SA Footy

An article on AFL.com by Matt Burgan lists the top 125 picks in the draft.

It is an interesting read and is really only his spin on it and I guess anyone can put there own spin on it.

He has really done it as most games played for that spot picked for that club who picked them -some were passed for example by players though for Brownlows won / best and fairests and premierships.

Here is the top 25

25 – NICK STEVENS (PORT ADELAIDE)

24 – MATTHEW ARMSTRONG (FITZROY)

23 – MICHAEL LONG (ESSENDON)

22 – ALISTAIR NICHOLSON (MELBOURNE)

21 – MATTHEW NICKS (SYDNEY)

20 – KANE CORNES (PORT ADELAIDE)

19 – BRAD GREEN (MELBOURNE)

18 – ANTHONY STEVENS (KANGAROOS)

17 – ANGELO LEKKAS (HAWTHORN)

16 – ADEM YZE (MELBOURNE)

15 – SCOTT CAMPOREALE (CARLTON)

14 – ADAM SIMPSON (KANGAROOS)

13 – SHANE CRAWFORD (HAWTHORN)

12 – GAVIN WANGANEEN (ESSENDON)

11 – BRAD JOHNSON (FOOTSCRAY)

10 – NATHAN BROWN (WESTERN BULLDOGS)

9 – CHAD CORNES (PORT ADELAIDE)

8 – JIMMY BARTEL (GEELONG)

7 – LEON CAMERON (FOOTSCRAY)

6 – JAMES WALKER (FREMANTLE)

5 – LUKE POWER (BRISBANE LIONS)

4 – PETER MATERA (WEST COAST)

3 – CHRIS JUDD (WEST COAST)

2 – NIGEL LAPPIN (BRISBANE)

1 – NICK RIEWOLDT (ST KILDA)


For crows supporters our gems have been - hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Pick 69 Chad Rintoul
Pick 75 Ken Mcgregor
Pick 83 Matthew Shir - who played 11 games !!!
Pick 116 Michael Godden - who didnt play a game !!!

Wouldnt be too long before Hodge could claim the Best Number 1 spot..
Obviously not too many talented number 6 picks, the next best would be a battle between Damian Cupido and Allen Jackovic. Even recent pick number sixes have not fared too well, Beau Dowler (Hawthorn, 3 games, injuries) Mitch Thorpe (Hawthorn, 2 games, injuries). Bombers to pick this year, will it surpass their last number 6 effort - Kepler Bradley??

Centrals players have also featured a bit at number six, not featured strongly (AFL wise)
- R. Cousins
- D. Healy
- T. Cummings

brod wrote:Wouldnt be too long before Hodge could claim the Best Number 1 spot..
Obviously not too many talented number 6 picks, the next best would be a battle between Damian Cupido and Allen Jackovic. Even recent pick number sixes have not fared too well, Beau Dowler (Hawthorn, 3 games, injuries) Mitch Thorpe (Hawthorn, 2 games, injuries). Bombers to pick this year, will it surpass their last number 6 effort - Kepler Bradley??

Centrals players have also featured a bit at number six, not featured strongly (AFL wise)
- R. Cousins
- D. Healy
- T. Cummings

........ pick 6 really must be jinxed if James Walker's the best there's been.

Steve Salopek (2002 Draft) would have to be rated higher than James Walker surely! Walker has played more games, but Salopek's last 2 seasons have been pretty decent.

I guess I'm just biased.

devilsadvocate wrote:Steve Salopek (2002 Draft) would have to be rated higher than James Walker surely! Walker has played more games, but Salopek's last 2 seasons have been pretty decent.

I guess I'm just biased.

In the blurb about each decision it actually says that Salopek will end up as the best number 6 but just not yet !!!

Ah, cool. He took a while to come on, but should be a solid contributor at Alberton for a while to come.

Terrific project by Matt Burgan IMO.

In my opinion most are right, I reckon Matthew Pavlich will go pretty close to overtaking Peter Matera by the end of his career. Also shows me just how shallow Drafts are, some picks best player are no more than average/good players.

Pup wrote:Terrific project by Matt Burgan IMO.

Matt Burgan and Emma Quayle (the Age) are the two journos who lead the rest of the pack by absolute daylight when it comes to the draft / young players on the rise / U16s / U18s etc.

Looking forward to his phantom draft he will post tomorrow (Thurs lunchtime). In the last couple of years, he's done it several days out and his strike rate of getting most of the top 20 to actual club is astonishingly good and his overall strike rate for players getting chosen on the day is very good too.

His mail from clubs on what they will do is exceptional, and the clubs also look at his stuff to get an idea of what their rivals might be planning with a pick in the later rounds.

As for Emma, she's the guru on getting young players to tell their stories and finding out what's going on in their lives. They just all open up to her, compared to being normal nervous young kids around every other journo.

Looking forward to her book coming out early next year. She's tracked five players from the U16s champs through the U18s champs this year and finishes with the draft this week, ending the book on where these boys have been picked and how their AFL careers are about to start after the journey through the ranks.

All credit to her that she took the punt two years ago on tracking (get this for foresight) Cotchin (set to go at two), Masten (set to go top five), Ebert (mid to late first round), Vesprezmi (second rounder) and Rioli (1-2 rounder). All five of her plucks at 16 y/o haven't let her down with hurdles and been talking to her at every key step along the way. 95,000 word read.