Geelong Falcons Draftees

[The Coon Dog]

Emma Quayle has written articles of 5 Geelong Falcons who will be drafted next week. Click on the players name to read the article.

1/ The best in the west - JASPER McMILLAN-PITTARD - TORQUAY

2/ Fortune favours newly bold teenager - GARY ROHAN - COBDEN

3/ Professional approach about to pay dividends - BEN CUNNINGTON - PRINCETOWN

4/ Missed season fuels knowledge, hunger - CALLUM BARTLETT - GEELONG

5/ Shaping up to a career in big time - ALLEN CHRISTENSEN - LARA

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

Stellaluna McMillan-Pittard.

Fair moniker, that.

[chef]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

I won't be disappointed if we pick this kid(JMP) at 15.

[azabob]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

Emma Quayle has the unique ability to give you a great insight into all the kids and capture their stories.
Look forward to her top 25 in tomorrow's paper. She is usually pretty on the money.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

I'd be happy with any of these kids ending up on our list at the end of the draft.

J M-P really seems like a good type for us, and I would be very happy to net him at 15.

[anfo27]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

Was really impressed with the J M-P write up, seems to have a good head on his shoulders.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

I'm not sold on Jasper.

He's got a bit to work with and is certainly very coachable but I would be disappointed if we were to take him at #15. He still makes far too many simple errors that one touch players don't. At U18 level he gets outbodied in a lot of contests and at AFL/VFL level this is only going to increase significantly. He'll put on more weight, but strength is a weakness for him against players even his own size. Needs to dramatically improve the contested game before coming into first round calculations IMO. At the moment, he relies upon picking up loose balls or receiving handballs and whilst he generally does this well I personally feel as though he's a long way off being anything other than a talented skinny kid.

We aren't going to land an obvious 'A Grade' player late in the first round, but I think there's plenty of other types that I would have before him. Jasper @ 31 would be great but for 15 I'd even look at Duncan who has a lot going for him.

[The Coon Dog]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

I'm not sold on Jasper.

He's got a bit to work with and is certainly very coachable but I would be disappointed if we were to take him at #15. He still makes far too many simple errors that one touch players don't. At U18 level he gets outbodied in a lot of contests and at AFL/VFL level this is only going to increase significantly. He'll put on more weight, but strength is a weakness for him against players even his own size. Needs to dramatically improve the contested game before coming into first round calculations IMO. At the moment, he relies upon picking up loose balls or receiving handballs and whilst he generally does this well I personally feel as though he's a long way off being anything other than a talented skinny kid.

We aren't going to land an obvious 'A Grade' player late in the first round, but I think there's plenty of other types that I would have before him. Jasper @ 31 would be great but for 15 I'd even look at Duncan who has a lot going for him.

I'm confused.

If he would be great for us at pick 31, wouldn't he still suffer from the same faults you have outlined above?

Surely, it's irrelevant where a player is drafted. It just seems we put expectations upon players because of where they are infact drafted (see Farren Ray).

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

I'm confused.

If he would be great for us at pick 31, wouldn't he still suffer from the same faults you have outlined above?

Yes, but if he can't correct those faults at least Pick 31 isn't as bad of a burn as Pick 15.

At 31 - he's the perfect type of pick. A player that on potential could overtake many of those selected before him, but on performance is still a little way behind the pack.

A first round pick should always be used on a young player with runs on the board at his junior/senior level.

Surely, it's irrelevant where a player is drafted. It just seems we put expectations upon players because of where they are infact drafted (see Farren Ray).

Now I'm confused.

If it was irrelevant at the time, why didn't we draft Ward at 5 or Lake, Hill, Harbrow etc. with much earlier picks?

Harbrow and Lake are probably classic examples. Both had obvious talent but for whatever reasons had question marks hanging over their heads. They have turned out to be great choices but there's reasons why we didn't pick them earlier and why there's been many cases where it hasn't worked out. (Eg. Mal Lynch)

FWIW Ray/Williams were early draft picks based on upside more than anything. The former didn't work out and the latter has struggled for fitness/form. Not saying Jasper will be a carbon copy of these two but I see him as a 20-30 pick.

[The Coon Dog]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

Now I'm confused.

If it was irrelevant at the time, why didn't we draft Ward at 5 or Lake, C. Grant, Harbrow etc. with much earlier picks?

Because, now we've had the benefit of hindsight that we didn't before we drafted them.

I suppose what I'm saying is that as supporters we judge players in many instances on where they're selected, when at the end of the day they're 1/38th of a senior AFL list, regardless of where they're selected, something they themselves have no control over.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

Because, now we've had the benefit of hindsight that we didn't before we drafted them.

I suppose what I'm saying is that as supporters we judge players in many instances on where they're selected, when at the end of the day they're 1/38th of a senior AFL list, regardless of where they're selected, something they themselves have no control over.

I agree with you TCD. I just wasn't sure why you were linking that with my earlier post. Jasper has the potential to be a good AFL listed player, but to date I'd have a few ahead of him in terms of first round selection. He may well prove me wrong in hindsight.

It's irrelevant once they are drafted as you say because they're all starting from the same platform.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Geelong Falcons Draftees

Surely, it's irrelevant where a player is drafted. It just seems we put expectations upon players because of where they are infact drafted (see Farren Ray).

BUT if we take a risky player at 15 who could still be available at 31 (and this probably doesn't relate to J M-P, because it's highly doubtful he'll be available at 31) and he turns out to be a dud, and pass on a player (say Joe Bloggs who we are also keen on) at 15 who we see as having a better chance of becoming a 200 game AFL player, but perhaps not as much upside, then that's a bad result. We get someone who has more upside but never plays a game, and Collingwood get Joe Bloggs who plays 200 games.



As far as expectations on players based on where they were drafted, I think it's fair enough to a certain extent. The player obviously didn't choose to go at #4, but we rated him highly enough to use a very high pick on him, ie. our recruiters rated him (apparently) at the very worst the 4th best and most likely to succeed player in the draft. Compare that to a player we take at #65, we could have rated him the 40th best and most likely player in the draft. Surely it's fair (at least to a certain extent) to put more expectations on the kid who we rated as having more talent.

Griff for example certainly gets a lot of expectation put on him and the majority of our supporters are very critical of his performances and have been for a few years. I don't like it, but he was taken at #3 and Buddy was selected after him, so that is just what's going to happen.