One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: Ramps on April 05, 2010, 08:11:24 AM
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What on earth could be running through the monds of a recruiter when they're about to draft blokes who are to small or cant kick
I cant actually fathom how a recruiter can go to draft day and call out names like
Shane Edwards, Robin Nahas, Jake King, Daniel Jackson, Tom Hislop, Adam Thomson, Matthew White, Shane Tuck just to name afew, what on earth compels a club to give up pick 18 for Jordan McMahon
As supporters we are entitled to our opinions, sometimes they are right sometimes wrong, and this isnt a slight on these boys who give there all and are doing there best, but I cant actually fathom how a recruiter/s can call out these names on a draft day or agree to give up a pick for a player.
Doesnt the recruiter/s understand that for example Edwards, Nahas, King are to small for AFL footy and even if you pick 1of this type- what justification is there to then add a couple more, what runs through recruiters minds when they call out the names of players whose disposal of the footy is a key weakness. How is it possible that so many mistakes can be made and then not made just once, but repeated time and time again. How can a club make so many mistakes time and time again!
Anyone see Brodie Moles yesterday- will be a very good player in quick time for the bullies. Thats the type of player we need to be picking.
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Dont get me started Ramps.
Have a look at a player we have on the Rookie list, Hicks.
he is riding in the first at Moonee Valley today. :banghead
Also bumped in Nason on saturday, he has a go,but he is way too small I am afraid.
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I reckon we can carry Nason, agree on Hicks, my question is why do we have 5 or 6 of these types of players. 1 is enough maybe 2 as a maximum- I dont get how a clubs list management can allow that to happen.
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Ramps, have said for the past 4 years they have no idea down there.
Seen the Gold Coast players at Christmas time. Who ever is running the show up there has an idea.
NOT ONE MIDGET.
All players are 6ft and over and built like machines
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theres not alot of light at the end of the tunnel infortunately. the frawley years recruiting wise were terrible, the wallace years even worse, the supporters deserve better.
anyway anyone know what the wooden spooners picks are in this years national draft.
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Ramps, have said for the past 4 years they have no idea down there.
Seen the Gold Coast players at Christmas time. Who ever is running the show up there has an idea.
NOT ONE MIDGET.
All players are 6ft and over and built like machines
Geez Jack! Think about it for a second! It wouldnt be because GC17 have dibs on the best talent in the land and 16 clubs fight it out for the rest would it?
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Ramps, have said for the past 4 years they have no idea down there.
Seen the Gold Coast players at Christmas time. Who ever is running the show up there has an idea.
NOT ONE MIDGET.
All players are 6ft and over and built like machines
Geez Jack! Think about it for a second! It wouldnt be because GC17 have dibs on the best talent in the land and 16 clubs fight it out for the rest would it?
Hey hold on mate.
They HAVENT recruited players who look like jockeys. :banghead
We have them all at punt road :lol
I like Nason but way too small.
Look at the dogs players last night , they just pushed guys like Nason, Tambling, Edwards,King , Nahas straight of the ball.
There direct opponents were alot taller and stronger than them, there lies a huge problem
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and theres not much left in the 2s wise in terms of bigger sized players (young draftees) maybe dae can come in, contin seemed a decent size but his a rookie, grimes is a bigger size again and then theres griffiths and astbury who we need to play in ky position forwards posts asap without hurting there development.
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Need a few more mids who can play hf and hb and talls and that is an understatement.
The fact that Wallace has let our ruck stocks wallow to where they were is absolutely disgusting. Browne is raw but he must come on. We need to persist.
The holes left in this list is not Dimma's fault.
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lol clickin on this thread was always gonna end up hurtin my eyes
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Have you seen the light Ramps :gobdrop
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Have you seen the light Ramps :gobdrop
Seriously monk why on earth does a club pick up so many small players? Are we paying blokes to recruit these players?
