RWO Draft Thread

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by liz
There are a few, but not that many. According to the 2005 AFL Guide:

Williams, Crouch, Schneider, Fosdike, Moore, Schmidt, Spriggs, Willoughby

Buchanan...? He must be around that height.

But the "experts" have said that we were unconventional all year...guess that's one of the reasons we won the flag.

[anne]

An article in today's paper listed each club's draft picks and the type of player/position for each player. Most picks before ours went on defenders, forwards, ruckmen and other talls. This means that Sydney's choices were probably spot on as firstly all the good talls/ key position players were gone and secondly as so few midfielders had already been taken that there were some quality players left at relatively late picks who are midfielders. Hopefully we got a couple.

[Jeffers1984]

Originally posted by goswannie14
Buchanan...? He must be around that height.

Bucky's at 180cm. Hard to believe isn't it considering how small he plays.

[Jeffers1984]

Here is a little snippet from one of Bigfooty's respected posters when it comes to drafting, Weaver.

Sydney
Considering the picks they had they have done very well.

They never go much for KP players and always like pace. Some clubs use pace to get the ball into space, Swans use theirs to get to contests and close games down. They will be overjoyed to get Laidlaw who suits them perfectly, super quick and loves to tackle.

Thornton is a quick wingman who will again suit them and although Brazabon didn't get to the Championships he did win the award as best player in the Colts and so is pretty solid value so late. Swans don't give games to first (or second) year midfielders so this group will take time, but all are good chances to be solid contributers.

Grade B - Got great value from rubbish picks and even got the player that suits them in Laidlaw.

[SimonH]

Originally posted by Ryan Bomford
It's not the decision to pick 3 midfielders that's my issue, it's the decision to pick 2 Sandgropers. How many 18 YO from that part of the country have we drafted before? It's a big move for a kid that age to come to Sydney facing the reality he's unlikely to play until 2007, all things going well.

I hope the Swans did their homework.

Agreed, but because of just that factor (i.e. east coast clubs that have been burnt by their talented Westralian youngsters putting in a couple of years and then wanting to go home), if Sydney did do its homework, it will get above-average-value for its buck.

Doesn't mean that I agree with ignoring the likes of Grima when the time came. Unless Sydney know something that I don't, there's no doubt that he can play.

To get players of the size and quality of Vogels and Grundy through the rookies is the sort of thing that won't happen often. I don't mean that we won't get good players through the rookie draft, but no club gets many good big players through the rookie draft. There are, so far as I'm aware, no promising KPP rookies from NSW this year. (Although there are 2 or 3 from Queensland who didn't get drafted.)

The best-case scenario (i.e. Barham/Roos know what they're doing, and aren't believing the myth that in 3 years time every team will field 4 talls and 18 midfielders) is that:
a) at least one of these 3 was actually picked to be groomed as a small defender; and
b) Chambers really is intended to be developed as a KPP (presumably full-back), and only a rucking back-up option in case of injury.

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by Jeffers1984
Bucky's at 180cm. Hard to believe isn't it considering how small he plays.

It's amazing isn't it...I have usually been considered a "tall" in the different sports I have played (Footy, basketball, volleyball) and I'm 185cm, hard to believe that Bucky is that close to me in height

[Nico]

Heard the recruiting manager from Carlton singing the praises of Josh Kennedy on SEN this morning.

Spoke about how he and Bower had a great duel in the Colts GF and that he nade the WA Colts team of the year. Bower's team won the flag and he was also picked in the team of the year.

Now our bloke Brabazon didn't play in the Colts GF, but he was picked in the Colts team of the year.

Brabazon by the way won the B&F in the WA Colts comp. So if the above 2 "can play" then there is a fair chance Brabazon is more than a handy footballer.

Is he the diamond in the pack of the 2005 draft? He could very well be another 50's something successful pick by Barham. If he is the man is a genuis.

I also like the sound of Laidlaw. Quick, finds the footy and loves to tackle. Now that fits our mould.

Roll on 2006.

[Jeffers1984]

Originally posted by Nico
I also like the sound of Laidlaw. Quick, finds the footy and loves to tackle. Now that fits our mould.

Roll on 2006.

Quick is an understatement. At draft camp he ran and won the 20metre sprint with a time of 2.83 seconds.

[chammond]

Not sure if anyone's raised this yet, but Kristin Thornton apparently has a twin brother Hayden who is also a very good footballer.

I wonder if he will be picked up for our Rookie list?

[liz]

Originally posted by chammond
Not sure if anyone's raised this yet, but Kristin Thornton apparently has a twin brother Hayden who is also a very good footballer.

I wonder if he will be picked up for our Rookie list?

Would he be eligible this year? Isn't Thornton at the bottom end of the draftable age range? You have to be already 18 to be rookied.

[chammond]

Originally posted by liz
Would he be eligible this year? Isn't Thornton at the bottom end of the draftable age range? You have to be already 18 to be rookied.

How weird is that?

Old enough to play senior footy, but not old enough to be on the Rookie list?

[chammond]

While we're on the subject, I noticed that Matthew Laidlaw also has a brother who is a talented footballer. Chris Laidlaw is captain of the Old Carey U19's and kicked 40 goals last season.

And I was amused to see that Matt Laidlaw's nickname is 'Happy'?!

There's a story on him in the TAC Cup Record at

Laidlaw Link

[giant]

Well after questioning our lack of WA boys on the list they go for two at once - and one's a Claremont lad and the other's a twin - so good result as far as I'm concerned!

Anyway, I suspect we won't be seeing much of these lads for a few years.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by chammond
How weird is that?

Old enough to play senior footy, but not old enough to be on the Rookie list?

The logic being that a bottom-age player would benefit more from another year of TAC Cup than trying their luck on a rookie list.

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by Jeffers1984
Quick is an understatement. At draft camp he ran and won the 20metre sprint with a time of 2.83 seconds.

I can do about that myself.

Mind, it's in my car.



Interested as many in the type of players we picked up as is everybody, and just as surprised that there were little or no KPP's, but when you chuck in Chambers and Richards into the equation, it then doesn't look as odd.

I agree however with the fact that when we're picking in the 50's we pick the best available. A slight concern is selecting the two WA kids. We'll see.