Our Recruiting

[Freak 100]

This is not a dig at our recruiting team but I think our recruiting over the last 3-4 seasons has been very much a mixed bag. We picked up Cale Morton at pick 4 in the 07 draft. If we had our time again we wouldn't have done so. We overlooked Cyril Rioli, Patrick Dangerfield and Jarrad Grant to pick him.

Pick 14 however went to Jack Grimes however which offsets the poor selection of Morton in my opinion. Whilst his kicking has a lot to be desired for, his overhead marking and 1%'s are great.

We also went for maric at pick 21 which hasn't seem to have paid off yet but I still hold hope.

Our later picks, Cheney has been traded and McNamara will never get a game.

2008, we picked up Jack Watts which 95% of us have great concerns over. We all probably started off with expectations of him being a superstar but now have probably re-assessed and simply hope for him to be a good player. Not something you want from a pick 1. We overlooked Naitanui(who whilst inconsistent has shown a lot more than Watts), Hill, Hurley, Rich, Sidebottom, etc. This was a bumper crop with Hannerbery, Shuey, Beams and Jack Redden a few others that have been pearlers. We chose Strauss and Blease who have yet to show anything at afl level.

2009. Aced it with Scully and Trengove. Unfortunately, it looks like Scully will be off to the GWS side but what can you do. Trengove is a beauty. Gysberts is a ripper, and whilst his disposals are not great, he is a clearance machine. Also Tapscott has finally started adding weight to my argument that he is our most promising youngster that I claimed as soon as we picked him at 18. A great draft all in all, but disappointing about Scully. Will most likely be a 5 time All-Australian so the sh!t will hit the fan when he leaves and the afl will find a way to compensate melbourne somehow, whether it's behind the scenes or otherwise.

2010. Cook was picked up solely because the recruiting team were not impressed with what Watts has shown thus far. No, he wasn't picked up to be used in conjunction with Watts (ala twin towers), he was picked up because they were concerned Watts wasn't going to cut it. Good news is that Cook has already shown more than Watts at afl. He is so calm under pressure something Watts hasn't improved on since day 1.

All in All, I think our poor early choices of Morton, Watts, Scully (not a poor choice, but unlucky choice) as well as Strauss and Maric have been offset by the promising signs of Gysberts, Tapscott, the emergence of Jurrah, and the the development of Trengove. Not to mention the signing of Jack Viney which seems to be some sort of Footy God blessing after losing Scully to GWS.

[Guest Thomo]

I thnk most clubs would have picked Watts at number one and Morton at four, both seemed like great picks at the time, so the issue (if there is an issue at this early stage) may be the development by the club. However there is a long way to go until they can be judged fairly.

[Sir Why You Little 34,777]

Scully is Going to GWS is he??? You know this as a bona Fide hard Fact??

The rest of your thread has been written about so many times....My answer.....Do a Better Job F.

[Bang Bang Bang 5,548]

You raise some interesting points but let's not forget BP aced the back-end of the 08 crop with Bennell (pick 35), Bail (70 odd), Mckenzie (Rookie) and Jurrah (PSD 1). Also, Blease had a freak schoolyard accident and is a year or 2 behind where he should be. If he starts pressing for selction at the end of the year, as I expect, then he's on the right track still.

Also I think Morton was a good pick. The forgotten man at MFC - I see him being a very damaging long-term player. Not as good as Rioli but if I had the choice between Morton and the other bloke we were considering at the time - Rhys Palmer- it's no contest.

Then 2009 was cleaned up, Scully and Trenners picked themselves but to get Gys and Tapscott where they did is brilliant.

I think our recruiting has been pretty good, Strauss and Maric aside. I still think Watts will get there as well.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Sylvia Saint

[sylvinator 96]

Firstly, I don't think it's fair to judge the past 3-4 years quite yet. We won't be able to conclude with certainty about each draft until probably 5 seasons after the draft.

I personally think we've drafted excellently. One way to see the success of the past 3-4 years is to consider how many of those players drafted in the past 3-4 years are in our best 22 already and are still improving

- Gybserts, Tapscott, Scully, Trengove, Morton, Grimes, Watts, Bennel, Jurrah, Bail, Wonaeamirri. That's half our team! Blease might have been in there too had he not had such a bad injury

BUT we drafted a couple of high risk, high reward selections early.

I think the success and failure of the past 3-4 season will come down to the success of Morton and Watts.

At their best, Morton and Watts will be 196cm, super athletic, super skills, great marking ability and hopefully will both get to 95kg playing weight. These 2 selections were high risk and were never going to fulfill their potential for another 1-3 years.