We'd be better off doing recruiting from the Big Footy Draft boards- they couldnt do it any worse IMHO! ;D
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hicks was the only really small player drafted, the likes of dea, contin, roberts, martin all have size about them..Nason looks to have a frame that will fill out...heck tambling has, even edwards is bigger
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hicks was the only really small player drafted, the likes of dea, contin, roberts, martin all have size about them..Nason looks to have a frame that will fill out...heck tambling has, even edwards is bigger
your taking the pee surely?
Nason will be found out much like Nahas this year. Tambling and Edwards are your standard average player. They wont get better.
Ive said this for years but i cant understand how the Eagles have first year players who are built like machines yet we have 3rd, 4th or even 5th year players who still look like Webster & Gary Coleman.
Hardwick is not at fault its all the tanned one's doing, but Hardwick should stop playing these midgets and find bigger bodies who can play.
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Nason is small, his hair makes him look taller
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webster and gary coleman ;D
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hicks was the only really small player drafted, the likes of dea, contin, roberts, martin all have size about them..Nason looks to have a frame that will fill out...heck tambling has, even edwards is bigger
Hardwick is not at fault its all the tanned one's doing, but Hardwick should stop playing these midgets and find bigger bodies who can play.
If it's all Wallaces fault as you say who was there when Hicks, Nason and Farmer were recruited this year??? Surley with King, Edwards and Nahas at the club the new regime should have looked at taller players.
There is going to come a time soon when Wallace can be blamed no more. That will come at the end of the year if Hardwick hangs on to all of the above players with the exception of Nason who I believe will offer something.
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hicks was the only really small player drafted, the likes of dea, contin, roberts, martin all have size about them..Nason looks to have a frame that will fill out...heck tambling has, even edwards is bigger
Edwards Tambling think we all seen enough of them
decision makers not
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If it's all Wallaces fault as you say who was there when Contin, Nason and Farmer were recruited this year??? Surley with King, Edwards and Nahas at the club the new regime should have looked at taller players.
There is going to come a time soon when Wallace can be blamed no more. That will come at the end of the year if Hardwick hangs on to all of the above players with the exception of Nason who I believe will offer something.
Hardwick had nothing to do with the players traded, delisted or drafted over the summer. At the most his opinion of the list and player type he wanted may have been included in draft selections.
The tradings and delistings were done by Campbell and Cameron, as were contract extensions. The drafting was done by Jackson under instructions from Cameron and Campbell according to their idea of what was required.
At the end of the year Hardwick may (and should) have more influence over the list but it will still be Cameron handing out contracts.
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hicks was the only really small player drafted, the likes of dea, contin, roberts, martin all have size about them..
Well said.
When the likes of Astbury, Dea and Griffiths(who's built like the hulk) come in to the senior team I expect these whinging threads to fade out.
We also have Gourdis, Rance & Graham at Coburg in terms of muscle if that's what some are after, unfortunately it looks like they aren't up to it in terms of skill.
My only regret atm is that we didn't bring another ruckman onto the rookie list last season once Patto departed. I understand that we needed to strengthen the small forward category but when I look at our ruck division it's extremely light on now that it's apparent Simmonds is not up to it.
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Last year's draft was very thin for decent ruckmen and that's highlighted by the fact that hardly any were picked up. I thought Max Gawn slipping down the order may have been worth considering though.
For list balance purposes I also don't mine not taking another ruckman last year, ideally you will have 4-5 ruckmen on your list, all at varying stages of development. For example, an older #1 ruckman, a mid-20 year old ruckman as #2, a junior developing ruckman and a speculative rookie ruckman fresh from the draft.
The thing I like about taking Vickery as a top pick, is that from now on we don't need to use multiple 2nd & 3rd rounders on rucks who are just as likely to not make it. We can take punts on far more speculative types later in the draft. Now hopefully Browne comes on like he shows glimpses of already and we can have a good ruck division with Vickery for the next 10 years. However the trap we can't fall into (again) is forgetting about picking more ruckmen up to start their development along the way. We did this with Ottens, took him at #2, recruited hacks as backup for him, then traded away out top picks in the best draft for years to get Stafford. Now Stafford was good for us and once Ottens left he did a great job, however when he retired the cupboard was very bare.
