This Chris Grant memorial board for hail-mary player selection

[Mofra]

Hi WOOF.

For those of you new to this planet, Chris Grant was famously drafted as a kid at pick 105 from Daylesford (his older brother was the town star so nobody knew we were watching).

Inspired by B4L's post on our drafting board:

He picked JJ when JJ couldn't get in the WA colts team if I remember correctly.

Who deserves to be placed on this virtual plaque of celebration and glory?
JJ obviously - any fringe rookie who wins a normie gets named.

I'll nominate Matthew Boyd, and overager taken out of Frankston VFL seconds.

JOD has to be in the running too. From bowling at Essendon (the former site of the football club before they lost a battle with a bowls club) to playing seniors in just a few weeks.

Any other nominations?

[Sedat]

Tory Dickson at a late 50's pick was elite talent spotting for someone who averaged 3 goals a game in finals. Added bonus that it also pissed the Bombers off mightily, who were poised to swoop 2 picks later.

[Grantysghost]

JJ, wins a Norm Smith from a rookie selection. That's pretty next level but you've got him.

So... Moz. One of the great defenders, and another rookie selection.

[ledge]

Was it picken only got the list because a VFL club paid his rookie wage ?
I think Morris did it a hard way too.
Both became premiership players .

[bornadog]

Was it picken only got the list because a VFL club paid his rookie wage ?
I think Morris did it a hard way too.
Both became premiership players .

Picken playing at Williamstown and a couple of supporters sponsored him to be picked as a rookie

[GVGjr]

Picken playing at Williamstown and a couple of supporters sponsored him to be picked as a rookie

The President of Williamstown I believe organised that.

[MrMahatma]

Brian Lake at pick 71 was a good get!

[Mofra]

The President of Williamstown I believe organised that.
"The Williamstown academy"
Was Pask the other rookie we had to throw in cash to get?

[Mofra]

Tory Dickson at a late 50's pick was elite talent spotting for someone who averaged 3 goals a game in finals. Added bonus that it also pissed the Bombers off mightily, who were poised to swoop 2 picks later.
He was playing for Noble park the year before his VFL breakout year so good nomination

[GVGjr]

"The Williamstown academy"
Was Pask the other rookie we had to throw in cash to get?

From memory Pask was known to Akermanis and it was Aker's recommendation that we rookied Pask.

[ledge]

Let’s not forget Matthew Boyd.

[GVGjr]

As far as rookies go, Harbrow was a fantastic selection as a rookie and the Dahlhaus selection is just about as good as it gets.

We extracted maximum value from JJ, Matthew Boyd, Southern, Grant, Morris and Picken as well.

Just about the fastest starter of all rookies was Brett Goodes. He really got on the board early on.

Montgomery, Powell and Dickson were terrific non traditional type selections as well.

[Guido]

"The Williamstown academy"
Was Pask the other rookie we had to throw in cash to get?

Believe that was Tom Davidson.

Sponsored by a local businessman who also funded our attempt to find another NicNat in Fiji.

[doggiesin08]

Believe that was Tom Davidson.

Sponsored by a local businessman who also funded our attempt to find another NicNat in Fiji.
I have literally only ever attended one training session and it was when we have 2 Fijian kids there with no idea what to do 🤣. Pretty sure Patrick Rose was rookied from Williamstown the year after Picken too.

[Mantis]

Let’s not forget Matthew Boyd.

He was raised in the OP.

[Mantis]

Believe that was Tom Davidson.

Sponsored by a local businessman who also funded our attempt to find another NicNat in Fiji.

IIRC he had a laundry service, Sean ??

[Bulldog Joe]

I have literally only ever attended one training session and it was when we have 2 Fijian kids there with no idea what to do 🤣. Pretty sure Patrick Rose was rookied from Williamstown the year after Picken too.

Patrick Rose was definitely the second Williamstown sponsored rookie and probably killed off any further opportunities from that source.

Tom Davidson was in the Werribee days. Think we might have done better if we had taken the Werribee player James Podsiadly.

I did hear that Rocket was a upset that no-one had considered Podsiadly as eligible to Rookie. We also took Nathan Saunders ahead of him from Werribee as well.

[Happy Days]

Didn’t Rose stop us from picking up Dane Rampe, because we thought he (Rose) sucked and he absolutely cooked Rampe in a VFL final right before a draft that we were supposedly keen on picking Rampe in?

[Mofra]

Didn’t Rose stop us from picking up Dane Rampe, because we thought he (Rose) sucked and he absolutely cooked Rampe in a VFL final right before a draft that we were supposedly keen on picking Rampe in?
I think we had concerns over Rampe's kicking.
Shame as I saw him at Willy one day and he must have broken about 30 tackles that day. a HBFer that was just super strong in the hips and really competed.
I did not see his transition to KPD at all though.

[Mofra]

I did hear that Rocket was a upset that no-one had considered Podsiadly as eligible to Rookie. We also took Nathan Saunders ahead of him from Werribee as well.
Not taking Huddo from Werribee was as big a blunder. Didn't "Our Mastermind" veto both players?

Then again, Malthouse liked Picken (plus he would have been a cheap FS for the Pies) but was overruled by their recruitment manager at the time, so sometimes it works in our favour...

[Virgin-Dog]

While none are on the level of the Grant pick, I?d like to acknowledge the ?99 draft.

