Jeepers, Biz, do you eat footy encyclopedias or something. I reckon you could be stumping up answers when Google comes asking.....

From 2010 - 2015 our earliest pick was 13 (Lachie Weller) and many of those drafts were compromised.

Its gets really ugly when you do part 3 of that analysis Shane, players we could have taken with those picks.

You could also do a 'players better than the ones we took' list and it wouldn't look great. Unless you think all the picks we didn't have would have been solid gold winners.

I'm not sure we would have drafted a Nathan Wilson or Joel Hamling. Nor a Hogan.

At this stage it looks like we went too hard on McCarthy but it also looks like we also paid overs for Brayshaw, Cerra and Logue.

That's my point though. Everything is a risk. You succeed by making good choices not following pre-determined rules.

Getting Yeo now would be typical Freo. He wanted to come to us when he left Brisbane, but we said we weren't interested. He also talked the slime into getting his mate Redden over too.
Get him now and he would cost way more than he did then.
Besides very few (good) players go between the two clubs.

Biz, as I recall, no-one else wanted Darcy because they thought he was lazy, undisciplined and unfit. Freo took a chance that the rumours of injuries stalling his fitness were correct and they won. If he was the number 1 ruckman of his year, and Meek number 2, that is 2 from that draft we got on instinct.

On the Duff & Quater's dribble today they mentioned Quinton Narkle may be up for grabs as well. Sounds interesting.

Where does this mythical age of 27 keep coming from? The guy turned 25 a month ago.

Tim Kelly age: 25 years (26 July 1994)

I'm not guaranteeing anything in the draft, there will always be risk in every decision made in terms of list management. Whether you trade or draft, there are equal amounts of risk except the majority of supporters know the traded players name and what he plays like.

That doesn't mean the club is taking any less risk, they will have a strong idea of the strengths, weaknesses, abilities, development etc of the top kids they draft too. The difference being they may take a couple of years to realise that potential but they'll have a far longer career and output. Conversely, a traded in player has a limited time to have an impact and may have played their best footy in the past.

Having touted a rebuild a few years ago and turfed so many players with something to offer in order to do it, the club didn't hit the draft hard. They picked up a bunch of players who were older in order to make a quick return to finals which hasn't panned out. Now those players are older again with even less time left to impact the club and without the development of youth driving a push up the ladder, the side looks stagnant. If we continue to top up with mature players, we're likely to continue to sit mid table and irrelevant.

Bringing in Kelly (and Acres or whatever other mature player) will be another kick in the teeth to that and extend our stay without a premiership. If Kelly was coming at a great price then I'd be happy to grab him but he won't be. If he cost us a pick in the late teens then I'd be happy to consider it but it looks like we're about to get bent over. What do you think a good deal for him is? We traded pick 23 for B Hill who was 23 at the time and a 3x premiership player for reference.

Your recollection of things is a bit off Raglan, Darcy went to us in the second round and was the second ruckman chosen behind Tim English. He was the dominant ruckman in his draft year winning hit outs at will (although English was drafted first because of his athleticism) and went in the second round to Freo who were searching for a Sandi replacement. Late second to third round was his expected draft range.

My work requires a lot of referencing and substance to any argument made. If you don't have data to back it up, no one cares what you have to say!

Bizkit, maybe tomorrow I will have time to find the article in which it was stated that all clubs except Freo thought Darcy lazy and unfit, when he was drafted. If I cant find it maybe you can, because I distinctly remember it. I am not sure whether it was at draft time, or when he had to step up and take the ruck role on his own, and I also remember his quote that he will be forever greatful to Freo for taking a chance on him.

Not sure if lazy was ever mentioned - more that he was about 20 kgs over ideal weight.
When Freo enquired as to why this might be - he mentioned something along the lines of at boarding school food just kept getting put in front of him so he just kept eating it.
With some form of professional dietery plan they backed themselves in to get him in shape as onfield he did alot right.

Always picking on the big fat kid !

I didn't say Freo reckoned he was lazy, but that they were the only ones who looked behind the first impressions. Other clubs experts had marked his card as lazy, as I recall it.

I don't want Kelly. He'll cost too much for his age. Get Mitch Duncan for the Langdon trade and a fourth rounder. Swap Cox for Powell Pepper. Keep your two picks inside ten and draft the best available WA kid or out of state country boy.

And what is going on with Tucker?