AFL National Draft 2014 Picks 2 & 3

[TheoX 1,218]

Maybe Jetta can play as a ruckman too.

[Tyson_Viney_Toumpas 269]

No. I think he would be a best available selection.

But I also think there's a strong chance Lever can move into the middle.

And Frost could play up forward if needed.

Is there any chance Lever could play KPF too?

He certainly has the right skills for it & personally I think Lever is a much better and flexible player than McCartin.

[Harry Plopper 105]

In regards to those saying McCartin is only an old-school key forward, I highly recommend you read the following from the AFL website's going places.

With teammate Dylan Hodge's ankle injury restricting him to deep in attack, McCartin played a new role, roaming further up the ground and took 11 marks.

He's heard people question whether he is one-dimensional, and whether he would stand up to the aerobic rigours of back-and-forth modern football at the top level. He thinks he answered those queries.

"I feel people might pigeonhole me as an old-school key forward who doesn't move outside the 50," McCartin says.

"But when I get a chance to play up the ground I usually do it pretty well. It's more been about opportunities. That's been my role to play as a deeper forward and make a contest a bit deeper.

"I'm not too bad about going up the ground," he says.

"That game gave people a look to see that I can do it, it's just that the opportunity hasn't been there.

"It can be a bit annoying that I feel confident in my own ability, but I'm not really worried about what anyone thinks, apart from the team I'm playing for."

Source:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-10-30/going-places-plugger-mccartin-in-the-hot-seat-as-six-afl-clubs-circle

Edited October 29, 2014 by Harry Plopper

[Machsy 2,858]

Maybe Jetta can play as a ruckman too.

Baaaaaaaa.

[nutbean 8,837]

Baaaaaaaa.

and humbug ?

[Machsy 2,858]

and humbug ?

No. That's the sound of him being a sheep.

[nutbean 8,837]

No. That's the sound of him being a sheep.

Just looked at Lever's highlight reel - again, I am only going off what 2 minutes of tape but looks so impressive. If his knee op has had no ill effect on his movements, he looks a pearler. Great pair of hands combined with excellent judgement.

[DeeMfc 621]

My opinion only but I'm with Machsy on this one. I see McCartin as a Dawes 2.0. As a matter of fact I believe Wright to have more upside.

Brayshaw and Lever is a massive win IMO.

I rate Brayshaw the best of the crop too.

Once again, my opinion only.

[nutbean 8,837]

Just watched Petracca's clip for the first time - very nice overhead and can find the ball but geez - a 5 minute highlight reel and they couldn't find any clips of him hitting a target ?

Going purely on the clips (my big disclaimer) -Brayshaw vs Petracca - do you want Swan getting the ball 40 times or Pendlebury getting it 30 times - I know which one i prefer.

[DeeMfc 621]

Just watched Petracca's clip for the first time - very nice overhead and can find the ball but geez - a 5 minute highlight reel and they couldn't find any clips of him hitting a target ?

Going purely on the clips (my big disclaimer) -Brayshaw vs Petracca - do you want Swan getting the ball 40 times or Pendlebury getting it 30 times - I know which one i prefer.

Nailed it.

But let's not broadcast it to the wider community :-)

[kurtneverdied 202]

Yep, the only way this draft is kinda ruined is if Saints take Brayshaw, but glad we don't have that No 1 burden this time.

[Machsy 2,858]

Yep, the only way this draft is kinda ruined is if Saints take Brayshaw, but glad we don't have that No 1 burden this time.

I wouldn't say "ruined" because there are very good reasons why Petracca is the overwhelming favourite for pick 1.

[old dee 22,982]

After the drafting fiascos of the last decade I have given up worrying about who we might draft .

I just look on with interest at who we pick and hope they develop into good players.

Drafting is far from an exact science.

I just hope our selectors are more gifted that the ones we employed over most of the last decade.

[nutbean 8,837]

After the drafting fiascos of the last decade I have given up worrying about who we might draft .

I just look on with interest at who we pick and hope they develop into good players.

