Part 5: Jason Taylor - Visionary or Over-rated - 2017

[Deespicable 2,656]

2017

Draft: 6/10 Trades: 8/10

If we thought the trade for Michael Hibberd was big in 2016, then have a think back to how the trade for Jake Lever eventuated in 2017. We offered young Jake a massive price hike, he was an emerging defender after all, and he liked the idea of joining forces with his 2014 Vic Metro mates – Trac and Brayshaw. It was our biggest trade heist since we lured Kelvin Templeton and Peter Moore. And we had him secured before the finals. 

Adelaide kept pressing him for an answer and it backfired for them as it meant everyone at the Crows knew his answer and were really [censored] with the then 21-year-old and many say the whole issue impacted their grand final psyche that year.

The angry Crows then played hard ball and wanted the world back and we, unlike most clubs, quickly agreed to getting the deal sorted by giving up two first rounders as requested -  pick 10 of 2017 and our first-rounder for 2018 as well, although our improved year in 2018 meant that became pick 15. 

The result of all that was we needed some inspirational lower-order choices from Taylor and drafting three premiership players is a pretty impressive booty from that year by him. Goody’s decision to jettison Jack Watts meant that we did get back into the draft in the second round which ended up being crucial as it helped us snare Fritter. 

29 Charlie Spargo – The more skilful son of a handy North player, it was a bit of a surprise when the Kangas overlooked him at pick 23. But then given his size (172cm), it was likely a bit of a Caleb Daniel scenario for most of the clubs and little Charlie is not a big kick like Caleb or Jake Bowey. But after 98 games for us, including a polished 2021 season, he’s been pretty useful and his ability to lower his eyes and find a target has been missed this year. My own view though is that we have too many small forwards on our list, so I’m not one who views him as a must keep. But back then he did provide a point of difference. The fact that the next pick – Carlton’s Tom de Koning went at 30 – has become such a standout will temper many people’s views on our choice.

31 Bayley Fritsch – His form in the VFL was hot and cold for Casey, but having won the best young talent award, several clubs aside from us were across him with Sydney (pick 33) a big danger. He took a couple of years refining his skills, but his class up forward was on show throughout 2021 (59 goals), not to mention that memorable grand final. This was the pick we got from Port for Jack Watts and he has topped our past four leading goalkicking charts, that’s four more than Jacky boy.

37 Harrison Petty – This pick was all Taylor apparently with his knowledge of the draft pool meaning he couldn’t believe Harrison was still around and that even though we’d outlayed heaps for Lever, he had to get the Norwood youngster. Some of you may recall his abysmal first game against St Kilda, when his first left footer dribbled off his toes like Chris Lamb a couple of decades earlier, but once he got over the AFL nerves he showed he could be handy and was trialled up forward back in 2020 before groin injuries curtailed that idea. In 2021, he emerged as a quality VFL defender, but had to wait for an injury to get a gig and with Tomlinson going down about round 6, he was summoned and had a very important year spoiling the third talls, usually ruckman and allowing Lever and May to do their thing. Our forward issues have necessitated another experiment and the wave of comments here this season has generally been unkind, he’s kicked four goals in 14 weeks as our star forward so you can sort of understand why. Worse still is that we could have had two first rounders from Adelaide for him last year and now we will probably just get their second rounder at the end of the season. On his day though, he still marks with aplomb and I reckon he could do a very good Lever intercept role at another club if their list requires it. Or who knows, he may yet stay.  

48 Oscar Baker – A major speculative pick from Aspley (Qld), Oscar had a great ever-ready battery but probably lacked the class with his kicking and whilst he’s quick, he’s not explosive quick, meaning he was useful, but just outside our best 22 for much of his five years before we traded him on to the Bulldogs. He’s one of eight ex-Dees that have played this season at other clubs – Howe, Hogan, Harmes, Jordan, Bedford, Wagner and Grundy are the others – which explains why our VFL side is bottom tier this season.

Instead of Baker, Taylor could have snared Bendigo’s Kane Farrell (pick 51) who is starting to look the part at Port, while Gryan Miers (57) and Dylan Moore (67) would have been better than any of our swag of small forwards taken in the past few years, Kossie excluded. And North got Tristan Xerri at pick 72, so passing on TDK (30) wasn’t our only solution to our current back-up woes.

