McEvoy or Rioli???

[sax]

Before I start this post, I'm not critical of the Saints for drafting McEvoy.
He could one day be a superstar.
In hindsight, who else thinks Cyril Rioli would've been a better pick up for us? Our main defficiancies this season, among others, have been pace and forward line pressure, which Rioli seems to excel at!
Sure, there were rumours abouta bad attitude and baggage, but I think he'd be pretty handy in our forward line.
As I said though, I'm not critical of the Saints in this one, it's far to early to tell, I was just wondering what every body else thinks!!

2007 Draft. Ben McEvoy no.9, Cyril Rioli no.12

[The_Dud]

would be very handy right now, speed, forward pressure, another avenue to goal

but as usual, we've gone for height and a "project player"

[rodgerfox]

Greg Westaway wanted Rioli.

Oddly, the football department chose not to take his advice.

[evertonfc]

Cameron Stokes, anyone?

Fair dinkum...ANOTHER rookie lister with a big future.

And what about Austin Wonaeamirri? Quality.

Why do they get continually overlooked?

[Spinner]

Before I start this post, I'm not critical of the Saints for drafting McEvoy.
He could one day be a superstar.
In hindsight, who else thinks Cyril Rioli would've been a better pick up for us? Our main defficiancies this season, among others, have been pace and forward line pressure, which Rioli seems to excel at!
Sure, there were rumours abouta bad attitude and baggage, but I think he'd be pretty handy in our forward line.
As I said though, I'm not critical of the Saints in this one, it's far to early to tell, I was just wondering what every body else thinks!!

2007 Draft. Ben McEvoy no.9, Cyril Rioli no.12

Its an impossible question. Who here has actually seen McEvoy play in the AFL?

Came with baggage/bad attitude? Is that fact or is that the standard line because he is Aboriginal? Serious question.

[plugger66]

We pick players from 15 other clubs after the event and say why didnt we get him. For a start we would need 30 picks a year and secondly after 4 games and maybe I am wrong but isnt it a tad early.

Everyone just about on here wanted a ruckman we got one now we want Rioli. Well I want Masten, stokes, tippert, and any other new good player. Next year lets delist 30 and get those guys but only after they have played a few games to see how good they are.

[Eastern]

Let's re-visit this topic in 7-10 years. Then we will at least have some evidence upon which to base our opinions. Before that time it is just a silly aguement !!

[The_Dud]

but you have to admith that he'd be real handy right about now

[borderbarry]

Attitude not a problem for young Rioli. I wanted to take him at Pick 9. Why would we want McEvoy, another ruckman who wants to play forward?
The Saints were very interested in Rioli before the draft. I think that taking Schneider probably caused the change of heart. Although I would have prefered Rioli to Schneider anyway.

[saintsRrising]

While at the time I was not picking McEvoy...you can fully understand the clubs thinking...

They have gone long term with this pick.

Having King and Gardi play this year has shown again how good it is to have a proper ruckman in the team. However both would not be likely to be playing in say another 3 seasons...maybe less.


When McEvoy was taken it was not really know at all whether Gardi would in fact ever play senior football again and if he did at what standard.


All one can ask of the club of recruiting is;

*That they take a well thought out approach with the balance of picks addressing list management

*that they do their homework to achieve good value for our selection (and/or trade).

Reviewing our last draft/trade period I think that overall it is pretty hard to fault.


The only one that really stands out at present is the redrafting of the GTrain...but as that only cost pick 57 even that is ok even if it is found not to have beena success.

Balancing McEvoy...the next two picks were used on nimble mids in Schneider and Stevens. Given that our current mids are not known for their ability to kick goals Schneiders value to the saints is more than he would be at other teams.


so even if I personally would not have picked up Mac...I am more than pleased with our drafting/trading/ recruiting of last year.

Indeed overall it was exceptional.

If we could do that every year I would be delighted.

(PS...Dempster and Charlie were basically free.....so don't let Dempster's first quiet game disstract from the excellent work...for even if he never plays again the value gained by us is still very good).

[Richter]

Pretty ridiculous thread this one. It's far too early to be making these sort of calls - big men take longer to come through than little fellas.

However, looking back a year we can see that we picked Brad Howard with our second pick, in front of for instance, Bachar Houli and Alwyn Davey. At the present time that is not looking a real clever pick. Both Houli and Davey were touted at the time. Hopefully BH can come through in the next couple of years and show us what he can do.

[saintsRrising]

we picked Brad Howard with our second pick, in front of for instance, .

Yes you would have to say that St Mart got that one right.

That Bevo got over excited with his smokies and picked him way too early.

Yes he may come good....but in hindsight St Mart I think was 100% correct that we should have left him for a later pick......and that if he was taken....no loss as there were other good (and more likely to succeed) options earlier who hada lot more evidence to show that they were likely players.

In hindsight our price was way too high.....and importantly it can be said to have been an unreasonable pick....bidding way to high fora player.