Drafting is far from an exact science.

I just hope our selectors are more gifted that the ones we employed over most of the last decade.

i agree - but I see the big contradiction in post - Drafting is far from an exact science/ I hope the selectors are more gifted. One may profess to have a system to win tattslotto but at the end of the day, its still tattslotto.

What I am more bullish about is for the first time we have a development team in place that can extract the talent from draftees and take those glimpses of quality that made them high draft picks and polish them into reality - the reality being fine AFL footballers.

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

It's not really a unique scenario, the mini-draft was a means by which the club chose to improve its list. It was effectively a decision to trade the rights to Ollie Wines for an elite young key forward and your commentary would suggest that you should be against that move, which is fair enough. But the problem with your concept would be that the club would never, failing being able to trade for one or fluking with a late pick, be able to ever have a quality key position player. The next question being can the club ever achieve sustained success without taking the "risk" to draft key forwards, which is an ages-long debate about the importance of midfields versus forward setups, but either way I would contend that it is complete lunacy to not draft good young key position players if you think they are clearly the best players available at a particular spot.

I believe Hogan will be twice the player McCartin will be. Maybe I would have brought it up at the time had I not been impressed by what I'd heard and seen of Hogan. But I didn't.

I'm talking about the hear and now with McCartin. Part of the reason I gave a historical count of past key position forwards going early in drafts was to show that no matter the buzz around them during draft time, they don't tend to work out all too often. Whereas mids are a safer bet. You have less chance (even if it's small), of stuffing the pick up.

If McCartin had a larger variety of attributes to his name, I might be happy to pick him up with one of our picks. But in this draft, from what I've seen and heard, I'd rather Petracca, Lever, Laverde or Wright over him.

But that's just me.

Edited October 30, 2014 by stevethemanjordan

[deeko 937]

We've been burnt by a lot more mids than forwards.

Let's face it we've drafted poorly in the past full stop, that's no reason to single any type of player out. If they think the forward is class then we take him. If not we look at someone else.

Yes our drafting has been filth. Not sure which have been worse out of the fwds and mids but I'd say over time that high draft mids have more chance of success over fwds or ruckmen. What am I basing this you on ask? Really don't know, just a feeling.

I just wonder why we would be wasting our time on forwards, especially one or two who aren't exactly smashing the doors down like Boyd or Patton did.

I just want the best two mids. Hogan, Dawes, Gawn, Pedo & potentially Fitz are enough fwd targets for me at the moment until the mids start to get on top

[beelzebub 22,308]

After the drafting fiascos of the last decade I have given up worrying about who we might draft .

I just look on with interest at who we pick and hope they develop into good players.

Drafting is far from an exact science.

I just hope our selectors are more gifted that the ones we employed over most of the last decade.

Im just hoping we pick young lads with some football nouse , that can kick and can be developed into decent footballers rather than lovely lads with elite skills who only ever need another year or 5.

Just saying its time we remember we're actually a football club and not an athletics commune !!

[hoon1 43]

Just my opinion but I feel that if we are going for 2 mids I'd rather Laverde over Lever. I have never seen them play live and have only seen the highlight footage, but I feel that Laverde would be less of a risk. He looks like a more natural midfielder, has good x factor, overhead capabilities and agility as has been mentioned, but also comes without the recent injury risks.

Having said that I would not be disappointed with McCartin, although like everyone on here I hope that Hogan shakes the injuries off and lives up to his potential, but there would be no harm in double dipping on highly rated key forwards. McCartin could either be the next Dawes or could be part of the next brown/brayshaw, franklin/roughead combination

[old dee 22,982]

i agree - but I see the big contradiction in post - Drafting is far from an exact science/ I hope the selectors are more gifted. One may profess to have a system to win tattslotto but at the end of the day, its still tattslotto.

What I am more bullish about is for the first time we have a development team in place that can extract the talent from draftees and take those glimpses of quality that made them high draft picks and polish them into reality - the reality being fine AFL footballers.