Not only did we start with Murphy and Gia in the 1st and 2nd round, but we followed that up with Mitch Hahn (3rd round), Lindsay Gilbee (3rd round) and Ryan Hargrave (4th round).

A 300-gamer, three 200-gamers plus Hahn who had 181. Quite possibly the greatest individual draft by any club ever, ignoring father son / academy picks. And only one of those was selected in the top 30

[Guido]

Bassett, I think.

[Twodogs]

I'm going back to the early 1980s and nominate Peter Foster. We were negotiating with Fitzroy for a player called Chris Hansen but baulked at the price they were asking, so Fitzroy threw in Foster as the steak knives.

He went on to be a fantastic player for us.

[Grantysghost]

I'm going back to the early 1980s and nominate Peter Foster. We were negotiating with Fitzroy for a player called Chris Hansen but baulked at the price they were asking, so Fitzroy threw in Foster as the steak knives.

He went on to be a fantastic player for us.

Until Paul Dear? I loved fossy.

[ledge]

Should our backline get a mention ?
Keath , Gardiner , Duryhea , Jones and now Coffield ., a whole backline of rejected players from other clubs that cost bugger all .

[bornadog]

Should our backline get a mention ?
Keath , Gardiner , Duryhea , Jones and now Coffield ., a whole backline of rejected players from other clubs that cost bugger all .

plus Duryea

[ledge]

plus Duryea

And Gardner

[GVGjr]

In recent years we have tended to target tall from other club, Bruce, Gardner, TOB, Martin and Keath and not forgetting Coffield. A couple of them might not meet the BAD definition of talls but you should get what I mean.

[Axe Man]

Should our backline get a mention ?
Keath , Gardiner , Duryhea , Jones and now Coffield ., a whole backline of rejected players from other clubs that cost bugger all .

Only Gardner was a reject from those.

[Grantysghost]

Only Gardner was a reject from those.

It's true however ledge makes an interesting observation.
Who is the last kpd we developed?

[ledge]

It's true however ledge makes an interesting observation.
Who is the last kpd we developed?

We developed a couple .. into forwards .

[Axe Man]

It's true however ledge makes an interesting observation.
Who is the last kpd we developed?

Liam Jones, we just outsourced it to Carlton for a few years.

Probably Fletcher Roberts was the last.

Hopefully JOD, Busslinger and perhaps Croft reverse the trend.

[Grantysghost]

We developed a couple .. into forwards .

haha

[Grantysghost]

Liam Jones, we just outsourced it to Carlton for a few years.

Probably Fletcher Roberts was the last.

Hopefully JOD, Busslinger and perhaps Croft reverse the trend.

Outsourced love it. He was a forward with us xD

[bornadog]

Outsourced love it. He was a forward with us xD

Also took some huge marks in his day - so can add to your thread on high marking

[ledge]

Liam Jones, we just outsourced it to Carlton for a few years.

Probably Fletcher Roberts was the last.

Hopefully JOD, Busslinger and perhaps Croft reverse the trend.

Naughton came as a backman and Bruce was a back when he started at GWS. Bruce ended up being a hole filler up forward and back.

[Axe Man]

Naughton came as a backman and Bruce was a back when he started at GWS. Bruce ended up being a hole filler up forward and back.

How is Bruce relevant - GG was talking about KPDs we developed? Naughton would have been if he had stayed down back.

[ledge]

How is Bruce relevant - GG was talking about KPDs we developed? Naughton would have been if he had stayed down back.

Well we eventually picked him up as a forward then tried to develop him as a back again at the age of what 30odd ?
I guess it was trying to find a spot for him once we had Naughts, JUH and Darcy coming on.
Might have worked if his knee didn’t go though.

[Twodogs]

plus Duryea

And Crozier

[Twodogs]

Until Paul Dear? I loved fossy.

Yep. Paul Dear. We were humming along that season too. Losing Foster for the season really cost us.

[Twodogs]

Who is the last kpd we developed?


Caleb Daniel?

[D Mitchell]

Brian Wilson ? That slow kid who was never going to amount to anything, ship him off the Melbourne, a guarantee he'd fail.

[Olddog]

Pickers for me - rookie pick 30 and now a premiership player

[Grantysghost]

Pickers for me - rookie pick 30 and now a premiership player

What could have been without the horrid concussions.

What happened to the court case? I'd suggest it was settled with a non disclosure agreement. Sad he had to pull the media lever to get it done.

[D Mitchell]

..pull the media lever to get it done.

If that's what happened, blame his lawyers, not necessarily Picken, even though he had to give his instructions. Wasn't 2016 a mammoth year for Picken ? Don't we love it that blokes like Pickens played for us ?

Maybe footy as an identifier has had its day. When C'wood beat M'bourne, that validated footy as an expression of footy as class struggle. What do we make of Taiwan defying CCP China ?

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Should our backline get a mention ?
Keath , Gardiner , Duryhea , Jones and now Coffield ., a whole backline of rejected players from other clubs that cost bugger all .
You could add O?Brien as well to this list. Unfortunately apart from Jones they hardly rate as a quality key defender.

[ledge]

You could add O?Brien as well to this list. Unfortunately apart from Jones they hardly rate as a quality key defender.

O’Brien is gone , that’s why I didnt mention him, but yes another one we recruited and didn’t develop.