If only we took Cameron Wood with Pick 16 in 2004, sure he's no world beater, but started playing good football with the Pies at the end of last year and will only get better as he gets older.
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hicks was the only really small player drafted, the likes of dea, contin, roberts, martin all have size about them..
Well said.
When the likes of Astbury, Dea and Griffiths(who's built like the hulk) come in to the senior team I expect these whinging threads to fade out.
We also have Gourdis, Rance & Graham at Coburg in terms of muscle if that's what some are after, unfortunately it looks like they aren't up to it in terms of skill.
My only regret atm is that we didn't bring another ruckman onto the rookie list last season once Patto departed. I understand that we needed to strengthen the small forward category but when I look at our ruck division it's extremely light on now that it's apparent Simmonds is not up to it.
Fully agree MM, especially the bit I highlighted! :banghead
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hicks was the only really small player drafted, the likes of dea, contin, roberts, martin all have size about them..Nason looks to have a frame that will fill out...heck tambling has, even edwards is bigger
Hardwick is not at fault its all the tanned one's doing, but Hardwick should stop playing these midgets and find bigger bodies who can play.
If it's all Wallaces fault as you say who was there when Contin, Nason and Farmer were recruited this year??? Surley with King, Edwards and Nahas at the club the new regime should have looked at taller players.
There is going to come a time soon when Wallace can be blamed no more. That will come at the end of the year if Hardwick hangs on to all of the above players with the exception of Nason who I believe will offer something.
no your right WAT Wallace the fool is not the only one to blame here. I blame Cameron more. He has singlehandedly recruited a bunch of toothpick Webster lookalikes who cant kick if their life depended on it. He was Millers sidekick when he was around and should have been offloaded when Miller went.
He has made stuff up after stuff up and the RFC deserve better than this clown. For the life of me i dont know why we didnt really and i mean really go after a Balme or Scotty C before GC 17 grabbed him.
We are always too slow and never pro active when it comes to these things.
Cameron is a dud. Before some start whipping out names like Cotchin etc etc i will shoot them down because its not the number 1 picks that make a side its your bottom 10 players and this is where he has failed miserably.
He has to go and Hardwick needs to grow some balls and sack this clown before he screws up again.
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they cant sack him they gave him a 5 year deal :banghead
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If it's all Wallaces fault as you say who was there when Contin, Nason and Farmer were recruited this year??? Surley with King, Edwards and Nahas at the club the new regime should have looked at taller players.
Contin is 18 years old, over 6ft tall (181cm) and weighs 81kgs already! He is 1cm shorter than Gary Ablett and Joel Selwood, he is taller than Marc Murphy. How does he get included in your list?
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we can expect a Premiership not in 4 years becuase that will take GC17 and GWS to grow and steal players and smack us around so i am gessing we will have to wait to we can recruit big boys and by that time Lids will be gone for more money and so will Cotto. so about 2020 ? :( i think i might have to move to the Dockers as my second favorite team for awhile
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we can expect a Premiership not in 4 years becuase that will take GC17 and GWS to grow and steal players and smack us around so i am gessing we will have to wait to we can recruit big boys and by that time Lids will be gone for more money and so will Cotto. so about 2020 ? :( i think i might have to move to the Dockers as my second favorite team for awhile
Makes a mockery of your name doesnt it
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If it's all Wallaces fault as you say who was there when Contin, Nason and Farmer were recruited this year??? Surley with King, Edwards and Nahas at the club the new regime should have looked at taller players.
There is going to come a time soon when Wallace can be blamed no more. That will come at the end of the year if Hardwick hangs on to all of the above players with the exception of Nason who I believe will offer something.
