Whispering_Jack

Durdin a draft diamond

Vic Metro coach praises TAC Cup coaches for producing another talented group of AFL hopefuls

Actually Bob. I don't think Jack Trengove's testing serves your argument very well here at all because if Petracca and Brayshaw test as well for their endurance, they would be definite shoe ins in terms of their ability as footballers to run in games.Also, one of the last players I recall whose style was criticised for relying on power at under age level was Ollie Wines. I believe there are some around Demonland who may have regrets that we overlooked him. Of course, it works both ways because others knocked Jackson McRae because he was a virtual unknown in junior circles and people had no idea about his stamina. Although physical testing remains important, there are other tests you need to apply and that is whether a kid can actually play football. I think we finally now have recruiters who can discern that a lot better than the mug who had the job a few years ago.

As far as Petracca is concerned, my information is that he ticks all the boxes except endurance running which he's tested at about average in the past. I'm told he's been making a very determined effort to improve his tank and I suppose the testing at the Draft Camp or whatever it's called these days will give us a good indication. What I like though is that he obviously has a desire to improve himself and to work very hard to get there. As for Brayshaw, one of my contacts at the Sandringham Dragons has compared him favourably with Ollie Wines saying he's similar on a number of levels but has silkier skills. Interestingly, Brayshaw was among the best for the Dragons today while Billy Stretch did likewise yesterday at Glenelg in the SANFL.

It's interesting to see that McCartin kicked 7 goals and Petracca 5 for their respective TAC Cup sides yesterday. Both made their teams' best player list in their first games back after the Under 18 championships. Goddard was among the best for the Geelong Falcons too. Yes, we did well with the Tyson/Pick 9 deal but I'm wondering why so many people are quick to shun the potential top five picks when we're crying out for star quality players? Despite the examples of the odd failure here and there, the stats show that you're more likely to pick up an elite player with a top 10 pick than with picks 11 to 20. If we trade out of a top 3 or 4 pick this time it's going to have to be a super deal as far as I'm concerned.

Sam Durdin

Have you considered that there's no guarantee yet that we won't be one of the teams with a top 2 pick?

I've been watching this kid and the more I see, the more I like ~ Eastern Ranges star Christian Petracca is leaving nothing standing in his path on the way to success.

An innovation you might wish to suggest on your return to the management of the Gat?

Mitch Marsh scored a double century for Australia A v India A yesterday combining with young wicket keeper Sam Whiteman (174) to help get their team out of trouble. These blokes could be on the test scene in the not too distant future.

I really don't care what's politically unpalatable. I'm more concerned with my club's self-interest which involves securing draft assistance based on an existing rule under which it's arguable that we qualify. I'm suggesting we go for an end first round draft pick, say #20 which is where Nathan Fyfe was drafted in 2009 (we had 4 picks before it and only two of those players are still with us, one of who hasn't played this year, the other, two games). We need star players desperately and Fyfe is a star so self-interest tells me we should go for it and not worry about whether something's politically unpalatable. Bartlett and Jackson owe us a duty of care to try to assemble the best list and if it potentially means we improve out chances of getting a star, then I say "go for it". Has any other club in the history of the game knocked back an opportunity for this sort of assistance?

There's an obvious reason why no money arrived. After you asked for it you wrote "stop", so he stopped.

The problem with that is that we will probably need to keep 21 or whatever aside for Billy Stretch under the f/s rule. Hence, why I maintain that we should apply for draft assistance for which any other club would be entitled based on our record over the past eight seasons*. If we ask for it and beg nicely we might be given a pick at the end of the first round of the draft which brings a Tyson-like trade back into play. Otherwise we would have to trade out another good player which is unlikely because we simply don't have that sort of trade material. In a way it's a pity we haven't given the likes of Blease, Strauss and Tapscott the opportunity to prove themselves on the big stage.* if we win more than three games out of the remaining seven we might have to have a rethink.

Thanks Goodoil. It's going to be another interesting period for the club. I never thought back 3 or 4 years ago that we'd be dealing in such early draft picks but that's life.

