Drafting – an inexact science
By Chris Greenway, December 2007

Now that all the drafts: National Draft, Pre Season Draft and the Rookie Draft are done I’ll go through the Tigers pickups and give my assessment of them all and what they may mean for the team:

2007 National Draft

Although Richmond finished on the bottom of the ladder we still only got pick 2 overall. The recent change in the rules penalised the Tigers for a bad season and rewarded Carlton for 2 poor ones. There’s evidence to suggest that Carlton’s bad form may not have all been due to their lists inability either, but I won’t harp on it.

Any pick in the top 5 in any year should guarantee the club with a decent player.

There were a number of players tipped to go top 5, but 2 players featured in everyone’s top 2; the Northern Knights ruckman Matthew Kreuzer and his team mate, midfielder Trent Cotchin.

Carlton needed a ruckman and went for Kreuzer with pick 1. There had been some speculation, that having traded for Mitch Morton from West Coast, that the Tigers would draft his younger brother Cale at no 2. This didn’t eventuate, the younger Morton was taken by the Demons at 4 overall and Richmond went for Cotchin. If he lives up to the hype the Tigers will have developed a potent midfield in years to come. Cotchin is, from all reports, quick and skilled. Two things every club loves to have in the middle of the ground.

Pick 18 was the next pick for Richmond, this was one of the compensations for finishing last. There had been a lot of talk about a defender by the name of Alex Rance, his father; Murray had played for both the Bulldogs and the Eagles, but had not played enough games with either club to qualify his son for father son selection. Most ‘experts’ were surprised that Alex was still available at 18, but he was and the Tigers pounced. This has delighted supporters, to get a highly rated key position defender with pick 18 is a big win.

There’s not usually much around at 51 and this was a weak draft. Richmond went for one of the few remaining ruckmen; Dean Putt. He’s young and big and a definite ruckman. The Tigers big man stocks are low, so Putt would appear to be the right choice.

Not sure why, but the final pick was passed on. The best available midfielder, a desperately needed young key position defender and a ruckman. With only 3 picks you really could not hope for much better and Rance at 18 was an absolute bonus.

2007 Pre Season Draft

I personally don’t rate the PSD. I’m not even sure why it exists at all. Discarded players can participate in the National Draft and any kid not selected in the ND can put themselves in the PSD, so why have a separate draft? It should be scrapped and incorporated into the ND. After missing out on no 1 in the ND Richmond were awarded the top selection in the PSD. Wonderful. An opportunity to pick from the best of the players their own clubs didn’t want. You’ll get a winner out of that lot I am sure.

The last 3 PSD’s have given the Tigers Trent Knobel (played one half decent season and spent the last 2 injured before retiring), Matt White (a good young trier, but the jury is out on whether or not he’ll make it) and Kent Kingsley (I still don’t know what they were thinking, one of the biggest drafting mistakes made in the last 10 years).

A lot of the talk prior to the PSD centred around the Tigers taking Collingwood reject ruckman Guy Richards, that was until young forward David Gourdis was overlooked in the ND. Gourdis trained with the Tigers between the ND and the PSD and they liked what they saw. He was taken at no 1 in the PSD and if Richmond hadn’t done so Carlton would have. He’s tall, strong and quick. Definite key position player, he’s played forward as a junior, but a lot of juniors who play in the forward line find themselves as defenders in senior competition and it also works the other way around at times. There’s a question mark over his kicking, but if it’s arrested early enough he’ll be okay.

2007 Rookie Draft

You never know what you’ll get from this one. It has surprisingly unearthed some gems. West Coast’s Dean Cox, one of the games best ruckmen, was a rookie. Port Adelaide’s 2006 Rising Star winner; Danyle Pearce came to them via the rookie system. Sydney’s man of iron and one of their most valuable players Brett Kirk started his career as a rookie. Richmond’s best player and only genuine midfielder in 2007; Nathan Foley spent time as a rookie and in 2007 a mature age rookie by the name of Jake King surprised more than a few people at Richmond and was elevated to the senior list at the end of the season.

