In the world of AFL futures betting, I can’t help but feel North’s current price to ‘win’ the wooden spoon constitutes the best value in the sport.
While Saturday’s loss in Cyclone ‘let’s think again about March football in Cairns’ did nothing to sway my thoughts on how very ordinary this North team is, a closer look at the list bought up some more worrisome trends.
While the direction the Roos are taking holistically, from Brad Scott’s contract extension to the clubs desperate and dateless approach to free agency, can be debated elsewhere, what’s perhaps lost within the North discussion is their near decade’s worth of simply deplorable drafting.
While the jury’s out on whether Jy Simpkin was an optimal choice in 2016 – and hopefully need never to convene regarding the Luke Davies-Uniacke pick last year – what isn’t up for consideration is the complete butchering of the club’s first and second round picks this decade.
From my count, there are currently just five players’ on North’s list who could be considered above-average AFL footballers.
They include Shaun Higgins – who’s in the twilight of his career, a decent ruckman in Todd Goldstein – who’s well and truly lost his place among the game’s elite, Ben Cunnington – who’d be complimentary midfielder on a good team, Robbie Tarrant – who’s ever so busy but highly effective, and Ben Brown – who’s as wonderful a footballer as he is a human being.
But that’s it.
Outside of those players, North’s list looks like a wardrobe of clothes which, had you more time and a better frame of mind, would have made very different choices.
In fact I’d be willing to wager that if you sat down with members of North’s recruiting team and legitimately asked them to tell the truth about their handiwork, they’d say they would re-do each and every one of their first and second round picks from 2010 through to 2016.
Every one of them.
While, of course, North’s coaches and staff have to continue to develop these players and convince them of their professional sporting ability, the reality is we are talking about 18 players over seven separate drafts who were simply the wrong choice.
That’s an entire team of players. That’s Wayne Carey’s number.
One needn’t possess the sharpest football mind to know that it’s in the first couple of rounds of a draft where the sweetest fruit is picked.
It’s those selections that underpin a team’s success and allow a club to both be creative with their later picks and more adventurous in trading and free agency.
That first couple of rounds simply cannot be butchered. Not over seven drafts they can’t.
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We’re taking a look at one player from each team that needs to make a difference this week, starting with the ANZAC Day games.
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