for starters people dont hate anyone. fj is rightly criticised for the job he does nothing more.
for me the very fact melbourne took scully and trengove made it easy for fj. imo there were 4 standout mids and melbourne took 2 of em. it left martin and morabito. morabito may become a bust as well thru injury which is something no one could have predicted and doesnt reflect on the recruiter.
05/ jon # 8 bust, hughes #24 bust, casserley # 40 bust but injuries were the main reason. PEOPLE ARGUE ABOUT FJ ROLE HERE. Part time or not HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR JON. He was just one of two recruiters himself and miller.
06/ riewoldt #13 pass. edwards # 26 pass, i give edwards a pass only because hes played 150games. imo thats a reflection of the poor standard of players we have had. id say at best only a third of edwards games have met the required standard.
07/ cotchin #2 pass. rance #18 pass, putt #51 fail.
08/ vickery #8 imo fail, #26 post fail, no third rounder we did take hislop a fj favorite at #58 fail. even if i were to concede vickery a reasonable player, for a top 10 pick hes been very ordinary.
09/ martin #3 pass, griffiths #19 fail, #35 astbury ?????, #44 dea fail. i question astbury as hes yet to play enough good footy to show hes really made it. in other words could still go either way
10/ conca #6 pass, #30 batchelor fail, #47 helbig fail. ive given conca a pass but i dont think him a worthy top 20 selection yet alone top 10.
11/ ellis #15 pass, elton #26 ????, arnott #55 fail.
some people will argue the odd one they are just my opinion.
havent gone past 2011 as it is too early imo. i think vlastuin could be added to the pass list from 2012.
thats the first 3 rounds and overall it is a terrible record. How anyone can be happy with that sort of record is beyond me. No wonder we have gone at monkey ball so hard we just dont find anywhere near enough good juniors.
What is even more damning fj has not picked one decent young player in the latter rounds to go with the shoddy above record. not one diamond in the rough.
To take it even further the only decent rookie picks hes taken where we have found decent YOUNG players are miles AT 22YRS, , thats it.
FJ has to go if we are to become a good side. failing that we must find help for fj someone on a equal footing.
ffs it all starts with the role he does if he fails we fail.that is exactly what has happened.
Completely agree with this assessment as it stands at this point in time. To add to that, the Conca over Heppell decision is the one that hurt the club the most in recent years. Second rate tagger vrs stand out leader. Heppell was the ideal fit for the RFC's needs.
I don't credit fj for the Miles decision, we only picked up Miles because we needed more players for our stand alone VFL side. We didn't recruit kids in this draft like we should have. If we were still affiliated with Coburg, would have missed him. I credit the club for finally bringing the VFL side back into the Richmond fold. Should never have let it go.
The club has the facilities and funds to sustain a period of success. What it needs is the talent in coaching and recruiting and the strength in administration and management to identify and utilise this talent. Change is required.
