Macrae muscles in

[Greystache]

Every team has a bunch of guys that don't make it.

When the current recruits get us into finals then I will agree we have picked the right guys. Having a go at the past recruiting methods is not very professional and not good form.

We have almost not a single player on the list between 23 and 29. There's having a bunch of players that don't make it and then there's having a fundamentally flawed approach that statistically has almost 100% failure rate. Only a couple of players we drafted from the mid to late 2000's played a role in us making finals, their lack of success is why we're at the bottom of the ladder now.

[GVGjr]

Every team has a bunch of guys that don't make it.

When the current recruits get us into finals then I will agree we have picked the right guys. Having a go at the past recruiting methods is not very professional and not good form.

I'm not so sure BAD in fact I'd argue that it's worth debating and discussing.
We have plenty of time now to assess that the relaxed attitudes of the recruits like Everitt, Hill, Boumann and Lynch weren't conducive with a coach (Eade) who wasn't going to cop it from them. Surely this is worthy of a discussion?

I agree that every team has a bunch of players that don't make we chased guys like Grant and Everitt with earlier than expected draft picks and they never really displayed the right sort of professionalism.

[bornadog]

We have almost not a single player on the list between 23 and 29. There's having a bunch of players that don't make it and then there's having a fundamentally flawed approach that statistically has almost 100% failure rate. Only a couple of players we drafted from the mid to late 2000's played a role in us making finals, their lack of success is why we're at the bottom of the ladder now.

Adam Cooney -28
Will Minson -28
Tom Williams -27
Ryan Griffen -27
Liam Picken -27
Dylan Addison -26
Lukas Markovic -26
Shaun Higgins -25
Jarrad Grant -24
Patrick Veszpremi -24
Easton Wood -24
Jordan Roughead -23
Ayce Cordy -23

[bornadog]

I'm not so sure BAD in fact I'd argue that it's worth debating and discussing.

Of course we should discuss and debate as a forum, or a bunch of supporters. I never said we shouldn't, I said the coach shouldn't, according to this:

Interestingly the coach said almost exactly the same thing during the week. He was less than impressed with our recruiting in previous times and the lack of thoroughness around the attitude and willingness to get the best out of themselves of our recruits. That list above is pretty definitive proof.

[Greystache]

Adam Cooney -28
Will Minson -28
Tom Williams -27
Ryan Griffen -27
Liam Picken -27
Dylan Addison -26
Lukas Markovic -26
Shaun Higgins -25
Jarrad Grant -24
Patrick Veszpremi -24
Easton Wood -24
Jordan Roughead -23
Ayce Cordy -23

Exactly. This should be the core of a winning team and yet only Griffen, Picken, Minson, and Higgins are automatic best 22. In fact Roughead looks the only other player we can bank on becoming a B+ or better. Something was very very wrong with our previous recruiting model

[bornadog]

Exactly. This should be the core of a winning team and yet only Griffen, Picken, Minson, and Higgins are automatic best 22. In fact Roughead looks the only other player we can bank on becoming a B+ or better. Something was very very wrong with our previous recruiting model

That is fine for you to say, I don't think coaches should talk like that in public.

[Go_Dogs]

Adam Cooney -28
Will Minson -28
Tom Williams -27
Ryan Griffen -27
Liam Picken -27
Dylan Addison -26
Lukas Markovic -26
Shaun Higgins -25
Jarrad Grant -24
Patrick Veszpremi -24
Easton Wood -24
Jordan Roughead -23
Ayce Cordy -23

Looking at this list makes interesting reading.

I think we can all agree that Minson, Cooney, Williams, Griffen and Higgins have been OK/good selections (injuries to one side) for us on a whole.

Picken and Markovic, as well as Vez, are players who have arrived at the club through trades or were picked up as mature aged players to help fill the void. Of them, Picken is the only genuine best 22 player at this stage.

Addison is a solid trier however will always be one of those guys on the fringe. I think he offers us a bit over the next few years and he'll end up being more of a hit than a miss (already is for mine), but not an outstanding second round selection. Nonetheless, prefer him to a Hill type, less talented perhaps - sure, but he puts in and will do what is asked of him. I know who I'd prefer to go into battle with.

