2022 Draft Thread | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
  • IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.

2022 Draft Thread

Tortured Tiger

Junior Development - The Tigers key to success !!
Jan 24, 2005
644
920
Cowan has shown he can roll through the midfield, he's a genuine dual position talent in my eyes, his skill set is very reminiscent of Zach Williams, but that aside he's an elite player on many levels. There are few players with supreme kicking skills in this draft, Cowan is arguably the best of the lot. 80% kicking efficiency is elite, 8 intercepts a match is elite, his metres gained is also elite, winning a Morrish from defence also unheard of. Has it ever happened before? I'm scratching my head, no one comes to mind. The fact he also registered 5.4 score involvements a match tells you just how damaging he is streaming from defence. Then there's the leadership, I feel Cowan will become a captain or at least be a player in a leadership group. Without resorting to superlatives he's the best Tasmanian player I've seen for close to a decade. The last gun was Tobias but that seems like aeons ago.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Cowan and think he will be a good AFL player but I remember you were critical of drafting too many flankers last year so to say you would take Cowan with a pick that early surprised me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user

Redford

Tiger Legend
Dec 18, 2002
34,360
26,202
Tel Aviv
In Doerre’s “long awaited” (his words) Top 100 Power Rankings (ie not his Phantom Draft referred to earlier), and not withstanding he has 15 mature ages from rankings 41 to 55, he has Matthew Jefferson rated 64th.

Michalenney 78th. Gruzewski 76th. Drury 74th. Lemmey 86th. And other strange rankings….

Have always thought he’s a bit weird and not that reliable and his latest video confirms that for me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users

bullus_hit

Whatchu talkin about Jack?
Apr 3, 2006
15,227
5,668
Don’t get me wrong, I like Cowan and think he will be a good AFL player but I remember you were critical of drafting too many flankers last year so to say you would take Cowan with a pick that early surprised me.
I figured this would come up so let me clarify my stance, I'm not against rebounders in the first round but there has to be a compelling case. Last year I had Brown ranked at 4 when sorting through the best rebounders, Goater, Fahey & Wilmot were all ahead from memory, I couldn't see Brown in any other position, I couldn't see him on a wing or in the guts. Everything pointed to a Jasper Pittard type career, that's if he does in fact make the grade. Cowan could easily play on a wing, he has the pace & the skills to do so, you could put him in the centre square also, perhaps not an elite clearance player but certainly good enough for the occasional stint. And to be fair, I'd still take Hewett if available, that looks likely so Cowan would be the back-up plan if Jefferson goes early. But aside from Hewett none of the other midfielders excite me enough to overlook the best rebounder in the draft & that's discounting Cowan's midfield upside. I also think this draft is shallow compared to last year, having Johnson, Goater & Van Rooyen on the board made the Brown pick slightly unconventional.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user

bullus_hit

Whatchu talkin about Jack?
Apr 3, 2006
15,227
5,668
In Doerre’s “long awaited” (his words) Top 100 Power Rankings (ie not his Phantom Draft referred to earlier), and not withstanding he has 15 mature ages from rankings 41 to 55, he has Matthew Jefferson rated 64th.

Michalenney 78th. Gruzewski 76th. Drury 74th. Lemmey 86th. And other strange rankings….

Have always thought he’s a bit weird and not that reliable and his latest video confirms that for me.
He's useless at identifying talls, he goes from one extreme to the other, some years a bloke like Rhys Mckenzie will be ranked in the top 5, other years he'll have first rounders like Jefferson going extremely late. I actually think he's doing it as an exercise in clickbait. As to why Jefferson is seen as a bust? No idea, probably just playing the numbers game given 50% of talls fail in any case. One can easily look like a genius going on this principle alone, especially when he isn't responsible for building a list.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user

