15 years ago

[Satan 2,881]

1,2,11,18,34,50

only 34 kicked on a bit :)

[Demon Head 292]

You can't mention 1 here.

[Pennant St Dee 13,304]

We drafted our Premiership Captain that’s how I look at it, yes we made some errors but we aren’t Robinson Crusoe there 

[jnrmac 20,185]

24 minutes ago, Satan said:

1,2,11,18,34,50

only 34 kicked on a bit :)

I wish Richmond that same sort of success

[biggestred 5,138]

we could have taken cripps, hodge, judd and pendlebury with that draft and they would have been spuds as we couldnt develop a photograph at the time. 

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,909]

41 minutes ago, biggestred said:

we could have taken cripps, hodge, judd and pendlebury with that draft and they would have been spuds as we couldnt develop a photograph at the time. 

And yet we were all in a very dark place.

[Demon Disciple 12,271]

Our development from 2007-2012 was abhorrent. I’m amazed Max survived the gauntlet.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

Max Gawn softens the blow significantly for 1, 2, 11, and 18 who were all taken before Fyfe.  

[TRACATTACK 207]

22 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

And yet we were all in a very dark place.

Gold 1

[Timothy Reddan-A'Blew 5,273]

2 hours ago, Satan said:

1,2,11,18,34,50

only 34 kicked on a bit :)

66 didn't let us down, however...

[John Crow Batty 8,878]

We did eventually end up with number 10 Jake Melksham as well. The only club to have 2 players from that draft still on its list I believe. A win of sorts?

Edited November 26 by John Crow Batty

[Left Foot Snap 2,453]

Trengove wasn't a failure of a pick. His circumstances after drafting were, but he was a good pick until his injuries, and premature responsibility was placed on him.

Another way to look at that draft, is the we picked 2 club captains!

[Roost it far 8,578]

6 minutes ago, Left Foot Snap said:

Trengove wasn't a failure of a pick. His circumstances after drafting were, but he was a good pick until his injuries, and premature responsibility was placed on him.

Another way to look at that draft, is the we picked 2 club captains!

You just keep telling yourself that. He turned out to be a mid 20’s kind of player

[Left Foot Snap 2,453]

2 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

You just keep telling yourself that. He turned out to be a mid 20’s kind of player

Nah, he was tracking well when he first started.

[Lord Travis 10,763]

The failure was mostly down to development and culture, not recruitment. We drafted talented footballers, then couldn't develop them and ruined them both mentally and physically. They had a horrible work environment, poor leadership infield and off field, poor resources, mountains of pressure etc.  I feel sorry for those kids getting drafted to such a pathetic club and having their careers ruined. Their failure is on the club. 

It's a miracle Gawn survived and became the champion he is. Interestingly he did multiple ACL's and wasn't around the club as much, not getting on the park consistently for 5 years. Ironically those 5 years of ongoing injuries saved him from the rubbish environment.
Trengove was on his way to being a star of the competition and was basically on par with Dusty for the first few years. Injuries and shoving captaincy on him when he wasn't ready for that pressure is what ruined him. As a draft option, he was 100% a great recruitment and it's a shame injuries and poor development ruined him.

[John Crow Batty 8,878]

16 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

The failure was mostly down to development and culture, not recruitment. We drafted talented footballers, then couldn't develop them and ruined them both mentally and physically. They had a horrible work environment, poor leadership infield and off field, poor resources, mountains of pressure etc.  I feel sorry for those kids getting drafted to such a pathetic club and having their careers ruined. Their failure is on the club. 

It's a miracle Gawn survived and became the champion he is. Interestingly he did multiple ACL's and wasn't around the club as much, not getting on the park consistently for 5 years. Ironically those 5 years of ongoing injuries saved him from the rubbish environment.
Trengove was on his way to being a star of the competition and was basically on par with Dusty for the first few years. Injuries and shoving captaincy on him when he wasn't ready for that pressure is what ruined him. As a draft option, he was 100% a great recruitment and it's a shame injuries and poor development ruined him.

I couldn’t believe it that Trengove was playing with his injury and patently obvious he was as slow as a snail towing a turtle for so long before it got out in the public domain. How he was allowed to play was borderline criminal. For a long time many here were believing there was nothing wrong with him and posters who questioned his mobility were shouted down. 

[Cranky Franky 2,091]

1 hour ago, Roost it far said:

You just keep telling yourself that. He turned out to be a mid 20’s kind of player

Him & Scully were unanimously tipped to go 1 & 2. Doubt you can provide any evidence to the contrary.

[Roost it far 8,578]

6 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

Him & Scully were unanimously tipped to go 1 & 2. Doubt you can provide any evidence to the contrary.

Yes they were but 5 years later they weren’t rated as highly

[Dr. Mubutu 866]

39 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

Yes they were but 5 years later they weren’t rated as highly

You're telling me that drafting is not an exact science?