Maybe Hardwick already knows that King, Edwards, Nahas do not figure in his future plans and he has already taken steps to bring in new blood to replace them. He couldn't cull everyone in his first year. So much knee jerk reaction on this forum it's actually funny to sit back and watch.
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we can expect a Premiership not in 4 years becuase that will take GC17 and GWS to grow and steal players and smack us around so i am gessing we will have to wait to we can recruit big boys and by that time Lids will be gone for more money and so will Cotto. so about 2020 ? :( i think i might have to move to the Dockers as my second favorite team for awhile
Makes a mockery of your name doesnt it
haha it dose mate... i didnt say change just move for a while .. but im just being a douche i would neva move just wish i could watch my team be great again :-\
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some of u guys have no idea, Tambling had his best yr last yr and this yr is playing a different role, he has put his body in and been very courageous and shown real hunger and desire for the pill. he will be a gun and is doing ok, he just need better hep orund him
edwards played his best game for us and is shoing real dash out of defence, he also showed great courage
these two players will be much better players in better teams, its not their fault they are in a team full of nuffers, but im not worried as these nuffers will be gone soon
hardwick needs6 or so weeks to sort out the team, our team in round 6-8 will be much different than from rounds 1-4
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If it's all Wallaces fault as you say who was there when Contin, Nason and Farmer were recruited this year??? Surley with King, Edwards and Nahas at the club the new regime should have looked at taller players.
Contin is 18 years old, over 6ft tall (181cm) and weighs 81kgs already! He is 1cm shorter than Gary Ablett and Joel Selwood, he is taller than Marc Murphy. How does he get included in your list?
Sorry I meant Hicks.
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If it's all Wallaces fault as you say who was there when Contin, Nason and Farmer were recruited this year??? Surley with King, Edwards and Nahas at the club the new regime should have looked at taller players.
There is going to come a time soon when Wallace can be blamed no more. That will come at the end of the year if Hardwick hangs on to all of the above players with the exception of Nason who I believe will offer something.
Hardwick had nothing to do with the players traded, delisted or drafted over the summer. At the most his opinion of the list and player type he wanted may have been included in draft selections.
The tradings and delistings were done by Campbell and Cameron, as were contract extensions. The drafting was done by Jackson under instructions from Cameron and Campbell according to their idea of what was required.
At the end of the year Hardwick may (and should) have more influence over the list but it will still be Cameron handing out contracts.
Well when March and co were selecting the Coach to take over from Wallace he said during one of his interviews that they wanted to get the coach in ASAP so he could be involved with the recruiting and draft period. So unless that changed then I am not sure what you are saying??
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If it's all Wallaces fault as you say who was there when Contin, Nason and Farmer were recruited this year??? Surley with King, Edwards and Nahas at the club the new regime should have looked at taller players.
There is going to come a time soon when Wallace can be blamed no more. That will come at the end of the year if Hardwick hangs on to all of the above players with the exception of Nason who I believe will offer something.
Hardwick had nothing to do with the players traded, delisted or drafted over the summer. At the most his opinion of the list and player type he wanted may have been included in draft selections.
The tradings and delistings were done by Campbell and Cameron, as were contract extensions. The drafting was done by Jackson under instructions from Cameron and Campbell according to their idea of what was required.
At the end of the year Hardwick may (and should) have more influence over the list but it will still be Cameron handing out contracts.
Well when March and co were selecting the Coach to take over from Wallace he said during one of his interviews that they wanted to get the coach in ASAP so he could be involved with the recruiting and draft period. So unless that changed then I am not sure what you are saying??
Yep, can't see anyway on God's green earth that Hardwick didn't have the majority input to delisting, trading and drafting. He was in the job long enough before any of this went on to know and get what he wanted.
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Ramps, have said for the past 4 years they have no idea down there.
Seen the Gold Coast players at Christmas time. Who ever is running the show up there has an idea.
