Time to open this up to the main forum...

I think a general hat tip is in order for Hughes and his merry gang of thieves. Surely they must be referred to as thieves by snagging some genuinely exciting talent with the picks we had at our disposal.

I know every kid drafted looks good on paper and in a condensed highlights clip, and maybe not all of the kids we picked up last night will be the out and out guns we hope them to be. But we've drafted for type this year and filled some holes very nicely, while at the same time putting some of our senior guys on notice.

In all the excitement we do need to temper our enthusiasm with the general theory that big blokes can take a while to mature compared to mids, so let's not expect too much of guys like Watson, McCarthy and Mitchell too soon. Duigan, though, should be able to bring some much needed run to our HB line. Yes, he's a mature age draftee, but it would only look silly if we already had high number of quality mature bodies in that area.

To come away from a supposedly compromised draft with some genuine excitement is a great result for the Blues. So, join me with a round of for our recruiting team.

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A good outcome. I would have liked an inside mid thrown into the mix but I'm very happy with the first 3 selections.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Yes lets see how they go in the time trial first before we make any big calls about the new boys

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They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Need another coffee this morning. Read the thread title as...

'Do you think we might be able to make Wayne Hughes a mod?'

Shit...maybe I need glasses....

I agree on all counts. This has gone well beyond anything I could've expected or hoped for

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#GUILTY

How could we possibly know?

The reality is we got Watson, McCarthy and Mitchell at our picks because every other club passed on them before us. I'm not sure that anything Wayne Hughes did allowed that to happen, so why would we praise our recruiters for that?

You pat the recruiters on the back 3-5 years after they've made their picks, because that's when you know if they've snagged some good ones. So right now, I'm nodding in appreciation of Russell, Lucas, Garlett, Kruze, Murph, and all the good ones. Overall, given the inexact science it still is, I reckon Hughes and the team have done a good job.

Having said that, I think it was very wise to load up on what look like promising talls in this year's draft, so well done on the strategy.

Yeah, certainly wouldn't hurt to have that type of player coming in. I haven't followed the draft (prior to yesterday) as closely as I have in other years, but given we had 18, 34, 42, 67 and 70, was there any decent inside mids that we could have taken, considering the availability of the guys we did end up drafting?




Yes, of course, but Hughes' role is to scout the talent and make sure they have the ingredients for an AFL career.

Now it is up to our coaches and our development program to make sure we can extract every ounce of that potential.

As noted elsewhere in TalkingRecruitment it's probably a bit too narrow minded to judge drafting solely on the window of one year. Take a 2-4 year view and maybe the bigger picture starts to make more sense.

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My thoughts exactly.

i wonder whether the startegy was to load up on talls or was it just that at each pick, the opportunity arose to pick a player that we rated as the best available. Reading the media pundits, it looked like we did pretty well either way.

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T E A M

Very happy with Watson and McCarthy.
Was expecting a hard-in-and-under next but, in truth, Mitchell is probably the wiser choice for us.

Would have been happy with any of Watson, Darling & McCarthy but stoked we got 2 of them and I reckon we got the best two for our purposes (think our boys are a little fragile and probably best not to risk with the attitude question marks re Darling).

And it offers a sobering reality check on our existing first 22 - esp when factoring in a few potential promotions from bullants means there are now several players with the pressure to perform.

MC is going to be a much tougher gig in the next few years than it has been in the last 10!

It's been said many times here the art of recruiting is mining diamonds with lower draft picks. Diamonds are players that other recruiters have passed over but we have seen their worth and recruited them. Everyone is entitled to get excited after the draft and I don't need grinches telling me we won't know for 3 or 4 years. I know that.

WH and his band have done a great job for mine

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Bawditawaba

Na I'm just gonna wait 4 years then rip into him about a gun that he overlooked.

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WH is buying straw hats in winter

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Bawditawaba

Yeah, I read it as "Do you think Wayne Hughes woke up with a rod?"

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I reckon he would have used it to break bricks this morning!

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Hopefully Cachia has a big pre season and will show our reliance to recruit a top line inside mid next draft will be less of a necessity.

Not being a grinch.

But praising a recruiter for picking guys you like but have probably never seen play is as stupid as shitcanning a recruiter for picking guys you don't like but have probably never seen play. People who moaned on draft day about not getting Talia... people in raptures on draft day for getting Watson/McCarthy/Mitchell... it's exactly the same mindset.

I think we've managed to get just about the best available. I wouldn't have begrudged them Horlin-Smith over McCarthy at pick 34, but either one would have been a win. Certainly Watson was my choice come 18, and McInnes was a great get at 67.

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Duigan is a gun and will play in 2011.

He won the prelim final for Norwood by kicking a goal with 30 seconds on the clock after deciding to break from his man at half back, sneak forward and scout the ball from the boundary and snap a freakish goal.
He was Norwood's most consistent player for the year at CHB. Plays tall, tough and fast (Like Bower when he is playing well).
Has a body ready for AFL!
Really smart pick

Thanks Mr Hughes

Giddy up!

Go Blues!

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They coud'nt.....could they?

There was a discussion at the Carlton table whether to take McCarthey at 34 after snaring Watson. Mitch Hallahan was still around at the time, or maybe they were considering taking Mitchell with 34 after getting key back at 18, or just questioning whether they wanted to draft 2 key backs. Hallahan got picked between 34 & 42.

Not sure if anyone is in raptures just yet. But in a so-called compromised draft to come away with a few kids who - by several accounts are mostly well rated - address some of the more criticial needs of our list is a good result at this point in time. Given the chorus of negativity that more often than not greets our recruiting team I thought it worthwhile to offer a bit of a wink and nod in their direction, more to say, "yeah nice going", as opposed to, "get 'em up here I want to boof 'em."

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