Nick's Collingwood Bulletin Board

What do we need in the draft?

We need pace and crisp skills in the midfield

But i voted for small roving forward out of those options

Midfielder who is slick and has pace, class and skill. We have one in Rowe, but more is needed.

Our immediate need is for a couple of really tall defenders, as Wakes, Presti and C1 are too small for the really tall key forwards, but these are already in development, so I would not want to recruit one in the draft as it would be a wasted pick. Tex will become a permanent key defender in the side next year and I'm looking at Crow and Hall to become the other.

Despite all the talk about pacy midfielders, I reckon we have them already. OK, Leon, Dids, maybe Shaw, are not Judds but players like him are pretty thin on the ground anyway and I'd prefer to see how our guys go next season before drafting one (if there is one available!).

In other threads, I've suggested pinch-hitting with existing players as small forwards next season but really, I think we have no option but to look for some in the next couple of drafts and develop them ourselves. The guys I have suggested as pinch-hitters - Bucks, Burns, Woey - are at the wrong end of their careers (which is actually the reason I suggested them in that role - so as to utilise their experience and hardened bodies). Bucks and Burns will be gone in a couple of years and Woey, who is much slower, perhaps in the same timeframe.

Therefore, with the switch of Dids and Leon to play mainly in midfield, we need to draft a small forward high and start developing him. It will take a few years before he is able to step up into the seniors in a permanent role, so the earlier we start, the better, whilst we have others to take on that role in the interim.

It doesn't matter what we draft now, as they wont be utilised until 2006 anyway. I agree that speed is needed, but the Shaw's (Brayden more likely than Heath), Rowe, Leonard (should he maintain a spot), Cole, Didak and Davis are fleet of foot and will be expected to pressure the likes of Buckley, Burns, Lockyer, Holland and Woewodin for midfield spots, so all is not lost.

Take the best player available to you with the biggest upside.

Cannibal, its already been said within the club that David King will assume the permanent small forward role next year when Alan Didak is introduced into the midfield. Ryan Lonie will also be played on the wing whilst Shane Woewodin will become a permanent half back flanker.

David King came to the club as a back pocket and couldn't hold down such a role because he was considered too slow, so has tried to reinvent himself as a small forward because the whole club knows it is where we have a major weakness. Whilst totally supportive of the kid's endeavours, and also hoping that he can do it, you cannot count on it.

Agree with Dids in midfield and Lonie on a wing. Been saying that for zonks.

But Woey, who couldn't outrun a snail, playing on a halfback flank? Don't make me laugh. We have Maxwell ready to take up that position on one side and C1/Jimmy on the other. All three of them could give Woey a 50 metre start and still beat him to the other end of the ground!

Cannibal wrote:Despite all the talk about pacy midfielders, I reckon we have them already. OK, Leon, Dids, maybe Shaw, are not Judds but players like him are pretty thin on the ground anyway and I'd prefer to see how our guys go next season before drafting one (if there is one available!).

You add Rowey to that list. I think he will be a star. But we still need another star midfielder.

King has done a good job since about round 17 when he returned. He looks a better player up forward but he will never spent his whole career there, so it is good for him to know how to play in the back pocket.

All of the above.

We need another Buckley it's that simple.

or a Judd to fill Buck's spot once he retires.....

i like the idea of woey on a half back flank, he has courage (ok occasionly and that is occasionly he lets himself down), is a pretty good mark, can run off and has good disposal - unless its his off night, Just remember he's game on Pavlich and that is the kind of player he can be on a half back flank

Midfielder

The bottom line is that we won't trade any part of our spine. Furthermore we have plenty of players coming through on that front.

We have plenty of suitable midfielders and followers.

What we really need is another utility (i.e. game breaker that can be swung from defence to midfield to forward e.g. Solomon, N. Brown or - I hate to say it - Pike) or bargin pickup like Clement was. Lokan has tried hard, Lonie is trying hard and who know's with a bit of mongrel we just might breed one from within.

Let's get real, very rarely are WIN trades done - the exception being Woey because of Salary cap pressure and Steven's for Carscum becuase he walked out. That said, I wouldn't mind Crawf, providing the price isn't too high.

carcarly_pieland wrote:or a Judd to fill Buck's spot once he retires.....

But we will (most likely) never get a similar player for a long while. We'd have to trade Tarrant to get Judd. And I haven't heard of any Judd type in this draft.

Need midfield grunt. Brown would have been ideal (gone!) Stevens would have been ideal (gone!) Midfield needs consistancy ala 2002 - hard running, tackling, working together to spring someone free. 3 yrs passed and we lack that spark. We need someone capable of standing up now ie an established midfielder to do more than merely assist but to be "the man" taking the pressure off Bux and Burns who can then be released forward confident that midfield will be functioning in a positive manner.
suggestion: perhaps Notting?