Payinga good price is a key skill in drafting.

There is really no evidence to suggest that Saints were justified in taking him with that pick.

[mad saint guy]

I was hoping that we took Rioli before the draft (and if given the option now I would still take him over Ben), but right now we have absolutely no idea how McEvoy will turn out. Too early to make a proper judgement.

[hAyES]

Absolutely no way of knowing this until McEvoy at least plays a game. There are plenty small, quick forward line players but if McEvoy becomes a star it definatelt becomes worth the risk.

[my les foote]

Pretty ridiculous thread this one. It's far too early to be making these sort of calls - big men take longer to come through than little fellas.

However, looking back a year we can see that we picked Brad Howard with our second pick, in front of for instance, Bachar Houli and Alwyn Davey. At the present time that is not looking a real clever pick. Both Houli and Davey were touted at the time. Hopefully BH can come through in the next couple of years and show us what he can do.

Clayton Collard was also touted by many on this forum at the time. He has already been delisted by one club.

Some of the other guys taken soon after Howard who I know nothing about (doesn't mean they won't make it, they just haven't made an impact on my consciousness)
28 Dawes Pies
29 McKenzie Eagles
33 Morton Hawthorn
34 Schmidt Lions
35 Austin blues
37 Goldstein Roos

[Otiman]

Way too early to make a call. None of our draftees would have been expected to play a senior game this year. We went for bottom age players because we believed that it would be a few years before we needed them to come up, for example with the retirements of Hayes/Baker/Milne.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

Got to ask whether Rioli would have been given a game in a 22 that already had Milne, Schneider and Xavier Clarke marked as playing through or in the forward pocket. Rioli was a perfect pick for the Hawks, they had no crumber, so he can walk straight into a good side with a role to play and develop from there.

He certainly looks good doing it.

[bigcarl]

i'm all for going the best available player rather than recruiting someone to fit short-term team needs.

think long term and think big picture. from what i hear mcevoy is going to be very good for us down the track, bearing in mind that bigger guys do tend to take a bit longer

[vacuous space]

McEvoy's biggest problem as a junior was that he had a coach that wanted to win games, not develop his players. He played McEvoy up forward because he's such a good contested mark. When McEvoy played in the ruck at the championships last year, he was beaten by smaller rucks who played there every week. Now that he's at a club that wants him to ruck, he should be able to develop the part of his game that was neglected.

He's bigger than Kreuzer, has great hands and has excellent skills. He should be a dominant physical force by the time he's fully developed. His lack of speed and agility might hurt more if he were a ground level player, but rucks at our club aren't there to win groundballs - they're there to win taps, take marks and fill holes, and he should be excellent at those things. We know he can kick a goal too, which is huge.

The gap between McEvoy and the next best ruck is far greater than that between Rioli and Steven, and remember, we got Schneider too. I think we did a great job of filling our short and long term needs over the off season.

[SENsei]

Greg Westaway wanted Rioli.

Oddly, the football department chose not to take his advice.

But had he coached him as a youngster?

[Saints Premiers 2008]

we need a generation next ruckman...with both king and mg at the club now he will be given fine tutition...

rioli looks good because the hawks are playing well...all smalls look good when the team is playing well

he could be anything but hey...so could mcevoy...

[Ball_Breaker]

I'm with the pro-McEvoy's above. We need to develop a good ruckman even if it takes a few years. There will always be a Cyril Rioli (and they are probably becoming more prevalent) and they can slot in pretty quickly (ie, the Daveys, Rioli, Stokes etc.) Sure we could use the likes of Rioli this year, but personally I think we are going to be a better team in 3 years. We are still a shot this year - but we still need to keep an eye on the next five years while we still have a young core of exceptional players to build a team around.

[Buckets]

Quick question...If we are able to have Gards and King in the same line up with gards out at present could it actually be a good lesson for Macca if he filled in that way we can use Kosi elsewhere? We have ruckmen like Kruezer and hamburgerman running around against ruck opposition who have played many more games than them why cant we do the same?

[Saints Premiers 2008]

Quick question...If we are able to have Gards and King in the same line up with gards out at present could it actually be a good lesson for Macca if he filled in that way we can use Kosi elsewhere? We have ruckmen like Kruezer and hamburgerman running around against ruck opposition who have played many more games than them why cant we do the same?

maybe he isnt ready yet???not sure

i think kruezer was always going to play asap bar injury...even if he wasnt ready in terms of skill or body

[Buckets]

Quick question...If we are able to have Gards and King in the same line up with gards out at present could it actually be a good lesson for Macca if he filled in that way we can use Kosi elsewhere? We have ruckmen like Kruezer and hamburgerman running around against ruck opposition who have played many more games than them why cant we do the same?

maybe he isnt ready yet???not sure

i think kruezer was always going to play asap bar injury...even if he wasnt ready in terms of skill or body

If we needed a ruck replacement heaven forbid if both go down who do we bring in and who can grow the most by being in the team Macca or Rix?