NOT ONE MIDGET.
All players are 6ft and over and built like machines
You idiot horribly wrong...
I travelled up there with our Eastern Ranges boys and Ranges smashed them and Gold Coast were full of raw 18 year old kids. Not balls of muscle.. ffs.
If your going to have a dig get it right.
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Ramps, have said for the past 4 years they have no idea down there.
Seen the Gold Coast players at Christmas time. Who ever is running the show up there has an idea.
NOT ONE MIDGET.
All players are 6ft and over and built like machines
You idiot horribly wrong...
I travelled up there with our Eastern Ranges boys and Ranges smashed them and Gold Coast were full of raw 18 year old kids. Not balls of muscle.. ffs.
If your going to have a dig get it right.
Well said.
Carostar paints it as if they're all built like Batista. :lol
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Gold coast's list as of oct last year.
http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=81600
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Ramps, have said for the past 4 years they have no idea down there.
Seen the Gold Coast players at Christmas time. Who ever is running the show up there has an idea.
NOT ONE MIDGET.
All players are 6ft and over and built like machines
You idiot horribly wrong...
I travelled up there with our Eastern Ranges boys and Ranges smashed them and Gold Coast were full of raw 18 year old kids. Not balls of muscle.. ffs.
If your going to have a dig get it right.
WELL HELLO
watched them train when on holidays.
I am talking about what there fielding in the VFL. :banghead
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There not big.
They have 2 player above 90kgs on there whole list thus far. 3 if you want to include Hunt.
Its more about developing size then recruiting big players.
Height I agree with, we're too short. But in terms of size thats a fitness development issue not drafting or recruiting. Can't think of any Tiger that has had an enourmous pre season like a Goddard did 6 years ago where he put on 9kgs.
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If it's all Wallaces fault as you say who was there when Contin, Nason and Farmer were recruited this year??? Surley with King, Edwards and Nahas at the club the new regime should have looked at taller players.
There is going to come a time soon when Wallace can be blamed no more. That will come at the end of the year if Hardwick hangs on to all of the above players with the exception of Nason who I believe will offer something.
Hardwick had nothing to do with the players traded, delisted or drafted over the summer. At the most his opinion of the list and player type he wanted may have been included in draft selections.
The tradings and delistings were done by Campbell and Cameron, as were contract extensions. The drafting was done by Jackson under instructions from Cameron and Campbell according to their idea of what was required.
At the end of the year Hardwick may (and should) have more influence over the list but it will still be Cameron handing out contracts.
Well when March and co were selecting the Coach to take over from Wallace he said during one of his interviews that they wanted to get the coach in ASAP so he could be involved with the recruiting and draft period. So unless that changed then I am not sure what you are saying??
Yep, can't see anyway on God's green earth that Hardwick didn't have the majority input to delisting, trading and drafting. He was in the job long enough before any of this went on to know and get what he wanted.
had an input but not majority, delistings and list management was well on its way to be done before hardwick was appointed, think he'll have a bigger say this season with a year under the belt....i also recall him mentioning he didnt have a problem with all bar 1 of the delistings so no biggie
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hicks was the only really small player drafted, the likes of dea, contin, roberts, martin all have size about them..
Well said.
When the likes of Astbury, Dea and Griffiths(who's built like the hulk) come in to the senior team I expect these whinging threads to fade out.
We also have Gourdis, Rance & Graham at Coburg in terms of muscle if that's what some are after, unfortunately it looks like they aren't up to it in terms of skill.