Tortured Tiger

Junior Development - The Tigers key to success !!
Jan 24, 2005
644
920
I figured this would come up so let me clarify my stance, I'm not against rebounders in the first round but there has to be a compelling case. Last year I had Brown ranked at 4 when sorting through the best rebounders, Goater, Fahey & Wilmot were all ahead from memory, I couldn't see Brown in any other position, I couldn't see him on a wing or in the guts. Everything pointed to a Jasper Pittard type career, that's if he does in fact make the grade. Cowan could easily play on a wing, he has the pace & the skills to do so, you could put him in the centre square also, perhaps not an elite clearance player but certainly good enough for the occasional stint. And to be fair, I'd still take Hewett if available, that looks likely so Cowan would be the back-up plan if Jefferson goes early. But aside from Hewett none of the other midfielders excite me enough to overlook the best rebounder in the draft & that's discounting Cowan's midfield upside. I also think this draft is shallow compared to last year, having Johnson, Goater & Van Rooyen on the board made the Brown pick slightly unconventional.
Fair enough and well said but you must see the irony after you were so outspoken last year and we do have Banks as well.
 

bullus_hit

Whatchu talkin about Jack?
Apr 3, 2006
15,227
5,668
Fair enough and well said but you must see the irony after you were so outspoken last year and we do have Banks as well.
Sure, from a needs based perspective he's not essential but he's a very similar scenario to Goater who projected as a dual position talent. This is a very important distinction, it's a key reason I pegged Josh in the top 10, a flank would be his floor not his ceiling. The same goes for Zac Taylor who was also capable of playing two positions and was a central reason as to why I had him inked in the top 20.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user

bullus_hit

Whatchu talkin about Jack?
Apr 3, 2006
15,227
5,668
All fair enough and id say youre significAntly more likely to be right than me.

Cowan aside,

Unless they go pro rata, maintaining a ladder, allocating individual awards and team awards in the disparit NAB fixture.

Is quite bizarre.

Its like having a 400m race, and some run 100m.

* tassy and cowan played 12 NAB games - northern academys played 4 ( one academy played 5 i think, just to up the random ante). So for the Morrish to carry any weight at all, the winner from a southern state woukd have to poll 3 times as many votes as the best player from northern states

why, o , why wouldnt they ditch the northern academy series and play an east coast u18 comp? Or play north/south conferences on the same terms?
I agree, so much inequality in the way things are structured but it's getting better, it wasn't so long ago that Tasmanians were lucky to get a couple of games a year in TAC, talk about cut throat. That situation has improved but still some way to go, I think so much talent has fallen through the cracks, even players who did well in their token appearances.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user

Jonesracing82

Tiger Champion
Sep 30, 2011
4,501
3,249
Show's why we were happy to trade out of this draft. It's a dud one after the top 7 or 8 players. Similar to 2004 which had 5 guns and then the likes of Pattison and Meyer as 1st round picks and Polo at 20! No thanks

We don't need another Ben Lennon, Corey Ellis, Meyer or Pattison type in the teens.

We need to get more picks for next year which is deep with 6 or 7 key position players looming in the top 15. We had a F2 lined up for Graham but sadly that didn't eventuate. We could have used our x2 2nd rounders to get back into the 1st round
FWIW next yr is always a "bumper crop". The same was being said last yr & teams seem to be tripping over themselves to get out of this draft (after pick 6 it seems) in favour of next yrs crop.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users

Ricemagic

Tiger Superstar
Feb 8, 2021
2,038
2,244
58
Correct

We led in the last quarter in 21 of the 23 games this year and the sole reason we lost so many close ones was the weak midfield. And Martin was well below his best.

Taranto and Hopper fix the midfield problem. Hopefully Martin is back to full commitment. Then we are a huge chance in 2023 and even 2024

All this and we are still rebuilding on the run
Definitely needed to fix that midfield and stop waiting for the last 3-4 years of recruits to finally turn up and make it.

We needed a stronger cavalry than what Aarts, RCD, Martyn, Parker and Naish running through the midfield could provide.

The last couple of years while we had injuries to Dusty, Prestia, Lambert an ageing Edwards, Caddy losing all his form, really showed the difference from the 2017-2020 team who won lots of close games this years team would loss.

If we had that one or two extra class players in the middle we would have won 2-4 more games than we did and made the top four and made a shake for the flag.

Taking away the 10 games you play against the double-up teams (5 teams you play twice) you play 12 teams once.

In 2017, against the 12 teams we played once, we went 8-4
In 2018 we went 9-3
In 2019 we went 8-4
In 2021 we dropped to 5-7
In 2022 we went lower again - 4 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses.

See that? IN 2017 - 8-4 versus the 'oncers' = Flag, 2018 - 9-3 = Prelim, 2019 - 8-4 = Flag, 2021 - 5-7 = 12th spot, 2022 - 4-1-7 = 7th spot.

Like the 2017-2019 era, we need to get back to going 8-4, 9-3 in those 12 games against the 'oncers', not go 4-8 or 5-7 to be considered a premiership threat.

Taranto and Hopper are way more classier than the players delisted to help us get back to the top of the field again as well as getting 18-20 games each from Dusty, Prestia and Trent for the season.

LET'S FREAKING GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!:eyes
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user

Streak

Tiger Legend
Aug 31, 2007
37,211
6,215
Western Australia
Heard a rumour that we are looking closely at Tyler Keitel from West Perth.

Mature age KPF. Has previously had training stints at both West Coast and Freo.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Feb 25, 2007
12,531
6,123
The key takeout of the article>>> They (Tigers) arguably done more to strengthen their premiership prospects than any club.
This is a no brainier, but somehow when the trades were completed, media and some social media followers were in the belief it was Geelong.

There is no way that Bowes/Bruhn/Henry supersede Taranto/Hopper. That's just media hogwash. Quite simply, it's proven top 10 talent V potential.

Taranto and Hopper could well propel us to another premiership in 2023, Bowes/Bruhn/Henry will be lucky to play games.
Their pick 7 will also take several years to develop.


 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users

tigersnake

Tear 'em apart
Sep 10, 2003
23,481
11,626
The key takeout of the article>>> They (Tigers) arguably done more to strengthen their premiership prospects than any club.
This is a no brainier, but somehow when the trades were completed, media and some social media followers were in the belief it was Geelong.

There is no way that Bowes/Bruhn/Henry supersede Taranto/Hopper. That's just media hogwash. Quite simply, it's proven top 10 talent V potential.

Taranto and Hopper could well propel us to another premiership in 2023, Bowes/Bruhn/Henry will be lucky to play games.
Their pick 7 will also take several years to develop.


JN has a point, but he doesn't make it that well. We went deep into the draft last year, if we take 2 this year thats 8 players in 2 years, its not rebuilding, but you can't call that inactive. Also he ignores the fact that the Suns and GWS are AFL owned and run sheltered workshops that nobody really cares about and as a result are mired in mediocrity and players don't want to stay.

The situation is more a symptom of AFL failure on GWS and Suns, not the a cause.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6 users

Scoop

Tiger Legend
Dec 8, 2004
24,931
13,970
This is where we we'll have to disagree, Cowan is a clear first round candidate, I feel he played with restraint during the interstate carnival but in the NAB league he played with much more freedom. I know some recruiters felt he didn't show enough daring in those matches but I also feel he was playing the team role as opposed to streaming down the ground. If given license to run he'll be a weapon, he has the speed, he has the kicking skill, he has the ability to read the play & he can run through the midfield when needed. Not sure what else a player can do to etch their name in neon lights, he made the team of the year both in NAB league & at state level, he won a Morrish & he captained his club. Not sure all that equates to third round material, I don't see too many weaknesses, I feel he's a two way runner who will only get better.
Never draft a flanker to become a mid. He is what he is a flanker. You compared him to Zach Williams, Carlton paid $800k thinking he could become a part time mid. Never happened. I think Cowan is a second rounder in a weak draft.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users

Tigerfan

Roar Power
Apr 28, 2004
26,631
2,039
Gold Coast (SE - QLD).
Taranto and Hopper could well propel us to another premiership in 2023, Bowes/Bruhn/Henry will be lucky to play games.
Their pick 7 will also take several years to develop.
If we get Prestia’s hamstring right
Dusty plays 22 plus finals
Plug in Hopper & Taranto
And 2023 goes the same way as 2022

Then we are definitely top 4
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users