Would this be the greatest recruiting disaster ever

[swan_song]

or just the worst since we recruited Torture...?

I was having an absolutely terrible nightmare last night. It revolved around Stewie having taken leave of his senses and lining up Jason Cloke for us in the PSD...
Needless to say I woke in an awful sweat, and had to splash some cool water on my face to bring myself out of it and calm down...

Then I realised I'd had another nightmare about a certain B Hall and J Bolton kicking for goal in a grand final...

Still, in GFs against West Coast, we're still 3 points up....wooohooo!

[goswannie14]

I reckon the middle Cloke can play a bit, are you sure you dreamt the right one?

[Layby]

Yes i agree, shoulders suspect though i think

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by Layby
Yes i agree, shoulders suspect though i think

Just tape them up like the rest of the Swans...except Bazza, "It's only a flesh wound!"

[BeeEmmAre]

Originally posted by goswannie14
I reckon the middle Cloke can play a bit, are you sure you dreamt the right one?

Agreed - I reckon Cameron is worth a punt.
He's been quite a useful player for Collingwood when he hasn't been cruelled by injuries - and with our superior fitness and physio team, we could have a more than handy tall defender/back up ruckman on our hands.

But as I said in another thread, Williamstown is welcome to keep Jason.

[anne]

Best to steer clear of that family.

[Rod_]

AGREED

Might as well recruit the father if you go after the son.....?

Rod_

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by Rod_
AGREED

Might as well recruit the father if you go after the son.....?

Rod_

Yeah...Damir Cloke comes with all three boys doesn't he?

[sharp9]

No. I believe the worst recruiting disaster of all may be 2003 when we recruited four players and then delisted three of them three years later without a game between them (and only two games from the fourth) and this was on the ONLY occasion in living memory when we hadn't given our early drafts picks away at trade time.

Oooops!

[Nico]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Layby
Yes i agree, shoulders suspect though i think [/QUOTE

Nothing to do with the shoulders. It what is above the shoulders and between the ears where they struggle. Havent you seen the blank look on Cameron's face out on the field.

He has NFI.

[SimonH]

Originally posted by sharp9
No. I believe the worst recruiting disaster of all may be 2003 when we recruited four players and then delisted three of them three years later without a game between them (and only two games from the fourth) and this was on the ONLY occasion in living memory when we hadn't given our early drafts picks away at trade time.

Oooops!

2003 might have been Barham's annus horribilis, with only the still-hopeful Tim Schmidt and the re-drafting of Amon Buchanan to show for 5 picks including a first-rounder; but we'll forgive him that one. I understand he's been on board since 1995 or so (source), and so far as I can see he's picked at least one winner every year.

While the Swans recruitment practices have frequently given him lousy pick numbers to work with, he's often done magic with those numbers. Sydney were over-represented in the first round in 1998 (3 top 10 draft picks, producing two 150-plus gamers in Nic Fosdike and Jude Bolton, and... um... Ryan Fitzgerald). Since then: 1999 no first rounder, 2000 no first rounder, 2001 no first rounder, 2002 #5 (Jarrad McVeigh), 2004 no first rounder, 2005 no first rounder. So you're almost right. Sydney has been wildly underrepresented in the first round of the draft, but has wound up with more good players through the draft alone, than some clubs that have been consistently near the top of the list (e.g. despite the overhyped draft ban circa 2002 for salary cap cheating, Carlton has had vastly more first round picks than us in the last 10 years). Let alone the talent we've got through trading.

It's partly spotting the talent, and partly what you do with 'em (Buchanan and Ablett, to pick just 2 examples, would be fairly likely to have withered and died at many Victorian clubs); but put 'em both together and that's why we're where we are, and Carlton is where it is.

PS Sydney are about as likely to pick one of the Clokes as they are to draft me.

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by SimonH
PS Sydney are about as likely to pick one of the Clokes as they are to draft me.

So are you playing in the forward pocket with me at full forward?