I am SHOCKED.

Edit: Can you IMAGINE the shemozzle we'd have had if we brought D Martin into the environment the club was at that time?

Edited November 27 by Dr. Mubutu

[John Crow Batty 8,878]

Imagine if we drafted an all time great, club legend premiership captain every year. We stuffed up big time but there was a huge silver lining in the 2009 draft.

[Little Goffy 14,639]

And all that pain right before the 'franchise' teams came in and blew a hole in any further rebuilding efforts.

I take some comfort that we weren't the only club to stink up that draft.

It is hilarious that after four picks in the first round, we gained a heritage-grade champion with pick 34. Also kind of funny that with Gawn and Melksham (who we originally hoped to get at 11) we have two of the six players still playing from that draft.

Fremantle can relate to that - taking injury-cruelled Morabito at 4 but then getting exactly the player that they hoped Morabito would become at pick 20.

Port Adelaide managed Butcher, Moore and Pittard at 8,9 and 16. Ouch.

But when I look back at that draft era I can't help but feel a smirking pity for Carlton, whose drafting pain was spread in small doses year after year and prevented them from assembling a full team around what should have been an incredible champion core. Pretty much from the moment they traded Kennedy and pick 3 for Judd, it all went wrong.

2008 - Pick 6, Chris Yarran

2009 - Pick 12, Kane Lucas

2010 - (compromised draft) Pick 18, Matthew Watson

2011 - (Compromised draft) pick 22, Josh Bootsma

2012 - Pick 11, Troy Menzel

2013 - Pick 13, Patrick Cripps 

2014 - Pick 19, Blaine Boekhurst

2015 - Finally a jackpot, with Weitering, McKay and Curnow

2016 - Pick 6, Sam Petrevski-Seton

2017 - Pick 3, Paddy Dow & Pick 10, Lachie O'Brien (Special mention to De Koning at 30)

Ten drafts, a total of 13 first round picks, just 4 of them have been successful at AFL level, with three of those from a single draft.

Honestly, their drafting hasn't improved much since. Finally got a swell of okay kids in the last couple of seasons and the difference shows, but no doubt a decade of very weak drafting is a significant reason behind the Blues never quite becoming a top threat despite having several absolutely first-rate champions.

[Bang Bang Bang 5,839]

Pick 1: Scully - his career kind of came and went in a hurry, didn't it? Not sure why we had all those sleepless nights in 2011, as he became a bit of a nothing player. Not a complete bust, he was in the AA squad two times in ten years, and was OK outside of that, but overall he had a highly forgettable career IMO.

Pick 2: Trengove - contrary to some beliefs I don't think he ever showed the potential of becoming one of the game's greats, but he was tracking pretty well in 2010-2011. Dusty was always miles ahead IMO. Then the captaincy and injuries came and sadly his highly anticipated 2016 comeback only showed he was nowhere near it anymore. 

Pick 11: Gysberts - A memorable first two games and he also played  a couple of really good games in 2011 but his career nosedived at a spectacular rate. Turns out Neeld was onto something not rating this guy and trading him for Cam Pederson ended up being a win for us. This was the pick we received for Brock McLean who also didn't do a whole lot for Carlton after early promise for us.

Pick 18 - Tapscott. Famously called out as "Luke.... Tapscott" given there was some murmurings we were going to take Luke Ball here (we probably should have). I remember this guy's debut against Sydney and first half against Hawthorn. He looked amazing. But then like so many others, that was it. Just a bit too slow and injury-prone to make a fist of it.

Pick 34 - Gawn. Possibly our best ever player and premiership captain. Enough said.

Pick 50 - Fitzpatrick. Not too bad for a player taken in this range. Had a bit of talent and hung around for a while but was a bit too uncoordinated to have a long career. 

 

[In Harmes Way 7,823]

42 minutes ago, Bang Bang Bang said:

Pick 50 - Fitzpatrick. Not too bad for a player taken in this range. Had a bit of talent and hung around for a while but was a bit too uncoordinated to have a long career. 

Don't think I'll ever forget his tunnelball throw effort in the goal square to force a rushed behind only to get pinged for throwing it.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,909]

1 hour ago, Bang Bang Bang said:

 

Pick 34 - Gawn. Possibly our best ever player and premiership captain. Enough said.

 

 

How to say you never saw Robbie Flower play without saying that you never saw Robbie Flower play.

[durango 2,023]

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

How to say you never saw Robbie Flower play without saying that you never saw Robbie Flower play.

They are 2 different players and any comparison is not possible Robbie was a great player who despite his body shape made a lasting impression.

Gawn is a giant who after a rough start turned into one of the elite ruckman in the AFL, but the Demons have had good ruckmen but few were elite.