Yep, the Kangaroos originally drafted him in 1989 at pick 52.

_________________
|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

Wow, I never knew that. I'm guessing he never came across?

_________________
Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

You know, I've been around the online Carlton forums for quite a few years now. And the amount of pessimism permiating this place before we've even played a game for compeitition points this season is simply astounding.

I have no problems with Saddo and the Mclaren picks. I didn't approve of the hacks we traded for in 2003 because I didn't rate anyone that we picked up AND we only had one pick (walks) before we started drafting hacks. I did understand why we did it though (although I'm sure some of you would have be perfectly comfortable sending a buch of 18 year olds out to get flogged and brutalised ever week).

This year is different. We had four picks - two of them we believe the best in the draft, and another targetting a specific backline weakness - before we picked up Saddo. It's not like we've ignored youth in favour of washed up hacks, and it's silly to suggest that. Importantly, I don't think Saddo's a hack I remember him as a half decent defender for the Swans before he did he's knee. Now he's not a AA CHB, but you don't get those for pick 52. So if the medicos say his knee is alright now I'm happy to give him a go to fill a hole until Bower and Harltett put on the kgs and find their feet. If any backline in the comp could use an extra 140 games of experience for a couple of seasons then it's ours.

Maybe some of you have forgotten what happened to our promising season when French went down last year, but I haven't. The club is by all reports happy with the development of Batson and Aisake as longer term ruck options but neither will be ready this season so we need another mature ruckman to back up frenchie now. If Mclaren was the best we could get, then so be it, becaues Archie and Bryan didn't show much in the ruck last year.

I think we're a better team across the board this year, and I see no reason that we can't be competative and start progressing back up the ladder again. More importantly, I think we've got a pool of young talent to come into the side and sustain that progress over the coming years - which I don't think we had in 2004.

But for heavens sake give the guys a chance before you start bagging the crap out of them.

Nice words NC, but this one goes out to Jars:

How about an analysis of the first half of the fourth round in terms of games played post 2000. That's sort of what I was shooting at.

It'd actually be good to see how much of an exact science the draft is becoming

The problem is because we targetting specific types were not going out to try and target the best players.
We have holes all over the place and a tall HBF with a crook knee.. and a 194 cms ruckman,,,does not do much to change the dynamics of our footy team.

You need players that will make a difference... Thats all im saying!!!

These two were praying will make a difference!!!

_________________
Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

For post 2000 you would have to measure average games played per season, it is no use comparing post 2000 with earlier era or with other picks yet as many players are only beginning their careers.

The data is only to 2004 but this might be interesting for you.

http://footygeek.com/content/section/25/81/

_________________
|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

McLaren is 196.

We've been drafting quality players at each pick the last couple of years... who would you suggest over our last three drafts than our current crop? It would seem to me that we don't deviate from drafting quality until the fourth round, which is a real hit and miss affair.

EDIT: Ta for that Jars - the fourth round isn't too bad by that account, but looking through the only one we really could have missed out on was Lucy, and the short arms were a killer on that front.

Pick 52 and the first pick in a weak pre-season draft were never going "to change the dynamics of our team". Sustained quality drafting over a few years changes the compostion of the team - not pick 52 and effectively pick 80 (#1 in PSD) in any one draft - let alone a draft regarded as shallow by most recruiting experts.

That statement is up there with the "we should have got Power" argument. If only the solution was as easy as some people on here are making it out to be.

_________________
In WADA we trust

Badman we need 1 of everything. This year we had Batson, Deluca, Aisake, and Bryan as ruck asistants to French. Not perfect by any stretch but that is what we had. We got McLaren cheap to help, as a fill in ruckman around the ground. Not ideal but such is life.

We then seelcted Murph, Kennedy and Bower ahead of another young ruck man because the club thought there were more holes to cover in spots these guys could play.

The remaining ruckman after pick 20, who were drafted, were 31 West 198cm, 42 Warnock 204cm, (3-4 years away from AFL) and 58 Minson 202cm.

