Geelong have a few handy father sons though.

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I stole Sheedy's Gatorade...

We have 2 at the moment, even if Lance isn't performing as we'd hoped.

Geelong have 2 performing, Scarlett and Ablett.

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"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

Doesnt mean we would have picked those players...Josh Hunt was recruited by Stephen Wells alone...I remember it was one of those live crosses to the draft table and Mark Thompson didnt have a clue who Hunt was.
I remember Wells saying he hadnt done that much but played well in one finals game where he played out of position and got a lot of the footy and that he liked the look of him on that game alone and that he was built for senior footy....Thompson just let him have his way and it was a gamble that paid off....

3 if you count Blackers and he is a few years away. Waite is improving and I think Lance is just about done. That being said, Ablett and Scarlett are light years ahead of our boys.

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I stole Sheedy's Gatorade...

Not to mention our backline of Silvagni, Silvagni, Silvagni circa 2022.

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The scary thing about Geelong is the depth in youth..if we had N Ablett and Lonergan sitting on the fringes some on this site would be treating them like messiah's and going ballistic...yet Geelong can have N Ablett in the ressies all year and give Lonergan a game just to keep him interested and other clubs of his trail....thats the sort of depth you need to be a good side and play finals...

Shakin 77 - another good post. In fact, you raised another good point. If it was so easy even between the top 4 picks why did the hawks recruit who they did at number 1 and not go for judd at number 1. didn't the hawks have the first pick?

whatever way one looks at it - with hindsight judd would have been an automatic number 1 pick.

I'd take Luke Hodge off Hawthorn's hands with no problem whatsoever, he will be a gun.

Judd's performance at such a young age is once in a generation stuff.

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From what I remember Judd was the automatic no 1 pick, but there were doubts about his shoulders.

Unfortunately Shakin, this mentality has not only spread through some of our club personnel but also amongst our supporters. It's a cancer that keeps increasing through ALL CFC individuals as we speak.

This debate is being distorted as if it were a choice between picks 1-3 and picks 71-73. Clearly thats not the case. Tanking is about your first pick being 1-3 as opposed to 8 plus. Heres what you could have got at that range or worse in recent years:

James Bartel (8)
Nick Del Santo (13)
James Kelly (17)
Sam Mitchell (36)
Jason Laycock (10)
Jared Rivers (26)
Danny Meyer(12)
Justin Sherman (45)

Rather than sacrifice a winning culture in the hope that it will improve an educated-guess that some year 12 kid is going to be the saviour at our club I suggest we concentrate on the recruiting, which at every club is letting gems through every year, no matter how many TAC games you go to.

pj canus - but the point is that even with a top 4 pick one can make a clear mistake.

any team would kill for judd right now - west coast saw thru the issue with his shoulders and recruited a gun. Hawthorn passed him up.

the point is that clever recruiting is the priority wherever the pick is.

so talent is found is the first what, 5 picks?

After that it's shit?

We need talent - it seems....

So bye bye culture - look where it got us (umm 16 @#$%&! flags is where it got us!)

So bye bye supporting a club on saturdays - that makes you a loser. roll:

Really Synbad the point is we need to try as hard as we can and finish wherever we should finish. If that's without a priority pick then I'll take that because the alternative is to not try... and that is the beginning of the end no matter how many bullshit sugary twirls you put on it.

If we come last and receive two picks I'll taken 'em and pray we use them wisely and get all gooey inside when the two kids run out (and whoever else we pick up - that's called supporting)

if we come 3rd last and no pick I'll still get all gooey about whoever runs out but (and this is why the AFL are flower in my mind) part of me will think 'what if?'.

it's that flower that is unravelling you dear sailorman because you fear that 'what if?' but life is full of 'what if?' You have to take 'em and wear them and keep working at the things you can control - like confidence, and courage and striving to be your best and all that other stuff that makes a coach say football is what - let's be ultra conservative here - 70% between the ears!