There weren’t too many gems unearthed in the rookie draft that year although Richmond again found another goer in Liam Baker, the Suns did likewise with Nick Holman, Sydney snared a developing tall forward Joel Amartey playing for Sandringham via their academy and the Giants got a quality defender in Dylan Buckley. The Pies also thought they had found a mature defender with Brody Mihocek, but got lucky turning him into the tough, dependable premiership forward that he’s become. We decided to maintain the faith with Filipovic, Keilty and Smith.

[RedBlueandTrue 358]

Extremely harsh on the draft rating in my view. Not a pick before 29 and yet we drafted three premiership players with 4 picks, one with a lazy 6 goals in that game. That is an unworldly hit rate. 9.5/10.

[whatwhat say what 21,537]

yeah arguably one of the best drafting years that taylor has had

3 premiership players with 3 picks within 10 of each other, and all deemed as speculative at the time

outstanding imo

lever is one of the best recruits we've ever had as well - a leader who performs an outstanding and crucial role

i would assume it's between him and trac as our next skipper

 

[Stretch Johnson 2,723]

Wowee.

Three premiership players from pick 29 to 37 gets a 6/10.

[Little Goffy 13,689]

Hmm... harsh rating on the draft effort. By the numbers, the only club which has extracted more games played by its 2017 draft class is Freo, which had picks 2 and 5 and another six to follow.

You could make a solid case for Fritsch being safely inside the top 10 group;

Brayshaw, Rayner, LDU, Naughton, Cerra, Allen, T De Koning, Worpel, Miers, Kelly.

 

A little unfortunate that this season has been very bad for all our 2017 draftees, with Spargo hurt, Petty hurt then struggling to engage a new position, and Fritsch being oddly out of form with limited impact for the 8th-ranked goalkicker in the league.

Still, Fritsch has had six goals from two games since Melksham came back in, so touch wood the form is turning as the system begins to work.

Honestly, all it would take for this draft to be rated an absolute world-beating blinder would be for Fritsch & Petty to regain their 'normal' form.

I do also wonder if Spargo and Melksham have had long and thorough discussions during their shared injury layoff. If Spargo can add just 20% to his game he becomes a solid 22 contributor instead of constantly on the fringe and disliked because of his awkward combination of low-visibility strengths and high-visibility weaknesses.

[roy11 3,460]

21 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

A little unfortunate that this season has been very bad for all our 2017 draftees, with Spargo hurt

Curious what happens with Spargo, some have said he may want a fresh start elsewhere.  Don't want to move any player on 2 games short of the Father/Son eligibility though aha

[Little Richard 6,142]

32 minutes ago, roy11 said:

Curious what happens with Spargo, some have said he may want a fresh start elsewhere.  Don't want to move any player on 2 games short of the Father/Son eligibility though aha

I hope we keep him - when he's healthy he's such an asset across half-forward and seriously underrated in my opinion. Becomes even more important after Melksham retires.

[DeeZone 8,737]

2 hours ago, Deespicable said:

2017

Draft: 6/10 Trades: 8/10

If we thought the trade for Michael Hibberd was big in 2016, then have a think back to how the trade for Jake Lever eventuated in 2017. We offered young Jake a massive price hike, he was an emerging defender after all, and he liked the idea of joining forces with his 2014 Vic Metro mates – Trac and Brayshaw. It was our biggest trade heist since we lured Kelvin Templeton and Peter Moore. And we had him secured before the finals. 

Adelaide kept pressing him for an answer and it backfired for them as it meant everyone at the Crows knew his answer and were really [censored] with the then 21-year-old and many say the whole issue impacted their grand final psyche that year.

The angry Crows then played hard ball and wanted the world back and we, unlike most clubs, quickly agreed to getting the deal sorted by giving up two first rounders as requested -  pick 10 of 2017 and our first-rounder for 2018 as well, although our improved year in 2018 meant that became pick 15. 

The result of all that was we needed some inspirational lower-order choices from Taylor and drafting three premiership players is a pretty impressive booty from that year by him. Goody’s decision to jettison Jack Watts meant that we did get back into the draft in the second round which ended up being crucial as it helped us snare Fritter. 