The simple fact was that these 3 weren't rated highly enough to take over what we already had.

McEntee, Graham and Neaves were taken as rookies. Rowe picked by the Swans wasn't up for grabs. The 3 listed weren't rated as any better than Batson or Aisake either so again they weren't chosen.

The Blues did try hard to get Noble in 2005 but he was pinched at the 11th hour by the Tigers. We got Eddie instead.

We had 6 picks and time will tell if we got some of them right.

You have doubts about Saddo but who would you have picked after pick 20 i.e pick 36, that would be any more of a sure thing than Saddo and his supposed bad knee.

Regards Cazzesman

_________________
Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

Cazza, with all due respect, I do not want you to get stroppy or anything but do you have to use your position at Carlton as a means to terminate a person’s opinion on an issue (in this case Saddington)?

Just because something happens does not necessarily make it right. After all, if we did not trade for Saddington we would most likely have had to use that pick 52 anyway. The logic being that he obviously takes up the space on our list that pick 52 would have taken as well as probably demanding an even larger salary.

_________________
Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

A lot of his contract is being paid for by Sydney.

He is getting nothing off me

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

I'll pay that

comparing Saddo to Power is oranges and apples - what would have had to give up to get power? Murphy? Kennedy? Plus a lot of money? Maybe Kennedy and Edwards?

_________________
This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

We could have given up nothing except a shit load of money. If we had offered him a lot of money he would have walked into the preseason draft.

Thats what Synbad is saying - We should have done a lot more to get him here and money would have done it and a long contract . But tight arse Collo says no to long contracts and big money so therefore the best we could get is Maclaren

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Unless your Pagan.

_________________
Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

where has Power ever said he would leave brisbane for nothing> Ever? I mean SB dreams are nice but show me 'the Reality' that he was going to do it.

In fact from my contact at brisbane they thought he was gone but they never thought he would walk for nothing. This from the bloke who knew about Mclaren before the event and who also mentioned this new Sticks' fella on the weekend to me - which i thought little of until Synners also happened to mention him from another source - hype or reality only time will tell.

You so called Reality blokes are great at saying 'we see it like it is' while dribbling as much bullshit as the rest of us - the only thing i agree on is that your bullshit isn't Navy Blue, its Black and White - ours is Navy Blue - i know which i prefer.

_________________
This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Players walking into the PSD is a bit of a fallacy. Take away 2004 (Stevens and Rawlings) and it’s not the gold mine everyone thinks it is. It can be used as a bargaining chip, but players don’t turn their back on their current club and walk into the PSD for big dollars. A little bit of loyalty is still in the game

2000
1. Collingwood - Shane O'Bree (Brisbane)
2. Fremantle - Brad Bootsma (Sth Fremantle)

2001
1. St Kilda - Brett Voss (Brisbane Lions)
2. Collingwood - Chad Rintoul (West Coast Eagles)

2002
?? - (Little Help)

2003
1. St Kilda - Stephen Powell (Melbourne)
2. Richmond - Pass
3. Sydney - Craig Bolton (Brisbane)

2004
1. Western Bulldogs - Jade Rawlings (Hawthorn)
2. Carlton - Nick Stevens (Port Adelaide)

2005
1. Richmond - Trent Knobel (St Kilda)
2. Collingwood - Blake Caracella (Brisbane)

_________________
Working alone. At the coalface. Scott's gone for lunch! Said he would be back in 30 mins.

Dannyboy, who is to say one person’s standpoint is more 'Caaaarrrrllt'nn!!!!!' than the next?

From where I stand you and Synbad fight over nothing or, more likely, you are just two different parts of the one personality and it is just some kind of elaborate joke.

_________________
Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

So let me get this straight...

When someone who has the facts of the situation gives us the reasoning behind a decision the club has made, you'd rather not hear it?

I might be a tad slow, but I reckon I won't be alone in having the logic behind this thought process completely escape me.

_________________
Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.