nutbean

I think posters are confused by other posters such as yourself, and my attitude to these draftees. Absolutely I am excited to be getting what is believed to be the two of the top three talents in the land. I am hopeful that this TAC talent translates in long and prosperous AFL careers. But the hype has in so many cases not turned into reality. The boys that are hyped as the best now have constantly proven themselves not be the best in 3 years time. I will pronounce any of our draftees as guns when they have hit the big stage and proven themselves to be guns. Until then - I am keeping my powder dry.

We have been continually burned by the career reality not matching the draft time potential and hype. I'll get really excited when reality = hype. (I have allowed myself for the first time in a long time to get excited - Dom Tyson. Paid a big price for him trading immediate impact for potential "superstar" and he delivered from day one)

or conversely, he won't

I truly don't think anyone can pick (guess) who will be the best from the draft in five years time ( as history tells us) but I am prepared to settle. If Brayshaw/Petracca turn out to be Bartels rather the Abletts (Bartel in my opinion is a really good top notch footballer but Ablett is a superstar) - I am prepared to accept that. Up to now we have drafted what we thought could be Abletts that turned out to be Mortons.

Wasn't only posters - I recall reading in a couple of places that his disposal was iffy at times - but that hasn't really translated during his time at Port.

The two highlight packages are really polar opposites in terms of disposal - in the first he misses plenty of targets and in the second he doesn't miss a single target. As said before Scully as a number one draft pick has average disposal at best ( great hands though). There was a knock on Wines disposal but I haven't seen that at senior level.

Whilst I don't hold great store in the testing as these kids ( in the main) are far from matured, the testing would not be about if they were able to spell their names or not. It would be more about goals, aspirations and expectations ( expectations both from the players perspective and the club). The questions would try and tease out how much fire there is in the belly's and the lengths they will go to succeed. Imagine asking those sorts of questions to 18 year olds ! Tom Scully was meant to be the flag bearer for what you wanted from a player and would have been borne out by his test. Fanatical desire to succeed, fanatical desire to better himself and his junior years were very focused on him and his teams succeeding. He was a leader during his junior years. He would have ticked every box. Hence the reason I place little faith in these tests.

I immediately thought Travis Johnstone....

Reading Sylvia's bio and reading Petracca's - if we secure Petracca I would like to think he can become what we all hoped Sylvia would be - not what he turned out to be.

Get him to spell the band "ACDC" - for anyone who hasn't heard it - google "Spell ACDC radio contest" - it makes me weep for the future of this planet.

Yet the whole Sylvia comparison is retrospective - you can make an assessment on Sylvia now as we have seen 10 years of him. Sylvia was absolutely driven - at 18..It just didn't last all that long. Sylvia suffered from OP in 2002 but was dominant 2003. Not driven ? 2003 he was a tackling machine ripping games apart. There was no knock on Sylvia at draft time about his work rate or will to succeed. He was described as a competitive beast. "Does all the team things and is hard at the footy - 111 tackles including 13 in a game give you some idea of his work ethic. He is super competitive and even when he is struggling with injury still gives his all" "Has been compared to Michael Voss and should become of the best players in the league within 5 years. Medium, inside forward/midfielder who is a tremendous tackler. Player who leads by example. Great work ethic and very competitive. Had outstanding 2003 season winning All Australian U18 honours, TAC Cup coaches award and Pioneers B & F Award" . I can absolutely see the comparisons between the two in the limited vision I have seen and they way they play. I hope if we take Petracca that he doesn't turn out to be Colin Sylvia. The major difference between now and 2003 is we have a development team in place who will hopefully steer the kids in the right direction both on and off the field. I wonder how Sylvia would have turned out under if we drafted this year under this current regime ?

I'll be happy when in the near future we say "geez - wasn't he a good draft pick" ( like I am saying about Tyson). Until that time I won't get excited by any name called out.

Thats why we are experts- I was completely underwhelmed by his kicking - that's because I saw a different video package. If you watch the package early on in this thread you will be unimpressed.

I watched again - from this vision provided his kicking is far from a highlight. Have a look at the Brayshaw footage and compare. (big disclaimer - I am only judging on the footage provided - I have not seen any of these kids in the flesh)

Thank you for mentioning one name. So lets look at Darlings draft 2010. Peruse the next 60 names and pick out all the Key position players. Please let me know the second key position from that draft to make an immediate impact. (seriously - I can go through drafts and pick a few big blokes who have impacted from day one - the Darlings of the world are an exception - not the rule)

actually, it is disturbing on every level

I actually hope we do have to pick him because his early form warrants it. That would mean that ready to play round one means ready to play round one - (who would have thought !) I hope he kicks the door down and jumps up and down on it for next 10 years - it means we got ourselves a really good draft pick (w ho would have thought)

would your gob be smacked ?

Because if we were a good team, with an abundance of established talent ( like Hawthorn and Swans) then it is difficult for the draftees to crack regular games early on unless they absolutely kick the door down. The good teams have the ability to have kids play for longer in the lower grade to develop. Alas....

Hope for lots - expect a little.

I'm half way between Rjay and BB - I see no reason why he couldn't play round one if he burns it up preseason - however I have very low expectations on his output in year one and thankfully Roos is giving every indication that he has the same expectation of the draftees. We have got to stop this unreasonable expectation that our draft picks will be world beaters from the moment they step into the club. I was happy with both JKH and Salem last season. They showed me enough talent to believe they can make it. I want to see improvement from both next season but they still shouldn't be seen as the saviours of our club in their second season.

They are still a rarity. And as to immediate impact - the three you have selected are perfect examples Locketts breakout came in season two round one with 7 goals. Brereton played his whole first season home and away series in the 2nd's debuting in the finals series and Brown's first season was pedestrian up until his last game where he collected 23 possies and kicked 2 goals. Even the greatest CHF of all time, Wayne Carey - four games in season one. This whole "ready to go from round one" is a dream rather than reality.

I believe that we will take McCartin but immediate impact ? Please name the last key position footballer taken in the draft that had an immediate impact (if you can name one then I will name you the other 98% that took until 21-22 of age at least before they had the immediate impact you speak of)

be afraid - be very afraid....

the African explorer. did someone call me schnorrer hooray hooray hooray ( okay now I am REALLY showing my age)