Also on Future Stars, Terry Wallace went with his Rolling Draft but based it purely on players available and not on what teams in particular positions might have as needs. He has Petracca (the Larke Medallist who polled in every game he played) as his number 1. 1. Christian Petracca 2. Darcy Moore 3. Isaac Heeney 4. Paul Ahern 5. Angus Brayshaw 6. Patrick McCartin 7. Sam Durdin 8. Caleb Marchbank 9. Peter Wright 10. Jake Lever

I hear what you say Goodoil but I disagree that a player of Petracca's ilk wouldn't fit into our side as a half forward among the names you mentioned in our forward set up. Firstly, that line up hasn't been travelling all that well (albeit without Hogan), secondly, the players you named are all talls and you need variety and the 186cm strongly built man child weighing in at over 90kg who tested at 2.9 for the 20m looks to be the explosive type we need (apologies to A o B who seems to disagree).Petracca was interviewed today on TAC Cup Future stars (immediately after a session where Angus Brayshaw demonstrated his kicking style) and he interviews impressively. He has a combined football/basketball background (he was in a state junior team with Dante Exum). He rattled off some impressive figures from AIS testing (agility, speed but noticeably didn't mention endurance). The endurance part doesn't worry me although we've had some failures at the club in this area (Gysberts, Jurrah) because if you're prepared to work hard at it you can definitely improve that area markedly in a relatively short time. So I would have him in the forward mix in year 1 with a view to turning him into an elite and damaging midfielder by the end of year 3. I don't think we're going to win many more games this year and our likely finishing position is somewhere between 15th and 17th. That means there's a fair chance we're going to have picks 3 & 4 (Frawley compo) and our finishing position would probably entitle us to apply for draft assistance under the rule that replaced the priority pick (but we'll probably not apply because, although we qualify, the AFL is still intent on continuing to punish us over the tanking fiasco). I get the point about trying to do another deal similar to the one that secured Dom Tyson and Pick 9 for Pick 2 and whatever and, it's not for me to judge ATM because I don't know enough about the players in that 10 - 20 range. I can't see anyone in there that suggests to me that he would be the star we're looking for (if he were that good, he'd be much higher up the rankings anyway). However, I think all this lends itself to a good 4½ months of speculation and we're shortly going to open up our trading & draft board. Anyone have any ideas for a name (last year it was something like find a friend for Jesse Hogan, so there may be some reluctance about personalising the board name). Anyhow, in the absence of a you beaut trade, I'm with Petracca/Brayshaw & Stretch as f/s. There are 18 clubs and about 18 All Australians available in this draft. If we can snare three in one draft, we're travelling at about the same as when Hawthorn did the same in the middle of the last decade. Hopefully, it will get us the same result.

Uncertainty continues over this year's number one pick I haven't been following the Under 18 championships as closely as I have in the past but I have the main games on Foxtel IQ and have watched snippets. It's clear that Paul Roos proposes to inject more midfield strength into the list so Brayshaw and Petracca stand out above the rest of the pack as midfielders and we could get both depending on what happens with James Frawley and if a suitable swap a la Tyson/pick 9 for Pick 2/pick 20 something can't be arranged. Stretch with a second round pick sounds pretty much par for the course. We would probably need to pull in a tall KPP in trading to cover the loss of Mitch Clark.

And here it comes ... Winning isn't everything

Well it got worse in the second half. I think it's time for certain parties to come to grips with a forgotten art.

Is two kicks, five handballs one mark and 1 tackle in half a game worth $25k?

I don't believe it was that great a career move by the Wiz but don't blame his management - they got him a lot of money and the story I heard was that he picked up a packet to sign on. Did Melbourne try hard enough to keep him here? I don't think they did well out of the trade either.

Last week's TAC Cup Future Stars Rolling Draft:- 1. St. Kilda Patrick McCartin (Tall Fwd) Falcons 2. Brisbane Peter Wright (Tall Fwd) Cannons 3. GWS Giants Christian Petracca (Med Fwd) Ranges 4. Richmond Jarrod Pickett (Mid/Sml Fwd) Sth Freo 5. Melbourne Angus Brayshaw (Midfielder) Dragons 6. Western Bulldogs Sam Durdin (Tall Fwd) West Adel 7. Carlton Tom Lamb (Tall Fwd) Stingrays 8. West Coast Clem Smith (Sml Def) Perth 9. Adelaide Jake Lever (Tall Fwd) Calder 10. Gold Coast Caleb Marchbank (Tall Def) B'rangers Draft order based on positions at start of Round 14 #TACFSrollingdraft

It is according to ASADA. I got 50% off for co-operating with the authorities and another 25% off for making sure that a certain rat didn't play for GWS on Sunday.

I'm back having served my two week suspension from this thread and see nothing's changed.

You're right. It was Mark Taylor - still no respect here for the great Don Bradman. Perhaps, we should stop retrospectively at 37 pages which represents the combined IQ of all current residents of the Gat?