Overall I think we've set ourselves up really well the past 3-4 seasons. We've drafted so much young talent. A couple of possible bung-ups in Maric (pick 21) and Strauss (pick 18), McNamara (pick 64), Cheney (pick 53) but those kind of selections are never going to have 100% success rate.

Really the only questionable selections relate to high risk selections that were always going to take years to develop. If they pay off, it could mean the difference between top 4 and that extra edge to win a premiership

[Spaghetti 264]

Stupid thread. Not only is it far too early to call on these kids, but what you are trying to prove is true of every club.

Go ahead and do an analysis of the other clubs and you will find every club has had good and bad picks in that time.

[old55 21,598]

Talking about a timespan across 2 different recruiters also.

[dee-luded 2,958]

This is not a dig at our recruiting team but I think our recruiting over the last 3-4 seasons has been very much a mixed bag. We picked up Cale Morton at pick 4 in the 07 draft. If we had our time again we wouldn't have done so. We overlooked Cyril Rioli, Patrick Dangerfield and Jarrad Grant to pick him.

Pick 14 however went to Jack Grimes however which offsets the poor selection of Morton in my opinion. Whilst his kicking has a lot to be desired for, his overhead marking and 1%'s are great.

We also went for maric at pick 21 which hasn't seem to have paid off yet but I still hold hope.

Our later picks, Cheney has been traded and McNamara will never get a game.

2008, we picked up Jack Watts which 95% of us have great concerns over. We all probably started off with expectations of him being a superstar but now have probably re-assessed and simply hope for him to be a good player. Not something you want from a pick 1. We overlooked Naitanui(who whilst inconsistent has shown a lot more than Watts), Hill, Hurley, Rich, Sidebottom, etc. This was a bumper crop with Hannerbery, Shuey, Beams and Jack Redden a few others that have been pearlers. We chose Strauss and Blease who have yet to show anything at afl level.

2009. Aced it with Scully and Trengove. Unfortunately, it looks like Scully will be off to the GWS side but what can you do. Trengove is a beauty. Gysberts is a ripper, and whilst his disposals are not great, he is a clearance machine. Also Tapscott has finally started adding weight to my argument that he is our most promising youngster that I claimed as soon as we picked him at 18. A great draft all in all, but disappointing about Scully. Will most likely be a 5 time All-Australian so the sh!t will hit the fan when he leaves and the afl will find a way to compensate melbourne somehow, whether it's behind the scenes or otherwise.

2010. Cook was picked up solely because the recruiting team were not impressed with what Watts has shown thus far. No, he wasn't picked up to be used in conjunction with Watts (ala twin towers), he was picked up because they were concerned Watts wasn't going to cut it. Good news is that Cook has already shown more than Watts at afl. He is so calm under pressure something Watts hasn't improved on since day 1.

All in All, I think our poor early choices of Morton, Watts, Scully (not a poor choice, but unlucky choice) as well as Strauss and Maric have been offset by the promising signs of Gysberts, Tapscott, the emergence of Jurrah, and the the development of Trengove. Not to mention the signing of Jack Viney which seems to be some sort of Footy God blessing after losing Scully to GWS.

The only one you've listed, that I share concerns over, Is Morton... I'm very concerned about our lack of ruggedness in our team play. Yes I want class a plenty,,, But, we need to play a harder brand of footy. IMO it's only going to happen if ewe instill a culture lead from the top, of physvcality and hard but responsible leadership. + ruthlessness....

Where is it coming from, Moloney is shown to still be a work in progress leader.

If it is not demanded, that we play physical football, it aint gonna happen. This is where I worry for Morton, but also Bennell, he's got a touch of class, but no sign of regular courage.

Watts I think will fall into line. I've seen him back into packs and tackle, draw the tackler etc, and he has the quick reactions necessary to be a player.

Morton is like the dwarf 'sleepy', slow as treacle, in his movements and reactions. Worry how he'll go in High Intensity games on the big stage.

[Mac7 309]

You speak of Scully as though he has already left. I for one am very confident that he will re-sign with Melbourne.

You also mention that Watts is a poor choice however just about the entire AFL community agreed that he was either the best or second best kid in the draft that year. I know I would not change the pick for Naitanui.

[Jaded No More 58,853]

Forgot to mention Bennell, McKenzie and Jurrah in that 08 crop did you?

Drafting is imperfect and will continue to be so for as long as you're dealing with humans. Some come on better than expected, some don't. Some get injured, some don't. Some lose the plot and some rise to the challenge. No club ever has got it right 100% of the time.

I think the bleating that goes on here is ridiculously premature and does not take into account the individual physical and mental development of the players in question, nor the fact that they have all played in terrible teams with no senior leadership. Watts would have already shown more if he played for Geelong or Collingwood. Why? because he'd have more support up forward and better supply through the middle and a hell of a lot less pressure to carry the side to a flag.

Also, unless you can prove to us without any doubt that Scully is going to GWS please keep your negative opinions to yourself. If your track record is anything to go by, he's about to sign a 10 year deal with us.

[nutbean 8,837]

Let's all say hello to Mr Hindsight !

Every commentator that talks about Jack Watts says he would have gone number one, so whether he makes it or not is a null argument.

Cale Morton went within one pick either side where wveryone thought he would.

I think the interesting one to judge the recruiters on is the bottom end draft picks, the preseason draft picks and the rookies - the wonna's, the bails, the jurrahs etc. This is where the real skill comes in - seeing something in these boys that other clubs didnt see.

I will again also re-iterate - I'm not really prepared to pass final judgment on footy talent ( especially the big blokes) until they get to 22/23.

[nutbean 8,837]

Not to mention the signing of Jack Viney which seems to be some sort of Footy God blessing .

I'm tipping that after 2 seasons if Jack Viney hasnt made it you will be asking why on earth he was recruited.

You seem to be struggling with two concepts when it comes to recruiting

1. foresight

2. hindsight

Edited April 18, 2011 by nutbean

[Supermercado 2,646]

Good news is that Cook has already shown more than Watts at afl. He is so calm under pressure something Watts hasn't improved on since day 1.

Incredible statement based on a glorified practice match in the NAB Cup.

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

I reckon Morton will be absolutely awesome in the years to come. He'll be bloody hard to match up on as he gets more experience ... and muscle.

Watts will be good, although I've always thought Hurley was the best pick in the top ten from that year ... and the early signs seem to suggest that the Dons got the bargain of that draft.

Don't know why we picked Strauss over Zaharakis, but, then again, this stuff ain't an exact science.

In short though, I reckon most other clubs would kill to have our younger brigade ... and that speaks volumes about the state of our recruiting department.

[Ned 156]

I think the top of our 2008 draft is close to disastrous. Watts, Blease and Strauss. At this point, 2.5 years on, we've had nothing from any of them. Essendon must be laughing. They aced it. I don't rate Morton either, certainly not a No. 4 pick. We did well in the top of 2009.

In general, I've got concerns about where Melbourne is at. Last year, for all the frustrations, there was noticeable improvement and we were an exciting team. The Brisbane and Gold Coast games showed a team lacking desire and heart (Moloney the exception), in my opinion.

[Felix 92]

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/players/playerprofile/lucascook/tabid/8357/playerid/22237/category/senior/season/2011/selected/bio/default.aspx

Im sorry how many AFL games has Lucas Cook played?

[Guest Rojik of the Arctic]

I have very little concerns about the talent on our list. There will be a couple of top 20 picks that don't make it but that is the nature of the beast. My concerns are about the head space of the players we have but I'm prepared to put it down to getting games into the kids and understanding inconsistency goes with that.

Some of us really need to step back and have a good hard look at what the club has said it is doing and realise it is doing just that.

[Arrow 1,257]

Some demonland posters are the stupidest people in the world when it comes to drafting. Specifically thread creator.

Every single year, players drafted in the 60's surpass picks in the 1's and 10's.

There is no point drafting a player who will be good for the first 2 years of his career and rubbish for the rest. You are looking for slow yet substancial growth.

The perfect example of this is coming through with now Rohan Bail.

The key to drafting from 5 years ago and forever is not drafting the best player, it is drafting the player you believe has the most potential in 5 or 10 years time.

Watts was the best person in the draft, whether he has the most potential was the job of the recruiters and clearly they thought he did but because of this i cannot fathom how people can judge the last 3 years worth of drafting. A correct thread would be criticising the drafts of 2004-2007 and how about 3 players have come on from them....

There are no promises Watts will be a gun, nor are there promises Strauss, Blease, Maric will be. Chances and percentage say of the 4, 2 will fail however, the way you critique these players is an embarrassment on yourself and more so our club and supporters in having to cope with you.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Demon Land 7

[Felix 92]

Some demonland posters are the stupidest people in the world when it comes to drafting. Specifically thread creator.