My only regret atm is that we didn't bring another ruckman onto the rookie list last season once Patto departed. I understand that we needed to strengthen the small forward category but when I look at our ruck division it's extremely light on now that it's apparent Simmonds is not up to it.
you put a lot of eggs in to one basket bud.
i count 14 players 181 or under on the list whats that mantra ive been going on about, oh yeah bigger stronger faster with skill.
some of us did complain about player type taken last yr and got fobbed of with there was no other types with the necaesary skills what a lot of jumbo mumbo from the defenders of all things richmond.
farmer hicks roberts webberley nason contin thats 6 all 181 or under. and we added them to foley cousins edwards king tambling white gilligan nahas. sheesh move over terry the new lot have arrived.
magic you know ive gone on about this sort of thing for yrs over at pre its not something out of the blue.
i got ripped into by some over there whos poo dont stink at the moment because i dared speak the obvious.
i wonder how many actually rated the last draft as ordinary. yep we met a skills criteria great about time but the criteria should be well rounded footballers who can kick.
theres a place for half a dozeb smalls on your list but they need to be in the main very good to high quality.
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Claw - Please list the talls you would have taken at pick 67 and later instead of Nason & Webberley
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What on earth could be running through the monds of a recruiter when they're about to draft blokes who are to small or cant kick
I cant actually fathom how a recruiter can go to draft day and call out names like
Shane Edwards, Robin Nahas, Jake King, Daniel Jackson, Tom Hislop, Adam Thomson, Matthew White, Shane Tuck just to name afew, what on earth compels a club to give up pick 18 for Jordan McMahon
As supporters we are entitled to our opinions, sometimes they are right sometimes wrong, and this isnt a slight on these boys who give there all and are doing there best, but I cant actually fathom how a recruiter/s can call out these names on a draft day or agree to give up a pick for a player.
Doesnt the recruiter/s understand that for example Edwards, Nahas, King are to small for AFL footy and even if you pick 1of this type- what justification is there to then add a couple more, what runs through recruiters minds when they call out the names of players whose disposal of the footy is a key weakness. How is it possible that so many mistakes can be made and then not made just once, but repeated time and time again. How can a club make so many mistakes time and time again!
While I generally agree with your outrage, to be fair the players you name were mostly picked late, so they were going to have some defects.
Edwards - 26, Nahas - rookie, King - rookie, Jackson - 53, Hislop - 58, Thomson - 42, White - PSD, Tuck - 73.
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Doesnt the recruiter/s understand that for example Edwards, Nahas, King are to small for AFL footy
Makes you wonder how players like Phil Matera (171cm), Brent Harvey (172cm (was listed at 168cm a few years ago), Chance Bateman (174cm), Shane Crawford (174cm), David Wirrpanda (173cm), Peter Bell (175cm) and even Ben Cousins (a massive 179cm) ever became anything more than B grade players, clearly their height means that they are too small for AFL football.
Edwards (180cm), Nahas (176cm) and King (178cm) are absolute midgets compared to that lot, they don't have a chance ;)
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Just to provide some balance in this debate, I had a look at the other lists for players 181cm and shorter.
Brisbane have 6 players, 4 of whom are regular seniors.
Adelaide have 11 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors. (McLeod, Douglas, Johncock, Edwards, Porplyzia, Doughty)
Collingwood have 10 players, 3 of whom are regular seniors.
Bulldogs have 7 players, 4 of whom are regular seniors. (Gilbee, Eagleton, Harbrow, Akermanis)
Geelong have 9 players, 5 of whom are regular seniors. (Wojcinski, Varcoe, Chapman, Stokes, Byrnes)
Melbourne have 9 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
West Coast have 6 players, 2 of whom are regular seniors.
Sydney have 10 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
Carlton have 8 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
Essendon have 7 players, 4 of whom are regular seniors.
Fremantle have 7 players, 2 of whom are regular seniors.
Hawthorn have 13 players, 9 of whom are regular seniors. (Sewell, Mitchell, Ladson, Osborne, Rioli, Brown, Hooper, Bateman, Stokes)
Port Adelaide have 10 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
St Kilda have 7 players, 5 of whom are regular seniors. (Baker, McQualter, Schneider, Milne, Montagna)
Nth Melbourne have 10 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
We have 14 players, 7 of whom are regular seniors. (Tambling, Edwards, White, Cousins, King, Foley, Nahas)
And of our 7 remaining, 6 of them were recruited this year and 1 is a rookie from last year.
