TeamPlayedFine39

Every word of this is true... but no fun at all!

Hogan was hardly modelling good posture during that interview. Was slouching and swaying all over the place. Richo, like all former player/commentators was standing bolt-upright and sucking it in.

I suppose it comes down to perception and perspective. I remember at the time being really disappointed that it looked like we'd be spending pick 4 on someone who didn't appear to have any weapons other than a big body when playing against 17 year olds. Whitfield and Toumpas were the classy selections of the draft, players with real X Factor who could cut up an opposition zone with speed and precision. O'Meara and Crouch were taken from the pool, Viney would most likely be coming with a second round, which left us with a guy that most seemed to rate as going between 7 and 12. I liked the idea of more grunt in the midfield but was disappointed that that was all that we were going to get for our top pick. I was wrong. Wines, so far, is the pick of his age bracket. Most were wrong. Even those who thought we should have drafted Wines, would not have believed he was the best player in the draft.

The keen interest from StKilda and Hawthorn again indicates where recruiters saw Wines at the time. Leading into the Carnival, he was not considered a top ten pick. Even with an awesome Carnival he only went at 7. Look at the two players taken before Toumpas in that draft - O'Rourke and Plowman, those two are even further off the pace of AFL than Jimmy. Recruiters go off the information, and the player, that they have at the time - it is ridiculously easy to draft three years later.

But what's the outcome here? How does this thread end? I wish we had of drafted James Hird, Chris Grant, Shane Crawford and made a play for Tony Lockett and Alistair Lynch. Why didn't we do more to lure Kernahan and Bradley over from SA? If we had of snared Ablett snr, we could have also got Jr!! What's there to 'forgive'? Did Viney stuff up pick four on purpose? Is Toumpas under-performing on purpose?

Too quick for me!

With that said, Jack Viney said on SEN that the pick of the bunch was Toumpas.

Yes, but the 'inside information' that we had suggested that Toumpas was still the better pic. If anyone had an inkling of what Wines would be playing like now - he would have gone number one. On an open market he was valued as the 7th most promising youngster available. Drafting is an imprecise science - even Hawthorn and Geelong, who have drafted impeccably, have made some howlers in the first round. The player who was rated as a top three talent all year - or an inside, one paced, man-child who bullied his way through the under 18 carnival against schoolboys. It looked obvious to the overwhelming majority of people at the time... now it makes us all shudder.

He's already a very good player and an excellent prospect to develop into a top defender. He is driven to improve, wants to play on the best opposition forwards and after playing for Melbourne through three of our worst years ever, was not broken by the experience. He has courage and an iron will. Tom McDonald would be picked up by every team in the league if we discarded him. In fact, he'd make the current back six of practically every team in the league. 21 years old. GUN.