Jump to content

Featured Replies

Posted

Thank you Collingwood.

He hasn't got one draft pick wrong. Jackson, Kossie and Jordon look like stars. Rivers is a good player even Sparrow shows promise. Spargo may not be the bust I thought he would be but he needs to contribute more evenly the difference between his best and his worst is too great. Thoughts?

 
 

Others will know more than me but I believe Slug Jordon as an Under 19's coach also had responsibilities for finding talent.

Craig Cameron had a decent run through the late 90's and early 00's.

I've said in other recruiting threads, Jason Taylor's record is pretty much like this:

1st rounders - very good
3rd rounders and rookies - time will tell, we haven't nailed many in a long time and haven't had enough picks
2nd rounders - this will be where he goes from either solid or very good.

It was a nice day for Fritsch, Spargo, Sparrow and Jordon and hopefully Petty is back healthy and developing. More nice days from that crop and he'll be looking good. 


12 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

Am I the only one who think the jury is still a long way out on Sparrow? He seems an almost footballer to me. 

Agreed. He'd be very border line to be dropped this week. 

Picking Weideman as a top 10 draft pick could shape Taylor's legacy either way. You should expect top 10 draft picks to be absolute guns and the jury is in the balance with Weid.

 

27 minutes ago, Go the Biff said:

Jim Cardwell

John tillbrook. 

Just being smart.  Cardwell and smith sure were the masters.

 
22 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Agreed. He'd be very border line to be dropped this week. 

Picking Weideman as a top 10 draft pick could shape Taylor's legacy either way. You should expect top 10 draft picks to be absolute guns and the jury is in the balance with Weid.

 

See him having much more upside that Harmes atm. He does not get sucked into every contest, has quick hands and structurally is smart with his positioning.  He will get better the more he plays.

Much more worried about Harmes output for the time he spends around the ball.  If he is not tagging he is getting lost wherever that me be on the field. 

Honestly both deserve another week,  allowing  Viney to get in  more match practice and his fitness closer to 100%.

6 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

Thank you Collingwood.

He hasn't got one draft pick wrong. Jackson, Kossie and Jordon look like stars. Rivers is a good player even Sparrow shows promise. Spargo may not be the bust I thought he would be but he needs to contribute more evenly the difference between his best and his worst is too great. Thoughts?

Here we go again. overuse of the word 'stars'. Jackson has 4 goals from 8 games playing as a forward and Pickett needs to fumble less, he has no composure. 


1 hour ago, Go the Biff said:

Jim Cardwell

✔️  Totally without equal. 

37 minutes ago, Demon17 said:

John tillbrook. 

Just being smart.  Cardwell and smith sure were the masters.

I may be wrong but I thought Cardwell had moved on by the time of the Diamond Jim purchase. 

Edited by monoccular

Google is your friend, mono.  Cardwell retired from his position at the end of 1975 and Tilbrook was recruited in 1971 (and co-incidentally also left Melbourne at the end of 1975).

9 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

Thank you Collingwood.

He hasn't got one draft pick wrong. Jackson, Kossie and Jordon look like stars. Rivers is a good player even Sparrow shows promise. Spargo may not be the bust I thought he would be but he needs to contribute more evenly the difference between his best and his worst is too great. Thoughts?

Someone had to "get" Taylor. So if you think Taylor is a good "get" surely the person who recruited him has to be an even better "get".


5 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

Barry Prendergast!

Got us Max Gawn ?‍♂️

7 hours ago, The heart beats true said:

Am I the only one who think the jury is still a long way out on Sparrow? He seems an almost footballer to me. 

Watch the second quarter and see what he did. Do that consistently for four quarters and he is a regular.

6 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Agreed. He'd be very border line to be dropped this week. 

Picking Weideman as a top 10 draft pick could shape Taylor's legacy either way. You should expect top 10 draft picks to be absolute guns and the jury is in the balance with Weid.

