Ben Cousins was picked up by Richmond with the final pick in the 2009 pre-season draft. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun
THE last hope for a shot at the big time, the AFL pre-season draft has yielded some nuggets - and its fair share of bombs.
Since the pre-season draft was introduced in 1989 - two years after the birth of the national draft - more than 500 players have been offered a lifeline.
Most of those were in the early years, when more than 50 picks were used at the end of the year to give a second (or third) chance to players who missed out on the national draft or were delisted by another club.
In recent years the pre-season draft has taken a back seat to the rookie draft, with an average of just five live picks in each of the past five seasons.
Last year GWS had the first six selections and passed on all of them, effectively making Gold Coast's No.7 selection the No.1 pick - which they used on Aaron Hall. He played eight matches in 2012.
Back in 1989 it was a very different story - sort of. Brian Winton, the very first No.1 pick, played just five games for the Saints after getting the chop from Essendon. Pick two was more successful - the Lions picked up a bearded defender named John Gastev who went on to play 113 matches for the Lions after starting career at West Coast.
With the increasing science behind recruiting, the pre-season draft still offers clubs something of a free hit. Richmond couldn't use a national draft pick on Ben Cousins, but a pre-season pick was worth the risk.
Picture countdown: Best pre-season draft picks
The former Eagles champ demonstrates the hit-and-miss history of the draft - even when clubs are punting on what should be a known quantity.
In some cases it's easy to forget players like these appeared for another club - Damian Monkhorst (St Kilda), Darren Mead (Brisbane), Austin McCrabb (Hawthorn), Gavin Excell (Fitzroy), Scott Russell (Sydney), James Cook (Melbourne) and Barry Young (Hawthorn).
Some other big names, including Tim Watson (West Coast) and Gerard Healy (Collingwood), were selected but never pulled on a jumper for their new club.
Some picks would later go on to make bigger names for themselves off the field - St Kilda used pick 81 in the 1993 pre-season draft on Mortlake's Jason Mifsud, a year after Hawthorn picked up former Saint Ricky Nixon.
So who are the biggest hits, and biggest busts, in 23 years of the pre-season draft?
Click HERE to see our countdown of the best pre-season draft picks - and don't miss part two later today when we reveal the selections recruiters would rather forget.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Best and worst of pre-season draft
Dengan url
http://ganangandollar.blogspot.com/2012/12/best-and-worst-of-pre-season-draft.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Best and worst of pre-season draft
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Best and worst of pre-season draft
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar