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Pre-Season Draft

Big Kev
Big Kev
in Melbourne Demons

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The point is.. there is every chance a smokey with some sort of X factor could be found in the PD or Rookie drafts. There will always be cracks. Someone wil be injured.

Someone's talent may not be obvious to the vast band of recruiters who by their very nature are beccoming vanilla in flavour as the clubs ( well many ) seem to all want the same thing and are being guided by similar citeria ( Arguably much making sense ) But there are always those that dont fit the mould !!

This was something our recently departed CAC was quite adept at.. picking the odd ones.. You dont always get a high hit on them but some are little ( or not so little ...lol ) gems :)

time will tell but you just get the feeling we'll look back at this years drafts with fondness and marvel..

nohing more than a gut feeling....but its rumbling :)

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      Maurie Lithen said:
    You must be deluded if you think you'll find them in the PSD or rookie draft.

    Sampi has kicked 30 goals in a season twice (2004 & 2005)

    Sampi has kicked hauls of 4 and 5 goals.

    Sampi has taken mark of the year.

    Sampi has excited the WCE faithful.

    Sampi could've provided the Demon faithful with enjoyment and excitement.

    I appreciate the fact that we didn't select him because he didn't lose the kg's. But he really could've been something special for the club. A much less speculative pick than Martin.

    Having said, I'll love it if Martin becomes a gem, and hold out hope that he can be one of those players that makes it from nowhere. ie- Martin Clarke from Collingwood.

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      jacey said:
    Let's draft Derek Kickett. Plenty of X factor and what about that goal he kicked in the all star game.

    People respect what you do with your talents.

    You seem to respect the talent regardless how lazy and unmotivated they are.

    And you want to reward these people.

    With regards to the final pick on the list, maybe.

    It must just be me, but I'd rather a less dedicated bloke with all the x-factor in the world who on his day can turn a match on his head, rather than a hard-working citizen who gets rewarded with 22 games in the VFL, because unfortunetly he isn't quite good enough to crack an AFL game...but god love him the boy had dedication.

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    If Sampi wanted to play footy desperately then he would have. As it is, he didn't.

    Martin has enormous potential as a marking power forward.

    His improvement has been marked over the last year at Sandy and he has attributes that we lack. He is an aggressive and genuinely powerful player who can take a mark.

    I'd rather have someone who has the ability to play AFL as well as the attitude to play AFL, rather than someone who has the ability but not the attitude.

    It's also much better for building a team to have a culture of hard work and selflessness, rather than laziness which can become infectious. It's an culture that we're trying to fix and we would only punt on Sampi if he could prove that he wanted to be part of it. He didn't.

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      Bring-Back-Powell said:
    With regards to the final pick on the list, maybe.

    It must just be me, but I'd rather a less dedicated bloke with all the x-factor in the world who on his day can turn a match on his head, rather a hard-working citizen who gets rewarded with 22 games in the VFL, because unfortunetly he isn't quite good enough to crack an AFL game...but god love him the boy had dedication.

    You would have loved Sean Charles BBP. The problem was trying to locate him.

    A player who has the x-factor, but not the dedication, becomes a cancer within the club. Look what Geelong did with Steve Johnson. After trying to trade him the previous year, it took a suspension by the club to force him to change his ways.

    Sampi isn't even on a team list, yet he couldn't show the dedication required to be an AFL player. Interestingly, no other club took the punt on his x-factor.

    BTW, who are you referring to in the sentence in bold?

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      Bring-Back-Powell said:
    I don't know about you occo

    Just have a look at all the posts and so many people saying that we should get sampi, that hes not fat, that he wants to play afl, that he sorts out issues as a crummer allowing davey to play midfield. There are plenty of pages where people on here have disagreed with thoes that have said they dont want sampi and yet look at em now, they are all of the belief that sampi wasnt worth it. haha it just makes me laugh

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      mo64 said:
    You would have loved Sean Charles BBP. The problem was trying to locate him.

    A player who has the x-factor, but not the dedication, becomes a cancer within the club. Look what Geelong did with Steve Johnson. After trying to trade him the previous year, it took a suspension by the club to force him to change his ways.

    Sampi isn't even on a team list, yet he couldn't show the dedication required to be an AFL player. Interestingly, no other club took the punt on his x-factor.

    BTW, who are you referring to in the sentence in bold?

    Yep Charles was great on his day. Remember the 94 finals series. I think constant injuries ruined his motivation.

    I'm referring to the Martin situation. He'll be dedicated but will he be good enough to crack games? Meanwhile with Sampi you'll know he'll play games of AFL...and damn good ones at that. And if it didn't work out you delist him...no loss as he'll be on minimum wage.

    I'm sure Sampi would not have gone about his training and preparation half arsed. He was the one begging clubs to give him a life-line on minimum wage. And wasn't he spending time in rehab overcoming injury...(a report I read in one of the papers)

    But now that he didn't get picked up, I don't see the point in debating any further.

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      MeLbOuRnE said:
    Bailey said the selection of Martin was all about grooming long-term future key position players for the club.

    "Stefan fitted our needs more than Ashley did," Bailey told Sportal on Tuesday.

    "He is a tall (198cm) key position player with an enormous leap."

    Bailey said he believes Martin could develop into a future key position player at either end of the ground.

    "He can play down back or go up forward," he said.

    Bailey seems to think he can play in the Back line aswell as up forward i think he was an exelent choice...i think in the Future(when developed more) with his size,mobility and "enourmous" leap along with a good set of hands he could be a very hard forward to stop......wouldn't mind seeing him down back either

    Exactly my point, a very tall Key player who can fix problems all around the ground, inc' ruck.

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    There will always be opportunities to pick up talent in the ps and rookie drafts for the main reason that some kids develop at different times to others. Not every single kid is going to be at their best at 17/18.

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    I don't mind the speculative pick, but worry a bit as I remember Collingwood tried something similar with Fanning, who turned out to be a dud. I hope Stafan is not a Fanning.

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      Bring-Back-Powell said:
    I don't know about you occo, but I wanted a player who brings genuine excitement to the team. A player that has that x-factor and draws people through the gate - ala Robbo, Yze, Davey.

    I can't get excited about a tall unco ruckman who can't kick, played less footy than me (and I quit when I was 13) and quite frankly is more of a risk than Sampi.

    I think we just have to trust the judgement of our recruiting staff. There were obviously some real problems with Sampi. He couldn't possibly bring "genuine excitement" to the team if he is fat, unfit and doesn't have the passion to play.

    As to Martin being "a tall unco ruckman", I couldn't disagree with you more. I saw him play for Sandy a few times this year and I was actually quite impressed with how well he moved. The guy obviously has something if he is playing Sandy seniors in only his first or second year of football.

    Also, there are an increasing number of footballers with a basketball background. Dean Brogan is probably the best example I can think of. He began his AFL career late, and I remember there were doubters about his ability, but he is now a premiership player and one of the better ruckman going around. Scott Pendlebury is another who springs to mind.

    The more I think about it, the more I think the recruiters have made the right decision.

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    Well we now have two big hoopers who dont really mind flexing a bit of their weisght !! Be interesting if they end up as the bookends !! i'll be keenly watching their progress :)

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      condemned 84 said:
    The problem with sampi was the fire in his belly was from KFC spicy chicken.

    or a sweet chilli twister combo upsized with extra seasoning

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    This draft and the rookie draft is for what your list needs. We need talls that can hopefully develop into KPP over the next couple of years. We picked up two players that will need a couple of years to develop, a 203cm ruckman which we have all been crying for, and a midfielder that many on this site has wanted for some time. We didn't choose Sampi, no other club did either

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    Sampi couldn’t have been too keen to be drafted. I read in MX that he lost 1.2kg in FIVE WEEKS!

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      condemned 84 said:
    The problem with sampi was the fire in his belly was from KFC spicy chicken.

    lol...good call

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    I'm happy that we've used the PSD and rookie drafts to bring in a few talls.

    We need those types more than a Sampi, IMHO.

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