 

The inability to find some more bargain talls (defenders/rucks) and some outside players will shape Taylor's legacy more than the Weid pick IMO. Not every top 10 pick is a gun and if Weid gets back on the track he was on last year as serviceable player in a tough role that's still an ok pick.

Looking at the current list the most important talent to bring in is some outside runners and the next guys developing behind Gawn and May to keep the list strong. That's assuming we keep hold of Petracca and Oliver and have a capable team to keep adding to I guess.


12 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

Thank you Collingwood.

He hasn't got one draft pick wrong. Jackson, Kossie and Jordon look like stars. Rivers is a good player even Sparrow shows promise. Spargo may not be the bust I thought he would be but he needs to contribute more evenly the difference between his best and his worst is too great. Thoughts?

Couldn’t agree more mate! Was also spot on with ones we missed ie Georgiadis, Berry.. many more! Not to mention what I think will end up his best yet, Rosman/Laurie ??‍♂️??‍♂️??‍♂️

6 hours ago, monoccular said:

✔️  Totally without equal. 

I may be wrong but I thought Cardwell had moved on by the time of the Diamond Jim purchase. 

Very good question. But I have 100% memory of the great Jim Cardwell sitting with Tilly on World of Sport and introdcuing him , being interviewed on the recrutiment process. At the time we paid an unbelievable transfer fee of $30,000.

Weid will never be the player I had hoped (for example, Kennedy, Revolt, Hawkins). At best, a serviceable 175 game career. Lacks self belief, killer instinct and high level game sense. Not sure any of that can be taught. In 2021 dollars, makes him worth 500-600k per year at best. 

 

Hmm, I'm going to go through a process of looking at the picks systematically without actually having decided my opinion beforehand!  Wacky!  What I might do is take our early selections and consider how they compare to the 'next ten' in that draft, and then just add our later picks as a kind of bonus.  If I recall correctly, the first draft Taylor was responsible for at Melbourne was 2013.  Here goes - 

2013

Pick 9, Salem.  Of the next ten picks, 5 are already out of the AFL.  The others are Sheed, Cripps, Z Jones, Dunstan and Acres, so a pretty respectable group remaining after that 50/50 split.

The extras; we still have Hunt and Harmes.

2014

Pick 2 Petracca, Pick 3 Brayshaw.  You'd expect to do well at the very pointy end, but the next ten include three already out of the game, and a mix of the not so good, the unlucky, and a couple of other very good; Lachie Weller, Peter Wright, Nakia Cockatoo, Caleb Marchbank , Darvy Moore and Jordan De Goey,

The extras; Still with are Nibbler and Vanderberg.  Still playing football (for 40 glorious minutes!) is Oscar McDonald.

2015

Pick 3 Clayton Oliver, Pick 9 Sam Weideman. Well, Oliver's only realistic rival for best of this draft is Weitering, so that's a win. There's a lot of just pretty 'goodish' players in that first round, especially now at Essendon. In the hunt for a tall forward, other options were Carlton's pair McKay and Curnow, as well as Eric Hipwood and Harrison Himmelberg who were both academy selections.  All of them are still a bit on the wait and see side, even Hipwood who has had amazing games but isn't yet a consistent gun.  Beyond tall forwards, that second half of the first round was pretty strong and at this stage Weideman has delivered the least of the group except for the injury-cursed Doedee.

The extras; Only Joel Smith remains.

2016

No early selections.  Which may have been a good call in itself as very few of that first round are looking like true guns - with the caveat that we're well inside the too-soon-to-tell zone here.

The extra; only Mitch Hannan is still playing AFL, at the Bulldogs.

2017

Again, no early selections.  And, again, a draft that is pretty ordinary after the top 9 plus players now at West Coast.

