Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

[bulldogtragic]

Selections:

Stringer
Macrae
Hrovat
Hunter
Prudden
Campbell
Goodes (rookie)


Rate/interpret it however you like. Simply we won a flag in 2016. Or only Macrae was on the list this year and was poor, four went to other clubs. Or the accolades they got. Or whatever you want. Or more nuanced than one line of thought. You have got the power of hindsight and your own take.

[hujsh]

Re: Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

It's a good draft. Lots of games played by these players and good games at that. Goal kicking awards and top 5 BnF appearances and All Australian gigs.

Stringer was a very good player and he's still a guy worth having on the list even if he doesn't live up to the hype/potential consistently.

Macrae a big success

Hunter a big success even if he eventually let his off field issues get in the way of his football.

Campbell still on a list so not the worst late ruck selection ever.

Hrovat, Prudden didn't work out, Goodes played a few games and was probably as much a culture pick as a prospect as a player.


You never know how people will change/develop but ultimately the recruiters did identify 3 players able to perform at an elite level in an AFL environment.

[soupman]

Re: Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

Pretty good group.

By my count only Whitfield, Stringer, Macrae, Wines, Vlastuin, Daniher, Corr, Grundy, Viney, Clurey, McIntosh, Hunter, Wood, Membrey, Hutchings, Atkins had good AFL careers (being generous with a couple there) and Plowman, Mayes, Stewart, O'Brien and Gleeson had ok careers.

So to have 3 guys comfortably in the good category, Hrovat be a few injuries away from making the Ok category and while Prudden never made it if he had a better run at it I think there were good signs he would've been a chance of being something. I think it's a pretty good haul.

Goodes in the rookie draft was a decent get, not sure why Campbell is listed he was the year prior.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

Selections:

Stringer
Macrae
Hrovat
Hunter
Prudden
Campbell
Goodes (rookie)


Rate/interpret it however you like. Simply we won a flag in 2016. Or only Macrae was on the list this year and was poor, four went to other clubs. Or the accolades they got. Or whatever you want. Or more nuanced than one line of thought. You have got the power of hindsight and your own take.

We nailed the top 2 selections and obviously Hunter as a fs. Macrae has been an absolute stalwart and figure of consistency. It's easy to forget how dominant and impactful Stringer was early on. What a waste of talent. Hunter just runs all day. Those 3 guys played a huge role in getting us a flag.

As for the rest. Well Hrovat was highly rated at draft time but it never eventuated. Campbell looked ok as a ruck/Forward but was probably too immobile to reach the required level. He's doing a great eeker job. Prudden and Goodes essentially had no impact.

Overall it was a great draft from the choices we made at the pointy end. We do seem to nail our high picks. But it has been some time since we found gold in the later rounds. It just goes to show that despite the high praise in all the draft profiles, the guys taken after round 1 aren't likely to make the grade.

[Testekill]

Re: Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

Alright. The 2012 draft was actually not that great if you ask me, some excellent speculative picks but only a handful of standout elite players.

Stringer; he had a good run with one elite year for us in 2015 and one very strong year in 2016. However outside of some really nice kicks he wasn't really a huge factor in our finals campaign that year. I do think that he had been found out by Sewell in 2016 and teams discovered that Stringer really was just a small forward in a tall forward's body, they could make do with any solid medium size defender. I don't think we regret taking him but we also weren't unhappy to see the back of him following 2017.

Macrae has been an excellent player for a decade, we can only hope that this year is an anomaly and he bounces back stronger.


There isn't a player that I would have taken ahead of either of them; Vlaustin is the only first rounder taken after them that I would have taken and even then he wasn't really what we needed. Grundy would have been nice but he wasn't seen as a top ten pick and we had Minson with Cordy as a developing ruckman.


Hrovat was a dud pick but I think we were interested in his leadership skills and workrate. Sadly you can get by on that as an undersized kid but you need a bit more when playing against men. Once more, who would you take ahead of him though? Kamdyn McIntosh is the only real standout taken in the second round.

Hunter flamed out badly for us but his workrate on the wing was excellent until it wasn't. We still had him for nine year and he had some great seasons for us. I would take him again there.

Prudden is a player who had terrible luck with injuries that I was a massive fan of, I remembered seeing some VFL matches and being incredibly impressed with him. If we'd known that Jake Lloyd would have been as good as he was then I'd have taken him there.

Campbell is a great clubman that everyone loves but I can't disagree that he really is just a list filler.

Goodes was basically to keep him around in his player development role. I would have much preferred Rampe or Lloyd but Rampe had basically moved to Sydney to play for their reserves team and in that situation they basically only want to play for that team.

[The Underdog]

Re: Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

We got 590 games, 4 All Australians, a B & F, 2 rising star nominations, a 3 time leading goalkicker & 3 premiership players.
Plus there's around 170 games played with other teams
I'm calling that a successful draft. You will never nail 7 out of 7 picks, but they all tasted senior footy and were on a list for at least 4 years.

[Bulldog Joe]

Re: Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

We got 590 games, 4 All Australians, a B & F, 2 rising star nominations, a 3 time leading goalkicker & 3 premiership players.
Plus there's around 170 games played with other teams
I'm calling that a successful draft. You will never nail 7 out of 7 picks, but they all tasted senior footy and were on a list for at least 4 years.

If we got half that out of every draft we would be nearly unstoppable.

[Mofra]

Re: Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

The Hrovat/O'Brien debate was a tough one IIRC - we traded up our second rounder (Lake trade) with an eye on O'Brien, but Hrovat who was linked to North's pick 15 got passed over and we decided to take him.

Prudden was ruined by injury and was much slower after his issues.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

The one knock on this draft (and it’s more related to list management than drafting itself) was we basically did a fire-sale on Lake who as history reflects had a quite a lot of great footy and arguably his best footy, ahead of him. If we’d been able to get another pick in single digits for him it could’ve been a much better draft for us.

Stringer and Macrae and Hunter were great selections, both star players - Nator obviously a lot more consistent in that regard.
Campbell has been a great selection too for his longevity.

I think the other important thing to remember is the success our VFL side had with these players so and how important that was for us in that period of time. A strong VFL side keeping pressure on and having success. It was a great era. In fact, watching Jake in full flight in 2014/15/16 period where he’d do the sublime (personal favourite was being at the Crows game with a bunch of Crows mates from Adelaide where he kicked a bag and broke Fogarty’s ankles) was sensational.

[jeemak]

Re: Rating the 2012 AFEL Draft

The names Stringer, Macrae and Hunter make it an amazing draft for mine. The Underdog's summary says it all.

It's a shame that Jacko is the only one left with us out of those three, but the other two did enough to help deliver a flag and are still playing more than serviceably at their new clubs.

Prudden seemed composed enough with the footy but his body let him down, and while Hrovat didn't quite nail a spot he showed flashes and with a bit more luck and consistent form at the right time things could have clicked for him.

Soup and Goodes weren't the worst as later picks, the former managed to stick around for a long time.