Cale Morton

[Goodvibes 3,596]

Thread's dead.

[Earl Hood 6,101]

This was a kid who had talent, needed nurturing at all costs to keep his confidence up. I saw him run back into an on coming pack of forwards in a preseason match at Visy Park, he did his knee but it said to me this guy has got some guts. Injury and problems with coaches did him in at MFC. That said from there he went down hill and never recovered. In a top team I think he may have had a better run. He did have some ability.

[Hannibal 5,814]

Disagree. Can't really be bothered saying it all again, but drafting Morton on the evidence that was available in 2007 was not a 'mistake'. To disagree is to reason with hindsight.

Drafting Cook was a mistake. Arguably the same goes for Gysberts. And maybe a few others here and there. But not Morton. The issue with Cale was that we failed to make the most of the decision we made.

It was a mistake if it didn't work.

Good God man.

[Young Dee 1,303]

WCE delist Cale Morton - where to now?

Do we really need another thread on this.

Cale's footy career is dead let him rest in peace.

Edited October 30, 2013 by Young Dee

[The Song Formerly Known As 6,479]

This was a kid who had talent, needed nurturing at all costs to keep his confidence up. I saw him run back into an on coming pack of forwards in a preseason match at Visy Park, he did his knee but it said to me this guy has got some guts. Injury and problems with coaches did him in at MFC. That said from there he went down hill and never recovered. In a top team I think he may have had a better run. He did have some ability.

And this quality post should hopefully close BOTH threads we currently have going on this.

[Moonshadow 17,677]

Thanks Biff. I put the choirboy there for Moon's benefit.

That's better. I always had you as a good Christian Brothers choirboy Bitty, so to speak

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

Mistakes are always a good idea at the time.

I've made plenty of mistakes that weren't a good idea at the time.

[Earl Hood 6,101]

hmmn, sorry OMR, but Cales foibles were onshow from his very first game, & the fact he was allowed to continue getting his cheap tricks in his favorite back pocket gained from short kickins, is a travesty against this club.

He was reluctant to tackle from game 1.

& Bennell was taught in the 'new school' methods, as well. but he can play?

Funny in his first year I saw a different kid. In a dysfunctional side I saw a kid willing to present himself for a pass here and there. A kid willing to run forward and back. A kid who managed to kick 3 goals here and there when thrown forward. he had deficiencies and I wished we had picked Dangerfield of course but we did not manage this kid well. In first year he looked okay. It all turned to Shyte from there. He always struck me as a kid lacking confidence so he needed mentoring and managing. I don't think he got much of that and my impression is formed from reports from MFC at the time.

[Whispering_Jack 30,674]

Funny in his first year I saw a different kid. In a dysfunctional side I saw a kid willing to present himself for a pass here and there. A kid willing to run forward and back. A kid who managed to kick 3 goals here and there when thrown forward. he had deficiencies and I wished we had picked Dangerfield of course but we did not manage this kid well. In first year he looked okay. It all turned to Shyte from there. He always struck me as a kid lacking confidence so he needed mentoring and managing. I don't think he got much of that and my impression is formed from reports from MFC at the time.

You're right and most of us were pretty happy with his selection at pick 4 in 2007 and subsequently, with his debut season. It all fell apart rather quickly after that and its difficult to attribute what happened due to one single factor. I do know it wasn't from a lack of trying on his part.

What I do find churlish are the cries of "I told you so," and worse still the claims that he was gutless because of that stupid footage of him appearing to be running away from an opponent when he was in fact following the football down the ground. It's so easy for armchair critics to claim to be smart after the event by misinterpreting the past or by plain making up stories.

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

Cale Morton, unlike Lucas Cook and possibly Gysberts, was hardly at controversial pick at the time. He just never came on as expected/hoped.

Bennell is the one I'm worried about letting go from that period, even though it seems we should've picked Sloane (in retrospect).

