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The sweet and sour of the AFL Drafts: Geelong Cats

31st May, 2015
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Roar Guru
31st May, 2015
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Geelong claims to be ‘the greatest team of all’, but the more important question is – are they the greatest drafters of all since 2001?

Let’s dig a little deeper into their sweet and sour drafting moments since the super draft.

Remember how this works. The draft selections below will be labelled either sweet or sour depending on how that player’s career turned out. This could include playing 250 games, asking for a trade, captaining the side or being delisted after two games.

Top five sweets
1 – 2001

If you thought Fremantle’s 2008-draft class was impressive, wait until you see who Geelong drafted in 2001. They had 12 picks in the draft, but four were used to absolute perfection.

With pick 8, they drafted Jimmy Bartel. With pick 17, James Kelly was added the cattery. Steve Johnson joined the party at pick 24 and Gary Ablett Jnr. was picked up via a father/son selection at pick 40.

Between them, the four players have gone on to play in over 1000 AFL games and kick over 1000 goals. There are 14 All-Australian selections among them, three Brownlows, two Norm-Smiths, five best and fairest medals (Ablett – 2x Geelong, 3x Gold Coast) and three triple-premiership players, while Gary was a part of two.

A stunning collection of players who will go on to be famous names among AFL discussions for decades to come.

I bet Geelong fans are looking forward to possible father/son selections down the track.

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2 – Joel Selwood
Joel Selwood – Geelong captain, four-time All-Australian, three-time premiership player, three-time best and fairest, 192 games, 120 goals.

Selwood is also known as, ‘the one that got away’, for the six clubs who decided to pass on drafting him in 2006. Out of the top six players drafted before Selwood in 2006, only Boak and Gibbs have gone on to have consistent and quality careers.

Oh well, I guess that’s the luck of the draw in the AFL. And Geelong would be counting their blessings for the miracle that occurred in 2006, when Selwood fell into their laps at pick 7.

3 – Mackie and Lonergan in ‘02
In the 2002 national draft, Geelong drafted two players who have gone on to be the core of their defence for 13 years.

With pick 7, the cats picked up Andrew Mackie. Mackie has played in 222 games since his debut, and it’s hard to remember a time when he’s missed a large amount of football. The ever reliable, courageous and skilled Mackie has been one of the best rebound defenders in the AFL over the last decade. He is a three-time premiership player, and was named All-Australian in 2013.

Tom Lonergan was drafted with the 23rd pick in 2002. Lonergan is one of the most courageous and resilient players to have ever played the game, both on and off the field. In just his seventh AFL game, Lonergan’s kidney was severely injured in a marking contest during the game.

Immediate retirement from the game was looking likely for him after he had to have his right kidney removed, and his entire blood supply replaced three times during surgery.

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However, 152 games later, a premiership and two All-Australian nominations later, Lonergan has become Geelong’s best full-back defender since the retirement of Matthew Scarlett.

4 – Harry Taylor
With pick 17 in the 2007 national draft, Geelong drafted yet another defender (this time a mature-age recruit) who would go on to be another crucial peice to their eventual premiership defence.

Over his 167-game career, Taylor has been a consistent, yet versatile player for the Cats. Defence is his forte, where his ability to read the play, rack up the intercept marks and win out in one-on-one contests has been crucial, especially during Geelong’s dominant period.

He’s a two-time premiership player and two-time All-Australian (and another three-time nominee), but perhaps Taylor’s sweetest moment for the Cats, was when he sensationally kept Nick Riewoldt to one goal in the 2009 grand final.

5 – James Podsiadly
The choices were plenty for the fifth and final sweet spot of Geelong’s drafting since 2001. Travis Varcoe, Matthew Stokes, or perhaps Tom Hawkins, the father/son selection. But I’ve gone with James Podsiadly and his 83-game, one premiership and one time leading goal-kicking career with the Cats.

After playing VFL and being rookie-listed by two previous clubs, the Cats took a punt on J-Pod, drafting him with the 50th pick in the 2009 rookie draft.

In just 83 games, he kicked 169 goals, most noticeably his first and second years with the Cats, where he kicked 49 and 52 goals respectively.

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2011 was his sweetest moment. A premiership and he led Geelong’s goal kicking for the year.

He was delisted in 2013 and now resides with the Crows, but J-Pod will always be remembered for his huge impact over a short period of time for the Cats.

Fun fact time – The Pod received 13 Brownlow votes in his first year with the Cats. That’s pretty sweet.

