by Specky McGee » Fri Oct 07, 2011 11:18 am
It's interesting to see how highly low draft picks are valued these days as compared to around 10 years ago. That may sound silly, as I'm sure they were very well accepted then, but more in terms of actual value. I say this because I can't see the Power giving away pick 6 in return for Brad Ebert, who was a lowish draft pick himself, has played 70 odd games and has been a regular contributor in a side which finished top 4. But in years gone by...
The Power gave away pick 4 to St Kilda in exchange for Daryl Wakelin. That would clearly not happen these days. As it turned out, I believe St Kilda on traded this pick to Carlton in exchange for Aaron Hamill, who then used it on Luke Livingston. Fair to say that both the Power and St Kilda won out of those deals!
Adelaide gave up a lowish pick in the teens (in the 12 - 14 range IIRC) to the Power in exchange for Matty Bode. No disrespect to Matty Bode, but these days the Power would have been lucky to get a late second rounder.
And then there was Fremantle who gave up pick 1 for Trent Croad in the Superdraft! Hawthorn happily picked up Luke Hodge with that pick! Unless Juddy, Gablett or Buddy was on the table, I don't think any club would give up pick 1 in the current climate.
The value of low draft picks has obviously increased over the years, but in saying that, scouting, recruiting departments, testing, etc has also increased, so the risk of getting a spud in the 1-10 range is highly unlikely. Maybe more of a guessing game 10 years ago, so clubs were more willing to pick up something that was tried and tested?