Bennell had pace and class. He's been upgraded to the Weagles senior list and is described as a long term prospect.

Wouldn't mind seeing him running off our half back line with some stints in the forward line. He was just never going to be a midfielder.

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,408]

Had we had the right development program in place when he was drafted, who knows what Cale could have become?

You don't suddenly forget how to play. Eagles are a professional setup, so what went wrong this time?

[Outside fifty 967]

Cale Morton, unlike Lucas Cook and possibly Gysberts, was hardly at controversial pick at the time. He just never came on as expected/hoped.

Bennell is the one I'm worried about letting go from that period, even though it seems we should've picked Sloane (in retrospect).

Bennell had pace and class. He's been upgraded to the Weagles senior list and is described as a long term prospect.

Wouldn't mind seeing him running off our half back line with some stints in the forward line. He was just never going to be a midfielder.

Sorry Ron can't agree. Bennell was one player I could never warm too. I struggled to see any of his strengths but was conscious of a lot of his deficiencies.

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,408]

Did he fail to move on from a traumatic event? Yes we love AFL buts it's over bloody anylised. It's a game which requires players to posess a couple of things, one of them being the desire to have a crack.

[Dees2014 2,377]

And roll up roll up for some of the most insipid, poorest recruiting display by any professional? sporting club this side of the universe!

Shheeeit how can we be so bad OR IS IT GOOD at

A) Picking duds

B) Failing to develop on almost any player on our list!

Cale Morton sheesh another great great pick up

And so I do not care for the party line

'"He was rated by other recruiters" bultish

Others may have rated him but,

Fact is we picked him at 4

And don't get me started on Gysberts!

When will this miserable recruiting and non player development end?

Has someone put an ancient curse/spell on us that just cannot be broken?

It ended September, 2013 when we employed Paul Roos. One of the many things he was famous for at Sydney was his astute recruiting (eg our actions so far this trade period) and getting the very best out of his playing lists (see our pre-season)

The new era has begun - let 's enjoy the ride

Edited October 30, 2013 by Dees2014

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

Sorry Ron can't agree. Bennell was one player I could never warm too. I struggled to see any of his strengths but was conscious of a lot of his deficiencies.

I think he's been poorly handled/coached, particularly by Neeld.

Neeld was clearly trying to turn him into a player he was never going to be. It's one thing seeking to plug weaknesses/deficiencies - it's another thing not recognising strengths and seeking to utilise them.

I think Bennell had pace, good skills, and reasonable vision. Qualities we haven't exactly had loads of in recent times.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

I've made plenty of mistakes that weren't a good idea at the time.

That's just called wilful stupidity Ron.

[Mono 455]

Cale Morton, unlike Lucas Cook and possibly Gysberts, was hardly at controversial pick at the time. He just never came on as expected/hoped.

.................

Views on Morton were very split at the time. About half the clubs had him as a (early) first round pick; the other half as not even in top 20.

Sadly, we were one of the former.

[jnrmac 20,189]

Look, I'm as big a Morton critic as anybody, probably more, but this is a terrible post.

-How would you know what his work ethic was like? Was always one of our best runners and I never saw him slack off at training once.

His work ethic on field was atrocious. Would play off his man by about 4-5m and could never catch up when they got the ball. Had no appetite for a contest (sadly similar to Watts in that regard) and spent his last 2 yrs running around behind play trying to get an easy ball.

Sorry but he was a dud in every regard as far as I am concerned. 73 wasted games.

[titan_uranus 25,044]

Why does the fact that it uses hindsight make it any less valid? He turned out not to be any good, I can't see how that's not a mistake. Mistake, wrong, bad. Are you saying selecting Morton was correct, right, good?

The evidence that was available in 2007 is the same evidence that is available now: the same bloke who's now on the heap for the second time. He didn't magically transform in to someone different after being drafted. I'm not suggesting that it was easy, or even possible, to predict that he wouldn't make it, hence the use of the word "forgiveable" in my first post. Everyone in the footy world thought he was good. But that doesn't mean we made the right call - I would have thought it was patently clear that we didn't. Everyone in the footy world got it wrong with Morton - but we were the only ones who made a call on it that mattered and we got it wrong.

