Best part of this is that he was being chased by a number of clubs and chose to come to the MFC. 

204 centimeters, athletic, still growing, great sporting pedigree.

Our player development has done a complete 180 from the dark day and is now looking elite,  so its hard not to be a little excited about this kid.  We should all be glad he chose the MFC over other clubs, as @RalphiusMaximus said above.

edit - Just realized his mum is Nicole Provis.. yeah thats a hell of a pedigree indeed.

Edited May 23, 20186 yr by Petraccattack

 

Really good long term thinking by the club. As we play through Max’s career peak, we will have a superiority over nearly all teams onball through Max’s silver service, but That can’t last forever. 

What better than to recruit a giant, very athletic individual with great sporting pedigree to be taught by the best over an extended period, and we all know how long it takes for big men to develop. I suspect given Austin’s size, his athletic pedigree and his learning under Max’s guidance, he may well come along a bit quicker than we expect. The great part about it is we have plenty of time to get it right. 

What a great prospect!

 

2 minutes ago, Dees2014 said:

Really good long term thinking by the club. As we play through Max’s career peak, we will have a superiority over nearly all teams onball through Max’s silver service, but That can’t last forever. 

What better than to recruit a giant, very athletic individual with great sporting pedigree to be taught by the best over an extended period, and we all know how long it takes for big men to develop. I suspect given Austin’s size, his athletic pedigree and his learning under Max’s guidance, he may well come along a bit quicker than we expect. The great part about it is we have plenty of time to get it right. 

What a great prospect!

 

Almost feels like gaining back the first rounder we traded away in the Lever deal.

Lever + Bradtke for two (hopefully) late first rounders

Glad to read that Geelong and Collingwood were into him.   I hope they are crying in their cornflakes.

 

17 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

Almost feels like gaining back the first rounder we traded away in the Lever deal.

Lever + Bradtke for two (hopefully) late first rounders

Glad to read that Geelong and Collingwood were into him.   I hope they are crying in their cornflakes.

 

Collingwood supporters generally cry into their porridge rather than cornflakes. It's a dental thing.

Edited May 23, 20186 yr by Skuit

Also, on the broad subject of incestualism (Collingwood supporters), I had separate boyhood crushes on both mother and father growing up as a sporting lad in the 80s. Makes for supporting Austin now a little bit awkward - although I certainly wouldn't have chosen the name Austin for our fantasy spawn back then. Phileas Provis perhaps, or maybe Bradbury Bradkte (hint: I also liked fantasy sci-fi as a kid).  

Edited May 23, 20186 yr by Skuit

The other way of looking at this, the kid has only been out of footy for 2 years and has been platying all his life up until then.  Great prospect. 

"The Rookie Bradkte Demon Boy of Category-B" cue the Andrews Sisters

43 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Collingwood supporters generally cry into their porridge rather than cornflakes. It's a dental thing.

True.

And for reference heres the article about him from 6 weeks ago that mentions half a dozen clubs after him including the Pies and Cats.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-06/vic-clubs-chasing-son-of-australian-sport-champions

10 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

I can do better.

I can put him in the best 22 for 2020.

He will replace Lewis.

Don't tell me you don't get off with my best 22's like I do?

When my doc asks me what the cause of the RSI in my scrolling finger was I will know exactly who to blame... WERRIDEE! 

Edited May 23, 20186 yr by Rusty Nails

A nice little boost for the club coming on the same day as it announced it has passed its previous membership record.

Time will tell whether this speculative recruiting move pays dividends but the club’s development processes seem to be in a good way and Bradtke will have a fine  teacher to learn from in Max Gawn who has coached young players in the past and is very good at it. 

The positive is that Bradtke did play representative football as a junior before he decided to concentrate only on basketball and he reached state level at that sport. And, at 17, he could still grow a few cm’s. 

2 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

Almost feels like gaining back the first rounder we traded away in the Lever deal.

Lever + Bradtke for two (hopefully) late first rounders

Glad to read that Geelong and Collingwood were into him.   I hope they are crying in their cornflakes.

 

There is no way he would be a first rounder. 

He hasn’t played footy in 3 years and is a speculative pick at best.  

If that’s his dad in the picture and they’re on a flat surface with similar shoes on his Dad must be 215cm tall!

2 hours ago, Skuit said:

Collingwood supporters generally cry into their porridge rather than cornflakes. It's a dental thing.

