First, my usual disclaimer. This is not a grading of our draft. No matter what you say, you simply can't grade a draft for at LEAST 12 months.
Remember last year? Everyone was saying how well the Cheats drafted. 12 months on, who honestly thinks they did better than Palmer, Hinkley, Mayne, & Bradley as a young group? Even then its still inconclusive.
So, all I'm doing here is looking at who we picked up and what the logic was (in my opinion).
There will be a number of people worrying about the number of mids we took and the size of them etc, and I'll have a look at that too.
I'll also quickly point out that I got exactly ZERO of our picks right. I did mention Hill, Walters, Ballantyne and Hall as those who may be considered but whiffed completely on Suban, Clarke, Benny B & Ruffles. Why the hell you read my stuff is beyond me, I'm clueless.
Round 1
Pick 3 - Steven Hill. SO much has been written and said about this pick already and I would be adding nothing new to the collection. He's ours and we should love him.
Round 2
Pick 21 - Hayden Ballantyne. I'm on record as not being a fan of this pick, particularly this high. The fact that the guys who are paid to watch him think more of him than me means 1 thing. I was wrong.
Others In The Mix. The guy who went next (Jackson Trengove) was sure to be close to having his name called. I reckon they talked about taking Suban here or not and then banked on Port & Essendon having different needs. I also believe that they had Swift pencilled in at this pick if available, but he is now lining up for a mirror and a razor blade. Dayne Beams and Sean McKernan would have been discussed too.
Logic. Already people are saying this is a "reach" and that Hayden could have been had later in the draft. That may be but this pick framed the rest of our draft. We didn't have to hope that someone lasted who could play and we got the best small forward available. It is a glaring need and they banked it straght away.
Pick 24 - Nick Suban. This was a great pick in my eyes. Plenty of talk has surrounded how we need height and speed in the midfield. Well you also need guts and ballgetters, Suban is all that and plenty more. He looks heavy but so did Bartel, Mitchell & Haselby at that age and Suban has a better kick than any of those guys. Add to that that he simply doesn't get caught with the ball which means his build is a tad deceiving.
Others in the Mix. The same guys listed above with perhaps Mitch Robinson considered here too. We passed on him again at 37 but I think this was his only shot at being clad in purple. Unfortunately for him our guys rated Suban higher. So does everyone else.
Logic. Obviously the decision here was to go with the best available mid. There were still some good bigguns around but midfielders were what we forecast and this is what we went for here. This usually sounds so trite, but I am told by someone at the club that our guys didn't rate McKernan because of his "tweener" size and lack of flexibility in roles outside rucking. They believe he is another Leigh Brown type who will struggle to find a role.
Round 3.
Pick 37 - Zachary Clarke. Here is where I made the biggest mistake in doing my picks and my forecast of Freo's picks in the previous blog. I completely and stupidly overlooked the ruck position. Thankfully for us, I make a living doing something else because we do need more bodies here.
Others in the Mix. I think we looked at ruckmen only here and therefore Jarrad Redden would've been considered closely. Same goes for the Sengstock kiddy, Tom Hill, Rhys Stanley and Bart McCulloch. Our boy is bigger and more athletic. Plus he hates his family so he can't wait to leave Victoria*.
Logic. We need ruck help and this guy was the guy we tagged as the best fit. No doubt he has more flexibility than the other 2 and with that size he'll be a handfull in a marking contest.
*made that up...as if you didn't know.
Round 4.
Pick 53 - Michael Walters. Shane has mentioned that he thought Harves had taken off for a dunny break after this pick. I agree, but I don't think he was going to the loo. I think he was having some "quiet personal time" with himself after Walters fell to us here. Along with Lisle at 50 I think this is going to turn out to be the steal of the draft.
Others In The Mix. None. Not with his name there.
Logic. They may have been going to go another way in terms of position, but this was a no brainer.
Pick 56 - Ben Bucovaz. Height, skills, leadership, mongrel. Even with all that this was the strangest pick in my mind.
Others in the Mix. I like to think that Steve Gaertner got some consideration here. More likely that Paul Cahill, Bill Young and Casey Sibosado were talked about.
Logic. Although listed as a "medium" this boy has some size about him. Reminiscent of Mooney or although with a brain larger than his testicles. I reckon they saw the number of larger bodies in their wish list disappearing (Lisle at 50 would've disappointed) and grabbed the best of the rest.
Round 5.
Pick 68 - Tim Ruffles. This is where we stocked up on those things that are fun and exciting, ie speed, skills and magic. I've been told to consider this guy as Dale Thomas without the immaculately and bizzarely square torso.
Others in the Mix. Liam Anthony going 20 picks ago would've hurt a bit as I reckon they had an eye on him. Possibly Pearce, Cockie, Benjamin and Moody were the others in the discussion.
Logic. At this point there is less need to look in your own backyard as it is clear that the local boys just mentioned were unlikely to be grabbed. Ruffles is quicker and taller than any of them and has skills as well as athleticism. Plus its a freakin cool surname. Can't wait until Kerr slaps him and gets 3 weeks whilst Dense Confetti talks about ruffled feathers.
Round 6.
Pick 77 - Chris Hall. Although listed as a small forward/midfielder, it is the midfield that this guy does his best work. Very clever player that opposition supporters will hate. Think of a Milne who can play midfield (and that you don't want to smash) or even a Chance Bateman.
Others in the Mix. No doubt that the same 4 mentioned above were talked about, but we're clearly going to be able to grab at least 2, if not 3 of them in the Rookie Draft.
Logic. Why take a local boy late when you can rookie list them and pinch someone else's rookie target. This guy was good enough to be invited to the draft camp and tested very well. He has been blocked to some extent at his SANFL club and is going to play some good games for us.
Overall.
Freo set out to get better and better we got. We got our number 1 midfield target plus some very good help for him in Suban, Walters, Ruffles & Hall. Small Forward is adequately covered with a number of different options and we added a good ruck prospect and some KP size in Benny B.
The criticism I'm hearing so far surrounds the size of the middies we picked. Lets look at that for a sec.
Suban 180cm, Walters 177, Ruffles 179, Hall 181.
No doubt there is a same-ness about the size but look at these stats;
A - 174cm, 180, 179, 174, 189, 184. Avge 180.
B - 182cm, 187, 190, 182, 189, 179. Avge 185.
A = current Premiership starting midfield. B = Runners up and previous Premiers.
All our kids are undoubtedly going to grow. So size is not something we need to be concerned with. Ibbo is our Joel Corey/Clinton Young, and a fit Des adds plenty of height, throw in the odd Pav and PUH LEEZE.
What we needed we got, its now up to those kids to prove their worth.