Although West Coast took Masten ahead, in spite of what was almost universal agreement in the footy world that Morton was a better player. Perhaps they should be excluded from "everyone".

To simplify my post greatly, I place draftees in to one of three possible categories:

1) A successful pick

2) A poor but justifiable pick

3) A poor and indefensible pick.

I put Morton in category 2. By your rejection of the word "mistake", you seem to be putting him in category 1 and I think that's complete nonsense. For what it's worth Cook, Gysberts, Molan et al belong in category 3 and they're the ones you hang a recruiter for (not for the cat 2s).

Given what you're saying here, it looks like this is semantics more than anything.

To me, a 'mistake' is something that you shouldn't have done. If you're willing to accept that this was a 'category 2' pick, and justifiable, then I'm not sure that it's a 'mistake'. Yes, it wasn't great, and yes, if we had our time again we'd obviously pick someone else, but as a matter of semantics that's not a 'mistake' to me, given that, as you've said, the pick was wholly justifiable.

The real issue for me when it comes to recruiting is that final line - it's the indefensible, harder to justify picks that are the true mistakes, and they're the ones where it's fair to have a go at the recruiters for.

[ThreeOneSix 954]

Cale Morton now joins Jordan Gysberts as ex Dees delisted after only 12 months at there 2nd clubs. What a waste of pick 4 in 2007 :-( This kid never recovered from the humiliation of running away from Brendan Lade. Never had the build or work ethic to succeed in AFL.

You are probably right you know.

His work ethic was pathetic.

Oh... but he was a good runner, LOL..

[ThreeOneSix 954]

His work ethic on field was atrocious. Would play off his man by about 4-5m and could never catch up when they got the ball. Had no appetite for a contest (sadly similar to Watts in that regard) and spent his last 2 yrs running around behind play trying to get an easy ball.

Sorry but he was a dud in every regard as far as I am concerned. 73 wasted games.

His work ethic off field can't of been much better, the bloke came to the club as a stick - and left as a stick.

He was in a professional environment and failed to gain any muscle, so on that alone, I'd say he didn't have the off field work ethic required.

Morton appears to have his fans on this board, so hopefully they can all get around him now he's been delisted again - most probably for not working hard enough.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,909]

Our drafting aint that bad its the first round picks that have killed us!

Are you suggesting we pass at pick 9 and only enter the National Draft in the second round?

[mauriesy 7,357]

Why do people seemingly take pleasure in continuing to rubbish our cast-offs well after they have left the club?

They're just looking for validation of the club's decision.

It won't stop them from fearing someone will magically morph into a 'gun' when they go to play for someone else.

[DemonWA 3,936]

Bennell is the one I'm worried about letting go from that period, even though it seems we should've picked Sloane (in retrospect).

Bennell had pace and class. He's been upgraded to the Weagles senior list and is described as a long term prospect.

Wouldn't mind seeing him running off our half back line with some stints in the forward line. He was just never going to be a midfielder.

When Bennell was delisted i tended to agree with the sentiment you describe above Ron.

However, OldDee's mate #43 #7 played for the WAFL side i follow this year and i think its fair to say he's not upto it. SUre he does the occasional nice thing, but he just doesnt get involved anywhere near as often as he could/should.

I think West Coast have been duped in a similar way to the preseason training report scibes on Demonland had been for years! Sure he has tidy skills & good pace, but he's never going to be a long term best 22 player IMO

[old55 23,701]

While many here are using the Morton and Gysberts delistings to rail on yet again for the one millionth time about our poor drafting - I'm past that and I'm breathing a bit of a sigh of relief that North and West Coast didn't turn them into good players and it all come down to poor development after all.