Our 2005 selections - thoughts

[Snoop Dog]

Well there they are;

D.Thomas
S.Pendlebury
D.Stanley
R.Cook
J.Anthony

I must admit I am pretty disappointed we passed Ellis at 2. I am not an expert recruiter but I sure watched enough to see the quality. Surely Balme and Co. knew it was very likely that Thomas would still be there at 5. Kennedy would have gone at 3 and Carlton would have taken a tall at 4 like Ryder or Dowler (as they ultimately did anyway in Kennedy).

As one of the recruiters said "Collingwood would be mad to pass Ellis at 2 - he is a certainly".

Pendlebury seems like the goods - have seen him play and he is a long kick and moves real nice.

Stanley is a hard nut midfielder - not unhappy there. Do not know much about Cook but I was sure we would look at a tall back like Hughes or Mills before him. 37 was a real shock - Anthony???? Seemed to be plenty of obvious talent.

Keen to hear what the good judges say. Sheehan certainly a bit surprised about our early picks.

[skaman]

Awwwww, shit! I've got bad vibes. Hope the Ellis decision dosn't come back to haunt us. Keen to hear the reasons why we didn't draft him after all the good mail on him. Hope I'm wrong and that Thomas ends up being a gun and one "out of the box". We certainly deserve a bit of luck in the recruiting stakes.

[azza102]

How tall are they?

[Cannibal]

I see Thomas getting a run next year.

I suspect Pendlebury might get a gig on a wing next season, too.

Stanley has the body but he's a back/forward flanker and we've got loads of people in those positions already. I see him having to wait and play at Willi before getting a run in the seniors. But there's nothing wrong with that. I'm happy to give him time.

Cook is a mid who likes going in hard for the footy. Nice trait but likely he'll have at least a year at Willi before getting a gig in the seniors. Again, I'm happy to give him time.

Anthony is a real smokey. He sounds like a tough KPP defender, who reads the play well and backs himself to get the footy. Takes the kick-ins and loves to drop a torp. Rocca Mk2?! Troble is, with Presti, Wakes, Jimmy and a couple of other big blokes on the sidelines, he'll probably have to wait a couple of years. Still, he's got a couple of things about him that I don't see in Presti, so he's got Future FB written all over him.

[Cam]

what i like about thomas after watching the u18 is his explosiveness. being dual-sided and having toe will make him a magpie favourite.

[GreekLunatic]

the only reason i think we didnt pick up ellis was his size and also he wont be playing at all next year

[TheGaffer]

They are all from Victoria which will avoid any issues with players wanting to go back home or not adjusting to life away from their families.

[jackcass]

I'm happy with the selections. Would have loved for the club to pick up Ellis, Muston, Mills, Varcoe, Pfieffer, Swallow, Edwards and countless others but the reality is they only had 6 picks and we have to have faith in the recruiting team.

Interesting that they didn't use last pick, Baird perhaps...

I'm happy that the focus has been drafting potential midfielders, Anthony aside. I'm happy that they have taken a punt on a bottom age player like Cook.

Thomas v Ellis can't be properly debated for another 5-6 years.

Pendlebury reportedly could be an absolute superstar. Has played very little footy and has lots of development yet was already widely tipped as a first round pick.

I'm happy that they have recruited a bit of mungrel in Anthony. Trick now is to harness that to enhance what appear to be useful attributes such as good disposal and speed.

I think Stanly balances the outside mids we have selected.

Good luck to all of them, welcome to the Pies.

[Canberra]

The preference for Thomas over Ellis was pretty clear.
Thomas gets his own pill.
Ellis is a run past receiver.
Thomas is very two sided.
Ellis has his left foot only.
Thomas is lightning quick off the mark and can maintain his pace.
Ellis needs a run to build up to full speed.
Thomas could be ready to play after the pre season.
Ellis has school to worry about and wont be in the mix for 2006.

[EddieGold]

A grave day in the history of the Collingwood football club and most people on this site are pissed off with not selecting Ellis whereas Hawthorn are laughing.

The Collingwood recruiting staff have no idea. It is time to make serious changes at the Club.

For Ellis put in Pavlich who we also passed on.

Ellis will be a future All Australian and is class, class ,class

Thomas would still have been there at 5. No one else wanted him.

We have wasted another draft.

Like we have wasted the last 5 drafts except last year.

Still that is why we are on the bottom.

[twaters]

Also, other than Thomas (dob=June 87), we have chosen all under age players [Pendlebury & Anthony = Jan 88; Stanley & Cook = Feb 88]. This draft's picks seems to be for the year after next; gamble now on stars later. Fair enough.

Great guts by our recruiters - to stare down the whole expectations of Ellis at 2 and gamble that in a year it will be Pendlebury who is more damaging.

I can't "see" the Cook/ Anthony combo, but obviously Hine etc can see them shining in the year after. So 4 mids; one firey KPB.

I hope we take Barling first up in rookies draft to add to our KPB's (who can also play CHF). Haven't seen yet if Lonergan/Iles/Grant got drafted, but if not, I hope one of them is also on our rookie list.

[EddieGold]

Canberra - you miss the whole point of drafting. Intelligence.

We could have got both Ellis and Thomas at 2 and 5.

[leonmagic]

[EddieGold]

[EddieGold]