29 Charlie Spargo – The more skilful son of a handy North player, it was a bit of a surprise when the Kangas overlooked him at pick 23. But then given his size (172cm), it was likely a bit of a Caleb Daniel scenario for most of the clubs and little Charlie is not a big kick like Caleb or Jake Bowey. But after 98 games for us, including a polished 2021 season, he’s been pretty useful and his ability to lower his eyes and find a target has been missed this year. My own view though is that we have too many small forwards on our list, so I’m not one who views him as a must keep. But back then he did provide a point of difference. The fact that the next pick – Carlton’s Tom de Koning went at 30 – has become such a standout will temper many people’s views on our choice.

31 Bayley Fritsch – His form in the VFL was hot and cold for Casey, but having won the best young talent award, several clubs aside from us were across him with Sydney (pick 33) a big danger. He took a couple of years refining his skills, but his class up forward was on show throughout 2021 (59 goals), not to mention that memorable grand final. This was the pick we got from Port for Jack Watts and he has topped our past four leading goalkicking charts, that’s four more than Jacky boy.

37 Harrison Petty – This pick was all Taylor apparently with his knowledge of the draft pool meaning he couldn’t believe Harrison was still around and that even though we’d outlayed heaps for Lever, he had to get the Norwood youngster. Some of you may recall his abysmal first game against St Kilda, when his first left footer dribbled off his toes like Chris Lamb a couple of decades earlier, but once he got over the AFL nerves he showed he could be handy and was trialled up forward back in 2020 before groin injuries curtailed that idea. In 2021, he emerged as a quality VFL defender, but had to wait for an injury to get a gig and with Tomlinson going down about round 6, he was summoned and had a very important year spoiling the third talls, usually ruckman and allowing Lever and May to do their thing. Our forward issues have necessitated another experiment and the wave of comments here this season has generally been unkind, he’s kicked four goals in 14 weeks as our star forward so you can sort of understand why. Worse still is that we could have had two first rounders from Adelaide for him last year and now we will probably just get their second rounder at the end of the season. On his day though, he still marks with aplomb and I reckon he could do a very good Lever intercept role at another club if their list requires it. Or who knows, he may yet stay.  

48 Oscar Baker – A major speculative pick from Aspley (Qld), Oscar had a great ever-ready battery but probably lacked the class with his kicking and whilst he’s quick, he’s not explosive quick, meaning he was useful, but just outside our best 22 for much of his five years before we traded him on to the Bulldogs. He’s one of eight ex-Dees that have played this season at other clubs – Howe, Hogan, Harmes, Jordan, Bedford, Wagner and Grundy are the others – which explains why our VFL side is bottom tier this season.

Instead of Baker, Taylor could have snared Bendigo’s Kane Farrell (pick 51) who is starting to look the part at Port, while Gryan Miers (57) and Dylan Moore (67) would have been better than any of our swag of small forwards taken in the past few years, Kossie excluded. And North got Tristan Xerri at pick 72, so passing on TDK (30) wasn’t our only solution to our current back-up woes.

There weren’t too many gems unearthed in the rookie draft that year although Richmond again found another goer in Liam Baker, the Suns did likewise with Nick Holman, Sydney snared a developing tall forward Joel Amartey playing for Sandringham via their academy and the Giants got a quality defender in Dylan Buckley. The Pies also thought they had found a mature defender with Brody Mihocek, but got lucky turning him into the tough, dependable premiership forward that he’s become. We decided to maintain the faith with Filipovic, Keilty and Smith.

Deespicable given that JT picked up four premiership players in the draft I also think that is an incredible strike rate, Petty & Spargs injuries have taken a bit of the shine of it but in 2021.👏👏👏

[Fritta and Turner 4,073]

48 minutes ago, roy11 said:

Curious what happens with Spargo, some have said he may want a fresh start elsewhere.  Don't want to move any player on 2 games short of the Father/Son eligibility though aha

Charlie has had lower leg or foot issues for some years now.  Not sure how well he will recover from his current op.  Hope he stays though.

[Demon Jack 6,687]

1 hour ago, Fritta and Turner said:

Charlie has had lower leg or foot issues for some years now.  Not sure how well he will recover from his current op.  Hope he stays though.

I can't see him leaving this season. He still has another year on his contract and I don't think there'll be much interest considering his current injury issues.

[titan_uranus 24,210]

I enjoy the debate @Deespicable but as others have said, it’s indefensibly bonkers to give us a 6/10 when we found three players who each played their own critical role in 2021, and none of whom were before pick 29.