Luckiest players to stay on AFL lists
Captain Blood, Richmond Tigers
Herald-Sun blog
Friday, October 31, 2008 at 05:54pm
Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls should buy a Tattslotto ticket.
When AFL lists were finalised last week JON was still on Richmond’s senior list.
Can’t argue too much with the deletions, although I was sad to see Danny Meyer depart without fulfilling the potential I spotted in a moment of insight (or delusion) about three years ago. Chris Hyde, David Gourdis and Travis Casserly were also shown the door, along with the retired Greg Tivendale.
A couple of others suggested as possible trades - Jay Schulz and Kayne Pettifer - also stayed put, but that wasn’t all that surprising. Petts might find it tough to get his senior spot back next year though.
So JON gets another year despite his inglorious form, possibly because it would have been too embarrassing for our recruiting staff to delist two first-round draft picks in the same year. I’ll be rapt if he proves me wrong by turning into an AFL player, but I would be very surprised.
But he’s not the only player who can consider himself lucky to still have an AFL career ahead of them.
As all clubs cut their dead wood, some of the hacks of the competition were sent packing (Cain Ackland, Courtney Johns, Peter Street, half the Melbourne list) but a few others hung around to stink up the AFL for another 12 months.
Other opinions welcome, but here’s my take on the luckiest players to keep their spot on their club list:
1. JARRAD OAKLEY-NICHOLLS (Richmond)
2. JASON LAYCOCK (Essendon)
3. NATHAN CARROLL (Melbourne)
4. KEPLER BRADLEY (Fremantle)
5. JOHN MEESEN (Melbourne)
6. ALAN TOOVEY (Collingwood)
7. ANDREW McQUALTER (St Kilda)
8. BRAD MORAN (Adelaide)
What do you reckon?
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