Wallace and Miller have to start taking responsibility for the list. They can't hide behind Danny Frawley forever.
True Harry but don't underestimate how stuffed our list was thanks to Spud.
During the 2004 draft we had a massive oportunity to steer this ship in the right direction. Somehow I feel we failed. Don't have a problem with the philosophy and reasoning of our first 2 picks (both highly regarded) but have a problem with the next 3. Atm I fear Tambling will not amount to anything. Then Meyer - he was the wrong type. Needed a big back or a strong inside mid with skill. He is none of these and the signs don't look good with him. The next 2, Polo and Patto, had massive question marks regarding skill level at the time of drafting. Still the case. Polo is not a solid body inside type with good skills. He is OK but I feel he won't be a matchwinner. Patto is passable at this stage, but will he be effective bigman? Again, there were better credentialled players at the time.
We got Simmo for Fiora so a big win there.
Patto will be fine. It's just going to take time. Remember he should be playing second fiddle to a senior ruckman but thanks to injuries he's going to have to do it on his own for the first month of the season.
Meyer is being played out of position even if Danny is partly too blame. Not saying he should be in the seniors but even at Coburg he should be played off a HBF; not in dead man's corner on a HFF. Coaches' fault that one.
Tambling may turn out fine in the long run but it is always a risk taking a 2nd division U18 player with an early first round pick.
Only taking 3 kids in the 2005 draft is unforgivable. 2nd year in a rebuilding program and you only pick 3 players. And to make it worse our first pick was a speculative pick at best. There were far better credentialed players than JON. Hurn, Jones and Higgins to name just a few. We needed skillful inside mids and big backmen but totally ignored both.
We got White as well but fair enough on this one. Winning all those games early on with Browny firing hurt us come draft time as well as 3 clubs IIRC getting priority picks
which pushed us back further. It hurts us that we have nothing worthy of trading once we traded away Ottens and Fiora given the hole in the middle of our list. Other clubs don't rate our mid-bracket and senior players.
Trading away pick 8 in 2006 was also the wrong thing to do. When you are rebuilding you stick to basics and you don't try to take short cuts. You take hold of your draft picks and you cherish them. You soley focus on the draft and analyse every single player. What was Wallace doing in the US during trade week. The most important period behind draft day and Wallace is away on holidays. Does this represent a coach that is 100% committed? One wonders how much research and time they put into the draft.
Too early to judge this lot. What was a mistake was rookieing two new smalls (Clingan and King) instead of one more young tall. Talls take longer to develop so there's always a chance of finding a hidden diamond.
The honeymoon period is over for Wallace and Miller.
That was always going to be the case given it was his third year. More pressure on Miller IMO as he was responsible for the 2003 draft as well. That draft was weak but Gilmour and Roach were servere blunders while Jackson will most likely be gone at the end of this year. The only real gains were Rainesy and Browny (trade) with Tuck being so-so.
