Number of top Draft picks vs Finals Success

[Panttz]

Hi guys!

I was just doing some thinking about the boys and how well we did this year and I recalled a thread/website I saw a few months ago that basically went through each team and showed their amount of top 10 picks and their success in Finals.

I did some digging and couldn't find the thread/website


Can anyone out there help me find it?

Thanks in advance <3

[toothy76]

I can't remember what it was called, but I do know I started it.

[liz]

This the thread you're thinking of?

The Draft - Victims of our own success

[aardvark]

This the thread you're thinking of?

The Draft - Victims of our own success

"This leaves us with 4 of our top 20 selections from the past 11 drafts - Jarrad McVeigh, Gary Rohan, Lewis Johnston and Lewis Jetta. Two of these - Rohan and Johnston - have also battled injury in their time at the club".

With Johnston now gone and Jetta looking a bit suss things look even more ordinary. Geez I hope Rohan becomes a superstar, we need it.

[Panttz]

Thank you Liz!

Was that info taken from a website or something? I seem to recall reading it off the AFL website

[ScottH]

There is also an article I was given here.

http://m.afl.com.au/news.htm?action=handleNewsArticleById&id=122958&listRetrievedBy=COMPETITION&listId=22

[Ruck'n'Roll]

An interesting proposition isn't it (although the original thread wandered off track).

So accumulating first round (or top 10) choices isn't a panacea? Given the way some teams behave (and not just when it comes to tanking) it seems some clubs (just like individuals) can get a little star struck with the idea of early draft choices?
In some cases you could almost wonder whether the lack of on-field success (and in some cases respect) doesn't tend to lead teams to refocus on potential rather than performance?

As to the "Sydney can't bottom out" arguement, I doubt it's validity and advisability.

To the validity: Our crowds have been dropping off for a while and we haven't bottomed off, I wonder if the Swans performance dropped would the crowed decrease be catastrophic? I suspect that some people at the Swans underestimate how rusted on some of there supporters have become. Not everyone abandoned ship in the Buckenara era, and we were absolutely rancid then, and a lot has happened since. So if we came last in 2011, would the supporters have evaporated or would be have sucked-up the pain of a bad year and looked toward the developing youngsters (see above)?

To the advisability:
There's two issues, bottoming-out and tanking. I suspect that the Swans much vaunted Bloods culture is not compatable with tanking. Tanking could well destroy that culture, and I think that would be a calamity. Look at the sort of teams that have tanked, and note the way some teams accumulate early draft choices year after year, it almost appears to be addictive, and I suspect culturally carcinogenic. Would you want to support a team like Richmond or Melbourne etc?