I was suggestion nutbean that there are no guarantees with draft picks however I do believe some people are more talented in selecting than others.

I just don't get excited at having early picks like I did a decade ago.

I will get excite when they contribute to winning games

[old dee 22,982]

Im just hoping we pick young lads with some football nouse , that can kick and can be developed into decent footballers rather than lovely lads with elite skills who only ever need another year or 5.

Just saying its time we remember we're actually a football club and not an athletics commune !!

or a choir bb

[CBDees 3,162]

probably the answer is that the need to acquire McCartin has diminished because we have got Hogan.

We had Hogan last year also (plus Clark). No reason to not get the best available with pick #3. Last year illustrated that it is impossiblt to crystal ball on who we need comes Round 1.

[Ted Lasso 17,109]

MFC recruiting plan should simply be, do the homework, work out who they want to pick and then pick the other bloke.

[nutbean 8,837]

We had Hogan last year also (plus Clark). No reason to not get the best available with pick #3. Last year illustrated that it is impossiblt to crystal ball on who we need comes Round 1.

And it is even harder to crystal ball who is the best available at 3..( it is impossible to crystal ball who will turn out to be the best from the draft - history tells us that it is less than a 50% chance that it will be the player whose name is called out as number ne)

I have been consistent suggesting that no one has the slightest idea on who will be the best available at pick 3.

I have been consistent suggesting that any of the top ten picked can wind up being the best out of the draft ( and there will be others outside the top 10 who completely fly under the radar like Fyffe). History absolutely highlights this.

So in the top 10 we have some talls and we have mids. We need everything but our most pressing need is mids.

[nutbean 8,837]

I was suggestion nutbean that there are no guarantees with draft picks however I do believe some people are more talented in selecting than others.

I just don't get excited at having early picks like I did a decade ago.

I will get excite when they contribute to winning games

again - I reckon history will tell you otherwise regarding more taleneted at selecting. After looking at who each club took over the last 10 years and seeing every club make mistakes and other clubs get lucky ( for example - posters moan that we didn't take Fyffe - he wasn't Freo's first choice and as for those bemoaning Sloane - he was Adelaide' s 3rd choice ! Do any of us believe that Adelaide realised they had an All Australian - probably a top 10 pick now - on their hands at the time ?).

I believe more than ever now than in most cases it is pot luck and then it is a matter of getting the player into a club that is well run and well coached with a good culture and solid development path so they can maximise the talent that these kids have.

As to your second point -couldn't agree more - I will celebrate a player being a gun and a jet and elite when the player proves himself to be a gun/jet/elite and not before. We have been burned way too many times haven't we OD ?

I will welcome Brayshaw or whoever but will only get excited when the player does something on the field to get me excited about.

[CBDees 3,162]

And it is even harder to crystal ball who is the best available at 3..( it is impossible to crystal ball who will turn out to be the best from the draft - history tells us that it is less than a 50% chance that it will be the player whose name is called out as number ne)

I have been consistent suggesting that no one has the slightest idea on who will be the best available at pick 3.

I have been consistent suggesting that any of the top ten picked can wind up being the best out of the draft ( and there will be others outside the top 10 who completely fly under the radar like Fyffe). History absolutely highlights this.

So in the top 10 we have some talls and we have mids. We need everything but our most pressing need is mids.

Our pressing need has been mids for ages but at least it is an area that we partially addressed last year with Tyson, Vince, Riley, Mitchie, Salem and Cross and we have already made further moves with Brayshaw locked in at pick #2 and Stretch as F/S. In the same period we have done nothing as regards talls and actually lost Clark for the whole of last year [as well as Hogan missing in action last year]. We are lucky that Pederson stepped up and Gawn and Fitzy showed [some] development. Perhaps Frost may be a replacement for Chip but to discount McCartin/Wright at pick #3 may be foolish [unless Petracca is there]. We are sure to target mids at #40 and #53 as well as the PSD, [unless Oscar McDonald is there and appears better suited to our needs].