Hackenschmidt wrote:
Thankyou for your honesty Cazzesman.
My assessment of Jordan Russell is based to a large extent on watching him very closely in the VFL last year, which you will no doubt agree is a vastly inferior standard to the AFL.
I hear what you're saying about him being young and skinny but what concerns me is that at the same stage of their careers, Massie, Vance, Sporn and Wiggins were all much better players than Russell, who was very much a peripheral, fringe player in the VFL last year.
There are parts of his game that I'm concerned about. He's not particularly courageous, and as I mentioned earlier, he doesn't play tall and he doesn't win the ball in close. I'd love to hear your own analysis of his strengths and weaknesses and what sort of player you think he will develop into.
I know you're not very happy with me Cazzesman but I would love to hear about what went on behind the scenes that led to him being picked at 9.
In theory, do you disagree with my opinion about early draft picks ? Do you disagree with my opinion about our need for tougher, stronger bodied midfielders ?
I wasn't criticising Jordan just for the sake of it. In all honesty, it was just a brutally honest assessment of one of our players. I also appreciate how difficult it is to make the right draft choices as there are so many variables involved.
So please forgive me and please tell me about the thought processes that went into drafting Jordan at pick 9
Firstly I was not involved with the club for the 2004 draft.
What is the point of comparing him to the players you mentioned. They are/were all struggling so what has that to do with anything. It's a long bow to draw if you think 'They were better players when they started than JR so therefore JR will be a worse AFL player', when the kid is just 19 and commencing his 2nd year in Senuor football. By the way some might beg to differ on the suggestion that any of those players did anything in their 1st year.
Here is the draft from pick 10 to 41 in 2004
10. Collingwood: Christopher Egan (Murray Bushrangers)
11. Port Adelaide: Adam Thomson (Sturt)
12. Richmond: Danny Meyer (Glenelg)
13. Melbourne: Matthew Bate (Eastern Ranges)
14. Essendon*: Angus Monfries (Sturt)
15. Melbourne: Lynden Dunn (Calder Cannons)
16. Richmond: Adam Pattison (Northern Knights)
17. St Kilda: Andrew McQualter (Gippsland Power)
18. Brisbane Lions: Cameron Wood (West Adelaide)
19.Port Adelaide: Ryan Willits (Northern Knights)
20. Richmond: Dean Polo (Gippsland Power)
21. Hawthorn: Thomas Murphy (Sandringham Dragons)
22. Western Bulldogs: Jesse Wells (Tassie Mariners)
23. Collingwood: Sean Rusling (West Adelaide)
24. Adelaide: Nathan Van Berlo (West Perth)
25. Carlton: Adam Hartlett: (West Adelaide)
26. Hawthorn: Matthew Little (Calder Cannons)
27. Brisbane Lions: Patrick Garner (Western Magpies)
28. Adelaide: Chad Gibson (Norwood)
29. West Coast: Matthew Rosa (North Ballarat Rebels)
30. Essendon*: Andrew Lee (Tassie Mariners)
31. Sydney: Jarred Moore (Dandenong Stingrays)
32. Geelong: Brent Prismall (Western Jets)
33. St Kilda: Cain Ackland (Port Adelaide)
34. Port Adelaide: James Ezard (Calder Cannons)
35. Port Adelaide: Fabian Deluca (Eastern Ranges)
36. Richmond: Luke McGuane (Broadbeach)
37. West Coast: Mark LeCras (West Perth)
38. Western Bulldogs: Damian McCormack (Dandenong Stingrays)
39. Collingwood: Travis Cloke (Eastern Ranges)
40. Adelaide: Ivan Maric (Calder Cannons)
41. Carlton: Luke Blackwell (Swan Districts)
Monfries at 14, McQualter at 17, Polo at 20 and Moore at 31 where the only true onballers in that group. I know nothing about Thompson at 11 so can't comment on him.
I love McQualter and wish we had picked him up in 2003 at 75 but such is life. At the time Monfries wasn't a real in and under hardnut. He was an onballer who ran well and carried the ball. Polo hasn't been sighted since and is in and out of the Coburg Seniors. I saw Moore play on Friday against Essendon* and he is coming along okay but he has limited positions on the field and can be easily run off when resting up forward.
So in effect if you were looking for an in and under ball magnet then choices were very, very limited.
CFC wanted/needed leg speed, ball carrying ability, skill and a player with the ability to be versatile i.e play a number of positions.
JR is Super quick and at 188cm makes for a nice package in todays AFL. He may not be an in and under ball magnet at this stage but let me give you just 3 names and you will see that players can evolve over time.
Ratten, Kouta and Ling. None of these were in and under ball magnets until they were well into their careers. Ling played as FF in all his early U18 games. You know about where Kouta and Ratten started.
Houlihan is currently being moved into a role in the midfield. He may or may not make it but he has played out wide and down back to get some defensive skills. Now he has put on some size and fitness CFC hope he can make the move. Time will tell.
Monfries, McQualter and Moore. will struggle to play many other positions on the field. I think in the future JR will be able to play all over the ground. That kind of versatility is needed in todays game.
Of course we need stronger, bigger bodied midfielders but they don't grow on trees. Sometimes you have to try and get abit each way and hope players can grow in confidence through hard work and plenty of ground time. Player development certainly helps when the player is in a strong team with solid leadership. The Leadership at CFC last year was not what it should have been so it is no-wonder the new kids got left behind at times. If you went to the VFL las year you would have noticed that JR showed plenty of Voice and leadership in the 2nd half of the year. He was often seen and heard encouraging his team-mates during the breaks.
Yes JR needs to work on many areas but the point is....HE IS. What more can you ask. He has his head right and is giving it his all. Now he needs support from the senior players and to be given ground time. Like all kids he needs to be allowed to make mistakes.
You might think it was a brutally honest assessment of JR but IMHO it was a cheap shot like many others that get thrown around here by others.
I don't really think you do appreciate how hard it is to pick the right players every time. The statistics of players that survivor in the AFL for any length of time proves that fact. If you really did understand all the variables you wouldn't have criticised a 19 yr old quiet so much.
Remember that Michael Tucks played over 50 VFL games before he got a look in. Is the game tougher now. I think it is in some aspects. So why are we so keen to trash the young kids so early, particularly when they have played a miserly 60 minutes of footy.
Remember back to when you were 18/19 and ask yourself how you would have coped with these types of resposibilities, expectations and pressures.
Regards Cazzesman