Worthy Mentions
David Johnson (#81, 2001 ND), Shannon Byrnes (#40, 2002 RD), Matthew Blake (#32, F/S 2003 ND), Matthew Egan (#62, 2004 ND), Travis Varcoe (#15, 2005 ND), Matthew Stokes (#61, 2005 ND), Tom Hawkins (#41, F/S 2006 ND), Steven Motlop (#39, 2008 ND), Mitchell Duncan (#28, 2009 ND), Allen Christensen (#40, 2009 ND), Cameron Guthrie (#23, 2010 ND), Jordan Murdoch (#48, 2011 ND), Mark Blicavs (#54, 2011 RD), Jed Bews (#86, F/S 2011 ND) and George Horlin-Smith (#37, 2010 ND).

Top five sours
1 – Kane Tenace

Kane Tenace is a well-document draft bust for the Cats. He was drafted with pick 7 – Selwood was taken at pick 7 three years later – in the 2003 National Draft. Despite winning Geelong’s best first year award, injuries and mediocrity would be the demise of his 54-game career.

2 – Mitchell Brown
Geelong drafted Brown with the 15th pick in the 2008 National Draft. He debuted in 2011, after missing the previous seasons with injury. 15 games on, and three seasons into his AFL career, the key position player was delisted by the Cats.

He made a brief return to football in this year’s preseason when he featured in Essendon’s NAB Challenge squad as a ‘top-up’ player, where he put on a fairly impressive display.

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Although Geelong drafted a key position player in Brown, the likes of Sloane, Beams and Hannebery were still available in that draft.

3 – Shane Mumford
Geelong didn’t invest a great deal when they drafted Shane Mumford with the 58th pick in the 2008 Rookie Draft. However, seven years later, Mumford could be the exact player they need to boost their fairly weak ruckmen stocks.

After 21 games with the Cats, a lack of opportunities and being looked over for the 2009 grand final, Mumford moved to Sydney on a lucrative deal which the Cats were unable to match.

79 games and a premiership later, Mumford was squeezed out due to the arrival of Buddy Franklin.

He now has a best and fairest medal under his belt at the Giants, and is the most intimidating, elite ruckman in the AFL.

4 – Nathan Ablett
Geelong great, Cameron Mooney, has described Nathan Ablett as, “the biggest waste of talent I have ever seen”.

Nathan, brother of Gary and son of the legendary Gary Ablett Sr., joined Geelong via a father/son selection in the 2004 Draft.

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At just 21 years of age, three years into his AFL career and fresh off a drought-breaking premiership win, Ablett announced his retirement from the game.

Ablett was a promising key forward talent for the Cats, but reluctance towards the fame and the pressures of the game – and a shyer personality compared to his brother and father – led him to leave a promising AFL career behind. He made a return briefly in 2011, where he played two games with the Suns.

5 – Charlie Gardiner
While 2001 was a superb drafting year for the Cats (see above), their 23rd pick in the same draft was one that turned out to be rather disappointing.

Charlie Gardiner was a promising TAC, junior prospect. Geelong drafted him with pick 23. In six seasons, he played only 51 games and kicked 25 goals. He was traded to St Kilda in 2008 where he struggled once again, only managing 12 games.

(Not) Worthy Mentions
Henry Playfair (#41, 2001 ND), Andrew Carazzo (#5, 2001 RD), Tim Callan (#36, F/S 2002 ND), Brent Moloney (#45, 2002 PD), Cameron Thurley (#22, 2003 ND), Matthew Spencer (#42, 2003 ND), Brent Prismall (#32, 2004 ND), Trent West (#31, 2005 ND), Stephen Owen (#35, 2005 ND), Ryan Gamble (#47, 2005 ND), Nathan Djerrkura (#25, 2006 ND), Dawson Simpson (#34, 2007 ND), Jeremy Laidler (#32, 2007 RD), Thomas Gillies (#33, 2008 ND) and Joel Hamling (#32, 2011 ND).

Both sweet and sour: Daniel Menzel?
Both Anthony Morabito and Daniel Menzel have had the most horrible luck to start off their AFL careers. Morabito was posed as the sweet and sour question mark for the Fremantle Dockers edition, so Geelong fans, the same goes for you.

He was selected at pick 17 in 2009. He’s played in only 21 games due to four consecutive knee reconstructions. His last game was the 2011 qualifying final. He is now on the sidelines again, nursing a hamstring injury. Sweet or sour?

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Final words
Geelong’s 2001-2007 drafting was first-rate. Three premierships and an era of dominance are the results of inspiring drafting.

The next phase of players, whom have been scouted since 2008 are coming through. They will be the next group of players that will have to carry the torch as Geelong’s older players start to transition into the final years of their illustrious careers.

As hopes for another premiership begin, could it be out with the old and in with the new for the Geelong Cats?

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