Draft Day 2014: First Impressions.

[F'scary]

I am marking us high because I can see what the plan was. Big emphasis on skills, vision, decision making, speed, agility. McLean will wow the fans. And Caleb Daniel was attracting a lot of attention in the build up to the draft - could be a real crowd favourite.

26. Toby McLean. KA-CHING! Clever. Quick. Finds the ball. Great vision. Great disposal. And...sure can take a grab. Got some X factor
27. Lukas Webb. KA-CHING! Lots of skills. Vision. Clever. Wins own ball. Nice mark. Looks very, very versatile.
39. Hamilton. LIKE! Another slick, skillful one.
45. Bailey Dale. LIKE! Nice mover. Good decision maker. Good disposal skills.
46. Caleb Daniel. KA-CHING! Incredible skill set. Fast. Knows where the ball is.

It seemed that our recruiters had done their homework and hadn't just gone for the popular picks in certain phantom drafts.

[GVGjr]

It seemed that our recruiters had done their homework and hadn't just gone for the popular picks in certain phantom drafts.

They are meticulous with their approach. Researched and very confident with their selections.

[Rocket Science]

Forget height, I spy a theme: instinctive footballers.

They all look like effective distributors who play with some boldness.

This augurs well.

[divvydan]

Video of the main man himself, Simon Dalrymple, explaining the reasoning behind the draft picks http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/vi...-reviews-draft

[GVGjr]

Video of the main man himself, Simon Dalrymple, explaining the reasoning behind the draft picks http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/vi...-reviews-draft

Just saw it. Endurance, versatility and good decision makers are important traits with our selections.

[Ghost Dog]

Why was Toby McClean delisted by the stingrays?

[GVGjr]

Why was Toby McClean delisted by the stingrays?

Didn't make the grade. Pleaded with Oakleigh to give him a chance.

[divvydan]

Given the focus on certain attributes, I can imagine our best available list was very different to most other clubs.

[boydogs]

How many key defenders do people think we should have on the list? Not counting Wood, we currently have 6 - Morris, Roughead, Talia, Roberts, Hamling & Cordy. I wouldn't like to see any more than that because they're not the type of player that can do well in another position if they all come on. Smaller players can play midfield, forward or back.

Quality may be an issue with those 6 but it was pretty obvious when we added Cordy & Hamling that we wouldn't be looking for another one in the draft

[KT31]

Would have at least liked us to pick up one decent tall, but really like the focus on footballers with pace and skill and not just picking athletes.
Not knowing much about our picks I can only wait and see, I did notice on the highlight packages that a couple players we picked seemed to kick predominately short and hesitated kicking it long and hoping it just been edited that way.
Imagine we will pick up a tall or two as rookies to balance out.

[Hotdog60]

We've moved away from the Geelong model and now starting the Hawthorne one.

[bornadog]

We've moved away from the Geelong model and now starting the Hawthorne one.

How much influence from Bevo I wonder? All smalls like him.

[bulldogtragic]

How much influence from Bevo I wonder? All smalls like him.

Little spindly biceps though, they either need to hit the gym or get their sleeves tailored in. Or both.

[bulldogsman]

Happy with McLean and Webb, but they went a bit earlier then I probably would have taken them.
Hamilton not sure about
I like Dale and he was in my mix of player's at pick 45/46
The Caleb Daniel selection I really don't like, for reasons mentioned in another thread.

All in all I'm happy we picked player's that are smart footballers and use the ball well.
Disappointed we didn't take a real speedster like Menadue for example or another tall, but that could be addressed in the rookie draft I guess.

I'll give it a 6.

[F'scary]

Interesting looking at the players we passed up at 26 & 27:

Pick 28 Dillon Viojo-Rainbow (Carl)
Pick 29 Touk Miller (GC)
Pick 30 Brayden Maynard (Coll)
Pick 31 Daniel Howe (Haw)
Pick 32 Tom Lamb (WCE)
Pick 33 Connor Menadue (Rich)
Pick 34 Connor Blakely Fremantle
Pick 35 Harrison Wigg Adelaide
Pick 36 Ed Vickers-Willis North Melbourne.
Pick 37 James Rose Sydney

Then after
Pick 39 Declan Hamilton (Western Bulldogs)
there is
Pick 40 Alex Neal-Bullen (Melbourne)
Pick 41 Jack Lonie (StK)

And at 45 & 46 the following were still available, including a couple of talls.

Pick 52 Nathan Drummond (Rich), 19 year-old was eligble last year.
Pick 53 Oscar McDonald (Melb), brother of Demon Tom
Pick 54 Ed Langdon (Freo), brother of Magpie Tom
Pick 55 Dean Gore (Geel)
Pick 58 Harry Dear (Ade), son of 1991 Norm Smith medallist Paul Dear.

The point I am making is that quite a number of those who were still available seemed in my research to get featured pretty highly in the media as being unlikely to last to 26 & 27. And then there were a couple that were repeatedly linked to us - Menadue and McDonald. It looks to me as if Dalrymple really did his own research and made his own judgements.