So we get two early picks and the rest, okay then we deserved them and away we go. But it is paramount to this club that we strive to win each encounter, every time. I think that is the sticking point. No one is saying well I don't want the pick, what they are saying is I do not want this season's focus to be those picks!

At any given point we have the list that we have and we must strive to make it better daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

Go the way you are advocating and I think this club may as well move to the sunshine coast. It'll get a heap of support from the AFL, maybe plenty of early picks tossed in, can still call itself the Blues and win another 6 flags and I'll be so.....

Actually I'll be watching something else.

But hey what would I know, I'm a loser dreaming the grand dreams of winning rather than a winner dreaming the grand dreams of losing.

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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!

Smokies dont exist anymore.
Kids with any ability are identified at a young age.
Whether it be TAC in Victoria or school footy in Bunbury, the web is too extensive to avoid.

Karl was a speculative pick. He wasnt an unknown.
The other 15 clubs would have recieved reports on Karl at some stage.
He was identified as a kid who didnt or couldnt comply with a structured system and probably didnt have the maturity to succeed.
The jury is still well and truly out.

Whether it be a Jack Juniper, James Hird, Karl Norman, James Davies or Sean Rusling, the players have been identified, assessed and judged.

The idea is to take advantage of the system as it exists.
The best available judges with the best resources and arm them with as much information as possible.
Back that up with a club that is willing to leave the decisions to those who know best and you're half a chance to succeed.

There are no easy fixes.
Time, patience, luck and hard work.
They are the only ingredients.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Clever recruiting is not just about the order of your draft picks either. Drafting is not all about beep tests, national camps & TAC. I located from the sth east to the east about 18mths ago & have been to a few EFL games. Standard has blown me away. I'm sure there are a few running around that deserve consideration, as with other local comps of a similar standard. There's a lot to be said for good young kids already being exposed to some adult bodies who've been around a while. Toughens them up.

I think you need a couple in the first five say for at least one year...get a Reiwoldt/Kosi combo or Deledio/Franklin combo that are no brainers and more than a good chance to make it...then you can get away with just one top ten and hopefully some good mid range picks like Geelong did....get a Coughlan at 25, Mitchell at 36, McPhee at whateva he was and thats a start.....I know thats the ideal world but its possible

We are starting from scratch and its going to be a bit harder but I think as Shakin and others have said its possible to win in the draft with some effort.....Geelong even got Harley for nicks...not bad when you get Scarlett as a father/son and Harley...all for next to nothing....chuck in some Abletts and Maloney and thats some decent freebies.....
Ling, Hunt, Enright, Playfair were all up for grabs..being mid pick players.....you can rebuild...but getting those couple of early A grader kids is vital...

Would it be possible to run your own draft camp of players outside the TAC cup? Invite the Luke Vogels/Aisake O'hailpin of the world

What problems would you incur?

Now, I know that we're lacking quality throughout the field, but consider this:

Let's say hypothetically:
• We have a weak forward line, an ok midfield, but a top rate, best-in-the-league back half.
• The best draftee pick is a KPP backman.
• We end up last (remember this is a hypothetical) because while we are ok defensively, we just can't kick winning scores.

Would we automatically pick #1 simply because we can, or would we pick the BEST AVAILABLE forward, even if the player we get is ranked 5-10ish, and start replenishing our stocks that way.

If that's the case, then isn't the concept of who is #1, #10, #50 somewhat of an academic exercise, as it all will depend on what's necessary, not only to us, but to other teams as well, and that means this year included.

Let's let the season end first before we start counting chickens.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

We already do this with pre-draft training Shakin. Anyone we consider drafting from "other sources" gets invited along to train with the team.

While we are talking Hypothetical questions just say we do finish last and get a PP and 1st pick would anyone consider trading these to get Goddard and Wells . We would still have pick 17 and first pick in the PSD .

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