Big Kahuna Boot wrote:
.. ..just to preface, i think WH did a good job this draft.. .... ...in regards to Hendos replacin' Fev longterm, nope.. ..he's the replacement CHF we traded to help get Judd.. ..we don't have a bonafide FF player, i think Krooz has the most natural ability/talent/understanding to play that position, but he's more ruck than fwd.. ..even though he'd excel at FF just as much as Ruck i reckon.. ..what we do have, is options we can try for FF, but we've got one definate KPF, plus other tall players we can push/rotate through the F50 so i don't believe we're lacking neccessarily, it's just our coaches are gonna need to rejig it all..
I agree with all of that, and I think even Ratten & Hughes themselves may have been secretly wishing that the player deemed "best available" at pick 12 happened to be a genuine full forward. However, anyone who thinks WH made a bad call by not recruiting a forward in this draft needs to check the facts. It's unanimously agreed that Lucas was the best player available at pick 12, most opinions have him a long way ahead of the best available tall in Talia, despite the fact Talia went at just behind him at pick #13. Gilly has already stated that there were no genuine tall forwards picked up after our second pick, pick 43, so:
WH had 2 chances to draft a forward this year:
- Pass on Lucas, a player rated in the top ten all year and clearly best available to reach for Talia, who isn't even a genuine forward.
Or
- Not draft Davies or Kerr, and REALLY reach for a forward... a forward that 16 AFL recruiting teams all agreed wasn’t good enough to be drafted at all.
As for previous years... recent history shows that drafting a KPF can be a risky and regrettable experience.
Just compare the mids vs talls in 2006 for instance, a year touted as "rich" for KP talent.
1 Bryce Gibbs - Midfielder - Superstar
2 Scott Gumbleton - KP Tall - Can't get on the park
3 Lachlan Hansen - KP Tall - Injuries and unfulfilled potential
4 Matthew Leuenberger - Ruck - Injuries and unfulfilled potential
5 Travis Boak - Midfielder - Superstar
6 Mitchell Thorp - KP Tall - Delisted... Injuries and unfulfilled potential
7 Joel Selwood - Midfielder - Superstar
8 Ben Reid - KP Tall - Solid, but pick #8 in a superdraft?
9 David Armitage - Midfielder - Solid
10 Nathan Brown - KP Tall - Solid, but over rated
11 Andrejs Everitt KP Tall - Potential, but largely unfulfilled
12 James Frawley - KP Tall - Future star.... probably the best of the KP's
13 Jack Riewoldt - KP Tall - Solid, could remain 'just' another player
14 James Sellar - KP Tall - Struggling... a lot....
15 Daniel O'Keefe - Midfielder - Delisted
16 Mitchell Brown - KP Tall - Solid, but again injuries
Have a look at how hard it is to find a 10 year KP forward from the 2006 superdraft, and yet some people think that passing on Talia, at a generous pick #13 in a weak draft, is such an amazing recruiting blunder.
Gee, must mean we'll never, ever recruit one. That's a real winner. I'm sure you have to draft one at some stage. Never want to be like the Bulldogs down the track having to desperate plucked a troublesome 32yo to fill a need. Prefer to develop one.
You have to draft one at some stage. Talia looks alright and felt could've played next year similar to Hurley. Looks similar to Waite. Just what we needed and we passed him up. Draft more for need (if there's a good one) as a top side. Best available if you're rebuilding. Maybe we struggle to indetify tall talent unless it slap you in the face.
Alot now is after the event rationalising defending our picks because we feel we have to.
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) we will actually be more flexible and multi-dimensional forward line and much more unpredictable to match up on.