The extras; Charlie Spargo, Bayley Fritsch, Harrison Petty and Oskar Baker.  Other than the top ten and West Coast (who not only nailed this draft but also went on to grab the draft's best player across from Geelong) 

As for the more recent drafts, we're getting too far into the only time will tell fogs. 2018 we took a bunch of later selections and for a variety of reasons the jury must remain in discussion.  2019 Jackson, Pickett and Rivers are still hugely subjective judgements as all have shown promise but also weakness.  Well, Rivers not so much any major weakness! 2020 of course there is no point trying to evaluate.

8 hours ago, Demon17 said:

Very good question. But I have 100% memory of the great Jim Cardwell sitting with Tilly on World of Sport and introdcuing him , being interviewed on the recrutiment process. At the time we paid an unbelievable transfer fee of $30,000.

Think it would have been $$$$ not pounds. Was in the 70's 


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Featured Content

  • PREVIEW: Hawthorn

    Melbourne and Hawthorn who face off against each other this week have more in common than having once almost merged and about to wear a blue jumper with a red v triangle and an embroidered picture of a bird on the front. They also share the MCG as their main home ground, their supporters are associated with the leafy suburbs of Melbourne and in recent times, James Frawley graced the colours of both teams. Even more recently, both have bounced back from disastrous five game losing streaks to start off a season. Of course, the Hawks turned their bounce into a successful leap from the bottom of the ladder into a finals appearance, making it to the semifinals in 2024 and this year, they’re riding high in third place on the AFL table. The Demons are just three games into their 2025 bounce back, and are yet to climb their way out of the bottom four although they are sitting a game and percentage out of the top eight. However, with the current sportsbet odds of $3.90 to win this week’s encounter, it seems a forlorn hope that their upward progression will continue much longer.

      • Thumb Down
      • Clap
      • Thanks
    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • PODCAST: Harvey Langford Interview

    On Wednesday I'll be interviewing the Melbourne Football Club's first pick in the 2024 National Draft and pick number 6 overall Harvey Langford. If you have any questions you want asked let me know. I will release the interview on Wednesday afternoon.

      • Clap
      • Love
      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 29 replies
    Demonland
  • REPORT: West Coast

    On a night of counting, Melbourne captain Max Gawn made sure that his contribution counted. He was at his best and superb in the the ruck from the very start of the election night game against the West Coast Eagles at Optus Stadium, but after watching his dominance of the first quarter and a half of the clash evaporate into nothing as the Eagles booted four goals in the last ten minutes of the opening half, he turned the game on its head, with a ruckman’s masterclass in the second half.  No superlatives would be sufficient to describe the enormity of the skipper’s performance starting with his 47 hit outs, a career-high 35 possessions (22 of them contested), nine clearances, 12 score involvements and, after messing up an attempt or two, finally capping off one of the greatest rucking performances of all time, with a goal of own in the final quarter not long after he delivered a right angled pass into the arms of Daniel Turner who also goaled from a pocket (will we ever know if the pass is what was intended). That was enough to overturn a 12 point deficit after the Eagles scored the first goal of the second half into a 29 point lead at the last break and a winning final quarter (at last) for the Demons who decided not to rest their champion ruckman at the end this time around. 

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • PREGAME: Hawthorn

    The Demons return to the MCG to take on the High Flying Hawks on Saturday Afternoon. Hawthorn will be aiming to consolidate a position in the Top 4 whilst the Dees will be looking to take a scalp and make it four wins in a row. Who comes in and who goes out?

      • Thanks
    • 255 replies
    Demonland
  • PODCAST: West Coast

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 5th May @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we analyse the Demons 3rd win row for the season against the Eagles.
    Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show.
    If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human.

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 25 replies
    Demonland
  • POSTGAME: West Coast

    Following a disastrous 0–5 start to the season, the Demons have now made it three wins in a row, cruising past a lacklustre West Coast side on their own turf. Skipper Max Gawn was once again at his dominant best, delivering another ruck masterclass to lead the way.

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 215 replies
    Demonland