The Coon Dog
24-11-2007, 05:27 PM
In the lead up to the draft I was like a kid waiting for Christmas to arrive. I went through the various phantom drafts to try & understand why we might draft certain players. The more I looked, the more I became confused. Everyone seemed to have a differing opinion.
I took The Coon Pup along for the experience & when we arrived we caught the lift upstairs with many of the Bulldogs contingent. Given we were waering similar polo tops we just walked in with them without having our credentials checked!
When we got inside the room, we were gobsmacked!! Football royalty everywhere we looked. Dead set it was the who's who & The Coon Pup was as much in awe as I was.
We saw (in no particular order) Paul Roos, Terry Wallace, Neil Balme, Eddie McGuire, Brad & Chris Scott, Mark Harvey, Chris Connelly, Neil Craig, Brett Ratten, Alistair Clarkson, Greg Miller, Peter Rohde, Andrew Demetriou, Leigh Matthews, Garry O'Donnell, Craig Lambert, Chris Johnson, Matt Rendell, Gary Pert, Matthew Knights, Gary Buckenara, Chris Bond, David King, & Adrian Anderson (I was going to say hi to him from Twodogs & Borgy, but decided not to) just walking aroung & mingling.
We were then taken over to the Bulldogs table & introduced us to the recruiting team, headed by Scott Clayton. They had pretty much decided who they were going to select.
Jarrod Grant was going to be our first selection.
With the second round, they were in some ways a little undecided, between two players, hoping one may still be available come our pic. I was personally thrilled when Callan Ward's name was called out
From here on in there was an element of luck as the 2 or 3 players we had penciled in could go in those picks immediately prior to ours. Names mentioned earlier we would look at if available were Patrick Veszpremi, Cyril Rioli, Dawson Simpson, Sam Reid, Chris Mayne, Guy O'Keefe, Jarrod Boumann, Tony Armstrong & Easton Wood (who had come in for some late attention, particularly from Collingwood, who it was thought may have used their first selection, pick #31 on him).
From the remaining rounds, the names mentioned were all called by the Bulldogs in Sam Reid, Easton Wood, Jarrad Boumann & Guy O'Keefe.
The seating was set up so that all club tables were closest to the front, then behind them moving back were tables for players families, then AFL staff, then NAB staff, then others. We initially sat at the back. After the first 2 rounds, many of the players families had left so we moved to the front row, right next to the Grant family!!
Jarrod's Grandfather still had tears in his eyes. You see, he was born in Gordon Street, in Footscray & barracks for the Bulldogs! When he was a youngster he had #31 on his jumper. It was worn by Evan Rees in the late 40's (I passed this info onto Mark Stevens from the Herald Sun, who then proceeded to interview Jarrod's Grandfather). In the late 60's he umpired 30 odd games in the VFL, only 1 of which Footscray came out victorious in.
I had a decent chat with young Jarrod. He grew up barrcking for Richmond. I asked if he slept well last night or was he nervous. He said he was fortunate that last night he had his school valedictory dinner which went till just after midnight & that took his mind off things.
He was excited to come to the Bulldogs because his best mate plays with us, Skinny Everitt. They played juniors together every year at Frankston. He was also happy we drafted Jarrod Boumann as they played together this season for the Stingrays in the forward line & combined quite well.
After the draft had concluded we went up to the Bulldogs table & were told that it pretty much went according to plan. They were very happy with what they acquired, particularly Jarrad Grant, whom the recruiters said was a PERFECT fit for the Bulldogs. They noted that he took more contested marks per game than anyone else in the TAC
They mentioned that he & Everitt were SO competitive in EVERYTHING they did & have no doubts this will spur BOTH players on.
I expressed surprise that David Gourdis wasn't drafted. There were reasons obviously as all other 15 teams elected to bypass him.
The recruiting staff assured me we would draft a ruckman in the rookie draft, tho no names were mentioned.
Only one draftee from outside Victoria this time & Easton Wood's Dad lives in Footscray so he's right.
Interestingly, during the draft ALL mobile phones had to be switched off.
As I was leaving I bumped into Eddie McGuire, who I must say is one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet. He was very humble, particularly when I thanked him for his assistance in getting Leaseplan onboard. He was happy to pose for a photo with The Coon Pup too.
I can honestly say, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience this morning!
