ANOTHER YEAR OF DRAFTING DANGEROUSLY – PART ONE

SEND IN THE CLOWNS

Cast your mind back to a Saturday evening back in 2007. To be exact, the evening of 11 August 2007 when the Demons were ever so generously permitted by the AFL to play a home game on a Saturday night in Melbourne (probably the last time it happened). The problem was that for some unknown reason, this fixture took place at Telstra Dome, the home ground of its opponent for the night, the Western Bulldogs, but in the end it probably didn't matter anyway.

The Doggies were in a slight slump but a win that night would have put them into the top eight by a clear game. The Demons were in fifteenth position with just three wins. They had absolutely nothing to play for and were being quoted at $4.00 the win in a two horse race which made them rank outsiders.

So what happened?

In front of 18,946 witnesses they stunned the Western Bulldogs into submission to lead from start to finish and win by 42 points in a round 19 result that turned out to be more significantly to their own detriment because the four points gained from the match virtually ruled out their prospects of gaining a priority draft pick in 2007 (#19) and, as it turns out, the very succulent thought of having the first two picks at the forthcoming 2008 national draft.

Just think about that for a moment or two. Had Melbourne done what everyone believed its fellow cellar dweller Carlton was doing at this time of the season (i.e. tanking games to ensure a better draft position), its supporters would now be spending their nights listening to some beautiful music and dreaming about the moment when their club's new recruiting officer Barry Prendergast calls out the first two names at a minute or so past 11 o'clock on the morning of Saturday 29 November 2008: -

"Selection No 1 Melbourne [insert number] Jack Watts … Selection No 2 Melbourne [insert number] Daniel Rich"

And then they could all rapturously break out into the opening lines of that wonderful song from the musical "A Little Night Music" at the thought of these two players in action together on the field in the red and navy blue colours:-

Isn't it rich?

Are we a pair?

Me here at last on the ground,

You in mid-air.

But alas, that won’t happen because, at exactly 7.10 pm on the night of Saturday 11 August 2007, the folk at melbournefc.com.au decided to send in the bloody clowns to win a game of football that was meaningless while elsewhere on this continent the boys in the navy blue were literally fumbling, stumbling and tripping over their feet losing the football on the way to eleven successive defeats to finish on four wins for the season. The exact number to earn them a priority pick at # 1 over Richmond which is precisely what Melbourne would have received this year had it lost to either the Bulldogs that night or to Carlton in Round 22, the latter of which was well nigh on impossible.

As Whispering Jack put it to me recently, this was the night when "Melbourne snatched victory from the jaws of victory and ended up suffering a defeat!"

Selection One - Isn't it Rich?

I watched the 2007 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships with great interest and was very much taken by a young blond midfielder in Daniel Rich. The kid with the thumping, long and accurate left foot won All Australian selection but was too young for that year's draft. I marked him down as a certainty for # 1 this year and, though another WA youngster in Nick Naitanui was exciting many others, my mind never wavered until another blond youngster, this time from Victoria, emerged on the scene. Together the trio are my favourites for Selection One which is held by the Melbourne Football Club – to my mind, they are head and shoulders above the rest of the field.

I also noted last year in the wake of the move to Carlton of West Coast star midfielder Chris Judd, that the "go home" factor was an issue that all club recruiting officers had to contend with when formulating their plans on draft day. It might not be considered the right thing to do but, in making my assessment as to where the top three will be selected this aspect was the sealer. That makes the choices pretty obvious. Melbourne will take Jack Watts first, West Coast will probably opt for Naitanui and Fremantle will happily take Rich. So, in answer to the question asked in the song:

No, it isn’t Rich!

Here are some pen pictures of the three draft specials of 2008 taken from the November edition of Inside Football. I don’t think I can add any more to the observations made by those who are close to the players themselves:

JACK WATTS - tall forward, Sandringham Dragons, Vic

DOB: 26/3/91 Ht 194cm* Wt: 85kg

"Jack is just an exceptional player. It's hard to find an area he is isn't good at. He's an enormous reader of the game and makes good decisions in no time whatsoever. Type of player no-one can lay a hand on and has the ability to work in a phone box. Any cliché you care to come up with applies to Jack. If Melbourne was to take him with the No. 1 pick then they hopefully wouldn't allow the pressure of fans and whoever else to ruin a marquee player. I think if they are exceptionally patient then they will be repaid in spades. He's only 17 and has only played school footy. He's played more basketball than football. The one condition a side like Melbourne might have if they take him is that he doesn't play school football and he plays VFL next season. He blew the draft camp away with his testing. To watch him on the training track, we could nearly have charged to watch him train. Some of the things he does in close in handball drills and the like - he dances. There is massive upside to a kid who played basketball up until this year but I think he might be up to playing next year but completing his VCE will take precedence over that" - Sandringham Dragons region manager Wayne Oswald. Vic Metro rep 2008. Larke Medal All Australian 2008. AIS-AFL Academy graduate. From Brighton Grammar.

NICHOLAS NAITANUI - ruckman, Swan Districts, WA

DOB: 4/5/90 Ht: 197cm Wt: 95kg

"Nicholas is just a freak. He's not a natural footballer but on pure athletic ability he is in a class of his own. Has great closing speed, is a great jump and is starting to learn more about winning the ball around the ground but there is plenty to come. Needs to work on his foot skills as they still, have a way to go but his improvement has been pretty sharp over the last two years. He's certainly not a natural footballer and you'd expect whichever club takes him to spend a lot of time with him developing his decision making, but we think he could play some AFL footy next year, although probably not a whole season. We juggled things around with him later in the year and played him in some key positions, including full back, and he did it very effectively. There is really no one like him and I don't think anyone has seen anything like him. Athletically he's one of the best players ever to come through this club. Long term he'll probably be a ruckman but that's not to say a club couldn't develop another string to his bow because he has all the tools to work with." - Swan Districts football manager Matt Peach. WA rep 2007/2008. All Australian 2007/08. From Midvale JFC

DANIEL RICH - midfielder, Subiaco, WA

DOB: 7/6/90 Ht: 183cm Wt: 83kg

"Daniel played in the league side all year so I only coached him in half a dozen games in the Colts last season. He played senior footy in a quality side with a quality midfield that is classes above anything else in the competition and he more than held his own. He mixed and matched through the midfield and half forward but because he played with onballers like Phil Read, Mark Haynes and Daniel Chick he wasn't thrown in there and expected to play every minute of every game of every week. Scott Watters (senior coach) made it a point to bring him along slowly and didn't throw him to the wolves. His greatest attributes are he's smart, he just knows where to go, he's very quick by hand, he knows when to give off, he knows when to bring others into the game and he can kick 60 metres on the fly - that's what sets him apart from any kid of his age. He's just got a thumping left foot I put him up there with (Rhys) Palmer as a player but the difference between them is that Rich can kick the ball a long, long way and turn defences around with it. He's got a man's body with big hips and strong shoulders. His other great quality is that he's a great listener and a great learner. He knows what's ahead and he's very grounded." - Subiaco Colts coach Tim Gossage WA rep 2007/08/ All Australian 2007/08. AIS-AFL Academy graduate. From Sorrento Duncraig FC.

* at the October draft camp Watts was measured at close to 196 cm tall.