Where you pick in the draft has a big influence. That run from 2010 to 2013 is especially lean pickings, but it is important to place those players in context with the players taken around them. These are the 5 players taken after each of our picks from 2010-2013. Bolded are players who are All-Australian players.
Michael Apeness (17): Luke Dunstan, Blake Acres, Jack Leslie, Jarman Impey, Darcy Gardiner
Josh Simpson (17): Brodie Grundy, Ben Kennedy, Tim Broomhead, Nathan Hrovat, Dean Towers
Tom Sheridan: (16): Clay Smith, Brad McKenzie, Elliot Kavanagh, Hayden Crozier, Brad Bootsma
Pitt (20): Jed Lamb, Cam Guthrie, Jamie Cripps, Jack Darling, Kieran Harper
So, of the players picked after our duds, you had a one in ten chance of getting a difference maker. We missed on four attempts. It’s not great, but it’s not damning. Pitt over Darling still sucks, but I thought Simpson was a good pick, Pitt and Apeness never got a real run at it, and we probably got more out of Sheridan than the clubs that picked immediately after us.
Anyway, thanks for your efforts Michael.