the National Draft

[The_Dud]

The problem was that it was such an obvious decision.

When news came out that we might not be taking him, most in the industry thought it was a joke or we were playing games

[damienc]

With pick 1

You don’t make such a monumental f*** up

Which ends up embarrassing and costing the club a champion

Champions are hard to come by

From 6 selections in the 20013 & 2014 drafts (pick 22 or better) we drafted zero champions

That’s 6 opportunities

Every two bit draft watcher couldn’t believe what Elshaug did… it was incomprehensible and incompetent

Yep.

[B.M]

IF Paddy didn’t have the concussions MAYBE he would have been a decent AFL player

Problem is
Petracca is a gun power midfielder- no ifs, buts or maybes!!!

Like to know what Paddy’s elite traits were?

Size 193, so not overly big for a power forward
Athleticism- slow and average agility
Endurance - poor
Marking - could take a contested grab, but dropped marks occasionally too
Kicking - good field kick, poor set shot
Game IQ - not bad for a tall
Below knees - acceptable for a tall
Body composition - heavy and struggled to manage weight.
Courage - high level

A number 1 should have at least 3 elite traits

[Wayne42]

How about Martin Leslie, Richard Lounder, Alex McDonald, Anthony Banik, Stephen Hooper, John Hutton as examples of crap No.1 picks.

Paddy McCartin is not on his own in the crap stakes.

[damienc]

Show me a recruiting team that hasn’t gotten it wrong.

Geelong who have apparently the best in the business have drafted.

Lang, Clark, Cockatoo, Smedts all with very early picks.

True but this was not a case of just getting it wrong. No other team in the AFL would ever pick McCartin over Petracca. It was that obvious.

We had a number 1 draft pick and we stuffed it. We didn't pick the best prospect in the draft. If Melbourne go premiers they should send a special thank you to St Kilda.

[B.M]

Wayne

That was 1987, 88, 89, 90, 91

Drafting has come a fair way since then… back then people were just plucking guys from leagues all over Australia
Most of the time, hardly seeing them and going by word of mouth

Drafting only really got professional and clubs got serious about recruiting young talent when the TAC cup started in 92

[Wayne42]

It's still the history of drafting, it may have improved but it's still an inexact science, it's why reputations are destroyed.

[Waltzing St Kilda]

Quite apart from Petracca, the Pelican/Trout years yielded no champions from a lot of low picks.

It was a slow motion car crash.

[Yorkeys]

All true but it would be hard to like Christian even in a Saints jumper wouldn't it.

Cold comfort, but he doesn't seem to ooze charisma.

That's all I have to rationalise worst draft picking of all time.

[CURLY]

I love the comments that no one in the industry would have taken McCsrtin that everyone.

Every phantom draft every draft profile in that year had McCartin 1-2.

Yes in hindsight it was a bad pick as McCartin suffered from concussion but he was always either 1 or 2.

[CURLY]

I can hack not picking the best player, but you need to get it close to right

Josh Fraser - 218 games 165 goals
Jack Watts - 174 AFL games
Headland - dual premiership player
Boyd - Premiership player (who GWS got a nice trade for)
Swallow - Best and Fairest and club captain 175 games so far
McGrath - is he a bad player?? 92 games in 5 years avg 21 possessions
Brett Delidio - dual club champion, dual AA
Jon Patton - 3 knee recos still played 95 games and kicked 135 goals

And they are the WORST you can come up with?

How about
Riewoldt, Hodge, Goddard, Cooney, Murphy, Gibbs, Whitfield, Weitering, Walsh.

Some of them weren’t even the best players in their draft, but were worthy number 1 picks!!!!

Petracca would sit comfortably in that group

McCartin
Like it or not, was one of the worse draft selections in our history of the National Draft

All the above were still mistakes in hindsight. Fraser over Pavlich Delidio over Buddy Watts over Nic Nat Tom Scully over Dusty.

Hindsight is a fools paradise.

[Ghost Like]

I love the comments that no one in the industry would have taken McCsrtin that everyone.

Every phantom draft every draft profile in that year had McCartin 1-2.

Yes in hindsight it was a bad pick as McCartin suffered from concussion but he was always either 1 or 2.

Hindsight is the Billings v Bontempelli selection.

Stupidity is the McCartin v Petracca selection.

[Ghost Like]

It's still the history of drafting, it may have improved but it's still an inexact science, it's why reputations are destroyed.

The science is relatively exact. It is the interviews and pseudo psych assessments that are flawed, in this case, fatally & embarrassingly.

[CURLY]

It's still the history of drafting, it may have improved but it's still an inexact science, it's why reputations are destroyed.

The science is relatively exact. It is the interviews and pseudo psych assessments that are flawed, in this case, fatally & embarrassingly.

If you take a look at guys like Wilkie Highmore and Sharman recruiters are often hindered by the flawed TAC system. TAC basically most money more opportunity more barrows being pushed.

[Ghost Like]

It's still the history of drafting, it may have improved but it's still an inexact science, it's why reputations are destroyed.

The science is relatively exact. It is the interviews and pseudo psych assessments that are flawed, in this case, fatally & embarrassingly.

If you take a look at guys like Wilkie Highmore and Sharman recruiters are often hindered by the flawed TAC system. TAC basically most money more opportunity more barrows being pushed.

So are you saying our choice of McCartin was because of a flawed TAC system, excusing the (flawed) reasoning our recruiter added to the science available to him?

[CURLY]

It's still the history of drafting, it may have improved but it's still an inexact science, it's why reputations are destroyed.

The science is relatively exact. It is the interviews and pseudo psych assessments that are flawed, in this case, fatally & embarrassingly.

If you take a look at guys like Wilkie Highmore and Sharman recruiters are often hindered by the flawed TAC system. TAC basically most money more opportunity more barrows being pushed.

So are you saying our choice of McCartin was because of a flawed TAC system, excusing the (flawed) reasoning our recruiter added to the science available to him?

The choice of McCartin was needs based nothing else. Both were rated 1 or 2 everywhere you read. We needed a key forward and that’s the path we chose. Without the concussions it’s fair to say McCartin would be a very capable AFL key forward.

[Ghost Like]

Again, a flawed choice. A Top 10 player should not be decided on a "needs" base. In this case, a panicking "needs" base. It should be on best available. Petracca was #1, clearly. Don't take my word, take the word of other AFL clubs who would have taken Petracca #1.

We also needed an elite midfielder but there's some perception these are a "dime a dozen". Just shows the Saints finances are so bad, we don't even have a dime.

Worst #1 selection this century. Thankfully we'll only have our noses rubbed in it for another decade & by bloody Melbourne supporters.