Our greatest Moneyball selections

[Ghost Dog]

Watched that movie again recently and loved it.
Did some reading and it seems were are one of three or four teams being touted as the Moneyball masters of the AFL.
Having a spend well below other power clubs, these moneyball players are destined to become cult heroes.

Who have been our top three moneyball selections at the WB under Simon D's tenure?
Eg: Players that came at a bargain, overlooked because of cosmetic, age, external reasons.

1.Caleb Daniel - looks like a steal. I guess the jury is out, but looks very promising.
2. Shane Biggs- really like the way he moves and runs. Very competitive, and flies under the radar, no idea why. Why did Sydney let him go? To me he looks as valuable as JJ.
3. Lin Jong - an odd player at times, not a natural . Finds the footy and tackles hard. Was injured for a while but didn't disappoint late in the season. Really composed player and honest in his efforts.

Yours?

[GVGjr]

I listened to Simon at a function one night a couple of years back and while it's a hard question for him to answer because he gets asked it so many times he did let it slip that the Johannisen was the one selection he was quite chuffed with. I'll go with JJ.

I get the feeling that Lynch might be a player he talks about in a couple of years time

[Mofra]

Luke Dahlhaus for me.
Rookie pick who was overlooked because of his kicking % at TAC level, as a numbers man Dalrymple realized that a higher % of his kicks were under pressure than most players which pushed his figures down.

The fact it he as taken after the largely shitful 2010 draft adds to the difficulty. Most clubs burned quite a few main draft and then rookie picks that year, and we end up with Wallis, Libba, Dahl & JJ. Brilliant work.

[bulldogtragic]

Tory Dickson. Coming off playing local suburban footy before minimal VFL. Not that big, not that tall, not that fit when selected. As PP showed us in another thread, he joined the elite 50 goals in a season club last year. All for the princely sum of pick 57.

[bornadog]

All time pickup is Chris Grant, pick 105

[GVGjr]

All time pickup is Chris Grant, pick 105

True enough but the opening post is about SD's selections.

I tend to think it's hard to go past Dahlhaus.

[LostDoggy]

To me a true Moneyball (in the sense of the book/movie) selection is identifying undervalued/underrecognised talent from other teams, as opposed to drafting kids. In recent years, Joel Hamling fits the bill pretty well. Looking back a bit, Peter Foster was a great trade, as was Tony Liberatore.

[Mofra]

Looking back a bit, Peter Foster was a great trade, as was Tony Liberatore.

We'd have to add whichever document clerk at Whitten Oval that discovered North Melbourne's oversight that allowed us to sign Scott Wynd. Brilliant signing.

[Twodogs]

To me a true Moneyball (in the sense of the book/movie) selection is identifying undervalued/underrecognised talent from other teams, as opposed to drafting kids. In recent years, Joel Hamling fits the bill pretty well. Looking back a bit, Peter Foster was a great trade, as was Tony Liberatore.

That's exactly what i understand moneyball to mean. it's not just cheap or good value trading/drafting. Its looking at your stocks, identifying your problems and then identifying talent languishing at other clubs who can perform that particular task or help with a particular role.

We'd have to add whichever document clerk at Whitten Oval that discovered North Melbourne's oversight that allowed us to sign Scott Wynd. Brilliant signing.

I have been told the story of our recruiters sitting at the Wynd household in Jacana waiting for the clock to tick over midnight and North's hold on Scotty to expire. I don't know how true the story is but I really want it to be.

[Bulldog Joe]

To me a true Moneyball (in the sense of the book/movie) selection is identifying undervalued/underrecognised talent from other teams, as opposed to drafting kids. In recent years, Joel Hamling fits the bill pretty well. Looking back a bit, Peter Foster was a great trade, as was Tony Liberatore.

I agree that it is about identifying value already in the system.

For me players like Hamling and Biggs are the type we could see as MoneyBall selections, currently on the list.

[Ghost Dog]

Right GVG, I wasn't sure Dahlhaus was a SD pick. But if so I would have to go with him. Betray my lack of Bulldogs lore knowledge there.

True moneyball is identifying one statistic ( or two ) that puts players ahead and building a team around that statistic. In the Oakland A's case it was guys that can get on base. That was their key stat. In ours it seems to be tackling and finding the ball.

From what I read, identifying guys who are not getting a turn (Hamling, Dickson) is just normal recruiting.
But we have drafted a rack of smaller guys ( MHchurch, LD, CD ), ball magnets who tackle hard.
The lack of height being their 'No' factor for most recruiters. You can add Nathan Hrovat as well.
You can see a bit of a pattern with the smaller brigade.

JJ is a bit different. Recruited on pure potential.
SD identified pace as being JJ's selling point. Recruiters had their eyes on Brad Hill, Jager O'Meara and a few other WA stars at the time so maybe this caused JJ to be overlooked. JJ was only in his 5th year of footy and not tearing it up exactly. ( Average 10 touches a game ). For JJ, you could almost chalk it up as one of those overseas recruiting wildcard stories. Amazing athlete, 5th year of footy and getting drafted as an AFL player. McCartney said of JJ, " I didn't know who he was at first, I thought he was the work experience kid." It was a big risk, and we've drafted a lot of players with pace who didn't work out.


We throw our arms open to short players who can play. Maybe Simon realised he had to do something radically differently after 2009, which was an absolute disaster for us. Howard, Tutt, Markovic, Thorne.

Beyond SD's tenure, Libba is the best, perhaps best in the comp, Moneyball selection. Who picked him?
But Luke Dahlhaus for SD's tenure for sure.

[hujsh]

I'd say Dickson and maybe Kobe Stevens?

[bornadog]

True enough but the opening post is about SD's selections.

I tend to think it's hard to go past Dahlhaus.

On SD's selections, I would like to discount Rookies as they are a two way bet. Using draft picks to get a bargain is really testing the recruiters talent.

SD has taken a punt on Honeychurch, (Pick 60) and if he goes on to be a top player, then he is the man. Agree from Rookie list Dahl has been an incredible pickup.

[Ghost Dog]

On SD's selections, I would like to discount Rookies as they are a two way bet. Using draft picks to get a bargain is really testing the recruiters talent.

SD has taken a punt on Honeychurch, (Pick 60) and if he goes on to be a top player, then he is the man. Agree from Rookie list Dahl has been an incredible pickup.

Would that just cancel out Howard? Still hurts to see who else was taken with that pick.

[LostDoggy]

Liam Picken.
2009 Dal's first draft.
6th round selection.
Pick-86.
Off the rookie list.
127 games.
Outstanding.