RWO Draft Thread

[Country Member]

The extent and nature of the whingeing and pontificating in this thread (LIz excluded) is pathetic but vey consistent. Do any of you experts (particularly Charlie whoever) possible think/acknowledge/concede that the Football Department may actually KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!
Give it a break - we did win the Premiership.
P.S. Height of elevated rookies: 192, 194 and 199 cm.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Richard Davis
Anyone who plays in a premiership team doesn't get cast off for two untried youngsters.

I don't envisage any player the calibre of Mathews, Fosdike, McVeigh or Bevan being 'cast off' if they want to stay. I anticipate that if one or more of these players don't get adequate opportunities next year, they will want to leave. That's the underlying assumption on which my original post was based. Again, I draw attention to the statement that '[t]here are going to be midfielders departing at the end of next year that, in isolation, we would like to keep'.

Originally posted by Country Member
The extent and nature of the whingeing and pontificating in this thread (LIz excluded) is pathetic but vey consistent. Do any of you experts (particularly Charlie whoever) possible think/acknowledge/concede that the Football Department may actually KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!
Give it a break - we did win the Premiership.
P.S. Height of elevated rookies: 192, 194 and 199 cm.

Oh, look. We're back to the sanctimonious 'how dare you ever question the club' diatribes. 'Pontificating'... indeed.

Yes, I think they actually KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!

I'm just not sure that its the right thing to do.

[SimonH]

Originally posted by Country Member
Do any of you experts (particularly Charlie whoever) possible think/acknowledge/concede that the Football Department may actually KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!
Give it a break - we did win the Premiership.
P.S. Height of elevated rookies: 192, 194 and 199 cm.

Yes, we remember*.

*Brought to you by the Ancient Jokes Association of Australia.

[robbieando]

Originally posted by Country Member
P.S. Height of elevated rookies: 192, 194 and 199 cm.

P.P.S. Positions of elevated rookies: Tall Forward, Tall Forward, Ruckman.

Yes the football department should know what its doing, but what many of us are questioning is our depth in with the tall defenders if the likes of Barry, LRT and C-Bolt suffer any injuries (touch wood).

At the moment the only "full time" K/P Defender we have is Matthew Davis with the likes of Ted Richards and Paul Chambers able to play in defence if required (neither has been recuited to play there according to reports coming out of the club).

Don't forget that despite our defence holding up last season we have suitable back up just in case injuries hit, this season we won't have that back up because we lost 3 players regarded as "tall defenders" thanks to trades and retirements.

I have no doubt we should of at least looked at recuiting one Tall defender during the draft for a "just in case" messure, but never mind because we haven't we will just look to the rookie draft and use it in the manner which delivered us Guy Campbell and Aaron Rogers in past years.

I in no way have suggested the 3 players we have selected are "duds". Each in their own right is a solid selection for the pick we used, in particular Laidlaw who fits the bill for the kind of midfielder we went into the trade/draft looking for - Fast, hard at the ball, prolific ball winner and solid hand and foot skills and tall for the type of midfielder we have on our list. ie. under 180cm.

I grade this draft very highly, but just regret that we didn't improve our depth in our tall defender stocks like we did with tall forwards via the rookie list elevations, the midfield (which we did ironically) via the draft and ruck stocks via the trade period.

Yes we did well, yes the club knows what its doing, but it doesn't always mean they are 100% and us mear fans can't discuss this topic at length.

[Country Member]

Two further comments for Charlie and Robbie:
- how did the WCE talls go when it counted?
- check the "points against" on last year's ladder.

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by Country Member
Two further comments for Charlie and Robbie:
- how did the WCE talls go when it counted?

Cox went alright. 29 hitouts:

http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/2005/SYWC20050924.html

[chammond]

Originally posted by Charlie
That's a sweeping misrepresentation. If you'd bothered to read my post correctly, you'd know that I said:

Note, 'we would like to keep'. Does that amount to 'bashing Mathews and Fosdike'? I think not. I simply think they are amongst the most likely midfielders to be squeezed out, as we get to the point where the youngsters must either be found a spot or let go. Again, you'd know that if you bothered to read my post correctly.

Rubbish . . . I stand by my original opinion . . and again you're manipulating the 'facts' to suit your argument.

It was you who singled out Mathews and Fosdike, and obviously not in that single sentence you quoted. Have you read your post correctly?

And I think your premise is specious. There is no reason why recruiting young midfielders in 2005 will result in us dumping premiership players in 2006. Other than a jaundiced opinion of Mathews and Fosdike, that is.

[Bleed Red Blood]

Originally posted by Country Member
Two further comments for Charlie and Robbie:

- check the "points against" on last year's ladder.

No-ones disputing how our key defenders played - Leo Barry got All-Australian, LRT was one of our best on Grand Final day, Craig Bolton came third (?) in the TLM.

What we don't have is much depth for them.

We still had big bags kicked against us - Gehrigs seven, Whitnall even kicked like five!

Our low points against was more to do with our game plan rather than the players we have in defense.

[chammond]

Originally posted by liz
A year ago Ablett was a dud according to many on this site, while others were still questioning Buchanan's value, notwithstanding a couple of smart cameos.

Questioning his stamina, of all things, seems strange, given that until this year's draft camp he held the record for both the beep test and the 3km time trial.

He is still pretty young and the majority of young players take their time to adjust to AFL level. The Chris Judd's of this world are the exception, not the rule.

I agree, it certainly seems a bit soon to be writing McVeigh off at 20yo?

Especially since he only missed out on playing in the finals by a hair's breadth.

Let's face it, on form going into the finals, Schneider and Bevan could easily have been replaced by Malceski and McVeigh without raising any eyebrows.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Country Member
Two further comments for Charlie and Robbie:
- how did the WCE talls go when it counted?
- check the "points against" on last year's ladder.

- Cox did alright. The rest were known to be pretty ordinary.

- Helps when you play a game plan that aims to stop any sort of scoring.

[Jeffers1984]

Well all i know is that we should go tall for next years draft.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by liz
A year ago Ablett was a dud according to many on this site

Not a dud, but I still don't think he's proven himself as a full-time attacking midfielder.

[Sanecow]

A lot of people on this site rated him as a dud in the fourth quarter of the Grand Final.

[Jeffers1984]

Originally posted by Sanecow
A lot of people on this site rated him as a dud in the fourth quarter of the Grand Final.

A lot of people forgot the fact that he was clearly carrying an injury into the finals.

[j s]

Originally posted by Sanecow
A lot of people on this site rated him as a dud in the fourth quarter of the Grand Final.

Especially about 5 minutes in