Wood has shown signs but has been hampered by injury at unlucky times just when it has started to click. I think he'll end up OK. Also agree with GS on Roughy, he is a pretty good chance of being a solid contributor, potentially a bit more.

Grant and Cordy still have a mountain of work ahead, but if they can give us 3/4 years of B grade performance when our young mids are up and running that could be enough to win us a flag or two. For mine, guys like Mooney and Ottens were never world beaters (Ottens always had the talent but injuries and consistency killed him early on) but developed into solid or better players as part of the overall system to make the Cats a very successful side. Dawes and Cloke similar, and Sydney has its share of "average" KP talent that got them over the line this year.

The 2006/7 drafts have definitely put us back some ways, perhaps not entirely our fault as if we had kept Ward and Harbrow we'd look a bit better than we do, but we had a lot of selections over those years for what is now very little return.

Harbrow was arguably our best selection over that period, he was a rookie who impressed right away because of his work ethic on track. His first preseason I recall numerous positive reports about him. The same thing with Dahlhaus - having a good head is super important these days with the demands of the game and I like the fact our current approach throws a lot more emphasis on that area - to the extent that we obviously need talented players too, but I think we've been combining both areas pretty well of late.

I have a huge amount of confidence that our top 3 picks this year will not fail for lack of trying or application, which is a good starting point.

Interesting discussion guys, thanks.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

It'll be interesting to contrast our recruiting from 06-09 to 10-13. Obviously it'll be a few years before we can do that with any real substance, but I like the current philosophy we've adopted. It's a congruent message coming out of the club: work hard in all facets of the game both on and off the field. This provides direction which we clearly lacked in previous recruiting eras.

There's more of a "we know where we are, we know what we want, and we know how we'll get there" approach now. In previous times, it was very difficult to get a read on what we were actually trying to build.

It doesn't mean this method will yield success, but it's defined and you can't fault that.

[boydogs]

It doesn't mean this method will yield success, but it's defined and you can't fault that.

It's not just a recruitment approach either, it flows through to training and game day strategy.

There's a lot of Geelong mach II about it, but what better example to follow.

[bornadog]

And makes no sense.

This provides direction which we clearly lacked in previous recruiting eras.

There's more of a "we know where we are, we know what we want, and we know how we'll get there" approach now. In previous times, it was very difficult to get a read on what we were actually trying to build.

How can you say that? I just can't agree at all. Surely we were recruiting to build towards a premiership

This is just pure speculation on your behalf

It's not just a recruitment approach either, it flows through to training and game day strategy.

There's a lot of Geelong mach II about it, but what better example to follow.

So far the coach had shown no ability on game day. Lets hope he does this year with better assistants to help out.

[Go_Dogs]

How can you say that? I just can't agree at all. Surely we were recruiting to build towards a premiership

Of course, everyone is but we didn't seem to have a very defined or the correct plan as to the type of player we were recruiting to achieve that outcome. Or perhaps we did and just failed in the execution.

It's almost as though we fundamentally misread the direction the game was heading and recruited skinny athletic players who ultimately failed to deliver either because of their lack of intensity/work ethic or because they simply weren't cut out to play modern footy where every player needs to be able to win their own ball when it's their time.

The reason we got so close in my view is because of our recruiting from 1999-2004 where we got a number of key movers.

Clayton has a great reputation and deserved it, but I think we perhaps put a bit too much faith in him and how he wanted to shape our list, the types of players he thought would be the prototype AFL footballer.

We won't know if our current approach will be as or more fruitful for a while yet, but I have hope.

[bornadog]

Of course, everyone is but we didn't seem to have a very defined or the correct plan as to the type of player we were recruiting to achieve that outcome. Or perhaps we did and just failed in the execution.

I agree with this point, but then again in the last 12 years only 7 teams have won the premiership, so the others all failed to recruit well

[The Underdog]

So anyway, Jackson Macrae, best chin at the club since Chris Grant?

[Ozza]

So anyway, Jackson Macrae, best chin at the club since Chris Grant?

I saw Chris at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville last weekend. Fair sized chin on the great man.

[ledge]

I saw Chris at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville last weekend. Fair sized chin on the great man.

So in all this was it the chin that made Ben hudsons beard so awesome ?
Is it really the chin that's the hero ?