Time to Reflect on our Recruiting Gambles

[Presti35]

Getting Wells was not an issue, it was what he was being paid.

If he was fit during the 2018 finals and the GF, who knows?

[BazBoy]

Ditto for Mayne at the time and the doubts on Mayne pre 2018 —what appeared to be a gamble gone wrong

With Chris it was perceived form for non selection all his time at club till a change in 2018

Daniel was a injury history before he arrived

[stui magpie]

looking at recruiting gambles, while we've had some shitty calls with mid range players from other clubs, recent history suggests we've improved a lot.

Jeremy Howe. Inconsistent at Melbourne, gun down back for us. Picked up for Ben Kennedy and pick 37. Big tick

Lynden Dunn. Out of favour at melbourne, full back rock for us until his knee, for pick 46

Jordan Roughead. Premiership play at the Dogs but never really in favour and never consistent. Picked up for pick 78, playing the most consistently good footy of his career.

And while not a trade, lest we forget Leigh Brown, the man who had a role named after him, delisted by Norf and picked up at pick 73 in the draft. We don't win 2010 without him.

[RudeBoy]

In retrospect the Scharenberg and Freeman selections were disastrous. It is very rare to get access to 2 prized top 10 picks in the one draft, to then get zero return from either of them. Hindsight is a great thing, but these blunders set our re-build back a couple of years imo.

Fortunately, our drafting since then has largely been sound, and the De Goey, Stephenson and Mihocek selections in particular, have been terrific.

[Jezza]

^ We've indirectly replaced Freeman (pick 10) with Aish (pick 7).

I don't think Scharenberg's been a bad player. He's just been ravaged with injuries, but last year before his injury he was starting to develop into a solid contributor for the team.

[K]

Can't deny that P. Cripps would've been better than Freeman.

[Jezza]

^ Agree.

Though, I recall recruiters were determined to recruit a player with fast leg speed and Freeman seemed to fit the mould at the time.

[Presti35]

Collingwood in the late 80's and the early-mid 90s.

Paul Hawke, Brad Hardie, Barry Mitchell, Dermott Brereton, Richard Osbourne.

If only we brought in these guys a few seasons earlier than we did. Hawke to a lesser extent, but the other guys could have changed the clubs history if we'd had them a few years younger.

What if we'd landed Paul Roos instead of the Swans? And what if we'd traded for Tony Lockett?

And the biggest what if.... what if Darren Millane didnt pass away.

[tbaker]

One thing not mentioned here is the huge bullet we dodged by missing out on Tom Lynch. As it stands now, on current form, performance, and output, he is seriously over-rated. If we had him at the price Richmond paid, we'd be having enormous salary cap issues in the next few years, and may have trouble keeping our stars in the coming years. It may well end up the best recruiting gamble we never had.

[piedys]

[E]

[Presti35]

[E]

[Pies2016]

[Pies2016]

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