When you look at the players in the better teams, these shorter players are an integral and generally substantial part of the team balance, especially Adelaide, St Kilda and Hawthorn.
So maybe, just maybe, Hardwick looked at our list and knew that he was going to need 2 years of culling (too many for 1 year) and that he couldn't get all the talls he needed in 1 year so he used his early picks for better talls and topped up with smalls because the likelihood of a small 'hidden gem' going later was much better than a tall. And next draft he might just be looking to do the same but he has the advantage of having already had 12 months to look at and develop his first group of smalls, already knowing that year 2 of his cull will be more of his smalls - Cousins, King, White, Gilligan, Edwards, Nahas - are all possibilities/probabilities. And so maybe, just maybe, there is a very good reason that we appear to have more smalls than we need but through circumstances beyond his control and also with a view to the future years there are very good reasons for that. After all, the tops teams don't appear to place such a low value on smalls that many of the closed mind, knee jerk, chicken little posters on here do.
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Just to provide some balance in this debate, I had a look at the other lists for players 181cm and shorter.
Brisbane have 6 players, 4 of whom are regular seniors.
Adelaide have 11 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors. (McLeod, Douglas, Johncock, Edwards, Porplyzia, Doughty)
Collingwood have 10 players, 3 of whom are regular seniors.
Bulldogs have 7 players, 4 of whom are regular seniors. (Gilbee, Eagleton, Harbrow, Akermanis)
Geelong have 9 players, 5 of whom are regular seniors. (Wojcinski, Varcoe, Chapman, Stokes, Byrnes)
Melbourne have 9 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
West Coast have 6 players, 2 of whom are regular seniors.
Sydney have 10 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
Carlton have 8 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
Essendon have 7 players, 4 of whom are regular seniors.
Fremantle have 7 players, 2 of whom are regular seniors.
Hawthorn have 13 players, 9 of whom are regular seniors. (Sewell, Mitchell, Ladson, Osborne, Rioli, Brown, Hooper, Bateman, Stokes)
Port Adelaide have 10 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
St Kilda have 7 players, 5 of whom are regular seniors. (Baker, McQualter, Schneider, Milne, Montagna)
Nth Melbourne have 10 players, 6 of whom are regular seniors.
We have 14 players, 7 of whom are regular seniors. (Tambling, Edwards, White, Cousins, King, Foley, Nahas)
And of our 7 remaining, 6 of them were recruited this year and 1 is a rookie from last year.
When you look at the players in the better teams, these shorter players are an integral and generally substantial part of the team balance, especially Adelaide, St Kilda and Hawthorn.
So maybe, just maybe, Hardwick looked at our list and knew that he was going to need 2 years of culling (too many for 1 year) and that he couldn't get all the talls he needed in 1 year so he used his early picks for better talls and topped up with smalls because the likelihood of a small 'hidden gem' going later was much better than a tall. And next draft he might just be looking to do the same but he has the advantage of having already had 12 months to look at and develop his first group of smalls, already knowing that year 2 of his cull will be more of his smalls - Cousins, King, White, Gilligan, Edwards, Nahas - are all possibilities/probabilities. And so maybe, just maybe, there is a very good reason that we appear to have more smalls than we need but through circumstances beyond his control and also with a view to the future years there are very good reasons for that. After all, the tops teams don't appear to place such a low value on smalls that many of the closed mind, knee jerk, chicken little posters on here do.
great logic and well thought out post as usual.
considering there are 5 or so on the chopping block - cuz, king, white, gilligan certainties off the top of my head I don't know why ppl are getting so worked up about it. Hardwick has a massive amount of work to do to 1) get this list balance right and 2) find afl calibre players within the structure of the list. Having a few extra smalls on the list in year 1 of a multiple year rebuild - pffft get over it whinging ninnies