We did, but we were right royally screwed by the AFL. We actually had choice 4 at the time. I knew people at the club and they felt there were 3 really good players in the draft and the rest you could throw a blanket over. They went to the league and asked if they should get involved with swapping their pick. The league said no worries go ahead. We did. Then at the last moment the league punishes Carlton for breaching the salary cap and suddenly pick 4 becomes pick 2! We complain to the league and they say bad luck! The people I knew said to me they NEVER WOULD HAVE TRADED PICK 2.
So by punishing Carlton the AFL also punished us.
The people I knew were very UNHAPPY!
Absolutely correct
when we traded for Johnson we traded pick 4 then weeks later it became pick 2 when the league stripped Carlton of draft picks for salary cheating. The league should have worked out the sanctions against the blues before trade week or delayed trade week ....we were screwed by the league big time
What a load of rubbish!!!
The club was screwed by the league???? You've got to be joking??
This was the same draft the club in it's wisdom thought it good to actually pick Shultz, Fleming and let's not forget, "the great" Billy Nicholls.
Reality is they were the worst club at selecting good players and even worse at developing players. Even if they had pick 2 they probably wouldve picked up Shultz earlier.
But even if they sneaked over to another clubs table and copied their short list because other clubs had some clue and actually watched the players (they were thinking of drafting) play, they wouldve ruined the career of that player anyway with pee poor development.
So I wouldn't be blaming the AFL for screwing us over but I'd be blaming the club administration and the worst recruiter in the league.
Thank God for Benny Gale and finally some vision at Richmond.