toddkurnski wrote:
Cats are using a different strategy, which is working to an extent.
Again they have not had access to a lot of top 20 picks, but they have also performed horribly in that period with those selections until Clark. Last good pick up was Harry Taylor 2007. Making them possibly the worst in the league and could be why, whilst they have been ultra competitive, not had the ultimate success in the last 8 years. ie missing with Lang and Smedts is a bigger problem than getting Miers and Ratugolea as value picks. So while their later picks are certainly good footballers which I would like Carlton to be picking at those selections, if you're not adding to an elite core then as good as those selections are, they're not making you a premiership team. I think again they will find it difficult to win a premiership.
And just because picks are still on the list, isn't an indicator of whether they are going to be good players. I'd rather we cut early if we think we have chosen poorly. Don't double down on poor selections. I'm not sure having Parfitt, Parsons, Ruggles on a list for more than 5 years is all that great list management, just my opinion.
But yes, they pick well in the pick ranges they have after pick 20. But they miss out on elite talent at the top frequently, which is in my opinion, a much bigger problem when building a list to win a Premiership.
Parfitt has played 54 out of 73 possible games. He's been picked for all seven finals the Cats have played since he entered the league.
Parsons was a rookie pick, upgraded after playing a full season in his second year. He's has had some injuries, but his first full contract will probably be his last.
Ruggles was a mature age rookie pick that played 18/23 games in his first season. They've already moved him on.
They've used their first round picks in the same period to trade for Dangerfield, Touhy, Henderson and Ablett. You don't have to use a first round pick at the draft to make good use of it. They're way ahead of the count on that score.
I used Geelong as an example, because their strategy is where we have to transition into. Good teams don't get high draft picks, but they've still added nearly a dozen regulars to their core.
We haven't been a hard side to break into in the SOS era. If we had managed to jag four or five regulars with picks outside the first couple of rounds, i'd be arguing hard for SOS to stay on. Unless he finds one in this draft, his record is going to read 2/18 and they'll both have his surname.