More like their first beer for the day 

Lachlan Filipovic might be feeling a little bit nervous.....

11 hours ago, buck_nekkid said:

So pleased we landed him!  Absolute sporting royalty pedigree, and his fathers connections are worth a fortune to the club, too.

What connections?

His old man still looks in great shape. Do they still live in Hampton?

18 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

If that’s his dad in the picture and they’re on a flat surface with similar shoes on his Dad must be 215cm tall!

Mark listed at 208cm but played at 120kg.

Here he is with the great Andrew Gaze who waslisted at 201cm

Isn't it great how expectations have changed?  Rewind to 2011 and if recruiting genius Barry Prendergast announced that he'd signed a tall kid who hadn't played since the under 14's this place would be in meltdown.

Edited May 23, 20186 yr by Miles from Nowhere

I find it interesting that people still defer to the "big" clubs when looking at things like this.

No disrespect intended, but why would it be a big deal if Collingwood and Geelong were also into Bradtke? With the way our recruiters have gone recently, it should be the other way around now. We are as good or better than anyone at spotting talent. 

 

His dad was a big big man, so I can see the young version filling out quite nicely, although Max has shown that if you have the height and talent, a beanpole ruckman can dominate at the highest level.

 

Shows that developing a list is a 365 day a year job. It just never stops.

Well done Dees, and welcome Austin. Hope you make the grade.

 

3 minutes ago, faultydet said:

I find it interesting that people still defer to the "big" clubs when looking at things like this.

No disrespect intended, but why would it be a big deal if Collingwood and Geelong were also into Bradtke? With the way our recruiters have gone recently, it should be the other way around now. We are as good or better than anyone at spotting talent. 

 

His dad was a big big man, so I can see the young version filling out quite nicely, although Max has shown that if you have the height and talent, a beanpole ruckman can dominate at the highest level.

 

Shows that developing a list is a 365 day a year job. It just never stops.

Well done Dees, and welcome Austin. Hope you make the grade.

 

Nicely Put FD

14 minutes ago, timbo said:

What connections?

His old man still looks in great shape. Do they still live in Hampton?

Elite sports people in tennis and basketball, including NBA.  Many who move into business, admin and coaching.  These networks can deliver incredible value, open doors, even deliver sponsorships etc.  most football royalty has its boundaries around Melbourne.  This one goes much bigger.  It appears they are all Dees supporters, too!

His old man was on SEN this morning, from the sounds of it just about every club inquired, and they narrowed it down to 4. He then talked up the development system and coaches as the reason they chose the Dees. He named Egan, Rooke and Rawlings (maybe a couple of others) which I think is a massive tick for our development team. He also said learning from Gawn was a big factor too.

One of the best things he said was that Austin is best mates with the King boys at school, their both potentially going to go top 5 in the draft (in most early phantom drafts) and both are talls. So even though he's not allowed to play footy for the next 6 months (to get to the 3 year out rule), he'd be having a kick at school with some of the most talented kids. Hopefully he'll be coming in only marginally behind those who've gone through the elite pathway, but I still wouldn't expect that we'd see him in the seniors until at least 2021/22. 

Edited May 23, 20186 yr by Red and Blue realist

19 minutes ago, ManDee said:

Mark listed at 208cm but played at 120kg.

Here he is with the great Andrew Gaze who waslisted at 201cm

There was a photo on Demonland a while back of Mark Bradtke standing next to Max Gawn and it was the first time I’ve seen Max look ‘small’ in comparison to the the bloke standing next to him. Mark must be a huge man. I remember him being pretty mobile in his time too.

Also very good to hear that Austin skills are already pretty good, that’s 80% of the battle with big blokes and given the athletic basketball background it’s not hard to get excited about him. An end of season taster debut Rnd 20, 2020?

Invest in teaching him the ball drop, from his height it will have ice on it by the time the ball reaches his boot. He will be a baby giraffe for a while, I hope some of the negative Nellies can be calm while he develops. Rucks will br at a premium for clubs, because of what Gawn is doing for ruck work, It is like what Warne did for leg spin. So I am very happy with this recruit.

1 hour ago, mdemon said:

Lachlan Filipovic might be feeling a little bit nervous.....

Surely at least one of King and Filipovic is gone at year end.

Welcome Austin, hope to see you grace the MCG for the MFC over the next few years.