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6828/img0030jgkc6.jpg
TCP & Jarrod Grant
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6526/img0031emzz1.jpg
TCP & Eddie NcGuire
I took The Coon Pup along for the experience & when we arrived we caught the lift upstairs with many of the Bulldogs contingent. Given we were waering similar polo tops we just walked in with them without having our credentials checked!
When we got inside the room, we were gobsmacked!! Football royalty everywhere we looked. Dead set it was the who's who & The Coon Pup was as much in awe as I was.
We saw (in no particular order) Paul Roos, Terry Wallace, Neil Balme, Eddie McGuire, Brad & Chris Scott, Mark Harvey, Chris Connelly, Neil Craig, Brett Ratten, Alistair Clarkson, Greg Miller, Peter Rohde, Andrew Demetriou, Leigh Matthews, Garry O'Donnell, Craig Lambert, Chris Johnson, Matt Rendell, Gary Pert, Matthew Knights, Gary Buckenara, Chris Bond, David King, & Adrian Anderson (I was going to say hi to him from Twodogs & Borgy, but decided not to) just walking aroung & mingling.
We were then taken over to the Bulldogs table & introduced us to the recruiting team, headed by Scott Clayton. They had pretty much decided who they were going to select.
Jarrod Grant was going to be our first selection.
With the second round, they were in some ways a little undecided, between two players, hoping one may still be available come our pic. I was personally thrilled when Callan Ward's name was called out
From here on in there was an element of luck as the 2 or 3 players we had penciled in could go in those picks immediately prior to ours. Names mentioned earlier we would look at if available were Patrick Veszpremi, Cyril Rioli, Dawson Simpson, Sam Reid, Chris Mayne, Guy O'Keefe, Jarrod Boumann, Tony Armstrong & Easton Wood (who had come in for some late attention, particularly from Collingwood, who it was thought may have used their first selection, pick #31 on him).
From the remaining rounds, the names mentioned were all called by the Bulldogs in Sam Reid, Easton Wood, Jarrad Boumann & Guy O'Keefe.
The seating was set up so that all club tables were closest to the front, then behind them moving back were tables for players families, then AFL staff, then NAB staff, then others. We initially sat at the back. After the first 2 rounds, many of the players families had left so we moved to the front row, right next to the Grant family!!
Jarrod's Grandfather still had tears in his eyes. You see, he was born in Gordon Street, in Footscray & barracks for the Bulldogs! When he was a youngster he had #31 on his jumper. It was worn by Evan Rees in the late 40's (I passed this info onto Mark Stevens from the Herald Sun, who then proceeded to interview Jarrod's Grandfather). In the late 60's he umpired 30 odd games in the VFL, only 1 of which Footscray came out victorious in.
I had a decent chat with young Jarrod. He grew up barrcking for Richmond. I asked if he slept well last night or was he nervous. He said he was fortunate that last night he had his school valedictory dinner which went till just after midnight & that took his mind off things.
He was excited to come to the Bulldogs because his best mate plays with us, Skinny Everitt. They played juniors together every year at Frankston. He was also happy we drafted Jarrod Boumann as they played together this season for the Stingrays in the forward line & combined quite well.
After the draft had concluded we went up to the Bulldogs table & were told that it pretty much went according to plan. They were very happy with what they acquired, particularly Jarrad Grant, whom the recruiters said was a PERFECT fit for the Bulldogs. They noted that he took more contested marks per game than anyone else in the TAC
They mentioned that he & Everitt were SO competitive in EVERYTHING they did & have no doubts this will spur BOTH players on.
I expressed surprise that David Gourdis wasn't drafted. There were reasons obviously as all other 15 teams elected to bypass him.
The recruiting staff assured me we would draft a ruckman in the rookie draft, tho no names were mentioned.
Only one draftee from outside Victoria this time & Easton Wood's Dad lives in Footscray so he's right.
Interestingly, during the draft ALL mobile phones had to be switched off.
As I was leaving I bumped into Eddie McGuire, who I must say is one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet. He was very humble, particularly when I thanked him for his assistance in getting Leaseplan onboard. He was happy to pose for a photo with The Coon Pup too.
I can honestly say, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience this morning!
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6828/img0030jgkc6.jpg
TCP & Jarrod Grant
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6526/img0031emzz1.jpg
TCP & Eddie NcGuire