Every single year, players drafted in the 60's surpass picks in the 1's and 10's.

There is no point drafting a player who will be good for the first 2 years of his career and rubbish for the rest. You are looking for slow yet substancial growth.

The perfect example of this is coming through with now Rohan Bail.

The key to drafting from 5 years ago and forever is not drafting the best player, it is drafting the player you believe has the most potential in 5 or 10 years time.

Watts was the best person in the draft, whether he has the most potential was the job of the recruiters and clearly they thought he did but because of this i cannot fathom how people can judge the last 3 years worth of drafting. A correct thread would be criticising the drafts of 2004-2007 and how about 3 players have come on from them....

There are no promises Watts will be a gun, nor are there promises Strauss, Blease, Maric will be. Chances and percentage say of the 4, 2 will fail however, the way you critique these players is an embarrassment on yourself and more so our club and supporters in having to cope with you.

This site needs a "like" or a "thumbs up or down" button for comments.

[Dee Dee 1,050]

You never know!

Look at Dane Swan: only in the last 2 or 3 seasons has he shown any real class and he was recruited by "them" back in 2001.

Wasn't he the player who played on Adem Yze a few years ago and got smashed when Yze kicked a bag of goals?

Some players mature early: some late (trite but true)!!!

Tapscott for one looked like he belonged from the moment he first stepped onto the field. Watts didn't and neither did Frawley!

Re-visit in 2014.

[Felix 92]

You never know!

Look at Dane Swan: only in the last 2 or 3 seasons has he shown any real class and he was recruited by "them" back in 2001.

Wasn't he the player who played on Adem Yze a few years ago and got smashed when Yze kicked a bag of goals?

Some players mature early: some late (trite but true)!!!

Tapscott for one looked like he belonged from the moment he first stepped onto the field. Watts didn't and neither did Frawley!

Re-visit in 2014.

You dont get it, the players that are drafted need to have an immediate impact, irrespective of.. well anything. If Cook doesnt come out and kick 16 on debut, or if Gawn does not have 49 hit outs in his first outing, they will be murdered....

(that was sarcasm btw)

[Hannabal 4]

I'm not sure why there's such angst towards the Freakster. You may not agree with his views, but it's quite reasonable to discuss drafts even if it's too early to draw definitive conclusions.

Morton - I seem to be one of the few (along with Ron) that reckons this guy will be pivotal to any future success. As he gets stronger he is going to be a headache for opposition coaches. His marking has improved, he has elite endurance and he kicks goals. Will only get better.

Grimes - good pick. Needs to improve his decision making, but he still hasn't played many games.

Maric - history will show that he's a good VFL player.

Watts - was the right pick at the time. Will become a very good player, but not a superstar.

Blease - has had wretched luck. Wait and see.

Strauss - poor pick. Went earlier than expected and just doesn't have the competitiveness required at AFL level.

Bennell - probably a reasonable pick, but I prefer Walters. I'm not a Bennell fan.

Jetta - like his efforts and tenacity, but I don't see a great future at AFL level.

Jurrah - great talent.

Scully - love him and am confident he'll stay.

Trengove - my favourite Demon. Will become the best marking midfielder in the game. Not explosive like Scully, or Swallow, but just as valuable.

Gysberts - love the guy too. As Snoopster said, there's nothing wrong with his disposal because he plays the percentages.

Tapscott - wood.

Cook - I hope he's good because I love Darling.

2008 draft - disappointing because the 3 top 20 picks have barely fired a shot. But the fat lady hasn't started singing.

2007 draft - I like.

2009 draft - I love.

[demoniac 1,243]

Whou would have thunk a bottom age 193 cm 82 Kg still growing draftee would take more time to develop than manchilds a year older?

Draft for Tomorrow.

Trade for Today.

[Watt and Howe? 16]

2008 draft - disappointing because the 3 top 20 picks have barely fired a shot. But the fat lady hasn't started singing.

2007 draft - I like.

2009 draft - I love.

2006 - I love. Frawley (12), Petterd (30), Garland (46)

[Jaded No More 58,853]

I'm not sure why there's such angst towards the Freakster. You may not agree with his views, but it's quite reasonable to discuss drafts even if it's too early to draw definitive conclusions.

Because unlike your post that actually discusses things nicely with some reasonable explanations, the Freakster as you so aptly call him, just bleats on about crap and beats his chest.

It's like watching a gorilla throw his own poo. It's amusing for like 3 minutes then it's kind of disgusting.

Also his assertion that Scully is going to be a GWS great makes me want to virtually punch him in the face.