Richmond’s first selection, no 1 overall, was used on former Fremantle Docker Clayton Collard. He’s a quick and dangerous indigenous forward/midfielder. He was drafted quite high to be subsequently cut from the Dockers list. Could be a replacement for the recently departed Andy Krakouer, hopefully he has a better engine and work ethic.

Jarrod Silvester was rewarded for a great season with Coburg. He’s almost key position size and does regularly play on and beat taller opponents, but that’s the VFL. Not convinced he has the class or the size to succeed at AFL level.

Despite having 4 ruckmen on the list: Troy Simmonds, Adam Pattison, Angus Graham and Dean Putt Richmond selected former Essendon listed ruckman Tristan Cartledge. On the face of it that would seem to be superfluous, in context however it isn’t. Of the 4 ruckmen only Simmonds is a genuine AFL ruckman. He broke an ankle in the preseason and missed most of the home and away season, he was severely underdone in the few games he managed. As a blood clot has already disrupted his post season training and will more than likely affect his pre season then it is unlikely that he will recover his 2006 form in 2008 and that’s where Richmond need him. Due to the inability of both back up ruckmen Trent Knobel and Ray Hall to play in 2007, both were sidelined for the entire season with serious injuries that forced them to retire at seasons end, young Adam Pattison, who is not really a ruckman, but a key position player who can go into the middle owing to his height, was forced to shoulder the burden. Competing week in week out against gorillas like Dean Cox, Brendon Lade and Aaron Sandilands did help Pattison’s development, but undergoing another season like without any real backup would probably put him back over a year. Graham, whilst he has potential, is young and raw and has only one senior game under his belt (he did play against Collingwood in his second game, but broke his ankle in the first quarter, so I don’t really count that). Putt is a first year draftee and most of them take a couple of years to develop, Putt being a tall is likely to take even longer. It won’t surprise me if he doesn’t register a senior appearance in his first season. This is where Cartledge comes in. He’s only 22, but has a mature body and if he’s needed will be able to at least hold his own physically against the monsters and help Pattison and Graham out. I doubt Cartledge will ever be elite, but he’ll do the job until the likes of Putt or Graham can take over.

The final selection has mystified me a little. Cameron Howat was rerookied. This will be Howat’s 3rd year as a rookie. He first came to the club in 2006 and played a few encouraging games late in the season, this got him retained as a rookie for 2007. Injuries allowed him to play the majority of the season, but also exposed him as not being good enough. He’s like a younger version of Greg Tivendale, fairly speedy, completely left sided, looks great when the team is on top and he’s under no pressure, but once the opposition get a run on and pressure is applied his game falls apart. We’ve got one Tivendale, we don’t need another. Howat was cut in the first place for a reason. I can’t believe 6 weeks on the sidelines has altered his game that much. I would have rather used the selection on one of the Coburg boys: Alister Neville. Joe Gazzo or one of the Caruso brothers; Fort or Nat.

Despite the Howat selection I’m happy with the drafting. Cotchin will be a gun, Rance is the defender we’ve needed for a long time and with Will Thursfield, Graham Polak and Luke McGuane I think the defence will finally be able to be built properly. Putt has the potential to bolster Richmond’s very thin and shallow ruck division, another ruckman will need to be drafted next year as well.

Gourdis was unlucky not to be selected in the National Draft and to obtain him with what was a bit of a free hit in the PSD is great and also displays evidence that the club is looking forward long term and not going for the quick fix by drafting a delisted player from elsewhere.

The rookies are very hard to assess. The club will be doing well if even one of them makes it. Of the current batch I think Collard is the most likely to take the opportunity. Silvester just doesn’t have the class for mine, Cartledge will be a useful backup whilst the younger players are developed and brought on and Howat has already had his chance and was unable to impress.