2001 draft we had the oppurtunity to recruit some guns and had the picks to do it, however Craig Cameron and Neile Daniher stuffed up badly. We can not make the same mistakes. i am a bit nervous about all this

Nice, creative, thread-starting post. We're all nervous - but look on the bright side, at least Daniher and Cameron aren't at the helm anymore.

It's interesting that last time there were three players that stood above the rest in a draft was 2001. Everyone thought that the Hawks had got it wrong for a few years because Hodge took some time, while Judd was a superstar straight away, and the Saints when Ball started playing were on the verge of a premiership.

Hopefully our recruiting team can't get it wrong here, and all three players will eventually become great players in winning teams.

CAC must take a hell of a lot of responsibility for the state we're in at the moment.

Surprised Richmond were all too keen to bring him over.

the problem now isnt the kids. its the lack of leadership and quality older players on the list. go and read about 'draft penalities' so you can see why we couldnt draft them in 99 and 00 and see why we are lacking players in the 26-29 year age bracket.

Green, Wheatley, Whelan and Bruce all came from the 99 draft Deanox

Green, Wheatley, Whelan and Bruce all came from the 99 draft Deanox

and were late picks

and were late picks

Brad Green was pick 18 I'm pretty sure.

Brad Green was pick 18 I'm pretty sure.

We lost our first round pick due to salary cap breaches. We got pick 19 from Frenmantle in exchange for Troy Longmuir. We used 19 on Green, 20 on Wheatley, 50 on Whelan and 64 on Bruce.

What pick would you have had?

What pick would you have had?

Three but bumped out to five as 'Pies & Freo each had a priority pick. Pies took Fraser with #1 and traded pick 3 to Richmond (who infamously took Aaron Fiaora). Freo took Haselby & Pavlich with 2 & 4. Still a few useful players to be had though.

... its the lack of leadership and quality older players on the list...

Green, Wheatley, Whelan and Bruce all came from the 99 draft Deanox

green had a great year, but there is a reason he was left out of the leadership group this year. after a great start to his career he has treadwater imo and never reached star status. good honest footballer, with a good kick (most years) who can be courageous, especially with the flight of the ball. never has much real influence on matches. and if you disagree, only bother replying if you can give me examples of when he has influenced the result.

wheelan - spends more time in the doctors office than on the park. has managed 140 games in 9 seasons at the club. 2008 was the first year he has averaged more than 15 disposals. yeah he is a hard nut tough defender. but thats it, he is a small defender. does create some play, but does not win matches.

wheatly - tough? no. injury prone? yes. long kick? yes. beat his man? no. yes he is useful player, but that is all. no star.

bruce - the best of the lot over his career but stlill never good enough to attain star status. his disposal has let him down greatly. still question marks. plus we got him at pick 64.

remember we took shannon obrien (63) and michael j clark (42) before either wheelan (50) or bruce (64). and traded pick 35 for powell.

do you really think we got leadership out of that draft?

I don't know about leadership, but I'm pretty happy with Whelan at 50 and Bruce at 64. They have given excellent value for their relative draft positions. I was never a huge fan of CAC but he got those two pretty right.

Deanox, your call on Wheatley is right - he is a useful player. Re Green - in 07 when we beat Adelaide at the G I thought he more than anyone else influenced the result of that game. Again, he is a good player without reaching the heights of superstardom. Is he a leader? Probably not.

green had a great year, but there is a reason he was left out of the leadership group this year. after a great start to his career he has treadwater imo and never reached star status.

Well, he is twice the play that Bruce is.

Can kick for starters.

And puts his body on the line.

do you really think we got leadership out of that draft?

i think we did quite well in that draft, considering what we had to work with (ie late picks), but that is precisely why we are struggling now. if we had picks in the top few we could have a pavlich or a darren glass. granted the top of the draft isn't as good as others ie 04, but we got good honest players, but didnt snare a package. we didnt get an elite, and we didnt get a leader. RE greens leadership, one swallow doesnt make a summer. he has been average of late.

and regarding the win against adelaide, didnt green make a comment about us playing finals in 2007 either just before or just after that game? at least he was trying to talk positive. but it is genuinely hard to name games where green has stood up and influenced a result.

out of interest i think the 99 draft is a great draft to show how good CAC could be. he had rubbish picks to work with, in an average drafting year, and picked out a large group of players who have had successful afl careers. unfortunately he wasnt able to select/we weren't able to develop, any stars.

i think we did quite well in that draft, considering what we had to work with (ie late picks), but that is precisely why we are struggling now. if we had picks in the top few we could have a pavlich or a darren glass. granted the top of the draft isn't as good as others ie 04, but we got good honest players, but didnt snare a package. we didnt get an elite, and we didnt get a leader. RE greens leadership, one swallow doesnt make a summer. he has been average of late.

and regarding the win against adelaide, didnt green make a comment about us playing finals in 2007 either just before or just after that game? at least he was trying to talk positive. but it is genuinely hard to name games where green has stood up and influenced a result.

out of interest i think the 99 draft is a great draft to show how good CAC could be. he had rubbish picks to work with, in an average drafting year, and picked out a large group of players who have had successful afl careers. unfortunately he wasnt able to select/we weren't able to develop, any stars.

Pavlich, JBrown (F/S) and Joel Corey would be the only dead set stars from the 99 draft. Great picking by MFC on this occasion.

joel corey is overrated

doesnt get attention due to ablett, bartel, selwood, chapman..and then theres enright and rooke too

showed in finals series, wasn;t good in the big games

not saying he's [censored]..but if he was in our side he'd be ordinary

Well, he is twice the play that Bruce is.

Can kick for starters.

And puts his body on the line.

Boring!

The failure of CAC and ND to draft good key position players. Since 2000 the best KPP that we drafted have been Rivers followed by Miller. Garland and Bate are coming on but are more the undersize key forward/Defender. Dunn drafted as a key forward is now a tagger. Even 2007 draft only Martin in the Preseason draft can be considered a true KPP. That is why 2008 two of of first three picks will be talls 192cm+ and more than likely our 4th pick as well. Our rookies will retain Spencer and we will add 3 potential KPP.

The failure of CAC and ND to draft good key position players. Since 2000 the best KPP that we drafted have been Rivers followed by Miller. Garland and Bate are coming on but are more the undersize key forward/Defender. Dunn drafted as a key forward is now a tagger. Even 2007 draft only Martin in the Preseason draft can be considered a true KPP. That is why 2008 two of of first three picks will be talls 192cm+ and more than likely our 4th pick as well. Our rookies will retain Spencer and we will add 3 potential KPP.

And yet ND spruiked for years about reconstructing the "spine"...

ND was our worst nightmare!!

he ruined us completely and so did his little mate craig cameron!!

speaking of which why the F&%K did we sign meesen for three years??

speaking of which why the F&%K did we sign meesen for three years??

This has been well discussed on the Meeson thread

ND was our worst nightmare!!

he ruined us completely and so did his little mate craig cameron!!

speaking of which why the F&%K did we sign meesen for three years??

Settle.

ND wasn't there then. But CAC was, god love him. He signed Meesen before he waved goodbye.